Child-like characters?

[Vidu]

Well it depends on what people mean by child.
Iirc Padjal in game have special feature like horn and have quite high responsability (I believe the one we met where entrusted with responsabilities not meant for children) so I do not see them as child/teenagers but kinda like lalafell.
But if by child they mean Khloe, then yes the question has every reason to be asked imo.

Padjal stop aging at a certain point in their life (usually pre-teen, though Kan-E apparently made it into her early 20s, going by her look) - they can be several hundred years old, though. I vaguely recall the conjurers-guildmast being over 300.

...but the point would still be that they look like children, despite their being an explantion why they're not. And while that explantion is intresting and fair enough for an NPC and the whole lore, it would make for a poor one to allow players to play characters that look like children - kinda the thing a lot of animes an other asian MMOs do. Just claiming that a character who very obviously looks like a child isnt one because they're actually an immortal being of some sort (vampire, demon, angle, padjal... whatever) doesnt make them look any less of a child and therefor a questionable choice for a playable race, at least in my opinion.

While I can understand the fascination SugarPuff would have with the whole padjal-concept, the whole problem what people might do to/with their child-looking characters still exist. Even if they'd claim "Oh no, thats not a child! They just look like one!" (Its bad enough that we have that for lalafell already... but in that case it actually seems more like they re-used the adult-models to show lalafell-children, not the other way around, aka: They claimed that adults are a lot younger with lalafell, not that an obvious child is a lot older than he or she looks).

[Vidu]

Being a child a looking like a child is very different.
Yoshida do not want us to play children but he plays a lalafell because they aren't.

In regards to lalafell I expressed myself not quite right, I apologise - as has been discussed in this thread before, lalafell dont actually look like (human) children.
What I meant to say was that the "problem" here is that they're using the same model for lalafell adults and lalafell children, given people who'd like to be able to play like a character thats using an obvious child-model (like Khloe, the hyur, elezen and au ra kids - and yes, the Padjal, too) the option to claim "They did it with lalafell!" or "We can already play lalafell, who look like children! Even the lalafell children look like the PCs we can create!"

And I do believe that in this context the difference between playing a character whos actually 13 years old and looks the part and playing a character whos 130 years old but still looks like 13 isnt that big - in terms of writing a character it might be intresting to have a child whos wise like and old man etc. - but given a child-looking character into the hands of a player still carries all the negative... possibilities and ethical concerns, even if you claim "Oh no, members of this race are actually all well over 100 years old!"
SE could still end up with someones twitter being filled with screenshots from their game, showing a character who very, very much looks like a pre-teen in questionable poses, outfits and situations. And I doubt the response "Oh, thats not a problem! That character is by lore 150!" would help much.

[Eloah]

Padjal stop aging at a certain point in their life (usually pre-teen, though Kan-E apparently made it into her early 20s, going by her look) - they can be several hundred years old, though. I vaguely recall the conjurers-guildmast being over 300.

Kan-E didn't make it into her 20's, she is in her 20's, she 28 according to the lore book. It's just that she resembles an older teen, and makes herself look older than her appearance would indicate. Raya-O and A-Ruhn are only 21 and 18 as well. So their youthful appearances aren't that far off from their actual ages.

Fun fact A-Ruhn seems to be the Eorzean equivalent of someone on the autistic spectrum given how he is the "strongest" of the Padjal, when it comes to communing with the elementals, but communication with his fellow man is strange and awkward to him.

[Iscah]

Fun fact A-Ruhn seems to be the Eorzean equivalent of someone on the autistic spectrum given how he is the "strongest" of the Padjal, when it comes to communing with the elementals, but communication with his fellow man is strange and awkward to him.

I still think Urianger is our prime would-be autistic character. Not just "socially awkward" but in specific ways - odd speech pattern, specific interests, highly intelligent but hasn't realised that you don't greet people by quoting obscure prophecy at them...

A-Ruhn doesn't really come off as "odd" in the same way - not that I remember noticing, anyway.

[Eloah]

I still think Urianger is our prime would-be autistic character. Not just "socially awkward" but in specific ways - odd speech pattern, specific interests, highly intelligent but hasn't realised that you don't greet people by quoting obscure prophecy at them...

A-Ruhn doesn't really come off as "odd" in the same way - not that I remember noticing, anyway.

I could see that, but Urianger come across more as just someone with a high intellect and reserved emotions, not someone who doesn't know how to express themselves. Our interactions with him in Shadowbringers demonstrates this.

A-Ruhn on the other hand is sorta awkward each time you talk with him. Raya-O tries to cover for him by saying he's still young and inexperienced. But if he is so gifted at his job, why is he inexperienced? Being 18 aside. Our interactions with him have him being somewhat "rude", with him solely focused on his "job". Its actually his interactions with Echiva that throw him for a bit of a loop and seems to have him coming out of his shell some. He even decides to venture out into the world with her to get out of himself.

I'm saying he is autistic, but the lore book says he can hear the elementals better than his fellow man. Which sounds like someone who is in touch with inanimate object or animals over real people.