Your giving like a .01% chance of that actually happening

This is a 100% chance if it's what a player wrote, though. It's not like a die is being rolled - the examples occur in the world because they were written down, they are part of a backstory. You've never played a PC that was exceptional in some way?

Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones, a thousand other fantasy books new and old - they're always about groups of characters who are extraordinary, who are rare and unusual and stand above their fellows. In games I run, I want to see characters who are compelling, evocative, and have unique traits and stories. I would actually step in if someone wanted to be a "generic" character because this is a game about heroic adventurers, not town guards and ordinary huntsmen.