Why Are Warrior Women Never Ugly?

[Thanee]

Havn't really seen horribly ugly female PCs (and only very, very few such men), but average-looking, or plain-looking, certainly not catwalk-worthy ones aplenty.

Most characters (male and female) are of above-average appearance, though, that's for sure.

Bye
Thanee

 

[mhacdebhandia]

Do most gamers around here get a joke when they see one?

The answer is "no" to both questions

Well, actually, I assumed you were joking . . . but I've learned, from my years of experience on the Intarweb, that even that kind of assumption can't be relied upon.

 

[Yair]

My latest party is known as "The Beauty and the Beasts". That what happens when you let people choose low Charisma scores. :sigh:
The Beauty there is the only woman, yes, but she is played by a woman. (Well, 16 year old girl.) So that puts an end to the "male-hormones-galore" theory AFAIAC.

I think most people want to play characters that look cool, and rugged men qualify but not rugged woman.

I did find it amusing that nearly any female in the Shackled City Adventure Path I'm currently reading is said to be beautiful. A little excessive, I feel.

 

[Angel Tarragon]

Why Are Warrior Women Never Ugly?

Ever heard of Amazons?

 

[the Jester]

I play an epic level female alienist/wizard, and I've drawn a pic that I absolutely cannot post here. She is obese and shocking looking, preferring to go as close to naked as is reasonable, with tentacles groping the air that extend from, ahem, certain areas of her body. Her face has half of the stroke victim look to it from her madness. She considers herself to have transcended her humanity and is really rather nuts.

Ahh, Yolanda... I love that character.

 

[Sledge]

The only rationalization is that all those curing spells not only remove scarring, but also cellulite etc.

Seriously though I see a lot of beautiful women around here face wise. However I'm not looking at their bodies, so as long as the women in the stories stay away from the bikini type outfits I won't complain.

The bikini warriors however really annoy me. I've left books on the shelf of the FLGS because of bikini cover art.

For more insight into the reasons behind this phenomenom read the "Chicks 'n Chainmail" series.

 

[MonsterMash]

Why are warrior men depicted as muscle-bound adonis's wearing 70 pounds of shining, unblemished armor?

Ever see picks of fighters, including those that used heavy weapons? Muscular, yes. THAT huge, no. Even the big fighters tended to be trim, compared to our current body builders.

In truth the huge bodybuilder types aren't even that strong and have next to zero stamina, for real strength look to powerlifters (who often have a big gut as well as the muscles), track and field athletes (especially decathletes or javelin throwers) or penathletes (who actually do a sport which most closely matches what a RPG hero might do - fencing (so sword fighting with a rapier), shooting, running, swimming and horse riding).

I'd say it's not that the heroines always look like that, but if the artist wants to avoid beheading they'll paint them like that, remember the proverbial description of someone as being 'no oil painting'.

 

[Herobizkit]

I would think it's because most "heroes" don't make it as heroes unless they are physically fit, or at least we're brainwashed (by media) to believe this to be true.

I mean, Friar Tuck aside (and he's a secondary character anyway), how many fantasy heroes have we seen in the media that aren't in peak physical condition? And how many "ugly" women have we seen that don't wind up dead in the end (usually because the ugly ones are the cause of all the evil in the land)?

Personally, I think everyone above has touched on at least one of the reasons why heroes are buff and sexy.

 

[The Edge]

A player in my campain runs his character 'Davos the bastard' as hes known. Davos isn't a bad guy at all, really the classic rogue (running close to bard at times), but he all ways has time to ask what the female NPCs looks like (if I haven't said already). He put together a little section at the back of his characters journal recording every woman, and its quite fun to read through the amuseing comments on each, now with about 47 entries (including a cow, and a grumpy 70 year old woman).

You would never see a chain bikini in my games, and characters whether NPC or PC can vary, but aren't all models or anything. Of the PCs there is only one female and she was described as "pleasent but average, nothing amazeing" as are most people.

 

[Bardsandsages]

I have two female friends who won't play a character that isn't gorgeous. It annoys me to no end, particularly in games like the older version of Vampire or something where you actually have to sacrifice a more useful stat to add dots to your appearance trait

My Force Witch that I'm playing in a Star Wars d20 is actually kinda scary looking. Blood red hair, dark ashen skin, black eyes, sharp facial features, and a very cold demeanor. Definately not working the cat walk any time soon. And if you asked her to wear a chain mail bikini, she'd make you eat it.

With the exception of one character (who was actually a pop singer in a WoD chronicle), all my PCs have been pretty average looking. But I normally play sneaky types, and an average looking person can blend in with a crowd, while an extremely beautiful (or extremely ugly) one will stand out.