DQ9 EncyclopediaThe essentials
- Damage: about (attack − defence ÷ 2) ÷ 2, give or take a sixteenth. Against a very sturdy monster: 0 or 1.
- To hit harder: tension (×1.5 to ×6), critical hits (they ignore defence), a weapon made against the monster's family (×1.1), the element it is weak to.
- Who goes first: agility, with a lot of luck (it is multiplied by 0.51 to 1 each turn).
- Fleeing: 25% on the 1st try, then 50, 75 and 100%; right away if the party is three times stronger than the monsters.
- Coups de grâce: the vocation must be level 10 or more; they mostly come when you take a big hit.
Formulas read from the game code, then checked by running that code in an emulator (no difference on physical damage). random(a; b) = a random number between a and b; results are rounded down.
Damage of a blow
- A = attack (× the skill's multiplier: 1 for a normal attack), D = the target's defence.
- Base = (A − D ÷ 2) ÷ 2. Base ≤ 0: no damage. Base ≤ A ÷ 16:
random(0; A ÷ 16)(hence the 0s and 1s against very tough monsters). - Otherwise: base ± base ÷ 16, then ± 1.
- Monster HP: in random encounters, 80 to 100% of their record's value; in scripted battles (bosses), the exact value.
Multipliers, in order
- Tension: ×1.5 / ×2.5 / ×4 / ×6 by level (monsters ×1.3 / ×2 / ×3 / ×4.5); for the party, + level × (1 + character level ÷ 10). Going from tension level 3 to 4 only works half the time; tension is lost when falling asleep, being paralysed or losing a turn. At 100 (level 4): poison is cured, and the character can no longer be put to sleep, paralysed, confused, poisoned, or made to lose a turn (War Cry, Sultry Dance, Pratfall…; tested in game), except by Roaring Tirade and Disco Tech, which then drop tension to 0; Dazzle and Fizzle still work.
- Caps: every action has a value cap, read from its record: 999 (basic spells, Heal…), 1999 (Frizzle tier…), 2999 (Kafrizz tier…), 2570 Gold Rush, 4017 Magic Burst, 9999 (Clap Trap, Blind Man's Biff, Double-Edged Slash, panacea…); healing items: 40 to 599.
- Critical hit (party): the larger of 1.2 × damage and attack ×
random(0.95; 1.05), ignoring defence. Critical spell: ×1.5 to ×2. A monster's “critical hit” is a separate action: attack ×random(0.85; 0.95), ignoring defence; a desperate attack deals ×2.5. - Element: × the target's resistance (monster cards, “Elements”).
- Weapon against a family: ×1.1 (see the glossary).
- Target's protection: Defend stance ×0.5 against blows; Magic Barrier (spells) and Insulate (breaths) −25% per level.
- Several targets (some actions): ×1; 0.8; 0.6; 0.4; 0.2 by the target's rank.
Buffs and debuffs
- Attack ×(1 + 0.25 per level): Oomph (+2 levels) = ×1.5, Blunt (−2) = ×0.5. Defence and agility: ×1.5 then ×2 as buffs, ×0.5 then ×0.25 as debuffs. Two levels at most; debuffs succeed 3 times out of 4.
- Charm, magical might and magical mending: ×(1 + 0.5 per level), two levels at most. Channel Anger (+2): magical might ×2; Care Prayer (+2): mending ×2; Caster Sugar (+1 and +1): might and mending ×1.5; Extreme Makeover (+2): charm ×2. Charm never goes down (a negative level = ×1). These are TKG's measurements, found again in the code.
- A buff lasts 5 turns (attack, magical might, mending, protections) or 6 (defence, agility, charm), then wears off with a 63%, 75%, 88% then 100% chance on each following turn.
Stances: Defend, counters, Back Atcha
- Choosing one of these actions puts the character in a stance until the end of the turn. Damage from blows taken: Defend and Blockenspiel ×0.5; Defending Champion ×0.1; Counter Wait and Back Atcha: no reduction.
