Persistent World Player Guide
The Persistent World (PW) system is what TorontoDnD uses to allow random groups of players to play with random GMs at various levels while still being able to grow their characters, level up and gain sweet loot.
What is the Persistent World system?
For players the PW system defines:
- What character options are allowed for use. This includes species, classes, subclasses spells and magic items. You can find a complete list here.
- When your characters level up.
- How they acquire magic items and at the level requirements for owning them.
- How many magic items they can bring on adventures with them.
What events use the PW system?
Some of our events require that you use a PW character (basically one that is registered with us) while some do not. Regardless of the event type, anything you attend that requires a ticket gets you a session reward.
| Event Type | Character Requirements | Session Rewards |
|---|---|---|
| Roll For Adventure | PW Required | Yes |
| Roll For Dameage | PW Required | Yes |
| Roll For Pride | PW Required | Yes |
| Newbie Night | Characters provided, eligible for PW after event | Yes |
| Anything But D&D | Characters provided at event, not PW | Yes |
| SideQuest | Characters provided at event or special rules for creation, not PW | Yes |
| RPG University | Non-Gameplay | Yes |
| Creative Sessions | Non-Gameplay | Yes |
| Social Events | Non-Gameplay | Yes |
One-Off Characters
When attending our PW games, the general idea is that you start with an L1 character and level them up by playing at our events. Unlike PW characters, a one-off character has not been progressed through prior Toronto DnD sessions. If you want to want to play at a game but do NOT have an in-range character, you may use a one-off character in some cases:
- L1 - L4: Because you can always make a new character you will always have the option of playing in these. If you don't have one ready you can use an L1 pre-gen (available on site) and apply the session to another character. No L2 through L4 one-offs are allowed.
- L5 - L7: The use of one-off characters at this range is fine provided you are not consistently doing this to level up L1 - L4 characters without actually playing them at lower levels.
- L8 and higher: These are highly sought after spots and are generally reserved for the players who have progressed their characters to the appropriate level. If the event is not full 48 hours or less before the start-time you can sign up and play a one-off character.
Character Progress
When playing in our persistent world system your character will level up based on number of sessions played and receive benefits at every event (gold, loot etc). To track these things you can register your character online or use our paper based log sheets. Either method will track your level, loot, gold, hp increases and more. They do not replace your character sheet, but augment it with a traceable history of your characters growth from event to event.
We strongly encourage players to register their characters online as it allows us to understand what level characters are at for scheduling purposes, but it is also super convenient to never have to worry about forgetting or losing your player log! That being said, if you prefer pen and paper you can use on of our physical log sheets.
- Before your first session with a character: From your character list click the "Add Character" button. Follow the instructions to register your character. If you are not using a pregen supplied by TorontoDnD make sure your character conforms to our character creation rules.
- When you sign up for an event: If you know who you are playing go the detail page for the event and click on the attendees tab. In the action drop-down menu at the the right of your name select "Assign Character". This will let everybody see who you are playing. If a character has a short description a tooltip will display when you roll over their name, if they have a character sheet linked their name will be clickable link that will open it up.
- At the start of your session: Confirm that your GM knows who your character is and what magic items you are bringing on your adventure.
- After your session: Go to your list of characters and from the action drop-down menu beside the one you want to apply the session to select "Log Session" and follow the prompts. Note that sessions can only be applied to characters in the same level range as the session. So if you play at an L1 - L4 table that session can only be applied to characters up to level four, you can't apply it to your level five character. Sessions that have a level range lower than L1 - L4 or no level range are considered as L1 - L4 (Newbie Night, non-gameplay events etc)
- Before your first session with a character: Download and print a paper log sheet. Fill in your name, the PC's name, race and class at the top of the sheet. At the bottom of the sheet fill in the stat method you used (Standard Array or Point Buy) and enter the base stats WITHOUT bonuses for species etc. Note that if you are using a paper log sheet you cannot roll for stats.
- At the start of your session: Confirm that your GM knows who your character is and what magic items you are bringing on your adventure. Fill out the date, location and GM name for your session.
- After your session: If you levelled up enter the your HP amount. For paper logs this is always the average rounded up, no rolling for it. Add 4 TP and the appropriate amount of gold received. Have your GM initial the session.
What rewards do I get at the end of a session?
In order to ensure some semblance of balance from one table to another we strictly limit the rewards from a session to what is listed on this table.
Gold can be tracked on your character sheet via the honour system and can be used to buy mundane items between adventures.
Treasure points are tracked in our system and can be used to purchase magic items from our approved list. Note that you can bank a maximum of 12 treasure points. If you have 12 points at the end of an adventure and opt to take more before spending any you will not gain any new points.
| Level Range | Gold | Treasure Points |
|---|---|---|
| L1 - L4 | 100 | 4 |
| L5 - L7 | 200 | 4 |
| L8 - L10 | 400 | 4 |
| L11 - L13 | 800 | 4 |
| L14 - L16 | 1600 | 4 |
| L17+ | 3200 | 4 |
What can I buy with my gold?
