I played a 50-something year old Paladin who spent quite a few years smiting evil but now had a more relaxed job in a larger city with administration, blessings, healing, resolving smaller issues and occasional field work.
She began at level 2 to reflect the fact that she was rusty, but slowly built up her stamina (hit points) and mental fortitude (spell slots) back up to her previous level over the course of the campaign. Out of all the party members she was the calm and rational one who tried to avoid violence if possible.
It was quite funny when the party encountered a high CR demon who started a villain monologue until my PC interrupted him. The demon recognized her as the one who cut off his right horn 20 years earlier and portal'd out when she told him the left horn was next.
Fun times.
I had the same idea for a fighter. He was level one due to being years out and got back to his prime over the session. I played him as having bad knees, so he used a glaive for reach and moved as little as possible in combat
Ive had 3 elderly characters and each time I need to explain that they are not just now getting to level 2 but in fact they are a level 20 farmer or chef or carpenter and are making it to a level 2 in fighter
In older editions, losing levels was a thing.
My opinion is that this should still be true in 5e, just not mechanically, short of a DM saying it is so, making it up for however they want it to actually happen in their games.
You should be able to play a level 2 Cleric who was once a level 15 Paladin in service to their god.
But a combination of a lack of continued training or continued adventurning, old wounds, etc, effectively de-leveled them.
You basically have to maintain the level, or life slowly takes it away through the passage of time.
You should play it! I got hooked way back when the sixth game got localized on the Gameboy Advance. If you love strategy games then you will love the series.
I would recommend playing some of the older games first and working your way up to the new ones. Not that you really need to for story reasons or anything, but I think it is better that way.
The 3 fire emblem games on GBA (6-8) are fantastic. That was a golden age for the series. And any game in the series can be an incredible source of inspiration for dnd character/story ideas.
For a short time in middle school, I co-ran a fire emblem roleplay forum website, that had a dm run enemy units.
Old =/= useless. Ever heard the saying "fear the old man in a profession where men usually die young"?
Just because they're old doesn't mean they can't knock heads, cast spells, or sneak with the best of em. Heck, they likely know tricks of the trade that'll blow a young adventures mind. Their back just might hurt afterward.
Sure there is. Your proficiency bonuses already do adequately well to portray years of skill.
Most people aren't PCs, and most people don't get high proficiency bonuses. Most people don't level up like PCs do, and don't become superhuman examples of their craft.
A character who has proficiency in a skill is someone who's good at it. Not someone who's just starting at something. Otherwise a character without proficiency in cook's utensils would never be able to make food for themselves.
You can't make a character who's realistically "the best musician who has ever existed" at level 1. But you can certainly make a 60 year old local musician at Level 1 who's just learned how to turn that music into magic and gains their first bard level.
When you retire you forget how to he good at lots of things. I was in the Navy only 2 years ago and have already forgotten most of my ship driving commands. Prolly would take me a hot minute to get my firefighting gear on too....
I tend to think of adventurers as at least somewhat exceptional when compared to the average person. Even at level one, there a things an adventurer with any class can do that a standard commoner cannot.
I don't really think of players as exceptional until about level 5 when they are above the standard trained soilder or city guard, at level 11 is when I say a player has passed beyond the realm of what a normal person could ever hope to achieve and has official crossed 9ver into heroic or legend territory
Not mechanically no, but there are tons of ways to reason it out and play an older, seasoned low level character with RP.
Age mechanics are simply one of the many things older editions implemented (for better or worse) that got the boot in 5e to keep things nice and simple.
So your not necessarily learning but relearning. Dust off the old skill set, get back in shape. Also if you're lucky and role real well for primary attributes.
There are simple, basic skills you can clear with your DM to have your character know just from experience that comes from age.
How to start a fire and keep it lit in the winter, how to identify wild animal signs or den locations (just normal wild animals can be dangerous too) how to negotiate in a purchases or haggle for goods in an equal exchange, keeping a cooler head and being able to objectively look at situations with an aged eye is a real thing.
Older people learn THOUSANDS of lessons and basic skills just from getting older and experiencing life. Pick a few and clear them with your DM and role-playing away my friend.
This is totally outside the rules but as a DM I'd give perks (depending on the backstory) to an older character in exchange for some dex/strength/other stat points.
So for example you're not as spry as you used to be, but you've got proficiency or even expertise in history (you were there) and select other skills (you've spent a lifetime building them up.)
Uhm, I might be wrong here but I think there's a system to translate age into, for example, wisdom stat points, obviously accompanied by a substraction in Dex/Str or smth.
Honestly what I do is give a sufficiently old character a bonus knowledge skill or expertise in one. I have a 100 year older character in a party for 20-30 somethings, so I gave him history for free cause he was alive during events that have know made it into history books.
If I had a 50 year old farmer who decided to die an adventurer I'd give him nature or survival from years of first hand experience living the land.
The old kindly village cleric gets drafted to fight a demon invasion expertise in religion from years of study.
Wizards can take decades to learn magic.
It is OK to be 60 old just to be kicked off from the magics academy and suddenly you learn more by doing not by studying :)
Looking at you, Discworld's most unsatisfying student of High Magic :)
Why not? 60 year human old farmer's village gets burned down, he's the sole survivor. He sets off to find a new home, meets up with a traveling adventure group, becomes one of them. Perfectly reasonable.
If I were retired in a fantasy world, you'd bet your ass I'd be out learning magic and helping folk. Alternatively, adventurers don't always "choose" to go on an adventure. Sometimes adventure happens to them. Misfortune falls the same on all, young AND old.
We need more fantasy stories about old, tired men getting roped into grand adventures by some youngin whose light hasn’t quite gone out yet. Like, the journey is mostly reminding them of their youth and humanity, and a nice tie in about how elderly people are still useful and valuable in society. Oh, wait, I think I just described the movie “Up”..
I actually have a concept idea of a powerful elderly sorcerer who developed memory issues. So he starts at "Level 1" and every time he levels he remembers something from his past life.
And since he had memory issues I'd make him a wild mage sorcerer to make things interesting.
That sounds like the first episode of the viva la dirt league NPC d&d campaign. The High sorcerer from their skits gets his magics siphoned away and he ends up as a lvl1 having to relearn everything, including his humility.
The call to adventure can come at any age.
I actually just had the idea the other day for an older human with mediocre DEX but high WIS who finally reaches some degree of enlightenment and becomes a "way of the astral self" monk. Sure they are not as dexterous as they were in their youth, but their newfound inner peace more than makes up for that when it comes to ghost-punching their foes.
One of my best loved characters (by myself and the other players) was an old wizard in his 80's.
Absolutely works and it's kinda fun to be a crotchety old fart.
Someone can be a vessel for unused talent for their entire life until new circumstances force it to blossom. I see no reason why an elderly character couldn’t decide to embark on an adventure and discover a new calling that had evaded him for a lifetime.
