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

Races #10. Elves

Elves were #10 on my favorite races list, but that still means they are one of my favorites. Elves are my default as a player race, where most others would default to human. I love the mysterious mystical nature of elves, as well as their beautiful and unique appearance. One of the few elves I have actually made was Leorin Treant. He was a rugged rouge who, driven by his religion, hunted down magical artifacts and hunted magic users for a living. He embodied by favored archetype of the magical rouge/fighter, something I think elves do very well.  

In Basic DnD, Elves were given the ability to fight as well as cast spells. This is also true of some retroclones like S+W as well as DCC RPG. The idea that elves can be a decent mix of fighter and magic user must have been very interesting in the years before multiclassing was more viable. Elves also possess valuable and interesting equipment for a party. For example, Elven Bread or Mithral Weapons. I used Elven Bread in my Dungeon World game that ended recently, and one of the elves in my DCC game is packing a valuable (Masterwork) Mithral Sword. The downside of elves is that they are very fragile, so the Level-0 swordsman in my DCC game also has to make due with 2 HP.

I love the racial variety that comes with elves. Drow (Dark Elves) are a common favorite, and my friends have played a fair share of Drow Assassins or vicious thieves. There are almost too many variants, I admit, but sometimes it's interesting to consider the possibilities. There are magic-focused Grey Elves, and the woodland stalking Wood Elves. There are also different versions of High-Elves like the Eladrin. One of the good things from 4e in my opinion were the races. My first character was a dragonborn, and the Eladin's Fey Step just made my younger self giggle with glee as I imagined teleporting around like Nightcrawler from the X-men! One of my friends even asked to play a sea-elf once and it was fairly interesting.

Overall, elves in DnD for me tackle two very important factors. Variety or flexibility, in the case of both the multiple races and the old-school tendency to be a magical fighter. The other factor is the mystical quality of elves. I enjoy playing tricky casters, and I remember playing an Elven Fortune Teller named Cyrus who would use his enchanted cards as weapons as well as do things like open up cartoon-like holes underneath people to trap a group of guards.

I also would like to point out that Link from the Legend of Zelda at least looks like an elf. As a video-game fan it would be strange to leave that out. I've also been watching No Game No Life [right image], and the way the elves look in that anime are just really beautiful and colorful...as elves should be. I don't think I'd say the same for every anime depiction though, since I've heard pretty strange things about this guy from Sword Art Online [left image] (even though I haven't watched it yet).