D&D Races' Starting Adventuring Age

[Strider1973]

Hi everybody, and Happy New Year's Eve!
Something maybe silly or futile... I can't figure out, according to the rules as written, the D&D races' adventuring starting age, particularly for elves: do they start at about 30 years, as humans, and just live longer, or do they start at 80 - 100 years? Many thanks, indeed!
Happy New Year again!

 

[aco175]

I thought it was 80-100.

 

[WhosDaDungeonMaster]

I use the following, but this is just me:

Dragonborn: 15 + 1d6
Dwarf: 50 + 1d10
Elf: 100 + 1d20
Gnome: 40 + 1d10
Halfling: 20 + 1d10
Half-Elf: 20 + 1d6
Half-Orc: 14 + 1d4
Human: 17 + 1d6
Tiefling: 17 + 1d6

If for story reasons a player wants a character that is older, I just let them choose their age.

 

[Swarmkeeper]

5e sets no such RAW restrictions. Let the PCs be whatever age the players think will be fun as long as they fit with the campaign. For example, if a player wants to play a 6 year old halfling Wild Magic Sorcerer but there is an explicit rule of no violence against children, well that won't really fly (unless you roll an 87 or 88 on the Wild Magic surge table, I suppose). Conversely, if a player wants to play Mags and be an 80 year old human Redemption Paladin, that's probably going to come with some additional PC disadvantages and/or flaws that the DM and player determine at chargen... which could turn out to be awesome if everyone is on board.

 

[Draegn]

I have each race age at the same rate until the mid to late teens. Then the aging rate changes for the various races. For half races I take the average of the two parent races.

Each player starts at age five and then through choice of backgrounds which add a number of years to their age end up between age 15 and 20 for a minimal starting age.

 

[Charlaquin]

Hi everybody, and Happy New Year's Eve!
Something maybe silly or futile... I can't figure out, according to the rules as written, the D&D races' adventuring starting age, particularly for elves: do they start at about 30 years, as humans, and just live longer, or do they start at 80 - 100 years? Many thanks, indeed!
Happy New Year again!

According to the presentation of elves in the PHB, elves mature at the same rate as humans do (which means physically some time in the mid-late teens and mentally in the mid 20s), but in Elven culture adulthood is a matter of life experience more than maturity, and elves do not consider their young to be experienced enough to count as adults until around 100.

What does this mean for the starting age of your elf adventurer? Well, it depends. Do you want to play a character who has roughly the same level of maturity and life experience as your human companions (and accordingly are seen as a child acting out by your own people)? Or do you want to play a character who has already lived longer than any of your companions will ever live, and views them as inexperienced and childlike? If the former, how did you get involved with adventuring when you’re still a child among your people? If the latter, what have you been doing all that time between reaching maturity and reaching adulthood if not adventuring?

There’s no specified starting ages for any race. What age your character is when they first state adventuring says something about them. Pick a starting age based on what you think will make your character the most interesting to play.

 

[Azzy]

Unlike earlier edition of the game, in 5e has no listed starting age for adventurers so you can have a character's age be whatever you choose (whether merely a child or a hoary elder). The race section does tell you when each race reaches physical maturity (and when it reaches adulthood by the race's standards, if the two are different).

So, while elves, for instance, reach physical maturity at the same rate as humans, they aren't considered adults untill the age of 100. Whether or not your particular elf character starts adventuring prior to full adulthood is up to you.

 

[iserith]

One thing I do with descriptors like age, height, weight, hair or eye color, etc. is come up with a single descriptive word or maybe a couple words that sums it up well. So, I might fill in "venerable" for age, "beanpole" for height and weight, "balding" for hair, and "dark" for eye color. I find this is more evocative to me than raw numbers.

For an elf, I might say "youthful looking old soul" instead of providing an age.

 

[Hriston]

To randomly determine a PC’s age at 1st level, I just use the tables from 1E, but I’m also alright with whatever age a player picks.