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Attributes (つよさ), or Stats in Dragon Quest of the Stars, are a list of values and statistics for playable characters that may be found throughout the Dragon Quest series and displayed via game command. Due to the ever-evolving nature of the series, the list of attributes varies between games.

Experience points[]

Meena and Maya EXP

Experience points (often shortened to EXP) are gained at the end of a battle (whether fixed or random encounter) as a reward. The completion of a quest may also yield EXP like in Dragon Quest IV. The more powerful the monsters, the greater the amount of experience points gained.

When a character accrues a specific, predetermined number of experience points, they will "level up" (that is, gain a level of experience) and receive parameter increases particular to their overall character type. In most games, experience is tied to the stat growth of each individual player character, though in Dragon Quest III and IX stat growth is dependent on the character's vocation.

The experience distribution between the main party and the wagon party differs by game. Overall, this distribution only applies outside of dungeons.

Hit Points[]

DQIII HP

Hit Points (HP), or life value (生命値),[1] determine how much health a character has remaining. All damage subtracts from this score, and if it reaches 0, the character can no longer participate in battle, and must be revived. HP can be restored via medicinal herbs, healing spells, resting at an inn, etc.

In Dragon Quest III and IV, resilience directly determines a character's maximum Hit Points, it being between 195 to 205% of the Resilience value. The more a character's resilience score increases upon leveling, the more Hit Points a character will receive upon the next level increase.

In all other titles, the maximum HP a character has is generally determined by their level and (if applicable) vocation, with Martial Artists, Warriors, and Paladins having the highest on average.

Any character can consume a seed of life to increase their maximum HP.

Magic Points[]

DQIII MP

Magic Points (MP), or Magic Power (魔法力) in The Adventure of Dai, determine how much mana a character can expend to cast spells. Each spell deducts from this pool at a set rate, and cannot be cast if MP is too low. Some very special spells like Magic Burst will consume all remaining MP when cast. Starting with Dragon Quest VI, skills were introduced that also consumed MP.

In Dragon Quest III, maximum Magic Points is 195 to 205% of the Wisdom value, paralleling the resilience stat.

In other titles, the maximum MP a character has is generally determined by their level and (if applicable) vocation. Prior to Dragon Quest VI, non-magical characters had no MP pools as they had no use for them, but with the addition of skills, most characters began accumulating an MP pool even if they never learned any actual spells.

Any character can consume a seed of magic to increase their maximum MP.

Strength[]

DQIII Strength

Strength (ちから) measures how physically strong a character is, and is added to a character's weapon bonus to determine the Attack attribute and damage inflicted upon an enemy.

In later installments, some skills depend solely on Strength for determining damage output, ignoring whether a weapon is equipped or not.

Any character can consume a seed of strength to increase this attribute.

Resilience[]

DQIII Resilience

Resilience (たいりょく), also localized as Vitality, measures how durable a character is: it is added to a character's total equipment defence to determine how much physical damage they may endure.

In the NES titles, Resilience determines a character's potential Hit Points. The maximum Hit Points at any time is between 195 to 205% of the Resilience value. For instance, if resilience is augmented by 4, then the max HP gets 6 to 10 points.

Any character can consume a seed of resilience to increase this attribute.

Agility[]

DQIII Agility

Agility (すばやさ) determines a character's priority in turns, utilizing a Gaussian Curve as Encounter mechanics. Additionally, in Dragon Quest VI, Dragon Quest VII, and Dragon Quest VIII a character's agility will also determine their probability to dodge physical strikes. The game's programming checks the agility stat of the target before an attack is made, and if the stat surpasses a certain value then the programming checks to see if the blow lands.

Early series titles[]

In the NES versions of the first four games plus remake versions of Dragon Quest III, agility also contributes to the character's defence attribute. If a character has no armour or other defensive gear equipped in these titles, then their defence will be half of their agility:

DQVI & VII[]

The connection between agility and evasion is calculated as follows:

  • If a character's agility is below 400:

  • If a character's agility is 400:

  • If a character's agility is above 400:

The maximum evade rate is about 17% with agility at 500. Factors such as vocation bonuses and the effects of spells and skill also influence evade rates.

DQVIII[]

  • 0 to 249: 1/64 chance aside from equipment bonuses. (Note: if a character has raised his or her Fisticuffs level to receive an increase in evasion, the default is raised to 50% before stacking with all other bonuses.)
  • 250 to 499: 1/32 chance.
  • 500 to 749: 1/16 chance.
  • 750 to 989: 1/8 chance.
  • 999: 1/4 chance.

