???
Why the heck would all else be equal? That's a nonsensical opinion because learning that trick isn't free. It's as hard or difficult as a game or setting makes it. If you takes you 20 years of practice to learn it, but someone can be an expert warrior in 3, well, who is more powerful? I don't think it's "bird guy".
D&D arbitrarily (this is a very important word here) makes arcane magic ridiculously over-the-top versatile, able do literally anything, because it wasn't designed, it doesn't have any kind of consistent rationale or theory or way of operating behind it, and essentially isn't even a "magic system", it's just a totally random and disconnected pile of totally unrelated powers that various people in the 1980s thought would let them "win at dungeons" so convinced DMs to give them. Hell half the spells added in the 1990s are obviously ill-conceived cheese from people's campaigns, often obviously designed to make GMPCs nigh-invulnerable. There's no logic, there's no system, there's no theme, there's just "PILE ON THE OPTIONS! THERE'S NO LIMIT!!!".
5E dialled that back a bit, but still fundamentally treats arcane magic is a sacred cow, and includes loads of spells that just should be deleted from D&D, either because they serve little to no purpose, or because they just make arcane magic too broad in its functionality.
TLDR: The whole thing is a hangover from people trying to cheat at dungeons in the 1980s and make OP GMPCs in the 1990s.
