A big problem i have with a lot of fantasy is that other races are just humans but better, they need to have actual downsides and be unique.

Like humans are really good at travelling and physically adapting to conditions:
A reasonably fit person can basically walk nonstop and can jog for a very long time without issue, and we can both survive on tiny amounts of food and make use of all the nutrients in a modern diet (if we actually excercise, that is), just look at the difference between a marathon runner and a strongman!

Other species should not necessarily be equally capable of things, some examples that make sense to me:
Dwarves are short and stocky, and just always pack on tons of muscle, so they’re kinda terrible at travelling on foot and can’t handle starvation at all. Dwarves rely wholly on building cities, hence all the mountain cities since those last basically forever and can simply be expanded indefinitely. Elves struggle to put on muscle and aren’t even very good at running, but they need so extremely little food and water and sleep that a packpack full of supplies will let them straight up walk 2 days with barely any rest. Unsurprisingly they’re nomadic!
Orcs are more similar to humans, but are much better at putting on muscle and struggle to shed it without hurting themselves. They can be slim but it’s common especially for young men to go full ogre-mode and regret it later in life. Much like in the elder scrolls they quite like living in small tribes, and rely on rapid reproduction and trading people between tribes to adapt to changing environments.

etc etc, and you can also get into mental differences, like maybe humans are the only ones that have the innate sense of how projectiles will travel, but on the other hand dwarves find maths so hilariously easy that they’d consider ramanujan “somewhat talented”…

When I left the cesspool of shit that Reddit became, I didn’t miss much. Only two subreddits still make me think about going back. One is /r/HFY (Humanity, Fuck Yeah) which is full of stories of humans being fucking amazing and scary to other races.

https://injuries-in-dust.tumblr.com/post/185290161126/injuries-in-dust-give-a-bored-human-a

For some people, “normal human but with fantastic (class-based) capabilities” is exactly the kind of fantasy they want to live. Not me though, I’m gonna make a halfling paladin and name her Fazzy Mentan.

This is not that far off from the Tumblr threads about Humans being space orcs or Humans in Star Trek being the most dangerous and unpredictable race.

If the interesting thing about your character is that they’re not human, you don’t have an interesting character. Fite me.

Love playing humans. The answer to your problem isn’t on your character sheet, it’s in the world. Poke things with sticks, throw dust in the air, tinker.

Yes I hate 5e and refuse to run it.

Dungeon Meshi is an anime that’s pretty close to your default D&D setting, but with more food focus over epic quests and battles (which are still there). There are 2 human fighters in the show, and both of them are their own flavor of extremely weird and original.

When I was still a fairly small human, giving me a screwdriver was a great way to find disassembled appliances (and a somehow-not-electrocuted gradeschooler).