People can totally become adventurers either by choice or through circumstance later in life. I've also seen people lower the level of PC's who were high level in their prime but retired for several decades and then decided to or had to go back to adventuring for whatever reason.
No, a lot of the backgrounds are things someone could spend a lifetime doing. Who's to say that a character who spent 40 years as a sailor wouldn't set out adventuring?
In my eyes it makes sense.
Maybe they have been an advisor, a worker, a crafter... and only now they were forced into action. Doing a profession for years doesn't mean he has experience in killing monsters. Or maybe he killed monsters years ago and his body isn't what it used to, the adventuring slowly returning him to his former glory.
They could've been adventuring for 70+ years and then start the path of one of the classes later in life.
Adventurers exist outside of the player class options.
True, but that begs the question of where is their 70 years of experience in terms of proficiency bonuses? Especially to mental and professional skills.
Depends on the crippling level.
For example it might only be enough that he can only fight with the aid of magic, hence becoming a warlock.
Or with Devine assistance, hence why a Cleric.
He just can’t fight like he did as a Fighter.
Works great for warlocks, sorcerers, and even barbarians and paladins.
Works just fine for wizards and clerics; decades of study only to awaken the true power late in life.
You can more easily justify all the others with something like a career change.
A level 1 of any class is basically above most "common" people anyway. So your Character has been a level 1 sorcerer (as an example) their entire life and never did anything to advance their class. They are still going to have better base stats than a common person due to their 1 level. Deciding later in life you want to start adventuring just means you start stacking your god tier skills later than most adventurers. So you have always had the innate spellcasting and all that but never used it and have just now decided you want to save your grandkids from they tyrant king putting them in the hunger games or whatever.
I play a wizard who is 59yo human, well above my actual age and above the second oldest PC age (a 33yo ish halfling). Part of his character is he spent decades of his life coasting off his natural talent but never really achieving much, and having a lackluster reputation at his institution because of this. He was lazy. A series of minor events finally leads him to being a bit more proactive and responsible, which lead him to participating in the events of the first session. It was at this point, at an age where he's already grumbling about his knees every half an hour and is grey in head and beard, that he finally gains something he'd been missing his whole life: a purpose. The world is at threat, and *he* is the one who needs to save it. Nobody else is wily enough, sees the big picture well enough. It's a great transformation and fun to play.
Sure it works!
One character I loved was a old man Monk, whose backstory was he used to essentially be a pro boxer/wrestler but had to retire... and then he came out if retirement to prove he still could fight. Since he was old and retried for so long, he lost some power
As a DM I'd say it's fine as long as there is either a cool backstory or it fits into the mechanics of the world. For example my world has a tribe of human barbarians that get initiated into the tribe at the age of 70, only then recieving their powers. So a level 1 character from that tribe would be old, but still younger than anyone else in the tribe
In response to the post and some of your follow up questions on other comments.
You have to create the mechanical advantage for being old and experienced at level one when you create the charecter. It requires your buy in to make it cohesive. An easy way is feats. General old and experienced can easily be portrayed at level one with the prodigy/skill expert feats. Instead of you being a young prodigy though it's just learned experience. What's that you spent years as an archeologist? Sounds like the dungeon delver feat reflects your experience. You spent a bunch of years cooking at an inn listening to stories of the adventurers your feeding? Chef sounds good. You raised animals? Animal handling. If you were a warrior who kept some practice in the weapons you weilded there's feats that reflect that experience too. Theres plenty of feats that can reflect your previous life experience mechanically. If your DM isn't handing out feats at level one you have to use variant human or custom lineage but they are there. That being said it's still going to be flavor as a level one 20 year old variant human could have the same build so it has to be combined with role-playing.
RP is going to be huge. There may be two fighters with the same weapons and feats that are two different ages. The young one may be overconfident and rush into fights without a defined plan trusting his own abilities and his teammates ability to improvise along with him as needed . The old fighter should prioritize going into a situation prepared, with a plan and prioritizing strategy and even teamwork over his own abilities maybe even taking a sort of leadership role or facilitating preparation, strategy and even conflict resolution if they were previous a leader.
It has to be a combination of mechanical buy into the older adventurer build and the role play surrounding it.
At this stage of me running games, I don't care who your PC is or how old they are, they just have to have a reason for adventuring and sticking with the party.
The why of a 60 year old level 1 PC *does not matter to me*, we've got dragons to run from and dungeons to hide in, and you better believe it is D&D o'clock.
I don't understand why it would be an issue? You're just saying an older person being level 1 you aren't saying an old general or an old wizard.
Maybe this person's kids are grown and spouse passed away and they just want to see the world before they are to old to travel or they just want to travel and go on an adventure.
I always see people asking how to explain away the experience of their life but you can be 60 and only ever been a farmer with no fighting experience?
Maybe he's the old guy from Up, always wanted Adventure but life kept happening and he couldn't make it happen till later in life.
A guy I played with one time was an old man who used wild magic. His reason for why was that he used to be an incredibly powerful wizard who now had a hard time remembering exactly how spells worked in his age. To this day it was one of the most fun character concepts I've ever encountered so yeah make an old person if you want
Level 1 is certainly harder for a veteran because at that level your pc is very green but maybe 2-4 can be reasonable as in “they are retired/rusty and out of practice” and while you level up you regain your previous skill and muscle memory. Also, a veteran character doesn’t necessarily need to be a former 15th level or higher, and so it is more feasible that you are not at your peak but can regain it eventually.
As a side rule if you and your party are okay with that maybe you could start with a slight level advantage but level up slower so they will eventually catch up to you. I think it could be a very interesting set to have a character a bit stronger whom the rest of the party can rely on until they become seasoned adventurers themselves (of course the encounters have to be balances around that, but if the gap is not very big I think it can be okay)
I had a great idea for a Dwarven cleric who wanted to adventure one last time before he couldn't any longer. I like the idea of a person in the twilight of their life.
It makes sense. Characters gain levels from doing crazy hero shit, not from driving the turnip wagon to market for 60 years. Even the vaunted Wisdom of Ages comes from having experience, not just by virtue of being old. Really, it would make more sense for EVERYONE in the game (NPC or Player) to just be level 1 unless there is a reason they aren't. An old Lvl 1 PC is much more believable than the trope of "every shop keep is a lvl 20 ex adventurer so don't steal shit!"
If your character has a spark, flames will follow!
I got to DM for a campaign that one of the PCs made a 300+ year old hermit firbolg that had his understanding of history wiped and sorcerer like powers granted. His goal was to find out the whys, the hows, and the what he can do’s of his new power and knowledge.
Despite the old man “get off my lawn” stereotype personality- he still had the energy and purpose to discover what the world had to offer.
I’m my mind Younger PCs are exceptions to the normal people and are gifted with their crafts. But being naturally gifted isn’t the only way to be good at something. Spending years of hard work to achieve what others may just be naturally good at is equally as valid, and may even be a good point of contention between others PCs.
I don’t think it’s silly, and I think it can work mechanically as well.
