played card and switching races

[Andrew Hackard]

Dwarf is a Race and Thief is a Class, so you could have both in play anyway.

However, if you want to discard your Dwarf card, you can turn any Dwarf-only Items sideways to indicate that they are being carried but are not currently equipped (thus not giving you any bonus or abilities on that card). That's actually true for ANY Item card; if you have two Armors but can only wear one, you can turn the other one sideways. You cannot pull it back into your hand; once a card is played to the table, it can't be unplayed like that.

The only limit in the rules about Item cards in play is the one-Big Item limit. In general, Doors can't be played sideways like Treasures (and specifically Items) can, so you can't "reserve" an Elf to replace your Dwarf, as an example.