In your settings, are wizards able to easily extend their lives? 

This thread is not about spells or other game-mechanical ways to live longer. There aren't many. But wizardry is more than just the spells they cast in-game. Or at least it should be IMO. 

I usually prefer that wizards can quite easily prolong their lives for a couple of centuries. I like this because the races already have such different lifespans. Wizardry requires lifelong dedication from any race. To crack the secrets of the magical world, 80 years is just not a very long time. I imagine that human wizards especially put a lot of effort into finding ways to live longer. 

I like to make it so that most organized human Master wizards can live up to 200-250 years with the regular consumption of potions and pulling favors from a highly skilled transmutation wizard etc. The strongest wizards have access to even stronger magic, of course, so their lifespans are difficult to determine. 

Magic is weird. Those who practice it often find that their lifespan increases by 100 or so years which gives them the time to grow very dignified beards. 

Or maybe it's the dignified beard that gives them those extra 100 years? 

That could be so. It is a logical conclusion. There is a type of dwarf from mythology whose power was measured by the length of its beard, so maybe it's the same for wizards. 

Mechanically the only consistent longevity option I can find for Wizards is the Clone spell. I think the extended lifespan thing is more fluff than RAW in 5e, which by no means keeps it from being a valid bit. Notably, the Master Transmuter feature specifically says it doesn't extend a creature's lifespan, it just reduces the outward age. So, by the book, there's only one reliable method for a Wizard to extend their life, and it involves an 8th level spell, a 2000 gp initial deposit and then a 1000 gp diamond a pop. Notably it is "diamond", singular, not "diamonds", plural, so realistically there's not going to be too many of those on the market. Purely from a fluff/lore perspective I'd save extended lifespan until a Wizard is in the high tier 3 range, power-wise. If longevity was easy, it wouldn't make such a tempting carrot for various unscrupulous beings looking to make a deal.

In my games wizardry is scaled so that wizards become Masters at 5+ and Grandmasters at 10+. 7-9 level Masters are titled Senior Masters. Trying to keep power inflation pretty controlled, so those 15+ wizards are extremely rare. A level 8-9 wizard could very well be the headmaster of a renowned mage college and Archmages are only required to be 10+ etc. :) 

So not even all Grandmasters are capable of the clone spell or any other 8th level spell. But I do want to have more subtle ways of extending lifespans for stronger Masters and Grandmaster to keep those pesky human wizards around a bit longer. Also, higher level spells are extremely difficult to learn fluff-wise, even if you have level 8 slots. So at the moment only the highest ranking necromancer Grandmaster is known to have clones. That's pretty much his things. He is forever young, despite being probably the oldest member of the Mage Council. But there are other very old wizards who at least look like humans. They use all sorts of other ways to live longer, which are not quite as potent as the necromancer clone. 

My own wizard is level 8 and the best in his own field, which is Transmutation and Alchemy with a focus on creating natural substances such as skin and organs and making living humanoid golems. He hasn't succeeded yet, even after 200 years of research, though. :P

We are using a companion mod and my companion is his best golem so far. Pretty advanced and quite human-looking, but still requires a bit of magic to sustain its life. It can make use of its many skills and abilities independently, but it cannot really form an actual opinion of its own. So like an advanced AI. The wizard did, however, make a familiar with fully organic organs. It's pretty indistinguishable from a natural bird. Unfortunately humanoids are quite a bit more complicated. 

This is just an example of how much the little fluff things mean to me. This doesn't really matter at all mechanically, because we all get our companions. The companion could be anything, like a warrior summoned from Valhalla or a hag magically enslaved for eternity with a magic item. But I want to get the feeling that my 250 year old dwarf hasn't just been studying spellbooks for 200 years. You know, that scholarly feeling. :) 

In our setting level 8 wizards are pretty strong. Anyone who can cast level 3 spells is quite impressive. Level  6 spells are spells that most wizards only dream of. :P 

Yeah. Those fluff options are exactly what this thread is about. :) 

I understand that fear of makings pacts and deals less tempting. In my games wizardry is so difficult and time-consuming that those less patient will still have plenty of temptation to choose the "easy way". 

