To my fair for DnD does imply that all player characters are special and that’s why they can do what they do. Especially when the magical classes. All priests can say the words but only those blessed will manifest the clerical / druidic magics. They are the special ones but still have to learn to power up.
Also it’s not as binary in Dnd. There’s a reason not every NPC is high level regardless of age. Most settings have implied that at a certain point a spellcaster maxes out the spells they can do. All those casters who can do 1st level spells only some are implied to be still learning but others are just as good as they can be.
So there’s isn’t one class that is special but all of them
Dnd works best when its a mix of diverse sources and I personally love to mix the consistency of my sources. This means sometimes (rarely) I have a location or dungeon that draws from a single real world source of inspiration. In my long running campaign that’s a pyramid and ties quests that it almost purely inspired by mesoamerican /aztec underworld myth.
But more often I mix. They attended a bridgerton / pride and prejudice inspired ball that had a kitsune inspired fey who was named after a Flight of the Concords song. It’s fun to mix and match