We statted them by rolling 1d6+6 for two stats, 1d6+4 for two stats, and 1d6+2 for two stats. The numbers would range from 3 to 12 that way, and if 12 seems high for a 7 year old, it was meant to make the kids exceptional, not typical. Their hps were whatever was listed -4, and they gained no proficiencies. They had powers, yes, but only At-Wills. In weapons they were limited to whatever a Small character could use. They had no skill training and no feats.
OOC, the others wondered "wtf?". In character, the party accepted them, thinking to show them one small, not-too-threatening-for-grown-up-adventurers room and they'd run off.
Fat chance. These kids were bored between the farm and school.
It was a pretty funny game and the kids held their own quite well against goblins who weren't pulling back on the language ("Oooh! I'm gonna tell your mom what you just called me!"), but once the hobgoblins started showing up, things got dicey, so I guesed we had powered them up properly.
What was fun (for me) was watching everybody wince when Zarra went into her "whiny little girl" squeaky voice. She was pretty hot with the Magic Missile, and even though she had no bonus to it, she hit more often than not, and that counted for plenty.
Arrol was played as a foul-mouthed little punk who made up in enthusiasm what he lacked in accuracy. Simply because of his reckless positioning and running around the battlefield like a wild indian, the party got to flank quite a few times.
So that's now my rule for child characters when I need to stat them:
2@1d6+6
2@1d6+4
2@1d6+2
no racial abilities (not developed yet)
hp normal -4
no proficiencies
no skill training
no feats
At-wills only
What do you think? Were they too much? I don't know if I'll use them again, but I was just looking for opinions.
I've been thinking of trying a "level 0" encounter for some time now.
My idea was this:
Roll a character as normal, then give every stat -1 or -2. This represents the growth they would have to get to adulthood or whatever. They can also pick a class, but don't get any of the class's benefits. It's more like they know what they want to do, but aren't trained in it yet.
Each character can only use basic attacks at-will (wizards would get MM as a basic), and can use at-will as encounter powers. Perhaps I'd let them pick one Level 1 Encounter power and use that as a daily. (on second thought, perhaps let them use at-wills but only as a full action)
For HP I would take the base class's HP and subtract 2 or 3, perhaps even the amount of HP grown each level (so growing one level would leave them with Level 1 HP)
I would arm them with toy weapons, basically the same as the real weapons with the damage dice one level lower. They can choose one weapon to be proficient with, but I'd let Fighters have all simple Melee.
I was approaching the situation from a totally different angle, basically imagining characters we've already been playing as, but perhaps in a flashback or something, so I'd want to properly represent themselves as youngsters.
In fact, this would make a freakin halarious curse to fall upon a mid-level party.
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OMG, now that I think about it, this would be positively EVIL! Imagine that while they are investigating some ancient tomb and they trigger a trap.
The DM then says "OK everyone, check this out" and hands them their new stats. :D
Find a way to make that important, and fun can be had...
2 * 1/2 characters = 1.
If your running at -4 to hit and have no other powers, then it should balance out fairly well.
As far as childhood being a curse placed on PCs, ooooooh! That IS absolutely eeeeeevil!