D&D 4E 4e Age Categories

[Primitive Screwhead]

I can't find rules for PCs aging in 4e. Previous editions changed the characters stats and allowed for Ghosts who aged the target by 10 years...

Can anyone point me to the rules for this in 4e.. or failing that, point me to a House Rule thread/post on the topic.

Why?
[sblock]
In the final module of the War of the Burning Sky that I am looking to convert to 4e, a major plot point revolves around a draconic avatar of 'Time' that has the effect of aging the PCs by an age category.
And I want it to be more than 'hey, you are older and have grey hair now'


In case my group gets to that adventure before it is officially converted, I would like some ideas of how to adapt a mechanic that makes sense.
[/sblock]

Thanks for the responses!

 

[Mr. Teapot]

There's no official rules for this (and good riddance). But you could possibly set it up like a disease or like any other attack's effect. "The target appears to visibly age. They are slowed (save ends). First failed save: weakened and slowed (save ends both). Second failed save: the effect is permanent (though it can be removed by the Remove Affliction ritual)." Or something like that.

 

[Primitive Screwhead]

Thanks! I had completley forgotten about the Disease Track.

Being a completist, I would prefer a set of rules that covers mundane aging, and then a disease track of 'accelerated aging' that would simply refer to the former for mechanical impacts. That way you can handle if the effects become permanent..

I agree that the former rules were a bit of a pain as they altered stats, but I think its nice to have a method of showing the difference in ages and the eventual death by old age.

** mods, can you move this over to the HR forum?

[start brainstorming]
Age categories include:
- Juvenile {14 or less}
- Adult {15 - 35}
- Middle Aged {36 - 53}
- Old {54 - 70}
- Venerable {70 + with death by old age in 2D10 years}

Ages by race available on the 3.5 SRD pages

Advancing into the Middle Aged and beyond earns the character an ailment of some sort. Possible ailments include:
Trick knee, reduce REF by 1
Lame, reduce speed by 1
Half-blind, -5 penalty to sight based perception checks
Easily Winded, at the start of each day, you are weakened unless you expend a healing surge
Delusional, reduce WILL by 1
etc..

Possibly the PC comes up with the ailment based on thier history or build a table of random effects. Generally the ailment should have a minor mechanical impact on the character.


Accelerated Aging - Disease Track
Cured <>
Initial Attack: You gain an age category and an ailment <>
Adapting: Your body is accepting the change <>
Aged: Your new age category becomes permanent, altho a Wish or Major Restoration may reverse this effect.

Note: If you are magically aged beyond Venerable, you must make a Death Save each extended rest, failure results in death by aging as your body gives out under the stress.


eh.. I will have to think on this. I will drop back in over this week to see what comments have been thrown as this idea.

 

[Spatula]

One of the MM1 epic creatures (phazin? something like that) had an ability that aged PCs. I think that it weakened them, or maybe weakened and slowed them. As good an abstraction as any, IMO.

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

I think from the standpoint of mundane aging it is more a story kind of thing. It is unlikely a campaign will span decades or centuries, so in the normal course of things most PCs won't age appreciably. Honestly I don't recall the old AD&D aging rules ever being applied to a PC in the normal course of play. About the only time it happened was when someone dredged up an old character from some long ago adventure to use as color or basically act as an NPC. At that point the DM should probably be in charge of what sort of abilities your old 12th level fighter has after he's been retired for 30 years and is 80. Exactly what those are is probably going to be story dependent anyway.

For magical aging effects really I'd go with a general debuff or something like that. Use the disease track, that seems like a good idea, though you might read the recent article on curses, which used it for those. The differences being you can't really 'recover' from that sort of thing, though you might get worse. Normally some form of magic would be required to improve. Perhaps someone with Arcana could use it to cure you, depending on what the DM is after. More likely you just have to get the proper ritual.

 

[Stumblewyk]

[sblock]Maybe I'm crazy, but isn't the WotBS campaign available in both Pathfinder and 4e formats? How does the 4e version of the campaign handle the potential aging?[/sblock]

 

[Primitive Screwhead]

Stumblewyk, no you are not crazy, but the 4e WoBS has only been published up to Module #6 so far... I expect them to finish it off before my group gets to the later modules, but just in case I would like to be somewhat prepared.


Spatula, your are right. The Phane as Wizening Touch: The target is weakened (save ends). The target appears elderly until the effects of the wizening ray end.

AbdulAlhazred, The Curse might be a best way to go, altho the Death Titans Curse is probably too nasty

Stage 1 should probably be a copy of the Phane ability, with later stages getting worse and worse.

 

[Stumblewyk]

Ah. Okay. Not being a community supporter (put down your tomatoes, I have limited financial resources for stuff like this, I promise) I wasn't sure. Good luck with your conversion!

 

[Andramelech]

I'd like to know when each race is considered adult, elderly, and average life span.
If Eladrin live about 200 years, does it take them untill the age of 40 to be considered adults in their society?

 

[Primitive Screwhead]

Curse of Time

Spoiler for the module!

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The Aspect of Time will curse, and enhance this curse, each time it visits the PCs on thier trek to the Aquiline Heart.

Curse of Time, Level 30 Curse
The target of this curse appears to age and wizen unnaturally.

Stage 1:
Middle Aged; while affected by this curse, the target suffers a -2 penalty to all defenses

Stage 2:
Old Age; while affected by this curse, the target is weakened unless they spend a healing surge at the end of an extended rest. They also suffer a -1 to Death saves.

Stage 3:
Venerable; while affected by this curse, the target is weakened unless they spend two healing surge at the end of an extended rest. They also suffer a -2 to Death saves and gain vulnerable all 5.

Stage 4:
Venerable; while affected by this curse, the target is weakened unless they spend three healing surge at the end of an extended rest. They also suffer a -3 to Death saves and gain vulnerable all 10.

Ending the Curse:
Drinking the blood of the Aquiline Heart removes this curse.
[/sblock]

Thoughts, rotten vegetables?