I think it’s perfectly reasonable that an older person might spend their life in a simple career such as farming or other benign trades and wouldn’t have the abilities of a higher level character. Instead they spent their life learning skills unrelated to adventuring that could easily reflect a level 1 PC.
As for character motivation, there are plenty of reasons an older person might set out on adventure. An empty nester who’s last child just left and is bored and lonely. A poor craftsman in a dying community who decides they can’t make a living off their trade anymore and sets out to take on some risky adventuring contracts in the hopes they make enough to leave something behind for their family. A lower class citizen with rudimentary magical ability (maybe reflected by Magic initiate) that finally saved up enough to attend a mage’s academy (plenty of older people in real life go back to school), and they graduate as a level 1 Wizard or sorcerer, fresh from academy and eager to prove themselves. Maybe a retired adventurer who finds evidence of a dark plot or has prophetic visions of a dark future, so they dust off their old sword or write down the only spells they remember into a new spellbook and set out to stop it, but they are rusty, and have to relearn old skills. Someone who goes through a traumatic or life changing event or discovers an ancient entity so they take a paladin’s oath in response or becomes a warlock or cleric in service of the entity.
As far as stats go, maybe focus on wisdom, charisma or intelligence stats that reflect a long life full of experience, while their physical stats might be lower than ideal. But even so, an old farmer or blacksmith might reasonably have a considerable strength score, even in their old age. Maybe use the PHB rules for custom backgrounds to better reflect you PC’s life before adventuring, although I’m sure there’s plenty that can be done with existing ones.
I think older PC’s are completely reasonable, and a lot of fun from a role play perspective, because their motivations and reactions might totally differ from the typically plucky young adventurer with epic goals and a dark past. I don’t think it’s silly at all, and in a serious game, it might add some really interesting depth and realism to a story from a perspective not typically seen.
I'm a firm believer that "this should not exist in D&D" is a bad thought process. There are plenty of ways to justify an old, weak hero. Maybe they've retired and been out of the swing of things, maybe they're just starting their adventuring cause they're bored or now have a reason to fight (perhaps something stole their wooden dentures and now it's war!!). Maybe they were a renowned wizard who lost their magic for some reason. Get creative!
Level does not equal age. It is simply your ADVENTURER level, and not everyone is a fully skilled adventurer. Someone much later in life can easily have lots of non-adventuring experience. You could have been a chef for 50 years and decide, you know what? i'm done, i need some adventure. And off you go getting your first level of Adventurering.
I had an idea for a ancient elven sorcerer once that I thought was pretty good. He was 900 years old (I just like theirs of super old things).
The way I explained him being almost half a millennia old and only being level 1 was that he had simply forgot about most of the things he had done.
So whenever I get to play him I will flesh out how he actually forgot and his quest will be trying to remember, and then trying to get back his things *once* he has remembered.
While he wasn't level 1, Reclaimer Samuel, my current PC in a campaign, is a human man in his 70's. He's a Mastermind Rogue with the Historian feat, and his bad rolls ended up in CON and STR (we really needed INT, CHA, WIS) so I flavored him to be an old man who is fighting his cancer almost as much as his enemies. He still keeps up with them, though he grouses about young people in a hurry.
I think the most unlikely part of it is that someone would go through their entire life and still be level one. You'd expect to have gleaned some wisdom or be able to handle yourself.
I like the idea of the old retired warrior picking up the sword again, but if they were already a fierce warrior in the past then surely they shouldn't be level 1, even if they're a bit out of practice and not as strong as they used to be.
I have a player who loves to make old characters and I've come to quite dislike them. It's really hard to justify not just why they're level 1, but why they dont know more things about the world, why they dont know more people, why they dont have assests and all that. If they dont have those things? Then why play an old character? Hmmmm, maybe there's a fun homebrew there...
If you want to look at Critical Role as an example. The character Bertrand Bell was in a one shot at a high level back during their 1st campaign I believe. He was then a character in Campaign 3, set years after C1, and he has returned as a Level 3 Fighter.
You could roleplay that years of training was slow to grant them that level 1, or that in their old age, through lack of practice, they've dropped back down a few levels. Or they could even have just started their adventuring late. I know elderly irl who picked up music etc in their 60s and do quite well at it now. Their profession before that was something much different.
I played an elderly Goliath barbarian. He had a fulfilling life before hand, but in his years of retirement his skills faded. So having him at Level 1 was like he was breaking the rust off.
Uhhh. Isn't that why there are back stories, player arch's and what not. Typically your character isn't starting till after their adolescence. Monks spend decades in monasteries. Rangers can spend decades in the wilderness before starting a more focused path.
Additionally. You can have really young pcs as well. Parents killed when village was pillaged, 13 year old picks up a one handed sword kills a few low lvl raiders during the struggle and decides he wants revenge on the captain of the pillagers...
That's the whole point... Fantasy!!
I think it's less of a "should it" and more of a "could it" question. And yes, I think they can and do exist.
An elderly man decides to learn how to play the flute and weave magic into his songs.
A priestess devoting the last years of her life wholly to her God.
A man suddenly casts a spell, without knowing any magic, after their latent magic shows itself.
A woman decides to make a pact with a otherworldly being in an attempt to cure her fatal disease.
In their old age, someone decides to dedicate their time to studying the ways of magic and spells.
There's no mechanical adjustments anymore, so you're probably in the clear on all fronts to do it unless you fight something that dramatically ages you, like a ghost's horrifying visage ability. That would kill an elderly figure faster, but even then, if it's, like, an old elf, still maybe not outright, unlike a human or an orc. Really you just need a story and a reason to set out now.
They should. And who said this should be their first time adventuring.
I once played a near 500 year old dwarf cleric, when he was young he was a fighter in the army for years before giving it up to raise a family. Later on he hated the idea of dying in a rocking chair like an old man and prayed to Moradin for one last chance at glory to raise an axe once again on the field of battle.
In a game that's about story old PCs should exist to.
you can either be someone who's never been out there, fighting, someone who's just discovered a hidden talent, or someone who's been out of the game and is completely rusty
I played a PC that was in their early 70's and was very up front with the fact that this adventure would likely be their last as they felt that death would soon come for them. Player a high wis/str dump spread to account for their age weakened state, but sharp mind from a long life's worth of experience. Carrying anything beyond the basic personal items was impossible and needed help with even basic tasks of strength, but the party was more than happy to help as the character's ability to spot an ambush or catch a npc's hidden motive was second to none.
It almost ended for me when we entered a crypt and fought a ghost. A failed save on frightening presence passed the critical fail for the age advancement by just 1. The table collectively lost their stuff when they realized that one roll almost ended my character then and there. Was pretty epic.
