How are 5e player races balanced? And can Sprites be playable?

[Man_Over_Game]

I mean, you could potentially play a Chainpact Warlock and get a Sprite familiar and then play the familiar as your PC and the Warlock as a follower or minion, but that requires starting at 3rd level.

Not quite. Someone gave the idea of playing a Warforged with a fairy inside. The fairy was too injured to leave the vessel until she was able to enhance her vessel's capabilities, which happened at level 3.