D&D General Starting PC age? [poll]

[Sacrosanct]

Nearly all of these characters had adventures before they join the story. None of them are level 1 at the time the story begins.
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That's not true at all. It doesn't really say in the books, but there is nothing that assumes most of the dwarves in the hobbit had any combat experience before the story. Maybe only one or two. Fflewddr certainly didn't have grand adventures before joining the story.

Secondly, my overall point wasn't just that why aren't there older level 1 PCs, but that there are also no older high level PCs either. As I said, you can get to high level after only a year of adventuring. If most PCs start at 18 years old-ish, then they'd be level 20 at age 20ish. Hardly anyone plays an older PC (non wizard at any rate), and yet, there are a plethora of older (middle age+) of active heroes in literature and lore

 

[Gradine]

I played a fussy old man cleric once. It's also not a poll option, but I also played an eight-year-old once in 3.5. He was a Psion (a Telepath specifically) and nobody really regarded him as much of a threat. It was a fun character to play.

 

[Nebulous]

Generally young to middle age, although in the level system of such games, age and experience are not synonymous or even logical. A 700 year old elf has no more experience than a 70 year old human, which doesn't make any sense.

 

[Seramus]

All over the place. Though the most memorable was a 68 year old human Fighter/Rogue. Just because it’s rare as hell for an old character to also be the physical character, and I wanted to explore that idea.

Like an older [FONT=&quot]Barristan Selmy.[/FONT]

 

[Legatus Legionis]

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[Jer]

With D&D? Always a young-un. I don't think I've had a D&D character who started the game over the age of 25 (or equivalent for elf/dwarf). Because if you're a 50 year old 1st level adventurer in D&D what the heck are you doing with your life? Yeesh. (If we can start at 10th level or so then fine - I'd be happy to play the veteran fighter or elder wizard who is coming out of retirement for one last big adventure. Never had a DM who wanted to do that though - it's always "but we have to start a new campaign at level 1! That's how you play D&D!".)

In other games? All of the time (when I get to play instead of DM). I've always liked playing characters who were at least a little older than me. I had a wizard in an Ars Magica game in college who was in his 60s when the game started, and some of the other characters I played in that game were also older (in the sense that they were in their 30s and 40s - it was set in the 12th century after all). I played a skeptical tabloid journalist nearing his retirement age in a WoD Hunter game in another game. At cons I'll pick the Jay Garrick or Alan Scott character over the Barry Allen or Hal Jordan every time.

 

[the Jester]

Well, it depends.

As a player, I usually start first level pcs at a fairly young age, but not always. Clerics, wizards, and some grizzled veteran fighters I've played have started off in the mid-30s, 40s, or even 50s or 60s. I don't know how common I'd say that is for me in the last few editions, though- I have dmed far more often than I've played since about 2e.

One thing to take note of regarding my experience- I probably played as many pcs in 1e as I have in every edition since combined. And 1e had random starting ages for certain class/race combinations that pretty much always put you in "middle aged" or older. Dwarf clerics, I'm lookin' at you.

 

[Adamant]

For me its almost always young adult, but very few of my human characters are actually under 20. I do have a bladesinger who's 249, which is still young but old enough to learn something that complicated, and a 35 year old human fighter, who has traveled a lot before joining the order of the gauntlet and becoming an adventurer in earnest. However, I tend to write my backstories for when the character gains a few levels, and just ignore the fact that I don't have certain subclasses at level 1. The bladesinger, for example, started as a fighter for mechanical reasons, namely two weapon fighting. My sun soul monk is another example.

 

[Blue]

Need a poll option "all over the board". I've played teens and younger, young adults, adults, middle aged, old, and ancient characters. I don't have a "type" that I play to, I'm all over the map - usually depending on the personality I want and also sometimes reflecting ability scores.

 

[BookBarbarian]

The older I get the older my characters get, though I tend to start them around 5 years younger than my actual age (currently 35).