Would you allow a player to have an unlimited lifespan + perpetual youth with a feat?

[gooddragon1]

Exactly what the title says?

Would you allow a player to have an unlimited lifespan + perpetual youth with a feat?

At what level (preferably before level 20)?

My thinking would be: the character reverse ages to the minimum age for adulthood and remains there, he recieves no penalties for age but his bonuses that he might have are removed and must be regained over a very long period of years subject to DM discretion.

[TurtleKing]

It would depend on how the character gains immortality/ long lifesspan. Is it by being undead, cursed, racial, divinity, or even something else. This heavily influenced by the characters backstory and personality. What is the plot or overarching story, and are they connected. So the questions are how and why.

[Mystic Muse]

Yeah. I see nothing wrong with this. It's highly underpowered compared to most feats, comes with several drawbacks, and the player can still be killed.

Heck, I wouldn't even make it a feat. I'd make it a one time spell that doesn't cost very much.

[arangatang]

I wouldn't make it a feat, its not really a mechanical advantage. If a player wants to be immortal, it can either be part of their backstory or something they can quest for. As long as its cool.

[The Glyphstone]

Agreed. Except for very unusual campaigns, a character will rarely if ever change age brackets, let alone die of old age.

[Quietus]

There's an Epic feat that expands your life span, but I don't think it's a very good use of Epic feats. I'd allow a player to take a feat that does this, so long as there's a story reason.

[Kylarra]

I'd allow it and even allow them to accrue normal mental abilities to their normal aging categories, simply because by virtue of being a PC, you're probably going to be either dead or epic long before you shift age brackets.

[lord pringle]

I wouldn't even charge a feat. As long as it worked in game it would be fine.

[gooddragon1]

Well that's excellent. I'm underbidding because having all my characters have the potential to live forever is very important to me. So much so that I am willing to take mechanical penalties for it.

[Morithias]

Agree with all the rest, this is fluff, and fluff that can't really be abused.

Knowledge of old events is based on the skills, the only 'fluff' I ever require to be feat taken is noble birth, since players tend to be arrogant about it, or try to use their power and wealth to bypass the whole campaign.

[Lord Bingo]

Members of the Contemplative prestige class achieve immortality at their 10th level. If they are still young when this happens they remain so.

In and of itself this really does not mean much in regard to the game mechanics unless you allow aging bonuses to accrue without the the usual drawbacks to aging. Still, bearing in mind what has already been said about aging in D&D, it would depend upon what role time plays in your campaign.

As a principle, however, I am against allowing PC's (and NPC's for that matter) to achieve immortality easily. It has to take a major effort/sacrifice because it represents a step closer to divinity.

[kyoryu]

I'd only charge a feat for it if aging penalties are an actual, regular part of gameplay.

[Coidzor]

Aside from becoming immune to the effect of bestow curse that causes aging... I don't really see any mechanical advantage. If it'd come up that the character has to live that long, it's either a feat tax or he has to become undead or an outsider or something anyway.

[Jack_Simth]

Exactly what the title says?

Would you allow a player to have an unlimited lifespan + perpetual youth with a feat?

At what level (preferably before level 20)?

My thinking would be: the character reverse ages to the minimum age for adulthood and remains there, he recieves no penalties for age but his bonuses that he might have are removed and must be regained over a very long period of years subject to DM discretion.

Chiming in with the 'in most campaigns, not an issue' crowd. Seriously. I'd likely want it to be something along the lines of 'freak of birth' or 'curse of a deity' or similar, rather than 'I found the ultimate youth spell!' - but that's for reasons of NPC interactions, rather than other reasons. See, if agelessness were easy, you wouldn't have anyone becoming a lich to stop the clock... vampirism isn't all that special... and so on. Plus then I can have NPC villians wanting to capture you for study that way, and you can't simply bypass it by 'telling them how'.

[gbprime]

The only real thing about it is a prestige of actual immortality. Doesn't have much game effect. But personally, I'd throw it in with attaining Divine Rank 0. Anything less than that, you aren't immortal, just really long lived. Even dragons only live 2000-4000 years, after all.

[Splendor]

Remember that the playable race Elans don't die of old age.

