Amazon

Amazons are a staple of fantasy fiction, as well as superhero fiction and some (usually more pulpy) scifi as well.

They are generally portrayed as a race of warrior women, either immortal or who reproduce with captives or using males as the "goback2thekitchen" gender. They may be just a human tribe, they may have advanced magic and/or technology, or they may be borderline monstergirls with supernatural prowess elevating them above men. Likewise, they may allow men to share their territory but women are clearly in charge (or at least do the fighting), they may enslave men, they may just not let men get anywhere near them on a permanent basis. They may even be a one-sex race, to emphasize their inhumanity.

Amazons often show up as a female warrior class in RPGs, especially Japanese ones. They may have either a ranged focus (the mythical Amazons were said to be expert archers), or they may be powerful melee fighters. Western RPGs tend to portray them as Rangers as opposed to Barbarians.

Myth/Origin

Amazons originated as a race of warrior-women from Ancient Greek/Roman myths. Though they only appear in a handful of stories, most notably those of Heracles (Hercules to the Disney fans in the room), Theseus (the smart guy who isn't Odysseus), and the Iliad (Trojan War), they have stuck in the imagination of nerds everywhere due to the strange fondness writers have for aggressive, take-charge women who can kick major ass.

IRL, they're believed to have been inspired by Grecian encounters with the Scythians (although there are other cultural candidates such as Minoans), nomadic tribes of horseback archers (one of the first groups of humans to use mounted warfare; some have suspicions that women logically may have rode horses into battle first since the most ancient horses were too small for full-grown men to ride on) that originated in the Middle East and expanded their reach into southern and central Asia (their trade route connecting China and India to Egypt and Greece can fairly be called the proto-Silk Road) before being repelled and eventually becoming part of the early Slavic culture.

The Scythians often included female archers and even full-fledged warriors in their ranks, something highly exotic to the very patriarchal Greeks and Romans who shamelessly stole most of the Grecian culture for themselves in later years. While Amazon female warriors appear to be mixed with males based on archeological finds (females with battle damage to their bones, buried with weapons and armor alongside warrior males as equals) the Greeks and Romans just focused on the women, dropping men from the myth.

According to the Greeks, Amazons supposedly cut one breast off to remove the obstacle hindering archery (something that breasts don't really do unless one is particularly heavily-endowed...and they'd have frequently died of infection doing this due to their lack of germ theory) with the queen Penthesilea removing both, although there isn't much evidence for this practice. They had sex with the men of their closest neighbor, the Gargareans, to keep their numbers up; any boys born from this were either killed at birth or send back to the fathers.

Greek Amazons featured first into the story of Theseus, where he marries their queen and the daughter of Ares, Hippolyta. Unfortunately, this pisses off the rest of the Amazons for some reason; in other versions she is raped or abducted instead, or Theseus takes a second wife, or he kills her and marries her sister Antiope. Regardless of the version, the Amazons wage war on the Greeks in revenge for whatever slight.

In the second myth Heracles, tasked with obtaining the girdle (belt) given by Ares to his daughter and their queen Hippolyta. Either she willingly visits his boat or he abducts her; either way he gets the girdle. From there, either Hera decides to be her usual bitchy self and goads them into attacking Heracles by tricking them into thinking she was abducted (in the former), or the Amazons launch a rescue mission. Shit promptly hits the fan: either Hippolyta's sister Penthesilea kills her by mistake, Heracles kills her in revenge then bails with the girdle, or he abducts her and gives her to Theseus, causing the events of the first myth.

In their final appearance, Penthesilea (now their queen) leads the Amazons in defense of Troy from the united Greeks. Exactly why she does this varies from version to version - in some she does so to seek death out of shame at killing Hippolyta (either attempting to save her from Heracles or in a hunting accident), with other versions saying she simply intended to prove Amazon supremacy.

During the siege of Troy, Penthesilea led twelve of her companions against Achilles, Greek mythology's resident nigh-invulnerable badass and all-round legendary warrior; after fucking up numerous Greek soldiers and maybe dueling one of the two Ajaxes present, she faced off against Achilles himself. Depending on who you ask, they went full Love Can Bloom mid-battle or just afterwards; either way, their battle ended with her biting it at Achilles hands. What happened to the other Amazons is unknown.

Greek Amazons are only mentioned a few other times, generally in the context of waging war on the Greeks but the stories unfortunately are not elaborated on. Cults to Amazon leaders, gathering at Amazon tombs converted into temples, are also recorded.

Warhammer

Amazons were introduced alongside Pygmies in Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 1st edition.

Lustria was inhabited originally by the Lizardmen and the rest of the native dinosaur/South American-hybrid flora and fauna. Norscans accidently discovered, then looted and colonized it (bear in mind not all Norscans were just weak Warriors Of Chaos back then). Several other settlements have popped up since then which the Slann have tried their hardest to remove to little effect. These ports have encouraged other adventurers to colonize since.

