Guide to ages; Don't make your character a child or a relic

[Zero44556]

I've compiled a list of the ages for the races I expect people to be RPing, if this thread turns out well, please request that it be stickied, all material is taken from wowwiki's page on lifespans

Adulthood Middle age Old Venerable Maximum lifespan

Alliance

Human 15 35 53 80 85-130

Dwarf 40 125 188 250 252-450

Gnome 40 100 150 200 203-500

NElf* 300 500 650 700 705-1200(Some have lived 2000 years)

Draenei* See special notes at the bottom

Worgen The worgen curse doesn't affect aging or lifespan, see humans above

Horde

Orc 20 (sometimes 18) 40 65 80 82-100 (Sometimes less than that)

Undead* See special notes at the bottom

Troll 17 30 47 69 70-79

Tauren 15 75 95 110 114-150

BElves 110(or 60) 175 263 350 354-390(Sometimes 2000+)

Goblins* 20 40 73 85 75-93

Misc.

Half elves* 20 62 93 125 128-185 (or 200-300)

Pandaren* 80 175 263 350 N/A

Dragons, etherials, demons, ancients, keepers of the grove and dyrads are all immortals

Special notes, where races that are a bit hard to follow are

Night elves: This is a tricky one to figure out, it can be assumed that a night elf stops aging at 300 years old until 7 years ago when they lost their immortality, so you can have a night elf who's walked azeroth for 7000 years but only be 300 or so on the race chart, adding in the seven years since hyjal

Draenei: Draenei are nearly perfect immortals, no draenei's ever been recorded of having died of old age, draenei who survived the massacre at argus may be as old as 25,000 years, draenei can still be slain with sword and spell, however

Undead: Forsaken are immortals from the moment they're revived, they'll exist forever, not aging past the age they died at plus the years they spent dead before they were brought back

Goblins: Only trade princes have been reported of having died of old age, most goblins blow themselves up in haywire experiments before they hit 50

Half-elves: Some reports exist that half elves share in their parents' extended lifespan, but it varies from half elf to half elf

Pandaran: Due to their naturally secretive nature, no reports of the maximum lifespan of pandaran have been written

Edit: Tacked on the notes

[Veruz]

Thank you for posting this here There certainly are people that don't know about Life Span page of WoWWiki and its good to have it all here readily available!

[Mistress Elizabeth]

I would like to suggest and even beg someone to post a timeline from at least Warcraft 2 - till now

Sort of like

Start of Warcraft 2 (xx years ago)
= Event X of WC2 (xx years ago)
= Event Y of WC2 (xx years ago)
= Event Z of WC 2 (x years ago)
Start of Warcraft 3 (x years ago)
= Event of Arthas going crazy (x years ago)
= Event of Thrall founding the orc capital (x years ago)
Start of WoW (x years ago)

Etc etc. Not only would it be helpful for people to know just how long ago it happened, but also it would be helpful to avoid some people that aren't as knowledgeable of Lore (like me :/) from doing RP in a place that still doesnt exist at the time (like trying to do RP as an Orc in Orgrimmar x years ago when the horde hasnt even invaded Azeroth or something along the line...)

[Izhara]

It's about damn time you came to this board, missy! Now go make a character! :-*

[Mistress Elizabeth]

It's about damn time you came to this board, missy! Now go make a character! :-*

I don't know, I don't feel like doing any more posting after messing the diaries :/...

Also I'm more of a story teller, and I don't think making a thread in which only I would post stories about my paladin would be nice.

[The Madgod]

I would like to suggest and even beg someone to post a timeline from at least Warcraft 2 - till now

Sort of like

Start of Warcraft 2 (xx years ago)
= Event X of WC2 (xx years ago)
= Event Y of WC2 (xx years ago)
= Event Z of WC 2 (x years ago)
Start of Warcraft 3 (x years ago)
= Event of Arthas going crazy (x years ago)
= Event of Thrall founding the orc capital (x years ago)
Start of WoW (x years ago)

Etc etc. Not only would it be helpful for people to know just how long ago it happened, but also it would be helpful to avoid some people that aren't as knowledgeable of Lore (like me :/) from doing RP in a place that still doesnt exist at the time (like trying to do RP as an Orc in Orgrimmar x years ago when the horde hasnt even invaded Azeroth or something along the line...)

There SHOULD be a timeline as well as a link to the wowwiki lifespan page in the Roleplayer's Guide.

I don't know, I don't feel like doing any more posting after messing the diaries :/...

Also I'm more of a story teller, and I don't think making a thread in which only I would post stories about my paladin would be nice.

If you want to share stories, post em in the RP Discussion subforum

[Adrius Frostglare]

Bump because people need to be reminded of the growth and changes. I might tackle making the timeline. Lord knows, if I'm going to have my memory space be taken up with a useless wealth of WoW knowledge, I might as well serve it for others :P

[The Madgod]

Bump because people need to be reminded of the growth and changes. I might tackle making the timeline. Lord knows, if I'm going to have my memory space be taken up with a useless wealth of WoW knowledge, I might as well serve it for others :P

this information has already been covered in another thread

Quoted from the Roleplayer's "Guide":

Name: (Tharaldriel's Guide to Naming)
Age: (racial lifespans)
Race:
Gender:
Class:
Personality:
Likes/Dislikes:
History: (Here's a Timeline, if you wanted one to reference major points in warcraft lore while keeping your character accurate)

EDIT: though if you're going to make a timeline that's more specific, i'll gladly replace the wowwiki link in the guide with yours

[Adrius Frostglare]

Sure thing. Mine'll go into detail and have chapters. QUESTION: Do you think I should have them be divided by period, geography, or by race?

