Older Characters

[Chunklets]

So I'm playing a human druid right now, and he's about the come up on the magic age of 35, which according to the PHB slings him into middle age, with the accompanying bonuses/penalties (he's not high enough in level to get the Timless Body trait). I've got a couple of questions for anyone else out there who's played a middle-aged or older character. First off, what, if anything, did you do differently? Secondly, did you set out to play an older character, or did the particular campaign simply last long enough that you character reached his/her age "naturally."

For my part, I did actually deliberately set out to create an older character, simply because I'd never done it before. As for what I do differently... well, it's obviously going to have to be a gradual adjustment of the character's personality. I'm thinking of slowly having the character become more easy-going and relaxed, although he's pretty much that way to begin with. What I definitely want to avoid is a descent into cliche-dom.

Anyway, any and all thoughts on the matter are eagerly awaited!

 

[BiggusGeekus]

The only time this ever happened to me is when I played a half-orc. The DM thought he'd cap the campaign by doing a "10 years later" scenario. Everyone else either played a young human or an elf so they didn't care so much. I pulled the DM aside and told him exactly what he was doing to my character. Actually, it was pretty cool. As a cleric, the character was seeing less combat anyway and a +1 wisdom was kind of useful. I played it up, acting a lot calmer than I had in the character's more antagonistic past. It was kind of cool.

 

[Piratecat]

A human PC in my game is in his mid-60's, and the stat hits have been painful. Luckily he's a cleric, so the loss of strength hasn't been a major problem.

 

[Rl'Halsinor]

Very interesting post. Personally I am not sure if I necessarily agree with the progression of stats loss as per PHB. But that is another issue for another post. I have two PCs with one that is a 35 year old Ranger and the other as a 45 year old Wizard. I role play both as pondering significant changes in their lives. My ranger is attempting to court a female healer in a town in hopes of getting married and having children. He is thinking that he would still be Ranger but settling in a permanent home, lending his skills, et. al. to the local town.

The Wizard, who is running for his life, is truly considering finding a remote place where he can spend the rest of his days in research.

Depending on how they make out in their current situations depends if they get to "retire."

 

[Cannibal_Kender]

I had a character named Sir Prendergast that was a 60 year old paladin.

He wasn't as strong as he used to be, and in addition a vampire permanantly drained his Con to 8, and he never got around to restoring it.

He presented a more forceful demeanor in his old age to compensate for the fact that he wasn't as powerful as he used to be.

This lasted right up to the moment where he walked through the prismatic wall. Wasn't much left after that. Guess charging isn't always the answer (sheds a tear).

 

[akchf]

In all the groups I've played in, we tend to ignore those adjustments, just playing out personality quirks that show up.