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Character Age
https://www.amiaworld.net/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=47617		 Page 1 of 1
Author:  Yurell [ Sun, May 16 2010, 7:27 AM ]
Post subject:  Character Age
(I wasn't sure whether to put this here or in Off Topic, but ultimately opted for here ... if a DM doesn't like it, feel free to move it ^^)

At any rate, I've been talking to people about their character ages, only to find many differing opinions on how old an elf is when 'equivalent' to a 25 year old human ... 100 years? 200 years? So, using the table provided in the 3.5 Player's Guide to Faerûn, I created a few graphs to translate ages between humans and other races (I have the Mathematica Notebook for anyone who has Mathematica and feels like translating between any two races).

Image

I calibrated these graphs between 'adult' and 'venerable' ages for a few reasons:
1. I don't like child adventurers;
2. When does puberty onset for each of these races? Is a 10 year old human as developed as an 80 year old elf? I wanted to keep the age in a place where I had a guideline for development;
3. Once past venerable, are the maximum ages alike? The fact is that there are massive variations in 'maximum' age compared to everything else.

Each section shall be titled, present a graph and a short list of ages. The graph is a third-order polynomial (since I only had four data points to go off), with human age down the bottom (in years), and the other race's equivalent as the vertical axis. The list is the coming of adulthood age for humans and once a decade thereafter, followed by the other race's equivalent.

If you have any criticisms / suggestions for improvement, please say so!

At any rate, without further ado, I present to you my age converter (which is not in any way official! Nor am I trying to restrict anyone's RP):

Human to Dwarf

Image

H <=> D
15 <=> 40
25 <=> 86
35 <=> 125
45 <=> 161
55 <=> 195
65 <=> 231

Human to Elf

Image

H <=> E
15 <=> 110
25 <=> 136
35 <=> 175
45 <=> 222
55 <=> 273
65 <=> 325

Human to Sun Elf

Image

H <=> SE
15 <=> 110
25 <=> 157
35 <=> 210
45 <=> 267
55 <=> 327
65 <=> 389

Human to Deep Gnome

Image

H <=> DG
15 <=> 20
25 <=> 53
35 <=> 80
45 <=> 103
55 <=> 124
65 <=> 147

Human to Rock Gnome

Image

H <=> RG
15 <=> 40
25 <=> 71
35 <=> 100
45 <=> 128
55 <=> 156
65 <=> 185

Human to Half Elf

Image

H <=> HE
15 <=> 20
25 <=> 43
35 <=> 62
45 <=> 79
55 <=> 96
65 <=> 115

Human to Half Orc

Image

H <=> HO
15 <=> 14
25 <=> 22
35 <=> 30
45 <=> 38
55 <=> 47
65 <=> 55

Human to Halfling

Image

H <=> H/2
15 <=> 20
25 <=> 36
35 <=> 50
45 <=> 64
55 <=> 78
65 <=> 92

Human to Planetouched

Image

H <=> P
15 <=> 15
25 <=> 31
35 <=> 45
45 <=> 58
55 <=> 71
65 <=> 83

I should also add that I realise that I should have just done a linear regression for a line of best fit, but this was more fun.
Author:  BrainSplitter [ Sun, May 16 2010, 7:37 AM ]
Post subject:  Re: Character Age
Your Elf ones are a bit off.

Elves - 1:1 with Humans until 15. After that the next three years of puberty for a human last until the elf hits 120. Then you get an about-even scale for the rest of their lives (about a 1elf:7human scale)
Author:  Yurell [ Sun, May 16 2010, 7:54 AM ]
Post subject:  Re: Character Age
I didn't show ages under human adulthood (15) for that reason ... beyond that, I took the minimum age of adulthood to represent the same 'equivalent' age, which made an elf 110 at human's 15 ... the line probably becomes a vertical drop beyond that point, and it doesn't really surprise me that the curve doesn't work at the endpoints (since puberty is one of the periods of most rapid growth). Still, if you choose to take it starting at the human age of 20 it roughly correlates.
Still, it was just a bit of fun, and thanks for the criticism ^^
Author:  HellScourge [ Sun, May 16 2010, 8:19 AM ]
Post subject:  Re: Character Age
That makes me wonder.. just how long do the elves have puberty!

Edit:

Plus I think that the planetouched races do not differ from the maturity process at all.

