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Suikoden Wikia

Skills are a new system introduced in Suikoden III. In the previous games, combat effects like critical hits, counters, and continuous attacks were dictated primarily by a characters stats, and there was no way to affect them without the aid of runes. Likewise, Suikoden II introduced the idea of magic elemental affinity, but there was no way to determine what a characters affinity was without consorting to a guide or through trial and error. Suikoden III introduced the skill system to compliment the game's new retooled battle system, and allow players to have more control on how a character fights in battle as well as understand their potential. Both Melee and Magic skills can be upgraded by visiting a Bujutsu Trainer or a Tutor, using skill points earned in battles. These skills can also be upgraded by wearing special armor that has the property of raising the skill by one level. The number of skills a character has, varies, and some skills only unlock after a character reaches a certain level.

Skills can be separated into three classifications: Melee, Magic, and Support. The first two classes can be further separated into Common Skills and Unique Skills. Common Skills are abilities that are shared by all characters and can be taught by a Bujutsu Trainer or Tutor. Unique Skills are special natural skills that only certain characters have and tend to have unique effects. While these skills can be upgraded in the usual manner, and can even be forgotten, they cannot be taught. Skills that are "forgotten" are removed from the skill list, but the character does gain back a portion of the skill points put into it, which makes customization far more flexible.

A character's proficiency in a skill varies and they are graded by a score between E and S rank. This ranking system gives the player an idea of how a character works in combat. For example, Lizard Clan fighters tend to be very slow and have low movement, so their ranks in skills like Holy Dash and Repel are quite low. On the other hand, their ranking in skills like Armor Protect and Damage are quite high, so while they can be taught all four skills and upgrade them fully, a player has the option to prioritize their strengths by ignoring the Swing and Holy Dash skills and putting all their skill points into Damage or Armor Protect, or they can teach them skills they may not have great scores in, but are needed to round out their weaknesses.

Support Skills are special, they cannot be upgraded and are mostly relegated to the non-combat characters of a party. These skills tend to raise a parties efficiency in acquiring loot and Potch, or they can allow a character to have a Rune Shop, Bujutsu Trainer, or Tutor traveling with them. Some even just simply restore some health and status between battles.

Teacher or Tutors Note[]

In Suikoden III, the player can test any of a character's skills. The teacher or tutor will give a comment concerning how a character's skill will grow. The comment given depends on who the teacher or tutor is. The table shows the maximum level, the type of growth for a skill, and a list of sample comments for how a skill will grow. Note: the notes concerning "Slow" and "Fast" growing skills are always the same as comments for "Useless" and "Genius" respectively.

Level Growth Type Sample Note
S Genius Perfect Match!
A+ Slow It Will Take Time.
A Excellent Fairly Good Match!
B+ Fast Perfect Match!
B+ Good Natural Ability Exists!
B Normal Average.
C Useless It Will Take Time.

List of Skills[]

Melee Skills[]

Common Skills[]

  • Damage - Raises the amount of damage a character's physical attack deals.
  • Accuracy - Raises the ability to Hit an enemy as well as to lower the enemies ability to dodge.
  • Repel - Raises the chance of a character to evade an enemy attack.
  • Swing - Raises the amount of attacks a character can take in a single action by reducing the time between attacks. The weight of a character's weapon is also a factor in determining this.
  • Armor Protect - Reduces the amount of damage a character takes when activated. At high ranking, it can cause "Critical Guard" which reduces damage to 0
  • Holy Dash - Allows a character to move farther in combat. This also raises the chances of a character having enough time to take an action after the moving phase of their turn.

Unique Skills[]

  • Heavy Damage - Raises Critical Hit %. At higher levels, it can cause critical hits to do 3X damage.
  • Sharpshoot - Increases the range of a Bow/Dart/Throw weapon as well as raises the Critical Hit %. Can be stacked with other skills that raise Critical Hit Rate.
  • Continual Attack - Raises the amount of actions a character can take in a turn. Basically, if a character kills an enemy in their turn, this skill allows them to attack a new enemy in the same turn.
  • Counter-Attack - Raises a characters chance to counter an enemy attacks. Combos with Shield Protect and Parry skills.
  • Shield Protect - Increases a characters chance to block and negate an attack with their shield, also raises their ability to counter attack after successful block. Can stack with counter-attack skill to raise the chance of a counter.
  • Parry - Deflects an enemy's attack when evade fails, and counterattack. Can stack with the Counter-Attack skill.
  • Freeze - Causes a characters physical strikes to sometimes cause the Stun effect when they hit. At higher levels, it causes Paralyze status.
  • Thief - Steals Potch from enemies occasionally when you land a successful physical attack. Higher ranking raises chance of activating and amount of Potch stolen.
  • Fighting Spirit - Raises a characters resistance to the Stun and Unbalanced effect. Even works with Unite Attacks or Runes that cause these effects.
  • Adrenaline Power - Raises the chance of a character whose HP is knocked to 0, to stand back up and regain a % of their HP back. Can trigger the Death's Door status.

Magic Skills[]

Common Skills[]

  • Fire Magic - Raises the effectiveness of Fire spells as well as reduces casting time.
  • Wind Magic - Raises the effectiveness of Wind spells as well as reduces casting time.
  • Earth Magic - Raises the effectiveness of Earth spells as well as reduces casting time.
  • Water Magic - Raises the effectiveness of Water spells as well as reduces casting time.
  • Lightning Magic - Raises the effectiveness of Lightning spells as well as reduces casting time.
  • Sword of Magic - Raises the effectiveness of Sword of Magic spells as well as reduces casting time.
  • Magic Resistance - Reduces damage received from enemy spells.

Unique Skills[]

  • Shield Magic - Raises the effectiveness of Shield spells as well as reduces casting time.
  • Blinking Magic - Raises the effectiveness of Blinking spells as well as reduces casting time.
  • Pale Gate Magic - Raises the effectiveness of Pale Gate spells as well as reduces casting time.
  • Magic Repel - Negates enemy magic based attacks.
  • Magic Rationing - Regenerates used lower tier spell mp when using higher tier magic. Much like the Dryad Rune from Suikoden II.
  • Precision - Reduces the chance of characters taking collateral damage from group hitting spells.
  • Focus - Reduces the chance of a mage being knocked out of casting mode, when taking damage.
  • Chanting Volume - Reduces the chance of a character being knocked out of chanting mode when taking damage. Exclusive to the Jongleur Rune spells.
  • Chanting Purity - Raises the effectiveness of Jongleur spells.

Support Skills[]

  • Healing - Restores a % of health after battle.
  • Bath - Restores a small % of health and restores status effects.
  • Potch Finder - Increases amount of Potch earned in battles.
  • Treasure Hunter - Raises chance of enemies dropping items.
  • Cook - Raises chance of enemies dropping food items.
  • Trade-In - Gain some money when you have to drop an item due to full inventory.
  • Appraisal - Chance of "? Items" being identified when dropped from enemies.
  • Discount - Reduces prices at shops.
  • Bujutsu Trainer - Allows you to change, learn and raise melee skills in the field.
  • Tutor - Allows you to change, learn, and raise magic skills in the the field.
  • Rune Sage - Allows you to remove or attach runes in the field.
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