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Of female characters in RPG's

JarlFrank

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I think that's the rationale behind the specialization in DEX for female fighters, and it does make some sense, but the trouble is that DEX is usually carried over to things like speed and reaction speed, where it's not necessarily so appropriate. Bracketing speed of neural reflexes (which as the above re. music) is probably more equal, in terms of shifting mass quickly (arm, body, etc.), you get greater speed the more muscle mass you have, so speed and strength are really closely tied together.
This is a problem of RPG systems not being complex and simulationist enough.

A good system will have DEX and AGI as two separate stats, one determining your manual dexterity, the other your speed and overall physical agility.
 

JamesDixon

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I think that's the rationale behind the specialization in DEX for female fighters, and it does make some sense, but the trouble is that DEX is usually carried over to things like speed and reaction speed, where it's not necessarily so appropriate. Bracketing speed of neural reflexes (which as the above re. music) is probably more equal, in terms of shifting mass quickly (arm, body, etc.), you get greater speed the more muscle mass you have, so speed and strength are really closely tied together.
This is a problem of RPG systems not being complex and simulationist enough.

A good system will have DEX and AGI as two separate stats, one determining your manual dexterity, the other your speed and overall physical agility.

Players Option: Skills & Powers split each score into two.

Strength: Stamina & Muscle
Dexterity: Aim & Balance
Constitution: Health & Fitness
Intelligence: Reason & Knowledge
Wisdom: Intuition & Willpower
Charisma: Leadership & Appearance

I'm not going to implement them because it's too much busywork and adds in too much complexity.
 

KeighnMcDeath

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Can’t a grandmaster pianist tell if a male or female is playing a piece by sound alone? Where is the scientific blind study on males vs females playing instruments?
 

ropetight

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I was just thinking there of a field where men and women are more equalized, and that would be in music. There, where innately nimble fingers are at a premium, women do very well compared to men - there are tons of great lady pianists, for example.

I think that's the rationale behind the specialization in DEX for female fighters, and it does make some sense, but the trouble is that DEX is usually carried over to things like speed and reaction speed, where it's not necessarily so appropriate. Bracketing speed of neural reflexes (which as the above re. music) is probably more equal, in terms of shifting mass quickly (arm, body, etc.), you get greater speed the more muscle mass you have, so speed and strength are really closely tied together.

Also, bows require STR more than anything else, DEX is really not that involved, so that trope is out the window. Light crossbows, yes, that would require DEX to some extent (to change the bolt and rewind without fumbling in the heat of battle, provided the changing mechanism has good leverage).

Daggers, again, maybe there you could just about have the idea of a nimble, mobile female fighter, if you're talking about the upper outlier end of female strength, as with those rock-climbing chicks.

Guns, again, there it's probably more equal (cf. the famous couplet about guns equalizing things for women).

(But some of these problems are to do with the constrained and sometimes lumpy simulation/abstraction of D&D.)
Their nimble fingers are not only for pianos and instruments...
They also make excellent pie!
 

gurugeorge

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Can’t a grandmaster pianist tell if a male or female is playing a piece by sound alone? Where is the scientific blind study on males vs females playing instruments?

I don't think so, not in terms of weight, because the loudest a piano can play can easily be achieved by a female, and the softest it can play can easily be achieved by a male. Though it might be possible to tell with passages that are sustained ff and very complex for a long time (e.g. something by a Russian lol). A female will have to pace herself with that, whereas to a male it will be easier to sustain for a longish time at full volume. But just in terms of like a few heavy chords or whatever here and there, no, you couldn't tell.
 

gurugeorge

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I think that's the rationale behind the specialization in DEX for female fighters, and it does make some sense, but the trouble is that DEX is usually carried over to things like speed and reaction speed, where it's not necessarily so appropriate. Bracketing speed of neural reflexes (which as the above re. music) is probably more equal, in terms of shifting mass quickly (arm, body, etc.), you get greater speed the more muscle mass you have, so speed and strength are really closely tied together.
This is a problem of RPG systems not being complex and simulationist enough.

A good system will have DEX and AGI as two separate stats, one determining your manual dexterity, the other your speed and overall physical agility.

Players Option: Skills & Powers split each score into two.

Strength: Stamina & Muscle
Dexterity: Aim & Balance
Constitution: Health & Fitness
Intelligence: Reason & Knowledge
Wisdom: Intuition & Willpower
Charisma: Leadership & Appearance

I'm not going to implement them because it's too much busywork and adds in too much complexity.

I think I'd rather do it the other way, by combining and weighting attributes in a naturalistic way, and with "major" and "minor" weightings, which you could symbolize by caps and lower case - e.g. STR+dex could go to bow skill, CHA+str or CHA+con could go to intimidation.

That way you could also blend mental and physical attributes to make them contribute to things. e.g. crit chance could be DEX+int or DEX+wis (depending on whether one is thinking of a scientific targeting or an intuitive targeting), crit multi could be STR+con or something like that.

