Should girls be allowed to play fighter characters

[orsal]

If you're still asking what "girls" should or shouldn't play, you've probably got a whole nuther set of problems.

Ummm...the person who started this thread was obviously referring to herself. Since she didn't tell us her age, I see no reason to doubt that she accurately described (implicitly) herself.

 

[Emperor Valerian]

Definite yes.

The fighter in the campaign I recently finished DMing was played by a female... and was huge fun to interact with. No reason for one gender to be biased towards certain classes.

I'd say if your GM stays fixated on this, get a new one.

 

[Ogre Mage]

Here's a sneaky way of getting around your DM's restriction.

Play a female cleric, perferrably worshipping a (holy) battle-type deity. Give yourself a high strength. Take the strength and war domains. Proceed to run her pretty much like a paladin. As an added bonus, the cleric is actually a much stronger class, so more power to you. Crush evil on the business end of your weapon and listen to their lamentations.

 

[Celtavian]

re

In real life I'm not much for women in combat, but c'mon now, this is a roleplaying game. Sure a female can play a fighter, even in a world where female fighters may not be all that common. There are always the rare exceptions, and fantasy has a long tradition of female fighter-types. Even Lord of the Rings has Eowyn. If your DM has seen the movie, then point her or Jackson's Arwen out as examples of women can fight.

Unless your DM has some rigid reason that has to do with campaign world flavor that disallows females in the fighting profession, then you should be able to play a fighter. In the real world physiological limitations limit the number of women suitable for combat, but that is not the case in fantasy land.

 

[S'mon]

In real life I'm not much for women in combat, but c'mon now, this is a roleplaying game...
...In the real world physiological limitations limit the number of women suitable for combat, but that is not the case in fantasy land.

In my fantasy world physiological limitations _do_ limit the number of women suitable for combat!
I generally assume that average-NPC men & women IMC have the same sort of STR ratio as in the real world, so men are typically around 60% stronger, making the average female STR 7-8.
Of course the female fighters that do exist IMC, being a self-selected minority, tend to be more than usually competent as a result, even though they rarely have STR over 16 (before level mods).

As far as real life goes, I've met lots of female soldiers who seemed like better soldiers than most men, so no problem there.

 

[Khaalis]

In real life I'm not much for women in combat

All I will say is that yer in for a world of fire and brimstone for this one.

 

[Parlan]

Rule 0.

Yeah, Rule 0 s are the DM prerogotive, but the sense I get from her post is that her DM really wants to be running FATAL.

If that s the case RUN!!!

 

[StalkingBlue]

No feeding the troll!

Exactly. Look at the initial poster's user name and think again about probabilities and credibility.

 

[Agemegos]

In the real world physiological limitations limit the number of women suitable for combat, but that is not the case in fantasy land.

Besides which, the GM has forbidden this player to play a fighter because she is female, which has nothing whatsoever to do with the sex of her character.

Forbidding female characters from being fighters might be a realism issue. Forbidding female players from playing fighter characters cannot be, unless there is a house rule forbidding women from playing men. And that would be very unfair in the context.

 

[Silver Moon]

Were your daughter's karate medals in point karate or full-contact?

One was for katas (stances) the other for full-contact. She's a real powerhouse once you get her into her sparring gear. She also participated in the weapons competiton using a bo-stick, finishing 4th (there were alot more competitors in that one, of both genders and with a 4-year range in ages).