Playing Older Characters



In some games starting or level one characters tend to be fresher-faced farm kids right out of the fields. In D&D and Pathfinder first level characters have years of training in their chosen field and in comparison to common folk are near superheroes. In most instances, however, the characters we see are comparatively young, late teens to early twenties in most fantasy settings. In modern settings you rarely see someone’s starting level character over the age of thirty. Why do we choose not to play older characters?





In 3.5 and Pathfinder aging comes with penalties to physical stats and bonuses to the mental ones. Ages are separated into categories and given cumulative stat modifications at each age group. Other systems have other mechanics. Ars Magic has you roll to see if you lose a stat, the roll is modified by your age, and then roll again to see which stat. Although many games don’t see you living long enough to even have a mechanic for aging.





I think we like to see our characters as young and spry and the idea of being old confounds a lot of gamers. Why would a forty-year-old pick up his things and begin the life of an adventurer? Along with their diversity in gender and sexuality, among their iconic characters Paizo has also added more diverse age ranges. The iconic wizard Ezren became a 1st level wizard at age forty-two. Quinn, the Iconic investigator, took up his path at age thirty-seven. Both of these characters are good examples of why a character might become an adventurer late in life.





Becoming an adventurer usually requires some kind of impetus. For younger characters this impetus is many times the search for fame and glory. We also often see younger characters as thrill seekers or those who choose to test themselves. Older characters can have different types of pushes to wander off into the wilds. The loss of friends or family can push one to make a change of pace. The end of a long career might see them seeking one last hurrah. Some may be searching for a way to stem aging or become immortal, either literally or figuratively.





What can sometimes be daunting for players is coming up with the longer background an older character might require. It’s easy to say that your nineteen-year-old fighter is just a poor street rat who’s good with a sword. But an aged character has lived part of a life. What has he been doing all this time? Where did she work? What connections did he make in the world?





As an example one of the other players in my Rise of the Runelord game is an older human. He’s a former soldier who has just recently retired but isn’t ready to give up that life. He finds it hard to fit into day-to-day life and adventuring is the easiest way to keep the lifestyle to which he has become accustomed. It was an interesting character choice with a lot of great roleplay potential and certainly not something you see in many games.





The next time you’re making your character consider playing someone of advanced age. It doesn’t even have to be human; think about the possibilities of an older age elf or dwarf. Consider the life your character would have had before adventuring and why he would make his way into the world after all this time. I think my next character will be an older gnome.





Would you play an older character? What reasons do you think older characters would have to adventure? Why do you think most people don’t even consider playing older characters? How old is too old to be off on a quest?



