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It is no surprise that many female characters in D&D are often given light clothing... very light clothing sometimes... like this one below. What do you think of this? Are there any good reasons to dress them like that in your opinion? Common reasons given include a hot climate, the need to be unencumbered, differences in culture from the "standard", and having something like tough skin to do away with the need for certain clothing... among others. (Note that he pic was from the D&D wiki, it is not mine.)

Power? What do you mean?

Chain mail bikinis are as hilariously iconic as the mini skirts in star trek.  On balance though I wish they'd chosen another way to distinguish dragonborn women other than boobs (but lets not get into the mammal/mammary vs reptile debate).  Having said that, they expressly decided to make 4e dwarven women 'sexy' so this kind of blinkered marketing strategy shouldn't be much of a surprise.

I wish we had uglier women in full plate armour more often.  If she's that ugly, stick a helmet on her too.

Another **** up was in Dungeon.  An npc, Resbin Dren Emondav was described as middle-aged, strong-featured, dark-skinned, and heavy-set.  The artist drew her a blonde, white, and twenty-something.  S/he (although I'm guessing he) probably assumed the description was a mistake.  'Heavy-set' usually means 'big boobs' in DnD.  How else can they make dwarves sexy?

Yeah, I think the only real justification for that kind of clothing is "I'm an underwear model for a company that makes really dull underwear".

There are only two really hot climates that people live in, traditionally: desert and jungle. In a desert, people wear far more clothing as protection against both sand and the heat itself. Also, deserts are very cold at night, so the more clothing is necessary. In a jungle, the people traditionally wear very little clothes, as described, but unless the character was an utter savage (maybe a barbarian?), they would put on clothes when they are no longer in the jungle for the same reason people normally do: protection from the elements and an attempt to blend in with the culture they are in.

As for the need to be unencumbered, I beseech you: Look at the ninja. Certainly a "dex based" warrior, and covered head to toe. Or look at the ranger, or the monk, or any other seemingly "dex based class" from the real world. You don't have to be naked to have clothing that lets you move.

As for differences in culture, most thinking creatures don't try their hardest to stand out in a crowd. If you are in a different culture, it would not take long for you to dress more closely in line with their acceptable style of dress. Especially a rogue, who would need to blend in well or else stick out like a sore thumb.

As for the "tough skin" or scales reason... it's not a reason at all. My skin is more than tough enough to protect me from the elements outside my house on a nice fall day, but I still put on pants and a shirt. Why? The same reasons mentioned above.

In short, the only way I could think to justify the choice of clothing is if the character is a barbarian/savage type, and/or the campaign was set in some dense jungle and the character was a native.

The impression I get from that picture is that it's a profile. I don't think it's meant to be what she usually wears, just a way to show to artists, writers and players what a dragonborn woman looks like all over, but wearing enough clothes so that it's not pornographic

Yeah, I agree with that... there's even a 'color palette' in the middle to show possible/acceptable scale colors.

That's a really... weird drawing tho. I don't mind so much the skimpy clothes as the fact that I've just been introduced to dragonborn bootay... weird scale on those too. /shudder. What has been seen cannot be unseen.