Playing as children and the almost-dead

[Dachimotsu]

The rules in the PHB state that age doesn't have any rules of its own, only that it can be used to explain a low ability score (like low Strength for children or high Wisdom for the elderly) (PHB 17). I personally feel that the rules could've been a little more specific, however, in what else changes with age. Namely, when playing children, and elderly characters nearing the end of their lifespans.

When playing as a child version of a race, does your size category change? The only thing that makes mention of the difference in age affecting size is the Monster Manual, such as with dragons. And if your size category changes, does that affect what your class can do? Can a child barbarian still wield a greataxe, or one-hand a longsword? Whereas an adult druid can transform into a frog, is a child druid restricted to tadpoles?

And then there's the excessively elderly. There are no rules for dying of old age, but lifespans are given for every player race. If a PC's age exceeds their race's expected lifespan, should they die? Would their combat prowess be at all affected?

[Douche]

So what you're saying is that you want to let your little brother play, but you want to gimp him to the point of being useless so he doesn't actually interfere with anything.

[Dachimotsu]

So what you're saying is that you want to let your little brother play, but you want to gimp him to the point of being useless so he doesn't actually interfere with anything.

... What? Are you talking about a real little brother or the little brother of a PC?
Because I lack the former and the latter is only an example of what I'm asking about.

[Slipperychicken]

Prior editions of D&D have rules and stat adjustments for aging, but I think the designers were right to drop them for 5e. I'll list some of my thoughts on the matter.

-Very few games last long enough for something like a change in age category to matter
-If you want to represent a character who is physically weak, senile, or benefits from wisdom of age, you can already do that through stat allotment and roleplay
-People age differently anyway
-Simulating peoples' entire life-cycles is far outside the fantasy adventure scope of D&D. Excluding those kinds of rules helps keep the rules-manuals focused on core gameplay
-Including game statistics for children and the infirm is a tacit approval for players to kill them or inflict grievous injury on them in-game, which is objectionable and again beyond the scope of D&D.

As for the racial lifespan maximums, yes, I would say that a character who reaches the maximum age for his race would die of natural causes. And if someone wants to play a child character: I think there are so many questions about the tone of the campaign and the group's attitudes regarding violence and suffering directed toward children, and violence committed by children, and other important related issues, that excluding game-rules for child PCs encourages gaming groups to seriously consider them before including child characters. Including those rules, by contrast, would send a message that it is always okay to have children in the same positions as PCs often find themselves in, and would make it more difficult to have those conversations about whether to allow them.

[lunaticfringe]

5e is less about penalizing player for playing what they want and more about cooperative storytelling & fun. Children can just be resized to small for most mediums maybe drop powerful build if the race has it. Most campaigns never span years so aging is never a thing. I can't recall it ever coming up in campaign. I wouldn't change any Ability Scores for aging. Maybe just Speed if you feel it's like you have to change something.

[Dachimotsu]

And if someone wants to play a child character: I think there are so many questions about the tone of the campaign and the group's attitudes regarding violence and suffering directed toward children, and violence committed by children, and other important related issues, that excluding game-rules for child PCs encourages gaming groups to seriously consider them before including child characters. Including those rules, by contrast, would send a message that it is always okay to have children in the same positions as PCs often find themselves in, and would make it more difficult to have those conversations about whether to allow them.

...?
In my experience, nobody cares about any of that. In just about any work of fiction, any child character expected to be taken seriously is given the mind of a young adult, even if they act immature. Bart and Lisa Simpson, for example. And if we're talking about children risking their lives, just about any jRPG fits that bill. They're always about some minor trying to save the world (Max from Dark Cloud 2 was 13, Genis from Tales of Symphonia was 12), and no adults in those worlds try to stop them. Their mother might tell them it's too dangerous, but they're mothers, so they'd say that regardless of their child's age. Said children also get involved in a lot of sexual stuff too, because it's a fantasy world where our own cultures are null.

It's the same in D&D. If someone wants to play a little girl and be a Barbarian, drinking wine and lobbing off orc genitals with her greataxe, then that's actually something that could happen in D&D, especially with the lack of age rules in 5e.

[Addaran]

Make them small, it changes about nothing from the stats/mechanic in this edition. It will just stop them from grappling Large enemies and using heavy weapons. Maybe get them to have 25ft movement instead of 30ft, but some small races do have 30 anyway.

I wouldn't give stats penalty, since at the core, you want the characters to be balanced with each others. Just make sure the player doesn't pick unrealistic stats, like a 5 years old human with 18 str.

[TripleD]

Prior editions of D&D have rules and stat adjustments for aging, but I think the designers were right to drop them for 5e. I'll list some of my thoughts on the matter.

-Very few games last long enough for something like a change in age category to matter
-If you want to represent a character who is physically weak, senile, or benefits from wisdom of age, you can already do that through stat allotment and roleplay
-People age differently anyway
-Simulating peoples' entire life-cycles is far outside the fantasy adventure scope of D&D. Excluding those kinds of rules helps keep the rules-manuals focused on core gameplay
-Including game statistics for children and the infirm is a tacit approval for players to kill them or inflict grievous injury on them in-game, which is objectionable and again beyond the scope of D&D.



#5 - it was biased towards casters. Most non-casters care a little bit about mental stats (perception, intimidation and whatnot are tied to it) but casters by and large could not care less about physical stats. Going elderly was an easy way to dump physical stats and get an easy +3 to every mental score.