Child Prodigies?

[Angel Tarragon]

Okay, I have a player that wants to create a relatively young character. Specifically a 12 year old Human 1st Level Fighter. I was thinking that I could allow this assuming that the player wouldn't mind burning a feat. And being that all 1st level characters gain 3 feats in my homebrew, this is small potatoes. I was thinking that the feat would be called Child Prodigy and that it would allow any character to start out at 3/4 that minimum starting age of the character. On the flipside the character would have to endure a -2 to all diplomacy and diplomacy related skill checks, until they reach the minimum age for their race and class matrix (as defined on page 109 of the 3.5 PHB).

What are your thoughts?

 

[Gnome]

What's the big advantage in starting that young, thus requiring a feat to do so? Longer time before old age is reached, perhaps?

I'd be tempted to throw-in some stat mods that would disappear once the child reached the minimum starting age for his race. Maybe:

+2 DEX (quickness of youth)
+2 CON (resiliance of youth)
-2 STR (not as strong as an adult, certainly!)
-2 WIS (foolishness of youth)

 

[Storyteller01]

MGP had rules published for this. essentially, they retograded the aging rules (1st level characters have reached the peak of their development, so to speak). I don't remember the exact progression, but I think infants (age 1) took a -7 to most traits total, toddlers (age 5) taking a -3 to all stats except charisma (which took a -1), and youngsters (age 12) took a -1 to all traits except charisma (no hit). I'm using human ages, of course.

They also provided a Child Prodigy feat. This enabled you to ignore up to two levels from the age catagory for a specific ability score (so an infant elf only took a -1 to Int, and a toddler elf took no penlaty at all). Unfortunately, they didn't specify if it only effected mental stats, but I woyuld assume so, unless you want to recreate Hercules.

You could state that the feat actually progresses a given mental stat two level along the aging catagory.

 

[Terath Ninir]

Hmm. I'd give a -2 Charisma *and* a -2 on many Charisma-based skills, like Diplomacy and Intimidate. No one takes 12 year olds seriously (as in the Harry Potter books). Not all Cha skills, though -- Bluff shouldn't have a penalty, for one.

I'd give a -2 on Str at that age, since halflings only have a -2. A -2 on Con; the immune system is still coming in, and it's realistic for them to have lower hp. A -2 on Wisdom, certainly. A -2 on Intelligence would make sense, since they know less at that age. I wouldn't penalize Dexterity, but I wouldn't give a bonus, either.

For the child prodigy, I'd eliminate the Int penalty. I'd leave the Wis penalty in there, though. You might even have the feat give some bonuses to a specific cascade skill -- Craft, Knowledge, or Perform. Actually, if they are a Performing prodigy, you might have the Cha penalty eliminated instead. NOT the penalty to Cha based skills; just the Cha penalty.

The character will be and should be at a disadvantage to the other characters, but that's okay. He should have fun with it, as long as he plays on his strengths.

Another thing I just thought: the character should be able to do a Hide check whenever they're somewhere a kid would normally be found. So not in a dungeon, but in a castle, or in a city. If the kid makes his Hide check, he's not actually hiding, he just gets ignored as a kid. Not getting noticed is one of the main defenses of the young.

 

[Viktyr Gehrig]

I don't modify the character's stats at all-- I just tell the player not to put points into Str, Wis, or very much in Con, unless explained clearly to me beforehand.

For some reason, someone always wants to play a child in my game-- but it's a different person every time, and two players never want to try it at the same time.

 

[Jdvn1]

Played a game once where everyone had to start out as a child. Actually, two games like that. Anyway, the majority of our stats were dropped after we made our characters, to be raised as the game progressed and as we used the stats. (ie, your Str wouldn't go up until you hit something or something)

It was a lot of fun, actually.

 

[Storyteller01]

Hmm. I'd give a -2 Charisma *and* a -2 on many Charisma-based skills, like Diplomacy and Intimidate. No one takes 12 year olds seriously (as in the Harry Potter books). Not all Cha skills, though -- Bluff shouldn't have a penalty, for one.

<<snip>>

Another thing I just thought: the character should be able to do a Hide check whenever they're somewhere a kid would normally be found. So not in a dungeon, but in a castle, or in a city. If the kid makes his Hide check, he's not actually hiding, he just gets ignored as a kid. Not getting noticed is one of the main defenses of the young.

Not so sure about the CHA hit. I agree that a child should take penalties to CHA skill rolls, but most of the 12 year olds I've met have a fairly well developed personality by this time. Their problem isn't the lack of a sense of self (Usually the opposite!!), its that, as you stated, no one listens to them.

As for hiding, they could be considered Small creatures. The bonus goes towards hiding in small places as well as simply going unnoticed in a crowd (looking at halflings as an example).

 

[Terath Ninir]

Not so sure about the CHA hit. I agree that a child should take penalties to CHA skill rolls, but most of the 12 year olds I've met have a fairly well developed personality by this time. Their problem isn't the lack of a sense of self (Usually the opposite!!), its that, as you stated, no one listens to them.

I think not getting paid attention to is enough for a CHA hit, myself. It all depends on how you look at the stat, though.

As for hiding, they could be considered Small creatures. The bonus goes towards hiding in small places as well as simply going unnoticed in a crowd (looking at halflings as an example).

Probably a simpler and more elegant way of doing it. Actually, you could just impose the penalties of reducing a creature from Medium to Small (and give them the bonus to Dex if you're feeling generous), slap on some social penalties of some kind, and call it done. That would fit the rules in a little more standard way.

 

[Storyteller01]

I think not getting paid attention to is enough for a CHA hit, myself. It all depends on how you look at the stat, though.



Probably a simpler and more elegant way of doing it. Actually, you could just impose the penalties of reducing a creature from Medium to Small (and give them the bonus to Dex if you're feeling generous), slap on some social penalties of some kind, and call it done. That would fit the rules in a little more standard way.

Agreed.