D&D General A glimpse at WoTC's current view of Rule 0

[Emerikol]

It shouldn't. Long-lived species are simply more resistant to magical aging. Elves are serially longeval (Tolkien-style) in my settings anyway.

It all depends on how you look at aging. Let's suppose we posit that aging for purposes of this discussion is the eventual decline brought about by time. Let's also suppose there are creatures that age at different rates including potentially a rate of 0. This is what time does aging wise.

So an elf would grow to maturity and then would never change appearance indefinitely if they are immortal.
A dwarf who let's just say ages 5 times slower than humans would change as time passes but at a slower rate.

So what is a ghost's aging doing to you? That is the question. Is it duplicating the effect of time and thus would affect elves, dwarves, and humans linearly? That is one option. Another option is that it is not duplicating time at all but ravaging the body in such a way that our lifespans appear changed. If so, then a human might age 40 years upon seeing a ghost, an elf who is immortal might no longer appear 30ish in human years and instead appear 70ish. That elf might still be immortal. The aging didn't kill the elf but the elf was affected. The dwarf could age 200 years because that is 5 times the 40 years because the effect is to ravage the body.

Either one of those approaches could be true in any given campaign. They are plausible if aging due to fright is plausible or a given in a fantasy game.

 

[Emerikol]

I prefer the 2024 DMG formulation, precisely because it emphasizes that D&D is a social activity, and your players have a say.

They always have a say but their say is a veto. It's not a policy making say. Trying a run a game by committee would be a disaster. I'd never waste my time even starting. But I give fair warning to potential players that if rule 0 is objectionable they should just not join the game. Unfortunately, now I have to explain further because young kids won't know rule 0's history and just assume it's this thing in the new DMG. So now I have to elaborate further in explaining what was clear in the past.

 

[clearstream]

I suppose if a DM really cared they could try to copyright their contribution and ask for a release for the players but I think that would be ridiculous.

To explain my thought in that regard, I'm saying that under the given arrangements (asymmetrical rights) the DM retains a right to adapt the campaign references. Others (in this case) surrender that right.

As to whether that amounts to copyright: in many territories an author's copyright subsists automatically in their work as it is created (in some, one has to take some additional action). Hence creative contracts in the relevant territories often include a clause to assign work as it is created. The work of a local DM would be copyright (or easily asserted as such) by its author (in this case the DM) and others wouldn't have a legal right to adapt it. However, that isn't the sort of right I am talking about here: I'm referring to rights on account of the tacit charter of the campaign.

 

[KYRON45]

To me what you're describing are metagame considerations. I generally try to avoid as much of that as possible.

When you roll a history/knowledge check to find out information about a thing so you know how to interact with that thing; is that meta gaming? A PC jumping in front of an attack to take a hit for a party member is what heros do....is it out of the ordinary for an adventuring 600 year old elf to know what ghosts are capable of?
Metagaming sometimes allows for great moments in gaming.

 

[Thomas Shey]

Didn't the 3e aging effects make it so your senses and cognitive facilities invariably improve as you reached your relative hundreds while your physical ability invariably degraded despite you being presumably an active badass who gets plenty of exercise, eats better than most people in the world and has better healthcare than most modern people?

Once again, Jack Lalane debunks Dungeons and Dragons.

Edit: Oh, and also theoretically there are people in such worlds who just straight become paralyzed on their 70'th birthday due to their DEX or STR hitting 0 from a starting 6 regardless of actual infirmity.

I just have to note that the latter is probably intended to represent infirmity in the big gross representation D&D always goes with.

 

[Vaalingrade]

Trying a run a game by committee would be a disaster.

I'm confused as to what my friends have been doing for the past quarter century then.

We've never let the DM be the Daddy of the group who always gets their way. If there's a conflict over the game, we talk about it, maybe look up the actual rule, and come up with a solution.

 

[Vaalingrade]

I just have to note that the latter is probably intended to represent infirmity in the big gross representation D&D always goes with.

Still hilarious that it just happens on a randomly rolled birthday and that's how the Rules As Physics edition presented it.

 

[Micah Sweet]

When you roll a history/knowledge check to find out information about a thing so you know how to interact with that thing; is that meta gaming? A PC jumping in front of an attack to take a hit for a party member is what heros do....is it out of the ordinary for an adventuring 600 year old elf to know what ghosts are capable of?
Metagaming sometimes allows for great moments in gaming.

My concerns run more toward setting logic than any attempt to engineer great moments. If it makes sense for a PC to know how magical aging works, of course, then you're good.

 

[Vaalingrade]

It's a supernatural effect why can't it age you a percentage of your life span, rather than a number of years. Either makes as much sense as the other being supernatural in origin.

Now we have to add percentages to this thing?

Why is it that every 'consequence' also punishes the player with homework?

 

[KYRON45]

My concerns run more toward setting logic than any attempt to engineer great moments. If it makes sense for a PC to know how magical aging works, of course, then you're good.

Logic does a lot of heavy lifting in a fantasy setting.