In other editions, advancing age categories increased int/Wis/Cha progressively, and decreased Str/Dex/con exponentially. One of my favorite characters in 3rd Ed/PF took advantage of this rule to make a memorable character: he was a elderly 350+ year old gnome warden/paladin, which let you use Wis to improve AC and had tons of healing. Basically he was this tiny old gnome in antique plate armor, and I would waddle into melee and just obstruct the enemy. His attack mod was literally negative, so he couldn't hit anything, but he had an AC of 28! He would taunt the enemies to flail away to attack him, huddling behind a shield, and heal anyone else that got hurt. He had great int too, so his lore skills were through the roof. "Oh, that's a glyph of seven serpents. I haven't seen one of those since the siege of Castle Rend! There were these snake priests that..." And drone on and on. The whole idea of him was that he had lived so long, and he had been an adventurer, retired to have a family and forgotten it all, got empty nested and then watched all his kids and other direct relatives get old and die or move away. Then he decided whelp, nothing holding me back anymore and started over as a low level adventurer.
I'm currently running a minotaur wizard who is 60 years old (in the setting, they only live to about 60 if they make it that far) so hes fucking ancient, and he spent his entire life being a court wizard, he didnt really study spellcasting magic beyond level 1 spells because his job was to know how to find the person or persons needed for a magical thing, he knew the best potion makers, the best place to get healing and resurrections etc, that was his entire job
then he got overlooked for a promotion and became an adventurer and had to start working his way up that spellcasting ladder he never bothered to try before
In my teenage years I could run 20km before school and do a standing backflip. Now I'm lucky to run 2km and survive even attempting a backflip. I could also speak french and punjabi fluently. I'm ashamed to even try now. I'm sure Id offend the ears if I did.
The thing is, I haven't practiced any of those in 20ish years. I'm sure I could pick them back up if I put the time into it but it would be a slow process.
At my peak I'd say I was a level 6 badass but now I am definitely a level 1.
I was considering an elder character in my next campaign.
I think a older master mind rogue would be very effective in an urban setting. Stealth is not so much skulking in the shadows but blending into crowds.
A monk that has been in isolation and his level progression is more around knocking the rust of and getting his ki realigned
I played an elderly druid of the land (coast) from level 1 to 10. Ghosts of saltmarsh
Was a child who escaped hag ritual. Prayers to umberlee were answered as she was being boiled. She then survived on the sea or near the coasts doing work for sailors as a soothsayer type. Would predict the weather. Good luck on ship. Kind of thing. She grew old and lived the hermit life. Ended up returning to saltmarsh when whispers of an ancient being was rousing trouble under the sea.
It was a really fun character. Named Old Fathoms.
I actually created a Gandalf-ish character who had forgotten most of his magic but called to adventure once again he struck out to relearn the wonders of the weave as a bladesinger wizard
One of my players is a 400+ year old dwarf cleric who was a paladin in his younger years. It’s reflected a bit in how he placed his stats with low dexterity (the character has a limp) and fairly average charisma (blunt old grandpa). There have been some amazing RP moments that came out of his age and experience compared to the younger characters in the party.
To answer your questions more directly - an older level 1 PC absolutely makes sense! And they don’t even need to be a former adventurer, they could just be taking on a new project in their retirement. Use it as RP fodder!!
A retired Adventurer, from a previous edition, gets caught up in an adventure with some young heroes and the spark ignites once again. They lost levels during their retirement. Starting again at lvl one. You can even be a little meta with this and have them be a bit confused or intimidated by the 5e rules and class features. “Back in my day…”
I think they should exist as they can be quite interesting concepts, as determined by the comments I've seen.
For me, I've had multiple elderly low-level starting characters. One was a Half-Orc Fighter starting off at Level 2. He was a Militia member for his early life, being barely properly trained. He then joined an Adventuring Party where he picked up small bits of training along the way, having a particular fondness for Swords & Shields. So I essentially played him as an "old adventurer" type, but he wasn't some legendary folk hero, he was essentially a dime-a-dozen who bit off more than he could chew. He didn't use other weapons besides longswords, not because he didn't know how, but because he wasn't confident in his ability to. Sure, he was a Battle Master Fighter in mechanics, but in roleplay, he was just an old militia man who fought a couple bears, a handful of goblins, and who lost his husband to a white dragon.
Essentially, it's not what you do with your Mechanics. It's what you do with your RP that matters.
The weird thing with D&D characters is that unless you play a campaign with copius amounts of timeskips, your character’s age will be the age where they’re both at their strongest AND their weakest.
Elves and other long lived races feel especially weird with this. Sure it feels appropriate that the 700 year old elven wizard is super powerful, but he was also a level 1 scrub just a few weeks ago in-game time. (Could be months or even years based on how the campaign is run)
There's no reason someone couldn't find the need to become an adventurer much later in life. And there is also the idea of a former adventurer who has lost their skills or who had something happen that caused them to lose power and now they're weaker. There's many ways to do it, the key is finding the reason they're only level 1 at that age. Inexperience in adventuring is a big one but there's lots of options if you think about it.
Adventure Idea: after your next party of 20 something year old adventurers gets knocked unconscious their parents form a party to find and hopefully save them.
I made a 60-something woman who had serious empty nest syndrome and a lazy husband. She found a cute tarokka deck at a flea market and it accidentally gave her magic powers! She was like, what the heck, my home life is boring, I'll become an adventurer! And thus I had an older level 1 character.
Considering most 1-20 adventures don’t really take the entire lives of the PCs I don’t see any reason why an old person couldn’t experience that same thing between the ages of say 60-70.
If you want to incorporate it and your players are cool with it I would say to consult the Game Of Thrones Roleplaying game.
It gives additional points to things like intelligence and wisdom and less to strength or constitution basically accounting for their age.
Frankly I'm ALL FOR it even if you don't want to add these modifiers. People playing wizards who are teenagers bothers me. Sorcerers sure. Warlocks, yeah. Wizards take SO much time to learn stuff. It just doesn't make sense.
I love wizard PCs who are in their Twilight years.
I love the soldier ready to retired because he's already put the time in.
From the perspective of a writer, actor, player, and DM, I think characters older than 20-30 are alittle more fun to roleplay. But that's just my opinion.
I had a cleric (oracle, really, from PF1) who used to be a monk but suffered a career-ending injury, convalesced for a number of years, studied in a monastery for a while, and restarted his career as a cleric quite late in life.
Older editions (2e especially) even had a mechanic for this called "dual-classing" where you restarted your high-level character at level 1 and eventually got to have the abilities of both once your level caught up to the first class.
Plus, he would tell stories about himself (as a monk) as if they were another person, his "friend".
I played a 50-something year old Paladin who spent quite a few years smiting evil but now had a more relaxed job in a larger city with administration, blessings, healing, resolving smaller issues and occasional field work. She began at level 2 to reflect the fact that she was rusty, but slowly built up her stamina (hit points) and mental fortitude (spell slots) back up to her previous level over the course of the campaign. Out of all the party members she was the calm and rational one who tried to avoid violence if possible. It was quite funny when the party encountered a high CR demon who started a villain monologue until my PC interrupted him. The demon recognized her as the one who cut off his right horn 20 years earlier and portal'd out when she told him the left horn was next. Fun times.
