Why Are Warrior Women Never Ugly?

[Pseudonym]

Generally speaking, if I see a girl in a chainmail bikini, I put the book down and walk away.

A main reason why I stopped buying material from Avalanche Press.

 

[Storyteller01]

Hey - thanks for giving me some inspiration for my next character!

Mother Bertha - middleaged female half orc, veteran of many wars. Has a weakness for soft cuddly, defenseless things... but will bite your head off if you dare point that out!

I'm a little thorn on the class though. Barbarian or Fighter would be an obvious one. But perhaps a Witch (sorceror variant) might make for a fun change of pace.

Check Hero's of High Favor; Half-orcs. Lots of PrC goodness, with Barbarian/x crossovers of all kinds. I've used it to level the playing fields with said critters.

 

[Storyteller01]

So, for example, if you were a fighter and suddenly found yourself faced with this twin sword wielding opponent, it would be safe to say that she would be very distracting to you?

Artwork by Bruce Colero

Nope. Then again, I was raised around more women than men.

All I see are targets; big wide lethal targets...

 

[Storyteller01]

Thanks, sniffles and Thanee, for the input. I find it invaluable to have feedback from female gamers (I'm making a guess here about Thanee, so pardon me if I'm wrong). In fact, I ask any and all ENWorld female members to give me feedback on my images of female characters, as I want them to be appealing to both genders (either in a 'dude, she's hot' or a 'I want to play this character!' way). I generally go to my wife for this sort of feedback, and she happens to like the 'bare midriff' armor (her current character is a shifter druid based off Gwen Stefani, and she wears even *less* armor... ).

Male gamer, but hey...

Japanese armor tended to leave vulnerable spots exposed due to heat (albeit, the midriff was not one of them). Wearing European armor in Japan = Heat stroke in about 10 minutes of combat.

Also, being a shifter probably means keeping the abdominal area flexible while on all fours (I'm guessing. I haven't played the Eberron setting). Getting back to climate, chettahs literally cook themselves while running. I'd imagine shifters may be in the same boat if running on all fours in armor (greater speed = greater energy output, regardless of the mthod used).

 

[Harmon]

Reality is over here <gesture to the world>

Fantasy is over here <gesture to the gaming table>

Personally I would prefer that all the pretty women were in reality, but its not possible, so we make them up in our imagination.

 

[Storyteller01]

Well, since this is turning into a very interesting thread on perceptions of beauty vs. practicality of adventuring, let me give you all an exclusive first look at a piece of artwork from the forthcoming Castlemorn book showing the elves of that world. Not exactly your chick in chainmail but still riveting.

Artwork by Bruce Colero

Guess this goes towards the proof of my insanity, but the first thing I noticed: the grip on both of their weapons are off.

 

[Klaus]

Male gamer, but hey...

Japanese armor tended to leave vulnerable spots exposed due to heat (albeit, the midriff was not one of them). Wearing European armor in Japan = Heat stroke in about 10 minutes of combat.

Also, being a shifter probably means keeping the abdominal area flexible while on all fours (I'm guessing. I haven't played the Eberron setting). Getting back to climate, chettahs literally cook themselves while running. I'd imagine shifters may be in the same boat if running on all fours in armor (greater speed = greater energy output, regardless of the mthod used).

Thanks for the feedback, Storyteller01! Even though that particular shifter is from the Eldeen Reaches (which have a climate similar to the Pacific Northwest), the main continent of Khorvaire has a large swath of tropical climate, including its poster city, Sharn. I haven't thought of adding the heat to the equation, but it's a nice thought. Ditto on the torso flexibility.

 

[Ranger REG]

I thought that looked great. But then I am a huge LOTR fangirl geek, if you couldn't tell by my avatar.

Yeah, the image of Eowyn and Arwen having a water fight ... ahem. Where were we?

One of my favorite illustrations of an attractive but very evocative fantasy character is in the Player's Guide to Faerun. There's an illustration of the various planetouched races, and in the foreground is a female air genasi. She has a very attractive face, but she's wearing rugged leather armor and an expression that speaks volumes about her personality, at least to me. She looks like she's led a hard life and knows how to handle the sword at her belt. That illustration makes me want to play her as a character. That's the kind of artwork I like to see.

Meh. She's okay, but I honestly cannot stand "Disney" art in Dungeons & Dragons. I don't know why.

 

[cignus_pfaccari]

Male gamer, but hey...

Japanese armor tended to leave vulnerable spots exposed due to heat (albeit, the midriff was not one of them). Wearing European armor in Japan = Heat stroke in about 10 minutes of combat.

That seems strange, as Japan is more temperate than tropical.

Brad

 

[JRRNeiklot]

Adventurere of all types must be in great physical condition. Thus, they are attractive. Check out any athlete in the real world. Unless they have some sort of physical deformity, they are attractive. Jenny Finch? Anna Kournikova? Woof.