Monstrous PC Aging?

[atemu1234]

Is there a source for aging listings for monstrous PCs?

[Bad Wolf]

Depends on what your race is.

[Blackjackg]

There are a few races laid out in the Races of ______ series, and of course dragons do their own thing, but mostly the answer is no. They aren't too difficult to come up with on the fly, though.

[Thrice Dead Cat]

There are a few races laid out in the Races of ______ series, and of course dragons do their own thing, but mostly the answer is no. They aren't too difficult to come up with on the fly, though.

Basically, this. I'm not sure if orcs ever got an age listing in the FR setting books or not, but you might be able to find some of the more common monster races among said books.

[YossarianLives]

I usually just assume they have the same lifespans as humans. However as half-orcs have a lifespan of about 60 years orcs probably only live to about 50 or so. I'm also pretty sure that they have monstrous aging tables in dragon magazine somewhere.

[Daishain]

In real life there is a trend line between the average mass of a species at adult age and their average lifespan. Big things tend to live longer.

There are a few things that deviate from the trend line (bats in particular are weird, living roughly twenty times the norm for their size), but for the most part it is fairly accurate.

With that in mind, I would start by organizing things by relative size. Tweak something for a longer lifespan if they have a strong magic connection and/or self healing. Tweak it for a shorter lifespan if they are known for high metabolisms and/or fast breeding.

[Blackjackg]

In real life there is a trend line between the average mass of a species at adult age and their average lifespan. Big things tend to live longer.

There are a few things that deviate from the trend line (bats in particular are weird, living roughly twenty times the norm for their size), but for the most part it is fairly accurate.

With that in mind, I would start by organizing things by relative size. Tweak something for a longer lifespan if they have a strong magic connection and/or self healing. Tweak it for a shorter lifespan if they are known for high metabolisms and/or fast breeding.

I was going to suggest this, but D&D tends to buck this rule. Most humanoid species for which we have information a) are smaller than humans; and b) live longer than humans. Kobolds, gnomes, dwarves and elves are examples of this, and even halflings manage to squeeze an extra few decades in. Of the core races, only half-orcs tend to have shorter lifespans than humans (which is a decent indication that orcs are even shorter-lived).

I guess you could track it more to the idea that all races in most D&D worlds are the product of intelligent design and their lifespans and breeding cycles reflect the plans that the gods have for them. Longer lifespans tack onto races like dwarves and elves that are meant to achieve many masteries and maintain long traditions. Shorter lifespans go to races that are meant to adapt and challenge conventions. The shortest lifespans will go to races designed for battle and scraping existence out of forbidding wastelands.

With that in mind, I'd guess that orcs probably hit venerable age somewhere around 40 or 50, while goblins are closer to humans and hit venerable age at 60 or 70.

[malonkey1]

I'd say, as a rule of thumb, creatures with higher base mental stats than humans are going to (generally) have longer age categories, and those with lower mental scores will have shorter ones. This is mostly due to real-world developmental theory, so I won't try to clumsily half-explain it and try to directly apply it to D&D, as the Jedi would pitch a fit over the number of catgirls that would be slain.