They just get a little bit older.
Author:  QPR [ Sun, May 16 2010, 8:34 AM ]
Post subject:  Re: Character Age
So... a 110 year old elf will have the mental age of a 17 year old human, ish?
Author:  Yurell [ Sun, May 16 2010, 8:36 AM ]
Post subject:  Re: Character Age
QPR wrote:
So... a 110 year old elf will have the mental age of a 17 year old human, ish?


I would suggest it wouldn't be the same mental age (110 years of experience have to lead somewhere), but rather the physical development, as is required for determining adulthood, middle age etc.
Author:  QPR [ Sun, May 16 2010, 8:41 AM ]
Post subject:  Re: Character Age
Wait, so an elf uses 105 years to mature physically from around 15 to 18 equivalent to human?
Author:  DustSpray101 [ Sun, May 16 2010, 9:07 AM ]
Post subject:  Re: Character Age
BrainSplitter wrote:
Your Elf ones are a bit off.

Elves - 1:1 with Humans until 15. After that the next three years of puberty for a human last until the elf hits 120. Then you get an about-even scale for the rest of their lives (about a 1elf:7human scale)


Good thing there isn't a DnD equivalent of a Miley Cyrus or whomever the teens listen to these days... Imagine 105 years of listening to bad Pop music.


Would also be interesting to play an elf at age 100. 5 more years of squeeky cracked voices and sudden growth spurts.
Author:  Yurell [ Sun, May 16 2010, 9:09 AM ]
Post subject:  Re: Character Age
QPR wrote:
Wait, so an elf uses 105 years to mature physically from around 15 to 18 equivalent to human?


I wouldn't say that. I'd say an elf at the age of 110 is as physically developed as a 15 year old. They may have been that developed at 30 as well (see Wonwon's post, or quoted by Dust above this one).
Author:  Logicality [ Sun, May 16 2010, 11:45 AM ]
Post subject:  Re: Character Age
I thought I had heard that elves physically develop at the same rate as humans until about age 20, at which point they effectively cease growth. The remaining hundred years, I'd thought, were purely societal development.
Author:  IronAngel [ Sun, May 16 2010, 11:47 AM ]
Post subject:  Re: Character Age
Mind that we know little of elven puberty or physiology in general. They may be considered youngsters, but we don't know what physical signs of youth or maturity there might be. Elves don't typically grow facial hair, they remain petite all their life, and they're surely capable of reproduction almost as soon as humans (even if they don't actually make lots of babies).
Author:  IronAngel [ Sun, May 16 2010, 11:53 AM ]
Post subject:  Re: Character Age
This we know of drow: they enter the Academy at 25, when they don't seem to be fully mature yet. They nevertheless make capable combatants, and are considered adults after their training (which lasts 9 years at minimum).

Either way, while I appreciate the research, we simply do not know how aging affects other races and elves in particular after childhood and before old age, and we have no reason to assume the effects would be same as on humans, so I'm not sure if we can draw any parallells between the races.
Author:  Yurell [ Sun, May 16 2010, 11:58 AM ]
Post subject:  Re: Character Age
We do know that the penalties for aging accrue at middle-aged, old and venerable, so presumably there must be some similarities in the aging process, the bonuses and penalties being identical regardless of race.

And this was only intended to be a rough guide, to enable the drawing of rough parallels e.g. want a middle-aged halfling, somewhere around the human 30 mark? Just look at the graph and you can see that's ~40. Basically, all I did was draw lines between the data points given in the Player's Guide (well, continuous lines with a continuous first derivative, but that's beside the point).

I guess it could be used to measure 'adultness' (which, apparently, is actually a word) with 'adulthood' being the origin, and increasing to middle aged etc. with the consequent aging bonuses and penalties, which are provided by WotC.
Author:  Xaviera [ Sun, May 16 2010, 13:51 PM ]
Post subject:  Re: Character Age
Yeah, I would've gone for a linear regression. And where are the 95% confidence bands? :o
Author:  Yurell [ Sun, May 16 2010, 14:54 PM ]
Post subject:  Re: Character Age
Xaviera wrote:
Yeah, I would've gone for a linear regression. And where are the 95% confidence bands? :o


I tested out the linear regression ... it doesn't fit the points as nicely (of course), though the main put off was not passing through the origin at (15, other-age-of-adulthood). As for uncertainties, every single data point lies on the line, do not question what lies between. :twisted:
Author:  Kudark [ Sun, May 16 2010, 18:43 PM ]
Post subject:  Re: Character Age
How can Rogue be considered simple?
Fighter moderate?
I think these should be reversed or juxtaposed or something.
Rogue is anything but simple.
Author:  Shade of Blue [ Sun, May 16 2010, 19:02 PM ]
Post subject:  Re: Character Age
Logicality wrote:
I thought I had heard that elves physically develop at the same rate as humans until about age 20, at which point they effectively cease growth. The remaining hundred years, I'd thought, were purely societal development.


