Effects of Aging

[Sigma]

Hey all,

haven't got my books on me and was wondering if someone could post the effects of aging for me. Checked the SRD already, and doesn't look like it's there. I had a brainstorm over lunch to start using the effects of aging in lieu of level loss for raise dead and such. Basically, being raised from the dead shortens your lifespan, thus pushing you up into a higher age category. You don't actually get older, it's just that your body gets weaker and more worn (thus the penalties to physical stats) while your mind is altered by the experience (thus the bonus to the mental stats.) My only worry is that it will give wizards and clerics an incentive to die and be raised to pump up their spellcasting attributes, so I need to check the penalties to make sure they sufficiently offset the bonuses.

But, I don't have my books!!!

So, could you help a guy out?

Thanks,
Sigma

 

[Mr Fidgit]

middle age -1 S, D, C +1 I, W, C

old -2 S, D, C +1 I, W, C

venerable -3, S, D, C +1 I, W, C

and those are cumulative

 

[Sigma]

Thank you!

Now, this may be house rules-ish, but suppose there were a way to increase your age category (say, through the proposed change of raise dead in my first post), would there be an incentive for non-physical stats based characters (read:wizards and sorcerers) to increase their age to get the bonus to their casting attributes? Or, on net, does it balance out/work against them?

 

[Mr Fidgit]

i would think it would work out against them...

1) lowering your physical stats lowers your overall survivability (Dex to AC, Con to hit points)

2) most people like the idea of living long, healthy lives and dying of natural causes in their sleep (i know adventurers are practically suicidal in this respect....)

3) i don't think anyone would choose to age for 'fun and profit'. i understand the benefits to spellcasters when their mental stats go up, but successful characters get 5 ability score raises during a career (from level 1 to 20), anyway. AND by the time they are that high in level, there are other options to raising their abilities anyway...

 

[mmu1]

I think you're right to worry about lack of balance, since this way of doing things is grossly unfair to non-spelcasters.

Dying once might, depending on stats, actually be an advantage to a spellcaster playing in your campaign - if his physical stats and spellcasting attribute are odd, that is. Dying twice would be a serious thing, but someone with, say, a toad familiar, might still not be too unhappy with getting a 2 point boost to intelligence in exchange for loosing 3 points of CON (which is important to anyone) and STR/DEX (which really aren't, to a spellcaster).

On the other hand, all of this would be completely crippling to fighter types, who would benefit so little from bonuses to INT, WIS and CHA they wouldn't even approach making up for the potential loss of to hit bonus, damage bonus, AC, initiative, and hit points.

 

[Stalker0]

I woulnd't use the standard age categories, those represent someone's whose actually LIVED those years. If your just ageing because of dieing, then just give the stats penalties.

I woulnd't go with a category every time you die, maybe a percent of your max life or something, that way you it wouldn't be 3 deaths and your out, unless that's what you want.

This could be a problem for druids, who are immune to ageing at high levels. How are you going to handle that one?

All in all, I like the idea a lot.

 

[Mr Fidgit]

This could be a problem for druids, who are immune to ageing at high levels. How are you going to handle that one?

actually, it would work better for a druid with Timeless Body. they don't get the penalties, but they do get the bonuses

 

[Sigma]

Part of the reason I do like it is that it caps the number of times a character can be raised. I wouldn't necessarily cut it at 3 though, I'd just apply the venerable penalty again for the 4th time. Of course, by that point, you've taken a -9 penalty to all your physical stats.

For druids, I would still give them age penalties from being raised, they just wouldn't move further along in the normal aging process (as opposed to the virtual aging process of being raised).

So, it would work something like this: You've got a druid, and he gets raised once. He now has penalties and bonuses as if he were middle aged. Years pass and before he gets Timeless Body, he reaches the age where middle age would normally apply. At this point, he gets the penalties and bonuses for being old. He gains a few more levels and gets timeless body. Its effects kick in, but they ignore that first set of penalties from being raised.

I do worry about the odd numbered physical stat problem that mmu1 brings up though. Especially w/a point buy system, where it would be easy for a spell-caster to min-max his stats in order to get a big bump to all his mental stats and no effect to his physical stats. Which is dissapointing, because I wanted a simple and elegant way to deal with aging, and if I tinker with the modifiers in order to close that potential loophole, I lose a lot of that elegance. I do think loss of Str and Dex is something of a problem for spellcasters (especially if you enforce encumberance), but the possibility of getting a lot of bonuses and no negatives for that first level loss is upsetting.

 

[CRGreathouse]

Part of the reason I do like it is that it caps the number of times a character can be raised. I wouldn't necessarily cut it at 3 though, I'd just apply the venerable penalty again for the 4th time. Of course, by that point, you've taken a -9 penalty to all your physical stats.

Whispers 1+2+3=6

 

[Benben]

Whispers 1+2+3=6

Mutters He mentioned another venerable age category for raise dead house rules. 1+2+3+3=9.