People use their own life experience as metaphors for deeper meaning, spirituality.
For hunter-gatherers who are egalitarian families, all natural phenomena are persons who are members of family groups. There is no such thing as a monarch nor a master nor a god nor a hierarchy. The only leaders if any are parents, doing things in a parental way. All things are part of a family, and the families form egalitarian groups, neighbors.
When people adopt a reality of farming, land competition, towns, specializations, leaders, armies, monarchs, slavery, and so on, the methaphors for spirituality likewise bureaucratize and hierarchize. Reality becomes a hierarchy between the powerful distant versus the powerless beggers. The concept of "gods" becomes possible. And many gods, each a specialist over a specific task to serve of the chief god.
With rise of empires, predatory economies, international armies, massive cities, the control of resources to sustain massive cities, universalism emerges. The cultures collide together adapting to each other in a same city, and their respective worldviews contradict each other. Which god is the true one becomes uncertain. So deeper truths gain centrality, such as the various versions of the Golden Rule (dont do against others, what one doesnt want done against oneself). Spirituality becomes transcendent, such as imageless omnipresent monotheism, philosophical prime mover, conceptual monism, or enlightenment from nothingness.
While there are cultures and subcultures that are exceptions, a strong trend is:
• hunter-gatherer ≈ animism
• farmer ≈ polytheism
• city dweller ≈ transcendence
With aging in mind, consider the following "schedule" for high achieving characters.
AGES
PROFICIENCY BONUS
LEVELS
TIER
THEME
13−15
+0
Background
Apprentice, Novice
Kid
16−19
+1
Background
Apprentice
Page, Young Adult
20−24
+2
Levels 1−4
Journeyer
Gentry, Adult
25−31
+3
Levels 5−8
Journeyer, Expert
Squire, Professional
32−39
+4
Levels 9−12
Master
Knight, Sire/Dame, Guildmaster
40−49
+5
Levels 13−16
Grandmaster
Superhero, Noble, Lord/Lady
50−62
+6
Levels 17−20
Legend
Archon, Archwizard, Archdruid
63−78
+7
Epic
Epic
Immortal
79−100
+8
Epic
Mythic
Divine
Note, the 2014 Players Handbook mentions levels 1 thru 4 can represent an apprentice. However now with the 2024 background being more substantial, it feels more coherent for the background to represent an apprentice character. This table is a finetuning of typical ages and other expectations for the D&D tiers. Level 1 is a fully adult character who has completed ones apprenticeship.
More importantly, there are ethical concerns about the age of adulthood, cognitive responsibility for ones actions, being old enough to be sent off to die in war, or other high risk, as well as issues relating to underage sexuality. It seems wiser for the D&D default to make level 1 be clearly and fully adult. The legal age of adulthood in America is conflictive, even absurd, when 18 is considered as if old enough to be sent off to die, but not old enough to decide to drink alcohol until 21, while pretending young adults dont drink until then. For practical purposes and for various reasons, it is safe to establish "adulthood" at age 20 for all purposes. By this age, most humans are cognitive adults and are legally responsible for their own actions. The D&D level 1 character is typically about 20 years old.
With regard to the nonhuman Humanoid species, likewise it is safer to assume they reach cognitive age around 20 at the same rate as the Human. To imply there are young minors with adults can get murky fast. It is expedient for the core rules to define the age of adulthood for all Humanoids unambiguously.
Meanwhile, any level 1 character can conveniently assume that all species biological traits that express themselves during the maturation process have already completed by at age 20.
In reallife medieval Europe, an apprentice is from about 13 years old thru about 19 years old. For D&D, "background" and "apprenticeship" mean the same thing.
Thus the D&D background equates to all of modern American highschool, plus an associates degree, thus completing significant technical training in whatever fields of proficiency.
At level 1, the character is an "adult" around the age of 20 years old. This character is a Journeyer who has already achieved significant experience and competence. When adjudicating what kinds of adventures make sense for levels 1 thru 4 during the Journeyer tier, think: What would a 20 year old do?
With regard to having already been the age of 18 (college freshman, or fresher or frosh) or 19 (sophomore), the character was still too young, and ethically shouldnt have been sent to die in war, but in exigent circumstances it might have happened. Thus it is possible for the young adult to already have become a D&D Veteran soldier before reaching level 1.
The level 1 character is now a medieval journeyman or journeywoman − a Journeyer. This is the adventurer, who is now the age of majority, being a cognitive adult (typically), and ethically responsible to choose to risk ones own life. The Journeyer might start work as a mercenary assigned to a high risk detail. The 20 year old might become a rookie police officer or other town guard to serve and protect ones fellow citizens. The character can continue in a university toward completing a bachelors degree.
The level 1 Journeyer is a junior at the university. Level 2 is a senior. Level 3 has a bachelors degree, now at about age 22. The subclass specialization is now in effect. Levels 3 and 4 can work toward toward the masters degree. There is perhaps a year off to "find oneself", travel and see the world.
