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<blockquote data-quote="Ahnehnois" data-source="post: 6164125" data-attributes="member: 17106">Yes.From a narrative perspective &quot;heroes are born, not made&quot; is pretty much classic fantasy.From a simulation perspective, regardless of whether you believe DNA exists in D&amp;D or not, I think ability scores are pretty clearly something you inherit.&nbsp; With regards to old age, everyone accumulates modifiers the same way; you don't lose your strength any slower if you train well. That is, I don't think D&amp;D has captured the idea of genomics that well. Why would young age be any different? I think your adult ability scores are basically your best overall potential, and then you throw some standard age modifiers for any non-adult.And yes, that is largely how it works. I don't think that Arthur could ever be as good a wizard as Merlin, even if he really tried. Nor could Muhammad Ali have been a nuclear physicist, even if he really tried. (Nor could various smart/magic-y guys succeed at fighting). Talent matters. In a D&amp;D context, wizards are wizards because they were born smart and then trained; they are not smart because they trained as wizards.[Note: sorry for tangent; others please don't forget to respond to OP]</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Ahnehnois, post: 6164125, member: 17106"] Yes. From a narrative perspective "heroes are born, not made" is pretty much classic fantasy. From a simulation perspective, regardless of whether you believe DNA exists in D&D or not, I think ability scores are pretty clearly something you inherit. With regards to old age, everyone accumulates modifiers the same way; you don't lose your strength any slower if you train well. That is, I don't think D&D has captured the idea of genomics that well. Why would young age be any different? I think your adult ability scores are basically your best overall potential, and then you throw some standard age modifiers for any non-adult. And yes, that is largely how it works. I don't think that Arthur could ever be as good a wizard as Merlin, even if he really tried. Nor could Muhammad Ali have been a nuclear physicist, even if he really tried. (Nor could various smart/magic-y guys succeed at fighting). Talent matters. In a D&D context, wizards are wizards because they were born smart and then trained; they are not smart because they trained as wizards. [Note: sorry for tangent; others please don't forget to respond to OP] [/QUOTE]

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