MoonSong
Rules-lawyering drama queen but not a munchkin
I think the main argument for males being stronger than females is "all things being equal (genetics, nutrition and level and kind of training) males are stronger/Taller/bigger than females just by the mere fact they run on testosterone" Which however has no place on a system such as D&D, were PC's are on average better-than-averege and not common folk and the system is so abstract on that regard the difference becomes too fidly to be worthy, (really Str 20 halfling barbarians lifting a mountain by mundane means brakes my suspension of disbeleif much more than such).
And beyond that appereance and gender have so far being only flavor of the character, and IMO gender and ethnicity should remain on that realm -flavor- If you want to make a female PC that goes toe to toe with Connan and even better trash the floor with him, you should be free to do so, if you want a ""realistic female PC"" (understood as 'weaker than men') just don't put every single bonus you can put your hands on into Strenght and you are free to go, we don't need nor should have such modifiers, this kind of argument belong in the personal level (If anybody needs to really imposse his/her views on the other people on the table, or worse at other tables, there are worse issues at hand than a fiddly +1 on STR or a gender cap on it, note I cannot stress it hard enough I don't advocate for that kind of things*)
On the art side, I really really wish this new edition has more sensible depictions of female warriors, one chainmail bikini or one belly button showing from time to time could be passable if it is in the right context, but not on the cover and certainly not at the expense of sexualizing every single depiction of a female in armor. (this also applies to women without armor, no cheesecake for cheesecake sake please). I really wish for the art and writing on the new edition to abstain as much as possible from oversexed depictions and from touching sexuality at all, we want this game to be kid friendly, to be played by children, adult themes belong somewhere else, D&D should be a game parents can play with their children without fear of having to answer difficult questions they aren't preppared to discuss with their kids yet. Oversexed depictions belong into campaign settings and niche products aimed at a mature audience (and third party most likely), sexuality and stuff can easily be added back by tables that want it (and which memebers are old enough to vote and buy beer), but cannot be removed by parents who would rather not give to their kids than go the extra mile to make it appropriate for them.
I'm less concerned with the ethnic diversity angle, however this may come from the fact I was born and raised in a country were people is so diverse we might as well be homogeneous in practice, we don't really tend to think of people on "racial" grounds, so really not having "a latino role model to identify with in this game of pretend elves" isn't a major concern, as say "this book is written on a mainstream language I was forced to learn at the expense of my mother tongue in order to get any education at all or worse in a foreign language I'm barely capable of understand because public education just sucks so hard". I'm not saying my country is free from discrimination, actually the opossite but it is mostly focussed on other socioeconomic fronts, place of origin, wealth level, education level, discapacities or not, age, social class, gender all of that plays a heavier role into it.
*Yes even when one rpg I'm writing seems to go against this opinion. But it is more on the simulation side than typical D&D and it tries to depict common joes or even lower than average people against overwhelming odds. On that game heritage and gender do play a part on the way the character grows (though not at all on abilty scores per se, those are unaffected), with males needing 1 less instance of exp to improve strength and strength related skills and being able to choose to be one size bigger than average, while females need 1 less instance of xp to improve Fitness (Constitution) and fitness related abilities, being able to choose to be one size smaller than average and having their body hit points doubled, but those are pretty minor differences, at certain point it makes no difference if you need 9,999 or 10,000 exp to have a chance to improve your str.(in other words that +1 only means you hit the cap slighty faster) And having a bigger size does bring a few extra hit points and the chance to wield bigger weapons (which are more expensive), but a bigger character needs bigger armor (which is more expensive) and has a worse time hiding, jumping or that kind of things (compounded because bigger armor is also heavier), and finally +1 pales in comparison to the +8 one can get from having the right heritage or the +3 that comes from the right affinities, or the +20 straight to strength one can get just from being lucky and be that 0.001% who has the super strength boon. Gender would be otherwise purely superficial, but with the myriad of gender changing effects that ended up happening in the system, it had to mean something mechanically or that stuff would become pure fluff, reducing fairness overall. Oh and the heritage isn't related at all at to any modern ethnicity instead it is related to the chance you'll be stronger, faster, healtier, more apt to channel magics or to suddenly sprout wings and become an incorporeal-eternal being. In other words here humans are hybrids of a myriad of true subespecies with deep differences that go beyond skin, eye and hair color -such ethnic differences are pretty recent and superficial on the biologic side and have a heavy cultural bagagge-.
