Worldly Wise: How Old Should an Experience Character be?

Post » Sat May 28, 2011 1:07 am

Ok, 2 questions:

1) How old is your character
and 2) How old do you think is ''right'' for an experienced character who has finished the main quest and side missions?

I made 2 characters, one 21 and another 45. After the main quest (using the 45 character), I always felt a few gray hairs and wrinkles made him feel like a more experienced warrior. With the 21 year old, I felt he was still too young and it kind of ruined my RPG experience.

I guess I have a 3rd question which is this:

3) For a good warrior, how old is realistic for both experience and ability to still handle themself: 20-24, 25-29, 30-34, 35-39, 41-44, 45-49, 51-54 or 55+?

I made a poll for the 3rd question.
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Lily Something
 
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Post » Fri May 27, 2011 8:14 pm

Well it depends I guess, on the individual and what role playing experience you want.

I'm 20 right now, I've been studying martial arts since I was a kid, been in a few scraps, I work out, stay in shape, and I'm pretty worldly. My anologous Tamriel self would probably be able to fend for himself. Could I take on the Oblivion horde? Well maybe not now. After a game full of adventuring? Most likely. So do you want to start the game out relatively experienced, or do you want to start with a character who can more or less fend for themselves, and then grow into a more heroic role?

There's the subject of physical health, as well. There's a window of physical prime- you have to be old enough that your body can still heal and take a beating over and over again and still get up the next day without soreness, but old enough that your body has spent time developing muscle- but then there's that day when you wake up and can't move, when the day before you were fine, and that's when you know you gotta take it easy.

An older character, though still strong, but might not be able to fight all day, well, he doesn't have to. He's experienced enough to know when he's got to fight and when he doesn't have to. Younger guys can fight harder, but older guys can fight smarter (think of your old kung fu master, he beats up the young guys because he's experienced enough to know what their attacks are going to look like and where to hit for the most pain).

So really you have a wide range of capabilities depending on the person and who you want to play.

Young, physically fit guy who can take care of himself, but who will grow into the role of hero who can take care of others? (or villain who can "take care" of others...)

Slightly older guy in his prime who's seen some action and is on the top of his game every day?

Old dog who conserves his energy waiting for the young guy to stop showing off so he can shove a sword into his gut?
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Lori Joe
 
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Post » Fri May 27, 2011 11:24 pm

As an older player, I prefer my characters to look their age. So most of my characters end up in the character creation menu as older. Been around the block several times, seen that done that. More combat experience than you could shake a stick at.... I relate more to the character this way, as opposed to some fresh, young face. I'd like to believe that my character has earned his way, the hard way; as it is a tough life in Tamriel reality. Now go cut me a switch you whippersnapper! :toughninja:
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Karine laverre
 
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Post » Fri May 27, 2011 4:54 pm

Interesting replies, anyone else going to reply too? :)
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Devin Sluis
 
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Post » Sat May 28, 2011 12:59 am

Speaking outside of TES, I spent three decades as a warrior in service of the US Marine Corps. Youth has the physical skills; age has the experience and wisdom. I found that there is a peak range where the two are balanced optimally that occupies roughly the decade between 30 and 40. Individuals vary greatly of course, and the nature of your combat specialty comes into play as well (pilot in my case). Simply the observations of one old Marine.

TES is very different for me however. Starting with the fact that the majority of races are not human and have radically different lifespans. I imagine that a youthful 150 year old Altmer mage would be quite the force to be reckoned with.

In my own game, the youthful ignorance and naivte of the young wood elf I travel with is somewhat balanced by having her old warhorse (me) as an invisible, but everpresent mentor. The only problem, is that her youthful headstrong impetuousness sometimes keeps her from heeding my advice. Ah, such is life and the generational challenges of it. :P
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SamanthaLove
 
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Post » Fri May 27, 2011 9:25 pm

I don't know Haruka's age, she has her "age" slider all the way to the left, and I haven't seen it moving up. I guess she's 19 or 21?

Talking realistically, it should be at least 8-9 years older than the age when the character starts out, but I'm one of those brats who believe absolute power rocks absolutely and chose to preserve her beauty and empower her at the same time
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Alessandra Botham
 
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Post » Fri May 27, 2011 8:04 pm

1) My character is about 24 years old.

