Advancement Tokens
Advancement tokens are a special currency which you use to buy spells and abilities within a special shop. It is up to you to decide if you want your character to be heavy on abilities but light on spells, or vice versa. While some spells and abilities have special requirements or prerequisites, most can be purchased at any time. You can think of Advancement Tokens like making choices in a skill tree, except it covers both abilities and spells.
Your character can only use spells which they have purchased. Likewise, you will only have access to abilities and their effects if your character owns them. As a general rule of thumb, abilities are more expensive than spells.
The intention of the Advancement Tokens is to give a sense of progression while giving a lot of flexibility to flavour your character as you see fit. The system is deliberately setup in such a way that you can create a character who is prodigiously good in a very specific area. This is then counter-balanced by the fact that such a character cannot spend those points elsewhere, and so will automatically be weaker in other areas.
ALPHA NOTE: During the Alpha, there is no special shop to buy abilities and spells. Purchase and ownership of spells and abilities will instead be tracked in a (temporary) special thread HERE.
Be aware: the alpha phase is intended to test the site's systems. The advancement tokens are a core system which is likely to be adjusted and fine-tuned based on our collective experience during the alpha phase. This includes possible changes to spell and ability costs as well as possible changes to the annual gain of ATs. If significant changes are made there will be a grace period where you could be refunded ATs so you can make the appropriate changes for your character.
For example, if your character has some spell during alpha which has become significantly more expensive when this system is finalized, you'll have a chance to re-decide if you want that spell for your character or not.
Be aware: the alpha phase is intended to test the site's systems. The advancement tokens are a core system which is likely to be adjusted and fine-tuned based on our collective experience during the alpha phase. This includes possible changes to spell and ability costs as well as possible changes to the annual gain of ATs. If significant changes are made there will be a grace period where you could be refunded ATs so you can make the appropriate changes for your character.
For example, if your character has some spell during alpha which has become significantly more expensive when this system is finalized, you'll have a chance to re-decide if you want that spell for your character or not.
Earning Advancement Tokens
The amount of Advancement Tokens available to you and how many you earn per year depends on if your character is a Penwick Student or an Adult. The tables below shows the progression in each case:
Penwick Students, year 1-7:
| Year | Advancement Tokens | End of year gain |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 500 | +300 |
| 2 | 800 | +300 |
| 3 | 1100 | +300 |
| 4 | 1400 | +300 |
| 5 | 1700 | +300 |
| 6 | 2000 | +250 |
| 7 | 2250 | +250 |
| Graduate | 2500 | - |
Sigerth Students, year 1-4:
| Year | Advancement Tokens | End of year gain |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2500 | +125 |
| 2 | 2625 | +125 |
| 3 | 2750 | +125 |
| 4 | 2875 | +125 |
| Graduate | 3000 | - |
Adult characters:
Any character who has graduated from Sigerth or who chooses not to attend Sigerth and simply play as a regular adult will gain +100 Advancement Tokens each year, until they have reached the maximum of 4000 Advancement Tokens total. This means that a character who does not attend Sigerth starts with 2500AT (sine they would have graduated Penwick or another equivalent form of primary education). An adult who progresses beyond Sigerth would start with 3000AT, since they would have graduated from Sigerth.
Examples:
- A first year student starting at Penwick will have 500AT at character creation and will gain 300AT when they graduate into their second year.
- A fifth year student starting at Penwick will have 1700AT at character creation and will gain 300AT when they graduate into their sixth year.