So you’ve read through the families and decided to play a bird in the world of Pugmire. Well I’m flattered :). I’m now writing this article to sew up any confusion or rules issues. Most of this is done on the fly (get it?) and I’m designing this as I’m playing and going, so be prepared for a handful of changes and fixes.

Flight:

Birds do not have the “run” feature that dogs (and potentially cats) have. Instead, they have a flight ability. The flight ability works similarly in that Birds can fly at 40ft per round and certain types of armor may limit how fast a bird can fly. Birds can fly to a maximum altitude of their speed in ft from the ground. That means that birds can fly straight up in one round to their max altitude. Birds in Pugmire do not have arms and hands that are separate from their wings. Therefore in order to fly they must stow any gear or drop it to fly. There are notable exceptions to this: Diminutives with the “hover” ability may carry and use weapons while flying, and Raptors with “diving strike” may draw their weapon as part of their charge and end the attack adjacent to their enemy on the ground.

A bird who is restrained, may not fly and will immediately fall if restrained while in the air. Flight also takes some concentration, so whenever a bird is struck by an attack while flying, they must succeed on a dexterity saving throw or fall. They make the saving throw at the beginning of their turn. the DC is equal to the amount of damage they have taken since their last turn.

Unarmed Melee:

All birds have the ability to inflict lethal damage with their talons. An unarmed attack by a bird may use either their Strength or Dexterity for attack and damage rolls. All birds will deal damage based on their proficiency modifier:

+2 = 1d4+stat

+3 = 1d6+stat

+4 = 1d8+stat

+5 = 1d10+stat

+6 = 2d6+stat

I added a bit of errata: The Great birds “Mighty Strike” ability has been reworked completely. It previously said: “The Great Bird with this trick may treat her unarmed melee as lethal damage and may add 1d4 to all attacks.” It should now read “The Great Bird with this trick may add their unarmed attack damage to their weapon damage OR move their unarmed damage up one dice tier making the maximum damage 2d8+stat if their proficiency bonus is +6”

Thanks for reading and please don’t hesitate to let me know if something is inaccurate or needs re-wording. Let me know what you think by joining the conversation on Reddit

Happy Gaming :)