Of course a really fine-grained simulation could blend 3 or more attributes in different weightings, but I think for the sake of sanity, limiting it to two is sufficient to give more grain but not be overwhelming :)
 

JamesDixon

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I think I'd rather do it the other way, by combining and weighting attributes in a naturalistic way, and with "major" and "minor" weightings, which you could symbolize by caps and lower case - e.g. STR+dex could go to bow skill, CHA+str or CHA+con could go to intimidation.

That way you could also blend mental and physical attributes to make them contribute to things. e.g. crit chance could be DEX+int or DEX+wis (depending on whether one is thinking of a scientific targeting or an intuitive targeting), crit multi could be STR+con or something like that.

Of course a really fine-grained simulation could blend 3 or more attributes in different weightings, but I think for the sake of sanity, limiting it to two is sufficient to give more grain but not be overwhelming :)

It could work, but would be a major pain in the ass to implement.
 

gurugeorge

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I think I'd rather do it the other way, by combining and weighting attributes in a naturalistic way, and with "major" and "minor" weightings, which you could symbolize by caps and lower case - e.g. STR+dex could go to bow skill, CHA+str or CHA+con could go to intimidation.

That way you could also blend mental and physical attributes to make them contribute to things. e.g. crit chance could be DEX+int or DEX+wis (depending on whether one is thinking of a scientific targeting or an intuitive targeting), crit multi could be STR+con or something like that.

Of course a really fine-grained simulation could blend 3 or more attributes in different weightings, but I think for the sake of sanity, limiting it to two is sufficient to give more grain but not be overwhelming :)

It could work, but would be a major pain in the ass to implement.

It's probably not suitable for tabletop, because I think you'd need a 100-based kind of system to have enough grain to do the job. For instance, the weighting could be fixed in the Golden Ratio, but that would mean you need some hefty number in both weightings, otherwise rounding up or rounding down the bonuses could result in too-sudden shifts of capability (I do think the core idea of bonuses from main stats is a good one though, it's quite robust, and it could be extended that way - though I'm not mathematically savvy enough to figure it all out. I guess the dice system is just a cleverly disguised system of equations anyway, of the type that developers who aren't using the D&D system develop for themselves.)
 

ERYFKRAD

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I was just thinking there of a field where men and women are more equalized, and that would be in music. There, where innately nimble fingers are at a premium, women do very well compared to men - there are tons of great lady pianists, for example.

I think that's the rationale behind the specialization in DEX for female fighters, and it does make some sense, but the trouble is that DEX is usually carried over to things like speed and reaction speed, where it's not necessarily so appropriate. Bracketing speed of neural reflexes (which as the above re. music) is probably more equal, in terms of shifting mass quickly (arm, body, etc.), you get greater speed the more muscle mass you have, so speed and strength are really closely tied together.

Also, bows require STR more than anything else, DEX is really not that involved, so that trope is out the window. Light crossbows, yes, that would require DEX to some extent (to change the bolt and rewind without fumbling in the heat of battle, provided the changing mechanism has good leverage).

Daggers, again, maybe there you could just about have the idea of a nimble, mobile female fighter, if you're talking about the upper outlier end of female strength, as with those rock-climbing chicks.

Guns, again, there it's probably more equal (cf. the famous couplet about guns equalizing things for women).

(But some of these problems are to do with the constrained and sometimes lumpy simulation/abstraction of D&D.)
Their nimble fingers are not only for pianos and instruments...
Yeah they're good at knitting
 

9ted6

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Why are female characters self-inserts more often than males?
 

KeighnMcDeath

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Mimics real life? They’re always SELF INSERTING themselves into everything thinking they know better.
 

Pocgels

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Mantis race is cool. Put mantis in your game and I will always have a female fighter.
 

Poseidon00

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In some settings I can deal with it. If you are living in some barbaric world, Conan style, where everyone is substantially stronger than modern day people, I can suspend my disbelief over a Red Sonja type of character. If magic exists that always helps.

I mean, if halfling warriors can exist...
 

Sarathiour

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"In our setting, women are equal to men because it's all made-up bullshit"
If a setting isn't willing to tackle its own logic then it makes sense for it to not tackle its own logic in that area as well. A gnome would make a far worse fighter than a human woman but I don't see anyone screeching about gnome fighters.
I mean, last time I checked 3+ DnD rule, they do make worse fighter because their weapon are size below the average.
 

JamesDixon

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Why are female characters self-inserts more often than males?

I asked my sister if it's true that females can't imagine themselves as someone else. She said yes. Women/girls need to see themselves in everything they play. This is tied to a study that Lego did to find out how to sell toys to girls.
 
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Why are female characters self-inserts more often than males?

I asked my sister if it's true that females can't imagine themselves as someone else. She said yes. Women/girls need to see themselves in everything they play. This is tied to a study that Lego did to find out how to sell toys to girls.
Your sister is an idiot.
 