The Slann experimented in using these unwanted guests as slaves in various ways. Some Norscans were simply abducted and lobotomized for labor, a successful tactic that has continued since. Slann intentionally devolved some into Pygmies, a brown-skinned big-lipped potbellied race of short savage cannibal humanoids with bones in their noses...with models to match. There's a reason these were dropped quickly from the game and rarely referenced.

The Slann also produced Amazons by gifting some warrior women who rebelled against the Norscans with immortality and magical equipment (this being young Games Workshop where Warhammer 40000 AKA Rogue Trader and Fantasy cross-referenced each other, one of these was "Sun Sticks" AKA Lasguns). Amazons in turn worship the Slann and do their bidding. Amazon models were produced by Games Workshop for their Mordheim expansion and continued to be sold into the early 2010's due to popularity. Amazons are also a team in the Blood Bowl universe. In the Blood Bowl comic series Blood Bowl: Killer Contract the Amazon team beat the Pygmies, normally known for eating the other team, by eating them first (translation: "No, we will not bring Pygmies back for Blood Bowl.") then went on to beat the Lizardmen team. Out of Lustrian pride the Slann sponsored the Amazons in the Old World until they lost. One of their players was recruited by the Empire team.

The Warhammer Armies Project has 8th edition & 9th edition fanmade army books for the Amazons on its website. Here, they are described as a technobarbarian culture descended from an early "race" of human women used as assistants and technicians by the Slann and the Old Ones. When the Old Ones vanished, they broke away from the Slann and have devolved to their own strange culture; in fact, they often fight bitterly with the Lizardmen, despite their shared heritage. Ruled over by a priesthood, the Amazons have supposedly preserved more of the ancient Old One technology than the Slann have, in part because they depend on arcane parthenogenesis to reproduce; multiple births are extremely common, and larger broods earn great social status. They also guard a life-preserving fountain of youth, which allows the most vaunted of their kind to enjoy extended lifespans.

There was no mention of them during The End Times books, but according to Geedubs author Josh Reynolds the Amazons got killed off when the pieces of the Chaos Moon smashed into Lustria (he also said the same fate befell the Pygmies), sparing only the parts where the Pyramid-ships rested. What bitter revenge those fat frogs had.

If you want to know what how the army handles, check out the tactica: Warhammer Army Project/Warhammer Army Project: Amazons.

Over in Warhammer 40,000, House Escher of Necromunda are literally an Amazon-themed faction in the game, with their 8e reboot even retconning them as using strange arcanotech methods to reproduce through parthenogensis instead of sexually (also helps since their fighters are all female and any who get pregnant would be down for at least a few months). You could also consider the Sisters of Battle from the core game to be a faction of power armor-clad grimdark Paladin-Amazons.

In Warhammer: Age of Sigmar, the Daughters of Khaine are essentially a mainstream faction of Amazon Monstergirls, being a war-worshipping, Blood Magic-practicing society composed 99% of female elf warriors, lamias and harpies.

Mordheim

Amazons appeared twice as an expansion-pack warband for Mordheim in the pages of Town Cryer, the official Mordheim magazine.

The first version, seen in Town Cryer #15, was part of the Lustria: Cities of Gold setting expansion for Mordheim, and presented Amazons as a reclusive, xenophobic and highly territorial race of women, reputedly descended from a lost Norse colony, with a particular enmity for both Lizardmen (who they hunted for food and skins) and the Norse. This is reflected in the assortment of special rules that Amazons get under these rules; in addition to "Not One Of Us!", which prohibits them from hiring mercenaries and Dramatis Personae who aren't Amazons, they get the rules "Isolationists" (re-roll missed attacks in the first round of combat against Lizardmen and Norse opponents) and "Norse Enmity" (when facing a Norse warband, Amazons get to re-roll their first failed Rout check, and can't voluntarily fail a Rout check unless their leader is down). Their final special rule is "Sacrifice", which is almost identical to the Cult of the Possessed special rule of the same name, except that sacrificing a Skink will have the added bonus of rewarding the party with a free Enchanted Skins (also called Skins & Charms), a suit of magical armor that has a 6+ armor save and a 5+ dispel save against spells. This "mark 1" Amazon warband is led by a Serpent Priestess, a Leader/Wizard combo character in the vein of a few other warbands; for Heroes, they can take 0-2 Eagle Warriors (melee-focused champions) and 0-2 Piranha Warriors (ranged-focused champions). Their Henchmen are simply Amazon Warriors, though they can also take 0-3 Jaguar Warriors, whose special rule "One With The Jungle" lets them ignore jungle terrain when moving. This version of the Amazon warband has its own Special skill table, which is available to all three Hero types; its heroes are otherwise characterized as extremely martial (universal Combat skills) and quick (universal Speed skills); the Serpent Priestess can take Academic skills, the Eagle Warrior can take Strength skills, and the Piranha Warrior can take Shooting skills. The unique Amazon skills are Skink Hunter (always strike first vs. Skinks), Elixir of Life (re-roll one Out of Action roll after a battle), Mesmerizing Dance (models in base contact must pass an Ld test to attack; doesn't work on Lizardmen or undead), Savage Fury (immune to charm & fear, +1 Attack when charging) and Concealment (when hiding in jungle terrain, enemies halve the range at which they can spot this Amazon). This iteration of the Serpent Priestess uses Amazon Rituals as her magic lore, the spells of which consist of Singing Wind, Serpent's Strength, Wendala's Maelstrom, Shield of Thorns, The Living Jungle, and Siren's Dreams.