- Counter Wait and Back Atcha react to the 78 “counterable” actions: the attack and physical techniques (Dragon Slash, Thunder Thrust, Hatchet Man…). The game first tries equipment reflections, then Counter Wait (the character strikes back), then Back Atcha (the action goes off towards another fighter). All of this happens before the critical hit roll: against Hatchet Man and Thunder Thrust, which are “critical or nothing”, a blow sent back by Back Atcha only lands if it is critical (as TKG had seen).
- The book “Secrets of the Shield” (with a shield): 100% block against monsters' critical hits and desperate attacks.
Companion tactics
Read in the code of the companions' intelligence, then checked by running that code in our battle simulator.
- A companion decides when it acts, not at the start of the turn: if it sees that an ally has just fallen, it revives them.
- It only picks among the spells and abilities it can use: learnt, with the right weapon, and enough MP. Its vocation and skills therefore decide what it does. It never uses items: tried with herbs and medicine in its pocket and an ally at 20% HP, no tactic uses them.
- Every tactic goes in this order: heal an ally whose HP are below its threshold, revive a fallen ally, then its own choice. Failing that, the companion attacks the most wounded monster.
- A dose of chance: each turn, the tactic rolls preferences with its own odds, and two similar turns don't always give the same choice.
- “Long battle”: the game estimates how many attacks it will take to defeat every monster, from their HP and the party's damage.
| Tactic | Heals an ally below | Otherwise |
|---|---|---|
| Show No Mercy | 8% of their HP | the biggest damage, spells included |
| Fight Wisely | 40% | long battle (4 attacks or more): the best action, buffs, protections and debuffs included, then damage; short battle: an attack |
| Mix It Up | 25% | 2 attacks or more: the best action, then damage; shorter: protections and buffs, then an attack |
| Focus On Healing | 60% | 2 attacks or more: protections and buffs; otherwise an attack; no big damage spells |
| Don't Use MP | 40%, but without healing spells (they cost MP) | like “Fight Wisely”, without any action that costs MP |
| Follow Orders | you choose every action yourself | |
The 60% of “Focus On Healing” is the one Eru1203 gave: checked (an ally at 59% gets healed, at 61% no longer). Tests: a level 45 gladiator, paladin, sage and priest party; an early-game party.
Start-of-turn rules
Before the wants, at the start of the turn, the game checks four special cases, in this order (only if the companion has no specific order):
- Knight Watch, if known: never in “Show No Mercy”; in “Fight Wisely” and “Don't Use MP”, only if the battle should last more than 2 attacks; if nobody is already under Knight Watch or preparing it this turn; and if it can't heal, or no other ally is below 40% of their HP (25% in “Mix It Up”).
- Mercurial Thrust, if known, when only one monster is left and the expected damage is enough to finish it. Never in “Focus On Healing”.
- Defend (Defending Champion if known), in “Focus On Healing”: if it is at 25% of its HP or less, knows no healing spell and nobody is under Knight Watch. Checked: at 24% it defends, at 26% it attacks.
- Protect an ally, in “Focus On Healing”: if it can't heal, has at least 50% of its HP, an ally is at 8% of theirs or less and has at most half its HP. Forbearance if two or more allies are that low, otherwise Selflessness, Whipping Boy or Forbearance, the first one it knows; not if someone else is already protecting or someone is under Knight Watch. Checked by giving these abilities to a martial artist (24 HP): the hero at 8% is protected, at 9% not; at 12 HP the protector still protects, at 11 not; an ally at 12 HP is protected, at 13 not; with two protectors, only one protects; nobody protects if someone is under Knight Watch, or if an ally picked Knight Watch before them that turn (not the other way round: whoever takes Knight Watch does not check for a protector).
The 21 wants
Each turn, the tactic rolls 21 “wants”. A support action is only considered if the wants it needs came out; Buff, for example, needs wants 3 and 6. For each want, three numbers come from the tactic's table:
- its chance of being rolled this turn;
- a minimum length: the want only counts if the battle should last at least that many turns, by the game's estimate (attacks needed to defeat every monster, divided by the number of living companions);
- a weight, rolled at random between two bounds: the action's score is multiplied by it. Above ×1, the tactic prefers that action to damage.
