...Also referred to as Status Ailments. When afflicted with a Status Problem, a character may take damage every turn, suffer a reduction in performance, or be immobilized to some degree; Status Problems are not mutually exclusive, so a character may be afflicted with all of the ones on this list at one time (with a few exceptions; further details are in the individual explanations). Most, though not all, Status Ailments are lifted if the afflicted character dies (though, obviously, this only helps if the character is then revived). Damage taken from Status Ailments is never hindered by the character's defense values or armor, ignoring them completely.
- Attack Decrease: This lowers the strength of the afflicted character's Attack Power for a given number of turns. This should be taken as a reduction of the total power of the attack, not the base stat fueling it; so for example, if the character has an Attack Power of 3 and receives an Attack Decrease of -3, this doesn't mean that their Attack Power counts as 0 when being fed into an attack, but rather if said character uses an attack that deals x2 +2 damage, which would normally deal a total of 8 (3x2+2=8), then this total will be reduced to 5 (8-3). Stat Decreases cannot reduce the power of any attack to anything below 0; there is no such thing as negative damage. If a character already has an Attack Decrease and is inflicted with another Attack Decrease, the Decrease numbers are not added together, but rather the worse of the two overrides the other one (so a Decrease of -4 would override a Decrease of -2, resulting in a Decrease of -4, but not -6); the same is true for the number of turns that the Decrease will last, with the larger turn count overriding the smaller one, but not being added to it. If a character with an Attack Decrease instead receives an Attack Increase, the Decrease is removed but the Increase is not actually added; and vice versa, a Decrease cancels out an Increase but is not then actually applied (this happens regardless of what any of the actual Increase or Decrease numbers are, or the turn counts). An Attack Decrease wears off at the end of a battle, having no effect outside of battle.
- Magic Decrease: Like an Attack Decrease, but it lowers the power of magical attacks instead of physical attacks. Again, damage can't fall below zero. A Magic Decrease cancels out and is canceled out by a Magic Increase, but Increases or Decreases to any other stats can be going on at the same time, each with their own separate turn counts. A Magic Decrease also decreases the power of armed attacks executed with weapons that draw their strength from Magic Power instead of Attack Power.
- Defense Decrease: The afflicted character suffers a reduction to their Defense Power stat, with the number of points removed and the number of turns that the effect lasts being specified by the inflicting item or ability. Defense Power cannot fall below 0 from a Defense Decrease; there is no such thing as negative Defense Power, so a character who already has a Defense Power of 0 is basically unaffected by a Defense Decrease (though it still technically exists for the duration of its turn count). Like with offensive Stat Decreases, a Defense Decrease cancels out and is canceled out by a Defense Increase, regardless of specific numbers. If a character with a Defense Decrease is wearing armor, and if the Decrease value exceeds the character's Defense Power, the difference will be removed from the armor's defensive bonus, but the armor's HP will still be depleted by however much it would if there were no Defense Decrease involved; so for example, a character with 0 Defense Power wearing armor with a Defense of 3 who is inflicted with a Defense Decrease of -2 and hit by an attack with a power of 5 will take 5-(3-2=1), so 5-1=4 damage, but the armor will still lose 3 of its own HP as if it had protected the character from 3 damage points, even though it effectively only protected them from 1. If the same character had a Defense Power of 1, the damage would be one less at 3, but the armor would also take one less at 2, since one point of the Defense Decrease was "used up" actually decreasing the character's Defense Power, leaving only a decrease of -1 to the armor's Defense value. Like offensive Stat Decreases, a Defense Decrease wears off at the end of battle.
- Brain Decrease: A Stat Decrease affecting Brain Power, which means the afflicted character deals less damage with their psychic attacks and also takes more damage from the psychic attacks of enemies. As with other stats, total damage of the character's psychic attacks cannot fall below 0, and the functional defensive value of the character's Brain Power against opposing psychic attacks cannot fall below 0. Due to insane characters having a negative Brain Power stat, a Brain Decrease applied to an insane character will lower but effectively strengthen their Brain Power, and a Brain Increase will effectively reduce the stat but can't push it above 0. Offensive or defensive and sane or insane, values and turn counts combine concurrently, not consecutively, and the Ailment ends if the battle ends, and cancels out or is canceled out by a Brain Increase regardless of specific numbers.
- Poison: The afflicted loses 1 HP at the beginning of their Phase of every turn. Characters who have a +2 weakness to the Poison Element will lose 2 HP, and characters with a +5 weakness will lose 3; characters who are immune to the Poison Element are by default immune to the Poison Status Ailment. Poison does not wear off until cured, even returning in future battles, but is canceled out if an HP Trickle is applied; if an HP Trickle is already applied and a character should become Poisoned, the Trickle is canceled out, but the Poison is not inflicted. If a character who is already Poisoned receives additional Poison turns, the turns are added to their current total instead of merely overriding it.
