Personalities are a game mechanic added to the remakes of Dragon Quest III which effect character attribute growth. The Hero is assigned one of 30 personalities through a test at the beginning of the game and recruited members are assigned a personality based on their starting attributes. Personalities can be changed throughout the game with the use of book items and by equipping certain pieces of equipment. There are a total of 45 possible personalities. Note that in most Dragon Quest games, attributes are determined randomly at level up, or according to a specific distribution of growth.
In the sections below, the names of personalities from the Game Boy Color version of Dragon Quest III are used. These are the only 'official' names for personalities as the Super Nintendo version of the game was never officially translated. However, most fan translation names are similar to the ones used in the Game Boy Color version.
Personalities and attribute effects
Books modify the personality permanently; accessories modify the personality as long as they're equipped. If a personality cannot be obtained using any item, then it's only available for a character at game start; "not starting hero" means that the Hero cannot start the game with it.
| Name | STR | AGL | VIT | INT | LUCK | Sum | Notes | Item | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ordinary | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | +0% | Not starting Hero | ||||||||||
| Tomboy | 110% | 110% | 80% | 90% | 90% | -20% | Female only Not starting Hero |
 Tomboy Book
| |||||||||
| Unique | 110% | 60% | 110% | 50% | 80% | -90% | Not starting Hero | ||||||||||
| Defiant | 95% | 105% | 105% | 95% | 95% | -5% | Defy Book
| ||||||||||
| Sexy | 110% | 120% | 105% | 115% | 120% | +70% | Female only | Naughty Book Garter | |||||||||
| Cowardly | 90% | 70% | 90% | 120% | 120% | -10% |  Flee ring (cursed)
| ||||||||||
| Lonesome | 100% | 90% | 80% | 110% | 110% | -10% | Pierce | ||||||||||
"Strong" personalities
| |||||||||||||||||
| Valiant | 140% | 70% | 100% | 80% | 70% | -40% | Hero Guide Hero ring
| ||||||||||
| Amazon | 130% | 90% | 100% | 80% | 80% | -20% | Female only Not starting Hero |
||||||||||
| Jock | 130% | 80% | 100% | 70% | 80% | -40% | Not starting Hero | Muscle Guidebook Strength ring
| |||||||||
| Bully | 120% | 90% | 90% | 60% | 70% | -70% | Tattoo | ||||||||||
| Macho | 115% | 100% | 100% | 90% | 60% | -35% | |||||||||||
"Agile" personalities
| |||||||||||||||||
| Quick | 100% | 140% | 100% | 100% | 100% | +40% | Not starting Hero | Agl. scarf | |||||||||
| Silly | 100% | 120% | 95% | 115% | 110% | +40% | Joke Book Mohawk wig | ||||||||||
| Fearless | 95% | 120% | 115% | 100% | 100% | +30% | Brave Book
| ||||||||||
| Agile | 90% | 120% | 90% | 100% | 80% | -20% | Not starting Hero | Speed ring
| |||||||||
| Foolish | 85% | 115% | 80% | 80% | 90% | -50% | |||||||||||
| Careless | 80% | 115% | 100% | 70% | 70% | -65% | |||||||||||
| Vain | 105% | 110% | 95% | 105% | 95% | +10% | Ruby ring
| ||||||||||
| Selfish | 95% | 105% | 90% | 90% | 90% | -30% | |||||||||||
"Vital" personalities
| |||||||||||||||||
| Tough | 115% | 90% | 140% | 80% | 70% | -5% | Power belt | ||||||||||
| Ironman | 105% | 80% | 130% | 90% | 80% | -15% | Not starting Hero | ||||||||||
| Lewd | 105% | 95% | 120% | 105% | 90% | +15% | Male only | Naughty Book  Gold necklace
| |||||||||
| Solitary | 100% | 110% | 120% | 110% | 70% | +10% | Punk ring
| ||||||||||
| Timid | 110% | 60% | 120% | 110% | 90% | -10% | |||||||||||
| Diligent | 110% | 85% | 120% | 90% | 70% | -25% | Toughness | ||||||||||
| Lazy | 115% | 60% | 120% | 65% | 110% | -30% | |||||||||||
| Stubborn | 100% | 60% | 120% | 60% | 70% | -90% | Stone wig (cursed) | ||||||||||
| Carefree | 100% | 75% | 110% | 105% | 105% | -5% | |||||||||||
| Eager | 105% | 90% | 110% | 100% | 80% | -15% | |||||||||||
| Meddler | 105% | 85% | 110% | 80% | 70% | -50% | Not starting Hero | ||||||||||
"Intelligent" personalities
| |||||||||||||||||
