So everyone knows races like elves, dwarves, hobbits/halflings, orcs, mermaids, etc. and creatures like unicorns, dragons, pegasi, griffins (gryffins? gryphons?) and such, but they're kind of stale because that's all that's ever used in fantasy.

What's your favorite uncommon or lesser known fantasy race, like wulvers or nagas? What's your favorite uncommon or lesser known fantasy creature, like chupacabras or phookas?

I retract my statement.

I don't think I have an uncommon favorite race because I love plain old dark elves but, regarding creatures, I am quite fond of the manticore.

And Kelpies of course, lol I even have the Pet with that name one here so I guess I like them

Gremlins.

Everyone remembers them as the critters from the 80s movies, but the myth of gremlins goes back to WWII, where they were some kind of fae creature (similar in concept to boggarts or brownies) that sabotaged airplanes and other tech. MYTHICAL CREATURES FOR THE MODERN AGE, MAN.

i'm like... so basic??? extra??? so i don't know many less common fantasy races tbh! I love those over-used tropes lmao gimme the pegasus !! i'll take another mermaid story!

hmm so i've been thinking and for race i guess i'd go for something like adventure time's candy people??? does that even count lol ? living candy creatures just going about their daily lives?? what's not to like! plus, i can relate to them because they have "a love for parties [...] and a tendency to explode when they are frightened." SAME

as for a creature specifically, i love the chimaera~

"Descriptions agree that she breathed fire. The Chimera is generally considered to have been female [...] Sighting the Chimera was an omen of storms, shipwrecks, and natural disasters (particularly volcanoes)."

dope

XENOMORPH!! ❤️ (do they count? haha) Selkie, Wendigo, Nogitsune ... I'd list a lot tbh. Whenever I see them in stories/legends etc, I get all tingly and excited haha.

For races, I like household spirits like brownies or hobs. Helpful if you're nice to them, but if you offend they can get real annoying, real quick.

For creature, maybe the Kelpie. Appears as a beautiful horse (or sometimes a beautiful woman), lures a human onto its back, then hauls ass to its home river where it then drowns and devours the unfortunate human.

My favorite lesser-known mythical creature is the cockatrice. It is a rooster that has the wings of a bat, tail or body of a snake (sometimes it's a snake with a rooster's head!), and the deadly gaze of the mythical basilisk.

I think that kirin are pretty cool. They're sort of like a cross between a dragon and a unicorn. They have a scaly body and a single horn/antler on their head.

In a book series I read a while back there were Yuan-ti and I thought they were really cool

Race-wise I love Drow, but those are becoming quite a bit more mainstream lately, so I guess I'll go with Lizardfolk. I certainly love me some lizardfolk, yum yum.

As for creatures, I'd have to say the Bandersnatch and the Wyvern are my absolute favourites.

Race-wise, I love hippocampi and various youkai, especially Tsuchinoko and Karakasa.

When it comes to solo creatures, hands down my favorite is the Flatwoods Monster, my favorite all-time cryptid. X3

Omg lamiaaassss. I friggun love lamias. And doppelgangers.

Jackalopes. Mmm, and mandagots/matagots.

Sirens and Harpies

And a lot of the lesser known and unique creatures from the Witcher series.

But main stream I love Griffins.... ;;