Younger/Smaller and Older/Bigger Monsters

[unseenmage]

Imagine a new entry for every monster called Aging.
Under the Aging heading would be found the changes to a base monsters stats for both younger and older versions of itself.

You could stat up Fledgling Gargoyles for your players to find which could inspire the artificer to build a Fledgeling Gargoyle Effigy which he names Kitty and treats like a falcon. (This is actually happening in one of our games right now, Fledgeling Gargoyles are adorable.)

If the monster advances by class levels there would even be Starting Ages and Aging Effects.

Originally a friend and I just mocked up a few sentences based (I think) originally on the True Dragon aging progressions. Here is what I have in my monster creation notes:

---
Aging Affects:
- infant (no combat ability)
- juvenile (1 size smaller than adult, HD x.5, 1 rank in each skill an adult has)
- adolescent (HD x.75, 50% or .5 ranks in each skill an adult has)
- adult, simple class mod, moderate class mod, advanced class mod
- middle age, old, venerable, maximum age
---

As a DM I normally only really got to use the 'juvenile' category. Though I remember using the entire spread at least once to work up a race of giant housefly people-monsters; anthropomorphized as eggs, larvae, pupae, and insects. (They were gross.)


My questions are these,
- Do true Dragons really age like my notes say they should?
- Can we work this up as a template that would be largely applicable to any monster or race that changes size as they age?
- Should there be ability score decreases for younger monsters or increases for older ones?
- Is there a consistent math behind the "Aging Effects" tables that already exist that we could adapt?


Thanks regardless playgrounders.

Edit: Reduced size difference for juvenile and adolescents as suggested.

[Regitnui]

Given that there's prices for the eggs of various magical creatures, I'd say this is a good idea. Though the prices are intended, I assume, in case players manage to raid a nest, I don't see why a druid/ranger PC couldn't raise the egg him/herself.

The dragon ages in MMI are: Wyrmling, Very young, Young, Juvenile, Young Adult, Adult, Mature Adult, Old, Very Old, Ancient, Wyrm, Great Wyrm. Sizes vary by breed, but they generally follow the same kind of logic your progression does.

I think that I'll use this if one of my players rolls up a 1st level Ranger, with your permission. Since the Animal Companion class feature kicks in at level 4, he can be raising it until then. It may be easier than making the time for him to attract a companion.

[unseenmage]

Please feel free to use as you see fit.
In your opinion, should there be more specific changes to the creatures as they age? Ability score changes beyond those caused by size change?

[Regitnui]

Hmmm...

Ability changes? Perhaps +1 to intelligence as the creature gets older, strength increase up until adult. Let me think about it a little.

[TuggyNE]

One of the key differences between (true) dragons and everything else is that dragons increase in power in almost every possible way as they age. This is explicitly not the case for other creatures, who take physical ability score penalties, and who only gain additional natural armor, ability score boosts, and class features (if any) through the process of NPC advancement, which doesn't seem to be directly linked to age.

Now you can, if you like, borrow PF's Young (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/templates/simple-template-young-cr-1) template, and additionally note that monsters gain HD every so often as they age past physical maturity. But that doesn't really cover class levels, so you'll still have to figure that out.

[Mando Knight]

Juveniles and Adolescents should be -1 and +0 size categories off, really... (an adolescent human is usually larger than Small, and Tiny is about the size of most infants...

[unseenmage]

Thanks tuggyne for suggesting the Young Template, I'll use it for my next character. Solves a problem I was having.

Thanks Mando Knight as well, good call on the sizes. I wonder though if they shouldn't be formatted more along the lines of
- 'Juvenile 1-2 sizes smaller'
or even
- 'Bipedal Juvenile 1 size smaller; Quadrupedal Juvenile 2 sizes smaller'
or
- 'small to medium Juvenile 1 size smaller, large to huge Juvenile 2 sizes smaller'

...thoughts?