My party started flying last game, so I thought I would Read up on the fly skill. A lot of the rules seem to govern wings, which is odd since I would expect most PCs to gain fly through magic. Looking through past threads I don’t see a lot of consensus as to what happens when:
1) Someone with the flight spell fails the roll. I see everything from the PC stays in place (essentially hovering….which is its own action that they can fail, so what happens if they fail hover?) to, “they plummet to the ground” (again differing opinions on how to DM this…everything thing from they move their speed to the ground…to they fall all the way)
2) Someone with the flight spell is KO’s or slept. Do they float down as it the spell was ended early? or do they fall….Obviously winged flyers plummet, but what about spell users who have the Float down end condition?
Under the fly skill I do see: Avoid Falling Damage: If you are falling and have the ability to fly, you can make a DC 10 Fly check to negate the damage. You cannot make this check if you are falling due to a failed Fly check or a collision.
This seems to imply that a failed roll = Fall to the ground.
And then there is this:
If you are using wings and you fail a Fly check by 5 or more, you plummet to the ground, taking the appropriate falling damage (see Environment).
Which seems to imply that if you don’t have wings you don’t fall when you fail? Either that or a fly spell failed skill roll = fall, and winged creatures have to fail by more (perhaps due to the ability to glide?) I always assumed that Magical Flight is better than winged flight (and I think I remember a JJ post that stated that but I can’t find it).
Most mid level games have to contend with flight I would imagine. What do people think the official rules are (Like PFS for example). And what do people do for home games?
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Short version: Nothing happens, but you cannot take desired action.
Long version: Nothing happens when you fail a fly check as much as I understood it long time ago. You simply cannot take the action which you wished to take.
Example wise, you attempt DC 15 Fly check to Hover on place, but fail to do so. You do not lose any actions (besides full-round actions), but failing on it simply restricts your actions to standard and move action, and you have to spend a move action on flying around even if it provokes attacks of opportunity.
Malag
The penalty for failure depends on what the fly check was for. Some of them explicitly tell you, such as Attacked While Flying (failure means lose 10ft altitude), Collision While Flying (failure means plummet), etc.
That leaves the things in the table for maneuvers:
Move less than half speed and remain flying DC 10
Hover 15
Turn greater than 45° by spending 5 feet of movement 15
Turn 180° by spending 10 feet of movement 20
Fly up at greater than 45° angle 20
Try Again: Varies. You can attempt a Fly check to perform the same maneuver on subsequent rounds.
For most of these, you simply fail to perform the maneuver and must adhere to the rules listed by "Check:"
That is, if you fail the roll to move less than half speed, you must move at least half speed. If you fail to turn greater than 45 degrees, you turn the maximum you can (45 degrees) and continue (because you can't retry until a subsequent round). Note that this failure to turn sharply might lead to the Collision While Flying check. Turn 180 degrees failure means you don't turn and continue straight (although I think you spend the 10ft of movement for the attempt) or settle for the 45 degree turn. Fly up at greater than 45 degrees failure means you only fly up at 45 degrees.
The problem child is Hover. If you fail to hover, what happens ? GM call, but I'd say you must move some distance (possibly having to make a "move less than half speed" check).
Of course if you're using wings and fail by 5 or more, it doesn't matter what you were attempting, you plummet.
As to 2) I've seen both "treat it as if the spell were ending" to "flyer continues at last speed and heading and altitude (including ascent/descent rate) until they come to or hit something".
Nothing graceful
Both "attacked" and "collision" have the condition that it only effects flyers with wings (it only mentions winged flyers).
And agreed Slim, the problem child is Hover. The fail conditions per check make sense (way more sense than "I fail to go straight up, so I just sit there" or "I fail to go straight up, so I go straight down into the ground") they go up, just not the way they wanted. I can do that, and it seems rule supported. Still a bit unclear as to RAW for PSF when I play that (I am soon to have a flying wizard) so I want to know what to expect.
Still not sure what to do about sleep/KO. (nearly happened last game, and is sure to come up again.)
when you fly you are propelling your self in a direction through the air. you are controlling your flight with small bursts of energy (wing beats on the air, rocket blasts, magic shoves in the right direction etcetera) your fly rating dictates how much control you have. if you are flying over to a spot above and enemy and want to stop hand hover there you must stop your forward momentum and stabilized your self vi whatever means you are flying with. If you fail you fly check to do this you will continue to fly forward overshooting where you wanted to be. (And maybe crashing if there was something to crash into in front of you).
The fly spell has a maneuverability of good so you don't have to worry much about this.