Faolyn
(she/her)
OK, that's not very helpful, because you're basically saying that they're not appropriate in games of a type you can't even define. Because let's face it, it should be clear by now that a "typical fantasy game" is very different for other people.I'm gonna give you the best answer I can: I know it when I see it.
There's mobility, and then there's ground cover. Unless the terrain is completely open, like a desert or a grassland, there's going to be undergrowth and debris that should give the NPC at least half-cover from attacks from above. Even a animals know that if someone is attacking them from above, to take shelter from that attacker.And it doesn't matter how much flight is constrained in other contexts; not all opponents I may want to use in a fantasy game are going to be fliers and/or ranged attackers, and that chance increases as the encounters take place outdoors. And no, hyper-mobile PCs don't make this better, they're just a different kind of problem child (and one at least as extreme as a lot of animals and the like are pretty mobile themselves so they'd have to exceed even those).
Who said anything about being forced? If you, personally, don't like the heritages, ban them for your game.Like I said, there are games and campaign types where I don't care, because flight is intrinsically a minor benefit; when most of what you're fighting is going to be ranged attackers, it doesn't matter. That's not what I expect in a typical fantasy game, and I have no interest in being forced into it.