There's something puzzling me about Aging Rolls. I'm referring to ArsMag5, p.170
[i]a) If you roll between 10 and 12, you gain 1 Aging Point in any Characteristic, which may be chosen by the player.
b) If you roll a 13 or above 21, you gain sufficient Aging Points in any Characteristics to reach the next level in Decrepitude.[/i]
Question is : in case b), can you spread the Aging Points in as many Characteristics as you wish or do you have to put all the gained Aging Points in one and only one Charasteristic ?
More generally about aging ... I'm playing with an old priest as Companion aged 45 at creation. He is now just over 50 and therefore I made about 15 aging rolls so far. Despite having no Longevity Ritual nor any other bonus and rolling two times a 13 (with minor crisis), he is only at level 2 in Decrepitude. It seems to me he's quite coping with Aging so far and could reach the age of 70 or 80 without big trouble.
Does anyone have already play with a Companion without Longevity Ritual until Aging kick him out of the game ? Is the Aging process in ArsMag5 realistic ?
More interesting things tend to happen to our companions But we've seen quite a bunch of grogs die of old age. I'd say aging is fairly realistic - remember that in the middle ages, once an adult (child mortality was the main reason why average lifespan was so low) your life expectancy was not that much shorter than today, if your living conditions were good and you avoided war, disease, and death in childbirth.
My guess is that you´re yet another victim of the "average age" historians? Thing is that infant and child mortality was severly higher than now, and care for injuries and sickness was generally alot worse, but life expectancy itself wasnt that hugely different.
I've counted the lifetime of some kings and they died mostly before 60. Especially the diseases has lesser role than IRL.
I think the current aging rules should be a bit stricter and a new virtue with a minor and major level would solve the case of extra long lives.
Actually, I did indeed believe the expected lifetime to be less in 1200 than it is nowadays (that is around 70/80 years) ...
Does anyone have reference information about that (book or website) ? I would like to test the Aging process of Ars Magica by comparing it to some "real" data.
But we've seen quite a bunch of grogs die of old age. I'd say aging is fairly realistic - remember that in the middle ages, once an adult (child mortality was the main reason why average lifespan was so low) your life expectancy was not that much shorter than today, if your living conditions were good and you avoided war, disease, and death in childbirth.