Amazon

Modified from the AD&D 2e Complete Fighter's Handbook

Classes Allowed	Barbarian, Fighter, Ranger
Ability Score Requirements	Strength 9
Prime Requisites	Strength
Races Allowed	High Half-Elf Human Mirage Elf Mirage Half-Elf Wild Elf Wild Half-Elf Humanoids Dragonborn Half-Orc Hobgoblin Titanforged Special Female Only
Alignments Allowed	Any

Amazons are women warriors in a male-dominated world. Their civilization might have been created by a deity who likes women warriors; or they might have been women who rebelled from male dominations and decided to rule themselves; or they might simply have been matriarchal societies from long before recorded history.
Whatever their origin, they now live in civilizations or communities where women occupy the positions and roles traditionally held by men--and, in the campaign, that means especially the role of warriors and adventurers.
An Amazon culture may be small (a single town or island) or large (an entire country or continent), very advanced or very primitive. Some Amazon cultures keep men as servants and slaves, a stern reversal of the former status; others have no men in their communities, and take long holidays in order to visit friendly neighboring tribes of men; others perpetuate their kind by being very hospitable to adventurers passing through their territory. (In this last instance, some Amazon cultures, afterwards, may decide to kill the adventurers; others don't.) For details of exactly how the Amazon communities work in your campaign world, consult your DM. (And give him plenty of time to come up with the answers if it's not something he's thought about before.)
Traditionally, Amazons are famous riders and breeders of horses. In their own countries, they wear light armor and carry shields, spears, swords and bows. In other countries, if they are disadvantaged by their cultural weapons and armor, they quickly adapt to local weapons and armor.

Role

In her own society, regardless of the level of civilization, the Amazon warrior is very highly regarded. She is the defender of the whole civilization's way of life, and every Amazon girl aspires to grow up to be a warrior. But in the outer world, and in the campaign in general, the Amazon is a curiosity, often regarded as a barbarian (no matter how cultured her civilization might be), stared at, whispered about. The people of other cultures will be suspicious of her, and she will probably start out being uncomfortable around men who appear to be her social equal in her eyes, they are the ones who are unnatural.
The DM will have to guide this situation carefully. Once the Amazon character has proven herself in combat to her outer-world allies, and once they have proven themselves in combat to her, there's no reason why they cannot be staunch allies. NPCs may continue to trouble her, but player-characters should not ; and the other PCs should rise to her defense when NPCs make trouble for her; only the most obnoxious of PCs would continue to give her trouble, and the other PCs certainly shouldn't support his attitude.

Advantages

• Amazons are trained from a young age in the arts of war. They receive a +1 bonus to hit and to damage rolls with two weapons appropriate for her tribe, as determined by the DM; Common weapons include clubs, axes, and spears, but each individual tribe may include different weapons.
• Once per encounter, an Amazon can exploit her opponent's underestimation of her, presuming she is in a male-dominated region such as Botar, or a region where such woman warriors are uncommon, such as Lungao or Cetandar. This grants her a +3 bonus to hit a male opponent and a +3 bonus to damage against that male opponent. This only applies to the first blow against that target, and cannot be used against someone who has already been hit by or seen an Amazon use such a feature against someone.

Disadvantages

• Amazons are proud and independent, often refusing to back down from a challenge. Even if it is strategically sound to do so, an Amazon must succeed on a Save versus Spells in order to retreat, else standing and continuing to fight.
• The Amazon suffers a -2 penalty to reaction rolls from NPCs in male-dominated societies. This penalty can be reduced to -1 if she proves her worth in combat or other challenges, or to 0 in regions that particularly value such skills such as Cetandar.