The second version appeared in Town Cryer #23, and whilst building on the same lore as the previous version, was somewhat more official; it presented the Amazon warband as representing captured Amazons who were shipped to the Empire as curiosities and courtesans, freed by the chaos of the wyrdstone meteorite and now trying to amass the wealth needed to pay for a trip back to Lustria. These Amazons only maintain the "Not One Of Us" and "Sacrifice" special rules from their prior version, and lose the Enchanted Skins armor - this restricts them to just helmets and bucklers, making them even more fragile than the original Amazons were. They replace a number of their unique artifacts as well with new versions, and lose their Amazon Special Skills. The new Warband is still led by a Priestess (having dropped the "Serpent" prefix), who is still a Leader/Wizard and still using the same Amazon Rituals magic lore as before, complete with the same spells. However, she's gained a major boost in skills; now she can take Shooting and Strength skills in addition to her original Combat/Academic/Speed trinity! The new Heroes are 0-2 Champions (who, weirdly, despite being WS4 and BS3, can learn Shooting skills) and 0-2 Totem Warriors; melee-focused (WS4, BS2) who can learn Strength skills and who have the Frenzy special rule; both retain the affinity for Combat and Speed skills of their earlier counterparts. For Henchmen, you can take Amazon Warriors and 0-3 Scouts, who use the generic Stealthy rule and replace the old Jaguar Warriors.

Dungeons & Dragons

Aside from being an obvious culture to include in a magical realm, Amazons have had several encounters with Dungeons & Dragons.

Way back in Greyhawk Adventures, Amazons were actually statted up as a unique monster race, essentially treated as a culture of female human, elf, dwarf, gnome or halfling barbarians.

Mongoose Publishing includes an Amazons book as part of their notorious Slayers Guide To X series, with the usual somewhat dodgy quality. These Amazons are portrayed as an evil-aligned barbarian people, who grudgingly interact with men to conceive offspring and then murder them afterwards.

AD&D Amazon Lore

This article is boring and stinks of being copypasted from a gamebook or another wiki. You can make it better by making it less unfunny.

AD&D had Amazons as a race: exceptionally tall and fine-looking women, though with a hard-hearted attitude as you might expect of a "barbarian" culture. They usually pack spears, swords, axes, bows, and (for younger Amazons) slings, though their weapons and skills tend to change with their home territory (so a bunch from the steppes might emphasize horsemanship and mounted combat). All of them speak Common, though a few clans have their own languages.

Unlike the original all-human Amazons, they do come in other racial flavors, with their weapons and skills tweaked to match: Elf amazons are nomadic woods-dwellers who emphasize use of the spear and long bow, occasionally backed up by Unicorn cavalry. Dwarf amazons tend to pack axes and war hammers due to their short height, with giant boars used as their cavalry. Gnome amazons lack mounts (because what the arse do you expect them to ride?), but they've got ranger-grade tracking skills and a penchant for throwing axes. Halfling amazons prefer to use javelins and slings; they're also notably better at snare-making and much more endurance-heavy than the norm.

Larger amazonian soceties tend to be reclusive or nomadic, as with their original myth-version's isolative tendencies. Regardless of their level of culture or lack thereof, they're generally viewed with distrust and suspicion by others due to being seen as "barbarians"; In turn, they tend toward being unfriendly if not outright hostile toward anyone they meet.

Crunchwise, they're impossible to surprise without being invisible due to being highly-trained barbarian fighters; they typically wear light chain mail (though this varies) and their group's favored weapons. Despite the view of some fa/tg/uys, they do not in fact suffer a -4 Str penalty; instead, their strength ratings are always between 15 and 18 (18/00 is possible), and Dexterity and Constitution ratings between 13 and 18.

Amazons of less than 4th level are never older than the young adult age (15-19); see, if they don't meet the tribe's standards for being a warrior by 20, they're exiled and can't rejoin the clan (barring some seriously unusual circumstances). If she does meet their standards, she has to go through training and some kind of initiation ritual specific to the clan before being considered an adult; in general, this involves mastering the clan's favored skills and gear.

