[Bushw4cker]

Few questions about new character I've been  working on.

Aged Quality for Orks.

AGED
Bonus: 5, 10 or 15 BP, or 7, 14, or 21 Karma
Aged characters have been around the block a time or
two and lived to tell about it. They have made mistakes,
but they were tough, smart, or just plain lucky enough to
survive them. For each decade of life at age 50 or above,
a character with the Aged quality gains 5 build points or
7 Karma (+5 or +7 for ages 50-59, +10 or +14 for ages
60-69, +15 or +21 for ages 70+). Additionally, for each
decade of age, the character gains 5 bonus points worth
of Knowledge skills, but his physical attribute maximums,
including the maximum augmented attributes, are each
reduced by 1. At the gamemaster’s discretion, the character
may face bonuses or penalties to certain social interactions,
due to people’s biases and prejudices about his
advanced age. Note that this quality may only be taken at
character creation.

Since Orks don't live as long?.. Could I take Aged Quality for 30 to 35 year old Ork? Since Being sexually mature at like 10 or something if I remember correctly, they get a lot more from their shorter lives maybe..

Attached character sheet to topic, which I also posted in Character creation.

Any comments or suggestions on character are much appreciated.

Thanks )

[jim1701]

I don't think there is a clear answer to this.  One could argue that Orks just don't live long enough to take advantage of wisdom with age. 

If you go by the same ratio has a human you have to be 45 years old to take this quality once and now you are at the max average lifespan for your kind.  I get this from the fact that 35 is the same fraction of the max average lifespan for Orks as 50 is to the max average lifespan of Humans. 

There is also the fact that physically an aged Ork is still stronger and has a better body than a human.  As a GM you would have to convince me how this is an actual negative quality for you and not just free karma.

[Bushw4cker]

THanks for the reply Jim

Maybe orks tend to burn the candle at both ends?..

Physical Attribute maximums reduced by 1 per Aged Rating. Not going to be, on average, as Reactive or Agile as Normal Human.   Still have to pay Priority or Karma for being an Ork, so it's not like your getting bonus Body and Strength for Free, in addition your taking a hit to Charisma and Logic for being an Ork. (Both stats that would have helped a lot of Skills with this character..)

There is also the possibilities of facing discrimination being older, by taking this quality.

[Reaver]

Sadly, I'm just not seeing it.

Orks get the screw over all the time in SR. Many of them don't even live long enough to collect retirement benifits!
(Average life span of 40. First 20 years in school. Work 20 years and die 5 years short of Retirement)



MAYBE if you were an 'Ugly'. Then it would apply....  (and Ugly is a slang term for those who first expressed when UGE came about in 2021. Uglies keep their human lifespans. Poor Bull the Ork Decker.... he's an ugly, and looks younger and better then his daughter!)

[belaran]

IMHO, I have always assume that the limited lifespan of Orks and Trolls were more social than physical. In my games, an Ork can easily life as much as a human (like Yuri in Evo), it's just that most of them lives in the street, and often end up having rather violent lifestyle of career - which brings their life to end often prematurely.

However, I never ran into an "official" comment in the game products clearly stating this.

[AwesomenessDog]

Most Humans become physically adults at 15, and socially at 17-18. A Orc becomes an adult physically at 10 but we have no indicator if thats when society starts treating them as adults (although in the 6th world, pretty much no where has age minimums anymore anyway). One could simply say their Orc character started running/doing whatever earlier than a human did and still has the extra knowledge to coopt with his earlier aging. Personally, I have never seen why that isn't a valid justification even if you don't limit it to 5 extra knowledge points. After all, elve and dwarf post-spike babies have only recently started being able to take the first rank of aged.

[Kiirnodel]

IMHO, I have always assume that the limited lifespan of Orks and Trolls were more social than physical. In my games, an Ork can easily life as much as a human (like Yuri in Evo), it's just that most of them lives in the street, and often end up having rather violent lifestyle of career - which brings their life to end often prematurely.

However, I never ran into an "official" comment in the game products clearly stating this.

Orks are specifically called out as having Short life spans than normal humans Core Rulebook, pg 50. They don't make any explicit mention of how different it is specifically, but it isn't talking about social implications here. In the 20th Anniversary Edition for 4e, there was a chart for life expectancy if I remember right. It noted Orks living shorter lifespans and Trolls having only a slightly shorter lifespan than normal humans. It also had a note that these life expectancies didn't take into consideration the shorter life expectancy of Orks/Trolls due to the higher likelihood of death by violence.

From my experience, I recall hearing something about Orks being legally considered an adult at Age 16 by the UCAS. I can't site a source and I could be off by a bit, but I am fairly certain that there is some consideration of their aging differently.

And it is definitely in the fiction that Orks age faster, and specifically orks that were born, not goblinized in that first wave of Orks/Trolls. In the book "Never Trust an Elf" they touch on the topic of elves/humans/orks aging, including the concept of spike babies (it being pointed out that one of the elves doesn't appear to have aged hardly in like 30+ years. And the main character, an ork named Kham, is put face-to-face with his own potential aging worries when he talks to his grandfather (an ork who goblinized) who is older, but not too worse for wear. And Kham's mother is right there for comparison and she looks like a decrepit old lady. The human-turned ork looks younger than his own daughter.


Now, for answering the OP question, I would say no. The Aged quality isn't based on sexual/physical maturity, it is based on life experience. Orks don't gain life's wisdom any faster than a normal human, so they shouldn't be able to take Aged at an earlier age than a normal human. I do like the idea of being an ork who goblinized (which was about 55 years ago now, btw), which would allow you to make an Ork that is about in their 70's if you wanted.

[Sphinx]

See the Metahuman Characteristics Table in SR5 (p.380). Worldwide average lifespans are 35-45 years for orks, 45-55 for trolls, 55-65 for humans, more than 100 (projected) for dwarfs, and more than 200 (projected) for elves.* For a rough comparison, add 50 percent to an ork's age to find the equivalent human age (e.g., a 40-year-old ork is roughly equivalent to a 60-year-old human).

* Remember, as far as most people know, the first elves and dwarfs were born in 2011, so the oldest will turn 66 in 2077. No elves or dwarfs born since the Awakening have died of old age yet. The average lifespans are estimates based on metabolic studies.

[condottiere]

I got redirected here; thanks.

I've never really liked playing Orcs, half or otherwise; they seem fundamentally disposable grunts, and even if they don't die through accident or by violence, hey're biologically programmed to die soon in any event.

On the other hand, I rather like generalling Orc and Goblin armies, and Orkboyz are quite fun because you're allowed to express your politically incorrect stereotypes; in theory, in their up or out hierarchy, an Ork is immortal, as long as he can keep growing in size and stature.

It was actually that option on Aging that got me wondering about playing an Ork; not an old Ork, unless you plan on channelling either Nelson Mandela or Morgan Freeman, because the points aren't worth it.

I don't know the original intent of the game designers, nor where the race will evolve in succeeding editions; the fast physical development likely burns out the telomeres, which is why you get the fast physical collapse after thirty five, since if they're really half-life humans, they'd have a good chance to last till forty three.

I think it would have to be understood that Orks get to retire after twenty years, and take early retirement after fifteen.

On the other hand, how long does the campaign last anyway? If he doesn't get killed, the Ork will be there for the entirety.