The text for Levitate is below; duration is 1 min/level. What happens when it expires while the levitated person/object is still in the air?
The text of the spell doesn't address this, so it would seem that the default interpretation is that all of the spell's effects simply end, and the levitated person/object falls normally.
However, the text for Fly (also posted below) specifies that when Fly ends, the subject drifts slowly to the ground.
It's unclear why there is a difference here, making me wonder if it's unintentional, and that Levitate was meant to end in the same manner as Fly. Has this ever been addressed? How is it ruled in your game?
LEVITATE:
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.
