Ageless races [Archive] - Wizards Community

Ageless races [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
OmegaFrost
03-06-07, 10:58 PM hi, I;m woking on a race right now and I have a question. Would it conceivably bu unbalanced to make it so that my race does not experience ageing penalties and drawbacks.
Eikre
03-06-07, 11:10 PM No.

Elan and Killoren already come to mind; such are two races whose caps on age have been taken. Both, though, I think, can become Old...

Anyway, the ability to meet middle-age is a little optimization trick for making use of a bunch of odd ability scores, so it's much like an option being removed. Penalties really won't be coming into play in most games unless the players make their characters such that they already have them.

Don't clutter a world with dudes that have been around for thousands of years, though. That's really not very cohesive; the Elan and Killoren both have reasons to live forever. One has a metabolism that can run on nothing more than it's mind, and the other is The Green's response to intelligent encroachment on Nature. Attaining a half-mortality is the sort of thing that others have to spend lives, 11 levels, a +4 Level Adjustment, and a totally arbitrary Evil-alignment on.

But, yeah, if you have a race that sustains the flavor of some eternal aspect, go ahead and make them timeless. I'm such the man with the big scythe will have some men with littler scythes come around to take their lives, anyway. Personified divinity seems to like doing that.
mrsake
03-06-07, 11:40 PM Not really unbalanced. There's almost no reason that extreme age should even come up for pc's in most games. You make the arguement that it could screw up a game where entire generations are suppose to pass during the course of the story... but the fact you have guys that only last a 100 years interacting with guys that last for over 500 years already screw up such concept. Immortality/timelessness being ZOMG overpowered!! is more a legacy thing than anything else.
Mitchell
03-07-07, 02:21 AM As long as you remove the bonuses for aging to offset the lack of penalties.
Otherwise everyone is playing million year old clerics, wizards, sorcerers, etc belonging to that race.
OmegaFrost
03-07-07, 03:17 AM okay, thanks I appreciate it, just wasn't sure if that might be a problem. :)
Templario
03-07-07, 07:16 AM warforgeds have only mid-age (150 years)
CrimsonDeath
03-08-07, 03:22 PM No.

Elan and Killoren already come to mind; such are two races whose caps on age have been taken. Both, though, I think, can become Old...
Elan can become Venerable, and Killoren can be Old. Necropolitans don't age at all.

Now, wouldn't that be an interesting party? A Warforged fighter, an Elan psion, a Killoren druid, and a Necropolitan dread necromancer.
The_Shaman
03-08-07, 03:32 PM There are also some PrCs (Green Star Adept, Cloud Anchorite) that make you ageless, btw. Although, mind you, a dragon with 3 levels of Ruathar can go on for a long, long time...
sigma999
03-08-07, 08:18 PM Immortality is overrated. What good is being a thousand year old elf, potentially, if you were eaten by Beholders at age 150? How unbalancing is that 2000 year old Warforged when it possibly rusts at 500 (and not only that, but can't reproduce!!!)

From what I've seen in nature, the longer the lifespan.. the longer the gestation period, infancy, upbringing to self-sufficiency, and dependancy on stable environment to survive as a species. :rolleyes:

Keenath on YabaTheWhat's thread mentioned:
Reproduction is meaningless, as it does not come into gameplay at all. They don't, but that's a flavor issue with no relevance to point values.

http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=667683&page=9

Struck me as funny when I read that... so opinionated! It's unaccounted for in D&D as it stands but only because the whole process for making races is it'feels good' dependant. If we had better, organized methods for making races this and other inherent properties of races would become most visible to designers.
JarionSilverblades
03-08-07, 09:04 PM Was I the only one to read the title of this Thread and start to hear the theme song from Highlander?

THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE! :duel:
DeathDragon
03-09-07, 12:03 AM Ageless as in no aging penalties: Kobold DragonWrought, they can live for a nice decent time too, gaining the benefits of aging without the penalties if I remember.

Ageless as in a god..... be a god or something similar?
morbid_freak
03-09-07, 12:17 AM warforgeds have only mid-age (150 years)

Luckily most warforged do not have the capacity to become bored.
pegasuspaladin
03-13-07, 10:57 AM Elan can become Venerable, and Killoren can be Old. Necropolitans don't age at all.

Now, wouldn't that be an interesting party? A Warforged fighter, an Elan psion, a Killoren druid, and a Necropolitan dread necromancer.

Interesting party but i had to comment. A WF barbarian would be better because he can make use of the rage ability without the fatigue afterwards, and it'd take a helluva backstory to explain why a druid was working with an abberation (the elan) and a necromancer seeing as the two types of things that druids are trying to rid the world of are undead and abberations.
RealSorceror
03-13-07, 11:15 AM Interesting party but i had to comment. A WF barbarian would be better because he can make use of the rage ability without the fatigue afterwards, and it'd take a helluva backstory to explain why a druid was working with an abberation (the elan) and a necromancer seeing as the two types of things that druids are trying to rid the world of are undead and abberations.
Uhh, maybe they all got hungry for Tarrasque burgers? :eek:
pegasuspaladin
03-13-07, 02:19 PM LOL, i'll accept that answer!

