say you decide your tavern in your campaign is owned by a retired 15th level fighter. If he was say a 65 year old human who has not adventured in 25 years, would you consider anything to change about his skills, abilities or class features? I am guessing it is DM discretion but has there ever been any rules in older versions? Or other ideas you have used? Thanks.
Older editions have had a change in abilities with age - generally deterioration of physical (Strength, Dexterity) and increase in mental (Wisdom, Intelligence).
5th edition doesn't do that if I remember correctly, and leaves NPC handling entirely up to the DM.
Personally, I keep a mental note of "worse physically, possibly with more street-smarts or applicable experiences", but keep it vague and mostly visible in social situations. I haven't had a scene where a retired adventurer fights side-to-side with party members, however. And there's a distinctive difference between an adventurer that has retired for 25 years, and one that's 75 but still active (depending on how gritty <-> epic your setting is).
Most popular sources of fiction, however, have that 15th level barkeep be demonstrably more skilled than the up-and-coming youth that's still 4 level but has a lot of potential.
And beware the old man in a profession where men usually die young. :)
I would not decide that... I may decide that a tavern in my campaign is owned by a retired adventurer who would have been fighter class if he'd ever have been a PC, and then establish that NPCs current stats based on what is true for him at the time his stats are relevant; he's 65, was a potent warrior in his prime, and is at least 25 years removed from said prime.
And that would make the NPCs stats very much not like building a 15th level fighter PC and then trimming back a little here and there for age. He'd likely end up more along the lines of me using the Veteran stats instead of the Commoner stats.
So to answer the questions more directly; Yes, age matters for me when figuring NPC stats. Yes, I'd have a retired adventurer have differences from the skills, abilities, and class features a PC would normally have. No, I would not ever apply full details of any character class to an NPC, it's much more efficient to follow the normal monster building rules and apply a few traits that evoke the feel of a class.
I'll agree with Aaron that, with few exceptions, fully statting an NPC is probably not the best use of a DM's preparation time.
How far you go between the excellent suggestion of Veteran and a representation of a class, however, likely depends on how much focus you want to give to that NPC - if he's a random bartender in a minor village along the way, Aaron's handling is ideal. If you want to expand and elaborate on his story, because he's one of the retired heroes the party recruits to save the city/protect the emperor/form their own guild, you will probably want to add some more flavor.
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say you decide your tavern in your campaign is owned by a retired 15th level fighter. If he was say a 65 year old human who has not adventured in 25 years, would you consider anything to change about his skills, abilities or class features? I am guessing it is DM discretion but has there ever been any rules in older versions? Or other ideas you have used? Thanks.
Older editions have had a change in abilities with age - generally deterioration of physical (Strength, Dexterity) and increase in mental (Wisdom, Intelligence).
5th edition doesn't do that if I remember correctly, and leaves NPC handling entirely up to the DM.
Personally, I keep a mental note of "worse physically, possibly with more street-smarts or applicable experiences", but keep it vague and mostly visible in social situations. I haven't had a scene where a retired adventurer fights side-to-side with party members, however. And there's a distinctive difference between an adventurer that has retired for 25 years, and one that's 75 but still active (depending on how gritty <-> epic your setting is).
Most popular sources of fiction, however, have that 15th level barkeep be demonstrably more skilled than the up-and-coming youth that's still 4 level but has a lot of potential.
And beware the old man in a profession where men usually die young. :)
I would not decide that... I may decide that a tavern in my campaign is owned by a retired adventurer who would have been fighter class if he'd ever have been a PC, and then establish that NPCs current stats based on what is true for him at the time his stats are relevant; he's 65, was a potent warrior in his prime, and is at least 25 years removed from said prime.
And that would make the NPCs stats very much not like building a 15th level fighter PC and then trimming back a little here and there for age. He'd likely end up more along the lines of me using the Veteran stats instead of the Commoner stats.
So to answer the questions more directly; Yes, age matters for me when figuring NPC stats. Yes, I'd have a retired adventurer have differences from the skills, abilities, and class features a PC would normally have. No, I would not ever apply full details of any character class to an NPC, it's much more efficient to follow the normal monster building rules and apply a few traits that evoke the feel of a class.
I'll agree with Aaron that, with few exceptions, fully statting an NPC is probably not the best use of a DM's preparation time.
How far you go between the excellent suggestion of Veteran and a representation of a class, however, likely depends on how much focus you want to give to that NPC - if he's a random bartender in a minor village along the way, Aaron's handling is ideal. If you want to expand and elaborate on his story, because he's one of the retired heroes the party recruits to save the city/protect the emperor/form their own guild, you will probably want to add some more flavor.