D&D 5E Inappropriate breasts on female monsters

[I'm A Banana]

Does it bug you when creatures that logically shouldn't have breasts are illustrated with them in D&D art?

Not really.

In the previous edition, Dragonborn, Minotaurs and Shard born females were all given breasts, even though Dragonborn are reptilian, Minotaurs would logically have udders, and Shard born aren't even biological. I think monsters and PC races should only be drawn with breasts if: 1) they would logically have them, or 2) they are traditionally depicted as having them. What do you think...?

1) "Logic" isn't really a good argument in a game with dragon-people, mythological beings, and animate crystal people. None of those things are logical to begin with.

2) Those things in 4e are all PC races. When you play a character, it should be identifiable to you. Female players who play minotaurs and who want to do so as female minotaurs shouldn't have to imagine some totally alien anatomy every time they want to climb a ladder. Characters are also often representations of aspects of the player, so having human gender signifiers is important because the players have those signifiers.

It's fine. More than fine.

 

[Vic Ferrari]

It's never come up, but, lizard-folk have never had breasts, as far as I know, so the only problem would be dragonborn and shardminds, but I have yet to see either in action (which I am grateful for).

 

[Vic Ferrari]

1) "Logic" isn't really a good argument in a game with dragon-people, mythological beings, and animate crystal people. None of those things are logical to begin with.

This excuse has never sat right with me, just because you are playing a fantasy game does not mean you have to get completely absurd, some basis/grounding in reality I find can enhance the "fantasy" experience.

 

[Viking Bastard]

This excuse has never sat right with me, just because you are playing a fantasy game does not mean you have to get completely absurd, some basis/grounding in reality I find can enhance the "fantasy" experience.

I agree with your disagreement on "logic" not mattering in fantasy--creating a believable fantasy setting, be it in fiction or play, requires heavy amounts of logic.

With that said, I don't think logic (especially high fantasy logic) has anything to do with "realism". More than not, I think the "realisms" in D&D tend to break down once you bring logic into it.

 

[Paraxis]

This excuse has never sat right with me, just because you are playing a fantasy game does not mean you have to get completely absurd, some basis/grounding in reality I find can enhance the "fantasy" experience.

To me the reality of a fantasy world is not science but magic, in my D&D worlds evolution is not a thing. The gods made the humans, elves, dwarves, etc..

Dragons or dragon gods made the dragonborn, so the breasts are there because they wanted them there not because of biology. Dragonborn might produce milk they might not, to me it doesn't matter the reason for why the dragons made dragonborn females with breasts could just be purely for looks.

When the creation stories of dwarves include being forged by Moradin and this is a fact that you can commune with Moradin and confirm, you don't need to ask questions about biology why do dwarves have X or Y, it all comes down to because the god Moradin created them that way.

 

[Vic Ferrari]

To me the reality of a fantasy world is not science but magic, in my D&D worlds evolution is not a thing.

Ah, right on, but in some, like FR, evolution is a thing (as well as magic).

 

[Sadras]

How is this ridiculous (IMO) thread getting so much traction. Is it merely the s' allure of the word "boob"?

 

[Nellisir]

please hold for further content

 

[mcbobbo]

Gamers often forget that the game is intended for use by modern humans, and so the norms of the time outweigh a lot of other factors.

What good is your biologically accurate game if nobody buys it?

Remember the quote where WotC said they tested it with focus groups? That's the /thread, right there, in my view. If you want to change the majority view of society and then have them retest it, then by all means do. But let's not get the cart before the horse.

 

[Paraxis]

How is this ridiculous (IMO) thread getting so much traction. Is it merely the s' allure of the word "boob"?

I believe the answer is, Yes!

But yeah art is great to argue about because it is entirely subjective to the viewer, there are master pieces that sell for millions of dollars I would not hang in my bathroom, there are some album covers I would frame and put on display in my living room.

Past the whole art thing, the discussion about sexism is good to have but in this case it does seem like there is good arguments on both sides so no real headway can be made there either.

Then we get into the whole biology/science vs magic thing and that is completely up to individual DM's and their worlds so back to the whole art is subjective thing, in this case the art being the created fantasy world.

In the end on this topic no one is right or wrong, those are the threads that can stretch on and on.

But yeah boobs.