Character Class Q&A

Ever wonder what stat does what? Here’s the place to look!  Been wondering about somethin’ that a stat is used for? Take a gander, and maybe your question & answer is listed below!

General Character Attributes

Strength, or STR:

Fighters, Knights, etc. The higher Strength a character has, the more damage they will do with their weapon of choice!  How it works precisely is the damage you do is a function of your own character’s Strength in comparison to your target’s Strength.  This is why Wizards and the like really take a beating from direct Physical attacks, and the large monster classes take so little damage from the same attacks.  The chance to hit is still based an Agility comparison, however.
A “STR POT.” (Strength Potion) used on a character will increase this attribute by 5 - 10 points. The maximum value is 255.

Agility, or AGI:

This attribute is important for any character class, be it warrior or caster.  It influences three main functions:
1) Character’s battle order, which determines when the character will attack
2) Character’s chance to hit
3) Character’s chance to be hit
Ever wonder why those pesky Ninja are so hard to hit? This is why! Because of the fact that more Agility means you go sooner in battle, this attribute is very important for magic user classes as well. You can certainly see how powerful high Agility is in the Sylph class!
An “AGI POT.” (Speed Potion) used on a character will increase this attribute by 5 - 10 points. The maximum value is 255.

Intelligence, or INT:

This attribute is most important for magic & spell casting character classes.  Your basic Wizard & Mage are the most obvious to benefit from this attribute, but there are some others as well. Cleric classes will heal more with higher Intelligence, and Witches will be more hit more often with their Stun Cloud attack. Why else do they gain such good Intelligence per level!  The Faerie classes also benefit from high Intelligence, especially the Sylph!  How it works precisely is the damage you do is a function of your own character’s Intelligence in comparison to your target’s Intelligence.  This is why most of the large monster classes take a beating from these attacks, and enemy spell casters don’t take as much from the same attacks. The chance to hit is still based an Agility comparison, however.
An “INT POT.” (Tome of Learning) used on a character will increase this attribute by 5 - 10 points. The maximum value is 255.

Luck, or LUK:

This attribute is the first of three that does not increase when levels are gained.  It may not be as important to novices to Ogre Battle, but hard core players like this stat quite a bit. Why? Well, it influences two things:
1) The chance of finding an equip-able item when liberating a Roshian Temple.  The item received is completely random.
Rule #1 is dependent on Luck of your unit leader, not the unit’s average Luck.  If your unit leader has 100 Luck, you are almost assured of getting something when that unit liberates a temple.  I just can’t guarantee it will be worth a damn!
2) The chance of finding a useable item when completely wiping out an enemy unit.  The item received is completely random.
Rule #2 seems to also be dependent on Luck of your unit leader, not the unit’s average Luck.  It is hard to determine what is the determining factor here. At any rate, to increase your chances of getting some loot, wipe out multiple characters at once, as I believe that the game does a check for each enemy character killed, not just a single check.  My odds of getting an item appear to be noticeably higher when I’ve wiped out a a unit with 4 or 5 guys in it than when I’ve mopped up the straggler unit with one or two.  What’s more, if you can plan it so that the leader of the unit wipes out the entire unit by himself, this will also increase your chances of getting booty.  The best way to optimize this rule is to have Warren and/or Saradin as a Lich with 100 Luck.  Then, just have them roam around a stage, completely wiping out units.  You will be amazed at the haul of item you will get! The first time I tried this, I got a “STAFF” (Undead Staff) and a “DRAGOS” (Stone of Dragos) on the same stage!
A “LUK POT.” (Lucky Charm) used on a character will increase this attribute by 5 - 10 points. The maximum value is 100.
 

Q: How can I get high Luck if it’s so good?

A: The only real way that you can get high Luck is to buy many many “LUK POT.’s” (Lucky Charms) from the mysterious merchant “Anywhere Jack.”  He can be summoned by using the “MERCHANT” (Trade Ticket) item on a stage map. He charges a pretty hefty sum; 21,000 Goth! A single “LUK POT.” (Lucky Charm) will give you anywhere from 5 to 10 points, so to maximize your efficiency, save it before you use one, and if you don’t gain 10, reload! Buy lots of these all at one time, but make sure that you still have enough Goth to deploy your troops for the next stage, as these items are so ‘magically delicious’ (you knew it was coming!) that it can be really easy to get carried away buying these!! Max out the leaders of units that fight a lot for you first, and then your main city liberating unit leaders with any spares. Getting a free “UNDEAD” (Undead Ring) or free “CROWN” (Dream Crown) is a much better prospect than finding another Broken Sword from a Roshian Temple!
There are other sneaky ways to increase your Luck. When you first start a game, or are still on the first few stages, recruit a few Witches.  Never thought you would hear that recommendation, eh?!  The real reason is because they start out with really high Luck; almost as high as 70!  Simply promote them to Valkyries or something useful, and now you have some characters that can item farm for you. Yes sir, that phrase can apply to this game too! Some other classes also start out with high Luck, like Pumpkins, but since it seems the only value that matters is the unit leader’s Luck, this doesn’t really help too much.  Also, most of the special characters start with fairly high Luck, so you will have something better to work off of with them.
Another tactic that I’ve employed can be done at any point in the game, but takes a lot of patience. First, make sure that you have a “World” Tarot Card in effect. Then, save it right before one of your units liberates a town or temple. Then, wait for that unit to snag a “Fool” Tarot Card to have every single character that is deployed gain a point of Luck! This can get irritating & frustrating really fast, however, so be warned! This should only be used if you are desperate, or a loser like me who has nothing better to do.
 

