Gender-Locked Classes

[Oyster Sauce]

Also races

[Maledict]

Nay unless every melee is genderlocked to male and women can only play summoners.

[Godjjjita]

I don't think entire classes should be locked but subclasses could be a thing, unless you're talking about locking physical classes from woman because they aren't strong enough (except races without gender differences like orcs and maybe dwarfs) but locking mages to be a female only class because it isn't a strong masculine class would be dumb.
Classes that have a cultural background could be race locked such as barbarians being available only to cultures that are less advanced.
It is always more interesting to have unique things in games instead of everything being universal for the sake of "inclusion".

[Stack of Turtles]

Players should only be males in any game. I don't know whether you'd count that as gender-locked classes or not.

[GhostCow]

Most classes shouldn't be locked, but something like dancer should be female only

[Maledict]

Most classes shouldn't be locked, but something like dancer should be female only

Consider:


(more likely to inflict damage, I can't imagine female dance hurting anybody)

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Most classes shouldn't be locked, but something like dancer should be female only

One option is to make the animations gender agnostic, or to make separate outfits and animations for male characters. FF14 players have also been able to make dancer class transmogs for male characters that look pretty good but don't make them look like they are trying to be a girl.






I wound up picking the Dancer class in Octopath 0 because I wanted to try a buffer role.

[GhostCow]

Most classes shouldn't be locked, but something like dancer should be female only

One option is to make the animations gender agnostic, or to make separate outfits and animations for male characters. FF14 players have also been able to make dancer class transmogs for male characters that look pretty good but don't make them look like they are trying to be a girl.






I wound up picking the Dancer class in Octopath 0 because I wanted to try a buffer role.

All of these men look gay as hell which is exactly why that class should only be for women

[Norfleet]

FF14 players have also been able to make dancer class transmogs for male characters that look pretty good but don't make them look like they are trying to be a girl.

I dunno about THAT.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

For gender and race locked races, on the one hand I agree with the player identity feel. You are defined just as much - if not more so - than by what you are not. Druids in Warcraft 3 were unique because only Night Elf men were Druids, and they were almost all asleep for most of the past 10,000 years. So the Night Elf civilization you see is mainly their priest and hunter wives who have been alone by themselves for most of the duration until a crisis happened and they had to wake the men up. That is unique. But then in WoW, since both men and women can be hunters/priests/druids, that feel is kinda lost.

Likewise, it was special that only Alliance races could be paladins, and only the evil Horde could be shamans.

But I think the inconvenience for the player ultimately outweighs the fantasy benefits. People's tastes and interests change over time. For any MMO that goes on long enough, the player might wind up wanting to play a different class. But then almost always means that they have to leave the character they are playing behind to reroll, which feels bad, and you also then have to do over a lot of work catching up and getting perquisite quests done or relevelling or regearing and so on. So I prefer something like Final Fantasy or GW1 where you can be all of the classes on one character (though in GW1's case you could only change the secondary class, you were forever your main class like assassin). So having race/gender locked classes is an impediment to that.

It also really sucks looking at the list of playable classes in Black Desert Online, but then almost all of the cool classes like lightning dragoons or summoners with a big dog pet are girl only.

[MrTwinkls]

Shadowheart fans who respecced her into drunken monk, you might disagree with me, but sorry guys, locked classes in general tend to be more interesting in many aspects and make more sense.

[Tangerine]

Human males should have all the cool classes. Everyone else should be locked to ****** classes.

[Maledict]

Shadowheart fans who respecced her into drunken monk, you might disagree with me, but sorry guys, locked classes in general tend to be more interesting in many aspects and make more sense.

There is literally nothing more realistic than women fighting by slapping.

(TIL I'm not the only one respeccing SH into a monk)

[WaterMage]

Depends. When it looks all cool classes to female only, it sucks. When it locks some classes that makes sense to be female only see Wizardry 6/7/8 classes, it is great.

EDIT : Now, race restrictions on classes. This is great. 3e greatest problem is allowing Dwarfs to be mages. It was impossible in 2e and justified hatred in places like Glantri.

[Norfleet]

unless you're talking about locking physical classes from woman because they aren't strong enough

Realistically, I don't even think this is a reason. A class like "fighter" isn't really a class that's gated by that. Just because you're not strong enough to be a good fighter doesn't mean you can't be a fighter anyway. You just probably won't be a GOOD fighter. But hey, if you wanna play the game on hardmode, I'm not stopping you.

but locking mages to be a female only class because it isn't a strong masculine class would be dumb.

Well, you can change the reason here easily enough, and suddenly your reason become a hard lockout, since mages as a class can be gated by any number of prerequisites, none of which are realistic, since mages aren't real. Although if wanna turn mages into a female-only class, you just add one simple rule, that isn't even an asspull: Mages do their best work Skyclad (read: Nekkid). Bam. Functionally female-only class, cuz what gamer wants to spend the rest of his playthrough looking at a dude's hairy balls? I mean, why do you think mages wear robes, really? It's because it lets them get nekkid fast.

[DemoGraph]

But I think the inconvenience for the player ultimately outweighs the fantasy benefits.

The game is defined by its limitations. The game without limits is the game without rules.

Male Bene Gesserit, female Nazguls, gnome Death Knights (gnome anything), elven dwarfhold-protectors are crimes against decency and taste.