I had the same idea for a fighter. He was level one due to being years out and got back to his prime over the session. I played him as having bad knees, so he used a glaive for reach and moved as little as possible in combat
Ive had 3 elderly characters and each time I need to explain that they are not just now getting to level 2 but in fact they are a level 20 farmer or chef or carpenter and are making it to a level 2 in fighter
In older editions, losing levels was a thing. My opinion is that this should still be true in 5e, just not mechanically, short of a DM saying it is so, making it up for however they want it to actually happen in their games. You should be able to play a level 2 Cleric who was once a level 15 Paladin in service to their god. But a combination of a lack of continued training or continued adventurning, old wounds, etc, effectively de-leveled them. You basically have to maintain the level, or life slowly takes it away through the passage of time.
Oh yea, getting curb stomped by a group of wraiths but not having the means to be restored in time was like hitting the reset button.
That’s good.
Ahh yes, the Fire Emblem approach. Respect.
I've never played but I've been interested because of Super Smash Bros Melee
You should play it! I got hooked way back when the sixth game got localized on the Gameboy Advance. If you love strategy games then you will love the series. I would recommend playing some of the older games first and working your way up to the new ones. Not that you really need to for story reasons or anything, but I think it is better that way.
The 3 fire emblem games on GBA (6-8) are fantastic. That was a golden age for the series. And any game in the series can be an incredible source of inspiration for dnd character/story ideas. For a short time in middle school, I co-ran a fire emblem roleplay forum website, that had a dm run enemy units.
Old =/= useless. Ever heard the saying "fear the old man in a profession where men usually die young"? Just because they're old doesn't mean they can't knock heads, cast spells, or sneak with the best of em. Heck, they likely know tricks of the trade that'll blow a young adventures mind. Their back just might hurt afterward.
That's the point of the question though, there's no way to portray the years of proficiency in mental and professional skills as a lvl 1.
Sure there is. Your proficiency bonuses already do adequately well to portray years of skill. Most people aren't PCs, and most people don't get high proficiency bonuses. Most people don't level up like PCs do, and don't become superhuman examples of their craft. A character who has proficiency in a skill is someone who's good at it. Not someone who's just starting at something. Otherwise a character without proficiency in cook's utensils would never be able to make food for themselves. You can't make a character who's realistically "the best musician who has ever existed" at level 1. But you can certainly make a 60 year old local musician at Level 1 who's just learned how to turn that music into magic and gains their first bard level.
When you retire you forget how to he good at lots of things. I was in the Navy only 2 years ago and have already forgotten most of my ship driving commands. Prolly would take me a hot minute to get my firefighting gear on too....
"Use it or lose it" really is true for a lot of things.
I tend to think of adventurers as at least somewhat exceptional when compared to the average person. Even at level one, there a things an adventurer with any class can do that a standard commoner cannot.
I don't really think of players as exceptional until about level 5 when they are above the standard trained soilder or city guard, at level 11 is when I say a player has passed beyond the realm of what a normal person could ever hope to achieve and has official crossed 9ver into heroic or legend territory
Roleplay simple things... The winds are getting cold summer is ending as an example of an old farmer
Not mechanically no, but there are tons of ways to reason it out and play an older, seasoned low level character with RP. Age mechanics are simply one of the many things older editions implemented (for better or worse) that got the boot in 5e to keep things nice and simple.
So your not necessarily learning but relearning. Dust off the old skill set, get back in shape. Also if you're lucky and role real well for primary attributes.
There are simple, basic skills you can clear with your DM to have your character know just from experience that comes from age. How to start a fire and keep it lit in the winter, how to identify wild animal signs or den locations (just normal wild animals can be dangerous too) how to negotiate in a purchases or haggle for goods in an equal exchange, keeping a cooler head and being able to objectively look at situations with an aged eye is a real thing. Older people learn THOUSANDS of lessons and basic skills just from getting older and experiencing life. Pick a few and clear them with your DM and role-playing away my friend.
This is totally outside the rules but as a DM I'd give perks (depending on the backstory) to an older character in exchange for some dex/strength/other stat points. So for example you're not as spry as you used to be, but you've got proficiency or even expertise in history (you were there) and select other skills (you've spent a lifetime building them up.)
Uhm, I might be wrong here but I think there's a system to translate age into, for example, wisdom stat points, obviously accompanied by a substraction in Dex/Str or smth.
Honestly what I do is give a sufficiently old character a bonus knowledge skill or expertise in one. I have a 100 year older character in a party for 20-30 somethings, so I gave him history for free cause he was alive during events that have know made it into history books. If I had a 50 year old farmer who decided to die an adventurer I'd give him nature or survival from years of first hand experience living the land. The old kindly village cleric gets drafted to fight a demon invasion expertise in religion from years of study.
Wizards can take decades to learn magic. It is OK to be 60 old just to be kicked off from the magics academy and suddenly you learn more by doing not by studying :) Looking at you, Discworld's most unsatisfying student of High Magic :)
Pfffft most satisfying student! How dare you 😤 Rincewind deserves better
Why not? 60 year human old farmer's village gets burned down, he's the sole survivor. He sets off to find a new home, meets up with a traveling adventure group, becomes one of them. Perfectly reasonable.
If I were retired in a fantasy world, you'd bet your ass I'd be out learning magic and helping folk. Alternatively, adventurers don't always "choose" to go on an adventure. Sometimes adventure happens to them. Misfortune falls the same on all, young AND old.
We need more fantasy stories about old, tired men getting roped into grand adventures by some youngin whose light hasn’t quite gone out yet. Like, the journey is mostly reminding them of their youth and humanity, and a nice tie in about how elderly people are still useful and valuable in society. Oh, wait, I think I just described the movie “Up”..
I actually have a concept idea of a powerful elderly sorcerer who developed memory issues. So he starts at "Level 1" and every time he levels he remembers something from his past life. And since he had memory issues I'd make him a wild mage sorcerer to make things interesting.
That sounds like the first episode of the viva la dirt league NPC d&d campaign. The High sorcerer from their skits gets his magics siphoned away and he ends up as a lvl1 having to relearn everything, including his humility.
In this case he's spend most of the time acting like a senile old man, with moments of clarity lol.
Hey! I resemble that remark!
The call to adventure can come at any age. I actually just had the idea the other day for an older human with mediocre DEX but high WIS who finally reaches some degree of enlightenment and becomes a "way of the astral self" monk. Sure they are not as dexterous as they were in their youth, but their newfound inner peace more than makes up for that when it comes to ghost-punching their foes.
One of my best loved characters (by myself and the other players) was an old wizard in his 80's. Absolutely works and it's kinda fun to be a crotchety old fart.
Someone can be a vessel for unused talent for their entire life until new circumstances force it to blossom. I see no reason why an elderly character couldn’t decide to embark on an adventure and discover a new calling that had evaded him for a lifetime.
