[larsdangly]

I usually assume my starting characters are young adults, but freely change that as much as I want to suit a character concept. I recently played an Orthodox priest who started play as an old man, just because I saw him as a cranky old drunk with a long white beard. And another character in the same party is a skinny early-teen kid (with appropriately low starting ST) because that's how I saw him. I suppose, in principle, you could 'game' that sort of flexibility to help characters avoid the penalties of aging rules, but I don't see that really happening. No TFT adventurer worth their salt survives more than a couple of years anyway...