Charisma, or CHA:

This attribute is the first of two attributes that fluctuate constantly throughout your character’s career.  This represents how well a character can lead others.
1) This attribute will determine whether a character can promote to the next class or not.  If it’s too low, then he will probably be S.O.L. when he gets to the necessary level.  Some character classes, such as all of the large classes, do not need to worry about Charisma at all. Still, you want to keep this attribute as high as possible.  To see the specifics for what various classes need, just click on the class of you choice!
2) The other function is that the higher the Charisma, the better leader this character would make. If you notice, when you use the “Change Leader” command, you will see that when you confirm the command, the primary three stats; Strength, Agility, & Intelligence, of the new leader will change. This represents his ability to lead, and they could go up, or they could even go down.  It is generally a good idea to have the character with the highest Charisma in the unit as your leader, if they are able to. Special characters make excellent unit leaders.  Some members of the Ogre Battle community has a theory that the leader of a unit has influence on how good the other characters within that unit gain levels, but so far there is no documented proof.
A “CHA POT.” (Heart of Leo) used on a character will increase this attribute by 5 - 10 points. The maximum value is 100.

Alignment, or ALI:

This attributes also changes throughout a character’s career.  And, it may be the most important attribute of them all.  Next to Hit Points, of course! It has three main things it influences:
1) Like with Charisma, this attribute determines whether character can promote to the next class or not.  But unlike Charisma, a high value is not always best. Certain classes, like the Wizard & Wild Man classes, need low Alignment to proceed.
2) The second thing this attribute does is determine what time of day a character fights the most effectively.
High Alignment (i.e., Knights):   Daylight
Average Alignment (i.e., Red Dragons):   Dawn & Dust
Low Alignment (i.e., Wild Men):   Nighttime
3) The final thing that this attribute affects is how well the character will be at liberating towns & temples. the higher, the better.  Depending upon the average Alignment of the unit that is liberating said town or temple, you will gain or lose Reputation.  This is in addition to any Tarot Card effects you get as well. The exact amount you will gain or lose is dependent on that particular town’s Morale value.  In case you don’t know which one I’m talking about, it’s the ‘Ankh’ icon. To be on the safe side, Always use your units with the highest average Alignment as a city liberator.  Unless, of course, you don’t care what the people think of you...
An “ALI POT.” (Soul Mirror) used on a character will increase this attribute by 5 - 10 points. The maximum value is 100.

Q: How do I control my Charisma & Alignment?

A: This is at the very heart of mastering the game of Ogre Battle.  Since these two attributes control what classes will be available for a given character, it is highly important to know how to manipulate these values on all of your characters, especially your Opinion Leader!  There are two ways to manipulate these attributes.
1) The first way is more straightforward. You can slightly raise these two attribute by getting the right Tarot Cards when you liberate a town or temple. The cards you should be looking for are Empress (by 1) & Emperor (by 2) to raise Charisma, and Priestess (by 1) & Hierophant (by 2) to raise Alignment.  It may not seem like much at all, but over time, it can make or break that next class promotion! Especially if you are only a point or two away!  This is minor, though, compared to the second method.
2) The second method is much more complicated.  Whenever one of your characters kills an enemy character, these two values will change.  The basic formula goes like this:
Increase in character Charisma / Alignment:

Killed opponent is a lower Level than your character
Killed opponent has a lower Charisma / Alignment than your character

Decrease in character Charisma / Alignment:

Killed opponent is a higher Level than your character
Killed opponent has a higher Charisma / Alignment than your character

This may sound a bit complicated, but it does make a lot of sense. The populace living under the Empire’s harsh rule is for your rebellion because you are the underdog. You’ve gotta fight!  For your right!!  To parrrrrrrty!!! Sorry, it couldn’t be helped!  So, what that means is that they pull for the little guy, which represents the first part of Rule #2 in both cases. Defeat an enemy character that is a much higher level than you, and you are David slaying Goliath. Defeat an enemy character that is a much lower level than you, and you are the playground bully beating up kids for their lunch money.
And as far as the second part of Rule #2 goes, the same type of logic follows. A hero who defeats an infamous foe (he’s not just famous, he’s infamous!) will come out of a battle looking even more valiant, while a back-stabbing bastard will look even more dastardly dispatching a saintly warrior.  The important thing to note with this rule is that in certain situations, your Charisma may go up, but your Alignment will go down. This is because each attribute is compared individually, and then modified based on a calculation. Also, there has to be a difference in levels in order for these attributes to change all that much.  The greater the difference, the more they will change.

Q: But I can’t see what the Charisma or Alignment of the enemy characters are! How can I do this then?

A: That is correct. There is no way to precisely know what these attributes are at for a given enemy.  However, you can make some general assumptions. For example, you can assume that a Paladin has higher values of both than an Evil One.  Also, Undead have close to zero in both Charisma & Alignment.  They’re dead, after all!  So, you can use this to your advantage, and roam stages where neutral Undead can be found, and raise your attributes this way. After all, nobody like dead things that can walk around on their own!