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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 [Everyman] 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% +0% Not starting Hero
Tomboy 110% 110% 80% 90% 90% -20% Female only
Not starting Hero
DQ3 SNES Book.png Tomboy Book
Unique [Gourmet/Gourmand] 110% 60% 110% 50% 80% -90% Not starting Hero
Defiant [Sore loser] 95% 105% 105% 95% 95% -5% DQ3 SNES Book.png Defy Book
Sexy [Vamp] 110% 120% 105% 115% 120% +70% Female only DQ3 SNES Book.png Naughty Book
Garter
Cowardly [Wimp] 90% 70% 90% 120% 120% -10% DW3 ring.png Flee ring (cursed)
Lonesome [Socialite] 100% 90% 80% 110% 110% -10% Pierce
"Strong" personalities
Name STR AGL VIT INT LUCK Sum Notes Item
Valiant [Paragon] 140% 70% 100% 80% 70% -40% DQ3 SNES Book.png Hero Guide
DW3 ring.png Hero ring [Mighty Armlet]
Amazon 130% 90% 100% 80% 80% -20% Female only
Not starting Hero
Jock [Meathead] 130% 80% 100% 70% 80% -40% Not starting Hero DQ3 SNES Book.png Muscle Guidebook
DW3 ring.png Strength ring
Bully [Thug] 120% 90% 90% 60% 70% -70% Tattoo
Macho [Idealist] 115% 100% 110% 90% 60% -25%
"Agile" personalities
Name STR AGL VIT INT LUCK Sum Notes Item
Quick [Bat out of Hell] 100% 140% 100% 100% 100% +40% Not starting Hero Agl. scarf
Silly [Clown] 100% 120% 95% 115% 110% +40% DQ3 SNES Book.png Joke Book
Mohawk wig
Fearless [Daredevil] 95% 120% 115% 100% 100% +30% DQ3 SNES Book.png Brave Book
Agile [Acrobat] 90% 120% 90% 100% 80% -20% Not starting Hero DW3 ring.png Speed ring
Foolish [Scatterbrain] 85% 115% 80% 80% 90% -50%
Careless [Klutz] 80% 115% 100% 70% 70% -65%
Vain [Show-off] 105% 110% 95% 105% 95% +10% DW3 ring.png Ruby ring
Selfish [Narcissist] 95% 105% 90% 90% 90% -30%
"Vital" personalities
Name STR AGL VIT INT LUCK Sum Notes Item
Tough [Tough cookie] 115% 90% 140% 80% 70% -5% Power belt
Ironman [Ironclad] 105% 80% 130% 90% 80% -15% Not starting Hero
Lewd [Lothario] 105% 95% 120% 105% 90% +15% Male only DQ3 SNES Book.png Naughty Book
DW3 rosary.png Gold necklace
Solitary [Lone wolf] 100% 110% 120% 110% 70% +10% DW3 ring.png Punk ring
Timid [Shrinking violet] 110% 60% 120% 110% 90% -10%
Diligent [Plugger] 110% 85% 120% 90% 70% -25% Toughness [Restless Heart]
Lazy [Lazybones] 115% 60% 120% 65% 110% -30%
Stubborn [Mule] 100% 60% 120% 60% 70% -90% Stone wig (cursed)
Carefree [Free spirit] 100% 75% 110% 105% 105% -5%
Eager [Drudge] 105% 90% 110% 100% 80% -15%
Meddler 105% 85% 110% 80% 70% -50% Not starting Hero
"Intelligent" personalities
Name STR AGL VIT INT LUCK Sum Notes Item
Sharp [Genius] 100% 120% 80% 140% 90% +30% Not starting Hero DQ3 SNES Book.png Smart Book
Smart [Wit] 95% 100% 100% 130% 90% +15% Int. specs
Logical [Egghead] 80% 105% 90% 125% 80% -20%
Alert [Slippery devil] 90% 110% 90% 120% 100% +10% DQ3 SNES Book.png Cheater Guide
Romantic [Daydreamer] 95% 110% 95% 115% 100% +15% DW3 rosary.png Rosary
Kindly [Good egg] 105% 95% 105% 110% 95% +10% DQ3 SNES Book.png Kindly Book
DW3 ring.png Love ring
Honest [Straight arrow] 100% 90% 100% 110% 90% -10%
Helpless [Spoilt brat] 95% 100% 90% 105% 100% -10% DQ3 SNES Book.png Wimpy Book
Sucker
"Lucky" personalities
Name STR AGL VIT INT LUCK Sum Notes Item
Lucky [Lucky devil] 100% 110% 100% 100% 150% +60% Male only
Not starting Hero
Gold beak
Ladylike [Princess] 100% 80% 95% 110% 140% +25% Female only
Not starting Hero
DQ3 SNES Book.png Lady Manual
DW3 crown.png Tiara
Happy [Happy camper] 90% 100% 90% 100% 130% +10% DQ3 SNES Book.png Lucky Book
Bunny tail
Weepy [Crybaby] 90% 90% 100% 110% 115% +5% DQ3 SNES Book.png Tragic Tale
Twisted [Contrarian] 70% 120% 70% 110% 130% +0% Not starting Hero
Naive [Lout] 100% 90% 90% 70% 110% -40%

Analysis

The sexy personality (or "Vamp" in the iOS version) is often regarded as the best due to its +70% composite attribute bonus. Many choose to use female characters over males, since this personality is exclusive to Females.

However, not all attributes are equal.


Base Damage = (Attack - Defense/2)*modifier Modifier = .39-.59

Agility = (Agility/2) is added to a character's defense. Additionally the game multiplies each character's and monster's agility by a random percentage (0-100%), then chooses the highest resulting AGL, executes this character's action, chooses the second best AGL, executes the action, and etc.

HP = Vitality * 2

MP = Intelligence * 2

Chance of Being Hit By Status Ailments = (384 - LUCK) * (32-160, depending on the specific status ailment) / 65536


The end results of this is are thus: Each point of Strength increases your Damage by ~0.5 points, each point of Agility adds ~0.5 to your defense and increases one's chance of going first by variable amounts (depending on the enemy's Agility relative to yours), each point of Luck increases your status resistance by ~0.05-0.24% (depending on which specific spell is being used against you), and each point in Vitality and Intelligence gives +2 extra points into HP and MP respectively.

Non-casters gain no benefit from Intelligence (and late game casters may have more than enough MP without boosts), while dedicated casters have minimal use for Strength, Agility's boost to defense does not apply against magic attacks, and the benefits of Luck are relatively minor. While the "Sexy/Vamp" has decent Intelligence, its Vitality pales in comparison to personalities such as the "Tough", "Solitary", and "Timid" personalities. In addition, its bonuses, while generally high across the board, are not as high in any attribute as the game's more "specialized" personalities.

For these reasons, you will want to be careful before assigning it to any particular classes. HP is arguably the game's most valuable attribute; and some classes are specialized enough to where they don't actually benefit from all of the bonuses of the "Sexy" personality.

Hero personality quiz

Starting personality graph

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. 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 attributes.

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

Summary
  • Choose a personality and find which primary attribute bonus needs to be boosted.
  • Boost primary attribute.
  • Spend remaining points on tertiary attributes (the ones that don't help the class much).

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):

  1. STR must be the attribute with the highest bonus from applying seeds. Make sure you do not add more than 6 points to STR.
  2. 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
Gourmet Unique
Silly Twisted
Worldly Diligent

DQ3 SNES Book.png 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