"Elans have effectively unlimited life spans. As long as they are not destroyed, their mental arts could conceivably continually energize and rebuild their bodies for a thousand years or more." - Expanded Psionics pg 9

[Alleran]

On top of Elans, there's also the Kissed by the Ages spell from Dragon Magazine. It also has accompanying rules for making ancient/immortal PCs.

[Shhalahr Windrider]

On top of Elans, there's also the Kissed by the Ages spell from Dragon Magazine. It also has accompanying rules for making ancient/immortal PCs.

#354

That article also included a number of background feats for characters who had started out play as immortal. Can’t recall if there was a feat that only made you immortal or if they all had additional benefits, though.

[gathro]

Mechanically, it's fine. For story reasons though, I'd want to make it very difficult for PCs to become immortal, perhaps using it as an adventure hook. This could make a good campaign, with a party of characters instead of a BBEG. The PCs have to race another party, not necesarily an evil one, to obtain something that makes them immortal, and that there is a very limited supply of. (Just enough to make everyone in one of the parties immortal.)

[GirlWithASword]

There's a feat in Dragon Magazine called Wedded to History. Among various selectable benefits it also makes you ageless.

[Aotrs Commander]

Heck, anyone playing and Elf in any of my games (or various other sorts of fey) are technically ageless normally. I probably wouldn't charge a feat for it (because, really my games happen either over comic-book time or very short period, so it really wouldn't matter), but I would require instead a suitable explanation to my satisfaction.

[Valameer]

Yeah elans and (practically) elves get this for free. If you want it down on the character sheet just make it a free [exalted] feat or something: Immortal. A lot of different creatures get access to immortality, and it doesn't make much of a difference.

[Synapse]

Exactly what the title says?

Would you allow a player to have an unlimited lifespan + perpetual youth with a feat?

At what level (preferably before level 20)?

My thinking would be: the character reverse ages to the minimum age for adulthood and remains there, he recieves no penalties for age but his bonuses that he might have are removed and must be regained over a very long period of years subject to DM discretion.

Depends...
power level? It doesn't matter. Elans are such just by being elans. Wedded to History has the eternity as its shtick and it wasn't deemed worthy a feat (the feat grants the agelessness plus stuff like untrained knowledge checks or denying favored enemy against you). Agelessness by itself is irrelevant.

Your choice lays primarily on the consequences of such to your campaign. Is a long lifespan normal in your world? If discovered, how will people react to an immortal? How can a character's immortality allow him to gain power or in some way alter the campaign?

[Vortling]

There's also warforged from Eberron who get effectively unlimited lifespan as well. No feat required. Your DM does have to be on board with robotmen though.

[TurtleKing]

Another thing to consider if immortality matters is if their is time travel.
One campaign cosmology I played in involved a lot of time travel. At one point my character had to travel time the normal way (he is undead) while another took a portal. Playing a character with thousands of years (12k+) does have an effect such as the character being wise and knowledgable. As such I am arguably the wisest in my groups pantheon. This may not be reflected by stats (only a 2 point difference), but by experience from the years. Granted he is also the most powerful of the pantheon now.

So answer the questions of how they are immortal, why they are immortal, and how this affects the characters.

[ScionoftheVoid]

Personally I'd only have it as a feat if it provided other benefits as well. The only possible limit I might put on it is having to be naturally long-lived (usually via race) or being 6th level or higher, since normal humans get to around 5th at the highest and 6+ would seem like demigod levels in this world so immortality wouldn't be at all unreasonable. I might not even do that, though.

I might make it a Trait, with no attached drawback. Sure, you don't get a penalty like you would for any other Trait but it stops you from taking something more useful so it's still a toss-up and not a must-have. YMMV, IMO, and all that.

[Zen Master]

For all practical purposes, I've never played a character that didn't have unlimited lifespan and eternal youth.

So ... waste a feat on that? Sure, if you like.

[mootoall]

Frankly, I'd only charge a feat because it could be abused at character creation for the +2 to all mental stats with no penalties. If it were a quest in the campaign, I'd completely allow it free.

[Callista]

Only in games where you can't cast spells that cost years off your life. In those systems, it would be overpowered.

[Gavinfoxx]

Sure, I'd let them take Wedded To History (from Dragon 354) at level 1.

Cause that's what you're asking about, right? That feat that can only be taken at level 1 that gives you eternal youth?