Aging

[JackGibbons]

I've read help aging about wisdom going up slowly, different stats peaking at different times in life and going down slowly after that.

However, I hit a birthday that changed between overall age categories on assess/score (perhaps intentional/coincidental) and dropped a shocking amount of maximum hitpoints and lost my only 'exceptional' stat which I was pretty pleased with. Are we able to discuss whether these events only happy at the age category boundaries or what their frequency is? It is frustrating for me because I felt I was finally getting a character good at combat for once (but I stupidly started him at 32 and then took 4 IC years off) after losing so many good stories on my first characters to bad combat luck or general noobness, and before I could even get him trained up as well as I'd like, the clock is already shoving him back down into mediocrity. But if I have at least, say, five more IC years before another one of these horrible stat loss ticks, then I can reconcile myself to this situation and try to enjoy what time I have left before it gets worse.

Any advice?

(Other than the 'code is irrelevant, just enjoy your RP' thread -- I like both, as an Achiever on the Bartle test)

[Drayab]

Just speaking from my own experience, the slide into physical decrepitude with aging happens slowly. I once played a long lived warrior starting in her late twenties to about forty years old. In that time, I never saw a stat change, but she didn't have any stats as superlative as your character had, so I assume she moved a bit numerically but not so much as to change categories.

The older she got the more ass she kicked, mostly because she was quite strong (ex. good, I think) and had some very high skill levels. I eventually retired her because, well, I was ready to play something else. It had nothing to do with her combat abilities, which to me she was as strong at forty as she had ever been.

[Marauder Moe]

So firstly, I wouldn't worry too much about hitpoints.  Hitpoints rarely mean the difference between winning a fight and losing it.  As for other stats, we know that skills matter way more in combat.

Thirdly, if these stats do impact your combat viability... isn't that realistic?  RP it out!  There are perks to playing an older character.  You get to grumble at those damned kids and quote Lethl Weapon.   

[Riev]

On a scale of 1-20... you might have been on like the 16 (17) that denominates Exceptional and dropped off one point. Remember, stats change but there are ranges within the ranges.

Also. Stats only matter at 0-5 days played, and 40+. Everything else tends to be dominated by skills and rolls. (Assuming by 40days of play you are about the highest youll get in a skill with semi consistent practice)

[JackGibbons]

On a scale of 1-20... you might have been on like the 16 (17) that denominates Exceptional and dropped off one point. Remember, stats change but there are ranges within the ranges.

Also. Stats only matter at 0-5 days played, and 40+. Everything else tends to be dominated by skills and rolls. (Assuming by 40days of play you are about the highest youll get in a skill with semi consistent practice)

It is around 40 days and there seems to be a bit of room for progress still but much has been made. It was just depressing that having finally reached such an achievement but still being short of the summit, that he's already falling apart. You guys are right that a few HP aren't generally life and death; it's just the downward trend itself that means time to start all over for 40 days because who knows if in six weeks or twelve or eighteen there won't be another noticeable drop.

Except I won't, because as I said, the RP is good and that takes precedence. I just wish he had an accomplished career behind him instead of only really just beginning one because I took half a year off and started him at 32.

[solera]

If it's any comfort, the descent into Poor agility will be delayed.   

[JackGibbons]

(duplicate post cleared)

[Riev]

Oh also? HP rerolls a LOT. I'm not 100% on this, but I think if you get an aging reduction, your HP roll COULD roll higher, even if endurance went down a point.

Which is why you can be a new character at 105hp with EG endurance, reroll to Exceptional Endurance and have 104.

[Jihelu]

Just always play people at the lowest possible age for funsies and feel good/bad when your stats freak the fuck out within a ten year span

[JackGibbons]

I'm doing a little bit of thread resurrecting here, but thanks for the advice, folks. It was my first experience with a "nerf" which poorly coincided with my first character long-lived enough to really get into. I'm catastrophizing less now. 

