Dragon Warrior IV features a unique cast of sixteen characters, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. Here this section will show you information on all sixteen characters.
The Hero/The Heroine
The Hero is a powerful character who should always be a part of your party. On the other hand, beginners should form a party without the Hero so that the other characters, controlled by artificial intelligence (but can be manually controlled in remakes), can show effective strategies that can be applied to any role-playing video game.
The Hero has very well-rounded stat growth, but most of his/her stats begin to level off at around level 50. Keep the Hero in the front, dealing powerful damage with the best weapons you can afford. You should keep the Hero outfitted with the best weapons and equipment you can find, but once you get towards the end of the game you will receive very strong equipment that only the Hero can wear so you won't need to find equipment upgrades.
The drawback of the Hero is that he/she has no artificial intelligence, so not only you always have to spend time choosing which action he/she should perform, but also he/she will often end up attacking defeated enemies.
The Hero learns a wide variety of healing spells including Fullheal, but he learns these spells later than Kiryl and Meena, who are much better healers. Keep the Hero's healing spells for outside of battle once you gain those characters, so they two can conserve MP for tough battles. But unlike Kiryl and Meena, the Hero learns the best healing spell in the game: Omniheal. This spell costs a massive amount of MP, but fully heals everyone in the party. This will be very helpful for the final battle.
In terms of group damage, the Hero learns a variety of fire spells early on, but nothing hard-hitting. Towards the end of the game he or she will learn Zap and Kazap, some of the most powerful offensive spells in the game. Zap is only really helpful in situations where enemies have high defense ratings, but this does not happen so often that Zap does more damage than the Hero's normal attacks. Kazap, on the other hand, deals massive damage to all enemies, and with the spell only costing 15 MP, it's a spell worth learning.
The Hero's ultimate spells are Kazapple and Hocus Pocus (and Gigasword in the remakes). Kazapple draws 15 MP from every character to deal massive damage to a single enemy. Although this sounds like a sweet deal, it requires that every character has MP, which means Alena, Ragnar, and Torneko can not be in the battle. This makes Kazapple a double-edged sword. Sure, it does a lot of damage for only 15 MP per character, but if Ragnar or Alena were in the battle and the enemy was fully sapped and all melee-fighters had Oomph applied, you would do the same amount of damage anyway if everyone attacked on the same turn than if you wasted a turn to cast a single spell. In the remakes, however, Gigasword is just as powerful while only drawing MP from the Hero, making it a much more useful spell than Kazapple, which is situational and more of a novelty spell than a useful one. Speaking of novelty, Hocus Pocus is just that, as the spell is a gamble; the effect is random and you don't know what will happen. Try it during random encounters, but try to avoid using it otherwise.
The Fighters
Ragnar the Soldier
The main character in Chapter 1 is Ragnar McRyan (Ryan in the NES version), a royal soldier of Burland. To maintain peace in Burland, Ragnar trains each day with his sword. Although he is unable to use spells, he is an expert in weapons and armor. He's not agile and may be injured frequently in battle. It is a good idea to carry many Medical Herbs to recover his HP until he meets his companion Healie. He joins your party in Chapter 5 when you fight Marquis de Léon.
Alena the Tsarevna
One of the three main characters in Chapter 2, Tsarevna Alena is the tomboyish princess of Zamoksva. She specializes in combat, especially in martial arts. Unfortunately, she does not learn any magic, but Borya and Kiryl make up for this deficit. She joins your team in Chapter 5 once you have cured Kiryl of his illness.
Temporary Characters
- Hardie the Bodyguard
Hardie (Strom) is a temporary character in Chapter 3. He will agree to help Torneko's cause for a total of 5 days, but only if you pay him 400 gold.
- Oojam the Alchemist
Oojam (Orin) appears as a temporary character in Chapter 4. He is an alchemist who once worked alongside the father of Maya and Meena. He is willing to join your cause, to investigate the death of his old friend.
- Hoffman the Young Man
Hank Hoffman, Jr. (Hector) is the one who owns the wagon, a necessity if you are to have more than 4 characters in your party. Unfortunately, he does not trust others very easily. You can persuade him to help you once you have retrieved the Symbol of Faith.
- Sparkie the Baby Dragon
Sparkie (Doran) is a baby dragon, who can breathe fire on your opponents. He is given to you by Orifiela once you return her to Zenithia, and he will stay with you all the way to the final battle.
The Healers
Kiryl the Chancellor
Kiryl (Cristo) is the chancellor of Zamoksva Castle. When he hears of Alena's goal, in Chapter 2, he, along with Borya, agrees to join her. His service proves very useful, as he specializes in healing, something Alena cannot do on her own. In Chapter 5, he agrees to join your cause when you cure him of his illness. He is also the only character who learns the Multiheal spell.
Meena the Fortune Teller
Meena (Nara) is a fortune teller from the city of Laissez Fayre, who, along with her sister Maya, sets out on a quest to determine the cause of their father's death. She and her sister are the main characters of Chapter 4, and she and her sister are also the first characters to join your team in Chapter 5 when you arrive in Endor. In battle, Meena is a very good healer, and not a particularly bad attacker either.
