Status effect
Status effects are a recurring element of the Dragon Quest series, and come in the negative status ailments and the beneficial status buffs. Both the party and monsters have access to these effects in most titles, and strategic use of both becomes vitally important during an adventure.
Status ailments damage, immobilize or otherwise debilitate a combatant. Almost every status ailment can be lifted with the help of an item specific to that ailment. Many status ailments disappear immediately after a battle, while others can only be removed with a spell, a night at the inn or a visit to the church. Some spells exist expressly to inflict status effects, and some weapons have a small chance of inflicting a status ailment after a successful hit. Occasionally, a special move may have a chance of causing a status effect.
Status buffs exist to either raise the stats of a character and give them an advantage in battle against weaker foes or to stand a better chance against powerful boss monsters or to reduce incoming damage. Typically buffs will fade in battle after a number of turns have passed, though there are exception where a buff will last the entire battle, such as all versions of Dragon Quest VI. Only two types of buffs remain in effect after battle, being camouflage and pep.
A number of these effects can be wiped out by Disruptive Wave or with a perfect panacea, if available.
List of recurring status effectsEdit
Negative Status AilmentsEdit
| Image | Name | Effect | Debut | Remains After Battle? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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Beguiled* | The character has become infatuated and will attack their fellow party members. | Dragon Quest X | No |
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Blunted | Physical attack power is reduced. | Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies | No |
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Bound/Hobbled | The character is rooted to the spot and cannot make any movement until the condition wears off, or the battle ends. | Dragon Quest Tact | No |
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Breath Locked | The character cannot use breath skills until the condition wears off, or the battle ends. | Dragon Quest Monsters | No |
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Confused | The character may attacks their fellow party members or themselves. They might also do nothing at all. | Dragon Quest III: The Seeds of Salvation | No |
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Cursed | The one of the character's statistics are set to 0 as a result of wearing cursed equipment, along with suffering paralysis or attacking their friends. They can only remove the equipment by visiting a church. In some installments, it is caused by certain attacks. For this type of curse, the effects are: | Dragon Quest II: Luminaries of the Legendary Line & Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride | Varies |
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Dazzled/Blind | The character is much more likely to miss with physical attacks, dropping accuracy to 3⁄8 or 5⁄8 depending on the spell or skill used. | Dragon Quest II: Luminaries of the Legendary Line | No |
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Dead/Death | The character cannot act in any way until they are revived by a spell, item, or at the church. | Dragon Quest | Yes |
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Decelerated | Agility is reduced, causing characters to act later in battle and starting with Dragon Quest VIII, reduces evasion. | Dragon Quest III: The Seeds of Salvation | No |
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Double Down | The affected character becomes more susceptible to negative status ailments. | Dragon Quest X | No |
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Envenomated | The character takes damage after each round of the battle. Reduces HP by 1⁄6 of maximum per turn in Dragon Quest V. Starting with Dragon Quest VI this was reduced to 1⁄8 of the maximum. | Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride | Yes. The condition becomes Poisoned after battle ends. |
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Fizzled | The character cannot cast spells until the condition wears off, or the battle ends. | Dragon Quest | No |
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Paralysed | The character is unable to act during battle. Counts as a party wipe out if everyone is afflicted in III, but not so in later games. Initially cured through spells or items and walking for 32 steps on the world map, but will wear off in battle after a few turns beginning with VI. | Dragon Quest III: The Seeds of Salvation | Varies |
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Poisoned | The character takes damage while traveling on the field. Originally, from Dragon Quest to Dragon Quest IV it was dealt every four steps. In Dragon Quest V and VI it was increased to eight steps. Since Dragon Quest VII it has been every single step. Beginning with Dragon Quest XI, being poisoned now deals 1~5 damage per turn in addition to walking damage. | Dragon Quest II: Luminaries of the Legendary Line | Yes |
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Sapped | The character's Defence is decreased. | Dragon Quest II: Luminaries of the Legendary Line | No |
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Shypox | The character suddenly remembers something embarrassing in the middle of battle, stunning them for a single turn. | Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age | No |
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Skill Sealed | The character cannot use skills until the condition wears off, or the battle ends. | Dragon Quest X | No |
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Sleep | The character cannot act until awoken by an attack, or until a random number of turns have passed. A character who has been put into a deep sleep will take even longer to wake up on their own. | Dragon Quest | No |
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Stunned | The character must waste a turn or two while being frozen in fear, rolling around laughing, knocked down, grinning after a Puff-Puff, etc. | Dragon Quest III: The Seeds of Salvation | No |
Positive Status EnhancementsEdit
| Image | Name | Effect | Debut | Remains After Battle? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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Accelerated | Agility is increased. In VIII onwards, this also increases evasion. | Dragon Quest III: The Seeds of Salvation | No |
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Alma Mater | Negates the effects of instant death once for 7~10 turns, allowing the affected character to survive with 1 HP. In later games, this extended to any fatal damage as long as the character's HP is higher than 50%. | Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies | No |
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Backdraft | Reflects breath attacks once. | Dragon Quest VI: Realms of Revelation | No |
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Bounce | Reflects magic spells. Certain games only allow the spell to be used on the caster themselves. | Dragon Quest III: The Seeds of Salvation | No |
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Buffed | Defence is increased. | Dragon Quest II: Luminaries of the Legendary Line | No |
| |
Camouflaged | User is less likely to be targeted by monsters, and cannot be seen by foes on the world map. | Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies | Yes |
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Cover | The user is taking attacks for either one character or the entire party. | Dragon Quest VI: Realms of Revelation | No |
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Divided | Character creates two additional shadow clones of themselves. The next attack or skill will be performed three times the next turn. | Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age | No |
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Divine Intervention | Character is automatically revived with 1 HP if they take fatal damage. However, unlike Alma Mater, there is no HP limit. | Dragon Quest X | No |
| |
Dragon | Morphed into a giant dragon. Will alternate between roasting and slashing at enemies while being resistant to fire. | Dragon Quest III: The Seeds of Salvation | No |
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Grace of the Goddess | Automatically revives the user with at least half or most of their HP if they take fatal damage for 5 turns. | Dragon Quest X | No |
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Greatsword Guard | Increases chance of parrying physical attacks with a greatsword. | Dragon Quest X | No |
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Insulated | Damage from breath attacks is decreased. | Dragon Quest III: The Seeds of Salvation | No |
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Kaclang | Turned into invincible steel for several turns. The target cannot move during this time. | Dragon Quest III: The Seeds of Salvation | No |
| |
Magic absorbent | Spells that target the user will restore their MP. | Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride | No |
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Magic Barrier | Magic resistance increased. | Dragon Quest VI: Realms of Revelation | No |
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MP Regeneration | Character recovers some MP each turn. Sometimes granted with certain pieces of equipment. | Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King | No |
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Oomph | Physical attack power increased. | Dragon Quest III: The Seeds of Salvation | No |
| |
Pepped up | Several stats are increased at once, and access to special techniques is granted. | Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age | Yes |
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Regeneration | Character recovers some HP each turn. Sometimes granted with certain pieces of equipment. | Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker | No |
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Snap, Crackle, Poofed | Character becomes immune to negative status ailments for a few turns. However, does not protect character from instant death or certain abilities such as Kaching Kaclang. | Dragon Quest X | No |
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Snubbed | Magical attacks have no effect on the target from now on. | Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen | No |
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Tension | The character has psyched themselves up, increasing the amount of damage of their next action, including attacks, spells, and skills. If the character reaches a state of super high tension, they will take reduced damage or become immune to negative status effects. | Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King | No |