| Want | Show No Mercy | Fight Wisely, Don't Use MP | Mix It Up | Focus On Healing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 · Status effects on enemies sleep, lost turns, confusion, dazzle, Antimagic, Disruptive Wave, attacks' added effects | never | 35% ≥ 0.5 turn · ×0.50–0.99 | 90% ≥ 0.5 turn · ×1.00–1.99 | 70% ≥ 0.5 turn · ×0.50–0.99 |
| 2 · More damage with want 5 or 14: Oomph, Gritty Ditty, Double Up, the Fources, Sap | never | 40% ≥ 1 turn · ×0.50–0.99 | 80% ≥ 1 turn · ×1.00–1.99 | never |
| 3 · Protection and speed with want 6, 7, 13 or 15: Buff, Accelerate, Decelerate, Blunt | never | 35% ≥ 1 turn · ×0.50–0.99 | 80% ≥ 1 turn · ×1.00–1.99 | 70% ≥ 1 turn · ×0.50–0.99 |
| 4 · Instant death Whack, Thwack, Kathwack, and attacks that can kill outright (Assassin's Stab, Needle Shot) | 100% ≥ 1 turn · ×0.60–0.80 | 30% ×0.50–0.90 | 50% ×0.50–0.90 | never |
| 5 · Party attack + Oomph, Gritty Ditty, Double Up, the Fources | never | 70% ≥ 2 turns · ×0.50–0.99 | 80% ≥ 2 turns · ×1.00–1.99 | never |
| 6 · Party defence + Buff, Kabuff | never | never | 50% ≥ 3 turns · ×1.00–1.99 | 60% ≥ 3 turns · ×0.50–0.99 |
| 7 · Party agility + Accelerate, Acceleratle | never | never | 50% ≥ 3 turns · ×1.00–1.99 | 30% ≥ 3 turns · ×0.40–0.80 |
| 10 · Shield from spells Magic Barrier, Spell Checker, Wizard Ward | never | 30% ≥ 3 turns · ×0.50–0.99 | 60% ≥ 3 turns · ×1.00–1.99 | 60% ≥ 3 turns · ×0.50–0.99 |
| 11 · Shield from breath Insulate, Insulatle, Mind Over Matter, Reverse Cycle, flame and ice shields | never | 30% ≥ 3 turns · ×0.50–0.99 | 60% ≥ 3 turns · ×1.00–1.99 | 60% ≥ 3 turns · ×0.50–0.99 |
| 12 · Alma Mater | never | 20% ≥ 3 turns · ×0.50–0.90 | 20% ≥ 3 turns · ×0.50–0.90 | 40% ≥ 3 turns · ×0.50–0.90 |
| 13 · Enemy attack − Blunt, Air Pollution, Weakening Wave, attacks that lower it | never | 30% ≥ 3 turns · ×0.50–0.99 | 50% ≥ 3 turns · ×1.00–1.99 | 50% ≥ 3 turns · ×0.50–0.99 |
| 14 · Enemy defence − Sap, Kasap, Wave of Panic | never | 50% ≥ 3 turns · ×0.50–0.99 | 50% ≥ 2 turns · ×1.00–1.99 | never |
| 15 · Enemy agility − Decelerate, Deceleratle, Snot Shot | never | 20% ≥ 7 turns · ×0.50–0.99 | 50% ≥ 1.5 turns · ×1.00–1.99 | never |
| 16 · Enemies open to spells Divine Intervention, Spooky Aura | never | never | 50% ≥ 1.5 turns · ×1.00–1.99 | 30% ≥ 3 turns · ×0.30–0.60 |
| 18 · Coups de grâce | never | 50% ×1.00 | 100% ×1.50–2.00 | 100% ×1.00 |
In each cell: the chance of being rolled; “≥ n turns” = battle length needed; “×” = weight applied to the action's score.
- Want 4 and the score: its chance to kill outright counts as damage: the monster's remaining HP × (chance)², 90% at most. Outside “Show No Mercy”, the chance is first lowered by 0.005 per MP of the action. Without want 4, that chance doesn't count.
- Wants 0, 8, 9, 17, 19 and 20 are in the tables but never read by the code. Want 0 is always ×1: it is the weight of every other action (damage, healing, revival).
- No want needed: damage, healing, revival, Squelch, Tingle, Cock-a-doodle-doo (if the battle should last at least 3 attacks).
