Old Age And The Game

[Dannyalcatraz]

I handled it with a %ile stressed action randomizer, since my own personal (but not professional) experience with those losing their faculties told me they still "have it", they just don't have access to it all the time.

So the more senile they become, the bigger the % chance they'll do something incorrect under stress. For a caster, they may choose the wrong spell, or target the wrong creature.

A martial character may experience a hesitation affecting AC or BAB temporarily...or, again, choosing the wrong target.

 

[Neoiceshroom]

I handled it with a %ile stressed action randomizer, since my own personal (but not professional) experience with those losing their faculties told me they still "have it", they just don't have access to it all the time.

So the more senile they become, the bigger the % chance they'll do something incorrect under stress. For a caster, they may choose the wrong spell, or target the wrong creature.

A martial character may experience a hesitation affecting AC or BAB temporarily...or, again, choosing the wrong target.

That seems very logical. How exactly do you calculate the percentile if I may ask?

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Eyballin'! IOW, it's a straight up judgement call.

Technically, I go in 5% increments, but usually, the character in question will not be interacting with the party long, so I just pick a number. The most messed up was a senile lich at 65%... But he wasn't the real BBEG- the lich's main (former) assistant was.

 

[Neoiceshroom]

Eyballin'! IOW, it's a straight up judgement call.

Technically, I go in 5% increments, but usually, the character in question will not be interacting with the party long, so I just pick a number. The most messed up was a senile lich at 65%... But he wasn't the real BBEG- the lich's main (former) assistant was.

Ah okay, i had just imagined that a character's ECL would come into play somewhere. Personally, I'd imagine a 20th level wizard would have a slightly higher chance of preforming actions correctly no matter how senile he is. His magic would be so second nature that it would be action without thought. a low level, but equally senile wizard would have a higher chance of failure I'd imagine.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

IME- again, not as a pro- senility just doesn't work like that.

My paternal grandfather was a lifelong educator, mostly at the HS and collegiate level. He had multiple degrees.

Towards the end of his life, he had serious senility issues. He thought I took him to Church a different way every time. He sometimes forgot we had taken him someplace just hours before. He became unable to distinguish between AM and PM, so would sometimes call us at 4AM to go to dinner, despite harping a big picture window in his apartment. Sometimes, he wanted us to take him to meetings that occurred 30 years ago in another state. He didn't recognize some family members.

And despite all that, if you talked to him, he could still carry on a very intelligent conversation in his areas if expertise. Most people couldnt tell he was senile during those moments...until he said something that was clearly just wrong or horribly outdated. And if you corrected him, he might become violently angry.

To put that in more concrete terms, if he had been a political analyst, he'd be able to tell you about historical strengths and preferences of political parties and what that meant for the war...but then you'd realize he's talking about President Nixon & Vietnam, and would have no clue that Obama was president and we had troops in the Middle East.

Its not your level of competence that matters, it's the degree of your disability.

 

[Neoiceshroom]

IME- again, not as a pro- senility just doesn't work like that.

My paternal grandfather was a lifelong educator, mostly at the HS and collegiate level. He had multiple degrees.

Towards the end of his life, he had serious senility issues. He thought I took him to Church a different way every time. He sometimes forgot we had taken him someplace just hours before. He became unable to distinguish between AM and PM, so would sometimes call us at 4AM to go to dinner, despite harping a big picture window in his apartment. Sometimes, he wanted us to take him to meetings that occurred 30 years ago in another state. He didn't recognize some family members.

And despite all that, if you talked to him, he could still carry on a very intelligent conversation in his areas if expertise. Most people couldnt tell he was senile during those moments...until he said something that was clearly just wrong or horribly outdated. And if you corrected him, he might become violently angry.

To put that in more concrete terms, if he had been a political analyst, he'd be able to tell you about historical strengths and preferences of political parties and what that meant for the war...but then you'd realize he's talking about President Nixon & Vietnam, and would have no clue that Obama was president and we had troops in the Middle East.

Its not your level of competence that matters, it's the degree of your disability.

