5.4 -- Character Aging

As the campaign moves through game time, characters will have birthdays and actually grow older. This gives the benefit of gaining an extra experience point for growing older, as a sort of birthday present, and perhaps representing the gaining of a little wisdom that such events will bring.

But eventually a character will grow old enough that he or she will begin to feel the effects that aging can have. Such things vary, of course, but since this is a game we need consistent rules to deal with these things.

I am willing to let most of this be character flavor, and only provide in-game prodding where necessary. However, there are a few rules:

Death and Consciousness Tests

Starting at age 40, DTs and CTs become a little harder. The body doesn't deal as well with the stresses of injury. There is a -1 penalty to each. This increases to -2 at 60, and -3 at 80. This is true even if the character was created at a later age. There is no increased cost for using Fudge Points to pass these tests.

Attribute Loss

This is to represent the general slowing down that can come with age. At 40 years old, the character loses one Attribute level, and again every 5 years. This may be any Attribute except Rank. With the GM's permission, you may lower two Skill levels in substitution for an Attribute level.