As such, the spell Acceleratle is vitally important when battling strong foes, even slower ones.

Any character can consume a seed of agility to increase this attribute.

Wisdom[]

DQIII Wisdom

Wisdom (かしこさ), also localised as Intelligence, measures a character's natural cognitive ability.

In the NES titles, Wisdom determines a character's potential Magic Points: maximum Magic Points at any time is 195 to 205% of the Wisdom value. Additionally, the stat determines how quickly a character can learn a new spell in the 8-bit version of Dragon Quest IV. If the character's Wisdom was not high enough, learning a spell could be delayed by up to five levels.

For the majority of later titles' appearances, the Wisdom stat has control over a character's ability to dodge debilitative magic (for instance, a stat of 250 will give a character a 25% chance to avoid a debilitating spell such as Snooze).

In Dragon Quest VIII, Wisdom effects the potency and power of spells to higher values, such as raising Frizz's power from the 10 to 13 range to the 21 to 24 range, while debilitative spells have fixed accuracy rates.

Any character can consume a seed of wisdom to increase this attribute.

Luck[]

DQIII Luck

In all versions of Dragon Quest III and Dragon Quest IV, Luck (うんのよさ) affects a character's chances of being affected by status ailments such as Snooze, Fizzle, and Dazzle. An enemy spell has accuracy has its own base value (MOD) and is lowered as the Luck stat rises:

For an accuracy from 0 to 255, the status effect spell will fail but if above 255, then the spell is successful

The MOD base values are such:

Kamikaze ignores the Luck stat and has a fixed rate at 128, thus staying at 50% accuracy.

In Dragon Quest V, Luck determines the accuracy of an enemy curse rather than status ailment spells.

Style[]

Style is the predecessor of the Charm attribute to be found in later games, and as such it describes a character's innate charisma and attractiveness. Style determines a character's placement in the contests such as the World Style Ranking in Dragon Quest VI and Dragon Quest VII.

Contrary to popular belief, Style has no influence on a character's chance to mesmerize a monster. Instead, this effect is dependent on a character's rank in the Luminary profession. At rank 8, monsters have a 1/8 chance of being stunned.

Deftness[]

Deftness measures the ability of a character to steal an item from an enemy, as well as controlling how frequently a character may perform a critical hit, performing preemptive strikes on enemies, and the ability to escape from battle.

Equipping a weapon corresponding to the weapon skill trait will add 3% to the Critical Hit rate and wearing the Critical Acclaim accessory will add another 4%.

Any character can consume a seed of deftness to increase this attribute.

Charm[]

Charm is a measurement of a character's attractiveness. Introduced in Dragon Quest IX, it is added to a character's equipment style rating in determining how often they may enthrall a monster.

Magical Mending[]

Magical Mending, or magic healing in Dragon Quest of the Stars, determines how powerful a character's healing spells will be. Introduced in Dragon Quest IX, it is calculated in all healing spells, as well as certain offensive skills such as Solar Flair.

Any character can consume a seed of therapeusis to increase this attribute.

Magical Might[]

Magical Might, or magic attack in Dragon Quest of the Stars, determines how powerful a character's attack spells will be. Introduced in Dragon Quest IX, it is calculated in all offensive and debilitative magical spells, as well as magical skills such as Gigaslash.

Any character can consume a seed of sorcery to increase this attribute.

Attack[]

Attack (こうげき力) is used to determine how hard a character can hit with melee attacks. It is checked against the enemy's Defence in calculation of damage inflicted.

Attack is derived from a character's strength score added to their weapon's attack rating, plus bonuses from certain accessories or weapon traits.

Defence[]

Defence (しゅび力), also localised Defense, is used to determine how well a character or monster can withstand full contact melee attacks. It is checked against the enemy's Attack in calculation of damage inflicted. It has no effect on magical or breath damage.

In the NES titles, defence is the sum of half a character's Agility and the sum of their armour's durability.

In more recent titles, defence is the sum of a character's resilience and the durability of their armour.

  1. DQI instruction manual (JP)

Gallery[]

Trivia[]

  • Wisdom's relation to A.I. was not revealed through an official square-enix channel, but the November 10th, 2000 issue of Dengeki! Playstation magazine (電撃PlayStation). The issue featured an article that was a response to reader mail asking what the purpose of the stat was, and described an experiment with Ruff and healing wounded allies--the wild child would only use Kerplunk Dance when his wisdom was at 63, even if other characters were only at half health. The article went on to state that once his wisdom broke the 100 threshold and the test began again, Ruff would use Hustle Dance instead, recognizing that the greater healing power in the former skill was too costly for a non-emergency situation.
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