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
OmegaFrost 03-06-07, 10:58 PM	hi, I;m woking on a race right now and I have a question. Would it conceivably bu unbalanced to make it so that my race does not experience ageing penalties and drawbacks.
Eikre 03-06-07, 11:10 PM	No. Elan and Killoren already come to mind; such are two races whose caps on age have been taken. Both, though, I think, can become Old... Anyway, the ability to meet middle-age is a little optimization trick for making use of a bunch of odd ability scores, so it's much like an option being removed. Penalties really won't be coming into play in most games unless the players make their characters such that they already have them. Don't clutter a world with dudes that have been around for thousands of years, though. That's really not very cohesive; the Elan and Killoren both have reasons to live forever. One has a metabolism that can run on nothing more than it's mind, and the other is The Green's response to intelligent encroachment on Nature. Attaining a half-mortality is the sort of thing that others have to spend lives, 11 levels, a +4 Level Adjustment, and a totally arbitrary Evil-alignment on. But, yeah, if you have a race that sustains the flavor of some eternal aspect, go ahead and make them timeless. I'm such the man with the big scythe will have some men with littler scythes come around to take their lives, anyway. Personified divinity seems to like doing that.
mrsake 03-06-07, 11:40 PM	Not really unbalanced. There's almost no reason that extreme age should even come up for pc's in most games. You make the arguement that it could screw up a game where entire generations are suppose to pass during the course of the story... but the fact you have guys that only last a 100 years interacting with guys that last for over 500 years already screw up such concept. Immortality/timelessness being ZOMG overpowered!! is more a legacy thing than anything else.
Mitchell 03-07-07, 02:21 AM	As long as you remove the bonuses for aging to offset the lack of penalties. Otherwise everyone is playing million year old clerics, wizards, sorcerers, etc belonging to that race.
OmegaFrost 03-07-07, 03:17 AM	okay, thanks I appreciate it, just wasn't sure if that might be a problem. :)
Templario 03-07-07, 07:16 AM	warforgeds have only mid-age (150 years)
CrimsonDeath 03-08-07, 03:22 PM	No. Elan and Killoren already come to mind; such are two races whose caps on age have been taken. Both, though, I think, can become Old... Elan can become Venerable, and Killoren can be Old. Necropolitans don't age at all. Now, wouldn't that be an interesting party? A Warforged fighter, an Elan psion, a Killoren druid, and a Necropolitan dread necromancer.
The_Shaman 03-08-07, 03:32 PM	There are also some PrCs (Green Star Adept, Cloud Anchorite) that make you ageless, btw. Although, mind you, a dragon with 3 levels of Ruathar can go on for a long, long time...
sigma999 03-08-07, 08:18 PM	Immortality is overrated. What good is being a thousand year old elf, potentially, if you were eaten by Beholders at age 150? How unbalancing is that 2000 year old Warforged when it possibly rusts at 500 (and not only that, but can't reproduce!!!) From what I've seen in nature, the longer the lifespan.. the longer the gestation period, infancy, upbringing to self-sufficiency, and dependancy on stable environment to survive as a species. :rolleyes: Keenath on YabaTheWhat's thread mentioned: Reproduction is meaningless, as it does not come into gameplay at all. They don't, but that's a flavor issue with no relevance to point values. http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=667683&page=9 Struck me as funny when I read that... so opinionated! It's unaccounted for in D&D as it stands but only because the whole process for making races is it'feels good' dependant. If we had better, organized methods for making races this and other inherent properties of races would become most visible to designers.
JarionSilverblades 03-08-07, 09:04 PM	Was I the only one to read the title of this Thread and start to hear the theme song from Highlander? THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE! :duel:
DeathDragon 03-09-07, 12:03 AM	Ageless as in no aging penalties: Kobold DragonWrought, they can live for a nice decent time too, gaining the benefits of aging without the penalties if I remember. Ageless as in a god..... be a god or something similar?
morbid_freak 03-09-07, 12:17 AM	warforgeds have only mid-age (150 years) Luckily most warforged do not have the capacity to become bored.
pegasuspaladin 03-13-07, 10:57 AM	Elan can become Venerable, and Killoren can be Old. Necropolitans don't age at all. Now, wouldn't that be an interesting party? A Warforged fighter, an Elan psion, a Killoren druid, and a Necropolitan dread necromancer. Interesting party but i had to comment. A WF barbarian would be better because he can make use of the rage ability without the fatigue afterwards, and it'd take a helluva backstory to explain why a druid was working with an abberation (the elan) and a necromancer seeing as the two types of things that druids are trying to rid the world of are undead and abberations.
RealSorceror 03-13-07, 11:15 AM	Interesting party but i had to comment. A WF barbarian would be better because he can make use of the rage ability without the fatigue afterwards, and it'd take a helluva backstory to explain why a druid was working with an abberation (the elan) and a necromancer seeing as the two types of things that druids are trying to rid the world of are undead and abberations. Uhh, maybe they all got hungry for Tarrasque burgers? :eek:
pegasuspaladin 03-13-07, 02:19 PM	LOL, i'll accept that answer!