[Tuannon]

As someone who played a combat role who survived into their 80s ? (halp Nyr)

I can tell you.. the difference between 37 and 87 is a hell of a lot. Not that I made it to 87, I think I was 83 when I decided enough was enough.

The role wasn't super skilled and I wasn't super knowledgeable about how Warriors work, but I like to think being able to hold off two braxat at once is doing okay. My thoughts on that belong elsewhere.

I guess if I was more into training regularly IC I would have noticed an even worse drop in performance with advancing age.

[Miradus]

This may just be bad luck, but I've started with characters aged 50-60 and had them roll poor-average on everything but wisdom.

Which was really not great.

Aging tends to have more effect in 1st world countries with sedentary lifestyles but in a lot of cultures you'll find people remaining very healthy until they hit about 60 and start declining. I've seen healthy fifty-somethings in South America work harder and longer than I could when I was twenty and in the prime of my health.

[John]

This may just be bad luck, but I've started with characters aged 50-60 and had them roll poor-average on everything but wisdom.

I don't think it's bad luck at all. I think it's the code acting as intended. Do you prioritise your stats? If you do, I'd recommend not doing it and see if that improves them. Although I'd seriously recommend starting younger. You age 8.5 years for every RL year. If your character doesn't die you'll get to old age soon enough.

Aging tends to have more effect in 1st world countries with sedentary lifestyles but in a lot of cultures you'll find people remaining very healthy until they hit about 60 and start declining. I've seen healthy fifty-somethings in South America work harder and longer than I could when I was twenty and in the prime of my health.

Are these people fit enough to fit elephants in hand to hand combat though? Even below average to poor strength is healthy enough to go out salting all day long.

[Miradus]

Hard to say.

I do like starting older though. The world doesn't have to be peopled entirely with 22 year olds.

[Jihelu]

I personally enjoy starting young and making my own story.

[Barsook]

I personally enjoy starting young and making my own story.

Same like at 13.

[Jihelu]

It will always feel good because you'll have AI agility for fucking days.

Then you realize.


Not being able to carry anything sucks.
But you'll realize.
Wearing basic gear weighs you down so you suck and train faster.
Then if you hit 20 you become an unkillable god.
You'll know when too
Your strength will boost to something like "Good" and then all of a sudden you arent very encumbered off of carrying that backpack and can fight 3 meks at once.

[John]

I do like starting older though. The world doesn't have to be peopled entirely with 22 year olds.

Definitely. I don't think the "peak" age is necessarily 22 (I'm not sure what age is to be honest), but I get your meaning.

I've started older myself. Ultimately it all depends on your character and what concept you have in mind. A 50/60 year old warrior though, is definitely going to have an up-hill battle. I've done it, it's fun, but you're definitely playing at a disadvantage than if you'd started younger.

[Malken]

The aging code is BROKEN but Staff will tell you that it's not.

FIGHT DA POWER AND ONLY MAKE 24 YEARS OLD CHARACTER 4EVER!!!!!111

Never younger, never older, 24 forever.

[evilcabbage]

someday.

i will start at 13.

with extremely good strength.

exceptional wisdom.

exceptional endurance.

on that day. all will fear me.

[JackGibbons]

someday.

i will start at 13.

with extremely good strength.

exceptional wisdom.

exceptional endurance.

on that day. all will fear me.

Since it's clearly dice (the command is even 'reroll'), there is a minute chance based on how many dice and how many sides of maxing all of your rolls. Good luck you, sir cabbage.

[Jihelu]

COrrect me if I'm wrong but it might be impossible to get an ai roll on strength/other than agility for young characters.
Lets say stats are an actual dice roll.
Like.
1d6 = stats where 1 is poor and 6 is AI

You make a young character.
Making a young character gives you +2 to agility but -2 to strenght.
So you roll a 6
You get -2 because of age.
Rip.

