History Main / StrongerWithAge

** Subverted with the majority of the playable race: the mental stats grade one point by age category, but the physical stats decreases faster. A very old man has the Strength of a housecat if he's not lucky.

* The ''LyricalNanoha'' franchise has Voltaire, an ancient black dragon so powerful, it's practically revered as a PhysicalGod in Caro's home planet of Alzus, with Caro serving as a priestess that it [[SummonMagic occassionally lends its power to]].

* Vampires work this way on ''BuffyTheVampireSlayer''. When Spike is first introduced Giles initially dismisses him as a big threat when he discovers Spike is scarcely over 100 years old (shortly after he discovers Spike's full history and reconsiders). Kakistos was noted as being an extremely old vampire and thus a bigger threat. His age meant he had lost most traces of a human appearance and a standard size stake wouldn't do the job, so [[spoiler:Faith had to use a two-by-four to finish him.]]

* ''{{Fallout 3}}'' Super Mutants grow stronger with age. Super Mutant Masters are younger and weaker than Overlords, who are weaker than Behemoths, who are the oldest. Not that this particular trait is not (explicitly) shared with their west coat counterpart.

* Partially subverted in Mikhail Akhmanov's ''ArrivalsFromTheDark'' series, where the [[LizardFolk Dromi]] continue growing as they age, which initially does make them stronger with age. However, as they reach about 500-600 years old, the SquareCubeLaw takes into effect, making it very difficult to move, and they eventually get crushed by their own weight.

** Oh dear, [[SCPFoundation SCP-682]] has breached containment!

* The vampires in AnneRice's ''TheVampireChronicles'' books get strongeras they age and drink blood, with the latter more important. For example, after ''QueenOfTheDamned'', [[MagnificentBastard Lestat]] is one of the most powerful vampires out there, despite being one of the youngest (he is only a couple hundred years old), thanks to him drinking Akasha's blood. By that point, there is almost nothing that can kill a vampire. In ''TheTaleOfTheBodyThief'', Lestat tries to commot suicide by flying to the Gobi Desert during sunrise. His skin is burned, and he is in great pain, but even the sun cannot kill Lestat now. It does give him a tan, though, which makes him look a little more human.

* In an early episode of ''[[YuGiOh Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'', Joey/Jonouchi defeats an opponent by allowing his Baby Dragon to age a millenium into the much-more-powerful Thousand Dragon.

* Vampires in the ''WorldOfDarkness'' game VampireTheRequiem get more powerful and more experienced with age, and obtain more powerful vampiric disciplines. This usually goes hand in hand with increased political influence in vampire society, making them doubly dangerous. After a certain amount of time, however, the vampires move up the FoodChainOfEvil and become predators of other vampires, along with having a near-0 KarmaMeter. These oldest and most powerful vampires have all gone into Torpor and sleep the ages away because there is little left to challenge them in mortal society... And woe betide anyone who wakes them up.
** The situation is muddled in the previous version, VampireTheMasquerade, by the fact that a vampire's power is determined by his generation (how far removed is he from [[MonsterProgenitor Caine]]). A "young" vampire who is sired by an older generation vampire would thus have an edge over most other vampires of his age.
** Well, ''also'' determined. A tenth generation starting neonate is still much less powerful than a hundred-and-fifty year old eleventh generation elder: His vampiric blood is just more potent. Vampires generally stop siring after a certain age, so with rare exceptions lower generation vampires tend also to be older and more experienced.

* The Asari in ''MassEffect'' are said to show this, at least with regards to their biotics, who grow in power as they reach the matriarch part of their life cycle.
* Similar to D&D, dragons in ''DragonAge'' only get more powerful with age.

* Vampires in the ''WorldOfDarkness'' get more powerful and more experienced with age, and obtain more powerful vampiric disciplines. This usually goes hand in hand with increased political influence in vampire society, making them doubly dangerous. After a certain amount of time, however, the vampires move up the FoodChainOfEvil and become predators of other vampires, along with having a near-0 KarmaMeter. These oldest and most powerful vampires have all gone into Torpor and sleep the ages away because there is little left to challenge them in mortal society... And woe betide anyone who wakes them up.
** The situation is muddled by the fact that a vampire's power is determined by his generation (how far removed is he from [[MonsterProgenitor Caine]]). A "young" vampire who is sired by an older generation vampire would thus have an edge over most other vampires of his age.