They almost invariably work in groups, usually consisting of between 10 and 30 or more 'regular' Amazons plus a leader and a witch-doctor; a group of ten or more's leader will be 5th- or 6th-level, with the witch-doctor at 2nd level. A party of 20 or more will have a captain of 7th or 8th level. If there's 30 or more, be very fucking wary indeed - this mean there's a good-ish chance (30%) that there's 1-4 other raiding parties within 5 miles of the group, based out of some kind of lair (ship, wagon train, convoy of pack animals, etc.)

In their “lair”, amazons will have a full 30 barbarian warrior women of 4th level, four leaders of 5th- to 6th-level, one leader of 7th to 8th level, and a Queen — a barbarian of 9th to 12th level. A male witch-doctor of at least 4th-level wizard ability will be present. There are twice as many (normal) males as female warriors, about half of them equal to men-at-arms, and armed and armored as their amazon mistresses. The others will have the care of 2 to 12 children. The queen will have four male guards of 2nd- or 3rd-level, and two female guards of 5th- to 6th-level.

Individual amazon warriors may be encountered from time to time, serving in various mercenary forces. These may retain the weapons of their original clan or adopt unusual weapons, armor, or fighting styles to which they have been exposed.

Amazons of the plains and flatlands employ war chariots. These are light, two-horse chariots with a driver and a warrior, having a movement rate of 18 and a supply of javelins and war arrows. Amazons chariot riders are armed with powerful composite short bows, which they can fire from a moving chariot as if standing stationary on firm ground.

Amazons of the steppes are skilled horse archers. Their mobile communities are based on great wagons that can be circled into a fortified camp. These amazons are reputed to have almost supernatural skill in horse handling.

Island-dwelling amazons build light, maneuverable galleys, which they use for trading and occasional piracy. All amazons from this culture can swim and all have exceptional small boat skills. Their base will be a walled city with a large marble temple to their goddess; the witch-doctor is replaced by a priest-magician of equivalent skill. Island amazons are exceptionally skilled with the long bow.

Amazon Kits

Assorted Kits throughout AD&D have touched upon the Amazon archetype, making playable versions of the aforementioned Greyhawkian Amazons. Specifically, Amazons appeared in the Complete Books of Fighters, Priests and Wizards, although they also receive passing mention in the Complete Books of Thieves and Barbarians too. Whilst all three books emphasize that Amazons should find men regarding themselves as their equals to be equally weird as they are seen by men, they also take pains to mention that this kind of racism should occur only with NPCs and not party members. As you can probably figure out, the kits as a whole were rather unpopular, given they presumed a certain uncomfortably Neo-Medieval default attitude in the setting.

Amazon Warrior

Also known as just the Amazon, the Amazon Warrior kit represents the basic warrior-women of a D&D Amazon tribe. Amazon warriors are ferocious mounted combatants who specialize in the use of spears and long bow; as a result, they must take the Groom NWP and can only specialize in the Spear and Long Bow. Their bonus proficiencies are Riding (Land-Based) and Animal Training, and recommended NWPs for the kit include Animal Handling, Animal Lore, Armorer, Bowyer/Fletcher, Hunting, Running, Survival, Tracking.

Because Amazons have a default presumed culture, an Amazon's starting arms and armor is restricted to the following list: Battle Axe, Bow (Any), Club, Dagger/Dirk, Hand Axe, Throwing Axe, Javelin, Knife, Lance, Spear, Sword (Any), Shield, Leather Armor, Padded Armor, Studded Leather Armor, Brigandine Armor, Scale Mail Armor, Hide Armor, Banded Mail Armor, Bronze Plate Mail Armor.

Since everyone presumes that warrior women don't exist, amazons get a +3 to hit and a +3 to damage on their first blow against any male who doesn't respect or acknowledge the idea of warrior women. This doesn't work on PCs, wary NPCs who pass an Intelligence check, seasoned veterans (5th level warriors or 8th level anybody else), or any NPCs who seen somebody hit by this telling blow.

Likewise, amazons suffer a -3 Reaction penalty against NPCs from male-dominated societies, until and unless they come to respect the amazon.

By default, amazons are presumed to be humans, elves or half-elves, but one can make shortfolk amazons with the following changes:

Dwarf Amazons are still Riders, but ride Swine instead of horses. Their required weapons are Axe and Hammer.
Gnome Amazons forsake riding for wilderness lore; their required weapons are Throwing Axe and Short Sword, and their bonus NWPs are Tracking and Survival.
Halfling Amazons are wilderness-dwelling sneaks; their required weapons are Javelin and Sling, whilst their bonus NWPs are Endurance and Set Snares.

Amazon Priestess

Whilst it adheres to all of the same bonuses and penalties as the Amazon Warrior, the Amazon Priestess does have a few unique traits. Firstly, they cannot serve a God of Disease or Peace. Secondly, they will command less respect from their fellows if their patron God(dess) demands they forfeit the traditional weapons of Amazon culture.