The epic boon of immortality the RAW way to extend life indefinitely but you generally have to get to L20 and adventure beyond that to get it so it’s not common by any means. In my own world there is a lesser version - an arcane version of the Druid’s Timeless Body Feature. There are also arcane versions of the Monk’s version of Timeless body  and ther is lichdom where magic and other folks souls sustain you indefinitely.

These are good ideas. I always found it strange that the druid aging feature is lvl 18. It should be way sooner but maybe less potent and then scale as you get higher. 

In older editions you also had potions of longevity that added (1-10 years (1d10))  to anyone, but especially wizard’s, lives.

This is exactly what kind of stuff I had in mind. Maybe even more subtle. Like a similar potion that you consume maybe monthly to increase your lifespan. 

Age is generally meaningless in DnD, because campaigns don't usually last long enough for longevity to make a difference. So it's really just for flavor. That's why I don't determine it in any detailed way. 

Also if a player creates a lvl 5+ character, I encourage all sort of flavor to explain things in a mystical way. 

Like my 250yo lvl 8 transmuter/alchemist dwarf has a 16 con and 16 dex. He looks wrinkly and old, but he moves like a young man. He has implanted a permanent transmuter stone in his body and consumes all sort of potions frequently. He has stated that he doesn't care about extending his life at this point, but he likes to live out his days healthy and functional. 

A wizard that reaches 17th level can always Wish themselves another hundred years of life (or wish themselves back to the body they had when they were young adults).

33% chance of losing the spell though. It'll work for a bit, but RAW it's only a stopgap.

Didn't say it was a good idea, just that it was an option.

Try to keep in mind the point of this thread, fellas. :) 

This thread is not about spells or other game-mechanical ways to live longer. There aren't many. But wizardry is more than just the spells they cast in-game. Or at least it should be IMO. 

Tabletop RPGs can be so much more than the system they use. The only real limitation is the human mind, which is quite remarkable.

This is one of the things I dislike about DnD 5e. It has so much existing content and so many mechanics that narration suffers and it turns into more and more of a video game and less a game of roleplaying and narration. Of course the mechanics offer a lot of great stuff and entertainment too, but this is one of the downsides IMO. People easily dive into game mechanics even when it's not necessary. 

The lifespan difference of races and classes is 99% narrative/cosmetic. There are some game-mechanical effects that can make a character age quickly, but this is rare and still doesn't usually make any sort of a game-mechanical difference, because there are no aging mechanics. You don't usually suffer stat penalties in DnD 5e if you age. 

So character age only generally affects character creation and backgrounds and maybe the rare case where the story involves looong timeskips. 

So let's skip the game-mechanics in this thread, shall we? 

The subject is: Can wizards easily extend their lives in your setting? Non-mechanical ways. And I might add: what kind of ways do they have for extending their lives?

I just give the epic boon of immortality to magic character (Sorcerer, Wizard, Warlock, Cleric and Druid) that do a amazing, incredible and important deeds that is recognized by higher powers like gods, almost like becoming a chosen one or a living legend. For NPCs I sometimes create more tortuous stories, seeking to give them some individuality

“The subject is: Can wizards easily extend their lives in your setting? Non-mechanical ways. And I might add: what kind of ways do they have for extending their lives?”

