Levitate allows the character to move the him or herself, another creature, or an object up and down as the character wishes. A creature must be willing to be levitated, and an object must be unattended or possessed by a willing creature. The character can mentally direct the recipient to move up or down as much as 20 feet each round; doing so is a move-equivalent action. The character 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 speed).
A levitating creature who attacks with a melee or ranged weapon finds itself increasingly unstable; the first attack has an attack roll penalty of –1, the second –2, and so on, up to a maximum penalty of –5. A full round spent stabilizing allows the creature to begin again at –1.