2) Well, I don't know... depends on when you start it. Age doesn't necessarily have anything to do with battle experience.
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Silvia Gil
 
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Post » Fri May 27, 2011 9:05 pm

Couldn't vote on the poll...it's too vague. Sorry.

Ok, 2 questions:

1) How old is your character


All 6 of my characters so far have been fairly young...teens or early 20s. I thought of making my wizard older (with gray hair) but then it wouldn't make sense for this 60 year-old to be just learning spells, and then amassing dozens of them in her spell book over the course of 300 days or whatever. Seems to me such a character would start out with lots of spells. But whateva..

and 2) How old do you think is ''right'' for an experienced character who has finished the main quest and side missions?


Could be young. Could be old-er. Not sure what this question is supposed to mean. I mean, it's not really age, it's experience. I know young people in real-life who are strong and/or smart, and I know older people who are dumb as a rock and physically weak. :shrug: And vice versa to both situations.

3) For a good warrior, how old is realistic for both experience and ability to still handle themself: 20-24, 25-29, 30-34, 35-39, 41-44, 45-49, 51-54 or 55+?

I made a poll for the 3rd question.


Any age under say....60 seems okay to me. I mean.....a human over 60 performing some of the physical feats found in TES seems unrealistic. There are humans who have lots of endurance and stamina at older ages, and could possibly tear apart a dungeon full of monsters, but they're rare. So I say under 60 is okay. But an elf? They're supposed to live a lot longer than humans. Hundreds of years.
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Emily Shackleton
 
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Post » Fri May 27, 2011 10:46 am

The age slider in oblivion isn't very 'realistic'.

In real-life most people would be all the way to the left until their late 30s, and then they'd only ever hit a notch or two further on till their 60s. Long after most ppl would be dead in the TES world (assuming it's like the roman or medieval world).
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maria Dwyer
 
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Post » Fri May 27, 2011 9:24 pm

My Khajiit is set up for sneaking around, talking fast, and going invisible. Hes 21 and very crafty. When he cant do something he befriends somebody that can help him.
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Cedric Pearson
 
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Post » Fri May 27, 2011 3:24 pm

1) How old is your character


Since my current character is a young elf, I'd say right now she's around 120 years. I don't really play humans as a general rule so I can't speak to it officially but I'd probably start them off around 20 or so. But this also depends on what I'm trying to achieve for myself RP wise. If I came up with a much older character I'd have fun with, then I'd start them off age appropriately.


2) How old do you think is ''right'' for an experienced character who has finished the main quest and side missions?


I tend to give the game "5 years". So by the end of the main quest and other missions of choice, my character has aged 5 years. The term *right* is difficult for me to answer as like I said above, it depends on how my character starts out. Young and inexperienced or older and wiser.

I guess I have a 3rd question which is this:

3) For a good warrior, how old is realistic for both experience and ability to still handle themself: 20-24, 25-29, 30-34, 35-39, 41-44, 45-49, 51-54 or 55+?


I'd use the same time-span/years as Acadian. From 30-40. I'm 48 and although I could still do some things that I could at 20, the bones creek a bit more ;). Also my patience for BS isn't quite what it was. So I would tend to be telling people (Read NPC's, quest givers, etc) to stuff it a lot quicker than 10 or more years ago ;)
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Ashley Tamen
 
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Post » Fri May 27, 2011 5:01 pm

My Khajiit is set up for sneaking around, talking fast, and going invisible. Hes 21 and very crafty. When he cant do something he befriends somebody that can help him.


Sounds just like my current character, i put mine around 24-26. Mine is all sneak, i just got the ring of khajiit for him too, he is so freakin sneaky. So much so, that i dont use it unless i want that prefect kill shot. However, he tends to be a darker character also, I'm using him just for the brotherhood and thieves guild quest. Maybe i will do some good guy quest down the road when he has a big change of heart or something.
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Charlie Ramsden
 
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Post » Fri May 27, 2011 10:34 pm

Moderator: Some of your responses don't quite cut it. So they get edited out. Learn how to accept differing opinions. Or else threads get locked. :stare:
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Floor Punch
 
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