- Burn: The afflicted loses 1 HP whenever they initiate an attack (even if the attack misses), use the Defend command, or try to Run Away (even if this fails). However, they will not be hurt multiple times for multiple-hit attacks, and if they use an item or Do Nothing, they will not be hurt, but a turn will still be removed from the Burn count at the end of their Phase. If a Burned character is also Fast or otherwise takes more than one action per turn, and those actions would activate Burn damage, the character is hurt for each one, but each one does not subtract another turn from the Burn count; only 1 turn is subtracted from it per, well, turn. Characters with a +2 weakness to the Fire Element will take 2 damage from a Burn, whilst characters with a +5 weakness will take 3 damage, and characters who are immune to Fire are automatically also immune to Burns. A Burn is canceled out where Freezing would normally be inflicted (the character is not Frozen in this case), but otherwise persists until cured, even in further battles, and unlike Poisoning can coexist with an HP Trickle. Burn turns compound like Poisoning turns.
- Seeded: Based on the Pokémon move Leech Seed, the afflicted character takes 1 damage per turn as with Poisoning, but the damage is Plant-type instead of Poison-type, so characters immune to the Plant Element are immune to the condition, and characters weak to the Plant Element take +1 or +2 damage. In addition to the afflicted character taking damage, the character who inflicted the condition is healed by the same amount of damage taken immediately after the damage is done (the damage occurs at the beginning of the afflicted's Phase, as with Poisoning); the inflicting character's own Elemental Modifiers have no effect on the amount of HP healed. Unlike Poisoning, the condition is not limited to a number of turns and will only be removed by an item or ability that cures Status Problems, but on the other hand it is removed at the end of the battle, and cannot exist outside of battle. Leech Seed is not canceled out by an HP Trickle, and does not cancel one out. Characters who are Made of Plant are automatically immune to Leech Seed even if they are Elementally weak to Plant-type attacks. If the character being healed by Leech Seed dies or leaves the battle, the healing is redirected to one of their teammates (determined by the Maestro); if a different character uses Leech Seed on an already Seeded character, the healing is redirected toward the most recent user of Leech Seed; and if a Seeded character uses Leech Seed on themselves, the condition is canceled out completely. (Using Leech Seed on oneself when not already Seeded does nothing.)
- Sleep: The afflicted is unable to attack or otherwise act during their turn. The Sleeping lasts for a number of turns specified by the cause, but whenever the character is damaged by an attack, there is a 50% chance that they will wake up, removing any and all remaining turns of the condition. This chance occurs separately for each hit of multiple-hit attacks, but does not apply to psychic attacks. The afflicted wakes up when the battle ends; outside of battle, characters may sleep for the night in order to heal themselves, but this is usually mechanically unrelated to Sleep as a Status Problem. Sleep turns compound like Poison and Burn turns, but while the Weather Condition Noise is under effect, the number of turns remaining falls by 2 per turn instead of 1. There may be a small number of specific attacks that can be used while Asleep, but these would usually be unusable when the character is not Asleep. Similarly, attacks like Dream Eater from Pokémon would only work on a Sleeping target. If the character had a weapon equipped when they fell Asleep, that weapon remains equipped and is still factored defensively into the Weapon Triangle.
- Paralysis: The character becomes physically paralyzed, preventing them from taking any actions except for psychic attacks. All psychic abilities still work normally, and an equipped weapon remains equipped. Paralysis ends after battle, and turns do not compound. Although Paralysis is often inflicted by Thunder Element attacks, characters who are immune to Thunder are not automatically immune to Paralysis.
- Freeze: The character is trapped in a solid block of ice and can't do anything until defrosted. Like other paralyzing Status Problems, it lasts for a specified turn count (turns do not compound), and if the Frozen character had a weapon equipped when Frozen, that weapon remains equipped and relevant to the Weapon Triangle. However, if a Frozen character receives a Burn, the Freezing is removed but the Burn is not actually inflicted, and vice versa, so these cancel each other out like Poisoning and HP Trickles do. Additionally, if a flying character is Frozen, the character falls to the ground for the duration of being Frozen, becoming vulnerable to earthquakes but no longer taking extra damage from Bows; this doesn't happen with Sleep, Paralysis, or Time Freezing. Under the Weather Condition Harsh Sunlight, 2 turns of Freezing are removed from its turn count each turn, halving the Freeze's duration like Noise does to Sleep. Lastly, characters immune to the Ice Element are immune to being Frozen.
- Time Freeze: The most completely paralyzing Status Problem, the afflicted cannot do anything until the condition wears off, and no Elemental immunity blocks it, nor do any Status Benefits cancel it out like Burns do for ice Freezing. Also, while a character is Time Frozen, all other Status Conditions affecting the character will stop counting down their turns until the Time Freeze condition ends. Since they are no longer counting down, the character will not be hurt by Poisoning or healed by Trickles while Time Frozen. Leech Seed, though not based on a turn count, will also stop damaging the character until the Time Freeze wears off, meaning the user of Leech Seed will not be healed either. Weapons remain equipped and defensively relevant through the Time Freeze.
