D&D General [+] More Robust 'Fantasy Race' Mechanics for D&D-alikes / Redeeming 'Race as Class' for Modern D&D [+]

[sevenbastard]

Original Halfling class in B/X was more Fighter than Thief. -1 STR

B/X didn't have ability score modifiers for races as they were classes. You could play a halfling with 18 str if you rolled it (or lowered your wisdom or intelligence to boost it).

Halflings in B/X were strong ranged fighters +1 to hit on all missile weapons. More importantly because Dex was a prime request they could raise it by lowering Int or Wis so you could pump up your Dex to get even better to hit bonus.

Halfling weirdly become the default archer of B/X a stereotype not seen in other versions of D&D. Because the short bow does the same damage as a long bow in the game and elves have no special rules with bows, the halfling is great for that role.

They also make good scouts because they are hard to spot in the wilderness. If anything they are a Ranger.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Monte Cook's Unearthed Arcana and even more so Arcana Evolved also featured racial classes and paragon classes. Most noteworthy there might be the Giants, who would even grow to large size, and Faen, who could change into flying Sprytes.
Eberron also had a kind of "racial-adjacent" feature with its Dragonmarks.

I would want to avoid "species" related features as classes, unless there is something more specific to the species. But in 4E speak, I liked them as Paragon Paths and Epic Destinies that happened parallel to your class. Pathfinder's 2E approach with racial feats also kinda speaks to me. Also the idea of 4E that each species might add its own theme to a class.
Sure, Elves and Humans can both be Wizards, but maybe Human Wizards do things a bit differently than Elven Wizards. Maybe Humans focus on adaptability and maybe can choose a human class feature for the Wizard that speaks to that (maybe they can use a short rest to change a prepared spell), while Elven Wizards maybe have access to some kind of "Elven Secrets" that adds some spells to their spellbook, or heck, maybe it's more like a bonus to knowledge-related checks because even the youngest Elves have acccess to people with vastly longer lives than most humans and so will have heard more varied stories. It might be optional features because the Elf or Human might not have chosen to focus on this in their studies and rather take something more regular, or they didn't have the opportunity.