Why Are Warrior Women Never Ugly?

[philreed]

This doesn't concern a warrior, but I have to think of Joe Kushner's recent review of Necromancer's "Eldritch Sorcery", where he mentions that he doesn't like the Rick Sardinha cover. It depicts a female wizard or sorceror who is not particularly beautiful. Personally I find the picture very evocative, and it sets the perfect mood for a book about spells.

I'm with you. I thought that was an excellent cover.

 

[RangerWickett]

[imager]http://www.enworld.org/shop/images/engs/product41/cb2.jpg[/imager]
I posit that, in a world where people are always petitioning heroes to save them, the peasant folks will pick those heroes who look best. So over thousands of years of adventuring, there has been a trend toward beautiful heroes. Magical healing could very well take care of scarring, and no doubt there are spells -- not quite so prevalent in the PHB, but logically they'd exist -- that would be magical plastic surgery. And let us not forget exotic armors, such as the Chainmail Bikini, which require specialized training to wear effectively.

Sure, adventuring is a matter of life and death, but if you can't look good while doing it, why bother?

 

[Klaus]

A while ago I got flak over at the WotC boards for my rendition of a female shifter druid (see below), just because I opted to give her shorter-than-supermodel legs, with some saying her anatomy was all wrong. But the shifter isn't human! As long as the anatomy is consistent with itself, I don't have to follow the heroic ideal of art (eight-and-a-half heads tall, long legs, etc). When I countered with how her body was in proportion with that of Catalina Ponor (gold-medal Olympic gymnast), the discussion kinda died.

 

[J-Buzz]

If you want someone to stop and pick up your book you better not have ugly on the cover.

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

I had a DM once who would give you a scar or somthing along those lines on crit misses. So my dashing paladin got a scar down his cheek. I thought that was cool as he went from a dashing fellow to a battle scared vetern in an instance.

 

[Umbran]

No, no, no, folks are all missing the Truth! There are plenty of ugly heros out there:

You can't tell the difference between man or woman, ugly or handsome, when they're wearing heavy armor and a full helm! Remember "A Paladin in Hell"? Who's to say it isn't a ugly woman in the tin can?

And we won't even talk about dwarves....

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

Why is it that female heroes are always depicted in art as lithe, flawless beauties with perfect skin and chainmail miniskirts?

Why do magazine covers feature women who are lithe, flawless beauties with perfect skin and sexy clothing, or shirtless men with big, cut muscles?

As for playing ugly characters, I know a few people who have specified that, but most people I know like to say their characters are better than average looking. Hey, its a fantasy role playing game, why not?

 

[Whisper72]

Well... duh.... It's fantasy... It is designed (mainly) by men... do the math....

Most men's fantasy's involve scanthily clad, beautifully formed female forms... Most men's brains think / fantasize about sex about 10 times per minute... Painting or otherwise portraying female characters in fantasy generally takes longer then a minute... the image gets distorted in the mind of the creator at least ten times during creation... Add, mix and multiply, what do we get?


/disclaimer
all meant in fun
/enddisclaimer

 

[Bagpuss]

To be fair the vast majority of male characters you see illustrated are good looking and have excellent physical builds. It only tends to be the villans that are ugly or scarred.

 

[RangerWickett]

The real mystery, though, is why the people in the Book of Erotic Fantasy had such badly-applied make-up. (Mind you, I only saw the teaser at GenCon 03. I have no idea how the actual book turned out)



I'm reminded how ashamed of myself and my hobby every time I see a booth babe.

 

[Eternalknight]

Yep, it all comes down to two words. It has nothing to do with heroes are more physically fit, or women are faster and don't take damage in order to get scares, or magic removes said scars. Nope, two words:

Sex sells.