- Never chosen by a companion, whatever the tactic: Psyche Up, Egg On, Care Prayer, Channel Anger, Caster Sugar, Extreme Makeover, Mercy, M-Pathy, Drain Magic, Kamikazee, Magic Mirror, Bounce, Half-Inch, Rotstopper, Right as Rain, Wave of Relief, Mens Sana, Twocus Pocus, Holy Impregnable, Immense Defence, Feel the Burn, Eyes on Me, Soothe Sayer, Vanish, Mist Me, Schizofanic, Venom Mist, Eye for Trouble, Weird Dance, Eerie Light, Pincushion, Whistle, the coups de grâce Electro Light, Haulellujah, Soul Asylum and Focus Pocus, and the stances (Counter Wait, Back Atcha…), apart from the start-of-turn rules (Knight Watch, Defend, Whipping Boy, Selflessness, Forbearance).
- Roaring Tirade and Disco Tech: never in “Show No Mercy”, always possible in “Mix It Up”, otherwise only if the battle should last at least 3 attacks; and not if the companion already has 3 or more tension levels.
Evasion, block, critical hits
- Party evasion: 2% + evasion from equipment and skills (×2 below 8% HP with the matching skill). Monsters: 0, 2, 4, 8 or 25% depending on their record.
- Block: block from equipment and skills; monsters 0 to 25%.
- Party critical hit: (2 + (deftness − 150) ÷ 100 above 150 deftness + equipment and skill bonuses) %, times the action's own chance. Spells use the same roll with an action chance of 50: 1% base; the Spellcraft “critical spells” step (54 points) adds 3 to the bonus (2.5%). Ranger's Revelations: chance doubled below 25% HP, for blows and spells alike.
- Coup de grâce: see the next part.
Coups de grâce
- The character starts to glow and can use their vocation's special move. Two rolls can trigger it:
- 1. After each of their own actions: (base + equipment bonus) %. Base: 2% for Martial Artist, Luminary and Ranger, 1% otherwise. Equipment: critical fan +6, overcritical fan +7, hypercritical fan +8, dire critical fan +10, combat action medal +3.
- 2. When they take a damaging blow (attack, critical hit, spell, breath, skill) without going down: the chance depends on the blow's damage compared with their max HP (table below). That is why coups de grâce come often against hard-hitting bosses; and the Defend stance, which halves the damage, brings fewer.
- Both chances are multiplied by 1 + the number of party members already glowing (×4 at most): a blow taking 80% of max HP becomes certain as soon as one party member glows.
- Conditions: vocation level 10 or more; not asleep, paralysed, confused or losing their turn; not already glowing. Never against Aquila (Starflight Express) or Corvus in the Oubliette (Gittish Empire): the two battles you cannot win.
| Damage of the blow taken (share of max HP) | Chance |
|---|---|
| under 10% | 0% |
| 10% or more | 1% |
| 20% or more | 2% |
| 30% or more | 4% |
| 40% or more | 8% |
| 50% or more | 16% |
| 60% or more | 32% |
| 70% or more | 64% |
| 80% or more | 90% |
- Duration: the glow lasts 7 turns; using the coup de grâce ends it.
- "The next N turns" = not counting the turn of the coup de grâce. An effect also ends if its holder dies or if an enemy dispels effects (Corvus does).