At the tier of levels 5 thru 8, the character is an Expert. This one has achieved a university masters degree, or its equivalent. The Expert can perform advanced activities − such as cast advanced spells of slot 3 like Fireball and Revivify. The high achiever is typically about 25. This one can continue on to get a doctorate. Heh, but this goal frequently gets interrupted by adventures.
Somewhere around age 32, the player character or the exceptional nonplayer character is a Master. This Master achieved a doctorate, or its equivalent. The tier furthers cutting-edge postdoctoral research and performs extraordinary stunts. The character is level 9. When a mage − a wielder of magic − the Master is unleashing slot 5 gamechangers, like Wall of Force and Teleportation Circle.
By around age 40, some characters might reach the Grandmaster tier at level 13.
The Grandmaster tier is convenient marker for a shift in the fantasy genre. Compare previous tiers. Journeyer and Expert represent Game of Thrones. Expert and Master represent Lord of the Rings. In this high fantasy genre with these tiers, magic exists − sometimes even powerful magic. But the assumptions for a moreorless realistic medievalesque society can still work plausibly.
At the Grandmaster tier, a medievalesque setting is no longer possible. There is too much magic. Too powerful. Too often. It is too easy to bypass realistic limitations. It is too easy to disrupt the ways of life of entire populations. The setting starts to feel like perhaps one has stepped thru the threshold of a dreamworld.
Grandmaster is the superhero genre.
The Grandmaster tiers and up can still find ways to make the characters of lower tiers safe and viable. But the low-tierers arent in their own element. Compare the official Planescape Setting where low tier characters are adventuring among cosmic beings. Normies among supers. If a normal medievalesque setting exists in the campaign, consider relocating the superhero activities to an other plane, especially the Feywild. If it is important to remain in the Material Plane among the normies, figure out some contrived pretext to handwaive away why the superheroes havent already wrecked society utterly. Example, witches and vampires might have reasons to prevent normies from discovering their existence. Possibly, the supers find normie life uninteresting and can plausibly ignore them and keep out of their way while the supers struggle among themselves behind the scenes. More plausibly, be in the Feywild or in an Astral dominion, where this is a dream version of a society, and it is ok to wreck everything, and everything will still stay weirdly normal at first glance.
If the magic is a sufficiently advanced technology, this is a scifi genre. Go for it. Imagine what the society might be like when this magic actually happens in the near future.
The Grandmaster and tiers on up − Legend, Epic, Mythic − are how to use D&D for a superhero campaign.
With regard to human aging.
A character might become a Grandmaster somewhere around 40 years old. Ages 40 to 49 are probably when the mental socres are at the height of their powers, combining experience, cognition, and application. If they are looking after themselves, their physical scores are still continuing along fine.
At the Legend tier, around the ages of 50 thru 62, there can be some physical decline compared when one was younger. One might even need to look after oneself to retain ones mental acumen. But this is the Legend tier! Wizards are casting Wish daily. Characters are altering reality at will. Magic items are everywhere. The character will be literally immortal at the Epic tier within a decade at about age 63.
It seems pointless to have rules for increasing or decreasing scores because of age.
The concept of aging might matter for the NPCs and the assumptions about a medievalesque daily reality. NPCs might be retiring around 63. But such things are irrelevant for player characters. Immortality has begun.
I think the concept of "natural talent" is mostly naughty word; sure, there are always going to be your Michael Phelpses who are the extreme tail ends of distribution curves. But it's not like those people only train to improve their technique; they have to train like hell to turn their potential into reality, to not just keep in shape but also to constantly improve their physical ability, the whole "faster, higher, stronger" thing.
I don't think there's anything wrong with D&D modelling that.
To paraphrase from another thread, I'm not a huge proponent of the whole Level Zero thing, but the whole "Zero to Hero" story arc from mythology and folklore is too important a source of inspiration for D&D to be mechanically impossible in the system.
EDIT: Sorry, meant to reply to: @Incenjucar - Millions of people a year went on pilgrimages.
You are correct. Millions, not hundreds of millions. And those pilgrimages almost all resided in one's kingdom or state or country of origin. Most pilgrims (there are of course exceptions) travelled a couple hundred miles. Some travelled a bit more. They travelled on well-worn roads, and encountered groups that knew there would be travelers. They, for the most part, spoke the same language, wore the same clothes, and shared the same culture.
They were not from Japan, and making their way to a pilgrimage site in what is now Southeast India; encountering foreign (and in some cases) cultures so strange they would be considered alien. Here is a good statistic for you: up until 1500, it is estimated that less than .1% of Chinese people saw a white person. And most of those were explorers and soldiers. The point is, pilgrimages rarely equaled direct exposure to other races or cultures.
Now a good war campaign...
Note how different species have different levels of base ability in Strength, Intelligence and other ability scores, with statistically significant differences (not just up to player choice; and yes, his entire schtick is to view the world as if every organism was a MMO player). It would be kind of cool to see him do a video on D&D elves, gnomes and dwarves.
