I am having a lot of trouble deciding what to charge a player for this.
The player is playing a Tiefling with the Vestigial Wings alternate racial trait. She stated early on that she eventually wanted to make the wings function when it was campaign appropriate. The group is now 7th level and I am ok letting it happen soon. The issue I'm running in to is cost.
Here is what I'm looking at.
1. Custom Magic Item Creation rules would say making the Fly spell continuous would be 3rd level spell x 5th level caster x 2000 gp x 2 for continuous. That means 60,000 GP for 120,000 GP for one that does not take up a body slot. That also makes it a magical effect that can be dispelled.
2. Aasimar have the feat Angle Wings but that requires two feats to get to and character level 10. It also doesn't take into account that her character already has wings that don't function. That is also a pretty heavy cost, but it is natural flying.
3. Looking at the racial creation, flight is only 4 RP. While that is a cost, it doesn't seem to comparable to the other two ways.
I am open to suggestions, or anything else I'm overlooking.
Tengu have a feat that gives them flight once per day at 5th level.
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/racial-feats/tengu-wings-tengu
Many characters get access to permanent or nearly permanent flight around this level, it wouldn't be too unreasonable to make a feat for your player that maybe does it 3 times per day, then another one at 11th that ups the speed and makes it all the time.
Depending on their build two feats for permanent extraordinary flight is probably worth it.
As others have said, having permanent, non-dispellable flight is a huge boon for just about any character. Most characters won't ever have access to that, so I wouldn't recommend making it too easily available (magical flight via Fly or Overland Flight comes at 5th and 9th, respectively, but both can be dispelled, and Fly in particular has serious duration limitations).
By comparison, have a look at some of the sorcerer bloodline abilities. Getting wings or other flight tends to be a core ability for sorcerers with those bloodlines, and one of the best reasons for choosing them. At the earliest, such flight comes online around 9th level (see Celestial, where it is only for 1 min per level/day, non-consecutive), whereas for many bloodlines it doesn't arrive until 15th (see Draconic, Air Elemental).
So again, it should be a significant investment for the character, and I wouldn't suggest making it available until 9th level at the earliest (earliest of when bloodline flight can show up, or when dedicated full casters can start casting Overland Flight).
I actually think the Aasimar feat tree is the most logical comparison. It is the Tiefling counterpart race, and the fact the player happened to pick the Vestigial Wings alternate racial trait doesn't really change things in my view (it's not like they chose some super suboptimal choice, and they've also chosen one of the strongest starting races in any event). You could customize your own similar feat tree for the character if you like, and have the starting feats have similar boons for the character (akin to Angelic Blood, etc).
If none of that suits you, just do your thing. Another option might be to introduce something like a single feat that scales up. Maybe the wings get slightly stronger over time. Start with a Fly speed of 10 ft., Clumsy. Move up to 15 ft., Poor. Then 20 ft., Average. Etc. if you got this way, the feat should swap out the racial trait bonus to Fly checks, to offset the benefits, IMO.
I think a feat or class-feature cost would be more appropriate than gold. For reference:
-Alchemists can fly for minutes/level for the cost of one discovery, starting at level 6
-Air kineticists can fly all day for the cost of one utility wild talent, starting at level 6
-Aasimars can fly all day, non-magically but with poorer speed and maneuverability, for the cost of 2 feats starting at level 10
-Wizards (etc.) can fly for hours/level, starting at level 9, for the cost of one 5th-level spell.
Based on these, I think one feat for a either a limited duration of flight (minutes/level) or a constant but relatively weaker form of flight (poor maneuverability, 20 foot speed) would be appropriate, considering she has the advantage of natural, non-magical flight. A second feat to increase it to constant, good maneuverability at a higher speed could cost a second feat.
I think a feat or class-feature cost would be more appropriate than gold. For reference:
-Alchemists can fly for minutes/level for the cost of one discovery, starting at level 6
-Air kineticists can fly all day for the cost of one utility wild talent, starting at level 6
-Aasimars can fly all day, non-magically but with poorer speed and maneuverability, for the cost of 2 feats starting at level 10
-Wizards (etc.) can fly for hours/level, starting at level 9, for the cost of one 5th-level spell.Based on these, I think one feat for a either a limited duration of flight (minutes/level) or a constant but relatively weaker form of flight (poor maneuverability, 20 foot speed) would be appropriate, considering she has the advantage of natural, non-magical flight. A second feat to increase it to constant, good maneuverability at a higher speed could cost a second feat.
One small counterpoint: most/all of the classes which get flight as a class ability are not full martial characters, which I suspect is a design choice. As far as I know (though I certainly stand to be corrected) the only route to permanent natural flight for a character irrespective of class is the Aasimar feat line, so I think it remains the best comparator within the rules.
