D&D 5E The unlimited fountain of youth

[devincutler]

So a 14th level transmuter can restore 3d10 years to anyone at no cost. Once per day. At no cost. Did I mention at no cost whatsoever?

Does anyone see this as a problem in a campaign setting? How do you ever meet a wizard or noble who is not walking around looking like a 20 year old?

Once per day. No cost. 3d10 years!

Ridiculous.

 

[Radaceus]

Incorrect; read it again

that creature’s apparent age is reduced by 3d10 years, to a minimum of 13 years. This effect doesn’t extend the creature’s lifespan.

Aside from that, as far as campaign and story goes- it requires 14th level; One would hope this isn't common, that is, 14th level wizards are rare, which infers that spending 8 hours to make a stone (after taking a long rest) to make somebody young wouldn't be their mainstay.

 

[Uncle_Muppet]

Well, almost no cost. That ability does use up the character's Philosopher's/Transmuter's Stone. Granted, it only takes 8 hours to make a new stone and that process doesn't cost anything. So, yes, if a high-level transmuter could take years off a person's appearance continuously - as long as he does nothing else that day.

Additionally, the 3d10 years is only off the creature's appearance. It doesn't change their actual age - meaning they'll still die when they hit their racial age limit and if you use age-related penalties they'll still have those as well.

Personally, I don't see a problem in a campaign setting, I see a massive opportunity. There's some fun RP to be had if you don't know how old people actually are.

 

[Mercule]

Additionally, the 3d10 years is only off the creature's appearance. It doesn't change their actual age - meaning they'll still die when they hit their racial age limit and if you use age-related penalties they'll still have those as well.

Personally, I don't see a problem in a campaign setting, I see a massive opportunity. There's some fun RP to be had if you don't know how old people actually are.

So, 90 year old exotic dancers? Creepy.

 

[KahlessNestor]

So, 90 year old exotic dancers? Creepy.

Your gramma is HAWT!

 

[TwoSix]

So, 90 year old exotic dancers? Creepy.

You wouldn't say that if it was an elf.

Although, considering elven maturity rates, maybe it still is.

 

[jayoungr]

Besides, transmutation isn't a popular school of magic. It's gotta have some perks.

 

[Jester David]

I figured out that characters with adventuring classes are close to 0.005% of the population, using the percentage of professional athletes in North America to set the numbers.
Low levels (less than 4) might be ten times as common, but high levels (above 10) are likely ten times as rare. The population of a region is 0.0005% level 10+ adventurers, with wizards in specific being a tenth that.

In a fantasy world (we'll go with the Realms, since we have numbers) there could be 50 to 75 million people on a continent. In the Realms, there'd be 34,000 adventurers, with over 30k being rookies while 3,400 are "professional". But only 34 wizards in the 10-20 range across Faerûn. A couple per major region or one per nation.
That'd be the guy you'd have to tap to remove the laugh lines from your face. It's like going to the Surgeon General for a face lift. They can do it, and if you throw enough money at them they'll probably say "yes", but since they're spending a full 8-hour work day on the task it's going to be expensive.

 

[AaronOfBarbaria]

14th or higher level transmuter? Yeah, my setting has... wait, lemme count... 3 of those.

One is in prison for treason. One is an evil jerk that only cares about himself. The last is very busy working out how to stop the previous evil jerk's evil jerk plans, not being able to use the obvious solution (kill him) because the evil jerk is actually his future self (as far as he can tell, at least) time-traveled back to enact evil jerk plans.

None of them are really available to make people look, but not actually be, younger - for profit or otherwise.

 

[Jer]

There's actually a great plot seed hiding in there, though I'm not sure if I can make it work in a world where elves and dwarves live hundreds of years. I wonder whether the appearance of endless youth (withought actually having youthful vitality) would be in more demand or less in a world like that, and how much wealthy patrons would be willing to pay for it.