Does aging stack with itself?

[SiliconDon]

If you age to venerable, get the appropriate bonuses, and Soul Transfer into a younger body, would you then get the bonuses to mental scores from aging again?

[Val'bryn2]

Strictly speaking, it's untyped, so yes. I wouldn't let it go on indefinitely, because it would quickly get unbalanced.

[Dread Knight]

Yeah I agree with Val'bryn2 and tbh it does kinda make sense.

[Weirdo]

RAW unclear.

I would say the venerable bonuses have already applied to the mind, therefore it is a venerable mind and isn't subject to further aging. However getting the venerable bonuses without the penalties is already quite nice.

[Globetrotter]

Yes, they are.

I believe it says in in the footnotes of the aging table.

[Weirdo]

What it says is that the effects of each age category are cumulative.

As in, becoming middle aged gives you +1 to mental stats and -1 to physical stats, and then becoming old gives you another +1 to mental stats and -2 to physical stats for a total of +2 and -3.

That's not the same thing as the bonus to mental stats for becoming venerable stacking with the bonus to mental stats for becoming venerable again.

Which, it occurs to me, probably falls under the general rule of "Bonuses without a type always stack, unless they are from the same source." The bonus from advancing to each age category is its own bonus source and doesn't stack with itself should you pass through that age category again somehow.

[Melkiador]

Val'bryn2 wrote:

I wouldn't let it go on indefinitely, because it would quickly get unbalanced.

I'm in the not stacking camp, but could this really get unbalanced? Very few campaigns take place over the course of decades.

[Val'bryn2]

If you're in a campaign that takes long enough for the character to age to venerable, you're already in it.

As an example, take a look at the Dragonlance wizard, Fistandantilus, who actually did something very similar to this, over the course of well over 2000 years. We know he didn't become a lich until around the time of the Cataclysm, at the close of those 2000 years, because he was still bodyjumping around. Going by that, he would have, conservatively, gotten the aging bonus around 15 times, and yet he maintained the same stats, without having a +35 Int.

[Drahliana Moonrunner]

Val'bryn2 wrote:

If you're in a campaign that takes long enough for the character to age to venerable, you're already in it.

As an example, take a look at the Dragonlance wizard, Fistandantilus, who actually did something very similar to this, over the course of well over 2000 years. We know he didn't become a lich until around the time of the Cataclysm, at the close of those 2000 years, because he was still bodyjumping around. Going by that, he would have, conservatively, gotten the aging bonus around 15 times, and yet he maintained the same stats, without having a +35 Int.

At some point, however Fistandantilus hit a plateau and stopped becoming wiser and smarter, because in the end, he was taken out by a snot-nosed rookie.

At some point exploitative use of war-gaming mechanics gives way to story.

[Val'bryn2]

Drahliana Moonrunner wrote:

At some point, however Fistandantilus hit a plateau and stopped becoming wiser and smarter, because in the end, he was taken out by a snot-nosed rookie.

At some point exploitative use of war-gaming mechanics gives way to story.

Exactly my point, that the +3 to Int/Wis/Cha is the max you'll get. It's your plateau.

And Raistlin wasn't a snot-nosed rookie. He's a strange paradox because he already had future Fistandantilus' soul, at least a portion of it, in him when he went in to take down past Fistandantilus.