Of flying speeds and super PCs

I played a Dragonborn bard in a 5e campaign that took Dragonwings for his feat at level 4 or 5. Honestly, it was mostly for flavour. Movement speed was the same, didn’t help with combat since he couldn’t hit the broadside of a barn, so hovering 20 feet in the air wouldn’t make a difference. I had discussed with the GM (Qralloq) prior to next game to make sure it wasn’t an issue. We decided to have my character slowly begin transforming into a dragon, as part of his longer storyline, so the wings were a good first step. But it honestly didn’t hinder the gameplay at all.

Interestingly, one of the other players had a problem with it, which was funny since he was a half orc barbarian that dominated any battle and didn’t require any other character’s help.

I play much more for character and story than mechanics, so for me it was just interesting and added to the fun. I personally think that if someone is playing D and D to win, they’re missing the point of role playing.

I think this is really only an issue in the lower levels, hence the Aaracokra hate at level 1. Games starting at higher levels probably don't have this come up.
Having wings but not being able to use them due to character build (no range) is as good as not having them from a mechanical perspective.

I think most of us agree with that.

My PCs fly when they get grappled by gargoyles. Then they ‘fly’ straight down.

Interesting discussion. It's been said here and there, but my $0.02 is that it's just about the kind of game you're playing. The tone, the reality distortion level, the whole atmosphere of the thing.

In supers games, including many that I've run, people are flying like crazy. No biggie! For fantasy, though, I prefer the low variety, mud and blood and such, so the PCs generally don't fly. But there are a lot of other things they don't do as well, because we're striking for something specific in terms of story. This is actually why I don't play 5e (not to make it that discussion) -- the mechanics are fine from what I know of them, but I don't tend to like high fantasy where the PCs are, for example, flying. I know I'd be a drag on what many people are after, so I just avoid playing so I'm not the anchor holding everyone down.

Scuttles back into cave.

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