Favored Terrain and Flight

[haremlord]

This may be a dumb question, but I can't seem to find a rule for this.

When a ranger (or anyone with Favored Terrain) is flying, are they considered in their favored terrain if they are flying over one they have chosen, is flying its own terrain, or are they ineligible for favored terrain bonuses entirely?

Or does it depend on the terrain? I can see this in cases of picking a Plane, Underground, or (by a strict reading) Water (since it says "Water (above and below the surface)") that it may be different than others, but I'd like to see if there's a ruling or a guideline that I may have missed.

Thanks!

[Claxon]

I would say you are in your favored terrain unless you're flying "very high" above the terrain.

As far as I know, nothing actually elaborates on the rules for being in your favored terrain.

[Daw]

Should there be an Atmospheric Domain?
Cloud Giants are still a thing, are cloud countries?

[Andre Roy]

Assuming this list in exhaustive.

PRD - Ranger wrote:

Favored Terrains
Cold (ice, glaciers, snow, and tundra)
Desert (sand and wastelands)
Forest (coniferous and deciduous)
Jungle
Mountain (including hills)
Plains
Planes (pick one, other than Material Plane)
Swamp
Underground (caves and dungeons)
Urban (buildings, streets, and sewers)
Water (above and below the surface)

Favored Terrain (Ex): At 3rd level, a ranger may select a type of terrain from the Favored Terrains table. The ranger gains a +2 bonus on initiative checks and Knowledge (geography), Perception, Stealth, and Survival skill checks when he is in this terrain. A ranger traveling through his favored terrain normally leaves no trail and cannot be tracked (though he may leave a trail if he so chooses).

At 8th level and every five levels thereafter, the ranger may select an additional favored terrain. In addition, at each such interval, the skill bonus and initiative bonus in any one favored terrain (including the one just selected, if so desired), increases by +2.

If a specific terrain falls into more than one category of favored terrain, the ranger's bonuses do not stack; he simply uses whichever bonus is higher.

Pedantic reading but "in" and "through" would exclude flying (other then low flying through the grass or the branches).

And in the case of water, above usually means at the surface, not physically in suspension above it.

So unless you are flying in a Plane that is your favored plane, say the Plane of Air, I would say flying above your terrain nullify your bonus as you are not in it nor travelling through it anymore but above it.

[Wheldrake]

Agreed that if you're flying too high above the terrain to interact with it, then the bonus no longer applies. If you're flyinh inside a dungeon, between treetops or roofs, behind dunes for cover and so on, that might still count.

[haremlord]

I don't know if this matters, but something I just realized...

at 5th level Ranger (Warden archetype) can roll twice when making Fly checks within his favored terrain...

I'm not sure if that makes any difference, however. Maybe when flying over certain terrains (like Mountains) you know how the terrain effects the air above it...?