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I will soon play an Aarakocra Arcane Archer (the custom class) and I am wondering how I can protect myself from mages / other archers as a flying archer.

I am specifically looking for ways to impose disadvantage on attack rolls against me while flying during combat. Any method which grants cover would also be useful.

What can I use to protect myself while flying?

I was thinking about putting myself right front of the sun (it's difficult to directly look at the sun, so it should be difficult to aim something right front of it) and eventually cast a Fog Cloud on myself if I'm in danger. What else could work?

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closed as too broad by Miniman, Szega, Sdjz, KorvinStarmast, JP Chapleau Apr 30 at 13:12

Please edit the question to limit it to a specific problem with enough detail to identify an adequate answer. Avoid asking multiple distinct questions at once. See the How to Ask page for help clarifying this question. If this question can be reworded to fit the rules in the help center, please edit the question.

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    \$\begingroup\$ Somewhat related: Why does dandwiki have a poor reputation? \$\endgroup\$ – Mołot Apr 25 at 9:28
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    \$\begingroup\$ I'm afraid there are a lot of things that made this either too broad or too opinion based. You want to protect yourself while flying. Putting yourself front of the sun is a good solution, but then you include Fog Cloud. With these combinations, you don't define a limit to the possible answers, causing all answers to be equally correct and basically having unlimited possible answers. Please define a limit, such as 'what spells' or 'what magic item'. \$\endgroup\$ – Vylix Apr 25 at 9:53
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    \$\begingroup\$ @cdauphin In that case, perhaps the question could be edited to give that sort of specification there - you want something that would justify an actual disadvantage roll by an opponent. That might narrow down the question, (also has mechanics backing so isn’t just opinion) and help you get the good sort of quality answer you want :) \$\endgroup\$ – anon Apr 25 at 11:07
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    \$\begingroup\$ Just for future reference: we do not signal edits here as is often done on forums. The edit history takes care of checking back to see what edits have been made. \$\endgroup\$ – KorvinStarmast Apr 25 at 13:03
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    \$\begingroup\$ If you're not interested in game mechanics, this is purely an idea-generation question - those are both too broad and primarily opinion-based. \$\endgroup\$ – Miniman Apr 30 at 7:04
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Use distance to your advantage

Most of your opponents are stuck on the 2D plane, while you have extra options. You also have more movement (50 feet) than most enemies. As such, you can determine a minimum distance you can be away from people - if you are 150 feet high, an enemy can't get closer to you than 150 feet.

So, use a longbow (with a range of 150/600). Fly to 150 feet, then directly above your opponent. If they are using any weapon other than a longbow, 150 feet is in the long (disadvantage) range for their weapon. Many spells also have a range shorter than 150 feet - most spells have a range of 120 feet or shorter, and so can't even target you. If they are using a longbow, you can at least force them to use readied actions to attack you if you dart up at the end of your turn, then dart down to fire.

You can also get the Sharpshooter feat - this makes you able to fire without disadvantage from up to 600 feet. This makes most forms of attack impossible against you.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ 150 feet straight up is considerably further than 150 feet horizontal in the real world; a reasonable DM might consider this long range even for a longbow, while being normal range for you. \$\endgroup\$ – TimLymington Apr 30 at 11:13
  • \$\begingroup\$ @TimLymington Fortunately, real world physics aren't really a consideration :) \$\endgroup\$ – NautArch Apr 30 at 13:41
  • \$\begingroup\$ @TimLymington If the DM rules that vertical distance is 'longer' than horizontal distance, that's still fine - if you can only shoot 100 feet high, then fly at 100 feet. It wouldn't work if people shooting up didn't get this disadvantage, but real world physics indicate that that shooting up should be harder than shooting down, not the other way around. \$\endgroup\$ – Sirv May 1 at 5:20

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