I was reading through the "cool concepts for your least favorite house" threads and came across this post: Cool concepts for your least favorite House:
I decided to reply in a new topic in order to not pollute the original thread with off-topic discussion about the nature of explosion powered flight in ME.
I have to say: This is a great idea!
... I mean it is a terrible idea, but a hilariously terrible idea.
This idea has such potential and such raw idiotic power It almost makes me want to retire my current character to play a flying exploding magus.
Just try to imagine hearing a series of progessively louder bangs, followed by a person - clothes singed and face covered in soot - come zooming by through the air.
Imagine the power of landing at tribunal on a tail of explosions in the sky. There is probably few surer ways to make a name for oneself. Not a good name, but a notorious name. "Oooh thats just Explosus ex Flambeau, I advise you dont stand near to him at any time. Yeah he always looks like that".
From a balance perspective this idea looks just fine to me.
You can achieve the same result (powered flight), by a number of means, and I have trouble imagining a worse way of flying or transporting oneself.
You can turn into a flying creature, you can enchant an object to fly and use it as a mount, you can make friends with a magical creature capable of flight and carrying humans, you can teleport, or perhaps a close runner up in flashiness and impractiability you can turn into lightning and strike your destination.
for this to work you need:
A ward against fire and/or explosions
A spell that creates an explosion powerful enough to propel you through the air
and a means to land(!) (perhaps a spell to lessen the impact of gravity, or a ward against fall damage (if such thing can be made)).
This is a pretty big investment of resources compared with the other available options. Even then explosion powered flight has some pretty serious drawbacks.
You cannot take off near to anyone or anything that you like, since they would blow up.
If you plan on using explosions to cushion your fall (is that even possible?) you also cannot land near to anything or anyone you dont want to kill/destroy.
This method of flight is about as subtle as it sounds, and everyone for miles around will know exactly where you are, and where you are going. Soon enough they will also know who you are by reputation alone.
You will inevitably acquire a reputation, not a good reputation either. most likely as the mad flying magus (both among mundanes and magi).
I would also judge that this method requires a pretty good finesse roll, in order to position the explosion just right, so that it propels you upwards, and forwards, as opposed to only one, or neither of those. If it were simply a case of casting one exploding spell I think it would be fine, but for a whole series. As a SG I would probably rule something like getting a long term fatigue level per hour or half-hour of flight from the intense concentration required, along with being subjected to a constant series of violent accelerations.
IMO this is a similar drawback to lightning-based teleportation, which requires you to blow up your destination and also is as unsubtle as you can imagine.
But I got to say, I love it. This concept is just so wild that I cannot but love it, despite how hilariously bad the idea is (or more likely because of it).