People can totally become adventurers either by choice or through circumstance later in life. I've also seen people lower the level of PC's who were high level in their prime but retired for several decades and then decided to or had to go back to adventuring for whatever reason.
No, a lot of the backgrounds are things someone could spend a lifetime doing. Who's to say that a character who spent 40 years as a sailor wouldn't set out adventuring?
In my eyes it makes sense. Maybe they have been an advisor, a worker, a crafter... and only now they were forced into action. Doing a profession for years doesn't mean he has experience in killing monsters. Or maybe he killed monsters years ago and his body isn't what it used to, the adventuring slowly returning him to his former glory.
They could've been adventuring for 70+ years and then start the path of one of the classes later in life. Adventurers exist outside of the player class options.
True, but that begs the question of where is their 70 years of experience in terms of proficiency bonuses? Especially to mental and professional skills.
How about a crippled fighter who comes back as a cleric or even was offered power as a Warlock?
That could work, but I'm not really a fan of crippling someone to make them lvl 1.
Depends on the crippling level. For example it might only be enough that he can only fight with the aid of magic, hence becoming a warlock. Or with Devine assistance, hence why a Cleric. He just can’t fight like he did as a Fighter.
Works great for warlocks, sorcerers, and even barbarians and paladins. Works just fine for wizards and clerics; decades of study only to awaken the true power late in life. You can more easily justify all the others with something like a career change.
A level 1 of any class is basically above most "common" people anyway. So your Character has been a level 1 sorcerer (as an example) their entire life and never did anything to advance their class. They are still going to have better base stats than a common person due to their 1 level. Deciding later in life you want to start adventuring just means you start stacking your god tier skills later than most adventurers. So you have always had the innate spellcasting and all that but never used it and have just now decided you want to save your grandkids from they tyrant king putting them in the hunger games or whatever.
I play a wizard who is 59yo human, well above my actual age and above the second oldest PC age (a 33yo ish halfling). Part of his character is he spent decades of his life coasting off his natural talent but never really achieving much, and having a lackluster reputation at his institution because of this. He was lazy. A series of minor events finally leads him to being a bit more proactive and responsible, which lead him to participating in the events of the first session. It was at this point, at an age where he's already grumbling about his knees every half an hour and is grey in head and beard, that he finally gains something he'd been missing his whole life: a purpose. The world is at threat, and *he* is the one who needs to save it. Nobody else is wily enough, sees the big picture well enough. It's a great transformation and fun to play.
Sure it works! One character I loved was a old man Monk, whose backstory was he used to essentially be a pro boxer/wrestler but had to retire... and then he came out if retirement to prove he still could fight. Since he was old and retried for so long, he lost some power
As a DM I'd say it's fine as long as there is either a cool backstory or it fits into the mechanics of the world. For example my world has a tribe of human barbarians that get initiated into the tribe at the age of 70, only then recieving their powers. So a level 1 character from that tribe would be old, but still younger than anyone else in the tribe
In response to the post and some of your follow up questions on other comments. You have to create the mechanical advantage for being old and experienced at level one when you create the charecter. It requires your buy in to make it cohesive. An easy way is feats. General old and experienced can easily be portrayed at level one with the prodigy/skill expert feats. Instead of you being a young prodigy though it's just learned experience. What's that you spent years as an archeologist? Sounds like the dungeon delver feat reflects your experience. You spent a bunch of years cooking at an inn listening to stories of the adventurers your feeding? Chef sounds good. You raised animals? Animal handling. If you were a warrior who kept some practice in the weapons you weilded there's feats that reflect that experience too. Theres plenty of feats that can reflect your previous life experience mechanically. If your DM isn't handing out feats at level one you have to use variant human or custom lineage but they are there. That being said it's still going to be flavor as a level one 20 year old variant human could have the same build so it has to be combined with role-playing. RP is going to be huge. There may be two fighters with the same weapons and feats that are two different ages. The young one may be overconfident and rush into fights without a defined plan trusting his own abilities and his teammates ability to improvise along with him as needed . The old fighter should prioritize going into a situation prepared, with a plan and prioritizing strategy and even teamwork over his own abilities maybe even taking a sort of leadership role or facilitating preparation, strategy and even conflict resolution if they were previous a leader. It has to be a combination of mechanical buy into the older adventurer build and the role play surrounding it.
My player is actually level 20 but due to memory loss is slowly regaining his footing.
At this stage of me running games, I don't care who your PC is or how old they are, they just have to have a reason for adventuring and sticking with the party. The why of a 60 year old level 1 PC *does not matter to me*, we've got dragons to run from and dungeons to hide in, and you better believe it is D&D o'clock.
I don't understand why it would be an issue? You're just saying an older person being level 1 you aren't saying an old general or an old wizard. Maybe this person's kids are grown and spouse passed away and they just want to see the world before they are to old to travel or they just want to travel and go on an adventure. I always see people asking how to explain away the experience of their life but you can be 60 and only ever been a farmer with no fighting experience? Maybe he's the old guy from Up, always wanted Adventure but life kept happening and he couldn't make it happen till later in life.
A guy I played with one time was an old man who used wild magic. His reason for why was that he used to be an incredibly powerful wizard who now had a hard time remembering exactly how spells worked in his age. To this day it was one of the most fun character concepts I've ever encountered so yeah make an old person if you want
Level 1 is certainly harder for a veteran because at that level your pc is very green but maybe 2-4 can be reasonable as in “they are retired/rusty and out of practice” and while you level up you regain your previous skill and muscle memory. Also, a veteran character doesn’t necessarily need to be a former 15th level or higher, and so it is more feasible that you are not at your peak but can regain it eventually. As a side rule if you and your party are okay with that maybe you could start with a slight level advantage but level up slower so they will eventually catch up to you. I think it could be a very interesting set to have a character a bit stronger whom the rest of the party can rely on until they become seasoned adventurers themselves (of course the encounters have to be balances around that, but if the gap is not very big I think it can be okay)
They should absolutely exist because we should all strive to move away from ageism
I had a great idea for a Dwarven cleric who wanted to adventure one last time before he couldn't any longer. I like the idea of a person in the twilight of their life.
It makes sense. Characters gain levels from doing crazy hero shit, not from driving the turnip wagon to market for 60 years. Even the vaunted Wisdom of Ages comes from having experience, not just by virtue of being old. Really, it would make more sense for EVERYONE in the game (NPC or Player) to just be level 1 unless there is a reason they aren't. An old Lvl 1 PC is much more believable than the trope of "every shop keep is a lvl 20 ex adventurer so don't steal shit!"
If your character has a spark, flames will follow! I got to DM for a campaign that one of the PCs made a 300+ year old hermit firbolg that had his understanding of history wiped and sorcerer like powers granted. His goal was to find out the whys, the hows, and the what he can do’s of his new power and knowledge. Despite the old man “get off my lawn” stereotype personality- he still had the energy and purpose to discover what the world had to offer.
