Dwarven Women: Beards or no Beards?

[Seyrn Lerramir]

Sir Turney
I assume you mean your previous GMs, rather than your current one, right Seyrn?

Yes, yes, putz. Though I didn't ask you if the dwarven women in your game this go 'round have beards
So there!!



And as to the question waaaaaaaaaay up further that attempted to derail the thread... Can elves have beards?

That is a NO.
Technically Drow aren't even supposed to get facial hair. Though one of the more interesting conversations I have ever had about hair and elves was... Since elves are always cited as having no body hair [I prefer saying they have "little to no"]... do they have uh... pubic hair? That question is like the eternal hair question, with the dwarven women beard thing

I am not looking for an answer to it, by the way. Gads, I really don't want to think about it.

 

[Droogie]

Quick! Alert the brute squad...

I'm ON the brute squad.

 

[Droogie]

Yes, yes, putz. Though I didn't ask you if the dwarven women in your game this go 'round have beards
So there!!



And as to the question waaaaaaaaaay up further that attempted to derail the thread... Can elves have beards?

That is a NO.
Technically Drow aren't even supposed to get facial hair. Though one of the more interesting conversations I have ever had about hair and elves was... Since elves are always cited as having no body hair [I prefer saying they have "little to no"]... do they have uh... pubic hair? That question is like the eternal hair question, with the dwarven women beard thing

I am not looking for an answer to it, by the way. Gads, I really don't want to think about it.

I propose that we have dwarf female without beards, and elf females WITH beards. I think Mialee would look great with the ZZ Top look.

 

[Clangador]

I say, stick with default 3e, they have no beards.

 

[Gez]

It could even become a bit of a comparison with elves -- dwarves being as aggressive and strong as the elves are weak and timid. If dwarves have too much man-juices, maybe elves have too much women-juices, they are too much a bad stereotype of a female, all love and nurture without spine or adherence. The elves are as submissive and unassertive, passive. The dwarves are aggressive and tough. The dwarves may be even almost heartless and mechanical as the elves are nurturing and caring.

Hey ! That solve the problem pretty well ! Actually, elves and dwarves are the same race (you just have to read some norse tales to convince you, if you need to, as they are synonyms), the males go to the mines in the mountains, the females go the forest.

This explains why they're always some tension between them, and it also explains why these two races (in fact only one) are constantly dwindling in number, with few babies born.

My next homebrew will be like that.



Otherwise, I'll just want to point out that bearded women exist for real among the human race, here on Earth. It's an anomaly, but it exist. Just have that anomaly more frequent among dwarves (so bearded dwarvettes are not that rare, and rather tolerated) than among other races; but not all dwarven women need to shave to stay bald.

Similarly, bearded (male) elves could exist as well, being an anomaly about as frequent as bearded human women.

 

[Gez]

Since elves are always cited as having no body hair [I prefer saying they have "little to no"]... do they have uh... pubic hair? That question is like the eternal hair question, with the dwarven women beard thing

Here's the famous answer to this question, Candlejack's anatomical remake of the race chart in the PHB.

http://elfwood.lysator.liu.se/loth/e/d/edward2/edward2.html

 

[Bagpuss]

I thought I cleared this one up for everyone last time this question popped up.

Its pretty simple, but it explains all the confusion you folks have about women, do have or don't have beards.

Dwarven women generally don't have facial hair, but when they become pregnant they start to grow one. Its unclear why this came about but some dwarven scholars believe it is a natural defensive mechanism, to help hide the slower less able pregnant dwarves within the clan. This protects them from being singled out by some of the dangerous underground predators.

It does explain why non-dwarves have some confusion over the facial hair of female dwarves.

 

[Horacio]

It does explain why non-dwarves have some confusion over the facial hair of female dwarves.

It's a good theory...

 

[Dragongirl]

Personally, I would have dwarven women have beards. Adds something to the statement from a male dwarf concerning a non-dwarf female "Just missing a beard", "If only she had a beard", etc.

 

[Virginia Wilde]

Both. Remember, they can shave.