Examples:

BY PERIOD would be like "Chapter 1: The Titans and Sargeras", followed by "Chapter 2: Corruption of the Eredar and the Flight to Draenor" and then "Chapter 3: The First War"

BY RACE... pretty obvious. I'd start with a very general history on the Titans and Azeroth, then move on to individual races, from the draenei to the undead.

BY GEOGRAPHY: Again, pretty simple. Each area and zone is given a bit on its history. Personally, I feel this is the least reliable, though it does help players know more about the area they use.

Which would you choose?

[The Madgod]

a timeline isn't a story, mate, just a list of events in chronological order :P

[Adrius Frostglare]

Often find that even then people make mistakes. Even then, I could just post a link to the event rather than type a short summary on it.

[The Madgod]

I somehow doubt that people here will make mistakes based on dates, if the information is accurate (and if they read the timeline). Just a list of dates with a blurb about what the date means will be fine. In general, the timeline on wowwiki is pretty accurate, aside from things before the War of the Ancients, which isn't much. You'll have to top that, while keeping it concise. A long list like this in paragraph form would be horrible for someone to look through.

Like I said, if you can top the wowwiki's timeline, while keeping it in the same format (it's VERY easy to read and look through, that's what we want), then you'll get your guide linked to.

[Mistress Elizabeth]

I have a little question regarding Half Elves.

Is it ok to claim that a half elf, who's age wise mature, but physically looks much younger?

Because In my story, my main character is 20ish years old, but her body seems to be much younger, some people believing her to be a child at first glance or until she speaks.

Also about appearance, I really didnt want my character to have long ears, is it ok with going with "genes favore/screwed him/her over and he/she doesn't have long elf ears."

[The Madgod]

I have a little question regarding Half Elves.

Is it ok to claim that a half elf, who's age wise mature, but physically looks much younger?

Because In my story, my main character is 20ish years old, but her body seems to be much younger, some people believing her to be a child at first glance or until she speaks.

Also about appearance, I really didnt want my character to have long ears, is it ok with going with "genes favore/screwed him/her over and he/she doesn't have long elf ears."

as a half elf, id assume that they would physically age at the same scaled aging as any other race. That is to say, at age 20, they'd look like an adult. As an elf though, you could probably shave off a few years, appearance wise. "eternal youth" and all that.

[Khanon]

I have a little question regarding Half Elves.

Is it ok to claim that a half elf, who's age wise mature, but physically looks much younger?

Because In my story, my main character is 20ish years old, but her body seems to be much younger, some people believing her to be a child at first glance or until she speaks.

Also about appearance, I really didnt want my character to have long ears, is it ok with going with "genes favore/screwed him/her over and he/she doesn't have long elf ears."

I'll try to cover it all (as I've rp'ed and developed half-elves over many milieux for over 20 years).

For age, half-elves can age like a human, or like an elf...it depends on which genes controlling aging and appearance are dominant for your character, though they tend to favor the maternal side in general. A 20-ish half-elf who appears extremely nubile is perfectly fine, as well as one that does look to be even a tad older than 20. Since it's not real life, you can fudge those things for the telling anyway.

Syrra is 43 years old, chronologically, but luckily inherited at least partial longevity from her father and still appears to be in her mid-20's. She'll carry that look for at least another 50 years, where she'll start to look a bit time-worn. Most of my half-elves tend to have a natural life of 175-225 years. They tend to look fairly young until they reach ~100, when the ravages of time start to wear on them, at first at a steady pace, then by about 150 years of age, it rapidly increases.

For the ears, it all depends on what's dominant, again. You can have them look mostly human except some elf-ish tendencies or mostly elf, with some human tendencies.

For a bit of meta-gaming, I'll give you an idea with Syrra's physical description:

She's 5'8"...short by either human or elf standards, but she makes up for it in pure fiery attitude. Though her build is slightly lighter than the average human woman, weighing in at 140 lbs she's quite voluptuous, moreso than the average elfin woman, even if she does often have to hide it under battle leathers for much of her time in public.

Her rounded face still carries some of the sharper lines of her elf heritage, while her blue-green eyes are hidden behind the taught scowl she seems to carry with her. Her ears, notably, are neither human nor elf, but somewhere in between with only a slight point at their top to give away her mixed heritage, unable to hide it from either humans or elves.

Her voice can be rather deep and sultry or a higher toned almost sing-song, depending on her mood. Though she was raised in Silvermoon City, her breeding made her a target for barbs from the moment her differences were noticeable. As such, she doesn't carry the normal haughty posturing of many elves, but is almost casual or relaxed when not in a confrontational moment.

Anyway... See, the thing I love about Half-Elves is exactly what you are asking...the beauty of having such a wide range to work from when speaking of half-breeds in this sort of setting.