[Oyster Sauce]

So I prefer something like Final Fantasy or GW1 where you can be all of the classes on one character

This is one of the things I hate most about XIV. I don't want my fighter and white mage to have the same appearance.

[Oyster Sauce]

Shadowheart fans who respecced her into drunken monk, you might disagree with me, but sorry guys, locked classes in general tend to be more interesting in many aspects and make more sense.

But I made her into a shadow sorceress

[MrTwinkls]

Shadowheart fans who respecced her into drunken monk, you might disagree with me, but sorry guys, locked classes in general tend to be more interesting in many aspects and make more sense.

There is literally nothing more realistic than women fighting by slapping.

(TIL I'm not the only one respeccing SH into a monk)

I respecced everyone into monks at some point. Gave them str elixirs on top of that and the game became some kind of bizarre Asterix and Obelix knockoff.

[WaterMage]

, you can change the reason here easily enough

Yes and no.

If you are making a Wizardry inspired game, restricting Valkiries to female only makes sense. Restricting mages, bishops, alchemists and psions to female only makes no sense. If you are making a Warhammer inspired game, restricting Empire mages to be female only would make zero sense considering that most college patriarchs are male. However, the same restriction among Kislevites, Bretonnians or among Druchii would make perfectly sense. Magical is not real, but is part of the fictional setting and should be consistent with that lore.

If the story is original, having only woman capable of shaping the reality would have a lot of social and political implications.

It also really sucks looking at the list of playable classes in Black Desert Online, but then almost all of the cool classes like lightning dragoons or summoners with a big dog pet are girl only.

This is truth in EVERY generic gear farming cooldown managing boredom.

[Norfleet]

Yes and no.

If you are making a Wizardry inspired game, restricting Valkiries to female only makes sense. Restricting mages, bishops, alchemists and psions to female only makes no sense. If you are making a Warhammer inspired game, restricting Empire mages to be female only would make zero sense considering that most college patriarchs are male. However, the same restriction among Kislevites, Bretonnians or among Druchii would make perfectly sense. Magical is not real, but is part of the fictional setting and should be consistent with that lore.

See? You've demonstrated it quite neatly. They've just arbitrarily changed the reasons to fit. Because the lore is whatever you say it is, so you can just make up your own reason.

If the story is original, having only woman capable of shaping the reality would have a lot of social and political implications.

It is important to explore the consequences of your choices, yes.

[UltraFan123]

In the lore of the Overlord light novel, there is a very powerful melee class called [Valkyrie] which has only been shown to be in possession of females.

The author has never explicitly stated that only females can have this class, but all of us who follow the series already accepted that it only makes sense for females to have a class called [Valkyrie] in an MMO called YGGDRASIL.

It respects both the setting and the mythological inspiration of the in-story game.

[WaterMage]

. They've just arbitrarily changed the reasons to fit. Because the lore is whatever you say it is, so you can just make up your own reason.

Again, I'm not disagreeing that lore is made up. I'm saying that the gameplay must be consistent with the lore.

If I'm playing Warsword Conquest as a Kislevite of Bretonnian, I don't expect to be able to be a male caster. But if I'm in the empire of Sigmar, I do expect not only be allowed but also that most noteworthy casters to be males.

[WhiteShark]

Either it's done for lore reasons, which is respectable, or it's done so that resources can be put into making that particular character look really cool (such as in a KMMO), and in the latter case it's not so much a gender-lock as it is a character-lock.

[rusty_shackleford]

ah the ol' sammich maker class

[Norfleet]

3e greatest problem is allowing Dwarfs to be mages. It was impossible in 2e and justified hatred in places like Glantri.

3E increasingly becomes a genericized ruleset, though. Just because the core rules allow it doesn't necessarily mean your campaign world allows it. I mean, hell, even Warhampster allows dwarves to be mages. It just causes them to slowly turn into stone.

[The_Mask]

I respecced everyone into monks at some point. Gave them str elixirs on top of that and the game became some kind of bizarre Asterix and Obelix knockoff.

I approve of this message.

Monks are awesome.

[Eyestabber]

You don't really have to LOCK classes, you can just apply realistic stat penalties and bonuses. For instance, being a woman should give you a -2 INT, -4 STR, -2 WIS, -2 CON, +4 CHA, and a skill check bonus to sandwich making. Being black should give you -4 INT, -2 WIS, -2 CHA, bonus to all theft related skills AND movement bonus while running from guards etc. Ofc if you run a simplistic game where stats don't matter as much then sure, hard locking is the way to go. But someone should steal my idea and make a "realistic race and genders" mod for Baldur's Gate.

[WaterMage]

Warhampster allows dwarves to be mages. It just causes them to slowly turn into stone.

This is not regular dwarfs, is a tiny amount of chaos dwarfs that worship Hashut and have his souls warped by chaos.

[Norfleet]

This is not regular dwarfs, is a tiny amount of chaos dwarfs that worship Hashut and have his souls warped by chaos.

Yes, and? That's just the lore explanation of how such a thing is allowed in the world. Why does whether or it not it is "regular" matter? It's an RPG. You're managing a travelling freakshow of homicidal homeless clowns as it is. RPG characters ARE NOT NORMAL.