* ''{{Warhammer}}'' and ''{{Warhammer 40000}}'' contains plenty of examples, and though many are due to the "more experience" version many others fit this trope. Orcs/Orks, for example, grow [[LargeAndInCharge larger, tougher and meaner]] with age, the oldest being hulking monstrosities even by their standards, while servants of [[TheCorruption Chaos]] gain more favour and thus more power the longer they serve (Doombreed in ''40K'' is more than ''30,000 years old'' and more powerful than even the legendary Daemon Primarchs). A more minor example, {{SpaceMarine}}s' seem to grow in size along with rank and age. [[http://www.philipsibbering.com/WH40KRP/40K_9_Marine_1_Morphology.shtml It is theorized they practically never stop growing]], though it will lessen.

* ''{{Warhammer}}'' and ''{{Warhammer 40000}}'' contains plenty of examples, and though many are due to the "more experience" version many others fit this trope. Orcs/Orks, for example, grow [[LargeAndInCharge larger, tougher and meaner]] with age, the oldest being hulking monstrosities even by their standards, while servants of [[TheCorruption Chaos]] gain more favour and thus more power the longer they serve (Doombreed in ''40K'' is more than ''30,000 years old'' and more powerful than even the legendary Daemon Primarchs).

** The situation is muddled by the fact that a vampire's power is determined by his generation (how far removed is he from [[MonsterProgenitor Cain]]). A "young" vampire who is sired by an older generation vampire would thus have an edge over most other vampires of his age.

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Vampires and dragons are two of the most common species to exhibit this. Ancient dragons and elder vampires are beings of terrible power. This can cause a bit of FridgeLogic if the creature is stated not to be immortal: if dragons become more resilient as they age, then just ''how'' do they die of old age?

!!Examples:

[[folder:Anime]]

* In ''KingdomCome'' Superman is said to be undergoing this. After so many years under earth's yellow sun, he's stronger than ever, and immune to kryptonite.
* The Maestro, the future version of the {{Hulk}}, who is stronger and smarter than present day Hulk (even when PDH is in smart mode).

* Vampires work this way on ''BuffyTheVampireSlayer''. When Spike is first introduced Giles initially dismisses him as a big threat when he discovers Spike is scarcely over 100 years old (shortly after he discovers Spike's full history and reconsiders). Kakistos was noted as being an extremely old vampire and thus a bigger threat. His age meant he had lost most traces of a human appearance and a standard size stake wouldn't do the job, so [[spoiler: Faith had to use a two-by-four to finish him.]]

* In the Dark Eldar codex in ''{{Warhammer 40000}}'' Haemonculus Ancients have better thats than regular Haemonculi. They have the same strenght and toughness but more wounds and attacks.
* In the ''Game/{{Munchkin}}'' Card Game, "Ancient" is a +10 monster buff.

* Vampires in ''TheElderScrolls'' grow more powerful as they age. Vampire Ancients are the oldest and strongest.

* Mumm-Ra on {{Thundercats}} is the BigBad partly because he's a thousand years old.

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A subtrope of OlderIsBetter. See also {{Monster Lord}}s, who are often older members of their species, and contrast EvilMakesYouMonstrous (for the latter, they get eviler with age and thus get uglier and stronger). For the human equivalent, see the OldMaster and BadassGrandpa. See also MonsterProgenitor and MotherOfAThousandYoung

A subtrope of OlderIsBetter. See also {{Monster Lord}}s, who are often older members of their species, and contrast EvilMakesYouMonstrous (for the latter, they get eviler with age and thus get uglier and stronger). For the human equivalent, see the OldMaster and BadassGrandpa.

* TruthInTelevision: [[http://www.cracked.com/article_18483_the-5-creepiest-serial-killers-who-were-animals_p2.html Gustave the Crocodile]] is over 66 years old, believed to be over 20 feet long and 2,000 pounds heavy, and is still killing people up till today.

Related to this YKTTW for [[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/discussion.php?id=rfnpa8etzzoiv3wjfplx7ooc Monster Progenitor]]