Age and level [Archive] - Wizards Community

Age and level [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
thorofasgard13
12-14-06, 12:15 PM Hello
I was wondering how a characters age should increase with level. There is a system for dragons but seeing as they take longer to mature much like elves how do you figure out how much your character has aged from level 1-15?
It doesnt make sense for you to be an age 17 Half-orc Barbarian for 20 levels or am I being too picky?
JulesCARV
12-16-06, 02:16 AM Are you talking about for PCs? Well, if all of the adventures that take place that take a character from level 1 to level 20 actually take place in less than a year, then yes, a character can be a 17-year old half-orc barbarian for 20 levels.

I mean, it doesn't make much sense to say that, because he's now level 8, the barbarian must be 20 years old, even though he started adventuring at level 1, was 17 years old when he started adventuring, and has only been adventuring for four months.
Currahee_Chris
12-17-06, 08:27 PM This is the million dollar answer that everyone looks for in DnD. Some of the opinions I have heard in dealing with this are as such:

1.) Age everyone 2+ years per level they advance- more for elves and dwarves. This would represent the physical wear and tear of the adventuring life. The age of death could also be shortened by 10-15 years to represent the fact that the character is just not physically able to adventure anymore and is living their last years in retirement.

2.) Many people have successfully argued that "Why do we have to be old to be epic?" The more I thought about it, the more I wondered it as well. For example- if you look at our society- people like Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, Bill Gates, etc, etc were all legends and were all quite young when they were. They weren't some stooped old men when they became great.

3.) Another option is to simply throw out the aging rules and processes and not deal with it.

4.) If you are running a campaign, you could slow the pace between major events in the storyline- if you have read the Dragons of Autumn twilight, you know that the companions took a five year break before they met back up at the Inn. Why not write something like that up into your storyline?

5.) Some characters might actually benefit from playing an older character- that +3 INT that a wizard could gain starting as an older character would be nice. It would hurt the martial classes but spellcasters might be ok.

6.) Send the party to a plane of existence where time is hastened and they are aged 1 or 2 years each room they enter. When they return to the material plane, they might "loose" some of the planar aging but not all of it.

7.) A lot of people get hung up on playing "young" characters and watching them advance to 20th level and being 20 years old. The fallacy with that is believeing that they have seen all and done all- take up the Epic book and look at it again- there are all sorts of upper level challenges that may require the most famous of champions who may all be middle aged.

I enjoy my characters having an older feel to them. I am sure you can convince your party to do the same.
Shan_TheBabau_Burke
12-19-06, 11:18 PM I knew a DM once who kept exact track of time in game so that his characters would age perfectly. He kept track of these things to the hour. In one campaign he ran, the characters aged about ten years before they got to the end of it. In another, it took them three months, eleven days and five hours in game time to track down the dude they were looking for and kill him.
I don't keep really good track of age in my games. We just get to level 20, have a party and make new characters. If they ever wanted to play epic levels they could, I've shown them all the book. They just like to take baby characters and build them up.
Some of my gamers even keep a copy of the first level character sheet just to have a now and then photograph of sorts. I think it should just go according to taste.
You can figure basic days by overland travel and all that and just add a week to that for all the other stuff each campaign (dungeons where they can't log the passage of days and things like that) and figure it up. Then you have to deal with birthdays too.
I did play a campaign where the Zodiac was a fun feature. My character was Virgo. Total 180 from my laid back personality. It was fun, I rolled randomly. The DM gave us handouts from an astrology book so we could either choose or roll. It makes for another unique roleplaying aspect, if you follow the personality details.
Drohem
12-21-06, 12:59 AM Check D20 Modern for a guidline on character age and experience and how it relates to game levels. It's on table 1-10 on page 35. Just double the levels for 3.5 D&D. This is a good starting point which can be tweaked if necessary by DM.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
thorofasgard13 12-14-06, 12:15 PM	Hello I was wondering how a characters age should increase with level. There is a system for dragons but seeing as they take longer to mature much like elves how do you figure out how much your character has aged from level 1-15? It doesnt make sense for you to be an age 17 Half-orc Barbarian for 20 levels or am I being too picky?
JulesCARV 12-16-06, 02:16 AM	Are you talking about for PCs? Well, if all of the adventures that take place that take a character from level 1 to level 20 actually take place in less than a year, then yes, a character can be a 17-year old half-orc barbarian for 20 levels. I mean, it doesn't make much sense to say that, because he's now level 8, the barbarian must be 20 years old, even though he started adventuring at level 1, was 17 years old when he started adventuring, and has only been adventuring for four months.
Currahee_Chris 12-17-06, 08:27 PM	This is the million dollar answer that everyone looks for in DnD. Some of the opinions I have heard in dealing with this are as such: 1.) Age everyone 2+ years per level they advance- more for elves and dwarves. This would represent the physical wear and tear of the adventuring life. The age of death could also be shortened by 10-15 years to represent the fact that the character is just not physically able to adventure anymore and is living their last years in retirement. 2.) Many people have successfully argued that "Why do we have to be old to be epic?" The more I thought about it, the more I wondered it as well. For example- if you look at our society- people like Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, Bill Gates, etc, etc were all legends and were all quite young when they were. They weren't some stooped old men when they became great. 3.) Another option is to simply throw out the aging rules and processes and not deal with it. 4.) If you are running a campaign, you could slow the pace between major events in the storyline- if you have read the Dragons of Autumn twilight, you know that the companions took a five year break before they met back up at the Inn. Why not write something like that up into your storyline? 5.) Some characters might actually benefit from playing an older character- that +3 INT that a wizard could gain starting as an older character would be nice. It would hurt the martial classes but spellcasters might be ok. 6.) Send the party to a plane of existence where time is hastened and they are aged 1 or 2 years each room they enter. When they return to the material plane, they might "loose" some of the planar aging but not all of it. 7.) A lot of people get hung up on playing "young" characters and watching them advance to 20th level and being 20 years old. The fallacy with that is believeing that they have seen all and done all- take up the Epic book and look at it again- there are all sorts of upper level challenges that may require the most famous of champions who may all be middle aged. I enjoy my characters having an older feel to them. I am sure you can convince your party to do the same.
Shan_TheBabau_Burke 12-19-06, 11:18 PM	I knew a DM once who kept exact track of time in game so that his characters would age perfectly. He kept track of these things to the hour. In one campaign he ran, the characters aged about ten years before they got to the end of it. In another, it took them three months, eleven days and five hours in game time to track down the dude they were looking for and kill him. I don't keep really good track of age in my games. We just get to level 20, have a party and make new characters. If they ever wanted to play epic levels they could, I've shown them all the book. They just like to take baby characters and build them up. Some of my gamers even keep a copy of the first level character sheet just to have a now and then photograph of sorts. I think it should just go according to taste. You can figure basic days by overland travel and all that and just add a week to that for all the other stuff each campaign (dungeons where they can't log the passage of days and things like that) and figure it up. Then you have to deal with birthdays too. I did play a campaign where the Zodiac was a fun feature. My character was Virgo. Total 180 from my laid back personality. It was fun, I rolled randomly. The DM gave us handouts from an astrology book so we could either choose or roll. It makes for another unique roleplaying aspect, if you follow the personality details.
Drohem 12-21-06, 12:59 AM	Check D20 Modern for a guidline on character age and experience and how it relates to game levels. It's on table 1-10 on page 35. Just double the levels for 3.5 D&D. This is a good starting point which can be tweaked if necessary by DM.