| Sharp | 100% | 120% | 80% | 140% | 90% | +30% | Not starting Hero | Smart Book
| |||||||||
| Smart | 95% | 100% | 100% | 130% | 90% | +15% | Int. specs | ||||||||||
| Logical | 80% | 105% | 90% | 125% | 80% | -20% | |||||||||||
| Alert | 90% | 110% | 90% | 120% | 100% | +10% | Cheater Guide
| ||||||||||
| Romantic | 95% | 110% | 95% | 115% | 100% | +15% | Rosary
| ||||||||||
| Kindly | 105% | 95% | 105% | 110% | 95% | +10% | Kindly Book Love ring
| ||||||||||
| Honest | 100% | 90% | 100% | 110% | 90% | -10% | |||||||||||
| Helpless | 95% | 100% | 90% | 105% | 100% | -10% | Wimpy Book Sucker | ||||||||||
"Lucky" personalities
| |||||||||||||||||
| Lucky | 100% | 110% | 100% | 100% | 150% | +60% | Male only Not starting Hero |
Gold beak | |||||||||
| Ladylike | 100% | 80% | 95% | 110% | 140% | +25% | Female only Not starting Hero |
Lady Manual  Tiara
| |||||||||
| Happy | 90% | 100% | 90% | 100% | 130% | +10% | Lucky Book Bunny tail | ||||||||||
| Weepy | 90% | 90% | 100% | 110% | 115% | +5% | Tragic Tale
| ||||||||||
| Twisted | 70% | 120% | 70% | 110% | 130% | +0% | Not starting Hero | ||||||||||
| Naive | 100% | 90% | 90% | 70% | 110% | -40% | |||||||||||
Analysis
The sexy personality is often regarded as the best due to its +70% composite attribute bonus. For this reason, choosing female characters is often preferred since males cannot have the sexy personality. Personality does not effect anything significant in the game other than attributes, so it does not benefit the player to have any character with a personality that results in a negative overall composite total. Certain personalities are better for specific classes. For example, a male fighter that has a lucky personality will keep his traditionally high agility and add a high amount of luck. This allows him to cause even more critical hits.
Hero Personality Quiz
At the start of a new game, the hero is asked a series of questions by an unknown source. These questions determine the hero's starting personality. It is later revealed that the questioner is actually Divinegon, boss of the first bonus dungeon. The player is asked to enter their real name and birth date, however these inputs have no effect on the resulting personality test. The first question is randomly chosen from the 5 possible starting questions. Any of the 30 possible personalities can be obtained from any of the 5 starting questions. In total, there are 43 different questions that can be asked, including 1 question which can be asked twice.
At the end of each possible question chain is an imaginary scenario in which the hero must decide what to do. These scenarios determine the final personality. There are 8 different scenarios that can be played depending on the player's answers to the questions. Some scenarios have up to 5 possible personality results depending on the actions of the hero during the scenario.
The 32 possible starting personalities for a hero are:
| Strength | Agility | Vitality | Intelligence | Luck | 2 attr. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Valiant (x140%) Bully (x120%) Macho (x115%) |
Silly (x120%) Fearless (x120%) Foolish (x115%) Careless (x115%) Vain (x110%) Selfish (x105%) |
Tough (x140%) Lewd (x120%) Solitary (x120%) Timid (x120%) Diligent (x120%) Lazy (x120%) Stubborn (x120%) Carefree (x110%) Eager (x110%) |
Smart (x130%) Logical (x125%) Alert (x120%) Romantic (x115%) Kindly (x110%) Honest (x110%) Helpless (x105%) |
Happy (x130%) Weepy (x115%) Naive (x110%) |
Sexy (Agl x120% & Luck x120%) Defiant (Agl x105 & Vit x105%) Cowardly (Int x120% & Luck x120%) Lonesome (Int x110% & Luck x110%) |
The 13 personalities which the hero cannot start with are:
- Agile
- Amazon
- Ironman
- Jock
- Ladylike
- Lucky
- Meddler
- Ordinary
- Quick
- Sharp
- Tomboy
- Twisted
- Unique
Recruitable member personality
Characters which are created and recruited at Luisa's Place have different mechanism to determine their personality. Each character class has its own set of base statistics.
