how long can a Timelord live for

[zebaroth]

how long can a Timelord live for just curious

[apseudo]

That's a tricky question considering Time Lords can regenerate twelve times, effectively giving them thirteen lives. We also don't have a set idea for what would be considered 'old' for a single incarnation. It could be argued that the First Doctor died of 'old age', but the first time we're given an age in the show is during the Second Doctor's tenure. Depending on how much you take the Doctor at his word, he could possibly live forever, barring accident. Also, that's not taking into account that the Master proved that Regenerations, or at least bodies, could be stolen and bestowed. There may be a more precise answer in the books, comics, or audios, but their canonicity is subjective.

Honestly, I'd suggest you do more research and come up with a theory of your own. Check the 'Doctor's Age' thread at the top of the Q&A section.

[korith]

Omega seems to be able to live forever without a body, under the right circumstances.

It would seem the answer is along the lines of "however long the plot demands, given a fancy gimick that can be creatively applied to extend their own lifespan"

(Of course, Omega is one of those Tech 11 Time Lords...Tech 10 might not be quite enought to pull a "forever", but it may be able to manage a few thousand years with some clever gadgetry such as technological body replacement, molecular biosynthetics, or some other clever device that keeps the time lord from achieving "death by old age" in addition to the usual regenerations.)

[xandines]

I remember the second doctor saying time lord could live forever if they don't takes risk in an adventure life (in the war game game, the last part or the 9th).
Think it's a bit exagerate but in human scale it could look like that.

[Escher]

According to this:

In The Tomb of the Cybermen he tells Victoria that he's 450 Earth years old (Since Gallifrey's other qualities are Earth like, and since the Doctor continually boasts of his age to humans, we might assume that there's not much difference between Gallifreyan and Terran years).

www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/classic/episodeguide/doctorsage.shtml

Assuming that Hartnell's Doctor 'died' of old age aged about 450, rounding it off to 500 years for a 'white-haired rambling old man' maximum per regeneneration might work; at least I'm ruling this for my own games.

[misterharry]

"We live forever, barring accidents" is what the Doctor says in The War Games. But that's been pretty much disregarded since then.

In Tomb of the Cybermen, he says "Well, if we count in Earth terms, I suppose I must be about four hundred, yes, about four hundred and fifty years old." So, if we believe that the first Doctor's regeneration was triggered by his age (not certain by any means, as he also speculated that his weakness could be due to an outside influence - Mondas draining the Earth's energy presumably), then a single incarnation lasts about 450 years or thereabouts. Not much time can have passed between The Tenth Planet and Tomb, as neither Ben and Polly nor Jamie age appreciably during their time with the Doctor. So going by that, an entire span of 13 incarnations will last almost 6,000 years.

But that's based on the Doctor, who is living his life away from the comforts and technology of Gallifrey. Maybe Time Lords can extend their lifespans by many times that with access to Gallifreyan medical care. The implication of The Five Doctors is that a new sequence of regenerations can be bestowed. And in The Sound of Drums, the Master claimed that he had been resurrected by the Time Lords. So, coming full circle, maybe the answer is that in the right circumstances, Time Lords can indeed live forever, barring accidents.

I don't think there's a definitive answer to be found, so the advice of apseudo - to come up with your own theory - and korith - however long the plot demands - is probably the best.

[Curufea]

Rassilon, for example was immortal (also in The Five Doctors and The End of Time).

[Marnal]

According to the novels a Time Lord can technically WILL themselves to stay alive indefinitly but that the strain and physical side effects are such that all Time Lords choose a final Death Day in the end.

Another novel states that a Gallifreyan generation is 10,000 years. And the structure of the House on Gallifrey is such that new Gallifreyans are only brought into existance when old ones pass on [each house must mantain, but not exceed, a quota].

The FASA rpg defined 12,000 years as being very very very old for a Time Lord - indicating that very few ever surpass that age.

Hope this helps!

- Marnal

"I was told by the producer that the
guiding principle was to make the
scripts complex enough to keep the
Kids interested and simple enough for
the Adults to understand!"
-Douglas Adams on writing Doctor Who

For Everything about the TARDIS check out
www.whoniverse.net/tardis/

For all things Gallifreyan check out
www.curufea.com/rassilon/

[zebaroth]

some good answers