Child PCs

[Bulix]

Does the fact that a PC is a child affect her stats?
As a roleplaying thing.

Thanks :smallbiggrin:

[Chess435]

That generally falls under Ask your DM. I'd personally have them apply PF's young (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/templates/simple-template-young-cr-1) template, possibly throwing them a bonus feat to partially offset it if I like their character idea.

[Flickerdart]

No. The lowest possible age category for anything but a true dragon is adult, and the game doesn't care whether you're 0 or 12 or 20 so long as you're still within the adult age category for your race.

[robertbevan]

according to the rules, you can't have a "child" character.


You can choose or randomly generate your character’s age. If you
choose it, it must be at least the minimum age for the character’s
race and class (see Table 6–4: Random Starting Ages).

14 is the minimum age, and that's for a half-orc. but hey, it's a game. whatever makes it fun is great, so long as everyone agrees to it.

if you're just looking for ideas to kick around with, maybe drop a stat point in everything but charisma until they hit the minimum age for their race?

[molten_dragon]

As was pointed out, by RAW it's not possible to play a character who is not an adult, so there are no stats for child characters. That said, it wouldn't be too hard to just do a linear progression of stats down from the minimum adult age of the race to whatever you think they should be at birth. For example, if all stats are 1 at birth for a human, and adult is at 16, then their stats would need to up by roughly 2 points every 3 years to be at 10 by age 16. Or if you wanted to make it a little simpler, you could just make it that every physical and mental stat is reduced by 1 point for every 2 years you are less than 16, rounded up. So at 15 or 14 you'd have a -1 penalty to every score. At 13 or 12 a -2, and so on.

[Uhtred]

Reduce Person has rules for going down a size category, right? Is that a good starting point? I always joke with my buddy that his son will be a small-size critter until he breaks four feet. Not saying that's all you should do, heaven knows even smart little kids are really stupid, but it's a good place to start, maybe.

[Slipperychicken]

I second the Young Template. Maybe slap on some mental penalties if the she's sufficiently young (I'm thinking ~8 years old for a human).


If there's any chance of her reaching her rolled Starting Age mid-campaign, don't toss in a bonus feat. Playing as a child already has enough benefits (Small size, +4 Dex) to console someone doing it for RP-purposes.

[Flickerdart]

It's a lousy starting point. Depending on the age, a child will not be anywhere near as dextrous as an adult, never mind more so. All the ability scores of a child will be substantially lower than an adult's. Strength and Consitution will probably reach parity long before everything else.

[Slipperychicken]

It's a lousy starting point. Depending on the age, a child will not be anywhere near as dextrous as an adult, never mind more so. All the ability scores of a child will be substantially lower than an adult's. Strength and Consitution will probably reach parity long before everything else.

-4 to physical scores, -2 to mental scores, Small size?

[Invader]

It's a lousy starting point. Depending on the age, a child will not be anywhere near as dextrous as an adult, never mind more so. All the ability scores of a child will be substantially lower than an adult's. Strength and Consitution will probably reach parity long before everything else.

I wouldn't neccesarily agree with that. I was way more dexterous at 12 than I was at 22 or now that I'm 32.

[Brogen]

In the d20 system I use we have these adjusments:

Child (1–11): –2 to Str and Con; +2 to Dex; –1 Int, Wis, and Cha
Young adult (12–15): –1 to Str and Con; –1 Int and Wis
Adult (16–39): Base scores

General idea is that kids aren't as smart or as tough and strong as adults but more dextrous, and preteens/early teens, while stronger and tougher than children, still aren't as much so as an adult, and still not fully mentally developed.

[Saidoro]

That young template would make for some pretty terrifying swordsages. Base race whisper gnome, grab shadow blade and weapon finesse and dual wield daggers. Grab Faerie Mysteries Initiate too to take care of hitpoints and provide a dose of heavily implied creepiness.

Anyway, kids are more flexible than adults, not necessarily more dexterous. I recommend just setting size to small and not applying any stat modifiers, just put your stats the way you think a kids stats should look and don't worry about it too much.