A GE E FFECTS AND A GING

Elf All Elves 01–20 21–49 50+ 144 — — — Dwarf All Dwarves 01–14 15–29 30–129 45 130–174 175–219 220+ Hobbit Fallohide 01–09 10–32 33–54 40 55–79 80–94 95+ Harfoot 01–09 10–32 33–54 40 55–74 75–89 90+ Stoor 01–09 10–32 33–54 40 55–74 75–89 90+ Man Dúnadan, pure 01–11 12–24 25–59 30 60–79 80–104 105+ Dúnadan, lesser 01–10 11–19 20–44 25 45–69 70–89 90+ Middle Man 01–09 10–15 16–34 23 35–49 50–59 60+ Man of Darkness 01–09 10–15 16–29 20 30–44 45–54 55+ Wild Man 01–08 9–14 15–24 18 25–34 35–50 51+

*: A character who is still a child receives only two thirds of his youth development picks and no apprenticeship development picks at all. †: A character who is still in his youth receives all of his youth development picks and one third of his apprenticeship development picks. ‡: An adult character who has not yet reached the indicated starting age receives only two thirds of his apprenticeship development picks.

number of development picks, your character must have reached at least the starting age indicated in Table 3.1.

However, if you choose to start off at a younger age (usu- ally this only happens when creating an NPC), the following limitations apply:

 A character who is still a child receives only two thirds (66.7%) of his youth development picks and no ap- prenticeship development picks at all.

 A character who is still in his youth receives all (100%) of his youth development picks and one third (33.3%) of his apprenticeship development picks.

 An adult character who has not yet reached the indi- cated starting age receives only two thirds (66.7%) of his apprenticeship development picks (and, of course, the full set of youth picks).

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Optionally, you could determine the number of available development picks more precisely by dividing the percentages given above through the number of years an age category comprises. In the next step, multiply this result by a character’s actual age, respectively by the number of years he has accu- mulated in a given age category. For example, a seven year old Mannish child receives 66.7% ÷ 9 x 7 = 52% of his youth picks.

Likewise, a thirteen year old would receive 66.7% + (33.3% ÷ 6 x 4) = 89% of his youth picks: the Middle Men’s youth category comprises 6 years, and he has been in that cat- egory for 4 years. The unmodified 66.7% are the youth picks he received during his childhood. In addition, he receives 33.3% ÷ 6 x 4 = 22.2% of his apprenticeship picks.

To give a last example, a twenty year old Middle Man re- ceives all of his youth picks and 33.3% + [66.7% ÷ (23 – 15) x (20 – 15)] = 75% of his apprenticeship picks.

Note that the time required to achieve up to a journeyman’s proficiency in any one occupation (see page 320) and up to three edges is already accounted for in the typical starting age given for each race. If you wish to acquire a master’s profi- ciency or additional occupational packages and/or edges, you must figure your character’s minimum age by adding the time

required to obtain all your chosen edges and occupational packages to the last year given for your character’s youth age category (i.e., for example, 15 years for a Middle Man).

If the so determined minimum age is lower than the normal starting age of your race, you must decide on his ac- tual age. You could either choose:

 your character to be younger than normal, thus forfeit- ing part of his apprenticeship development picks, or  that he has already reached the normal starting age,

thus receiving all of his apprenticeship picks.

Of course you may also figure your character’s minimum age as described above if he does not start off with more than three levels of edges or at a master’s level of proficiency. However, you should only do so if you really wish him to be younger (or perhaps even older) than normal.

AGE EFFECTS AND AGING

Very young characters do not only receive less develop- ment picks, but they are also subject to age-related attribute adjustments. The latter also is the case with older characters. Table 3.2 summarises these adjustments:

TABLE 3.2:AGE EFFECTS AGE

CATEGORY EFFECTS

Child –6 Strength and Will, –5 Vigour, Bearing, and Insight, –4 Deftness, Nimbleness, Awareness, and Wits

Youth –3 Strength and Insight, –2 Vigour, Will, Bearing, and Wits, –1 Deftness, Nimbleness, and Awareness

Adult None

Middle-aged –1 Nimbleness, Vigour, and Awareness, +1 Bearing, Insight, and Wits

Old –2 Deftness, Nimbleness, Strength, Vigour, and Awareness, +1 Will, Bearing, and Insight Aged* –3 Deftness, Nimbleness, Strength, Vigour, and

Awareness, +1 Bearing and Insight *: An additional roll on Table 3.3 is required each year.

