Discussion of changes to aging of stats

[a strange shadow]

As the proud owner of a character who's aged about a dozen years in-game, I just hope my stats don't immediately jump in the crapper. The bonus/penalties from age aren't severe unless you're adolescent or getting way old, right? People aren't getting decrepit in their thirties?

[Morgenes]

As the proud owner of a character who's aged about a dozen years in-game, I just hope my stats don't immediately jump in the crapper. The bonus/penalties from age aren't severe unless you're adolescent or getting way old, right? People aren't getting decrepit in their thirties?

No, you aren't decrepit in your thirties.

[aruna]

Looking forward to it, tremulously.

Fixed.

[NoteworthyFellow]

I can dig it.

[mansa]

I got confused when I read this line:

...Instead of there being a chance of your stats aging, it will work just like character creation/rerolls and ALWAYS apply the affects of aging...

I thought it would be a reroll after a certain time since the character was started.  It's not a reroll.  It's a definite age modifier as your character progresses through life.

There will be nothing random about the effects of aging upon a character's statistics.  It will now be predictable, logical and hopefully well-balanced.  It will be automatic.  Young characters will mature, peak and decline just as was intended, based upon their age.

It is not a reroll.  It is applying modifiers to existing stats at certain time intervals of a PC's life.

This will offset the often-mentioned penalties of starting a very young character over the lifespan of a PC, and simulate the marvelous slide into feeble decrepitude. 

[Winterless]

Me likey. <3

[Fathi]

As someone who's had two characters progress enough that this would have affected them in the past, I wholly approve.

[AmandaGreathouse]

Seems like this has the potential to be very, very cool. 

[Myrdryn]

Often times players request a reroll or ask for their stats to be changed because they have gone from a youth>adult.  This change would automatically do that to everyone.

[JustAnotherGuy]

I guess my worry is a character that already is younger than the norm for their race and already has extremely poor stats...  and then seeing them get worse because they are young.  (Pretty much my current PC)  I kinda scares me right now.

[Synthesis]

I guess my worry is a character that already is younger than the norm for their race and already has extremely poor stats...  and then seeing them get worse because they are young.  (Pretty much my current PC)  I kinda scares me right now.

Most of your stats will you improve as you grow older, up to a point, after which they will decline.

So if you have a young character with crappy stats, when you turn "adult," you should see most of the stats go up.  Of course, if your stats -start- crappy, chances are they will still be crappy, relative to the rest of the population.

I think previously, Morgenes or whoever stated that large changes wouldn't be the norm.

[Lizzie]

Will the "numbered" stats change too, or is this just the stats that have "AI" and "Average" and all that?

Cause, my "worded" stats are perfect. But my numbered stats suck dead tregil pecker. That'd be great if my character grows bigger and stronger, older and wiser (before that point where they go downhill back to decrepitude), the hps would be more robust, the stamina would be spritelier, and the stun would be more stunning.

[Taven]

This sounds awesome to me.

[Pale Horse]

Will the "numbered" stats change too, or is this just the stats that have "AI" and "Average" and all that?

Cause, my "worded" stats are perfect. But my numbered stats suck dead tregil pecker. That'd be great if my character grows bigger and stronger, older and wiser (before that point where they go downhill back to decrepitude), the hps would be more robust, the stamina would be spritelier, and the stun would be more stunning.

As I understand it, the hard coded aspect of stats is based on a numerical range.  Say, for a human, 4-6 = Good Strength.  If your character has a hard coded Strength value of 5, and it improves by 1 on age adjustment, then it's better than what it was, but you'll still see "Good" under strength, when typing score.

Taking in the same argument for Endurance, I would imagine that your Hp, Stun and Stamina would improve by a couple of points, due to the numerical change to your stat..though don't quote me on that.

In fact, don't quote me at all.

[Synthesis]

Will the "numbered" stats change too, or is this just the stats that have "AI" and "Average" and all that?

Cause, my "worded" stats are perfect. But my numbered stats suck dead tregil pecker. That'd be great if my character grows bigger and stronger, older and wiser (before that point where they go downhill back to decrepitude), the hps would be more robust, the stamina would be spritelier, and the stun would be more stunning.

As I understand it, the hard coded aspect of stats is based on a numerical range.  Say, for a human, 4-6 = Good Strength.  If your character has a hard coded Strength value of 5, and it improves by 1 on age adjustment, then it's better than what it was, but you'll still see "Good" under strength, when typing score.

Taking in the same argument for Endurance, I would imagine that your Hp, Stun and Stamina would improve by a couple of points, due to the numerical change to your stat..though don't quote me on that.

In fact, don't quote me at all.

She meant the numbered stats:  i.e. HP, Stun, Stamina, Mana.

Since each of these is presumably dependent upon an appropriate "worded" stat, I'd assume the answer is "yes, they will change also."

[Pale Horse]

Will the "numbered" stats change too, or is this just the stats that have "AI" and "Average" and all that?

