D&D 3E/3.5 No Longevity Magic in 3e?

[Chaldfont]

I just noticed that there are no potions of longevity in the DMG. I can't find any spells in the PH that extend life or take the years off either.

Has anybody worked up spells/magic items to fill this shortcoming? It's a little too late for my 300+ year old cleric/necromancer arch villain to be using Oil of Olay...

 

[Buddha the DM]

I suggest getting Relics & Rituals from Sword & Sorcery. It has an Immortality ritual in there.

 

[las]

or make some of your own.

 

[Al]

There are actually a fair few ways of longevity through the books already out...but you have to look hard(ish)

Lichdom: (Monster Manual): The classic. Great for the big scary evil boss.

Pros: Tons of bonuses, very few strings attached.
Cons: Messes up the social agenda a tad. Undead vulnerabilities.

Reincarnation: (Player's Handbook): The Reincarnation spell creates a new YOUNG ADULT body, so simply cast on the aged incumbent and make a new adult. I think this can't be cast on those who died of old age, so kill character first just before aging death.

Pros: Low-level spell, easy process.
Cons: -1 Level, Could come back as something undesirable.

Clones: (Player's Handbook): Clones created in your youth can be activated on your death, of old age or if n/a use tactic detailed above.

Pros: Assuming you maxout level 20 at young age, little negative impact. 100% guaranteed.
Cons: -1 Level, XP Cost.

Mind Switch (Psionic's Handbook): Find unlucky young victim. Switch minds. Kill victim. Keep body.

Pros: Quick, harmless (to you) and efficient. Could end up with better physical stats (switch with a top level barbarian?)
Cons: Negate Psionics.

Polymorph Other (cast by someone else on you) (Player's Handbook): Tell them to Polymorph you into a young X

Pros: Quick, cheap and (hopefully) reliable.
Cons: Average physical stats. Dispel Magic. Trusts person doing the Polymorphing (although if you have a handy cohort this is OK)

So there's five ways. There are probably more.

 

[kenjib]

I am working on a spell that will only have a 1 day duration, during which you age at 10% the normal rate. This means you have to recast it every day. It will require an expensive material component. This conjures to mind the image of a king who bleeds his coffers dry trying to extend his life via his court wizard, who now holds a dangerously influential source of power over said king.

It's a spell...and a plot hook! Anyone who wants to use it needs to continuously find vast sources of wealth.

 

[Epametheus]

Another option would simply be to Wish for your physical body to reduced in age by x number of years, with no impediment to skills or mental facilities (though you might want to word it more exactly).

Pros: It's a freaking Wish. It can do it.
Cons: 5000 XP cost. More importantly, DMs almost invariably want to punish players for casting Wish. So in the case above, despite the clause about the "no impediment to mental facilities", your DM might decide that since your brain is younger, you just lost 15 levels or whatever you'd gained between present time and time - x.

Of course, if you are the DM, it's up to decide whether or not to have a double standard for PCs and NPCs trying to do this, to allow everyone to potentially do this, or to simply forbid it.

As a side note, I guess Miracle can substitue for Wish...

Pro: It's more reliable than Wish.
Con: Your god might not approve of your attempt to delay "coming home."

 

[Samloyal23]

How has this post aged? One of the problems with magic in games is that it is mostly about combat and not what people in folklore and fiction would actually use magic to accomplish. We have five editions and Pathfinder, what is the state of longevity magic now in 2020?

 

[the Jester]

I just converted potions of longevity when I was running 3e. You didn't have to do anything to change them, just figure out what you wanted to be required to brew them.

 

[Samloyal23]

I made a warlock invocation for 3.5 that stole someone else's youth. You targeted someone younger than you, the two of you switched ages. Target someone your own age or older had no effect. It did however have a side-effect, because the victim whose youth you took tended to become evil and want revenge, the victim's soul tainted by the dark forces involved. I liked the idea of warlocks extending their lives at the expense of innocent victims. Regular use every few decades made you immortal at the cost of having decrepit, vengeful victims plotting against you...

 

[Horwath]

I am working on a spell that will only have a 1 day duration, during which you age at 10% the normal rate. This means you have to recast it every day. It will require an expensive material component. This conjures to mind the image of a king who bleeds his coffers dry trying to extend his life via his court wizard, who now holds a dangerously influential source of power over said king.

It's a spell...and a plot hook! Anyone who wants to use it needs to continuously find vast sources of wealth.

so like healthcare in different parts of the world?