mage hand requiring a short rest to resummon might be because you are using the gith racial?

Nope. Wizard and bard cantrips.

Since you mention it, though, I think the Gith's psionic Mage Hand is a cantrip in 5e. Did it require a rest in some past edition?

Feather fall now is a ritual spell so you can cast it before combat and it will last all of combat. It’s just different from the tabletop game.

I'll have to try that; thanks. It would still be an annoying extra step and wouldn't cover surprise situations as the spell is intended, but would at least be more useful than it seemed.

In any case, it's not just those two examples. The point is that a surprising number of little things like these are broken, either by departing from D&D rules in ways that don't make sense or by just plain failing to do what their in-game descriptions say.

I have found one example of departing from 5e rules in a way that does make sense, though, so it's not all bad.