Again, I get that. I even got on board in the truly ancient days, in basic D&D, where being an elf, dwarf or halfing was a class, meaning that all dwarf PCs were a variant of fighters, and elves were fighter-mages. Halfings were sort of fighter-rouges (if I recall correctly, which I am frankly not sure if I do) and could only advance to level 8. There is even a joke about it in OotS.
http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0748.html
This is a reference to the fact that while halfings couldn't advance past level 8, they (as well as dwarves and elves) could increase their ability to hit with additional XPs.
D&D old-school was weird. Especially at higher levels. I don't know if you have seen the rules for the immortal quests. They are frankly insane.