[Synthesis]

Way, way back in the day, I got exceptional str and exceptional agility on a minimum-age city-elf assassin.

Man...why can't that happen now that I'm not a total noob? 

[hyzhenhok]

COrrect me if I'm wrong but it might be impossible to get an ai roll on strength/other than agility for young characters.
Lets say stats are an actual dice roll.
Like.
1d6 = stats where 1 is poor and 6 is AI

You make a young character.
Making a young character gives you +2 to agility but -2 to strenght.
So you roll a 6
You get -2 because of age.
Rip.

Impossible at creation, but the penalty is temporary. I have no idea how high you have to roll initially to eventually age into AI strength, but from my experience with the aging code and very young characters, I'm sure it's possible.

[Culinary Critic]

And off topic!

On a scale of 1-20... you might have been on like the 16 (17) that denominates Exceptional and dropped off one point. Remember, stats change but there are ranges within the ranges.

Also. Stats only matter at 0-5 days played, and 40+. Everything else tends to be dominated by skills and rolls. (Assuming by 40days of play you are about the highest youll get in a skill with semi consistent practice)

It is around 40 days and there seems to be a bit of room for progress still but much has been made. It was just depressing that having finally reached such an achievement but still being short of the summit, that he's already falling apart. You guys are right that a few HP aren't generally life and death; it's just the downward trend itself that means time to start all over for 40 days because who knows if in six weeks or twelve or eighteen there won't be another noticeable drop.

Except I won't, because as I said, the RP is good and that takes precedence. I just wish he had an accomplished career behind him instead of only really just beginning one because I took half a year off and started him at 32.

This part.  The bolded part...that I bolded.  Hi!  Welcome to middle life (you young...blah blah blah)!  Believe it or not, this will happen to you too.

Second, FANTASTIC that you respond to this in such a way.  It's really getting into your character, feeling his/her aches and pains, knowing that the black fist of death is coming for you...perhaps sooner than you had thought.

I officially love this thread.  For a lot of reasons.

I get your pain, but, honestly, it makes things just a little bit more real for me.

"Hey!  It's my birthday!  Right now!"  Not flaming, but it's a little odd that the civilizations on the Big Z (particularly the commoners and slaves who...how do they remember when their birthdays are anyway?) celebrate birthdays, excluding nobility and upwards.

And the sudden "you've aged a year" followed by the sudden "it hurts when you pee"...a bit jarring.  But the aging code, I like it.

[JackGibbons]

And off topic!

On a scale of 1-20... you might have been on like the 16 (17) that denominates Exceptional and dropped off one point. Remember, stats change but there are ranges within the ranges.

Also. Stats only matter at 0-5 days played, and 40+. Everything else tends to be dominated by skills and rolls. (Assuming by 40days of play you are about the highest youll get in a skill with semi consistent practice)

It is around 40 days and there seems to be a bit of room for progress still but much has been made. It was just depressing that having finally reached such an achievement but still being short of the summit, that he's already falling apart. You guys are right that a few HP aren't generally life and death; it's just the downward trend itself that means time to start all over for 40 days because who knows if in six weeks or twelve or eighteen there won't be another noticeable drop.

Except I won't, because as I said, the RP is good and that takes precedence. I just wish he had an accomplished career behind him instead of only really just beginning one because I took half a year off and started him at 32.

This part.  The bolded part...that I bolded.  Hi!  Welcome to middle life (you young...blah blah blah)!  Believe it or not, this will happen to you too.

Second, FANTASTIC that you respond to this in such a way.  It's really getting into your character, feeling his/her aches and pains, knowing that the black fist of death is coming for you...perhaps sooner than you had thought.

I officially love this thread.  For a lot of reasons.

I get your pain, but, honestly, it makes things just a little bit more real for me.

"Hey!  It's my birthday!  Right now!"  Not flaming, but it's a little odd that the civilizations on the Big Z (particularly the commoners and slaves who...how do they remember when their birthdays are anyway?) celebrate birthdays, excluding nobility and upwards.

