We are boring with only PHB races, and even then there only may be a Tiefling or Dragonborn every 5-6 parties. Generally in 4e/5e a human or two, an elf or half-elf and a halfling or dwarf.
You can still get plenty weird with just PHB races in some editions, especially 3.5Ed.
…and someone like me.
After playing most of the stereotypical race/class combinations over the past 42+ years, as often as not, these days I start looking at the wrinkles in the resources available during PC creation. Despite a long history of creating elvish PCs, as well as things like Drow, Minotaurs, Githzerai, and 2-headed Hengeyokai, 4 of my last 3.5Ed PCs were human.
They were
weird because of their class/feat combinations.
1) A multiclassed Specialist Diviner based on Indiana Jones. He used a whip as a main weapon. I had to retire the PC when several players moved out of state, leaving us with a multiclassed dwarf fighter/cleric as our sole healer. In RttToEE…and he had only one level of cleric. (He was replaced by #4 below.)
2) an Int-based “Arcane Paladin”. Using the Marshall class as a base and the Knowledge Devotion feat, he had radiant powers and could effectively smite anything the party encountered.
3) a lightning-obsesses beefcake sorcerer with (blue) Draconic heritage feats. He wore scale mail and used a maul. He didn’t cast spells in combat, he used his lightning breath instead. Spells were generally for non-combat purposes.
4) a Geomancer. He was based on DC comics’ Swamp Thing: took all the plant-based Drift options. He used the first version of Sacred Healing* to channel Turn Undead attempts into AoE fast healing for most of the damage mitigation. When the campaign ended, he was on the cusp of taking Brew Potions to grow healing tubers from his body…
* and before doing so, contacted WotC CustServ about whether it had been replaced by the version that appeared later. They responded that it had not- they were two different feats that had the same name, due to an editorial goof.
