[Poll] Character Age/Lifespan

[Skarp Hedin]

Like many others, I use them but rarely. My players seem to really enjoy starting PCs as young as is possible, and just not that much game time passes. I'm thinking next campaign, I'm going to try and get more game time to pass, but I'm not sure how yet.

 

[tleilaxu]

my new character is starting at age 52 and will look like george carlin baby! i can't wait!

 

[Katerek]

I use them to great effect. Aging is one of the more important issues in my games actually.

My current campaign where the PCs are all around 24th level has now been going on for 21 game years. We have already had one of the human characters hit middle age. I bet you dimes to donuts that there will be others.

I once ran a campaign that got us all to about 15th level or so (second edition rules) and we finally quit because everyone's characters were getting too old. The archer of the group retired when he could no longer wield his uber-bow due to strength loss. It was awesome. The camapign lasted some 40 game years.

The evil game that I ran lasted almost 100 game years, but almost everyone was undead or an elf by that point so it came into little effect save for the NPC's. Lots of "you killed my father, prepare to die" sotry lines there.

 

[Ysgarran]

I voted no. In thoey, I follow them to the letter, but the characters or the campaign always die before they come into play.

This poll needs to be re-done.

Some people are voting 'yes' because while they would use the aging rules the issue never comes up because of the short duration of the campaigns in game time.
Some people are voting 'no' because while they would use the aging rules the issue never comes up because of the short duration of the campaigns in game time.


I guess I fall into the first group. While I use the rules for NPCs I've never had a group of PC characters age that much.

 

[Bagpuss]

No one has lived long enough yet.

 

[Arnwyn]

Yes, I use them. Yes, it has come up a bunch of times IMC. Sometimes characters have started near middle-age (a librarian priest). Often, there is a lot of down-time (I use some training rules that can take a fair amount of game time). Also, I use much slower XP advancement than in the standard 3e rules.

 

[Buttercup]

I'm going to repeat what everyone else has said. I would use them if it ever came up. So far, it hasn't.

It might be cool to have a player start a character at level 1 who was middle aged. Maybe they already had a career and decided to become a mage, or something. But so far, none of my players has done anything like this.

 

[am181d]

I know this thread's been dead for the better part of the week, but I just wanted to say that one of my players' characters just hit 35 years old recently. (First age modifier.)

BUT I handle advancement differently. Every adventure takes place a year after the last one, and every character goes up a level every year. (There's some presumed between-adventuring-adventuring.)

 

[Piratecat]

A PC (Velendo) in my game is in his 60's and has hit old age. I think his strength is down to 6; he has to have everyone carry his equipment around for him.

 

[kengar]

I use them, they rarely come up in 3e though.

In a new campaign I am co-DMing however, I expect it to come up a bit more. The characters' world was being destroyed by "mists" which consumed everything they touched; cities, forests, etc. The town they were in managed to create a shield that kept the mist away, but when it was lowered a few weeks later (air was running out), the whole landscape had changed.
(Town was in a prairie, now an island off a wooded coast).

The party doesn't know what happened or where they are, one theory is that the city moved through time, in which case, some demi-human NPCs might still be around but older (or younger). Also, one of the PCs (a human) has plans to clear some land on the continent, become a lord, found a line, etc. It may take him a long time to do and he could be middle-aged or more before that happens.