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Message: <blockquote data-quote="XeviatTranion" data-source="post: 2772859" data-attributes="member: 36318">While your senses are grounded in the physical health of your body, I think they are more mental than physical. But you are incredibly correct, that vision and hearing do dull with age, but I wonder how the vision and hearing of someone whose profession relies upon them ages. Remember, memmory and other mental faculties deteriorate with age as well.But are we talking about middle age, old age, or venerable age? Bodies start to fail before the mind. Many people require glasses, but this can set in during childhood. My entire family wears glasses, except me, which I find odd.I do think the senses should be their own ability score. In my games, I'm adding Perception (Initiative, as well as Listen, Spellcraft, Spot, and Survival skills) and Agility (AC, Reflex, as well as Jump and Tumble skills), and adjusting Dex (All to hit rolls now). This was done mainly because of how my magic system functioned, but also because it sets a better spread of abilities in my opinion.This does get me thinking about the true effects of old age. I think one thing we are failing to consider is that maybe lethargy causes one to loose experience points, so a retired old man isn't going to be as high level as they were in their prime. We've all heard stories about people being "out of practice", so maybe a mechanic to aid DMs in crafting NPCs would be good? Such a mechanic would also be helpful to PCs; let's say a group of four go out on an adventure, and three get killed. Instead of starting a new game, the three players of the dead characters make new characters, while the other player keeps their character, and the campaign resumes 10 years later. The older character looses a level or two so as to be the same level as the new characters.Such a system would mean older, non-active people would have lost many of their skill points. Remember, if you don't use it, you'll loose it.As for good looks, your physical appearance is determined by your physical health. Strong people are taller and more muscled, dextrous people will be more trim and graceful, and hardy people will be free of physically marring diseases and infections (like acne, legions, or growths). Higher physical stats tend to look better, though cultural preferences can change that: "common" preferences will be for high str/con men and high dex/con women. A high charisma score will pad up shortcomings, but when looking at a picture, the majority of a person's good looks come from their physical scores (though it would be safe to assume that a high charisma person will carry themselves better, and thus still look better from afar).</blockquote>

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