Can they? Yes; easily? No. I run a Forgotten Realms world and have done so since around 1990 with an ongoing story line set by my early PCs as epic level NPCs in the world. Of hat group of  roughly 30 characters and associated NPCs turned occasional characters ver half are from long lived races ( elves, dwarves, gnomes) so the game time ( thanks to 4e) is now about 130 years putting the casters of that group right into the prime of their lives. Given the life spans of elves, elven casters don’t really need life extending magics. Dwarves, Gnomes  and to some extent half elves have some needs but given their age limits (180 - 500 yrs) the real question is probably “ can they survive into old age and not get killed along the way? As the shortest lived of the long lived, half elves might well be looking for way to extend their lives so features like the Druid and monk life extension features might be useful. Also given their long lives they can more easily leave and return to adventuring several times reaching into tiers 3, 4, and beyond over an extended life with several long breaks for mundane life periods. Humans, Dragonborn, half orcs and other “short life” characters are the ones needing life extension methods. The sim0lest is called survival - if you actually manage to survive the adventurers life for 40-50 years you are probably going to be tier 4+ just by the fact of surviving. Essentially everything else after that is a mechanical means - potions, lichdom, epic benefits, etc are all mechanics in the game after all. 
one of the reasons (IMNSHO) that there are only a few ways to extend life is that campaigns like mine that extend over even decades let alone centuries are very rare making the need for them fairly limited.  The really long lived and high level characters are generally NPCs and as such their actual ages are seldom important. Look at the FRs how many  millennials have been named (and how did they live that long?)?  A few great wyrms, Elminster (deific blessing/Epic feat, L35 (in 3.xe)), Shoon VI (L35, Lich), Larloch (L20+, Lich), Khelbin (L25+, deific/epic), Shade (L25+, deific/epic), the Terraseer (L25+, Sarrukh Lich 30k+ yrs), the other Sarrukh lichs of Oreme and a few other lichs and Demi lichs. The Centenarians: the surviving 7 sisters (L18+, deific/epic, Manshoon (L18+, deific/epic), Zsass Tam (L20+, Lich). Who else that is human or at least not from a long lived race? 
As StLothar was saying beyond the epic boon, Druidic and monkish features and lichdom do you really need any other methods for short life races? 

Quote from SerLoxy >>

Try to keep in mind the point of this thread, fellas. :) 

This thread is not about spells or other game-mechanical ways to live longer. There aren't many. But wizardry is more than just the spells they cast in-game. Or at least it should be IMO. 

 

Tabletop RPGs can be so much more than the system they use. The only real limitation is the human mind, which is quite remarkable.

This is one of the things I dislike about DnD 5e. It has so much existing content and so many mechanics that narration suffers and it turns into more and more of a video game and less a game of roleplaying and narration. Of course the mechanics offer a lot of great stuff and entertainment too, but this is one of the downsides IMO. People easily dive into game mechanics even when it's not necessary. 

The lifespan difference of races and classes is 99% narrative/cosmetic. There are some game-mechanical effects that can make a character age quickly, but this is rare and still doesn't usually make any sort of a game-mechanical difference, because there are no aging mechanics. You don't usually suffer stat penalties in DnD 5e if you age. 

So character age only generally affects character creation and backgrounds and maybe the rare case where the story involves looong timeskips. 

So let's skip the game-mechanics in this thread, shall we? 

The subject is: Can wizards easily extend their lives in your setting? Non-mechanical ways. And I might add: what kind of ways do they have for extending their lives?

 

 Sans mechanics?  They have whatever mechanism the GM wants them to have.  At that point it's literally just your imagination that determines what they can do.

Essentially we are to some extent talking at cross purposes. Do some (mostly human) casters need/want to extend their lives? Sure, most folks of probably all races would like to live longer. Once you ask how your into mechanics. The OP asked 2 questions - Can they extend their lives? And How do they do that? Then asked that the how not deal with mechanics - essentially an impossible request. How always deals with mechanics.  In my campaign yes they can extend their lives but it’s not easy. How has 4/5 mechanics: 
1) long lives - some races have extended lives naturally.
2) high level class benefits ( Druid & Monk) - get either an overall extension or an extension of the quality of life to the final end of life.
3) deific grants - one of the gods wants you around for a long time and grants you an extension.
4) epic effects - whether it’s epic feats or epic level spells the PC gives it to themselves.but they have to be Level 20+ to do it.
5) lichdom - however that is done.it’s clearly not an epic spell/ritual so it’s potions and non epic rituals of some sort. These can be done at below level 20. But how low is not clear. 

