You ain’t as young as you used to be… or perhaps you’re a little too young. The years have taken their toll on your physical capacities, and while the spirit may be willing, the body most certainly is not.

System

-wise, this Flaw reflects the diminished capabilities of a body that is either too old or too young to employ its full adult potential. For every two points in this Flaw, the character loses one dot from a Physical Attribute (Strength, Dexterity or Stamina), either because his body is aging past its prime, or because it has not yet developed to mature capacity.

In the latter case, a young child (see the Flaw: Child, above) should also take 4 points in this Flaw, with an older child taking 2 points. Adolescent characters, obviously, have no such physical limitations due to age, although they could have other sorts of health issues, as described above under the

Flaw: Impediment.

Previous editions of this Flaw – that is, ones that were written by authors in their 20s or early 30s – maintained that a character must lose one dot of Physical Attributes for each decade over 40. As this author (currently in his 50s, and in better shape than he was at half this age) can attest, that’s nonsense. A person can maintain, or even exceed, a young adult’s physical capabilities well into middle age, and mages – who employ Life magicks, yoga, and other forms of physical conditioning – often age even better than most people do. Considering that a skilled mage can live for centuries with little (or no) loss of her physical abilities, this Flaw is not bound to a character’s chronological age, only to her physical health in relation to that age. Even so, ancient mages can get pretty frail. For health problems related to greater stages of decrepitude, see Impediment, above.