Shirren Age at Lvl 1 ?

[MagicSN]

Hi!

What do you think about Shirren age at Lvl 1 ?

Starting Starfinder as gamemaster first, and found it a bit weird that one player wants to play a Shirren Mystic Aged 5 (first 2 years they spend as larvae as I read) but still got 3 languages (including common) and several knowledge based skills, all based on "those creatures learn fast, and neither you nor me is a xenobiologist, right ?"

What do you think about it ?

MagicSN

[BigNorseWolf]

There was nothing else to do in the bubble as a larvae except study I guesse. The SFS iconic mystic Keskodai carries his son around in a transparent aluminium sphere so he can see things.

[MagicSN]

I see. I had assumed the larvae status is unintelligent, I googled for Keskodai now and saw that this appearently was a wrong assumption of me. Thanks.

[Metaphysician]

Also, by rules and for the purpose of game balance and functionality, a level 1 PC has X languages and Y skills and such. . . because they are a level 1 PC. Their age has nothing to do with it. If, for the purposes of your game, you do not believe a character of a given age would plausibly be able to have learned such, then what you are really saying is "This character concept is not valid, play something else", because if a level 1 PC doesn't get the stuff that comes with being a level 1 PC, they are not in fact a level 1 PC.

[Claxon]

Who are we to judge the development speed of alien species?

[Milo v3]

I'm sure elves and telia feel the same way about humans having so many skills and languages at the age of 15.

[Metaphysician]

Milo v3 wrote:

I'm sure elves and telia feel the same way about humans having so many skills and languages at the age of 15.

You tangentially remind me of one of the best Star Trek tie in novels, "The Final Reflection" by John Ford. One of the more subtle yet impactful bits of lore in it, is that Klingons are much shorter lived than humans, with a Klingon achieving full adulthood at around age 13, and seldom living longer than about 60 years at *best* ( and generally much less, since violent warrior culture ). The implication at least is that, sure, a Klingon of 13 years has achieved their full physical and intellectual development. . . but can biochemistry provide the same wisdom and insight as actual lived experience? The book at least leans towards "not really", and so much of Klingon society thus results from essentially being a thing built by and for what we would consider teenagers.

I highly recommend the book, especially if you run any kind of fantasy game with orcs in it. There is tons of awesome stuff to steal, for heroes and villains and everything in between.