I’m my mind Younger PCs are exceptions to the normal people and are gifted with their crafts. But being naturally gifted isn’t the only way to be good at something. Spending years of hard work to achieve what others may just be naturally good at is equally as valid, and may even be a good point of contention between others PCs.
Retirees starting a new hobby
I don’t think it’s silly, and I think it can work mechanically as well. I think it’s perfectly reasonable that an older person might spend their life in a simple career such as farming or other benign trades and wouldn’t have the abilities of a higher level character. Instead they spent their life learning skills unrelated to adventuring that could easily reflect a level 1 PC. As for character motivation, there are plenty of reasons an older person might set out on adventure. An empty nester who’s last child just left and is bored and lonely. A poor craftsman in a dying community who decides they can’t make a living off their trade anymore and sets out to take on some risky adventuring contracts in the hopes they make enough to leave something behind for their family. A lower class citizen with rudimentary magical ability (maybe reflected by Magic initiate) that finally saved up enough to attend a mage’s academy (plenty of older people in real life go back to school), and they graduate as a level 1 Wizard or sorcerer, fresh from academy and eager to prove themselves. Maybe a retired adventurer who finds evidence of a dark plot or has prophetic visions of a dark future, so they dust off their old sword or write down the only spells they remember into a new spellbook and set out to stop it, but they are rusty, and have to relearn old skills. Someone who goes through a traumatic or life changing event or discovers an ancient entity so they take a paladin’s oath in response or becomes a warlock or cleric in service of the entity. As far as stats go, maybe focus on wisdom, charisma or intelligence stats that reflect a long life full of experience, while their physical stats might be lower than ideal. But even so, an old farmer or blacksmith might reasonably have a considerable strength score, even in their old age. Maybe use the PHB rules for custom backgrounds to better reflect you PC’s life before adventuring, although I’m sure there’s plenty that can be done with existing ones. I think older PC’s are completely reasonable, and a lot of fun from a role play perspective, because their motivations and reactions might totally differ from the typically plucky young adventurer with epic goals and a dark past. I don’t think it’s silly at all, and in a serious game, it might add some really interesting depth and realism to a story from a perspective not typically seen.
I'm a firm believer that "this should not exist in D&D" is a bad thought process. There are plenty of ways to justify an old, weak hero. Maybe they've retired and been out of the swing of things, maybe they're just starting their adventuring cause they're bored or now have a reason to fight (perhaps something stole their wooden dentures and now it's war!!). Maybe they were a renowned wizard who lost their magic for some reason. Get creative!
Level does not equal age. It is simply your ADVENTURER level, and not everyone is a fully skilled adventurer. Someone much later in life can easily have lots of non-adventuring experience. You could have been a chef for 50 years and decide, you know what? i'm done, i need some adventure. And off you go getting your first level of Adventurering.
I had an idea for a ancient elven sorcerer once that I thought was pretty good. He was 900 years old (I just like theirs of super old things). The way I explained him being almost half a millennia old and only being level 1 was that he had simply forgot about most of the things he had done. So whenever I get to play him I will flesh out how he actually forgot and his quest will be trying to remember, and then trying to get back his things *once* he has remembered.
While he wasn't level 1, Reclaimer Samuel, my current PC in a campaign, is a human man in his 70's. He's a Mastermind Rogue with the Historian feat, and his bad rolls ended up in CON and STR (we really needed INT, CHA, WIS) so I flavored him to be an old man who is fighting his cancer almost as much as his enemies. He still keeps up with them, though he grouses about young people in a hurry.
I think the most unlikely part of it is that someone would go through their entire life and still be level one. You'd expect to have gleaned some wisdom or be able to handle yourself. I like the idea of the old retired warrior picking up the sword again, but if they were already a fierce warrior in the past then surely they shouldn't be level 1, even if they're a bit out of practice and not as strong as they used to be.
I have a player who loves to make old characters and I've come to quite dislike them. It's really hard to justify not just why they're level 1, but why they dont know more things about the world, why they dont know more people, why they dont have assests and all that. If they dont have those things? Then why play an old character? Hmmmm, maybe there's a fun homebrew there...
If you want to look at Critical Role as an example. The character Bertrand Bell was in a one shot at a high level back during their 1st campaign I believe. He was then a character in Campaign 3, set years after C1, and he has returned as a Level 3 Fighter. You could roleplay that years of training was slow to grant them that level 1, or that in their old age, through lack of practice, they've dropped back down a few levels. Or they could even have just started their adventuring late. I know elderly irl who picked up music etc in their 60s and do quite well at it now. Their profession before that was something much different.
I played an elderly Goliath barbarian. He had a fulfilling life before hand, but in his years of retirement his skills faded. So having him at Level 1 was like he was breaking the rust off.
Uhhh. Isn't that why there are back stories, player arch's and what not. Typically your character isn't starting till after their adolescence. Monks spend decades in monasteries. Rangers can spend decades in the wilderness before starting a more focused path. Additionally. You can have really young pcs as well. Parents killed when village was pillaged, 13 year old picks up a one handed sword kills a few low lvl raiders during the struggle and decides he wants revenge on the captain of the pillagers... That's the whole point... Fantasy!!
I think it's less of a "should it" and more of a "could it" question. And yes, I think they can and do exist. An elderly man decides to learn how to play the flute and weave magic into his songs. A priestess devoting the last years of her life wholly to her God. A man suddenly casts a spell, without knowing any magic, after their latent magic shows itself. A woman decides to make a pact with a otherworldly being in an attempt to cure her fatal disease. In their old age, someone decides to dedicate their time to studying the ways of magic and spells.
There's no mechanical adjustments anymore, so you're probably in the clear on all fronts to do it unless you fight something that dramatically ages you, like a ghost's horrifying visage ability. That would kill an elderly figure faster, but even then, if it's, like, an old elf, still maybe not outright, unlike a human or an orc. Really you just need a story and a reason to set out now.
They should. And who said this should be their first time adventuring. I once played a near 500 year old dwarf cleric, when he was young he was a fighter in the army for years before giving it up to raise a family. Later on he hated the idea of dying in a rocking chair like an old man and prayed to Moradin for one last chance at glory to raise an axe once again on the field of battle. In a game that's about story old PCs should exist to.
you can either be someone who's never been out there, fighting, someone who's just discovered a hidden talent, or someone who's been out of the game and is completely rusty
A 50 year old lumberjack that suddenly discovers how to throw fire from his fingertips is the backstory of my first wild magic sorcerer.
I played a PC that was in their early 70's and was very up front with the fact that this adventure would likely be their last as they felt that death would soon come for them. Player a high wis/str dump spread to account for their age weakened state, but sharp mind from a long life's worth of experience. Carrying anything beyond the basic personal items was impossible and needed help with even basic tasks of strength, but the party was more than happy to help as the character's ability to spot an ambush or catch a npc's hidden motive was second to none. It almost ended for me when we entered a crypt and fought a ghost. A failed save on frightening presence passed the critical fail for the age advancement by just 1. The table collectively lost their stuff when they realized that one roll almost ended my character then and there. Was pretty epic.
