Time Development Points
Time Development Points (TDPs) are used to increase attributes.
In order to use TDPs to raise a stat, one must go to a designated room for training that particular stat and type TRAIN or STUDY twice to confirm. Training rooms for each stat are available within or near every major city.
A new character is given 600 TDPs right out of the Character Manager. After that, the only way to gain more TDPs is by circling or obtaining new ranks in skills.
TDPs from Circling
Each time you circle, up to 150, you will gain a base number of TDPs plus a bonus based on your circle. Below circle 10 you get a base of 50 TDPs. Circle 10 onward, you will gain 100 TDPs as a base. The bonus TDPs are always equal to the circle you just attained. For example: if you attain circle 27, you will get 127 TDPs.
After circle 150, TDPs cannot be gained from circling. The total number of TDPs gained from circling is 25,824.
TDPs from Leveling Skills
Hidden TDP Pools
Every character has hidden TDP pools corresponding to each major skillset (Weapons, Armor, Magic, Survival, and Lore), plus a separate pool for their Guild-specific skill. These pools accumulate points as you increase your top skills in each category, awarding TDPs each time a pool fills up.
Each skillset's pool requires 200 points to fill. The TDPs awarded per fill vary by skillset:
- Weapons and Armor: 11 TDPs
- Magic, Survival, and Lore: 10 TDPs
- Guild Skill: 1 TDP
Earning Points
Points are generated based on the average of your top X eligible skills within a given skillset.
- X is equal to your guild's required number of skills for that skillset plus one.
- Certain skills (such as Masteries) are excluded from this calculation. (See the chart below for guild-specific requirements and excluded skills).
Whenever the average of these top X skills reaches a new whole number, an amount of points equal to that new average is dumped into the skillset's TDP pool.
Example Calculation
Consider a Moon Mage gaining Weapon TDPs. Based on the chart, their calculation uses the top two eligible weapon skills (excluding masteries).
- Starting Average: If the two highest skills are Small Blunt (300 ranks) and Large Blunt (300 ranks), the average is 300.
- Partial Increase: When Small Blunt increases to 301, the average becomes 300.5. Because the average has not reached a new whole number, 0 points are added to the pool.
- Triggering a Deposit: When Large Blunt also increases to 301, the average becomes 301. This triggers a deposit, and 301 points are added to the Weapon TDP pool.
- Awarding TDPs: The pool consumes 200 points to award 11 TDPs, leaving 101 points remaining in the pool.
- Subsequent Increases: When both skills later reach 302, the average becomes 302. Those 302 points are added to the 101 leftover points, bringing the pool to 403 points.
- Multiple Awards: The pool now has enough to fill twice. It consumes 400 points (200 x 2) to award 22 TDPs (11 x 2), leaving 3 points in the pool toward the next fill.
Number of Skills for Maximum TDPs
The chart below shows the base number of skills required per skillset for each guild. Remember that the X value used for TDP calculations is this number plus one.
| Guild | Weapon | Armor | Lore | Survival | Magic |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Barbarian | 6 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 3 |
| Bard | 4 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 6 |
| Cleric | 4 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 6 |
| Empath | 2 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 6 |
| Moon Mage | 2 | 2 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
| Necromancer | 2 | 2 | 3 | 8 | 6 |
| Paladin | 4 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 4 |
| Ranger | 4 | 3 | 3 | 8 | 4 |
| Thief | 4 | 2 | 4 | 8 | 3 |
| Trader | 2 | 3 | 5 | 7 | 2 |
| Warrior Mage | 4 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
Important Calculation Rules
- Guild Skill Exception: Your Guild Skill does not count toward the regular group requirements.
- Excluded Skills: Defending, Melee Mastery, Ranged Mastery, Offhand Weapon, and Primary Magic do not count on either side of the equation (they do not fulfill requirements, nor are they eligible to generate points for the average).
- Soft Requirements: Soft requirements do not add to the value of X.
- Minimum Requirements: If a guild has zero requirements in a specific skill group, X defaults to 2 (the minimum possible value).
Maximum TDPs
The maximum TDPs able to be earned is 432,404, which includes TDPs gained from character creation, circling, and skills.
TDP INFO Verb
Typing TDP INFO in game will give you a break down of which skills are currently being used as your top skills, as well as how many TDPs you've gained in each skill group, and other useful information.
Death and Losing TDPs
When you lose ranks from memory decay as a result of death without rejuvenation, your TDP pool will be reduced by the ranks you lost. If this sends the TDP pool below zero you will lose a TDP, and 200 will be added to the pool. This process makes it possible to have a negative number of TDPs.
TDP Formulas
In mathematical terms, the total number of TDPs gained from a single skill is the sum of integers from 0 to the maximum earned rank divided by 200. This can be expressed as follows:
In particular, TDPs are quadratic with respect to rank, meaning that it becomes more and more efficient at higher levels to train higher ranked skills. For example, a single skill produces the equivalent of one TDP at ranks 20, 28, 34, 39, 43, and so on, with the gap narrowly closing until (of course) a TDP is produced every rank past 200.
Since the "hidden TDP pool" is shared between skills, the floor function operates on the sum of skills, instead of each skill individually. The formula to calculate the total TDPs gained from all skills is as follows:
TDPs granted from all levels gained can be expressed with the following formula:
Other Resources
- TDP PROJECT
- Calculate TDPs gained (script): A Genie script for calcluating the number of TDPs gained from advancing one skill from 1 to X.
- DragonRealms TDP Calculator