Does age affect CR?

ivocaliban

First Post
The title is fairly self-explanatory. Does (or should) age affect the challenge rating of a creature?

In my upcoming Wilderlands campaign I have a human wererat (Rogue 4) who ambushes characters by ferrying them across a river in a rickety boat rigged to sink halfway across. Once the boat capsizes he uses his swimming skills to ambush the character midstream and make off with his valuables to the opposite side of the river (thus avoiding the character's party members).

This particular character is Old, suffering a cumulative -3 penalty to all physical abilities and a +2 bonus to all mental abilities. My question is, does (or should) the age of a foe affect its challenge rating or does it balance out in the end?

At Middle Aged there is a -1 penalty to physical stats and a +1 penalty to mental stats. While this might be a problem for a purely physical threat such as your average fighter, I don't think the trade-off warrants any sort of change to the challenge rating. At age categories Old and Venerable, however, I'm not so sure. Any ideas or recommendations?
 
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Stormborn

Explorer
CR should change only if the creature in question gains or looses something important, like dragons. In 99% of the cases age is simply flavor text and has no significant effect on CR.
 

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