Cheers! 

Great to hear from someone who has been running the same campaign/setting for so long. :) My longest campaign is 2,5 years of weekly games in the Savage Worlds system.  I'm really surprised that it actually came to a planned ending. Even most shorter campaigns tend to fall short because life gets in the way. But this campaign was many years ago, before me or my friends had kids.

We've always used homemade settings, although our DnD settings often borrow quite a bit of stuff from the DnD worlds for compatibility reasons. I've once played Curse of Strahd, but other than that, we've only ever used our own settings. Sometimes the settings are very loosely written, especially in our most recent games. So we usually only tend to write whatever is necessary and whatever the players like to have determined in their character bios. 

Our games tend to have a lower power scale. They are usually high magic, though. Our scale does go up to 20, but after 10 the level gaps get dramatically wider, so one Archmage could be level 13 and another could be level 19. 

Of the DnD settings, our power scale is maybe somewhat most comparable with Dragonlance. So a 5th level spellcaster is a big deal and even any magical ability is quite extraordinary. A 5th level spellcaster can be a Master and any character beyond level 10 is huge. 

So with that in mind our games don't really ever expect characters to be 15+. Even the strongest caster NPCs aren't necessarily 15+ caster level. They probably have some other "monster mechanics" or special abilities to make the difference. 

That's why, if we want wizards to extend their lives, then it usually has to be a non-mechanical way with the mechanical ways being so high level. Maybe something like the Witcher setting in terms of extending lives, where most mages live a long time whether they are of the highest tier or mediocre. It's not really ever explained, which is the same for our current setting. "undefined potions, rituals and spells etc." 

We have some important/powerful wizard NPCs that are human but should be older than normal humans. But aren't even close to tier 4. 

This affects player characters too, when a character is created at maybe level 7+. In our power scale they can already be renowned Masters when they are created at those levels. Given the difficulty of learning wizardry and their scholarly nature, I usually encourage making a character who has spent quite a few years just researching and learning. So it's actually a pretty natural story filler, so they don't have to go super into detail with how they got to level 7+ and they don't have to know so many locations because they haven't been adventuring for 50 years. I personally think that 50 years is a very short time for becoming a high Master of Wizardy. In my books, you would probably get to 5th or 6th level by the time you are dying of old age. Maybe 7 or 8 if you are a genius. So I personally expect the wizards nearing level 10 to be at least 100 years old. 

They got there SLOWLY by studying and researching and some expeditions / adventures. So they could be 100 years old, and they have spent the better part of their Master years researching some complicated issue. 

I created my 8th level transmutation/alchemist dwarf wizard at 240 years old. Our dwarves can live up to 350 years, so the dwarf is really old and wrinkly. He hasn't felt the need to extend his lifespan, at least not yet, but he has consumed lots of potions and used undefined transmutation stuff to make himself as healthy and physically fit as a young man. 

His best friend NPC is a human wizard of approx the same level. He is clearly aging, but would probably still be fit for adventuring for a while longer. He is 100 years old. It hasn't been explained how they extend their lives, but probably some potions etc. That wizard has stated himself that he might have a chance of becoming a Grandmaster (11+) but he doesn't take it for granted. Even at his current 9th level he is one of the most renowned wizards of High Sorcery and the Headmaster of a rather large magic university.  At this rate I might expect him to live maybe 50 more healthy years and probably die of old age before reaching 200 since he will probably never reach a high enough level for clones etc. 

Ok now I need to stop. My post is spiralling into too much depth. :P But you get the point. The power scale is probably the biggest reason why I like to have such loosely determined ways too.