JamesDixon

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Why are female characters self-inserts more often than males?

I asked my sister if it's true that females can't imagine themselves as someone else. She said yes. Women/girls need to see themselves in everything they play. This is tied to a study that Lego did to find out how to sell toys to girls.
Your sister is an idiot.

Mebs stop projecting your retardation onto others. Don't you have to get milked you fucking cow?
 
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I just did
Why are female characters self-inserts more often than males?

I asked my sister if it's true that females can't imagine themselves as someone else. She said yes. Women/girls need to see themselves in everything they play. This is tied to a study that Lego did to find out how to sell toys to girls.
Your sister is an idiot.

Mebs stop projecting your retardation onto others. Don't you have to get milked you fucking cow?
Your answer is self explanatory. Is funny how you melt down so easily but i don't want to derail the conversation just affirm what your sister told was far from true and utterly moronic :)
 

JamesDixon

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Mooo moooo moooo mooo mooo mooo mooo mooo mooomooo mooo mooo mooo mooomooo mooo mooo mooo mooomooo mooo mooo mooo mooomooo mooo mooo mooo mooomooo mooo mooo mooo mooomooo mooo mooo mooo mooomooo mooo mooo mooo mooomooo mooo mooo mooo mooomooo mooo mooo mooo mooomooo mooo mooo mooo mooomooo mooo mooo mooo mooomooo mooo mooo mooo mooomooo mooo mooo mooo mooomooo mooo mooo mooo mooomooo mooo mooo mooo mooomooo mooo mooo mooo mooomooo mooo mooo mooo mooomooo mooo mooo mooo mooomooo mooo mooo mooo mooomooo mooo mooo mooo mooomooo mooo mooo mooo mooomooo mooo mooo mooo mooomooo mooo mooo mooo mooomooo mooo mooo mooo mooomooo mooo mooo mooo mooomooo mooo mooo mooo mooomooo mooo mooo mooo mooomooo mooo mooo mooo mooomooo mooo mooo mooo mooomooo mooo mooo mooo mooomooo mooo mooo mooo mooomooo mooo mooo mooo mooomooo mooo mooo mooo mooomooo mooo mooo mooo mooomooo mooo mooo mooo mooomooo mooo mooo mooo mooomooo mooo mooo mooo mooomooo mooo mooo mooo mooomooo mooo mooo mooo mooomooo mooo mooo mooo mooomooo mooo mooo mooo mooomooo mooo mooo mooo mooomooo mooo mooo mooo mooomooo mooo mooo mooo mooomooo mooo mooo mooo mooomooo mooo mooo mooo mooomooo mooo mooo mooo mooomooo mooo mooo mooo mooomooo mooo mooo mooo mooomooo mooo mooo mooo mooomooo mooo mooo mooo mooomooo mooo mooo mooo mooomooo mooo mooo mooo mooomooo mooo mooo mooo mooomooo mooo mooo mooo mooomooo mooo mooo mooo mooomooo mooo mooo mooo mooomooo mooo mooo mooo mooomooo mooo mooo mooo mooomooo mooo mooo mooo mooomooo mooo mooo mooo mooomooo mooo mooo mooo mooomooo mooo mooo mooo mooomooo mooo mooo mooo mooomooo mooo mooo mooo mooomooo mooo mooo mooo mooomooo mooo mooo mooo mooomooo mooo mooo mooo mooomooo mooo mooo mooo mooomooo mooo mooo mooo mooomooo mooo mooo mooo mooomooo mooo mooo mooo mooomooo mooo mooo mooo mooomooo mooo mooo mooo mooo

:codexbabies:
 

octavius

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Well, there is a trend towards self-inserts and having to relate (meaning must be same sex or race) to the player character. And there's also more and more females playing video games these days.
Personally I always thought role playing was about playing someone different from yourself.
 
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Well, there is a trend towards self-inserts and having to relate (meaning must be same sex or race) to the player character. And there's also more and more females playing video games these days.
Personally I always thought role playing was about playing someone different from yourself.
Exactly that is the key point one create a character.
 

volklore

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Well, there is a trend towards self-inserts and having to relate (meaning must be same sex or race) to the player character. And there's also more and more females playing video games these days.
Personally I always thought role playing was about playing someone different from yourself.
This is not just about females though. Most normies self insert in RPGs male or female.
Like the most common complaints in DnD cRPGs is that paladin fall if they act like chaotic good libruls. Most people don't roleplay their classes/character they just self-insert an idealized version of themselves/
 
Last edited:

octavius

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It's an interesting phenomenon...as people get more and more obsessed with "diversity", at the same time they lose the ability to relate to characters that are actually different (both physically, sexually and mentally/culturally) from themselves, be it modern video game characters or characters in older books/movies who have different values from themselves.
 

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