Amazon Sorceress

Because of the warlike nature of presumed Amazon culture, their sorceresses have certain extra edges and restrictions. On the plus side, they can learn to use the traditional weapons of their culture despite these typically being forbidden to wizards. On the downside, they cannot use the schools of illusion or necromancy. Otherwise, they have the exact same restrictions, advantages and edges as the Amazon Warrior.

Amazon Class

Diablo II: Diablerie

Diablo II: Diablerie, a supplement to Dungeons & Dragons: Diablo II Edition for Third Edition, itself a Wizards of the Coast cash-in for Diablo II, includes the Amazon class as part of the five translations of the base game's classes. It's a ranged specialist fighting class, favoring the use of bows and spears, and designed to reach level 25, with the following traits.

Chief Ability Scores: Dexterity (primary), Wisdom and Charisma

Hit Die: D10

Class Skills: Craft (Any, Bowyer, Fletcher), Disable Device, Heal, Knowledge (Religion), Listen, Move Silently, Search, Spot, Wilderness Lore

Skill Points: 2 + Int modifier, multiplied by 4 for the first level

Weapon & Armor Proficiency: All weapons, all armor, shields

Saves: Good Fortitude save, poor Wisdom and Reflex

Attacks: 2 attacks at level six, 3 attacks at level eleven, 4 attacks at level sixteen, 5 attacks at level twenty-one, 6 attacks at level 25

Attack Bonus: Great (primary attack bonus equals Amazon levels)

Feats: It gains 9 feats between levels 1 and 24

Ability Increase: +1 Ability score every 4 levels

The Amazon's key class features are its ability to select Amazon Abilities. Starting at level 1, it gets one ability each level, except when it gains an Ability Increase. The level after it gains an ability increase, it gains access to the next tier of Amazon Abilities - so Tier 2 at level 5, Tier 3 at level 9, etc. There are six tiers of Amazon Abilities all told. Abilities marked with an asterisk require an Amazon to make a Charisma check (DC 15 + tier number); if this check fails, the Amazon cannot use that ability for the rest of the day, or until they drink a mana potion, which restores use until the next time they fail a Charisma check.

Tier 1 Abilities

Critical Strike: Gain the Improved Critical feat for free.
Fire Arrow*: Take a full-round action to shoot burning (+1d6 fire damage) arrows, one for each ranged attack that you can make.
Inner Sight: +2 Circumstance bonus to spot creatures in darkened conditions. If you succeed in spotting such creatures, you can't be Sneak Attacked by them, you can't be caught Flat Footed by them, and you get +2 attack bonus if you attack them from 30 feet or less.
Jab: Whilst wielding a Piercing damage melee weapon, you can spend a full-round action to make three attacks.
Magic Arrow*: Spend a full round action to shoot a number of +1 arrows, one for each ranged attack that you can make.

Tier 2 Abilities

Cold Arrow*: Take a full-round action to shoot freezing (+1d6 cold damage, Fort save or be Slowed for 1d3 rounds) arrows, one for each ranged attack that you can make.
Dodge Attacks: Spend a full-round action and forfeit attacking or moving more than 5 feet to get a +4 dodge bonus to AC vs. melee attacks, and to ignore "half damage on successful Reflex save" effects if you pass the Reflex save.
Multiple Shot*: Spend a full round action to shoot a number of splitting arrows (make attack rolls against 3 targets per arrow), one for each ranged attack that you can make.
Poison Javelin*: Take a full round action to throw a javelin imbued with magical venom; a target hit must pass a Fort save or take temporary Constitution damage, enemies within 5 feet of the javelin's flight path also risk taking Con damage.
Power Strike*: Requires the Jab ability. Lets you spend a full round action to deal (+1d8/5 levels) lightning damage with your melee weapon.

Tier 3 Abilities

Avoid: Requires the Dodge Attacks ability. Gives you the Deflect Arrows feat for free.
Bolt of Lightning*: Requires the Poison Javelin ability. Lets you spend a full round action to throw a javelin and turn it into a lightning bolt that deals 2d10 lightning damage.
Exploding Arrow*: Requires the Fire Arrow and Multiple Shot abilities. Spend a full round action to shoot an exploding arrow that deals (1d6/2 levels) damage to the target and all creatures within 15 feet of the target.
Impale: You can choose to deal +2d6 damage with a melee piercing weapon at the cost of inflicting 2 points of Durability damage on your weapon.
Slow Missiles*: Spend a full-round action to project an aura that slows all projectiles and thrown weapons aimed within 30 feet of you. You and allies within the aura gain +4 dodge bonus against ranged attacks, and enchanted missiles lose their power - this extinguishes missile spells and nullifies the special effects of fire arrows, acid arrows, etc.

