Difference between revisions of "Abilities"

Revision as of 04:40, 21 August 2011

While +stats gives you your ability names and costs, it doesn't go in depth about what your abilities do. This is the job of +abilities (or, alternately, +attacks)! It provides a handy reference list to not only names and costs, but also elements, attack levels, and any special added effects.

Provided here is a sample ability list.

Example Attacks

So what does this all mean?

Abilities are listed in the following order: the name of the ability in white, a four-letter abbreviation of the attack type, its element(s) and power level(s) in yellow, and its cost in cyan. On the next line in yellow are any effects the ability may have (if none, the entire line is blank).

The five attack types are as follows: Phys (Physical, which runs off the character's averaged STR), Magi (Magical, which runs off the character's averaged MAG), Ailm (Ailment, which runs off the character's averaged MAG, used only for status effect abilities), Reco (Recovery, which runs off the character's averaged MAG and never misses, used only for healing abilities), and Pass (Passive, which are abilities that are always 'on' or work according to a probability that requires no direct selection by the user).

Ability costs, which are the numbers in cyan, are determined by the power levels of the element(s), along with any added effects. Both of them can be looked up under Elements and Effects, respectively. The general rule of thumb is that the higher the power level, or the higher grade (or count!) of effects, the more the ability will cost. Physical abilities will cost a percentage of the user's max HP, adjusted for how much that might be for a given character.

Every character in the game, regardless of being a Persona user or not, has at least two abilities. The very first one listed is a character's basic attack, which is marked as FREE in the effects line underneath it. These are always physical in nature, and cost no SP to use. These represent a "normal" attack in many RPGs, using a weapon of the type stated in a character's profile. They are all of the Pierce, Slash, or Strike element. Players may switch between weapons as they do for Personas from their personal list; for more information, please see Weapons.

The second ability from the top is the character's special ability, and is marked as SPECIAL in the effects line. These are like abilities you would find on a Persona, except the character can use this while equipped with any Persona (or, in the case of those who don't use them, without one) and carry significant SP cost reductions. They don't have to be straight-up offensive abilities - they can even be supportive in nature, whichever fits the character's personality and style. The catch is that they can only be used once per battle. A character without a Persona or Shadow may have a supportive special, but it will never reflect a magical or supernatural origin as a Persona-user or Shadow-Possessed character may have.

The total number of abilities available depends on the Persona you are using. Those with 'None' only have the basic and special abilities available. All 'Main' (slot M) Personae/Shadows have eight abilities on top of the basic and special abilities. There is one exception to this rule, in the case of Spotter-type Persona-users. They possess use of +analyze and all their abilities are RP Effect only (see Special Effects Tags). Most general Personae, unlocked through Social Link accumulation, have six. There are exceptions, but they remain few and far in between.