When creating NPCs is there a good way of calculating estimated age penalties without going through it year by year? What about warping as NPCs will have suffered warping through means other than longevity potions?
Yes. Choose what the story needs. If you need a decrepit 45 year old, then he's been the unluckiest guy in the game. A sprightly 70 year old, he has been lucky.
Being likely or unlikely is irrelevant. Same with warping.
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Whilst it's important to modify things for the sake of a specific story, what I am seeking is a general guideline for NPCs and how it affects their stats when it's otherwise not something that requires ST fiat.
So that if I for example, wanted to quickly create a 50 year NPC old military leader or a 120 year old magi, I can work it out without needing to make too many rolls.
If the PCs wait a decade and face the military leader at age 60, how much will he have likely declined?
I agree that a sense of what is typical and/or average is useful. After all, some stories ask for just that, the average old guy.
For warping, the 2p/y for canon post-gauntlet char gen is probably as good as anything.
For decrepitude, I don't know. It is worth running a simulation.
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The reason I wrote choose what works, is there are a bunch of variables. Hitting the 13 on the table changed everything. Age 35 - 39, 13 cannot be rolled unless there is a penalty, or a 1 is rolled then a 5. If there is a penalty, suddenly there is a 1 in 10 chance of hitting 13. Age 40 - 49, and that chance of hitting 13 is a 1 in 10 unless there is a bonus.
The existence of the 13 in the aging table results in a cluster of people within a few aging points of each other, and a few outliers who are 5 aging points more or worse. You really do have to decide if the character is unlucky and put him in the early decrepit group, or if he is not unlucky and put him in the "normal" group. Also, aging modifiers are critical. Once that selection is done you could probably map out an average.
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That may matter if you're going for accuracy, but I'm explicitly not doing that.
I'm going for a rough guide so I can quickly produce aged NPCs.
Though I do agree that aging mods are critical and mapping out an average is what I'm currently going for.
I also think that we can simplify results of 13 as giving 2 aging points. (Few people have Attributes of +3, many take the result of a 13 against a characteristic they treat as less important, so it averages out to be about a 2, which would cause an aging crisis on its own.
I'm increasingly of the opinion that there are few RPG issues that can't be solved with a table.
I'd make a table with my assumptions baked into it. For example, I might have decades-old as rows and columns for aging modifiers. The table would show something like chance to have one more infirmaries. Include the expected negative stat modifiers if you need to be that detailed.
For those without the benefit of longevity magic, you might let yourself be guided by RL/history rather than the rules. ie: Go to the primary source, the thing the rules themselves seek to replicate.
For the effects of Longevity magic, either extrapolate from the no-Longevity data, or run some sample characters and then use those results to fill out your table.
Grogs, p.65, has a relatively simple and quick abstraction to update a character's aging penalties on a decade-by-decade basis.
As for warping, I'd second what others have said: 2 warping points/year after the end of apprenticeship is the default assumption for "mystical" characters, including hedge wizards. This assumes characters living a relatively prudent life. Reckless Flambeaus flinging around rooks of raw vis are likely to accumulate warping at a much faster pace.
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13 gives aging points to the next level in decrepitude. the 44 year old city dweller who was a little unlucky and has gained 5 decrepitude points (DP) rolls 13, +10DPs. The 44 year old who had one better year and has 4 DPs rolls 13 and gains 1 DP. A small difference in starting point can make a huge difference in end point. Due to how swingy it is, I think it better to choose the aging effect if it matters, or roll it out.
If you are making 100 aged NPCs you need stats for, I guess make a table. I can't see a scenario where the volume of people is large enough it is too time consuming to roll, but small enough you still need really accurate stats.
Aging can be so swingy, especially without Longevity Rituals, that I'd just eyeball it. People will average one Crisis per decade, assume that's non-lethal, plus some random Aging Points, so someone around 65 is probably creeping up on Decrepitude 4 and that's when things really start to go downhill because of the stress related Crisis rolls.
There's no point in making an older character unless you assume they are lucky on the Aging table*, and at that point you might as well choose for them.
*Wealth, Location and Magic may be involved as well
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There’s also all the relevant V&F: (Strong) Faerie Blood, Mild Aging, Unaging, Age Quickly, …
Nah. Let's do it Traveller style, and the PCs keep running into situations where the NPC they're looking for has either switched careers, or died.
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The Grog's cheat-sheet is pretty good. I highly recommend it. I believe @ezzelino mentioned it.
I had a python app I ran that took a spreadsheet of covenant residents and age and rolled for all of them, spitting out the result, which was a fun project, but in the end it really was more work than it was worth, considering how players only interacted with like, seven our of sixty grogs.
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This thread came up on a discord conversation:
Edit: I’m just starting to read it. No clue on conclusions…
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FWIW, my first submision to Myh=thic Euroipe Magazine is how to stat up NPCs of variuous age, including magi. And yes, ir ends on a rubrik labelled "aging, the lazy way out".
i hope you'll like it. if it gets published=, that is
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