Tier 4 Abilities

Charged Strike*: Requires the Power Strike and Bolt of Lightning abilities. Spend a full-round action to strike a target with a melee piercing weapon, inflicting +2d8 lightning damage and casting a singled Charged Bolt spell, which targets all enemies near the initial target.
Guided Arrow*: Requires the Cold Arrow and Multiple Shot abilities. Spend a full-round action to launch an arrow that can be used to hit any single target in range, even to the extent of going around corners.
Ice Arrow*: Requires the Cold Arrow ability. Take a full-round action to shoot an ice (+2d6 cold damage, Fort save or be Paralyzed for 1d3 rounds) arrow.
Penetrate*: Requires the Critical Strike ability. You reduce the AC of your targets when using Ranged weapons by -1 per 5 levels you have.
Plague Javelin*: Requires the Bolt of Lightning ability. As per Poison Javelin, but creates a 15ft cloud of poisonous fumes that lasts until the end of your next turn at the point of impact.

Tier 5 Abilities

Decoy*: Requires the Slow Missiles ability. You can use a full-round action to create a magical duplicate of yourself, forcing enemies to make a Will save or attack it in preference to you. A decoy lasts 1 round per three levels.
Evade: In turns where you don't attack, you get a +4 dodge bonus to AC and can completely ignore damage from "half damage on successful Reflex save" attacks if you pass your save.
Fend: Requires the Impale ability. You gain the Great Cleave feat for free.
Immolation Arrow*: Requires the Exploding Arrow ability. You can spend a full-round action to launch a powerful explosive arrow, which inflicts +4d6 fire damage to the initial target and (1d6/2 levels) fire damage to all creatures within 10 feet of the initial target. The crater continues to burn (2d6 fire damage to anyone inside) for 1d4+1 rounds afterwards.
Strafe: Requires the Guided Arrow ability. You can fire a single arrow at every foe within close range each round.

Tier 6 Abilities

Freezing Arrow*: Requires the Ice Arrow ability. You can use a full-round action to launch a single frigid arrow; +4d6 cold damage to initial target, and initial target and all creatures within 15 feet must make a Fortitude save or be paralyzed for 1d3 rounds. Paralyzed creatures must pass a Fort save each round or take 2d6 cold damage.
Lightning Fury*: Requires the Plague Javelin ability. You can spend a partial action to throw a javelin, hitting the target with a half-strength Chain Lightning spell.
Lightning Strike*: Requires the Charged Strike ability. You can spend a full-round action to stab a foe in melee with a javelin and trigger a half-strength Chain Lightning spell.
Pierce: Requires the Penetrate ability. When you use a ranged attack, you can punch clean through multiple foes.
Valkyrie: Requires the Decoy and Evade abilities. You can summon a valkyrie to fight beside you once per day.

Arkadian Amazons

In the 3rd-part setting of Arkadia for Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition, Oreyan Elves, the setting's analogue of Wild Elves, are described as an Amazonian culture. We don't actually know what that means, beyond the fact that they are infamous for having many female warriors and hunters.

The Amazon is also presented as a subclass for the Ranger in the Arkadia setting book, although ironically nothing explicitly says you have to be a female character to take the class. These rangers gain access to the bonus spells Guiding Bolt , Warding Bond, Haste, Deathward and Telepathic Bond, and have the following unique subclass features:

Vigilance: 3rd level. When armed with a ranged weapon, if a visible enemy in range attacks an ally, you can use your Reaction to attack that creature after the attack is rolled, but before the triggering attack deals daamge.

Pinning Blows: 7th level. Enemies damaged by your weapon attacks suffer Disadvantage on their next opportunity attack until the start of your next turn.

Huntress' Strike: 11th level: As an action, you can make a weapon attack with Advantage, and which also imposes Disadvantage on the target's next attack before the start of your next turn if it hits.

Quell: 15th level. If forced to make a Dexterity saving throw by a creature within range of your current weapon, you can make a weapon attack against the triggering enemy as a Reaction, even if you have already used your Reaction this round. If your attack hits, you and all other creatures targeted by the effect that triggered this ability automatically succeed on your Dexterity saving throw.

Thylean Amazons

In the 3rd-part setting/campaign book of Odyssey of the Dragonlords for Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition, Amazons are a "barbarian" culture who inhabit the Island of Themis. What this means is that they represent the remnants of a culture made up of stranded PHB races who integrated with the native Thylean races before the arrival of the titular colonizing Dragonlords, and thusly they fought to preserve their independence from the well-intentioned dragon-riding conquerors. The Amazons were originally one more tribes native to Indigo Island who had warrior-women but were egalitarian; in the wake of the barbarian cultures losing the First War against the Dragonlords, the future Amazons descended from warrior-women who sperged out and blamed their loss on the weakness of their menfolk, retreating to the remote island of Themis to found a new women-only realm.