And beyond that appereance and gender have so far being only flavor of the character, and IMO gender and ethnicity should remain on that realm -flavor- If you want to make a female PC that goes toe to toe with Connan and even better trash the floor with him, you should be free to do so, if you want a ""realistic female PC"" (understood as 'weaker than men') just don't put every single bonus you can put your hands on into Strenght and you are free to go, we don't need nor should have such modifiers, this kind of argument belong in the personal level (If anybody needs to really imposse his/her views on the other people on the table, or worse at other tables, there are worse issues at hand than a fiddly +1 on STR or a gender cap on it, note I cannot stress it hard enough I don't advocate for that kind of things*)
On the art side, I really really wish this new edition has more sensible depictions of female warriors, one chainmail bikini or one belly button showing from time to time could be passable if it is in the right context, but not on the cover and certainly not at the expense of sexualizing every single depiction of a female in armor. (this also applies to women without armor, no cheesecake for cheesecake sake please). I really wish for the art and writing on the new edition to abstain as much as possible from oversexed depictions and from touching sexuality at all, we want this game to be kid friendly, to be played by children, adult themes belong somewhere else, D&D should be a game parents can play with their children without fear of having to answer difficult questions they aren't preppared to discuss with their kids yet. Oversexed depictions belong into campaign settings and niche products aimed at a mature audience (and third party most likely), sexuality and stuff can easily be added back by tables that want it (and which memebers are old enough to vote and buy beer), but cannot be removed by parents who would rather not give to their kids than go the extra mile to make it appropriate for them.
I'm less concerned with the ethnic diversity angle, however this may come from the fact I was born and raised in a country were people is so diverse we might as well be homogeneous in practice, we don't really tend to think of people on "racial" grounds, so really not having "a latino role model to identify with in this game of pretend elves" isn't a major concern, as say "this book is written on a mainstream language I was forced to learn at the expense of my mother tongue in order to get any education at all or worse in a foreign language I'm barely capable of understand because public education just sucks so hard". I'm not saying my country is free from discrimination, actually the opossite but it is mostly focussed on other socioeconomic fronts, place of origin, wealth level, education level, discapacities or not, age, social class, gender all of that plays a heavier role into it.
*Yes even when one rpg I'm writing seems to go against this opinion. But it is more on the simulation side than typical D&D and it tries to depict common joes or even lower than average people against overwhelming odds. On that game heritage and gender do play a part on the way the character grows (though not at all on abilty scores per se, those are unaffected), with males needing 1 less instance of exp to improve strength and strength related skills and being able to choose to be one size bigger than average, while females need 1 less instance of xp to improve Fitness (Constitution) and fitness related abilities, being able to choose to be one size smaller than average and having their body hit points doubled, but those are pretty minor differences, at certain point it makes no difference if you need 9,999 or 10,000 exp to have a chance to improve your str.(in other words that +1 only means you hit the cap slighty faster) And having a bigger size does bring a few extra hit points and the chance to wield bigger weapons (which are more expensive), but a bigger character needs bigger armor (which is more expensive) and has a worse time hiding, jumping or that kind of things (compounded because bigger armor is also heavier), and finally +1 pales in comparison to the +8 one can get from having the right heritage or the +3 that comes from the right affinities, or the +20 straight to strength one can get just from being lucky and be that 0.001% who has the super strength boon. Gender would be otherwise purely superficial, but with the myriad of gender changing effects that ended up happening in the system, it had to mean something mechanically or that stuff would become pure fluff, reducing fairness overall. Oh and the heritage isn't related at all at to any modern ethnicity instead it is related to the chance you'll be stronger, faster, healtier, more apt to channel magics or to suddenly sprout wings and become an incorporeal-eternal being. In other words here humans are hybrids of a myriad of true subespecies with deep differences that go beyond skin, eye and hair color -such ethnic differences are pretty recent and superficial on the biologic side and have a heavy cultural bagagge-.