| Vocation | Coup de grâce | Exact effect |
|---|---|---|
| Warrior | Critical Claim | A guaranteed critical hit on one enemy: the larger of 1.2 × the damage and attack × random(0.95; 1.05), ignoring defence. |
| Priest | Choir of Angels | Whole party: +40% of max HP (rounded), and cures poison, paralysis, sleep and confusion. Does not revive. |
| Mage | 0 Zone | The user casts spells for 0 MP for the next 5 turns. |
| Martial Artist | Roaring Tirade | Every enemy loses its next action: always, if the user gets to act (no resistance roll, and it works even at 100 tension, which they lose). User's tension +1 level. |
| Thief | Itemised Kill | The target group's common item is guaranteed (1 in 2 against a treasure map boss). |
| Minstrel | Rough 'n' Tumble | For the next 5 turns, against each blow: a number from 0 to 99 is rolled; 0 to 49 the user dodges, 50 to 74 they send the (contact) blow back to the attacker. |
| Gladiator | Tension Boost | User's tension straight to 50, then to 100 one time in 2 (always if it was already at 50). |
| Armamentalist | Voice of Experience | End of battle: the experience earned is multiplied by a number rolled between 1.1 and 1 + (user's vocation level + 11) ÷ 100, 2 at most, in steps of 0.1. |
| Paladin | Knight Watch | The user loses no HP this turn and the next 3; enemies target them for a few actions (rolled per monster; Corvus: 2 to 4 actions). |
| Sage | Spelly Breath | The user recovers 48 to 120 MP, at random. |
| Luminary | Disco Tech | Like Roaring Tirade: enemies dance and lose their next action. User's tension +1 level. |
| Ranger | Brownie Boost | The user: attack +1 level (×1.25), defence +1 level (×1.5), breath protection +1 level (−25%); these buffs last like the others (see above). |
Co-op de grâces (team coups de grâce)
- Condition: all four party members glow at the same time and each picks their coup de grâce on the same turn. The game then shows "Co-Op de Grâce!!!", then a menu: the co-op moves of the vocations in the party, then "Coup de grâce" (everyone uses their own).
- A single member of either of the two vocations is enough for a co-op move to be offered (seen in game: a lone Gladiator gives Omnipotense, a lone Sage Cast Away).
- The co-op move replaces the four actions of the turn.
- Electro Light is never offered in a scripted battle (bosses); in those battles, a party of only Minstrels and Luminaries gets no co-op menu.
| Co-op | Vocations | Exact effect |
|---|---|---|
| Quadraslash | Warrior, Ranger | One blow on one enemy: sum of the party's current attack × random(0.95; 1.5), ignoring defence (so it works on metal monsters); 9,999 at most. |
| Soul Asylum | Priest, Paladin | The whole party loses no HP this turn and the next 3. |
| Cast Away | Mage, Sage | The whole party casts spells for 0 MP for the next 5 turns. |
| Omnipotense | Martial Artist, Gladiator | Everyone's tension goes to 50, then to 100 for all 7 times in 10 (one roll for the party; always for those already at 50). |
| Haulellujah | Thief, Armamentalist | End of battle: experience and gold multiplied by a number rolled between 1.5 and 3, in steps of 0.1. Items: 1 time in 10 each group's rare item is guaranteed, 4 times in 10 the common item. |
| Electro Light | Minstrel, Luminary | Every enemy is replaced by a metal formation, rolled from the sum S of the party's vocation levels. A = 4 metal slimes; B = 3 metal slimes and 2 liquid metal slimes; C = 2 liquid metal slimes and 2 metal king slimes; D = 2 metal king slimes and 1 platinum king jewel. S < 61: A; 61 to 120: A 30%, B 70%; 121 to 200: A 20%, B 30%, C 50%; 201 and up: B 20%, C 30%, D 50%. |
- Voice of Experience and Haulellujah do not stack: the last one used sets the multiplier.
- Disruptive Wave (cast by a monster): it removes Knight Watch, 0 Zone, Cast Away, Rough 'n' Tumble, Twocus Pocus and the Fources, but not Soul Asylum.
Who acts first
- Each fighter rolls agility ×
random(0.51; 1); highest goes first. Twice the agility therefore does not guarantee acting first. - Ambush: the party does not act on the first turn, and each monster after the first only acts 2 times out of 3. Party surprise attack: monsters do not act on the first turn.
Fleeing
- Impossible in scripted battles, and against cannibox, mimic and Pandora's box.
- Always works on the first turn of a surprise attack, if every monster is immobilised, or if the party's average (attack + defence) ≥ 3 × the monsters'.
- Otherwise: the larger of 25 / 50 / 75 / 100% (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th attempt in the battle) and 10% + the best deftness ÷ 20.
