Race #2: Gnolls

Why wouldn't you want to play a hyena man? Gnolls are a very interesting race to explore as a player character, much like lizardmen who are also similarly savage humanoid monsters based off animals.
The interesting parallel comes in that lizardmen are swamp creatures and Gnolls are seen as desert or Savannah folk. They are some seriously savage monsters who won't hesitate to rip you apart and wander on.

Jung, one of my players, happened to play a Gnoll named Grandius using a wonderful reincarnation table. He had inherited his sorcerer powers from his past life and became a magic-user as well. This is very rare, as most gnolls cannot use magic, so he was seen as highly talented and even given his own hunting party. Through the game he had been playing an evil character already, so giving him the chance to raid a city with a group of his own guys really spiced up the game.

I find Gnolls interesting because they are described as a hunting, slave-trading, vicious race that wanders the wilderness. Not only do they make interesting villains to play as a DM, but playing them can be very interesting whether they are good or evil. In terms of making them as a PC race, they only have a (+1) level adjustment in 3.5, so they aren't as complex.

In terms of benefits they quickly could be built into beefy characters considering they get high bonuses to constitution and strength (+4 in 3.5, and 2 in pathfinder), as well as a natural armor of 1 (that never hurts, lemme tell ya). If you continue to tweak them with pathfinder rules, they could go feral or even get a great bite attack! This could make them great candidates for barbarians or rangers (their favored class).

For me, Gnolls fill the gap of allowing the players to play seriously brutal and bestial characters that wander the world looking for something to keep them full.

The funny thing is that whenever I think of talking hyenas I automatically imagine Lion King :D