Hello. I come with a bit of an experiment I've been doing behind the scenes. It changes the aging rules so there's roughly only one stat to track.
Please let me know what you think of the following modification.
The Theory
First off, aging roll itself. It does not change much. It's still [stress die + Age/10 - Living Conditions & Longevity Rituals], with one adjustment: it can botch, with a number of botch dice equal to Age/10 + Decrepitude Score.
The mechanics of the aging roll change completely. Instead of referring to a table wherein you choose or are imposed aging points, the roll result is simply recorded as an addition to the sum total of all aging rolls, setting Decrepitude Points.
Decrepitude Points advance Decrepitude Score like an Ability. Every time DS increases, the player checks the natural roll and compares it to the new loss table.
| Die Result | Characteristic Lost |
|---|---|
| 0 | Player’s Choice |
| 2 | Qik |
| 3 | Sta |
| 4 | Per |
| 5 | Prs |
| 6 | Str and Sta |
| 7 | Dex and Qik |
| 8 | Com and Prs |
| 9 | Int and Per |
| 10 | Each Physical |
| 12+ | Each Mental |
| 24+ | All |
Decrepitude can increase up to Score of 10, at which point it kills the character.
On an aging roll botch, two things happen:
- Decrepitude immediately increases to the next score
- Character suffers a Crisis, simulating a spontaneously contracted disease
The crisis severity depends solely upon the number of zeros that came up o the botch dice, and it causes a disease.
| Zeros on Botch Dice | Crisis Result |
|---|---|
| One | Lesser - as (-1) disease w/ Week interval, stable EF 3, recovery EF 9 |
| Two | Minor - as (incap) disease w/ Week interval, stable EF 3, recovery EF 9 |
| Three | Serious - as (incap) disease w/ Month interval, stable EF 6, recovery EF 12 |
| Four | Major - as (incap) disease w/ Month interval, stable EF 9, recovery EF 15 |
| Five | Critical - as (incap) disease w/ Season interval, stable EF 12, recovery EF 18 |
| Six or more | Fatal - as (incap) disease w/ Year interval, stable EF 15, recovery EF 21 |
Finally, I have slightly adjusted an array in which the Age Quickly Flaw sets the human on the "Short-Lived" track. On the other hand, Faerie-Blooded are Long Lived.
| Creature Type | Ageing Threshold | Ageing Modifier | Ageing Interval |
|---|---|---|---|
| Short-Lived Human | 20 years | Age/5 | Twice per year |
| Standard Human | 35 years | Age/10 | Once per year |
| Long-Lived Human | 50 years | Age/20 | Two years |
Practice (only checked Standard Human)
Assuming the average roll is 6 and no crisis happens, an average character dies in ~59 years.
A character with poor living conditions (-2) dies a little younger, at ~56.
A character with good living conditions (+2) dies several years later, at ~64.
A magus in an average covenant with a modest level 50 Longevity Ritual (+10) will survive ~110 years. A stronger ritual (say, +15) would allow the magus to survive well into ~175 years.
A Short-Lived human (Age Quickly Flaw) sets the life expectancy very low, at 31.
A Long-Lived human (Strong Faerie Blood, among others) makes the expectancy higher, at ~94 years - roughly double the average man's lifespan (assuming standard -3 to aging rolls as per the Virtue).
Crises and exploding dice will naturally decrease the life expectancy, but I do not have a quick way of testing them right now.