PDA

View Full Version : Another Aging penalty idea (3.5).



Tempest Fennac
2008-10-18, 02:35 AM
Several months ago, I posted an idea for making the aging penalty system in 3.5 D&D more realistic ( http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=71841&highlight=ageing+penalties ). I decided to design a system which is a cross between my idea and the standard system:

At each age catagory starting at Middle Aged, roll 2 1d6s:

1-2= Str.
3-4= Dex.
5-6= Con.

1-2: Int.
3-4: Wis.
5-6: Cha.

Don't deduct any stat points from whichever physical stat you get while making a note of which stat wasn't reduced. At the next age catagory, assuming you don't get that stat again, reduce points equal to the points which would have been deducted normally at the last catagory. Also, roll to termine which mental stat won't get a +1 bonus.

Example: Wallice the Barbarian reaches Middle age and rolls a 5 for his physical stats. This means he takes a -2 penalty to Str and Dex, but his Con stays as it is. He then rolls a 3 for his mental stats with the result being that he gains a +1 bonus to Int and Cha, but no bonus to Wis.

At Old Age, he rolls a 2 for his Physical stats, meaning he loses no Str, but he gets a -2 Dex penalty with a -1 Con penalty. (Mental stats are worked out as they are before).

Wallice then reaches Venerable, where he rolls a 6 for Physical stats, resulting in no Con penalty, a -3 Dex penalty and a -2 Str penalty.

I still prefer my system where any stats, saves or skills can be reduced with Middle Aged being missed out, but I'm curious about what other people think of this system (the idea was mentioned in the other thread).

Reaper_Monkey
2008-10-18, 06:20 AM
I'm not too sure about this, although it does seem to keep my barbarian much fitter in his old age, but it looks more aimed at reducing physical drop off, with very little to balance for anyone requiring mental stats.

Currently, physical character tend to only need one of the mental stats to remain effective (cha for some face, wis for AC, int for skills etc) but get majorly hampered on the physical aspects if any of them are reduced (if nothing else for carrying capacity, AC and HP).
Mental based chatacters, although benefiting from physical stats, need very little from them, they will have abilities to buff AC and HP should they need it, and are not as reliant on what class of armour and load they are in as some physical classes. As such, the lack of reduction does very little for them, however their lack of boosting on their primary caster stat may really hit hard, which does unbalance the power relation between the two effects.

Of cause, if your wanting to emphasis physical based classes, and knock those spell casters down a peg, then thats fine, this should work well (if a little fiddly to record and perform) it does mean that the powerful old wizard trope is slightly dented, but hell they'd be level 9 casters then anyway so not a biggy.

I'd suggest making it less effort to carry out, maybe a choice involved (although this will lead to min-maxing) as people tend to look after themselves in different ways as they get older (keeping active by running and moving things about still would keep Dex and Str, but not Con for example). And will use their minds for different things also (becoming part of a community as youve settled down for instance would improve your cha and wis, but not your int).

Up to you though, to be fair, most of my characters die or finish what they are doing in the campaign long before they age enough to really care about ageing effects.

Tempest Fennac
2008-10-18, 06:27 AM
How would you handle aging using your system? I like the idea due to it being more realistic, but I'm not sure how it would be implimented beyond you announcing that your character would spend 30 minutes jogging and 1 hour dueling when they weren't adventuring. (I was trying to balance this system so that spellcasters benefited as much as physically inclined characters while my prefered system has an equal chance of messing any character up if dice rolls are used).

Lex-Kat
2008-10-19, 02:08 AM
I'd suggest a much more simple system.

Use the old D& D 3.5 system, except, that you can make trades. So, if you are a barbarian, you can trade trade a physical minus and not decrease that stat at all, but you have to move that minus somewhere else.

You can choose a mental or physical minus, but it don't just disappear.

Talic
2008-10-19, 02:12 AM
Yes! Senility comes to D&D! I approve this idea.

Tempest Fennac
2008-10-19, 02:14 AM
Thanks for the advice, Lex. Talic, have you read my original idea? It only affects Old and Venerable characters, but it can affect all stats. It's detailed more clearly at http://forum.mydndgame.com/index.php/topic,109.0.html .