Thylean amazons are a cultural phenomena, rather than a specific ethnicity; the amazon "nation" is made up of a coalition of humans, elves, dwarves, gnomes, half-elves, Nymphs, Centaurs, Minotaurs, Satyrs and Sirens. The only uniting fact is that all individual amazons are female; men are begrudgingly tolerated on the island, but only as breeding stock - they have no say in politics or in the raising of the children, although some amazons do conceal a personal affection for menfolk and it's not unheard of for an amazon who lacks a daughter to teach the fighting style of her people to her son. They are feared throughout the rest of Thylea as brutal, bloodthirsty berserkers who take few prisoners. The Amazons define themselves as a sacred band of warriors who always stand together as a sisterhood. They train for combat from an early age, and once they come of age, they form into pairs of sister-warriors: known as lifemates, the bond between these pairs is immensely strong, to the point that part of the "amazon template" for NPCs is the fact that they fly into killing frenzies if their lifemate is slain. Currently, the amazons are ruled over by a trio of royal sisters, led by Queen Thesilea VI. Unbeknownst to them, the sisters were murdered and replaced by a trio of Thylean Medusae 13 years ago.

It's possible for players to play a Thylean amazon; aside from the simple background, there's also a subclass to represent their unique fighting style. Called the Amazonian Conclave, it's a Ranger subclass that draws elements from Xena and Wonder Woman, and mixes them with a clockwork golem falcon for some reason (perhaps the designers really liked the 1981 Clash of the Titans' Bubo or something).

Bonus Spells: Command, Find Steed, Haste, Confusion, Mislead

Stimfay Compaion (3rd Level): You have a construct companion in the form of an eagle, harrier, hawk, kite, osprey, owl, or archaeopteryx. In areas that are open to the sky, you can direct your stimfay to spend 10 minutes scouting the surrounding 1 mile radius and report back to you with anything it has seen. It comprehends instructions that you give it in any language. It speaks in a series of clicks and squawks that only you can understand.

The stimfay obeys your commands to the best of its abilities, and it acts on your initiative in combat. If you are incapacitated, your stimfay acts on its own.

Your stimfay has hit points equal to 15 + your ranger level, and it adds your proficiency bonus to its attacks, damage, saving throws, and ability save DCs. It regains any lost hit points during a long rest. If it is ever destroyed, you may spend 8 hours to fully repair it.

Amazonian Battlecry (3rd Level): You can spend a bonus action to enter a frenzy, which lasts for 1 minute or until you take damage or are knocked unconscious. It grants you the following benefits whilst it lasts. You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Wisdom modifier (a minimum of once). You regain any expended uses when you finish a long rest.

You have advantage on attacks against creatures of your favored enemy type.
You have resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage.
You have advantage on saving throws against being frightened or paralyzed.

Bracer Reflection (5th Level): Whenever you would be hit by an attack, you may use your reaction to shield yourself with your bracers. You gain a +5 bonus to AC against all attacks, including the attack that provoked this reaction, until the beginning of your next turn. You may use this feature a number of times equal to your Wisdom modifier (a minimum of once), and you regain all expended uses when you finish a short or long rest.

Chakram Technique (7th Level): You can use your action to make a ranged attack with your chakram against one target. If your attack hits, then any number of additional creatures of your choice within 10 feet of that target must make a Dexterity saving throw using your spell save DC. Each creature that fails the save takes the same amount of damage as your first target.

Improved Falconry (11th Level): Your stimfay gains a bonus to its AC equal to your proficiency bonus, and it now has hit points equal to 30 + your ranger level. The damage dice for its Talons, Pinion Storm, and Piercing Screech increase to 2d6, and its attacks are now magical. Additionally, any time you would take damage from an attack or an effect that you can see, you may use your reaction to have your stimfay intercept the attack or effect and take the damage instead of you. Your stimfay must be functional and ready to assist you in order to use this ability, and it must be located within 60 feet of you.

Pressure Points (15th Level): On your turn, you may use a bonus action to make a special melee attack against one creature. If the attack hits, the creature must make a Constitution saving throw versus your spell save DC. On a failure, the creature is paralyzed for 1 minute or until you use a bonus action to touch them and reverse the effect. At the end of each of the creature’s turns, it repeats the saving throw and the effect ends if it succeeds. You may use this ability a number of times equal to your Wisdom modifier, and you regain all expended uses after a short or long rest.

Amazon vs. Musclegirl

Whilst there is a certain overlap between the concept of the Amazon and the Musclegirl fetish, the two aren't entirely synonymous. A musclegirl is any female who, due to class or race, happens to be both feminine looking and buff. An amazon is defined somewhat by class abilities (usually martial, although magical amazons aren't unheard of) and somewhat moreso by cultural implications - in fact, many amazons are actually depicted as looking like conventionally hot women (slender and girly, with big tits 'n' asses) who just happen to be strong enough to wield a big-ass sword without needing any muscles.

