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Let's say, for maybe a reason involving sleep or maybe a trip, you have Character A that is prone. Then, Character B casts a spell on A.
Scenario 1: The spell is Levitate. B uses his move action to move A up 20 feet. Does A still have the prone condition? He isn't lying on the ground, but he never did anything to get rid of the condition.
Scenario 2: The spell is Fly. On A's next turn, does he have to spend a move-equivalent action to stand up, then can use his movement to fly upwards after that? Can he just fly upwards without standing up, since he's flying by magical means?
School transmutation; Level sorcerer/wizard 2
Casting Time 1 standard action
Components V, S, F (a leather loop or golden wire bent into a cup shape)
Range personal or close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)
Target you or one willing creature or one object (total weight up to 100 lbs./level)
Duration 1 min./level (D)
Saving Throw none; Spell Resistance no
Levitate allows you to move yourself, another creature, or an object up and down as you wish. A creature must be willing to be levitated, and an object must be unattended or possessed by a willing creature. You can mentally direct the recipient to move up or down as much as 20 feet each round; doing so is a move action. You cannot move the recipient horizontally, but the recipient could clamber along the face of a cliff, for example, or push against a ceiling to move laterally (generally at half its base land speed).
A levitating creature that attacks with a melee or ranged weapon finds itself increasingly unstable; the first attack has a –1 penalty on attack rolls, the second –2, and so on, to a maximum penalty of –5. A full round spent stabilizing allows the creature to begin again at –1.
Fly
School transmutation; Level sorcerer/wizard 3
Casting Time 1 standard action
Components V, S, F (a wing feather)
Range touch
Target creature touched
Duration 1 min./level
Saving Throw Will negates (harmless); Spell Resistance yes (harmless)
The subject can fly at a speed of 60 feet (or 40 feet if it wears medium or heavy armor, or if it carries a medium or heavy load). It can ascend at half speed and descend at double speed, and its maneuverability is good. Using a fly spell requires only as much concentration as walking, so the subject can attack or cast spells normally. The subject of a fly spell can charge but not run, and it cannot carry aloft more weight than its maximum load, plus any armor it wears. The subject gains a bonus on Fly skill checks equal to 1/2 your caster level.
Should the spell duration expire while the subject is still aloft, the magic fails slowly. The subject floats downward 60 feet per round for 1d6 rounds. If it reaches the ground in that amount of time, it lands safely. If not, it falls the rest of the distance, taking 1d6 points of damage per 10 feet of fall. Since dispelling a spell effectively ends it, the subject also descends safely in this way if the fly spell is dispelled, but not if it is negated by an antimagic field.
Prone: The character is lying on the ground. A prone attacker has a –4 penalty on melee attack rolls and cannot use a ranged weapon (except for a crossbow). A prone defender gains a +4 bonus to Armor Class against ranged attacks, but takes a –4 penalty to AC against melee attacks.
Standing up is a move-equivalent action that provokes an attack of opportunity.
I would require the character, in both cases, to spend a move action (that provokes) standing up before he can levitate or fly up. I could see the flight letting you bypass the move action to stand, but I wouldn't allow it.
You didn't ask about teleporting, but that would also not remove the prone condition if the character just teleported to the ground somewhere else. But there is a "cheesy" trick to do w/ teleporting when prone: Teleport a short distance above the ground. You'll fall. If the fall doesn't inflict any lethal damage, by RAW you land on your feet. That actually doesn't bother me, I think it's pretty clever. :)
That makes enough sense. However, Levitate isn't an action on the prone character's part in this - it's whoever cast the spell. So requiring them to stand first is a bit odd, makes for weird situations.
This is a situation where a DM has to arbitrate.
Imagine Character A is a barbarian who typically uses a greataxe. If Character B levitates Character A up five or ten feet, is Character A in a stance that would allow him to use his weapon efficiently or is he still in an awkward position? I am of the opinion that A looks not unlike Superman, and can hardly swing his axe effectively. He is also not in a decent stance to adequately defend himself against melee attackers. He should take a move action to get himself collected.
Imagine Character A is a ranger using a crossbow. He gains a bonus against ranged attacks because he is snug up against the ground. Character B levitates A up five feet. Should A still gain his bonus against ranged attacks? I am of the opinion he should not, because he's no longer blending in. He should spend a free action to tell B to "put me the heck back down!"
In both of those scenarios I consider that A is still effectively prone, regardless that they're airborne.
Again, DM arbitration, but I would allow a character with fly (perfect), such as the recipient of fly to revert from prone as part of flight movement. So if they chose to fly upwards 30ft, they could "stand up" during that movement.
Interestingly enough, I have just been convinced that flying creatures can be made prone, while airborne. Well done.