Why do some many terrible fantasy tabletop artists put pauldrons

Because they look cool and visually distinctive. Practicality is almost entirely irrelevant.

>>53754331
It gets a lot harder to lift a weapon or a shield when your deltoid's severed.

>>53754331
Not really. I've only played a handful of systems where it was mechanically meaningful to tackle, sweep, or otherwise disorient your opponent, and D&D certainly isn't one of them.

>>53754331
>>53754383
it also protects the other end of the pectoral.
you'd hope the sternal head was also protected, but humans pretty natural defend their centre bodyline...

sure. don't put them on everything.
but anyone who is likely to face just about any form of combat could stand to benefit from a little extra shoulder protection. and depending on the fighting style/weaponry, maybe only one needs to be included.

>>53754331

Artistically, the inverted triangle (ie one point pointing down) generally conveys a more sinister form, and shoulder pads help the torso form a triangular image. From a distance, you may also be fooled into thinking you're fighting some undead headless monster. Also, large shoulder pads add additional mass to the upper torso and create a tapering body shape, which instinctively registers as a fit, muscular build. i.e. a do-not-mess-with-me-physique.

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>>53757190
This. It's for aesthetic.

Also, the pauldron is a pretty important piece of armor. Blows that get deflected by the helmet tend to hit the collar bone, which is pretty weak but nonetheless very important. The pauldron protects this weak spot.

>>53754331

Two reasons:

1 - They look cool.
2 - 99.999% of artists and players don't even know what the fuck they are let alone whether they're practical or not.

If you're going to start sperging out over "unrealistic" elements in RPGs, you're going to do far more sperging than playing.

to protect their fapping arm
fapping is very dangerous

>>53754331

Do you mean when they put on just pauldrons and no other armor? That is pretty weird.

But, if you're in a fantasy setting where you expect to fight humanoid enemies that are taller than most humans (orcs, ogres, gnolls, etc) then it is probably going to be one of the most commonly attacked areas.

>>53754331
>not protecting your shoulders.
It's like you want to be disarmed.

>>53754331
>Why do some many terrible fantasy tabletop artists put pauldrons on every character?
Looks cool.

>>53754331
Because its the easiest type of armor to draw on as an afterthought.

>>53754331
Because it looks cool, because fantasy, being fantasy, is intrinsically fantastical and unrealistic in nature.
Even a low-fantasy settings that strives for a bit of realism despite the dragons and wizards, if it can come up with a reasanoble sounding reason for their usage can get away with it.
Of course, if the angle of the particular setting is extreme realism it would be a problem, but most fantasies aren't like that, because the draw of fantasy is that it IS a bit unrealistic.
Bombastic tales of epic proportions of good vs evil don't happen realisticly either, dragons aren't realistic.
Focussing on pauldrons of all things is a bit silly.
And no this isn't a
>hurr durr, just turn your brain off its dumb fun
Argument, this is me saying that if realism, or the lack thereof, bothers you this much, maybe fantasy isn't for you?
There's plenty of historic stuff out there.

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>>53754331
>pauldrons
Well, the other anons already described the importance of protecting the shoulder. As for only having a pauldron on your left shoulder, that's usually going to be the side facing the enemy (especially when you also have a shield), which makes it somewhat more of a priority than your right shoulder, which is usually going to be away from the enemy unless you're attacking.

What's ACTUALLY retarded are the fuckhuge WoW pauldrons that weigh more than most full body plate armor. They don't even look cool, just stupid.

>>53760307
I always wear my fapping helmet. Safety first!

>>53754331
To protect the character's arm, you fuckwit.

>>53754331

Helmets, standards, and pauldrons are often used to convey style and make heroes visually distinctive. High shoes, too, though those are less practical. In nearly every US Presidential election of the TV era, the taller candidate wins. Looks matter, and for a leader they're more important than combat effectiveness. In a feudal system, knights are part of a special social class-- they're all leaders expected to recruit troops for their liege lord.

Of course, those troops want to look like members of the upper class, so they get armor that looks as similar as they can afford and get away with. Consider those oversized sunglasses that modern celebrities wear. They wear them so they won't be recognized in public. And yet lots of girls wear them as a fashion accessory-- not because they'd benefit from it directly, but because it makes them look reminiscent of someone who WOULD benefit, someone with high status.

Pauldrons in particular make even a weedy hereditary aristocrat look like he has upper body strength and impressiveness. That results in fewer challenges to his authority, better grip on his vassals, and looking impressive enough that he's worth allying with.

Somewhere around my HDD I've got a pic of historical plate armor with a big dong molded into the cod piece. "Looks cool" matters. Form often IS function.

>>53761727
I mean, they do compensate for the lack of a helmet

>>53757377
>If you're going to start sperging out over "unrealistic" elements in RPGs, you're going to do far more sperging than playing.
We simply choose to not play D&D and houserule the few rules we did sperg out over in other systems. In particular I remember an otherwise fine system which claimed that a normal person wouldn't be able to walk at all after one pint of beer.