In between sessions or whenever your GM allows it you can buy things with whatever gold your character has. In addition to any mundane items in the PHB you can buy anything you want from these two tables, however any potions/scrolls will still be counted towards your character's minor magic item limit. These purchases are not tracked in our online system.
| Potion | Cost |
|---|---|
| Healing | 50 GP |
| Climbing | 75 GP |
| Animal Friendship | 100 GP |
| Greater Healing | 100 GP |
| Water Breathing | 100 GP |
| Superior Healing | 500 GP |
| Supreme Healing | 5000 GP |
| Invisibility | 5000 GP |
| Spell Scroll | Cost |
|---|---|
| Cantrip | 25 GP |
| First | 75 GP |
| Second | 150 GP |
| Third | 300 GP |
| Fourth | 500 GP |
| Fifth | 1000 GP |
Note that for wizards adding scrolls to their spellbooks the costs for that process (2hrs + 50gp per spell level, cantrips cannot be copied) are not included in the cost of the spell scroll as listed above.
What can I buy with my Treasure Points?
You can buy anything from our approved list of magic items provided you meet the level requirements detailed in this table:
| Item Family | Item Rarity | Min PC Level | Treasure Point Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Minor | Common | 1 | 4 |
| Minor | Uncommon | 1 | 4 |
| Minor | Rare | 1 | 4 |
| Minor | Very Rare | 6 | 8 |
| Minor | Legendary | 13 | 4 |
| Major | Uncommon | 1 | 8 |
| Major | Rare | 6 | 10 |
| Major | Very Rare | 12 | 10 |
| Major | Legendary | 14 | 12 |
Items that provide spell effects: If an item gives you access to a spell, your overall character level must be equal or higher to the level a wizard would need to be to cast that spell. As an example, although you can buy an Instrument of the Bards like Doss Lute as soon as reaching 2nd level, you will not be able to use 2nd Level spells until your 3rd level, and 3rd level spells like Fly will not be available until you reach 5th level.
Magic armour: If you are spending your TP on magic armour such as Adamantine Armour etc, you need to buy the mundane armour first. So if you want to get yourself a shiny new suit of Adamantine Plate Armour, you will need to spend the 8 TP AND 1500 Gold. We don't track the gold on our system but you will have to spend it from your character sheet.
Items that have a random number of charges: If am item you buy has a random number of charges, it will have the average number of charges rounded down. So a Necklace of Fireballs normally has 1d6 + 3 charges, in this case it would be the the average of 1d6 (3.5) rounded down (3) + 3 for a total of 6 charges.
What can I bring to a session?
When on an adventure it is assumed you have all your gold with you at all times. When it comes to magic items there are limits on what you can bring with you based on the level of your character:
Major Magic Items: At the start of an adventure you can only have an amount of major magic items in your inventory equal to 1/3 of your level rounded down. So if you are a level 10 warlock you can have up to 3 major magic items in your inventory at the start of an adventure. Note that you can have a bazillion magic items stashed at your safe-house between sessions, but at the start of an event you need to decide what you are bringing.
Minor Magic Items: Exactly the same as above except you can bring up to 1/2 your level + 2 in minor items. So a level 10 warlock would be able to bring 7 minor items to the fray. The only exceptions to this are basic potions of healing, you can have as many of these as you want without affecting the number of minor items you can bring. This ONLY applies to regular potions of healing, NOT greater, superior or supreme potions of healing. They count as regular minor items.
Attuned Items: As per the core rules, you can only be attuned to a maximum of three magic items at any given time. Any PC attempting to break this rule will spontaneously combust.
Items that Provide Spell Effects: If an item gives you access to a spell, your character level must be equal or higher to the level a wizard would need to cast that spell. As an example, although you can buy an Instrument of the Bards like Doss Lute as soon as reaching 2nd level, you will not be able to use 2nd Level spells until your 3rd level, and 3rd level spells like Fly will not be available until you reach 5th level.
| PC Level | Major Items | Minor Items |
|---|---|---|
| One | 1 | 3 |
| Two | 1 | 3 |
| Three | 1 | 4 |
| Four | 1 | 4 |
| Five | 1 | 5 |
| Six | 2 | 5 |
| Seven | 2 | 6 |
| Eight | 2 | 6 |
| Nine | 3 | 7 |
| Ten | 3 | 7 |
| Eleven | 3 | 8 |
| Twelve | 4 | 8 |
| Thirteen | 4 | 9 |
| Fourteen | 4 | 9 |
| Fifteen + | 5 | 10 |
Character Death
Sometimes your character can be the victim of bad rolls, bad planning or reckless actions. If your character dies in a session your character has a couple options:
- Carry a diamond worth 300 gold with you, for a party cleric to use, in case they didn’t bring one to cast Revivify.
- Pay 1500 gold during or immediately after the session to cast Raise Dead. The penalties associated with that spell (−4 penalty to all attack rolls, saving throws, and ability checks) are in full effect until your next level up.
- Pay 1000 gold immediately after the session to cast Reincarnate. If you are use a paper log sheet you MUST roll in front of your GM and record this on your sheet immediately. If you are using our online system go to your character list and select the character. From the action menu first select "Kill Character", then "Reincarnate Character".
- Pay 25,000 gold to have True Resurrection cast at any time and bring a dead character back to life.
- Roll up a new character and move on!
If you need to start over but you have already signed up for higher level tables that month and don't have an alternate character to play, then you can continue playing your existing character for those sessions. That character will be considered, “Gifted by the Gods” or something to extend their life and finish their business, but will die automatically after those gifted sessions. You will accrue rewards as if you were level one and can apply them to a new character you roll up.