Are the Noble Young Lady and the Noble Court Young Lady lifepaths considered to be the same thing as far as the “can only be taken once” restriction?
I could see an argument for both ways as N.C. has a different skill set than Noble and each could be taken as either the second or third lifepath.
The Proposed character would be born noble, young lady, (> n.c.) young lady, (> noble) lady (a noble who was sent to a distant court due to the lack of suitable eligible bachelors in her families domain. Married into another family in a distant land she uncovers a plot against her parents and all that they own.)
They are different lifepaths so you may take them both, diminishing returns does not apply.
You can only be young once.
Or forever.
Only with the Bathed in Virgin Blood trait.
Well this thread turned real creepy, real fast.
Or by being an Elf. Cheaty Elfses.
So then, despite being different lifepaths the “young” in young lady becomes the deciding factor?
(Taking it as Noble Young Lady to Noble Court Young Lady would put her at 28 years old before marriage. Not quite an “old maid” but old for most brides to blush)
However, a City Born, > Noble Page, > Noble Court Young Lady, would be perfectly legal at the age of 29 before getting married to a Noble from a distant land (lead to Noble Lady)
In my first example, the characer would have been 28 after her N.C. Young Lady lifepath rather than 29, so I must question the entire “only young once” statement if the character is actually younger taking it as two seperate lifepaths (Noble Young Lady > N.C. Young Lady) Does “Young Lady” refer to age or social restriction.
Unmarried women were not allowed into the discussions regarding married life that the married ladies shared regarding husbands and such. Isn’t that why they have different wises?
Sorry to necro this thread, but still no real answer.
I believe Luke’s saying that Young Lady can be taken once only, regardless of whether it’s from Noble or Noble Court.
Remember, Young Lady is one of the “cheating” lifepaths. I’d be disinclined to let players try to loophole themselves around the restrictions on taking it twice unless they had a very good explanation for why it was absolutely necessary to their character concept. But I generally disapprove of characters taking the same lifepaths multiple times, even when it isn’t one of the “overpowered” ones, so maybe it’s just me.
I think Young Lady is a noble woman who isn’t married yet. After Young Lady is over, they are probobly married or are/were going to be married and then ran away or something. As far as the Young Lady twice to go to some other court, I don’t think that makes a whole lot of sense; all of that could happen in one young lady-ship.
I think that it does make sense in the context of a girl starting her training to become a suitable bride at very young age of eight and then her family sending her off to live with relatives at the capital where she could attend court and thus become acquainted with a larger selection of eligible suitors.
It’s the reason a lot of young women used to leave their homes and travel to the big cities, to find a husband.
To me, concept is king, if that requires repeating lifepaths, so be it.
As far as cheating lifepaths, if they’re in the rules, how are they cheating?
Some may give more options than others, but there’s always a tradeoff.
This implies that a player should only take a “Young” lifepath once, it doesn’t stop a player from taking it more than once as RAW. Now looking at the Middle Ages life expectancies were considerable amount shorter putting the life expectancy of a male it was around 48/49 and females were only expected to make it to 42/43. Granted there are going to be exceptions. Coming out of the Young lifepath in the late 20’s or 30’s would imply that you have moved past the “young” stage and you are now entering into middle age if not nearing elderly based on historic based life expectancies.
Granted I understand that we don’t have elves and magic in the real world but this is a good starting point.
Life expectancy and elderliness didn’t quite track. Low life expectancy was significantly created by huge infant mortality and to a lesser extent by increased death at all ages, again mostly from disease. People didn’t really physiologically age all that much faster. Although people were more malnourished and less healthy generally, and tended to accumulate more problems with age, someone at 50 or 60 wasn’t really expected to be doddering, just less likely to make it that far.
I agree that concept is king. My experience is that there are certain lifepaths that players will often try to take, even when it’s a stretch for their stated concept. Young Lady is one of them. Student is another. When I hear a player say that they want to take either of those lifepaths twice, my null hypothesis is that they’re doing it for the skill points, and not the concept. But I don’t rule out the possibility, in case it really is necessary. But the player better have a good explanation as to why a different lifepath couldn’t work to cover her days at the court just as well. But that’s just my experience; other’s may differ.
So the question comes down to (again) are they considered to be the same lifepath, or are they different lifepaths? Is the lifepaths title (Young Lady) the deciding factor or does the fact that they are in two different settings (Noble and Noble Court) with slightly different skill sets qualify them as separate lifepaths (N.C. adds Poetry and Court Gossip-Wise at the expense of the Doctrine skill that The Noble setting has)
Or is this one of those things that are to be determined by the GM’s in accordance with their own game?
They should be considered the same LP. Rules in BW are best read parsimoneously.