Wow, that's a remarkable story. Truth is sometimes stranger than fiction. I have very little experience in dealing with the elderly, especially those suffering from dementia, so this is far from my area of expertise.

Back to game mechanics. I was thinking... obviously everyone suffering from Dementia/Alzheimer's' disease cannot suffer their affliction in the exact same manner as someone else, despite the fact that they suffer from the same medical condition, the brain is simply to complex an organ to be universally affected across an entire species.

I was thinking perhaps it should be divided into three categories:
Mild: -1 to all mental scores, -2 to a score of DM's choice.
Moderate: -2 to all mental scores, -4 to a score of DM's choice.
Severe: -3 to all mental scores, -4 to one of DM's choice and DM may roll percentile in combat if character in question is under stress which may cause them to make a mistake.

 

[Water Bob]

You mean, aside from Table 6-5: Aging Effects?

This was directed at the OP, but as for the OP....yes, aside from Table 6-5. If a character is 50 years old, gains a level, and picks up a new Feat, shouldn't that Feat selection be conditional to the character's age?







I have no rule for old age in my game, but I do take a somewhat non-standard view of the definition of a character level.

In my game, character levels are static. Level 1 represents a novice while I have an absolute ceiling of Level 20. Therefore, character level is usually tied, somewhat, to character age.

It's rare to find a Level 1 character older than 14-17 in my game. Why? That's how old most people are when they begin their "careers". You're not going to walk into a town in my game and see the entire town militia composed of a few dozen Level 1 characters--not unless the town militia is protected by a bunch of 15 year-old kids.

In my game, I define a character level to be: The average amount of experience a character obtains in a year.

Thus, if you see a 13 year old, he's most likely 1st level. If you see a 20 year old character, he'll be in the

The older a character is, the easier it is to guess his experiece level.

Consider....



Age 15-16 = Level 1

Age 16-18 = Level 2

Age 18-21 = Level 3



Age 22-26 = Level 4

Age 26-31 = Level 5

Age 31-37 = Level 6



Age 37-42 = Level 7

Age 42-50 = Level 8

Age 50-59 = Level 9



Age 59-69 = Level 10

Age 69-80 = Level 11

Age 80-92 = Level 12



And so on, to the level cap at Level 20.





As you can see, on average, most people reach level 8-11 in their lives, if they live that long. The Commoner class uses the above as a Rule of Thumb, as well. And, remember that these are eyeballed, ballparked numbers. The scale is not absolute. The fighter that spends his whole career as a city guardsman can probably use the above Rule of Thumb. A fighter of the same age and exact same stats, living on the Empire's frontier with a hostile force, would average a level or three higher than the norm.

The PCs are above average people. Heroes. Thus, they will average higher than the common joe and have a shot at obtaining Level 20.

 

[Sanzuo]

I prefer the Discworld method of handling old age.

Being an adventurer is a very dangerous profession, most don't live to old age, and these guys are very, very old. Get it?

 

[Water Bob]

Being an adventurer is a very dangerous profession, most don't live to old age, and these guys are very, very old.

I used to be an adventurer. Then, I took an arrow to the knee.

 

[Man in the Funny Hat]

IMO D&D doesn't really need to accomodate rules for aging because PC's have so VERY rarely aged. Campaigns just do not last long enough for character to age with any significance. Aging rules are meant to inflict a little reality-control on PC's but how many campaigns has anyone actually been in where a newly created PC adventures from a young man, through maturity, into senior, venerable, ancient years and then croaks of old age after a final shot at twisting Death's nipples off when he shows up?

As for NPC's - they do not EARN levels and skills - levels and skills are ASSIGNED to them by the DM to position them where HE wants them to be and then given whatever justifications he deems necessary.

I don't have an issue with the very thin, standard 1e/2E rules for a PC moving into the next age category but I've never seen a given PC use it more than once that I can recall (and usually it was due to forced aging from ghosts, spells, etc. and often reversed). I've always very carefully tracked the passage of time in my campaigns but it's a FAR bigger issue to me explaining how a PC goes from 1st to 20th level in 14 months than worrying about him aging 40 years over the course of the campaign and becoming a doddering old senile fart like myself.