I am happy to hear that people prefer grounded characters. Nothing is special and unique when everything is special and unique, this is the great failing of Pathfinder, most MMO's and the growing direction of D&D. I have to be honest, the tremendous number of Tieflings in that starter town doesn't bother me, but the fact that they are just plain humans who look different does. I found that to be pretty uninteresting.
Any time you write a character, you need to ask why it can't be a human. If you can't justify it, you're making the special race you chose less interesting as a whole.
Fantasy works best when the consumer's perspective is given some normalcy to explore an abnormal world. When the consumer, be it reader, viewer, or player is already the most special and unique thing about the setting, there's nothing terribly interesting left to tell as far as a story goes. That's why grounded protagonists are better, and why you're going to see more grounded characters.
