Mixing and matching the various races and combos in any RPG game can be more fun than actually playing the characters. Sometimes you get creative and put together something that might not work, and sometimes it doesn't. It can happen in any game, including the granddaddy of all MMORPGs, World of Warcraft.
There are some class and race combinations that just aren't possible, and the Classic version of the game has a few glaring restrictions. Some of which are there for very good reasons. A few of the following combinations have been made real in later expansions and they turned out to make a lot of sense. Others, on the other hand, would either shatter the lore or look just plain silly.
10 Tauren Mage
A Tauren could pore over books for years, don't misunderstand us, but it doesn't really fit in with the wild, natural lifestyle. Taurans don't have a devasting event in their history to keep them away from magic as the Night Elfs do, but it just doesn't fit in with the culture. And even if you did RP a scholarly Tauren successfully, they just don't look good in those robes. The hulking frame of a Tauren looks great in leather and is simply devastating in plate or mail, but draped in linens it just looks like furniture. The gear would be awful, and that alone makes us grateful there is no such thing as a Tauren Mage.
9 Gnome Hunter
The idea wasn't that bad, it's just the aesthetics that didn't work, at least initially. Most pets out there is bigger than a Gnome, for one thing. For another, it doesn't exactly break the lore, but it twists it in a cringeworthy way. Gnomes are the technologically inclined race. They aren't rough people of the wilds, like Taurens, Dwarves or Orcs. A Gnome would build a mechanical pet, not go out into the forest and tame a live one. The popularity of the class, however, compelled Blizard to extend it to virtually every race in later expansions. The Gnome Hunter might be an interesting challenge for the retail WoW player when certain world events have made the storylines more creative, but it doesn't make sense for Classic.
8 Forsaken Druid
What plant can you talk to that isn't dead, hemlock? What kind of crazy looks would an undead get strolling through Moonglade? How hideous would that Bear Form look? Or would a Forsaken Druid be DPS, more like a Night Elf? Wait, this sounds like it could be interesting after all.
It does ask a few pressing questions associated with lore. If there were Human Druids who died, for example, could they rise as Forsaken Druids? Well, we all laughed at the concept Forsaken Hunters back in the day, but considering the animals associated with the dead or occult it turned out just fine in later expansions. We always suspected that Blightcaller was a Hunter, anyway.
7 Anything Bard
Dungeons and Dragons has done a lot to redeem this class and make it interesting, so we have to give them props for that. You have to admit, however, that although the Bard looks great as part of a tabletop game it's tough to make that work on a screen. Then there was that Blizzard April Fool's joke back in 2008 that teased Bards as the next class expansion. All of Hellfire Penninsula broke loose, at last until people noticed the date and realized that Blizzard was playing a joke on us. The electric guitars were also a clue to the prank. Either way, you can't play a bard in Classic WoW, and for good reason.
6 Troll Paladin
Trolls are great warriors. They have a life regeneration buff and they can really rock a set of steel plate. So why not a Paladin? That would be some interesting and unlikely backstory. A Troll dropped in the Scarlet Monastery by an eagle? A Human or Dwarf who takes in a Troll out of pity or ignorance? "I thought it was an ugly Night Elf!" It could be part of some sort of RP challenge but the initial idea for a class race combo is ridiculous. Thrall spent decades with humans but was never exposed to this knowledge. It's a concept that endured in WoW until the Zanadalri Troll race was introduced in patch 8.1.5, part of the Battle for Azeroth expansion.
5 Goblin Tinker
Unlike the other April Fool's joke on this list, this is an impossible Classic class race combination that became a reality after the Cataclysm expansion. Well, almost. To be fair, this was an announcement in 2004 about the RTS game, Warcraft III, and it turned out to be true even though the news was released on April 1st. It seems strange for a Classic player, as the Goblins are a Neutral race are entrenched in the lore and there are plenty of friendly Gnomes to do the same job. Eventually, we got the Goblins as a playable race but the "Tinker" class never materialized since that's just an engineer anyway.
4 Orc Priest
Orcs aren't completely limited when it comes to ranged classes, as their Stamina makes them fine Warlocks and Hunters, but given their size and weapon proficiencies, they were definitely designed as a melee race. That's clear given their options for classes too, with Shaman and Warlock being the only casters, and the former being a combo class. We're not sure how an Orc would learn the ways of a Priest anyway. We've got another wacky orphan-in-the-monastery backstory on our hands, similar to the Troll Paladin or Tauren Mage. Oh yeah, and the robes would look like a Hallowe'en costume or a housecoat on an Orc. So, no Orc priests any time soon, and thank the Light for that.
3 Night Elf Mage
Some class race combos are impossible simply because of the lore, the most glaring example being Night Elf Mages. It's a bit odd to think of Night Elves as bookish folks in the first place, but there's a chilling reason for that. After the Cataclysm expansion, the combination opened up with a twist in the world lore that brought the Night Elf Mages out of hiding. It seemed funny to the rest of Azeroth, but the Night Elves weren't laughing.
These existed as NPCs in Classic World of Warcraft and they were known as the Highborne, but were not playable. Only certain races and classes ever came into contact with them in their hidden enclaves and learned any of their lore. Recent expansions in the retail World of Warcraft have delved more deeply into these storylines, explaining the fall of Queen Azshara and her nefarious deal with the old gods.
2 Human Shaman or Druid
What's so silly about this? It's that we have them in real life but they can't exist in Warcraft. Wait, what? How did that happen? That's right, the only race combo that actually exists in RL is considered an insane impossibility in Azeroth, at least as far as playable races go. Not just in Classic but throughout the expansions and into today's WoW. Eventually, Night Elves could be Mages and Taurens can be Paladins, but this restriction is still firmly entrenched in the game.
1 Naga Anything
Once upon a time, there was a possibility of the Naga being a playable race. from a lore standpoint, it could make sense. Similar to the Trolls, there are different groups of Naga, and it's possible that at least one would ally themselves with either the Alliance or Horde. A few tweaks in the lore and players could venture into Azeroth as Naga. So, the problem wasn't with the storyline, it was the issues with the design. How would certain types of gear look on the Naga? What kind of mount could they ride? The kodo wouldn't like it any more than they would. More involved in the lore, sure, but never likely a playable race.