I've seen some posts responding negatively to the appearance of the new Vampire Ultimate form that has been previewed. I get that it's a rough WIP, so I'm not going to critique the aesthetics of it, but instead I want to bring up an awkward issue, one that I'm sure most people won't consider, but that is quite vexing to me, as a trans woman. Like the werewolf and necromancer ultimates, the new Vampire form seems to turn your character, regardless of their gender, into a giant hyper masculine male.

I've always been annoyed by the ubiquitous masculinity of the wolf and necro forms as well, but I don't like werewolves anyway, and I guess it makes sense for a giant skeletal form for not have feminine curves since it's just made of bones, so whatever. But I love vampires. Vampires are my jam. I've been super excited for the revamp of the Vampire skill line for years and years. Or I was.

Generally speaking, being forced to play as a man makes me not want to play a game. It triggers dysphoria and completely ruins the fun. Gaming is normally very therapeutic and liberating because I can decide exactly how I look; it even helped me to realize that I was trans in the first place. It's a safe space to explore presenting myself on my own terms. So, "disappointing" isn't the right word to describe this. These transformations feel like violations.

I could get into how it's a bit sexist to make the default appearance of super strong alternate forms be completely and exclusively masculine, and how it's pretty problematic the way feminine strength is often either ignored or described only in term of masculinity, but... I don't think trying to wokescold game designers to embrace buff women is likely to be a very persuasive here.

Yes, one of the main NPC's is a huge buff chick (and I love her)... and yes you can very easily make your characters buff women... but neither of those bits of inclusivity makes it tolerable for me that in order for my character to have the same powers as other characters, she has to mutate into a giant manly man monster.

And yes, it's a "monster" form, but it's a monster power fantasy, and the fantasy is completely ruined for trans people when you put us in these situations. It takes our fun, escapist fantasy and forces into it, the waking nightmare of our real lives dealing with gender dysphoria. And it sucks.

TL;DR:
Please make a female version of the Vampire Lord form, if not for monster gender equality, then maybe at least to prevent another key game mechanic from triggering dysphoria and ruining the fun for millions of marginalized and vulnerable people.