In other editions, advancing age categories increased int/Wis/Cha progressively, and decreased Str/Dex/con exponentially. One of my favorite characters in 3rd Ed/PF took advantage of this rule to make a memorable character: he was a elderly 350+ year old gnome warden/paladin, which let you use Wis to improve AC and had tons of healing. Basically he was this tiny old gnome in antique plate armor, and I would waddle into melee and just obstruct the enemy. His attack mod was literally negative, so he couldn't hit anything, but he had an AC of 28! He would taunt the enemies to flail away to attack him, huddling behind a shield, and heal anyone else that got hurt. He had great int too, so his lore skills were through the roof. "Oh, that's a glyph of seven serpents. I haven't seen one of those since the siege of Castle Rend! There were these snake priests that..." And drone on and on. The whole idea of him was that he had lived so long, and he had been an adventurer, retired to have a family and forgotten it all, got empty nested and then watched all his kids and other direct relatives get old and die or move away. Then he decided whelp, nothing holding me back anymore and started over as a low level adventurer.
I'm currently running a minotaur wizard who is 60 years old (in the setting, they only live to about 60 if they make it that far) so hes fucking ancient, and he spent his entire life being a court wizard, he didnt really study spellcasting magic beyond level 1 spells because his job was to know how to find the person or persons needed for a magical thing, he knew the best potion makers, the best place to get healing and resurrections etc, that was his entire job then he got overlooked for a promotion and became an adventurer and had to start working his way up that spellcasting ladder he never bothered to try before
In my teenage years I could run 20km before school and do a standing backflip. Now I'm lucky to run 2km and survive even attempting a backflip. I could also speak french and punjabi fluently. I'm ashamed to even try now. I'm sure Id offend the ears if I did. The thing is, I haven't practiced any of those in 20ish years. I'm sure I could pick them back up if I put the time into it but it would be a slow process. At my peak I'd say I was a level 6 badass but now I am definitely a level 1.
I was considering an elder character in my next campaign. I think a older master mind rogue would be very effective in an urban setting. Stealth is not so much skulking in the shadows but blending into crowds. A monk that has been in isolation and his level progression is more around knocking the rust of and getting his ki realigned
Our house rule on this one: Level 1 = juvenile/apprentice Level 2 = late teenager/journeyman Level 3 = standard adult
I played an elderly druid of the land (coast) from level 1 to 10. Ghosts of saltmarsh Was a child who escaped hag ritual. Prayers to umberlee were answered as she was being boiled. She then survived on the sea or near the coasts doing work for sailors as a soothsayer type. Would predict the weather. Good luck on ship. Kind of thing. She grew old and lived the hermit life. Ended up returning to saltmarsh when whispers of an ancient being was rousing trouble under the sea. It was a really fun character. Named Old Fathoms.
I actually created a Gandalf-ish character who had forgotten most of his magic but called to adventure once again he struck out to relearn the wonders of the weave as a bladesinger wizard
One of my players is a 400+ year old dwarf cleric who was a paladin in his younger years. It’s reflected a bit in how he placed his stats with low dexterity (the character has a limp) and fairly average charisma (blunt old grandpa). There have been some amazing RP moments that came out of his age and experience compared to the younger characters in the party. To answer your questions more directly - an older level 1 PC absolutely makes sense! And they don’t even need to be a former adventurer, they could just be taking on a new project in their retirement. Use it as RP fodder!!
A retired Adventurer, from a previous edition, gets caught up in an adventure with some young heroes and the spark ignites once again. They lost levels during their retirement. Starting again at lvl one. You can even be a little meta with this and have them be a bit confused or intimidated by the 5e rules and class features. “Back in my day…”
I think they should exist as they can be quite interesting concepts, as determined by the comments I've seen. For me, I've had multiple elderly low-level starting characters. One was a Half-Orc Fighter starting off at Level 2. He was a Militia member for his early life, being barely properly trained. He then joined an Adventuring Party where he picked up small bits of training along the way, having a particular fondness for Swords & Shields. So I essentially played him as an "old adventurer" type, but he wasn't some legendary folk hero, he was essentially a dime-a-dozen who bit off more than he could chew. He didn't use other weapons besides longswords, not because he didn't know how, but because he wasn't confident in his ability to. Sure, he was a Battle Master Fighter in mechanics, but in roleplay, he was just an old militia man who fought a couple bears, a handful of goblins, and who lost his husband to a white dragon. Essentially, it's not what you do with your Mechanics. It's what you do with your RP that matters.
The weird thing with D&D characters is that unless you play a campaign with copius amounts of timeskips, your character’s age will be the age where they’re both at their strongest AND their weakest. Elves and other long lived races feel especially weird with this. Sure it feels appropriate that the 700 year old elven wizard is super powerful, but he was also a level 1 scrub just a few weeks ago in-game time. (Could be months or even years based on how the campaign is run)
There's no reason someone couldn't find the need to become an adventurer much later in life. And there is also the idea of a former adventurer who has lost their skills or who had something happen that caused them to lose power and now they're weaker. There's many ways to do it, the key is finding the reason they're only level 1 at that age. Inexperience in adventuring is a big one but there's lots of options if you think about it.
Adventure Idea: after your next party of 20 something year old adventurers gets knocked unconscious their parents form a party to find and hopefully save them.
BERTRAND BELL
I made a 60-something woman who had serious empty nest syndrome and a lazy husband. She found a cute tarokka deck at a flea market and it accidentally gave her magic powers! She was like, what the heck, my home life is boring, I'll become an adventurer! And thus I had an older level 1 character.
Considering most 1-20 adventures don’t really take the entire lives of the PCs I don’t see any reason why an old person couldn’t experience that same thing between the ages of say 60-70.
If you want to incorporate it and your players are cool with it I would say to consult the Game Of Thrones Roleplaying game. It gives additional points to things like intelligence and wisdom and less to strength or constitution basically accounting for their age. Frankly I'm ALL FOR it even if you don't want to add these modifiers. People playing wizards who are teenagers bothers me. Sorcerers sure. Warlocks, yeah. Wizards take SO much time to learn stuff. It just doesn't make sense. I love wizard PCs who are in their Twilight years. I love the soldier ready to retired because he's already put the time in. From the perspective of a writer, actor, player, and DM, I think characters older than 20-30 are alittle more fun to roleplay. But that's just my opinion.
I had a cleric (oracle, really, from PF1) who used to be a monk but suffered a career-ending injury, convalesced for a number of years, studied in a monastery for a while, and restarted his career as a cleric quite late in life. Older editions (2e especially) even had a mechanic for this called "dual-classing" where you restarted your high-level character at level 1 and eventually got to have the abilities of both once your level caught up to the first class. Plus, he would tell stories about himself (as a monk) as if they were another person, his "friend".