Should female dwarves have beards or not?

Yes they should absolutely have the choice to have beards if they choose to. It fits the lore of the dwarf and feels very right to me. Lets give female dwarf characters the option for either.

I think beards for female dwarves should be optional. The lore of female dwarves with beards makes sense to me and assuming that they can also shave like all other races with facial hair works for me.

From what they've shown so far, the high and dark elves are plenty different. I don't see facial hair as being necessary to see that they aren't just rendered differently.

Also, I feel that elves should have more limited beard options than dwarves (if at all).

I don't know about limited, but vastly different, yes. The facial hair options in EQII for the Dwarves and Dark Elves are good examples. Although I would be just as fine not having hair on Elves. *snort*

I hate to say it.. But Elves do have beards! Tolkien has even mentioned it in his writings.. LOTR..

In "The Grey Havens", when Cirdan the Shipwright greets Frodo and the Elves, it said "He was very tall and his beard was long"
Hmm Maybe I can paste it from somewhere.. Because nobody believes you unless you have a source these days!

"Very tall he was, and his beard was long" This canonical evidence makes it clear that many Elves do have beards.
Cirdan was one of the oldest Elves in Middle-earth. He had a beard, as do many Elves that are older.

"As they came to the gates Círdan the Shipwright came forth to greet them. Very tall he was, and his beard was long, and he was grey and old, save that his eyes were keen as stars; and he looked at them and bowed, and said 'All is now ready.'"
― The Lord of the Rings, The Grey Havens

http://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Cirdan

I want to have the option of a trimmed beard! I want to have the option of a long beard!

While I am wholeheartedly against female dwarves with more than peach fuzz on their face, in certain lore it DOES say that female dwarves can not be told apart from males since they have the scruffy beards just like their male counterparts. Since I am also in favor of people being able to decide for themselves which lore is more appealing, I'd like to see it optional.

Perhaps some dwarven cultures frown on females shaving their face because it shows off 'too much skin'. Like in real life, not too long ago, it was seen as slutty to shave your legs if you were a woman. Only the prostitutes in the red light district of France shaved their legs AND it was seen as socially acceptable. Why couldn't beards on female dwarves be the same way?

Perhaps some dwarven females have beards and others don't. I know a few men, some around 40, who just can't grow facial hair longer than peach fuzz due to their genetics. While I on the other hand grow it like a werewolf. Perhaps some Dwarves are the same way? Some grow their hair long and style it in different ways to show it off proudly while others just can't get it to grow. Perhaps his/her face was burned (maybe by a dragon?) and the damage done prevents facial hair growth.

Whatever the reason may be, some people like it, others don't. Lets not take our own prejudices for or against facial hair to the extreme level by forcing it onto other players who may or may not disagree.

Optional, due to logic, female dwarves can shave, even with thick and almost supernaturally strong and fast growing beards I have a hard time believing if a female dwarf were so inclined she could not find the time to shave it off, burn it off, grind it off, whatever it takes; Some of this logic is derived from observation of human women's grooming rituals.

Maybe shaven dwarves are a rarity and it is seen xenophobically as vanity in exclusively dwarven communities thus the women observed have no need or desire to shave while an adventurer or perhaps a female dwarf with her heart set on some lanky well groomed elf might desire to.

Bottom line: Unless there is some logical reason why a female dwarf cannot shave it is a choice.

They should have at the very least a 5 o'clock shadow. If female dwarves don't have to have facial hair, than why not allow the beast creatures to be hairless? How about hairless Ratonga?

Because no one wants to see giant humanoid naked molerats.

Bah! Double Bah!

I think most, if not all, npc female dwarves should have longish beards.
Maybe a disgraced female dwarf is beardless or stubble, but I feel it should be culturally put in.
In most dwarven lore that I'm aware of, dwarves mostly stick to their own kind and stay at home if they can. Basically like the Hobbits in LotR the adventuring dwarf would be uncommon, and therefore the PC female dwarf would probably be more likely to shirk other societal norms like a beard.

I would definitely like all distinguished female dwarven npcs to have awesome beards (assuming they aren't distinguished for non-dwarvish things).

I think that if someone wants to make a female dwarf with a beard than why not. I do think it will be harder to figure out if you are fighting a man or a woman though and if you don't want to hit a woman than you could be fooled.

Hinges Windmage has spoken.

Yes. They should have beards... But only with option.

This would give this game something special. Maybe even something scary... Somehow i cant stop image dwarf female running at bikini and having bigger beard than 90% of people...

Alright, so if dwarven women can have the option, then should other races be allowed to put beards on their women? I just think if we're going to allow dwarven women to have the option, then why not other races?

Dwarves must have beards!!!

On a side note.. Would it be bad to suggest.. That dwarves can step on their own beards while running and fall down?
You know? One of those "unheroic-movement" skills you got planned for us all? Just a thought! I am very curious!

If you want to go down that road, you'd have to give long haired characters a % chance of entangling themselves in their own hair while swinging their weapon, casting spells, etc... I don't know many people who would be willing to put up with that in the long run.

It could be a graceful roll they do?

Not sure why all the races don't have this choice.

Seriously, just a little to much spinach, quinoa, and suma root and you've got a beard.


That's not fantasy its fact.

I say give them a choice to have a beard but if they dont want it they dont have to have it

Now THAT would be immersion! (Funny as hell, too!)