Attribute adjustments due to age are applied only after you have determined your basic attribute scores as normal. Record them in the designated column of your Character Sheet (under ‘miscellaneous adjustments’). Basically, these age effects work just like adjustments due to race or gender.

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A young character’s attribute scores cannot drop below 1 due to age penalties. Alternatively, you could avoid the prob- lem of attribute scores dropping below 1 by interpreting the attribute penalties for being very young as proportional re- ductions: simply divide a given penalty by 10 and treat the re- sult as a factor by which an attribute should be decreased.

For example, a character with a meagre Strength score of 5 who is still a child suffers only a (5 x –0.6 =) –3 penalty in- stead of the normal –6 modification. This method must not be used for characters suffering from old age penalties!

Regardless of which way you choose to determine the at- tribute adjustments for being very young, the number of picks a character has available for skill and ability develop- ment is always calculated from his unmodified total attribute scores (i.e., only racial and gender adjustments are applied, but no age penalties—see page 71 for more details on devel- opment picks).

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Aging is a serious threat to all mortal characters and will eventually take them out of play. The first signs that age is taking its toll become evident as soon as a character reaches his middle years. Yet, normally not until a character is vener- ably aged do those impairments become perilous. Note that the age effects given in Table 3.2 are not cumulative: For ex- ample, if a ‘middle-aged’ character reaches the ‘old’ age cate- gory, the –1 penalty on Nimbleness is replaced by a –2 modification, and he loses the +1 bonus on Wits.

Once your character has reached the ‘aged’ category (or the earliest possible end of his natural lifespan as indicated by the description of his race, whichever occurs first), you must roll on Table 3.3 below every game year. Starting at the min- imum age for being ‘aged’ +10 years, you must roll every six months; starting at the minimum age for being ‘aged’ +20 years, you must roll every three months.

The result of an aging roll is a random reduction of one or more of the character’s attributes which applies in addition to the set adjustments given in Table 3.2. When, after many winters, any attribute reaches a score of 3 or less, the charac- ter is bedridden and may no longer participate in active play. When any attribute finally drops below 1, the character dies.

THE AGING PROCEDURE: _{Aging uses two tables in se-}

quence. The Aging Table shows the number of dice rolled on the Attribute Degeneration Table, where attribute scores are actually reduced.

To determine aging, roll 2d10 and add your character’s total adjusted Vigour score. Then consult Table 3.3 to find the number of attributes affected by aging this year. This is given in terms of the number of dice rolled on Table 3.4. For example, if the aging test yields a 22, this calls for 3 dice to be rolled on the Attribute Degeneration Table. Sometimes, the number of dice called for by the Aging Table will be zero.

After determining the required number of d10s called from the Aging Table 3.3, consult the Attribute Degenera- tion Table 3.4 to find out which attribute scores, if any, were reduced by one point. For example, if three dice are rolled, and all are 4s, the character loses three points of Vigour— making the next aging roll more likely to be fatal. Note that a roll of 10 on Table 3.4 indicates that no attribute was de- creased from that die roll. However, a character may still die as a result of the second (or any further) roll.

TABLE 3.3:AGING 2d10+ NUMBER OF AFFECTED VIGOUR ATTRIBUTES ≤15 8 16 7 17 6 18 5 20 4 22 3 23 2 24 1 25+ 0

ATTRIBUTE DEGENERATION: Besides aging, Table 3.4 is al-

so used when a character drops to the Near Death Health Level. Occasionally, complications during the healing process call for rolls on this table, too. See ‘Injury, Weariness, and Healing’, starting on page 225, for more information.

When an attribute loss is the result of aging, the player (or, if necessary, the Turambar) should come up with a plau- sible explanation for the degeneration. For example, a loss of Wits could represent increasing senility; a dwindling Deft- ness score could be the result of arthritis or gout; and so on.

TABLE 3.4:ATTRIBUTE DEGENERATION 1d10 AFFECTED ATTRIBUTE 1 Deftness 2 Nimbleness 3 Strength 4 Vigour 5 Awareness 6 Will 7 Bearing 8 Insight 9 Wits 10 None