Aging, unaging, and "...you still die when your time is up"

[Angcuru]

A bit of realism here:

People go through what we call 'aging', when it is actually the slow and steady process of the breakdown/decay of our physical bodies due to natural imperfections in the genetic code. The body decays steadily until it is no longer capable of performing of the the prime functions neccessary to support life. Breathing, beating of the heart, brain activity, etc. Death by old age has absolutely nothing to do with someone's soul in any way whatsoever. People die when, and only when their bodies fail to sustain life functions.

Just like machines, our bodies are steadily and constantly worn down and rebuilt. I'm not exatly sure about the numbers, but every six months or so our bodies have been completely replaced by new cells. This process is straining on the body, and as time goes on the rebuilding process becomes weaker and weaker. Then the body fails to replace sufficient cells in vital organs, causing what we call 'dying of natural causes'. Like I said earlier, this is due to natural imperfections in the genetic code. If we look at starfish and their ability to regenerate lost limbs, or that of lizards to regrow dropped tails, we can see an eventual key to immortality. Locked away in these little fellers is genetic coding that provides them with their regenerative properties.

Geneticists can potentially identify these genes and apply sufficient study and research to discover methods to slow down, even stop this 'genetic decay' of ours. Even a slowing of genetic decay can sufficiently prolong life, pushing back the weaknesses and crippling qualities that come naturally around the late 60's early 70's age group to perhaps the 90's, even in the 100's. While may even be able to achieve perfect recycling of the human body, which is for lack of a better word: immortality.

OK. Now for the game-related portion: Druids and monks achieve a state where their bodies do not decay, and therefore their bodies will not fail them, causing them to die. Because of this, they IMO become immortal. But they can still go down with a lucky damage roll or failed save.

 

[med stud]

I use the aging penalties/bonuses in my games, but I've never run a game for so long that they've come into play for aging characters. In my current campaign, however, one of the characters is a 63 year old human who began the game at 63. He has the physical penalties and mental bonuses, and it isn't unbalancing at all, even for a wizard. He has a 19 Intelligence, but his 6 Strength and love for entering melee combat way more often than a 63 year old wizard should make up for that.

As for the unavoidable expiration date stamped on all mortals, again, I've never had a PC live so long as to reach maximum age. Then again, I pay very little attention to maximum age: I have several human NPCs who have lived looong past the maximum age. I assume magic can fix things like that, but I've never made a spell for it.

He, my father is 63 and can press 250 pounds with his legs; I guess he had Str 22 when he was my age ^^

 

[Chimera]

I'm really kind of liking that "ArchDruid brains are the key ingredient in Longevity Potions" bit.

The Druid's dirty little secret. That they're all sponsored by a secret guild who is raising them to power only for their brains...

 

[Mercule]

In theory I use the aging rules. in practice, I've only had to apply them to one PC and some NPCs. That PC also happens to be the only character in my game who has risen to godhood.

Maybe there's a lessen in here for my current players. If you play your character long enough, some stats will go down. Then you'll become a god and not really care.

 

[Hypersmurf]

Death by old age has absolutely nothing to do with someone's soul in any way whatsoever. People die when, and only when their bodies fail to sustain life functions.

Druids and monks achieve a state where their bodies do not decay, and therefore their bodies will not fail them, causing them to die. Because of this, they IMO become immortal. But they can still go down with a lucky damage roll or failed save.

Except that it clearly states "and the druid still dies of old age when her time is up"... so it's apparent that in D&D, it does have something to do with someone's soul in any way whatsoever.

-Hyp.

 

[Angcuru]

Except that it clearly states "and the druid still dies of old age when her time is up"... so it's apparent that in D&D, it does have something to do with someone's soul in any way whatsoever.

-Hyp.

There are rules?

And all this time I've been scattering my dice with a leopard femur covered in runes and interpreting the positioning of the dice to tell me what happens in the game. But that's just me.

 

[kiznit]

In my old campaign, when the players were making their way through the ghostly-pirate caves of Black Dog Bones searching for the secret entrance to the sunken tower of Vecna that had cursed them all (the pirates, that is)...

They stumbled across a sunken ship that had become a sort of undead lingering shrine to Olidammara (whom the pirates worshipped, of course) where the skeletons sat around playing poker. The players were given the option to sit down and play a hand (the 12 hands of Fate), with the usual curse-or-blessing potential outcome.

The thief managed to cheat death by counting the cards, but the half-orc barbarian picked the "Hand of Time", thus aging 1d10x10 years (he failed his Fort save that would've made it just 1d10). Alas 60 years is fatal to a half-orc, according to *the rules*, and he ended up pulling the "he chose... poorly" sudden aging affect from Indy's Last Crusade, turning into one of the undead skeletons (and subsequently a permanent member of the poker game). The cleric freaked out at that point and toasted 'em all with a heinously-rolled turning.

Good times. You gotta love the home-brewed fate stuff. I think I had been inspired from Baron Munchausen, when they're in that bloody great whale.

Then there was the time my buddy Jason rolled up an 800-year old "venerable" elf to run through Rappan Athuck (deadly dungeon - so everybody had to bring at least 3 characters to the table) and hook up the int stat bonuses. His back story was that he had been cursed by Orcus to live backwards or something, and he hobbled around on a walker made of magic missile wands. Things got pretty silly in that particular campaign.

 

[The Forsaken One]

I think that the fact that druid brains are a key ingredient for those potions are the sole reason why immortal druids wouldn't rule the world ^^

 

[SHARK]

Greetings!

Yeah, I use the ageing rules. I think it is an important aspect of reality, of mortality, and of the campaign's integrity to use the ageing rules. It is cool, both for an experiential/roleplaying aspect to have characters age, but also for plot reasons. I have several players in my group that have older characters that have retired, and are getting on in the old age, sitting in their rocking chair on their castle's balcony, smoking a pipe and drinking some hot tea!

It's good stuff!

For elves, well, elves are immortal in my campaign, certainly in a practical sense, as their bodies do not deteriorate like those of mortals. Elves in my campaigns are very powerful creatures, and have been blessed by the gods as the first race to awake upon the world.

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

 

[Larry Fitz]

Here's a question for all of you, how do lawful gods of death deal with people cheating death through raise dead, reincarnate, resurrection, and the like? The answer of course can be found in Living Imagination's upcoming book Agents of Faith. This is relevant because the topic here is effects of aging. One effect of aging is that you cannot be resurrected or raised if aging caused your death..... muhahahahahahaha......