Cause, my "worded" stats are perfect. But my numbered stats suck dead tregil pecker. That'd be great if my character grows bigger and stronger, older and wiser (before that point where they go downhill back to decrepitude), the hps would be more robust, the stamina would be spritelier, and the stun would be more stunning.

As I understand it, the hard coded aspect of stats is based on a numerical range.  Say, for a human, 4-6 = Good Strength.  If your character has a hard coded Strength value of 5, and it improves by 1 on age adjustment, then it's better than what it was, but you'll still see "Good" under strength, when typing score.

Taking in the same argument for Endurance, I would imagine that your Hp, Stun and Stamina would improve by a couple of points, due to the numerical change to your stat..though don't quote me on that.

In fact, don't quote me at all.

She meant the numbered stats:  i.e. HP, Stun, Stamina, Mana.

Since each of these is presumably dependent upon an appropriate "worded" stat, I'd assume the answer is "yes, they will change also."

Did I not just say that?

[RogueGunslinger]

I feel sorry for anyone who started a character at 45+ and rolled shitty stats.

[Yam]

I feel sorry for anyone with shitty stats.

[touringCompl3t3]

So what happens if I can't play for a few months because of real life stuff? 

Ten game years go by, and I come back and my character is feeble.

Hmmmmm.

[Yam]

You should reread the time documentation because a few months =! ten IC years.

Your character should stop aging just because you stop playing.

[Lizzie]

Characters don't stop aging when you're not logged in. That wouldn't make any sense at all.

You start a twin brother/sister duo at age 14. Sister's player gets sucked into the military for 3 RL months and the brother manages to keep alive all that time. When the sister shows up, she's still gonna be the brother's twin sister..but 2 years younger? Uh, no, that would make zero sense. Not even in a fantasy world.

[Old Kank]

To some of you with really really old characters or characters who started really really young, you might see both benefits and detriments from this.  Note that unless you're in the group that I spoke of in the last paragraph, this is intended.  (Old people are weak and frail but very wise).

My character falls under this category, and while I think the change itself is great, I hope you show some leniency for the geriatric set, so we don't have some unique and remarkable characters going from superstar to cripple overnight.

Beyond that initial gut-reaction, I have to wonder if this will be yet another reason not to play a "mundane" PC, since it sounds like physical attributes will decline over time, but wisdom will go up.  If I play a mundane PC, I'm going to hope he accomplishes great things in his youth and then goes out in a blaze of glory before his body starts to decline, while magic-based characters seem like they would be a better long-term choice.  Will there be any change to the affects of wisdom on combat PCs, to balance this?  Will skill-caps be raised or given a combat modifier based on wisdom so the weak and frail, but really wise old warriors still have some viability in dealing with the unruly youth out there?  There are too few really old, mundane characters out there as it stands now, so I would hope there's some counter-balance put in place to keep them from becoming useless.

Based on my current understanding of the game, stats matter at two points in a character's life:  The beginning, before skills kick in, and the end, after skills have been maxed.  Does this mean we're going to start seeing arcs of optimization based on character archetypes?  Are all newbie thieves going to be really young, to capitalize on high agility, while all new warriors start out at 35 in hopes of high strength and endurance, and every "tall, muscular old man" is a newbie mage?  I would hope not, but I can see it happening if there's some benefit to be gained.

[Qzzrbl]

Gawd, managing to have wisdom and skill match and/or trump raw strength and agility would make me very, very happy.

Now that I think about it, having a character master any skill in a matter of a couple IG years seems a little ridiculous to me. It just kinda makes it seem that all the years your character's been alive, he's just been sitting around like a bump on a log up until you started playing him.

[Medena]

Based on my current understanding of the game, stats matter at two points in a character's life:  The beginning, before skills kick in, and the end, after skills have been maxed.  Does this mean we're going to start seeing arcs of optimization based on character archetypes?  Are all newbie thieves going to be really young, to capitalize on high agility, while all new warriors start out at 35 in hopes of high strength and endurance, and every "tall, muscular old man" is a newbie mage?  I would hope not, but I can see it happening if there's some benefit to be gained.

People who want to manipulate and optimize stats probably already do this since age factors do already apply on starting stats.  I think that the upcoming change for PC's who have aged many IG years may actually discourage this rather than promote it as you suggest.

[flurry]

There are too few really old, mundane characters out there as it stands now, so I would hope there's some counter-balance put in place to keep them from becoming useless.

I doubt the changes will make them useless. They may not be as spry as a thirty year old (and, really, why would they be?), but it's not like skills are diminishing.

Based on my current understanding of the game, stats matter at two points in a character's life:  The beginning, before skills kick in, and the end, after skills have been maxed.  Does this mean we're going to start seeing arcs of optimization based on character archetypes?  Are all newbie thieves going to be really young, to capitalize on high agility, while all new warriors start out at 35 in hopes of high strength and endurance, and every "tall, muscular old man" is a newbie mage?  I would hope not, but I can see it happening if there's some benefit to be gained.

I hope not, too. I think sometimes people need to take a step back and remember this is a roleplay game.