Temporary Characters
- Healie the Kind Monster
Healie is a Healslime who desires to become a human. In Chapter 1, he agrees to join Ragnar, because he believes that Ragnar can help him achieve human status. We get to see that Healie succeeds in this endeavor in Chapter 5, when we see him in the Palais de Léon, in human form, not too far from Ragnar, who is in the process of battling the beast Marquis de Léon.
- Orifiela the Zenithian
Orifiela (Lucia) is a Zenithian who you find stuck at the top of Yggdrasil in Chapter 5. She has lost her wings and needs your help getting back to Zenithia. When you return her to Zenithia, she repays you by giving you Sparkie, the baby dragon.
The Wizards
Borya the Wizard
Borya (Brey) is Alena's tutor, although it seems that he hasn't been very successful, since Alena does not know any magic. When he learns of Alena's endeavor in Chapter 2, he agrees to assist her. He is a very gifted Wizard, and is a good counterbalance to Kiryl, who specializes in healing. In Chapter 5, he joins you to help you find the Feverfew seeds, which, when grown into the Feverfew root, is the only thing that can cure Kiryl of his illness.
Maya the Dancer
Maya (Mara) is a dancer from the town of Laissez Fayre. She sets off on a quest with her sister Meena, a fortune teller, to find out the reason their father, an alchemist, died. In battle, Maya is very good at casting offensive spells, arguably better than Borya, although she is not very strong in physical attack. In Chapter 5, she joins your cause when you find her, along with her sister, in Endor.
Mixed Classes
Torneko the Merchant
The main character of Chapter 3 is Torneko Taloon (Taloon), who dreams of becoming the world's top arms merchant. He lives in Lakanaba with his family and works every day at his boss's weapon shop. One day he is advised that in order to be the top arms merchant he must deal in much stronger weapons, so he resolves to set out on a journey. He joins your team in Chapter 5 once you have purified the fire in the Pharos Beacon.
Temporary Characters
- Laurel the Poet
Laurel (Laurent) is a temporary character in Chapter 3. Much like Hardie, he'll help Torneko out for 5 days, but only at the price of 600 gold.
- Tom the Jester
Tom Foolery (Panon) is a temporary character in Chapter 5. Found in Laissez Fayre as a replacement act for Maya, he'll help the party entertain the king of Canalot so they may get the Zenithian helm.
Character Class Triangle
The diagram summarizes the characters according to their attributes:
- Top: characters with no magic abilities;
- Bottom: characters with great magic abilities;
- Left: characters with healing spells (white);
- Right: characters with offensive spells (black).
The characters can also be classified by chapter. Names in italics refer to temporary characters.
| Classes | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fighters | Ragnar the Soldier | Alena the Tsarevna | Torneko the Merchant Hardie the Bodyguard |
Oojam the Alchemist | Hoffman the Young Man Alena the Tsarevna Ragnar the Soldier Sparkie the Baby Dragon |
| Healers | Healie the Kind Monster | Kiryl the Chancellor | - | Meena the Fortune Teller | Meena the Fortune Teller Kiryl the Chancellor Orifiela the Zenithian |
| Wizards | - | Borya the Wizard | - | Maya the Dancer | Maya the Dancer Borya the Wizard |
| Mixed Classes | - | - | Laurel the Poet | - | Solo the Hero/Sofia the Heroine Torneko the Merchant Tom the Jester |
Suggested parties
In the first four chapters parties are fixed.
In the fifth chapter there are twelve characters, but only four can take part to battles at the same time; the other characters earn only half the experience points from battles, and temporary characters don't earn any experience.
An example of physical-oriented party is the following:
- Solo/Sofia the Hero
- Ragnar the Soldier
- Alena the Tsarevna
- Kiryl the Chancellor
The only action that Ragnar and Alena can perform is "Attack", and they simply deal a good bit of damage to a single enemy at a time; equip them with special-effect weapons when you start feeling they are monotonous. The Hero and Kiryl can equip good weapons too, plus they can heal the party when needed. The Hero has no artificial intelligence, and will often end up attacking a defeated enemy.
An example of magic-oriented party is the following:
- Kiryl the Chancellor
- Borya the Wizard
- Maya the Dancer
- Torneko the Merchant or any temporary character (Hoffman, Tom, Orifiela, Sparkie)
Brey and Mara have a wide array of powerful attack and debuff spells with different effects. Kiryl can wear good armor and backup the party with healing magic. Torneko can perform many different actions, despite the fact he has no magic abilities. The temporary characters can all use one or two spells and/or special abilites, and since they stay with the party only for a short time (except Sparkie the Baby Dragon), it's worth seeing them in action.
Finally, a healing-oriented party is the following:
- Solo/Sofia the Hero
- Kiryl the Chancellor
- Meena the Fortune Teller
- Orifiela the Zenithian or a character holding a "Leaf of the World Tree"
All these characters have healing spells, and they all learn a Revive spell (at level 28, 21 and 20 respectively). This party is best to explore the effects of Meena's Silver Tarot Cards, because one of such cards has a chance of instantly defeating every member of your party. If either the Hero or Kiryl or Meena survives that card, he/she can resurrect the others and continue Meena's card drawing. In order to effectively see the Silver Tarot Cards effects, the tactic should be "try out", and Meena should not hold any item nor the Starry Bracelet. The ninth and last tarot card drawn instantly defeats every enemy, so even boss battles would last just nine turns (plus one or two to resurrect allies).