And the sudden "you've aged a year" followed by the sudden "it hurts when you pee"...a bit jarring.  But the aging code, I like it.

I remember when one of the other scout dads told my father on a campout that he'd just turned 40 and didn't know where the time went. It's coming!.
Still got a ways for that RL though. Can't wait 

[Jihelu]

Become a sorcerer and learn the ole live forever spell.
Was that a thing in Dark Sun? I'm pretty sure avangions/dragons could live forever but thats a whole different thing.

[Gunnerblaster]

Yeah, once you play a character over 50, come back and talk to me about aging suckage...

But, yeah, the age code does definitely help you feel that though you, as a player, aren't aging - You're playing someone's life out who is. It's fun to roleplay that aspect as they begin to come to terms with their mortality - If not death by savage beasts or man, but death simply by age. Outliving the worst horrors possible to die to one inevitable killer of all.

[seidhr]

All races have a range of possible numeric values for each stat, just like in Dungeons and Dragons or whatever tabletop game you play.

These numeric values are generalized to our scale of "poor", "good", "exceptional" etc.  Sometimes you will age and your strength will go up, but the player won't even realize it because the jump didn't move you from average to above average, even though your strength is actually better for all practical purposes.

Long story short, your attributes are changing all the time behind the scenes (well, at least on your birthdays) and as a player you don't see 90% of it.  It's not worth worrying about, just play what you want to play.   

P.S.  Staff do get an alert when someone logs in and they get a stat adjustment.  Occasionally someone will log into the game after a 5 real life year hiatus and age from 35 to 80 or whatever, then you see a BIG jump.  ;-)

[evilcabbage]

All races have a range of possible numeric values for each stat, just like in Dungeons and Dragons or whatever tabletop game you play.

These numeric values are generalized to our scale of "poor", "good", "exceptional" etc.  Sometimes you will age and your strength will go up, but the player won't even realize it because the jump didn't move you from average to above average, even though your strength is actually better for all practical purposes.

Long story short, your attributes are changing all the time behind the scenes (well, at least on your birthdays) and as a player you don't see 90% of it.  It's not worth worrying about, just play what you want to play.   

P.S.  Staff do get an alert when someone logs in and they get a stat adjustment.  Occasionally someone will log into the game after a 5 real life year hiatus and age from 35 to 80 or whatever, then you see a BIG jump.  ;-)

in wisdom

say goodbye to every other stat though :3

[seidhr]

in wisdom

say goodbye to every other stat though :3

Hey I didn't say if we were talking about a jump up or a jump down.  ;-)  The wisdom stat increase is pretty mild compared to the ravages of aging screwing up your physical stats, as anyone who has ever played a senior citizen on ArmageddonMUD could attest to.  Heh.

[evilcabbage]

maybe that should be tweaked a teeny bit to give long liveds some longevity

oh wait, how many pcs have actually survived 40+ ic years? huh.

huh.

shit.

new goal.

[nessalin]

maybe that should be tweaked a teeny bit to give long liveds some longevity

oh wait, how many pcs have actually survived 40+ ic years? huh.

huh.

shit.

new goal.

We had a dwarf make it to 100, once.

[seidhr]

We had a guy log in one night who was in jail, in Tuluk, and he aged from something like 25 to 117 (yes, it was like 10+ RL years since'd logged in).  I believe Natious was the staffer who gave him a pretty sweet echo that he pulled from Twin Peaks or something and gave him a heart attack so he could start new PC.  Pretty funny.

[Jihelu]

Prison life is hard.

Ugh.
I should make a dwarf at the youngest age who's life goal is to die of old age.

[evilcabbage]

a dwarf made it to HOW OLD?

jeeeeeeeeeeeeez.

who was that dwarf?

[Tuannon]

I think my record is about 55 years, but I'm not certain.