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turox
Learned Scribe
USA
145 Posts |
 Posted - 10 Aug 2006 : 21:49:11
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A good well met to everyone,
So I have this one little thing that is bugging me. (Hope this is in the right forum.) How are we supposed to know how old certain people are? It all started with having to make a 10th level player. He was a human and I had no idea how old he would be. Now that I’m trying to convert to another gaming system I am seeing in the FRCS that they aren’t stating how old the NPC’s are. So how do you figure out how old a person is based upon their level? It’s one of those little things that aren’t really important but are bugging me.
Thanks in advance for your thoughts, opinions and for keeping the “Your annoying” comments quiet. 
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Turox Antas Dragonslayer -
"People will believe anything they want to believe, or fear to believe."
Wizard's First Rule: Chapter 36, Page #397, US Hard Cover (revealed by Zeddicus Zu'l Zorander).
Explanation by Zeddicus Zu'l Zorander: "People are stupid; given proper motivation, almost anyone will believe almost anything. Because people are stupid, they will believe a lie because they want to believe it's true, or because they are afraid it might be true. People’s heads are full of knowledge, facts, and beliefs, and most of it is false, yet they think it all true. People are stupid; they can only rarely tell the difference between a lie and the truth, and yet they are confident they can, and so are all the easier to fool."
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GothicDan
Master of Realmslore
USA
1103 Posts |
Posted - 10 Aug 2006 : 21:52:10
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It's really up to an individual; it depends on what kind of struggles a person goes through after how long.
When I make higher level characters, I always detail their past, first. Keep a general idea of XP acquisition in mind, and a VERY rough idea of what kind of trevails one had to go through to get to a given level, and how long it took them.
Your 'average' person isn't going to go through 13.3 encounters or whatever one right after another from one level to the next, because your 'average' person isn't a robot.
Think about it in real life - you need a break every now and then, don't you?
So, really, for a 10th level adventurer? I could see anywhere from 22 to 52 years old. |
Planescape Fanatic
"Fiends and Undead are the peanut butter and jelly of evil." - Me
"That attitude should be stomped on, whenever and wherever it's encountered, because it makes people holding such views bad citizens, not just bad roleplayers (considering D&D was structured as a 'forced cooperation' game, and although successive editions are pointing it more and more towards a me-first, min-max game, the drift away from 'we all need each other to succeed' will at some point make it 'no longer' D&D)." - ED GREENWOOD |
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Kentinal
Great Reader
4686 Posts |
Posted - 10 Aug 2006 : 22:51:12
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| The problem with level advancement is it depends on what one encounters, one character can gain 5 levels in a year or less, another can take 10 years to get to second level. There realy is no way on how to advise age to level. Some Noble NPCs are at 5th or higher level at age 16 because of special training. |
"Small beings can have small wisdom," the dragon said. "And small wise beings are better than small fools. Listen: Wisdom is caring for afterwards."
"Caring for afterwards ...? Ker repeated this without understanding.
"After action, afterwards," the dragon said. "Choose the afterwards first, then the action. Fools choose action first."
"Judgement" copyright 2003 by Elizabeth Moon |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36779 Posts |
Posted - 10 Aug 2006 : 23:08:03
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quote:
Originally posted by Kentinal
The problem with level advancement is it depends on what one encounters, one character can gain 5 levels in a year or less, another can take 10 years to get to second level. There realy is no way on how to advise age to level. Some Noble NPCs are at 5th or higher level at age 16 because of special training.
This is quite true. Someone who guards an estate or castle will likely have few opportunities to gain experience -- and thus only gain a new level after years have passed. Someone who is constantly rushing from adventure to adventure and dungeon to dungeon is earning experience at a much high rate, and could gain multiple levels in just a few years.
Another thing to consider is that there is no mandatory retirement age from adventurers. Fighter Bob might decide after just a year that he's had all the adventure he needs; Fighter Chuck may keep adventuring until he's old and gray. |
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Faraer
Great Reader
3308 Posts |
Posted - 10 Aug 2006 : 23:25:14
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| As people are saying, there isn't any fixed correspondence of level to age. But adventuring characters who reach 10th level do it, I'd say, most often in their late twenties through mid-thirties. Some before, many later, particularly mages and priests. There are enough Realms characters of known age and level to get a gist (and this is a matter of lore, not of extrapolating from D&D roolz). |
Edited by - Faraer on 10 Aug 2006 23:27:24 |
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Character Ages
