Any Ageing?

[CanineKind]

Hi everyone. I was just curious, will we see age come into play at character creation in PE? I know 3.5 gave us a table which categorized what age group a character was in and their stats were altered because of it. IE, a human who is 35 years old is placed in the "Middle Age" bracket and has a stat modification of -1 to str, dex and con but a +1 to int wis and cha.

I could fully understand why It hasn't been ever been used... just modeling old figures for each race, x2 for gender, could be cumbersome.

 

This mechanic has added in a bit of depth in a few of my pnp games and I cant think of any crpgs that utilize the age system.... yet. 

[motorizer]

I don't know if this is in or not, but giving a 35 year old man a -1 to strength seems a bit ass backwards to me, -1 to agility maybe, at a a push

[curryinahurry]

There was a topic similar to this during the kickstarter days on the forum about starting character age that had some interesting ideas, you may want to search for it.  Beyond that, ageing can only be an issue if the game's plot resolves itself over a significant period (more than 3 years, as an example), and the PC and JNPCs can be of a wide range of ages.  If that is the case, then ageing could be a nice mechanic (possibly even spells that cause ageing, etc.), but it should be reasoned well, and not necessarily follow medieval European standards.

[Keyrock]

In my opinion, there's no point in putting in age mechanics unless you go the whole nine yards and include spells and effects that can temporarily and/or permanently age the character.  If that is the case, I'm not against it, but it does bring up the questions: how much time and resources will be used to create said mechanics, and would said time and resources be better spent on other aspects of the game?

[Aldereth]

While a good idea but it is not a personal preference just because I do not want to be reminded of I am getting too old for this

[Nonek]

Speaking as a gentleman who's fast approaching his half century, I can say with some authority that i'm much stronger than I was as an eighteen year old or at any time previously. I can lift far more at the gym, however I will admit that my agility and puff on the rugger field have begun to suffer somewhat lately. That said I rarely become sick having experienced just about every flu and cold that are apt to arise on ocassion, especially while raising my little ones. Mentally i'm not in a position to judge, though I do think my experience has given me a little more tact and a somewhat more open minded approach.

 

The problems we associate with old age now are often synonymous with a more sedentary lifestyle, something that would not have troubled our medieval ancestors. They obviously had a poorer diet, more wear and tear on their joints and bones, and less of an immune system but sources seem to indicate that they were on average extremely good workers and tough as old boots. Studies on agricultural work from a few centuries passed paint an astounding picture of what a farmer was able to accomplish by hand, this intensive labour probably led to a rather quicker frame of dotage and death, especially when judged next to our current retirement spans.

 

Edit: Personally I plan to play a much younger gentleman in any event, and one assumes that the game will only cover the usual brief timescale of a few weeks or months, however the thought of a Druss the Legend character is rather appealing.

Edited May 18, 2013 by Nonek

[Hassat Hunter]

I don't see the use of such a system. If it's just for a buff or debuff during creation, might as well tag it into another system like race bonusses and penalties. Or class. Or feats. Etc.

[AGX-17]

A fat teenager is weaker than a 50 year old bodybuilder. A 50 year old can be less intelligent or wise than a teenager. Obviously, the point being that stereotypes revolving around age are pointless. They're stereotypes, not givens.

[Faerunner]

I personally don't see much point in an official aging system, not just because of the age stereotyping that others have pointed out, but because I think it would require time and resources that might go to something else. I don't think it's necessary either because you could manually adjust your character's stats if you wanted.

 

For example, you could determine the age of your character, figure out what stats s/he (would have) had at a certain age, then adjust it for the age you want for your character; like the -1 str, -1 dex, -1 con you mentioned in your post. Even if there is no official aging system, you could still adjust your stats for your character for your personal enjoyment. =)

[CanineKind]

I don't know if this is in or not, but giving a 35 year old man a -1 to strength seems a bit ass backwards to me, -1 to agility maybe, at a a push

 

A fat teenager is weaker than a 50 year old bodybuilder. A 50 year old can be less intelligent or wise than a teenager. Obviously, the point being that stereotypes revolving around age are pointless. They're stereotypes, not givens.

The numbers given were from the 3.5 Players Handbook and were developed to help immerse and diversity your characters. I hate to say it but these games were set up with stereotypes in mind, I agree that there should be a degree of customization to it to break them (I certainty feel stronger now than I did when I was a teenager or even in my early twenties ). A point by point system with complications and assets like those found in Legend of the Five Rings or the Serenity RPG might be a better way to diversify an aged character. But I still would like to see age come into play at character creation, and have it mean more than fluff on your character sheet.

 

 

The 'stereotypical' frail old wizard Elminster, comes to mind. Behind his weak exterior is possibly the wisest man in fearun cultivated by years of study and adventure. I would say that its worth having this stereotype than none at all. Personally, I would enjoy playing a naïve young warrior or a frail old wizard and most crpgs (To my knowledge anyways, I could be wrong) only incorporate an age group typically ranging from 18-30.

 

 

In my opinion, there's no point in putting in age mechanics unless you go the whole nine yards and include spells and effects that can temporarily and/or permanently age the character.  If that is the case, I'm not against it, but it does bring up the questions: how much time and resources will be used to create said mechanics, and would said time and resources be better spent on other aspects of the game?

 

 Agreed. Really this is something I imagine would be dealt with at character creation like Hassast Hunter suggested, which is generally were these sorts of things are established. I cant really imagine there being a persistent ageing system, unless like you said, spell effects or some other trigger effect it. In my Icewind Dale 2 game I'm at 109 days, So I can easily see why a persistent system would be useless.

[rjshae]

Factoring in age probably works better in point-based systems. In a class/level system, age could be modeled by giving the characters some initial number of levels in a non-adventuring class. Thereafter the older characters would advance more slowly, but would have better starter skills. However, this may result in balancing issues and I'm not sure it's worth the extra effort.