I think just playing young characters starting out is a bit dull. The group I play with like to start each adventure at level one (and so do I) So I have two level one characters I have created who are a little older, one is 41 year old female druid who stayed home with kids for years, her husband is dead, her kids left and she is back to adventuring. The other is a 60 year old Jarl from the Whalebones, (A viking kind of guy). He was an experienced warrior as a young man, has white hair but still strong and tough, his family is grown and he had a feud with another clan on his island and needs to leave. Basically these backstories don't work with level one (especially the older Viking guy) unless they somehow lost levels over the years as they didn't use their skills. I don't think this is covered in the rules. Thoughts about this? previous experience with it?      

There's no rules about it, but seeing as it's just flavoring that doesn't directly affect gameplay, I think most DMs would allow it. I'm sure there's probably a few homebrewed "retired adventurer" backgrounds on this site already. But I think it's a pretty cool idea, and it would be a good in-story explanation for why an experienced D&D player is able to be knowledgeable about so many aspects of the game in-game while still being a low-level character.

I think it's worth remembering that a level 1 character is still pretty far ahead of the average person.  Your 41 year old viking might have had a lot of native skill as a younger man but was never tested much.  That said, there is no reason the years may have passed and he lost some of his training.

I don't see a problem with it. I've gotten into discussions with people that were under the impression that it was impossible to age without mastering several skills, tools, languages, etc (as if using downtime rules for backstory).

One of my characters is an elderly dwarf who through out his years has been a smith, soldier, husband, and father, but not an adventurer.

Up to the player for me if it fits their backstory. I'd suggest instead of losing levels that some kind of table could be created, like the wild magic for example, could be made to roll on instead of losing a level.

Quote from Avohei >>

Up to the player for me if it fits their backstory. I'd suggest instead of losing levels that some kind of table could be created, like the wild magic for example, could be made to roll on instead of losing a level.

 I see you read half the title and nothing else about the topic of the discussion.

lol yeah, but on that same scale... although it's unbalanced as Hell, I kind of like the idea of giving characters who, in their backstory were once a higher level... the chance to use some of their "old skills", either through random chance or at some kind of cost. Actually, cost would be better... I think it would be kind of cool to let a character who was once level 10 but lived a casual enough life to become level 1 again over a few decades to be able to tap into their old skills, and use one of the skills of their class that's at a higher level. Although they would suffer a level of exhaustion depending on what level the skill is tied to.

Super unbalanced, sure. But what I had in mind was Tellah from Final Fantasy IV who, for those who aren't familiar with the game, was an elderly spellcaster who knew every spell in the game, but because he was so old and out of practice he simply didn't have enough MP to cast most of the spells in his cache. But without spoiling things, he eventually finds a way to cast his higher level spells, but at a physical cost to himself (although I'm not sure how much I need to "spoiler warning" a 28 year old game that introduced so many people to RPGs in the first place).

I think this is what backgrounds are built for. While an Urchin might be an up and coming Rogue, a Criminal may be an active Rogue, a Charlatan a Rogue who may have lost their touch, but is still sly. What is an old viking, but an old Soldier, or old Mariner, or old Outcast?

I will look for retire adventurer for some pointers and flavor, thank you.  

That is true isn't it? A level one fighter is much more formidable than a commoner. 

Thank you all for your comments and suggestions. It sure helps to bounce ideas around and ask for some help. Appreciate it!

Also consider using the feat provided by the Variant Human to represent knowledge or skills learned over the course of their life time. The old Viking Barbarian with the Martial Adept feat still has a few tricks up his sleeves, the Druid with the Healer feat knows her way around around a herb garden and can whip up a poultice (or a nice cockatrice pot pie). Magic Iniate, Ritual Caster and Weapon Master are great ways to "switch classes" if you will.

Well, I'm not a viking, but I am turning 50 in a few months. So let me tell you a few things about getting older. 

It is entirely possible that Jarl was a great warrior when he was younger. Possibly even the equivalent of having several levels of the fighter class. But... sometimes life gets in the way and we stop doing things that we used to do. Maybe he got married and stopped adventuring and got a dad bod. Maybe he got injured and had to take time off and didn't maintain his exercise regimen. Well... no matter how good you are at something, you'll get less good at it if you don't keep working at it. So it's possible that Jarl is just getting back into shape and is having to relearn all the things he used to know. So he is effectively starting over at level one. 

That happens a lot. For example, I used to be a soldier, and a rather accomplished drummer. I'd think nothing of mountain biking 50 miles on a day off just for fun. I used to deadlift 500 with no problem. But that was a long time ago. I haven't kept at it. A while back I dropped an M&M under my desk and now it just lives there, because I can't reach it and I don't feel like moving my entire desk to get it. I'm back at level one. 

As far as your druid goes... my mom was a stay at home mom who raised 4 kids while my dad worked. I was the youngest. My mom started college the same time I started high school, since two of my siblings had already moved out and the remaining two could take care of ourselves. She effectively started at level one at the age of 44. That was a very common thing for her generation. 

So your backstories actually work perfectly well for an older level one character. Consider this: Ray Kroc was 50 when he bought his first McDonalds. Vera Wang was 40 when she sold her first dress. Sam Walton founded Wal*Mart at 44. And Colonel Harland Sanders was 65 when he open his first KFC. 

Go for it. Your characters are fine. 

Oh.... and remember to exercise. 

I really liked your post, thank you. I am a 51 year old vet as well so much of what you said speaks true for me as well. I was maybe level 4? Went down to level 1. Now maybe back up to level 2?  My years of being out of shape were my late 30s and early 40s, actually much better now. But I have other creeping issues like lack of night vision. The eyes ain't what they used to be.    

Acme, the healer feat was one I was thinking of for my Druid. She is very interested in healing and herbs. The healer feat looks awesome, its like having a non cleric healer in the party as good (or almost) as a cleric.  My personal favorite feat is tavern brawler, but its not applicable here of course!

I don't know, the Druid who has spent a few decades dealing with aftermaths of every bar brawl might be a dab hand at breaking them up, or be the person who unexpectedly owns everyone in the shot taking/arm wrestling contest. It's probably not the most optimal feat for a Druid, but it definitely has r.p. traction.

Also, thank you both for your service.

That's true. And she had three daughters, breaking up who stole whose clothes fights could give her tavern brawler experience.

In my opinion, the content of most of the backgrounds implies that level one characters are meant to be older, just new to adventuring, which doesn't help with your specific characters, for which you've already received great advice, but is useful for building new older characters.

For example, a character with a background of 'sailor' or 'artisan' or 'sage' or any other profession that doesn't pertain to a class or adventuring would, I always assume, be an older adult new to adventuring, having spent a significant portion of their adult lives practicing said profession and living a 'civilian' life until some specific event prompted a change.

Otherwise, when did that background take place? When did they learn the skills and cultivate the benefit it provides?

That's how I build and play my characters - as 'normal' people with 'normal' lives who were pushed into adventuring, or even into a specific adventure, by some sort of inciting incident. Usually they also start with a concrete goal to accomplish related to that.

But I got into D&D in college while doing a creative writing degree, after a lifetime of after school and in school classes and books on narrative theory and fiction writing, so I tend to go at this stuff narratively rather than mechanically, if that makes sense.