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3 Aerial Adventure Guide Written by Michael Mearls Additional writing by Timothy Grubbs (arachial feats), Gunnar Hultgren (khasri, limmer gaff, and weather bane), and Jon Pollom (ombosi, skowerlith, and zephyrghast) Development and additional writing by Joseph Goodman Cover art by Michael Erickson Cover design by Andy Hopp Interior art by Carlos Henry, William McAusland, and V. Shane Deck plans by Clayton Bunce Cartography by Matt Snyder Editing and interior design by Joseph Goodman Proofreading by John Thompson Rules commentary by Matthew Mosher Published by Goodman Games Visit for freebies, message boards, web exclusives, and more!

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5 Table of Contents Introduction...4 Chapter One: Characters...8 New Races...8 Arachial...8 Avian...10 Sky Elf...11 Surface Races...13 Heroic Legacies...15 Character Classes...17 Prestige Classes...17 Air Knight...17 Elemental Convert...19 Sky Elf Battle Captain...21 New Uses for Skills...22 Feats...23 New Feats Table...24 Equipment...29 Chapter Two: Aerial Combat...36 Altitude...38 Weather...38 Chapter Three: Sky Ships...41 Sky Ship Combat...42 Designing Ships...44 Ship Templates...45 Sample Ship Designs...49 Chapter Four: The Sky Realms...54 Sellaine, Jewel of the Clouds...54 Other Locations...64 Dreadfall...64 Fulgash s Tower...68 The Wildlands...71 The Derelicts...73 Captain Lebeyewn Of The Quest...76 The Sage of Air...77 The Black Orcs of Noctilius Point...78 Chapter Five: Denizens of the Sky...79 Arachial...79 Avian...81 Cloud Colony...82 Cloud Lurker...83 Devil, Sky Fiend...84 Dire Hawk...85 Dragon, Star...86 Dragon, Wind...88 Elf, Sky...90 Floating Polyp...91 Flutter Ray...93 Golem, Mist...94 Infused, Air (Template)...95 Khasri...96 Leviathan...98 Limmer Gaff...99 Lycanthrope: Werehawk Noctilius Bat Ombosi Plague Vulture Rain Sprite Skaerdrim Skowerlith Sky Sailors & Pirates (NPCs) Sky Captain Traits Sky Serpent Thunder Cloud Traders (NPCs) Velda s Mournful Whippoorwill Weather Bane Winged Borer Winged Creature (Template) Zephyrghast Chapter Six: Running Aerial Adventures Aerial Campaigns Types of Aerial Adventures Exploration Trade Diplomacy Conquest and Combat Traveling in the Skies Beyond the Clouds Sky Ship Record Sheet Sky Ship Deck Plans Visit for free web enhancements! 3

6 Introduction Picture in your mind the typical fantasy RPG campaign world. Don t draw your picture based on a map, or an image, or the climactic scene of a grand adventure. Instead, assume the eyes and ears of an ordinary peasant. Look around now, and see what that peasant sees. Perhaps this is a world of thick, lush forests and clear, azure skies. Maybe our peasant is a desert nomad who journeys across seemingly endless dunes of sand under a relentless, punishing sun. Or our peasant could be trapped in a dark world of vampires, werewolves, and worse. When the sun dips beneath the horizon and the moon takes to the sky, he had best find shelter. Regardless of the world around him when our peasant looks up he sees the sky, be it a clear, bright blue sky or a foreboding stretch of dark clouds. In most fantasy games, the action and adventure take place far from the sun s reach. Heroes delve into ancient ruins, lost dwarf citadels, and caverns tucked deep within the earth. The sun is a welcome sight that heralds an adventure s end and a return to the comfort of civilization. Or is it? In a world rich in magic, strange beasts, and gods that walk the earth, it is within the realm of possibility that when our theoretical peasant looks up into the sky he gazes upon a distant realm of wonder. Just as a short distance beneath his feet an epic war between dwarves and orcs may rage through the pitch black passages of the underearth, perhaps far above his head a small fleet of flying ships soars through the sky, rising into the air to challenge an approaching flight of marauding wyverns. If adventure can be found below, why not above? Welcome to a world of fantasy adventure that has quite literally been hanging over your campaign s head for years. Flying ships and wondrous castles floating amongst the clouds have long been a staple of fantasy. The fairy tale Jack and the Beanstalk features a castle perched high in the sky, while classic fantasy epics such as Tolkien s Lord of the Rings include intelligent flying races like the great eagles. In a world where magic makes almost anything possible, perhaps an industrious race of powerful magicians could take to the sky and settle there permanently, free of the trials and tribulations of life on the surface. Of course, this being a game of fantastic adventure, life in the sky comes with its own set of challenges, villains, and fearsome monsters. This book posits a simple idea: what if in your campaign world some of the clouds that drift overhead harbor small cities, villages, ruins, castles, and other settlements? What sort of creatures would live up there? What kind of cloud islands could you encounter? How do creatures travel? Do they interact with the surface world? This introductory chapter provides some guidelines to answering those questions and maps out some basic ideas for what a cloud realm may look like. Chapter 1 provides character options for adventures in the sky. It introduces three races that dwell amongst the clouds: the sky elves, the evil arachial, and the barbaric avians. In addition, it showcases heroic legacies that allow other races to find aerial adventure, describes three prestige classes native to air dwellers, and introduces new feats and equipment. Chapter 2 includes expanded rules for aerial combat, allowing you to fight battles in the sky with ease. Chapter 3 gives rules for sky ships, vessels much like sailing ships that soar through the sky and provide the primary means of transportation in the aerial realms for wingless creatures. Chapter 4 describes the many interesting locations to be found in the sky realms, including the sky elf city of Sellaine. And of course, no adventuring environment would be complete without a few monsters to threaten the heroes. Chapter 5 introduces a variety of new monsters that are appropriate to an aerial realm. Chapter 6 offers guidelines and inspiration for running an aerial campaign, complete with ideas and rules for trade expeditions and diplomatic missions. Finally, there are deck plans for eight of the most popular sky ship designs. So, strap on your wings of flying, board the waiting Warhawk sky ship, and prepare to explore a new vista of adventure. The Sky Realms Far above the daily bustle of life, there floats a completely separate realm atop some of the seemingly innocent clouds that drift through the sky. At the highest points of the atmosphere, dimensional rifts shunt energy to and from the elemental plane of air. Occasionally, the diaphanous cloud materials of the elemental realm drift through a gate. While these masses appear to be normal clouds, they are in fact durable bodies of solid material. In the elemental plane, they serve as floating islands upon which civilizations grow and prosper. From the bottom, they look like puffy, white clouds. Anyone viewing them from above can see the thick layer of soil and the small, stunted forests that grow upon them. Within these verdant realms, wild animals, humanoids, and other creatures can grow and flourish. Fed by light rain from even higher clouds and the moist winds that sweep over them, cloud realms are viable homes for most creatures. Solid clouds are rare in most worlds of the prime material plane. The typical barony may see one drift overhead once every decade. However, in some worlds these formations are much more common, particularly those that are tightly bound to the elemental plane of air. In these realms, a full 10% of clouds are capable of sustaining life on their upper sides. In worlds where cloud realms are common, flying races 4