Mechanical Gender Imbalance issues

[System Ufera]

Hello, everyone. I've already posted a topic with the same goal on the Wizards of the Coast Forums, but no one has replied to that thread, so I'll copy and paste the contents of my thread here in hopes that someone can help me.

In designing the game I've been designing for a long time now, I've designed a race which would, unfortunately, strictly (albeit very marginally) favor one gender over the other mechanically. The reason they are imbalanced is due to flavor; as a marsupial race, the females would have pouches, mechanically giving them free and permanent access to a utility belt. While the actual utility belt as an item is extremely useful (it allows quick access to items without having to dig through a backpack), it is also quite inexpensive - as of now, it costs 3 gold coins to buy in a game where even low-level adventurers can expect to be individually paid several hundred gold coins per "mission." As such, I'm torn between three obvious options, detailed below.

1. I could take away any mechanical impact of the pouches by saying that, under normal circumstances, they're too tight to use for storage, and the only time they wouldn't be too tight would be after giving birth. Pro: It gets rid of the imbalance. Cons: The way it works is inelegant and lazy, and it makes the race's physical appearance feel almost entirely arbitrary.

2. I could leave the race the way it is, and simply count on there being players willing to play male members of this race due to the ease of replicating the trait making its imbalancing effect marginal. Pro: It would leave the flavor of the race intact and allow the mechanics to sensibly reflect the flavor; it would also be extremely easy for the males to "catch up" to their female counterparts. Con: The two genders would still be imbalanced, even if marginally so.

3. I could give the males their own beneficial trait that only they get. Pros: It would make the race more interesting, and more importantly get rid of the imbalance. Cons: It would be difficult to come up with a flavor-friendly trait for the males at all, let alone one which would be as marginal as the pouches.

My idea for which option I should take shifts a lot (I'm kind of favoring option 2 right now), given the fact that I seem unable to justify any one over any other to any significant degree.

For those who want more information on the race itself, it would be good for me to upload the race's in-game info as an attachment. This attachment will have mechanical information, the impact of which will not be understood due to my game having not been released yet, but it will also have flavor-type information, which could be useful.

 

[Dice4Hire]

I would say that the difference you detailed is too small to make any real difference.

I would have no problem with the males being disadvantaged to the extent of 3 gold.

 

[Lord Pendragon]

While I might personally be inclined to brainstorm something small and interesting for the males I agree that a 3g difference is so miniscule I doubt you'd encounter any problems just leaving it imbalanced.

 

[ComradeGnull]

I don't think the mechanical imbalance is enough to be worth mentioning. That being said, I'm skeptical of how useful the pouch of a quasi-marsupial race would be for storage- things could get a bit sticky or mucousy in there (which is true in kangaroos). The pouch would be a bit tender to be putting pointy, sharp, or dense/heavy objects in- there are nipples inside a pouch, so likely a female would not want to put anything in there that a human female wouldn't want to keep in her bra.

If you still think that the advantage is too much, you might develop the culture of the race to include a taboo on using the pouch for utilitarian purposes. It is intimately involved in childbirth and reproduction, and would likely be the subject of the same sort of traditions that the reproductive organs and breasts are subject to in humans- a member of the species might find it very embarrassing to expose the opening of the pouch to the general public, or might just regard stashing something there as comperable to kiestering something among humans- something that smugglers and criminals will do in extremis, but not the sort of place where the average person stores their wallet and ID.

 

[Leviatham]

Why not give pouches to both genders?

Even if it is the female who carries out the pregnancy and delivery, there is no reason why the males can't look after the kids once they're born.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

A marsupial's pouch is basically a baby/nipple holster. I don't think it'd be useful for anything else. It's probably too sensitive and filled with mucus to be useful for holding anything.

 

[System Ufera]

Ah, I didn't even consider the fact that the pouch might be more sensitive or filled with mucus. Then again, I'm no zoologist... The way I've designed this race so far, the breasts would be located in the same place as on a human, so the interior of the pouch probably wouldn't be near as sensitive. As for the mucus, I suppose I could say that only certain things could be put inside without becoming damaged or destroyed.

The cultural taboo is a very good idea, though I'm not exactly sure if or how it could be applied. The game's setting is such that, in civilized lands, the population is pretty diverse and integrated in regards to race, and so, while the races might still have different tendencies, there isn't any real "culture" that is unique to any race in civilized lands. I suppose an individual Poruqe female would see the attitudes toward nudity that her respective native culture would have, and the more conservative Poruqe would avoid stashing stuff in her pouch, but the other races wouldn't really be too concerned about it, as they wouldn't see the pouch as anything inherently sexual.

The Poruqe, as described in the attachment, are obsessed with beauty; however, even though their definitions of beauty may vary from individual to individual, a lot of Poruqe would learn from their cultures that physical attractiveness would be considered something beautiful, and their definitions of such attractiveness would probably be based on their native culture. As such, the use of pouches could vary from culture to culture, depending on ow conservative the culture is question is.

 

[Umbran]

It's probably too sensitive and filled with mucus to be useful for holding anything.

Have you ever seen a young kangaroo bopping in and out of its mother's pouch. They continue to do so even after they are quite large...

1) They don't come out covered in mucus - so, the pouch isn't filled with it.

2) If they're that sensitive, well, them mother kangaroos are in intense pain a whole lot of the time.

 

[B.T.]

Wow, I'm not liking the attitudes in this thread. In the system you've proposed, there is a huge amount of female privilege on display, and I'm not comfortable with the wider implications of this blatant sexism in the gaming community. As a male gamer, I'm feeling marginalized, othered, and silenced by your design choices. Social scientists have proven that gender is a social construct, so putting in mechanical design decisions that invalidate this merely perpetuates social violence against men.

Seriously, people? Seriously?















I'm just playing. Leave the pouch as-is and don't worry about it.

 

[renau1g]

Wow, I'm not liking the attitudes in this thread. In the system you've proposed, there is a huge amount of female privilege on display, and I'm not comfortable with the wider implications of this blatant sexism in the gaming community. As a male gamer, I'm feeling marginalized, othered, and silenced by your design choices. Social scientists have proven that gender is a social construct, so putting in mechanical design decisions that invalidate this merely perpetuates social violence against men.

Seriously, people? Seriously?

What !?!?!?! RAWR!!! how dare you insult women this way after years of fighting for equality in RPG's, just look at the chainmail bras they were sent forth to do battle in while their male counterparts covered all of their appendages with mail.

I'm just playing. Leave the pouch as-is and don't worry about it.

Oh well then, I'll calm down


.....

And actually contributing something to the OP, with such a small bonus and one that is easily attained (likely even with starting wealth), I see no real need to change, although as others have said, you could allow males to have it also.