D&D General Should Bearded Female Dwarves be the Default?

[Parmandur]

Oh, they have mammary glands. They don't have breasts, per se. But the glands are there - they just release milk out of pores, rather than nipples.

Right, I misspoke. Just saying, the 4E Dragonborn...thing...just gets weirder and weirder when thought about with any sort of critical approach.

 

[Umbran]

And I've looked up images of women rocking the mullet, so it's a dwarven option now!

So... dwarven women can tend to look like women hard rock stars of the 80s? That's not a bad option at all.

 

[BookBarbarian]

I don't need a default here. If a player playing a female dwarf wants a beard cool. No beard also cool. Likewise Dragonborn having breasts or not. It's no skin off my nose either way.

I don't see any value in world building those details unless the player wants to go on a quest to discover why Female Dwarves/Dragonborn have or don't have beards/breasts.

 

[Umbran]

Right, I misspoke. Just saying, the 4E Dragonborn...thing...just gets weirder and weirder when thought about with any sort of critical approach.

Well... you're stuck worrying about this "evolution" stuff. If you are thinking evolution, then you have to go back to synapsid "mammal-like reptiles".

But, if you think "fantasy race created by a god", then... Bahamut had a really interesting mental state one day and pop! Dragonborne!

 

[Parmandur]

Well... you're stuck worrying about this "evolution" stuff. If you are thinking evolution, then you have to go back to synapsid "mammal-like reptiles".

But, if you think "fantasy race created by a god", then... Bahamut had a really interesting mental state one day and pop! Dragonborne!

Oh, that's not in particular a problem for me to get my headspace in per se. However, it does hurt my suspension of disbelief slightly to imagine Bahumat as an Otaku...

 

[aco175]

Dragonborn aren't reptiles. They're actually most closely related to the duck-billed platypus!

That's a right sexy character concept.

My games never really get into all of this and it falls to the player to describe his PC. About the only thing we have kept is that halflings are more hobbit and less (4e) 9-yer-olds.

 

[Weiley31]

So... dwarven women can tend to look like women hard rock stars of the 80s? That's not a bad option at all.

I'M STEALING THIS IDEA!!!

 

[Urriak Uruk]

Good thing Perkins and I can always agree to disagree. I.E. take the good lore bits of 4E and keep them in my 5E games.

This honestly made me lol... the idea that dragonborn having breasts is "lore."

To respond to the OP, I believe that in Lord of the Rings dwarf women have beards (unless that's just a thing from the films).

It's only since World of Warcraft impact on fantasy that beardless dwarves has become a thing.

As to how it matters to me... I think I'd leave dwarf women capable of growing beards, but that it is more of a fashion choice to whether they actually grow one or not. Leaves both options available for players, and more NPC options for me.

 

[cbwjm]

My default is no beard for dwarf women but honestly, it's never come up.

 

[The Crimson Binome]

I'm not down with defining any species as intentionally counter to modern perceptions of cool. It tends to turn the whole species into a joke.

That being said, cool is in the eye of the beholder, and is something for consideration by the worldbuilder. If someone wants to pitch this as something other than a joke in their own setting, then it's up to them to sell it.