I've been pondering something relating to the aging rules for a while and I wondered what other folks might think of this idea...
Certain flaws, notably Arthritis, seem appropriate to aged characters. I'm thinking of allowing characters who suffer an Aging Crisis to using Aging Points to buy flaws instead of just lowering Characteristics, if they choose. You could buy a minor flaw for 5 aging points or a major flaw for 15 aging points. Allowable flaws would be limited to a specific list... Minors: Afflicted Tongue, Arthritis, Clumsy, Disfigured, Fragile Constitution, Lame, Palsied Hands, Poor Eyesight, Poor Hearing. Majors: Blind, Crippled, Deaf, Enfeebled, Mute.
Characters would be able to spend Aging Points on a combination of Flaws and lowered Characteristics if they desire.
I haven't tried this yet, but I wondered what people thought.
I like this idea in principle. The details of the implementation would have to be carefully considered.
Munchkin says: Great, for my magus Rasputin, the first 14 Aging Points he gets, I'll put towards Blind. But then I won't finish it off, I'll start putting them towards Characteristics now. Boom, just saved 14 points of negatives. (Or even better: I'll put the next 14 towards Crippled, then the next 14 towards Mute....)
What about tying Flaws to Aging Crises or crisis-like events, instead of Aging Points?
I also like the idea. The easy way to counter this munchkinism is to say that you get the Flaw at the time you spend the first, rather than the last, aging point on it.
I'm not 100% sure of "how much" a Minor Flaw should be worth, however. Improved/Weak characteristics are worth 3 "aging" points each. So I'd probably lower the value to 3 points for a Minor Flaw and 9 for a Major one...
You're not wrong. I think I'm unconsciously trying in incentivise the taking of flaws over reducing characteristics because I find them more characterful.
It often takes more than one Aging Point to lower a statistic: if you're already at Sta -3, then it takes 4 Aging Points to lower it to Sta -4. So Weak Characteristics could cost anywhere from 3 Aging Points to 12 or even more.
To counter the munchkinism, just say you can only be investing towards one flaw at a time.
For the flaws, I'd also suggest 3 points for a minor, and 6 more points to turn a minor into a major. Pretty much all the major flaws you might want to represent aging have minor flaw variants. I can't think of any off the top of my head that don't.