I believe this is this case. At least, this is how I've played it with my elf.

Kudark wrote:
How can Rogue be considered simple?
Fighter moderate?
I think these should be reversed or juxtaposed or something.
Rogue is anything but simple.


It seems subjective, doesn't it? In general, I think the idea is that rogues would spend most of their pre-adventurous time in cities, where they can easily thrive, and the demographic mostly involves those with a knack for avoiding combat. Pre-adventurer fighters probably come from more dangerous, combat-oriented professions like guard, gladiator, bouncer, etc..
Author:  fjook [ Sun, May 16 2010, 19:32 PM ]
Post subject:  Re: Character Age
How do half dragons age?
Author:  Xaviera [ Mon, May 17 2010, 2:47 AM ]
Post subject:  Re: Character Age
Yurell wrote:
every single data point lies on the line, do not question what lies between. :twisted:

Yes, but you of all people should know that you can always fit 4 points perfectly to a third-order polynomial.
Author:  Yurell [ Mon, May 17 2010, 3:14 AM ]
Post subject:  Re: Character Age
Of course, that's why I drew the graphs, so you can see it's sane along the entire line :P
Author:  Scimiter [ Mon, May 17 2010, 20:54 PM ]
Post subject:  Re: Character Age
Something else to think about is the In Game Time Vs Real Life Time if you want to correctly age your PC. Server time is hard coded and moves pretty much like this:

3 RL days = 1 IG month
1 RL month = 11 IG months

And so on scaling up from there. In example I don't remember how old Celub is but when I started playing Daniel he was 27 and two RL years plus of working for Katsumi to marrying Arial to getting sacrificed to coming back and serving Bane to breaking from the church and just trying to be a father to thier son has added up to 21 years IG making him 51 roughly.
Author:  hendrack [ Mon, May 17 2010, 21:01 PM ]
Post subject:  Re: Character Age
If there'd ever be an official ruling on time progression it should be real time = ingame time 1:1, nothing else.
Author:  Logicality [ Mon, May 17 2010, 21:11 PM ]
Post subject:  Re: Character Age
Speed of plot.
Author:  hendrack [ Mon, May 17 2010, 21:12 PM ]
Post subject:  Re: Character Age
Either way it should be real time if it were my way, but it is not. Live and let live I guess.
Author:  Logicality [ Mon, May 17 2010, 21:58 PM ]
Post subject:  Re: Character Age
Real time is speed of plot! The DM just doesn't want you to know that. :P
Author:  Dwagin [ Tue, May 18 2010, 2:05 AM ]
Post subject:  Re: Character Age
Logicality wrote:
Speed of plot.
Author:  TormakSaber [ Tue, May 18 2010, 3:32 AM ]
Post subject:  Re: Character Age
It is speed of plot, though one of the largest overarching DM plots currently uses 1:1 realtime for that speed.
Author:  Dergaii [ Tue, May 18 2010, 15:35 PM ]
Post subject:  Re: Character Age
I refuse to let my characters age! :D
It's part of my peter pan complexion.

As my play time fluctuates irregularly, I find it hard to keep track of the passing of time for my characters. I might not play for several weeks, which does not mean that during this time my characters sit idle in the tavern the entire time. At least the wizards can be said to be studying then..
Author:  DolphinRacer [ Tue, May 18 2010, 21:25 PM ]
Post subject:  Re: Character Age
Between me hating time related math and being too used to playing on 1:1 all the time...well neither I nor my characters, particularly Taelar, are generally pinned down on the age. In Taelar's case it doesn't matter to him and in CrunchSmash's he has trouble actually counting (when people pay him things for example he just hopes that it is the right amount, he doesn't really know)
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