POINTS TO PONDER

By Kyle Gray

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As a female player of Dungeons & Dragons, there is one thing that never fails to annoy me: the underestimation of the abilities of female Fighters. At times I have found it necessary to assume the role of a male character because if I chose to be female, my strength would be limited by the game rules, and thus my character would be generally less effective than a male. There are no compensations to the female for this limiting of strength, making it seem as though women warriors are being discriminated against.

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There are many literary and historical examples of female fighters, the most well-known being the Amazons. The Aethiopia, an ancient continuation of the Iliad, tells of Penthesilea, the beautiful Amazon queen who stood up and fought Achilles, greatest of all the Argive warriors. Also, when Theseus carried off the Amazon Antiope, her sister, Oreithyia led an army of Amazon warriors into Attica, and it took the entire Athenian army four months to defeat them. And who could forget Camilla, the Volscian warrior maiden of Virgil’s Aeneid? She killed many Trojans, fighting with both arrows and battle-axe, and was easily one of the best warriors in the battle, male or female.

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The Greek and Roman mythos are not alone in containing stories of women warriors. Brunhild and the Valkyries are major elements in the Germanic sagas, and warriors in their own rights. The Celts had their War Queens, and there are historical references of those women fighting right alongside their male counterparts. In fact, some sources say that the women were the most vicious and warlike of all the Celtic warriors. Even Christianity, which is responsible for most of the Western World myths of the inherent weaknesses of women, has Joan of Arc.

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Heroic fantasy, the main influence of Dungeons & Dragons, though dominated by male characters, has also produced its share of female warriors. One of the earliest and the best of these is C. L. Moore’s Jirel of Joiry, the fierce woman fighter who has no problems competing with her male counterparts. Surprisingly, some of the best female characters have emerged from the stories of male authors writing in the best macho traditions. Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Deja Thoris, while too dependent on John Carter, is still an excellent warrior, and there are many examples of women who, when forced to defend themselves, are quite capable fighters.

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Undoubtedly the best creator of female warriors was Robert E. Howard. Known best for his Conan and Kull tales, Howard also created an impressive array of women warriors. Everyone’s favorite Male Chauvinist Barbarian, Conan, meets his match in Valeria of the Red Brotherhood, and serves under another female fighter, his lover, Belit, a bloodthirsty pirate. Howard even wrote a series of tales about Dark Agnes, his Sword-Woman, who could outfight and outdrink any man.

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Probably the most famous of Howard’s women warriors, thanks to Marvel Comics, is Red Sonja. Red Sonja of Rogantino, a redhaired warrior, appeared in the Howard story “Shadow of the Vulture,” which took place during the Crusades. Many years later Roy Thomas, writer of Marvel’s Conan the Barbarian, used this story as the basis for a Conan tale, and Red Sonja, warrior woman of Hyrkania, was born. During her career, Sonja has outsmarted and outfought Conan and many other men, and is undoubtedly the epitome of a female warrior.

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Recently, more and more women warriors have seen print, and some, like Roland Green’s Gwyanna of his Wandor series, are quite excellent. So, fellow female players, if you run into a MCDM (Male Chauvinist Dungeon Master), get him to read some of the above mentioned stories, and maybe he will agree that the women warriors are discriminated against. The next step is to get him to follow the guidelines below.

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The Advanced D&D Players Handbook only takes female attributes into account for one ability, that of Strength. Females of all the character races are allowed a maximum Strength score which is lower than the males’ maximum. Men tend to have a more massive musculature, and for this reason can perform feats of brute strength usually beyond the capabilities of women. This physical difference is taken into account, but other, more beneficial differences are ignored. Women have smaller, less bulky muscles, and as such, are generally more agile than men. Also, women are able to withstand Vol.V.No.1 higher levels of mental and physical stress than the average male. Given those facts, it is obvious that while it may be logical to penalize women in terms of sheer strength, it is equally logical to reward them for better Dexterity and hardier Constitution.

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It is a medical fact that the average female can withstand more mental stress than the average male. Because of that, females in D&D should be rewarded with a +1 in Wisdom for magical attack adjustment only. This would give women a better chance to resist mental attack forms involving will force, as described in the Players Handbook.

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Also, since women have smaller, more compact muscles, they are less bulky than men, and are naturally more agile. Therefore women warriors, who would logically be trained to take advantage of this, should receive a + 1 on their roll for Dexterity.

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It has also been shown that women are able to tolerate pain better than men, and when raised under the same conditions, are generally hardier. Women generally live longer than men, barring disease or accidental death. For those reasons, female characters should receive a +1 on their rolls for Constitution.

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The above-mentioned adjustments should make up for the lower maximum strength score for women. While they will still have a relatively rougher time breaking down doors and bending bars, women warriors will no longer be discriminated against. Men and women are physically different, but this does not mean that women are necessarily deficient when it comes to fighting. What it does mean is that women, precisely because they are not as strong as men, would use their natural abilities and adopt a different fighting style, more “slash and run” than “stand and swing.” The +l in Dexterity would merely reflect this style, and should apply only to female Fighters rather than female characters in general, because it would be an extension of warrior training. Given this +1 in Dexterity, and also a +1 in Constitution and magical attack adjustment that should apply to all women characters, women warriors in D&D can now become formidable Fighters and compete on an equal basis with the men.