Magic and the Elderly

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    • Magic and the Elderly

      The wizened old white beared wizard and the silver haired crone are kind of archtypes of main stream fantasy but I've been pondering how to handle, rulewise, creating an elderly character who's now senile.

      For creating a competent but elderly character, it seems easy. Just sell down the physical characteristics and use those to increase the skills.

      But what about a really old, completely senile, barely functioning character?


      Do Sirhibasi tend to die before they get that old because they slip up and things go terribly wrong?

      For this campaign I have an idea for, I need to make a sorcerer who was once very great, but now can barely even dress herself. Someone who isn't all there anymore. Though I suppose she could have been that way a long time after botching something important in the Dream.

      Thoughts?
    • RE: Magic and the Elderly

      Really, the stats just need to fit the story,...and the best way to make a character of weak stats is to create it using the restrictions of Low Power Level, while having a back-story to explain why...

      We've actually done that before (created elderly magic characters whose powers are very limited using Low Level points)...and it worked quite well...

      Of course, the idea with that particular character was that he wanted "Mama Nava" to be able to be a player character who would actually be useful in the game, so to give her some cool power, he had to hugely buy Drawbacks...

      That was a pretty fun game! We were all Low Level Outcasts in a game run by Richard Fox here on the forums...

      Scottie ^^
    • RE: Magic and the Elderly

      Originally posted by Mulefoot
      But what about a really old, completely senile, barely functioning character?

      Scotts already said it: Drawbacks drawbacks drawbacks :D
      Personally I'd introduce a new kind of drawback:

      [Blocked Image: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v356/Philot/Stuff/Shard/brain.png]Alzheimer Drawback
      Depending on how strong the drawback is (x% of the time), (instead of a Will roll like most drawbacks) have your player do a knowledge roll to see if she forgets something. Apply a penalty depending on complexity.
      Fumble means the character completely forgets where she is and what she was doing.


      Originally posted by MulefootDo Sirhibasi tend to die before they get that old because they slip up and things go terribly wrong?

      I think it depends. Some sirhibasi might "play it safe" and do their business in the dream realm using good and expensive equipment, with others supporting (defending) them and have plenty of experience and tomes supplying them with crucial knowledge.

      In contrast, there might be some young, ambitious sirhibasi reaching for their dreams, literally, who might get burned hard for their inexperienced foolishness.

      Originally posted by Mulefoot
      For this campaign I have an idea for, I need to make a sorcerer who was once very great, but now can barely even dress herself. Someone who isn't all there anymore. Though I suppose she could have been that way a long time after botching something important in the Dream.


      I think it'd be different if she botched something in a dream, then you'd probably apply some sort of mystic drawback.

      Suppose her essence fingerprint was disturbed or warped. Maybe it was a mesmerizing experience.

      The post was edited 3 times, last by Sherbie ().

    • I think what I'm trying to decide in the end is less about rules and more about the history of the character. Which is more interesting to play? A character who has dementia, or character who is a little senile but has a serious mystic penalty. Such as...any time she enters the Dream, there's something that comes for her.

      So its someone with Extreme Drawback (-5) that Always occurs (100%) of Mystic nature. Whenever they enter the dream, they are demon plagued. Its just a matter of time about when the demons show up. This an 18 point drawback.

      So Grandma Si'ni just doesn't enter the dream anymore. Not unless she absolutely must because its terrifying and the demons actively work against her magic, giving her that -5 penalty.

      Could even throw in a phobia of entering the dream. So she has do do a willpower check to even try.

      Then a mental drawback of Dementia of moderate fashion effecting all her skills Often. So half the time she's got -3 to her skills because she gets confused. That a 9 point draw back.

      That would give her 27 points to boost her knowledge skills and with some attributes appropriately sold down, make her even more a cornucopia of knowledge and skill. Too bad that half the time, there's a -3 to those skills :)

      Anyway, now I have to decide if the Mystic drawback would make her more interesting to play. There would need to be a resolution to it in the story--which is tricky because I wanted to go a route where some things look like magic and demons, but aren't.

      I've nicknamed this campaign idea the "Scooby-Doo" story because in the end, its going to be someone faking a haunting--and they would have gotten away with it, if not for those meddling kids.

      By making Grandma's character suffer a mystical penalty, it sort of dilutes the idea of a non-magical story. I wanted to play up the fear of magic in general though... So we'll see.