| Class | STR | AGL | VIT | INT | LUCK |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Warrior (M) | 9 | 2 | 9 | 2 | 3 |
| Warrior (F) | 8 | 3 | 8 | 3 | 3 |
| Fighter (M) | 14 | 9 | 7 | 3 | 2 |
| Fighter (F) | 12 | 11 | 7 | 4 | 3 |
| Wizard/Mage (M) | 3 | 6 | 4 | 7 | 3 |
| Wizard/Mage (F) | 2 | 7 | 4 | 7 | 3 |
| Priest (M) | 4 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 3 |
| Priest (F) | 4 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 3 |
| Dealer (M) | 5 | 1 | 6 | 6 | 4 |
| Dealer (F) | 5 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 4 |
| Jester (M) | 4 | 3 | 6 | 2 | 10 |
| Jester (F) | 4 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 10 |
| Thief (M) | 6 | 10 | 5 | 5 | 8 |
| Thief (F) | 5 | 12 | 5 | 6 | 8 |
As each character is created, the player is given the opportunity to use five seeds to further raise the character's attributes. Each seed will increase the single attribute by 1-3 points. The seeds can be distributed manually or randomly by the computer if the player chooses that option. After the final starting attributes have been determined, a calculation is performed to determine the personality.
The base values from the above table are subtracted from the final starting attributes to get the "bonus" values, i.e. the amount by which each attribute exceeds the base value for the character's gender and class. The five attributes are ranked from highest to lowest bonus. If two attributes have an equal bonus, the base attribute value is used to break the tie. Finally, a personality is chosen based on the class, the highest bonus, the value of that bonus, the second-highest bonus in some cases, and random chance.
| Highest bonus is Strength (STR) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Warrior/Fighter | STR >= 11 | Valiant/Jock/Amazon |
| STR >= 7 | Jock/Macho/Tomboy/Bully | |
| VIT is 2nd | Bully/Unique/Lewd/Amazon | |
| AGI is 2nd | Fearless/Tomboy/Careless/Defiant | |
| Otherwise | Lewd/Naive/Carefree/Honest/Ordinary | |
| Mage/Priest | STR >= 11 | Jock/Amazon/Fearless |
| STR >= 7 | Stubborn/Meddler/Jock/Macho | |
| VIT is 2nd | Eagar/Diligent/Unique/Selfish | |
| INT is 2nd | Defiant/Vain/Cowardly/Lonesome | |
| Otherwise | Naive/Lazy/Honest/Tomboy/Kindly/ Ordinary | |
| Dealer/Jester/Thief | STR >= 11 | Jock/Defiant/Tomboy/Macho |
| INT is 2nd | Sharp/Solitary/Alert | |
| VIT is 2nd | Fearless/Amazon/Bully | |
| AGI is 2nd | Foolish/Agile/Silly | |
| Otherwise | Lonesome/Romantic/Weepy/Helpless/Selfish/Ordinary | |
| Highest bonus is Agility (AGI) | ||
| Warrior/Dealer/Jester | AGI >= 12 | Quick/Fearless/Agile |
| AGI >= 7 | Agile/Foolish/Selfish/Defiant | |
| INT is 2nd | Alert/Silly/Twisted | |
| STR is 2nd | Bully/Tomboy/Macho/Solitary | |
| Otherwise | Careless/Vain/Lonesome/Weepy/Ordinary | |
| Fighter/Thief | AGI >= 10 | Quick/Fearless/Agile |
| AGI >= 7 | Fearless/Agile/Foolish/Solitary | |
| STR is 2nd | Defiant/Macho/Tomboy/Vain | |
| VIT is 2nd | Macho/Eagar/Lewd/Twisted | |
| Otherwise | Solitary/Romantic/Fearless/Weepy/Ordinary | |
| Mage/Priest | AGI >= 8 | Agile/Alert/Foolish |
| STR is 2nd | Defiant/Vain/Careless | |
| INT is 2nd | Logical/Weepy/Silly/Sexy | |
| Otherwise | Cowardly/Naive/Helpless/Romantic/Ordinary | |
| Highest bonus is Vitality (VIT) | ||
| Warrior/Fighter/Dealer | VIT >= 10 | Tough/Ironman |
| VIT >= 6 | Diligent/Eagar/Stubborn/Lewd | |
| STR is 2nd | Jock/Unique/Carefree | |
| Otherwise | Honest/Meddler/Lazy/Timid/Ordinary | |
| Mage/Priest | VIT >= 11 | Tough/Ironman/Eagar |
| VIT >= 6 | Eagar/Stubborn/Diligent/Lewd | |
| INT is 2nd | Kindly/Meddler/Defiant/Sexy | |
| Otherwise | Lonesome/Cowardly/Naive/Carefree/Ordinary | |
| Jester/Thief | VIT >= 11 | Tough/Ironman/Unique |
| VIT >= 6 | Eagar/Stubborn/Unique/Lewd | |
| STR is 2nd | Bully/Fearless | |
| Otherwise | Lazy/Solitary/Sexy/Silly/Romantic/Ordinary | |
| Highest bonus is Intelligence (INT) | ||
| Warrior/Fighter | INT >= 10 | Twisted/Smart/Logical/Romantic |
| INT >= 6 | Vain/Romantic/Cowardly/Ladylike | |
| Otherwise | Naive/Helpless/Silly/Kindly/Ordinary | |
| Mage/Priest | INT >= 10 | Sharp/Smart |
| INT >= 6 | Smart/Alert/Logical/Romantic/Cowardly | |
