Childhood in the OOTS world?

[Menarker]

Hey all. I had this unusual thought and I wondered if there was any merit.

I was looking back at the black dragon child of the Starmetal cave and noticed that its behavior was a fusion of infantile such as using nursery songs (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0186.html) to teenage/young adult with "Playdrake" (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0188.html) as well as its mom's recollection that it might bring a girl over (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0628.html). So they are effectively living multiple stages of their life cycle at the same time.

In a somewhat different manner, elves such as our Varrsuivus have every aspect of their lives extended, such as his/her children only seen as very young children despite being 26 of age (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0629.html) which is considered adult by humans in the OOTS world and our "meatworld".

I can't be absolutely sure, but I'm willing to guess that Dwarves pretty much have a shorter/diminished childhood span mostly skipping to the more adult stuff such as beer, stout personal life policy and probably huge facial beard before puberty.

Anyhow, these differences in childhood growth may have some significant impact in how these characters (and our PCs) learn, grow and interact with each other.

Do you think there are other races that have this feature? Such as maybe Halflings, where such a difference might explain Belkar's growth compared to the others? Or if any of these things will make a significant point in the story later on?

[Sanguine]

As for the nursery song I think that was just because he sustained large amounts of damage. And for the 26 year old Kindergartners that is because the PHB lists the adult age of Elves at something like 115 year.

[TriForce]

the "nursery song" is just a joke, like how people say gibberish or non-sensical stuff when hit really hard or after getting a lot of damage

[ClockShock]

http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0200.html
I'm Henry the 8th

[Dvandemon]

That would be a great element for storytelling

[Morty]

I think you're reading too much into this. The nursery song is a joke, the dragon is talking nonsense after getting hit with a Disintegrate. Otherwise, he's a young adult/teenager. Yes, the massive differences in age categories of various sentient species as presented in D&D are an interesting topic, but I don't think they have much of an impact on OoTS characters.

[Herald Alberich]

I can't be absolutely sure, but I'm willing to guess that Dwarves pretty much have a shorter/diminished childhood span mostly skipping to the more adult stuff such as beer, stout personal life policy and probably huge facial beard before puberty.

Dwarves live longer lifespans than humans (a few centuries) by 3.5 rules, and their listed age of adulthood is correspondingly later, at 40 years old. While I can't be sure, I would think their childhood is decently longer than humans, but not nearly as long as elves.

But your point might be accurate in a different way. They could have a relatively young legal drinking age, and I wouldn't be surprised if they were born with some facial hair (like Nale (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0050.html)), just 'cause it'd be funny.

[Snake-Aes]

People people, "legal drinking age" is a contemporaneous thing. Odds are no one stopped kids from drinking the stuff then.