Doesn't mean the DM can't houserule something different, but I believe a certain measure of balance is important, especially so those charactwers who might have chosen a specific class to get access to flight don't feel jilted when the party Tiefling just picks it up for relatively low cost.
Though I'm definitely liking the idea of a feat chain with cr*ppy flight early on (low speed, low manueverability), which can be improved later on (perhaps via a second feat, as suggested by RainyDayNinja, or which just scales naturally over time, with decent flight speed and manueverability only coming online at something like 10th+).
Sorry for the double post, but how about something like this (second one's description probably far to melodramatic, of course):
-- Fiendish Flight (Tiefling) --
As your power grows, more of your fiendish bloods flows into your vestigial wings, strengthening them and granting you the ability to fly, albeit poorly.
Prerequisites: tiefling, Vestigial Wings, character level 5th
Benefit: Your wings strengthen, granting you a fly speed of 15 feet (poor manueverability) if wearing light armor or unencumbered, or 10 feet (clumsy manueverability) mwith a medium or heavy load or medium or heavy armor. This replaces the benefits of the Vestigial Wings alternate racial trait.
-- Improved Fiendish Flight (Tiefling) --
The power of your blood is made manifest, and your wings spread powerfully from your back like a dark banner to herald your arrival.
Prerequisites: tiefling, Vestigial Wings, Fiendish Flight, character level 10th
Benefit: Your wings strengthen further, granting you a fly speed of 30 feet (average manueverability) if wearing light armor or unencumbered, or 20 ft (poor manueverability) with a medium or heavy load or medium or heavy amor. Fly also becomes a class skill for you.
Isn't there something about not being able to fly in medium or heavier armour or encumbrance?
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The vestigial wings already give a bonus to Fly, so trying to balance it with bad manoeuvrability isn't going to fly (padum tish!).
Bat wings don't really suggest thermal gliding. I think the two-feat route is about appropriate, with the Vestigial Wings continuing to give their bonus to Fly. First feat opens up about 10-20ft of flight, second one improves it to 30 or maybe 40. I wouldn't go any further than that, again comparing to the Aasimar.
The vestigial wings already give a bonus to Fly, so trying to balance it with bad manoeuvrability isn't going to fly (padum tish!).
Bat wings don't really suggest thermal gliding. I think the two-feat route is about appropriate, with the Vestigial Wings continuing to give their bonus to Fly. First feat opens up about 10-20ft of flight, second one improves it to 30 or maybe 40. I wouldn't go any further than that, again comparing to the Aasimar.
The feats I proposed generally align with what you're saying. The Improved version effectively mirrors the Aasimar Angelic Wings feat. The basic version is about half as powerful. Making Improved better speed than Angel Wings seems unbalanced to me.
Also, I felt that removing the underlying bonus to Fly checks from the trait made for better balance (making the poor/clumsy maneuverability meaningful when the basic version is chosen), but I could see this being debateable.
From a balance perspective I figured it should be something useful, but not so great that it becomes a no brainer choice. So I asked myself: would nearly every Tiefling take this; would it be useful to some (or even many) Tieflings; or would almost every Tiefling ignore it?
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If you have an extra prerequisite (vestigial wings), and require the same amount of feats expended, they should do more than the aasimar feats. (And the aasimar prerequisite feat is baaaad.)
I'm not a fan of making the vestigial feats a real prerequisite. Let it be functional without, but at Average manoeuvrability, a +4 bonus to Fly checks is still worth spending an alternate racial trait on. You do kind of want a decent Fly score to get Full Attacks.
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How about 2 feats.
First feat let's them fly with the wings per Alchemist discovery (Wings) but with the aasimar speed and poor maneuverability. So they have the wings, and can fly for minutes per level in 1 minute increments. They have wings, visible to all at that point, but they only have the strength to fly for a certain amount of time each day, and maybe their flying isn't so great. Still learning and what not.
Second feat is just angel wings, removes the time limit for flying, and maybe moves the maneuverability to good. They've had the wings for some time, they've built up some endurance for flying, and have learned how to fly a bit more gracefully.
If you have an extra prerequisite (vestigial wings), and require the same amount of feats expended, they should do more than the aasimar feats. (And the aasimar prerequisite feat is baaaad.)
I'm not a fan of making the vestigial feats a real prerequisite. Let it be functional without, but at Average manoeuvrability, a +4 bonus to Fly checks is still worth spending an alternate racial trait on. You do kind of want a decent Fly score to get Full Attacks.
Fair point. I guess I don't think of Vestigial Wings as much of a barrier to entry, since it is pretty easy to work into just about any Tiefling build. But I take your point. I think you could easily just remove that last line of the proposed Fiendish Flight feat without messing things up too much.