Age

Age and physical appearance play a major role in how others perceive you. Choose carefully! Except in settings with magic or advanced biotechnology, you will be unable to change your mind after the game begins.

Age

You are free to pick any age the GM agrees is within the usual lifespan for your race. Adventurers usually fall somewhere between "young adult" and "old" – 18 to 70 years, for humans – but fiction is full of heroic youths and sharp 90-year-old veterans.

Children

In many game worlds, especially those based on cartoons and fairytales, children are just small adults. By real-world standards, such children would be exceptional. However, even in a realistic campaign, those who wish to roleplay "heroic" children do not have to play less-capable characters – they can create their characters normally.

Players interested in complete realism are welcome to make children smaller and less capable than adults. To create a believable child, decide what his attributes will be when he is full-grown, reduce them, and purchase the reduced values instead of the full values.

• A human infant has 30% of his adult ST score, 40% of his adult DX, 50% of his adult IQ, and Size Modifier -3.
• A 5-year-old has 60% of his adult ST, 70% of his adult DX and IQ, and SM -2.
• A 10-year-old has 80% of his adult ST, 90% of his adult DX and IQ, and SM -1.
• A 15-year-old has adult scores.

Interpolate between these values for children in other age groups. HT is usually unaffected by age, but young children might be at -1 or so relative to their adult HT. Note that there is no point cost for Size Modifier; this is merely a special effect.

For nonhumans, use the above rules, but adjust the age categories upward or downward in proportion to the race's rate of development. For instance, a race that reaches adulthood at age 36 instead of age 18 doubles the age thresholds given above. Size Modifier is equal to the sum of the SM given for a human child and the racial SM.

In many societies, children are subject to social restrictions. A child generally is Dead Broke, worth -25 points, and has Social Stigma (Minor), for -5 points.

These traits are usually balanced against Patron (Parents; 15 or less), worth 30 points – see Patrons.

As a child grows up, he should gradually improve his attributes toward their full adult values, reduce the appearance roll for his Patron (and eventually get rid of it altogether), increase his wealth, and buy off his Social Stigma. These changes have their usual point costs.

The Elderly

If you age in play, you will eventually have to make HT rolls to avoid attribute loss (see Age and Aging). These rolls start at the first "aging threshold" for your race, becoming more frequent at the second threshold and again at the third. These thresholds are 50, 70, and 90 years for humans.

If you start at an advanced age, you have no special disadvantages. Not everyone ages well, but heroes are exceptional, and you are free to make elderly characters as fit and as capable as you wish. There are plenty of examples of this kind of person in fiction – and in real life!

To create a character who has declined with age, first decide what his attributes were before he got old. Reduce his ST, DX, and HT by 10% at the second aging threshold, or reduce ST, DX, and HT by 20% and IQ by 10% at the third aging threshold. Then purchase the reduced values instead of the values he had in his prime.

Note that in many societies, the elderly enjoy great respect. Represent this by taking Social Regard (Venerated).