Status ailments (sleep, paralysis, confusion…)
Each ailment has a fixed duration, then the fighter has a growing chance to shake it off on each of their turns; the turn they recover is lost too.
| Ailment | Duration | Chance to recover afterwards |
|---|---|---|
| Sleep | 1 | 38 / 63 / 88 / 100% |
| Paralysis | 3 | 63 / 75 / 88 / 100% |
| Confusion | 3 | 63 / 75 / 88 / 100% |
| Dazzle | 4 | 38 / 63 / 88 / 100% |
| Fizzle | 6 | 63 / 75 / 88 / 100% |
| Bounce | 5 | 63 / 75 / 88 / 100% |
| Reverse Cycle | 5 | 63 / 75 / 88 / 100% |
| Invisibility (Vanish, in battle) | 5 | 38 / 63 / 88 / 100% |
| Alma Mater | 6 | 63 / 75 / 88 / 100% |
| Focus Pocus | 6 | 63 / 75 / 88 / 100% |
| Right as Rain | 6 | 63 / 75 / 88 / 100% |
- Sleep: 2 to 5 turns lost (38 / 39.1 / 20.2 / 2.8%); paralysis: 4 to 7 (63 / 27.7 / 8.1 / 1.1%).
- A blow always wakes a character up, a monster half the time; it snaps a character out of confusion half the time, a monster a quarter of the time.
- Confused, a character attacks an ally half the time; otherwise it rolls one of the 4 confusion reactions, including “too flustered to move”, which paralyses it: 1 chance in 8 per action (1 in 4 if it is the last one standing). This paralysis always works, even with gear that protects against paralysis. A confused monster: 1 in 10 (5 reactions, including calling for backup and fleeing; 1 in 8 in a set battle, where it doesn't flee), 1 in 5 if it is alone (1 in 4 in a set battle); never for a metal monster.
- Poison: max HP ÷ 16 every turn.
- Chance of an effect (sleep, poison…) = the action's chance × the target's resistance ÷ 100.
Under the hood
Recovery chances: the game rolls a whole number from 0 to 99 and compares it with 62.5 / 75 / 87.5 (or 37.5 / 62.5 / 87.5), hence 63 / 75 / 88% (or 38 / 63 / 88%).
States set by skills
- Alma Mater (3 MP): the next instant-death attack (Whack, Thwack, Kathwack, Kamikazee, skills and weapons that kill outright) leaves the target at 1 HP; the state then ends.
- Right as Rain (6 MP, all allies): at the end of every turn, +10 HP, or half the character's vocation level if higher (level 60: +30). Stacks with the +25 of sacrosanct armour.
- Focus Pocus (3 MP): at the end of every turn, +3 MP, or a tenth of the vocation level if higher (level 60: +6).
- Auto MP Recovery With Wand (skill perk): at the end of every turn, if the character holds a wand, they recover 1 MP + a random decimal number between 0 and their level ÷ 10, rounded down. Example: at level 45, 1 to 5 MP per turn; at level 99, 1 to 10.
- Pincushion (monsters): until the monster's next turn, every melee blow it takes returns 25% of the damage to the attacker, no roll.
Reflection
- Bounce always sends reflectable spells back to the caster; reflecting equipment, one time in four. Reverse Cycle always sends breaths back.
Backup and slime merging
- Two kinds of slime, which look like any other, have only two actions, “merge” and “calls for backup”: those of the Bloomingdale area (on grass, and its islet) and those of Newid Isle and the Tower of Trades (floors 1 to 4).
- Calls for backup (always works): one more slime joins the caller's group, as long as the battle has fewer than 8 monsters (Bloomingdale) or fewer than 5 (Newid Isle, Tower of Trades).
- Merging: in Bloomingdale, when the group has 8 slimes awake, “The slimes merge into an enormous king slime!”; on Newid Isle and in the Tower of Trades, with exactly 3 slimes awake, “The slimes jump on one another's backs to form a tricky, sticky slime stack!”. The acting slime becomes the king slime (or the slime stack), HP and MP full; the others vanish from the battle.
- While merging is impossible the slime calls for backup; with 8 slimes awake the battle is full and it merges for sure.
Stealing (Half-inch)
- For each of the monster's items (common then rare): the item's rate × 2 (deftness ≤ 51) to × 6 (deftness 999), in a straight line in between; ×2 with the Honour among thieves medal as accessory; 50% at most.
Experience
- Each share = the battle's experience × (K + level) × turns spent alive ÷ the sum of those products over the party, rounded up. K = 4 up to 10,000 points, 3 up to 20,000, 2 above. Multiplayer: +10% per extra player.