Can someone give me a breakdown of the movement capabilities of a creature without wings and in innate flight ability? There are a lot of things that the skill unlock allows that don't seem to be prohibited except by the skill unlock itself. A link to the rules for adjudicating flying (aside from the fly skill rules) would be great if it can shed some more light on this. I can't seem to find it.
Assume the creature has a fly skill modifier of +19, and co can autopass fly checks of 20 or less. I have specific questions regarding the following scenarios.
From what I have gleaned from the rules where I could find them climbing requires double movement, but I can't find that stated anywhere directly (citation?) so the creature can climb 15ft vertically as a single move action.
So far as I can tell, having wings has no effect on your ability to use the fly skill. Even the spell fly gives you a maneuverability class which is used to modify your fly checks. The default is average, if no maneuverability class is stated. The only special flight rules I could find outside of the fly skill was this:
A creature with this ability can cease or resume flight as a free action. If the ability is supernatural, it becomes ineffective in an antimagic field, and the creature loses its ability to fly for as long as the antimagic effect persists.
Note: Creatures with a fly speed treat the Fly skill as a class skill. A creature with a natural fly speed receives a bonus (or penalty) on Fly skill checks depending on its maneuverability:
Clumsy –8
Poor –4
Average +0
Good +4
Perfect +8
Creatures without a maneuverability rating are assumed to have average maneuverability and take no penalty on Fly checks.
As for moving upward, this is described in the fly skill.
It can also turn up to 45 degrees by sacrificing 5 feet of movement, can rise at half speed at an angle of 45 degrees, and can descend at any angle at normal speed.
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The Fly skill mentions several drawbacks suffered only by creatures flying via wings:
1. Failing a Fly check by 5 or more means you plummet to the ground.
2. Taking damage while flying requires a Fly check to avoid losing 10 feet of altitude.
3. Colliding with an object at least your size requires a difficult Fly check to avoid plummeting to the ground.
There's also the unstated but obvious drawbacks:
4. If your wings are bound or otherwise disabled, you ain't flyin' nowhere.
5. If there's no air or other medium, you ain't flyin' nowhere. (This one only occasionally comes up.)
But on the bright side, as mentioned earlier, wings don't care about antimagic fields.