| Otherwise | Weepy/Kindly/Helpless/Lonesome/Honest/Ordinary | |
| Dealer/Thief | INT >= 10 | Sharp/Smart |
| INT >= 6 | Alert/Smart/Vain/Logical | |
| Otherwise | Solitary/Romantic/Diligent/Careless/Ordinary/Meddler | |
| Jester | INT >= 10 | Sharp/Smart |
| INT >= 6 | Alert/Sexy/Lewd/Silly/Logical | |
| Otherwise | Lazy/Carefree/Helpless/Solitary/Ordinary | |
| Highest bonus is Luck (LUC) | ||
| Warrior/Fighter | LUC >= 12 | Lucky/Ladylike/Happy |
| LUC >= 7 | Happy/Romantic/Lazy | |
| Otherwise | Naive/Helpless/Vain/Silly/Careless/Ordinary | |
| Mage/Priest | LUC >= 12 | Lucky/Ladylike/Happy |
| LUC >= 6 | Happy/Naive/Helpless/Lazy | |
| Otherwise | Vain/Careless/Weepy/Cowardly/Timid/Ordinary | |
| Dealer/Thief | LUC >= 12 | Lucky/Happy |
| LUC >= 6 | Happy/Meddler/Helpless/Selfish/Carefree | |
| Otherwise | Vain/Naive/Weepy/Kindly/Honest/Ordinary | |
| Jester | LUC >= 9 | Lucky/Ladylike |
| LUC >= 6 | Happy/Naive/Helpless/Sexy/Lewd | |
| Otherwise | Lewd/Sexy/Weepy/Lonesome/Silly/Carefree/Lazy/Selfish | |
How to get the personality that you want
|
When recruiting party members the best thing to do is to save between making party members. Choose the class you will be recruiting, then choose a fully positive personality for the class that you are recruiting, for example, the Honest personality for Priests/Clerics (which is primarily Str, Vit, and Int focused). Some personalities are better for building a particular attribute and are meant for advanced progression strategies (e.g. focusing on a personality that gives the highest bonus for a particular attribute).
After you've chosen the personality that you want, look in the above tables to see which primary attribute needs to be given seeds in order to get it. Although the requirements for getting the personality you want may result in skewed starting attributes, that is a minor inconvenience. Now, if you have a Priest/Cleric that you want to have, for example, the personality type of Honest, you have to make sure the following conditions are met (this is also outlined in the tables, above):
- STR must be the attribute with the highest bonus from applying seeds. Make sure you do not add more than 6 points to STR.
- Neither VIT nor INT can have the second highest bonus from applying seeds.
The easiest way to make sure the second condition is met is by not spending any points in it. A better way is to make sure STR has 3-6 points (1-3 seeds) in it, then add 2-5 points (1-2 seeds) to another attribute that doesn't affect personality (in this case AGI and LUK). The final seed can then, probably, be safely be added to INT or VIT (in some cases the final seed will apply 2 points and mess the whole thing up).
The result is a slightly skewed set of attributes, but after a couple of levels they will be on track again.
Altering Personality
Personality can be altered during the game in two ways: a character can equip a piece of equipment which forces a specific personality, or a book item can be used which changes the character's base personality. Book items can be found throughout the game, with many hidden in bookcases and pots in towns. The most highly valued book is the sexy book which is obtainable through one of the wishes Divinegon grants.
SNES to GBC Personality Translations
The following table shows the different translations of the personality names in the SNES and GBC versions of Dragon Quest III. Note that this table uses the DQ translations English patch.
| SNES | GBC |
|---|---|
| Hyper | Quick |
| Sharp | Sharp |
| Lucky | Lucky |
| Silly | Twisted |
| Worldly | Diligent |
Books
In the World you will find various books. By reading it the Personality of the Reader will change.
- For Info on Accessory see: Items
| Book | Personality |
|---|---|
| Muscle Guidebook | Jock |
| Tomboy Book | Tomboy |
| Cheater Guide | Alert |
| Smart Book | Sharp |
| Joke Book | Silly |
| Book | Personality |
|---|---|
| Kindly Book | Kindly |
| Lady Manual | Ladylike |
| Lucky Book | Happy |
| Brave Book | Fearless |
| Naughty Book | Lewd/Sexy |
| Book | Personality |
|---|---|
| Wimpy Book | Helpless |
| Hero Guide | Valiant |
| Tragic Tale | Weepy |
| Defy Book | Defiant |