Possible Amazonian Races

Whilst the iconic Amazon is a human, in a fantasy setting, nothing takes an enterprising DM (or /d/M) from taking the archetype and applying it to another race. Some of the best candidates for this include:

Elf: They're already an extremely effeminate-looking race who tend to be egalitarian, so making women the martial caste for religious reasons is a fairly simple and believable tweak. Plus, the race's association with high levels of cultural magical proficiency means not only are warrior-women perfectly believable (just relying on eldritch knights, swordmages and bladesingers rather than common fighters), but so is the idea that the race is all-female and uses magical means to procreate.
Orc: Standard fantasy portrays orc women as being just as strong as their men, but treated like absolute shit by them. A "rogue tribe" of orc women who killed off their males and now fiercely retain their independence is a perfectly believable idea.
Halfling: Since they're already a race that relies on stealth and trickery, making them matriarchal on top of that wouldn't be that implausible; halfling fighters don't rely on getting toe to toe with their enemies anyway. Plus, if one wants to use their caravaneer lifestyle from 3e and 4e, making them a species of shortstacks who show up, trade on their looks to be welcomed, and then move on is quite believable (if a little magical realmy).
Gnoll: They already look like spotted hyenas, a race of mammals who actually practices an matriarchal social hierarchy in real life. It's such an obvious tweak that many anons wonder why they haven't gotten an official makeover like this already - it'd certainly make them different to the distinctly patriarchal orcs.
Rabbitfolk/Ratfolk: If one tweaks the rabbitfolk race or the ratfolk race (or both) to make males a rarer sex than females, then they actually can be made to fit the amazonian mold pretty well; after all, given that A: one male can impregnate many females, and B: either race is renowned for its breeding abilities, females naturally become the "expendable gender", because it only takes a handful of breeding females to replenish and expand their race.
Beastfolk: A race of equine beastfolk would actually make very appropriate amazons for much the same reason as gnolls; real-world horses and other equines are matriarchal, with stallions being more glorified boytoys for the herd than leaders. Lion-based catfolk also make for a distinctive fit; there are men and they are important, but most of the actual day-to-day work and combat is handled by the more numerous females.
Lizardfolk: Did you know there are a few species of lizard that can reproduce without males at all? In fact there is one species, the New Mexico whiptail, that does not have any males at all? They reproduce via Parthenogenesis and lesbian sex, and no we are not bloody kidding about that.
Insect people: If you think about it, any sentient fantasy species based on a Eusocial insect, (ants, bees, wasps, termites and so on) would be amazons since in those real life examples, the workers, soldiers and queens are all female. Pathfinder even includes a race of amazonian bee monstergirls in the form of the Thriae race.

Amazon Monstergirls

This article or section is about Monstergirls (or a monster that is frequently depicted as a Monstergirl), something that /tg/ widely considers to be the purest form of awesome. Expect PROMOTIONS! and /d/elight in equal measure, often with drawfaggotry or writefaggotry to match.

One of the debates that sometimes echoes onto /tg/: "Do amazons count as monstergirls?" In truest /tg/ fashion, nobody can agree.

One school argues that amazons can't be considered monstergirls for the same reason that you wouldn't consider "female fighter/barbarian/ranger" a monstergirl - they're human women who happen to be warriors. This often reinforced by the fact that, even if the amazons don't live with men, they still need to mate with men for children; such depictions usually portray them producing both female and male offspring, but the males are either sent away or murdered at birth, depending on how grimdark the race is being presented as.

Another school argues that, taken to its "logical" conclusion, amazons can be considered monsters. This school depicts a "true" amazon as human subspecies that either needs to mate with human men to procreate and only produces daughters (a classic monstergirl trait), or more rarely produces both human sons and amazon daughters, or else as a subspecies that reproduces by parthenogenesis (ie, no sex required to get pregnant). They usually further this by depicting amazons as having a distinctive look; this may or may not touch upon the musclegirl fetish, but usually revolves around the amazon being notedly larger than human men - not a full-fledged giantess, but around the size of an ogre.

This has actually lead to "amazon" being used as a term on /d/ for a specific subset of the "Macro" fetish; big enough for a size difference between female & male in favor of the female, but not building sized or larger women.

In the Monster Girl Encyclopedia, the "Amazoness" (a result of bad English to Japanese to English translation) is a culture of tribal humans who were converted into a distinct succubus subspecies. Distinguished by their brown skin, runic tattoos, mild musclegirl build and possessing only a single horn and wing (a "sexy reference" to their infamous one-breasted look), these are forest-dwelling savages who hunt down human men and bring them back to their villages as husbands, where they become domestic carers in a cliche "reversed sexual roles" take on the Amazon archetype. Their biggest iconic kink is public sex.