Specialist
Item Specialists are helpful spirits within an item. Every Specialist adds to the item's power. Specialists come in two forms: subdued and unsubdued. All specialists start out unsubdued and are displayed in silver dots or black text on the item screen. Specialists are subdued through the item world. Once a Specialist is subdued, it is displayed with blue dots and text, it doubles in power, and it may be transferred to another item.
Specialists may be combined. This takes two specialists of the same type and merges them into one Specialist with the power of both. If either of the old Specialists was unsubdued, the new Specialist will be unsubdued, and the power of the original subdued Specialist (if any) is halved before the combination.
Specialists are subdued by killing them when they appear in the item world. When a Specialist appears on a level of the item world, it will show 'CHECK' as the stage is loaded, and it will show in the 'Characters' list in blue text immediately after all enemy units and immediately before Geo Symbols.
Specialists will attack and be attacked by enemy units in the item world, so it is a good idea to kill them quickly. If enemy units kill the Specialist (or you end the stage before killing the Specialist, either by killing all enemy units or exiting to the next level), the Specialist will not be subdued. It can, however, reappear at a later level; it appears that there is a percentage chance of a specialist appearing on each level, as long as there is an unsubdued specialist in the item, so you do not have to kill every specialist on its first appearance.
Specialist Types
All Specialists can be increased to power 19998. The game will only allow 9999 as the power for a newly-combined Specialist; to get 19998, you have to combine a subdued and unsubdued Specialist to produce a 9999 unsubdued Specialist, then subdue it through the item world. Many Specialists have a maximum effective power; neither a single extra-powerful Specialist nor multiple Specialists of lesser power can give a single character any benefit beyond that level.
Stat Bonuses
Each of these Specialists increases one of the eight statistics of an item by the Specialist's power level:
| Specialist | Stat |
|---|---|
| Dietician | HP |
| Master | SP |
| Gladiator | ATK |
| Sentry | DEF |
| Teacher | INT |
| Coach | SPD |
| Marksman | HIT |
| Physician | RES |
There is no effective limit to these Specialists.
Resistance
Each of these Specialists increases the item wearer's resistance to a particular form of attack:
| Specialist | Resistance | Max Effective Level |
|---|---|---|
| Aeronaut | Wind | 140 |
| Cryophile | Ice | 140 |
| Firefighter | Fire | 140 |
| Pharmacist | Poison | |
| Coffee Maker | Sleep | |
| Medicine Man | Paralyze | |
| Psychologist | Forget | |
| Social Worker | Deprave |
The maximum resistance any character can have to Wind, Ice, or Fire is 90%, which means that the maximum effective power is 140 for Aeronaut, Cryophile, and Firefighter (due to characters with negative base resistance).
Increases
Each of these Specialists increases how much of a particular thing the item wearer gains, each unit of power is equivalent to a single percent increase in gain (e.g., a character with a power 1 Statistician will gain 101% of normal experience; a character with a power 300 Statistician will gain 400% of normal experience):
| Specialist | Increase | Max Effective Level |
|---|---|---|
| Broker | HL | 300 |
| Manager | Mana | 300 |
| Statistician | Experience | 300 |
| Armsmaster | Weapon Mastery | 2400 |
Effects
Each of these Specialists adds a chance of a status effect to attacks made by the holder of the item:
| Specialist | Status |
|---|---|
| Alchemist | Poison |
| Hypnotist | Sleep |
| Witch Doctor | Paralyze |
| Amnesiac | Forget |
| Gangster | Deprave |