Since 3rd ed. I didn't agree with aging penalities, and now they didn't get better with Pathfinder.
What bothers me is that with age a character takes -1, then -2, then -3 to Str, Dex and Con, for a cumulative total of -6.
Putting aside the fact that this, if applied, would destroy a DM's chance to create an old melee NPC (such as the classic old monk, unless he is lvl 17 or above; or, say, the old fighter master, mentor of the PC fighter, and so on), I find that it's also not much realistic.
I mean, the average human has 10 or 11 Str, Dex and Con; let's wiev it optimistic and say 11 in all three scores (not counting the +2 he could have now in Pathfinder). That would mean that by growing old and losing the 6 points in the three ability scores he'd go to 5 Str, 5 Dex and 5 Con.
Now, it's right that old people get frail and weak, of course, but 5 is a really low score. Most people don't get THAT weak and frail at 70 years old (like the table 7-2 says). Plus, if we apply this to adventurers who constantly get magical healings of all sort, we'd have bodies far stronger than normal, since they don't have sicknesses or other troubles of sort that a common man may get and grow weaker because of.
I think that a cumulative penality of -1, -1 and -1 (instead of the current -1, -2 and -3) would already be too much, also because starting to get a -1 at 35 years old (table 7-2 again) seems way too early to me.
Personally, I'd make it that a character (speaking about humans) takes the first -1 at 53, the second one at 70 and the third at 80-85 (given that he reaches it).
Same progression for the mental scores bonuses, except for the fact that the only stat I'd surely give bonuses is Wisdom.
Intelligence (ability of making calculations, remembering things and so on) tends to decrease over the years, not increase. So about Int I'm a little doubtful wether it should get penalities or, at best, not be modified at all. But surely not go up.
Charisma, on the other hand, may be seen like a 2 face coin. One face is that with age (and the life experience it brings) a person may tend to become more accommodating, authoritarian or some other thing (after all many communities or groups are ruled by elders), thus increasing Cha. The other face is that age may also turn a person to become surly or the classic "old man who no one listens to", which would be represented by a decrease in Cha.
Finding a balance among these two things I'd make that Cha gets neither bonuses nor penalities.
This is my thought.
Your opinions?
RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16
|
Great question, Irrlicht.
It would depend on how similar a fantasy world like Golarion is to the medieval cultures it superficially emulates. In the early 14th Century, the median lifespan for people who survived childhood was 40 years. (In the late 14th Century, with the advent of the Black Death, it got even lower!) A venerable old codger at age 70 probably did have physical attributes of about 5 or 6.
But, as you say, this is a fantasy setting. I can well imagine the obscenely wealthy going for immortality or undeath, and the somewhat-less-well-off making do with magic items that boost physical attributes.
(I imagine that the vast majority of the Golarion populace, rural serfs and freemen, are not seeing much of the benefit of living in a world with expensive magical cures.)
But even more to the point, it is a game presenting a fantasy setting. And in the game, the majority of aging effects happen to the PCs, perhaps through nefarious means rather than the natural progression of years. Jason most likely wanted to represent those repercussions in game terms that would have some impact.
If you want a tough old coot, say the PCs martial mentor, give the guy a base Strength of 20 and a base Dexterity of 17 --after two stat increases at levels 4 and 8-- and apply aging modifiers from there. Now, even the wizened veteran of the wars 60 years ago might have a Strength of 14 and a Dexterity of 11. His Constitution of 7, though, means that, when the Minions of Wickedness come barging through the door, they're likely to be able to slay the old man in one or two heavy blows, setting up the PC's anguished vow of revenge.