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I think the reason hovering and moving less than half speed are different is because one can move less than full speed by gliding, drifting, etc. - which all take far less effort to do than hovering. (The idea being that gliding all you need to do is keep wings straight or steady or whatever, while hovering requires actual activity to stay aloft.)

That being said, this theory assumes the idea that these rules were designed for creatures with natural forms of flight - i.e. wings - rather than magical.

EDIT: Ringing in on the actual question, I'd have the lower DC apply for a 5FS as well.

Generally speaking, I will allow anything that has an entry under "X as Player Characters". My reasoning is that we come here for the story, and good stories come from all locations. I require anyone picking any race (even standard ones) to have a reason for being that race and a background to support it. If I still feel they are picking the race for numbers reasons (Drow Noble, I'm looking at you) I inflict some heavy-handed compensation.

Number crunchers and min-maxers don't do well at our table if that's all they are there for.

The most epic death I've had occurred in 3.5, sometime after the Book of Nine Swords was released. I was playing a Swordsage who had a love for the uses of jumping (Tiger Style, of course).

We were fighting a rather cunning Red Dragon through a narrow rocky corridor, and had been cornered. We had done some damage to the big dude, but we were running on empty. Through some cunning intuition we figured out that in one round, we were getting hit with another blast of fire breath, and that would likely be the killing blow.
So, my character being the jumpy person he is, thinks of a way to get to higher ground. But, we only have one round... Solution? Move action - Jump to a ledge, thanks to stance allowing him to count as if having a running start. Swift Action - use an ability that gives him another free jump to a higher ledge. Attack action - a maneuver that gives him yet ANOTHER jump before the attack. All in all, moved up 60 feet to come crashing down on the dragon's head with a bunch of bonus damage from the attack maneuver. My guy didn't survive the falling damage.

The catch? We had apparently been duped by one of our own. A party member knew the area we were standing on was brittle and had suggested we take the route in hopes the dragon would fall. He hadn't shared the information with us because someone else had just recently accused him of being entirely unhelpful (in character, not ooc, there's a story there) and he was trying to build an "I told you so" moment.

The result? A 60-foot martial plunge onto the dragon, smashing us both through the flooring and into an unfathomably deep chasm.

I learned this a long time ago, but it is my favorite lesson: I've learned that the space between mentioned rules and unmentioned effects is the key location to pull humorous situations from.

I.E. "Teleportation" and "Damage From Falling Objects".

I loved Incarnum, from WotC. I still think it was the most balanced magic system they've made to date.

That said, I'd love to see a "Book of Exalted Deeds" or "Book of Vile Darkness" equivalents.

I ran this encounter once specifically to smack some sense into my players at the time. I had slated the campaign to climax around level 16ish, but at level 12 the group felt like they could rule the world. The key to being scary is using the world around you - have the BBEG throw things about with magical power. Have him set things on fire with his mind as he trounces something. The idea is to have your players FEEL that this bad guy is powerful... It actually doesn't matter if he really is or not.

Best advice? Think Sith Lord for your first time. Throw them around. Use the terrain to the BBEG's advantage. Throw an ability that hurts one of them a lot, and then encase them in ice. Assault them on their flying ship, and have the BBEG single-handedly crash it. The Sith comparison is that what he does is flashy, impressive, and uses the environment to cause the most damage. If one of them gets close, he smacks them down and then uses THAT character as the next projectile to hit another PC with.

Besides that... Nothing smacks a player into thinking more than an ability they cannot recognize being used in unique ways by their opponent. Give him something that makes him unique - maybe he has a 1/day ability that lets him deal as much damage as he has taken to a single target? Maybe he has a BFG 9000? The possibilities are endless.

They key is honestly to make him visually appealing and impressive. The players imaginations will take it from there.

Pathfinder, in my opinion, does not yet have enough viable options to realistically take a game beyond 20 with the mechanics they have.

That said, most games beyond level 20 in 3.5 have usually little to do with mechanics at all by that point. They are usually more roleplay and plot-intensive. This is, after all, the mark of one hell of a good DM.

Personally, I'm not usually a fan of games that get too far into "Epic Level", mostly because of what has to happen when the blows finally DO come down. Too many dice, in my opinion.

As a player my favorite levels will always be 5-15. As a DM, I currently have a game going where everyone just hit 21, but we're nearing the end of the story for these characters. For my games when the players get that high, we usually backburner them and start with new characters (assuming the story is over) but return to the older characters when in just casual-RP or talking about over pizza.

Short version... How fun that is or how that works is always conditional.

I recently just finished running this AP for my gaming group - I love how this flows so cleanly together and yet pulls the PC's to almost-random locations. It keeps things interesting for the players while still keeping a fluid story going to tie everything together.

I also greatly enjoy stories like this where the main villain of a campaign is only slowly revealed to the players, in the sense that they are seeking something entirely different than what they are getting into.

Love the flavor throughout, as well.