Just because you didn't, doesn't mean that nobody else doesn't.
And let's be honest: What wizard doesn't get a spell that basically trivializes any terrain based challenge? Either from getting it by leveling up or by buying/finding a scroll and copying that into their spellbook?
Most Wizards I have played with do not have this spell either prepared or in their book and the reason why is Wizards almost universally want Fireball and Counterspell. After that either Fear or Hypnotic Pattern. Then finally Haste, Lightning Bolt, Lemund's Tiny Hut.
All these spells are WAY more popular than Fly (even though a few of them shouldn't be) and if you want to get them you aren't getting fly, especially at 5th level used in the example.
That is not to say a Wizard can't have fly and if she knows there will be a lot of cliffs maybe she picks it and is able to minimize that adventure (or maybe she just plays an AAracora if she knows this ahead of time).
The point is Wizards are not routinely doing that. I think in the 7 years I have been playing 5E I have never had a PC Wizard cast fly to overcome an obstacle like this. I have had an NPC cast it on party members, but never a party Wizard, and there have been plenty of cliffs, castles, buildings etc that we have had in game. Usually we teleport up them through some fashion, or climb them.
And if the Wizard is doing that at 5th level then she isn't also Fireballing the horde of orcs and Counterspelling the enemy Efreet once she gets into the caves at the top of the cliff.
Yeah, there's always an archer parking themselves around every cliff/gorge that exists just to shoot anybody who casts Fly down.
No not always, but it can be devastating when it is. There are many ways to fly in the game, this is not one of the better ones.
Then the Druid gets shot by the same archer that's hiding near the cliff. Not only that, but because the bird they're turning into probably doesn't have a lot of health, they are now guaranteed to be plummeting to their death, rather than having to make an easy save that any spellcaster worth their salt is gonna have things to help them pass that save, like high Constitution, Proficiency in Constitution saves from Resilient, and/or just straight up advantage on concentration saves from War Caster.
A Quitzalcoutlus has 30hps, Giant Eagle has 26. A single arcer is not going to drop him to his death and if there is a platoon of Archers, then sure they might, but they also might drop the 5th level Wizard to 0 as well since he probably has about the same number of hps .... and that is in addition to making him pass a bunch of concentration saves.
Driving concentration higher than 16 in a point buy game, or getting resilient or War Caster are all going to mean he has less spells to prepare, and a lower save DC, meaning even less "godlike" things he can do, and all of these things combined will still not ensure succcess on a concentration save at 5th level.
If your 5th level wizard started as a custom race for Resilient and an 18 con, then picked up warcaster as his feat at 4th level, then you will be a weak spellcaster. The party warlock, sorcerer or even Bard are going to be better than you will be in combat and you will have a lower AC to boot.
And on choosing a race that gets a flying speed, you must not be aware of the occasional kerfuffles that happen whenever a player chooses to be an Aaracokra, the only race that gets a flight speed at 1st level (that I'm aware of, at least).
Aaracokra, Fairy, Owlin and Variant Tiefling all have flight at 1st level.
And when it comes to the other races that can get a flight speed, tell me the average level that they get that flight speed, because I can guarantee you it's at or around the same level that spellcasters can start casting Fly.
The four races above get it at 1st level. The only other official race I can recall that has flight is the protector celestial which gets it at 3rd level. All of these are earlier than a Wizard can get fly.
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