This Disadvantage, which only characters subject to Normal Characteristic Maxima can buy, represents the effects on a character of being younger or older than normal. A character with Age is not at the peak of his physical capabilities due to the fact that he’s very young or getting on in years. Normally a character is considered to be in ideal condition, regardless of his actual calendar age — a physically fit character can be older than 40 or younger than 10 without taking this Disadvantage.

A character with Age has different Characteristic Maxima than normal, so it’s harder for him to buy up some Characteristics to high levels.
A character who’s over 40 receives a 5-point Disadvantage.
A character over 60 receives a 10-point Disadvantage.
A character who’s age 10 or younger receives a 15-point Disadvantage (Social Limitations and other Disadvantages might also be appropriate for very young characters).

These ages are given as guidelines; the actual age of the character is up to the player (for example, a player could take the 5-point Age Disadvantage for his character and say that the character is a remarkably spry 93-year-old).

Furthermore, the ages given are more or less based on modern-day demographics — GMs may wish to alter them to suit different sp[ecies within a campaign (for example, the life expectancy of a Skrull may be much higher than a human).

Characters with Age simply aren’t as healthy and fit as their peers (unless their peers also have Age, of course). In addition to lowered Characteristic Maxima, they might get sick more easily, have trouble with strenuous tasks, and so forth.

Age Disadvantage requires characters to abide by the restrictions of Normal Characteristic Maxima, (modified by the Age Table, below), including paying double for Characteristics above the Maximum Value. For example, every point of STR above 15 for someone with the Age: 40+ Disadvantage would cost 2 Character Points.

Even if a character has Age or Normal Characteristic Maxima, Powers or Talents that raise his Characteristics affect them normally — such abilities are not counted against the Characteristic Maxima or subject to the “double cost” rule mentioned above. Examples include Aid, Growth, Lightning Reflexes, and Characteristics bought as Powers. Thus, a character with Normal Characteristic Maxima and STR 20 who buys +40 STR through a Focus only pays 40 Active Points for that STR, not 80.

*Characteristic	Age 40+	Age 60+	Age 10-
STR	15	10	5
DEX	20	20	12
CON	15	10	8
BODY	15	10	8
INT	25	30	15
EGO	25	30	8
PRE	25	30	8
COM	20	20	16
PD	6	4	3
ED	6	4	3
SPD	4	4	2
REC	8	6	3
END	40	30	30
STUN	40	30	15
Movement (Run)	8”	6”	6”
Movement (Swim)	4”	3”	3”
Movement (Leap)	3”	2”	2”

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