- Dizzy: Whenever the afflicted attacks, there is a 50% chance that the attack will miss (if the attack is already less than fully accurate, flip another coin after the initial accuracy calculation). This applies to psychic attacks as well, considering the cranial nature of the affliction. If it is a multiple-hit attack, this is calculated separately for each hit, and if it is a multitarget attack, it is calculated separately for each target; if it is a fieldwide multitarget attack, then instead of any chance of missing, there is a 50% chance that the attack will be used on the attacker's own team instead of the opposing team (or, if any Partner or Other teams exist, possibly one of those; do the 50% chance first, then give each non-targeted team an equal chance of being hit). Dizziness lasts for a number of turns specified by the inflicting ability or item, and additional turns are added consecutively, compounding with one another. Dizziness wears off at the end of the battle, but Dizzying abilities can also be used in the field to reduce the target's Hand-Eye stat to 1 (and in this case would wear off when the character enters a battle); enemies may do this from a safe distance to prevent players from surpassing a field obstacle, but it would generally wear off after each attempt at the Hand-Eye task, and VP or MP costs still apply to using the Dizzifying attacks in the field, so the enemy could not continue indefinitely. Because of this field effect, any battle abilities that refer to the Hand-Eye stat will consider it to be 1 while a character is Dizzy in battle. PK Darkness blinds the character from inside their brain, but the effect of this is identical to Dizziness, and so it is just marked as Dizziness.
- Confusion: This condition does not use a turn count and always wears off at the end of battle. Every time that the afflicted is about to take an action, there is a 50% chance that the afflicted will "snap out of Confusion," curing the condition. However, this chance to be cured does not occur the first time that the character attempts to act after being afflicted, guaranteeing that the Confusion lasts at least one turn. Additionally, if the character is unable to take any action due to paralyzing Status Problems or the like, or if the character chooses to Do Nothing, then there will be no chance for the character to snap out of Confusion during that turn, and if this was the first turn of Confusion, then there will still be no chance to snap out next turn, carrying the "first turn of Confusion" status over. If a character is already inflicted with Confusion and is hit with another Confusion-inducing ability, then the "first turn" will be renewed and there will be no chance to snap out during their next action. Lastly, if a Confused character is also Dizzy, drunk, or high, then there will be no chance of snapping out of Confusion for the duration of those conditions, although the "first turn" status will not be carried through. While Confused, if a character attempts to take any action other than Doing Nothing, there is a 50% chance that the character will execute the action properly, and if tails, the character will take 1 damage (regardless of stats and ignoring armor). However, if the selected action was an attack or using an item, then, if calculated to self-damage, there will be a second 50% calculation, and if tails again, then instead of taking 1 damage, the Confused character will perform the selected attack or use the selected item on a target other than the one intended; if the attack or item is damaging or otherwise detrimental, then a teammate or Partner of the acting character will be targeted, but if it is healing or otherwise beneficial, then an enemy of the user will be targeted. Hurting oneself in confusion when attempting an attack that has a VP or MP cost does not use up that VP or MP, but using the attack on the wrong target does; the same goes for using an item.
- Disarm: Just like it sounds, when a character becomes Disarmed, they are temporarily incapable of using any melee or projectile weapons. The character can still cast magic spells using magic weapons, but cannot attack directly with them. While under this condition, none of the character's weapons will be considered to be equipped, unless they are using a magic weapon to cast spells. Disarming wears off at the end of battle, and turns do not compound.
- Psych Out: In this state, a character is incapable of using psychic attacks (as always, this includes "attacks" that are actually healing abilities or whatever), but is free to use other actions. It lasts a number of turns specified by the inflicting item or ability and ends if the battle ends; turns do not compound.
- Silence: Similar to being Psyched Out, a character in this state is incapable of using magical attacks, but can use other actions. It also wears off after battle and does not compound turns. The character is free to use melee attacks with magical weapons. Despite the name "Silence," the character can still speak and make other sounds.
- Embargo: The afflicted character is prevented from using items, giving items to others, receiving given items from others, and/or picking up discarded items until the Embargo ends. Weapons can still be used, given, received, or grabbed, and if the character was already wearing a suit of armor when the Embargo was applied, then that armor still works normally. However, the character can't put on a new suit of armor, can't load a new ammo pack into any projectile weapons, and can't unload a loaded ammo pack either. Other characters can still use items on the afflicted character (whether to help or harm), and the afflicted can still get into or out of vehicles, and operate them as normal. The Embargo lasts for a specified number of turns, which do not compound, and ends if the battle ends. It can be applied in the field to temporarily prevent usage of items including key items, but will wear off before long. If badges are a factor, ones that are already equipped will still have their effects, but badges can't be equipped or unequipped until the Embargo ends.
- Slow: The opposite of being Fast, a character who is afflicted with Slowness can only take an action every other turn, and, during the immobile turns, will count as already having acted as soon as their Phase of the turn begins. After Slowness is inflicted, the first of the afflicted's turns will be an immobile one, and the cycle will continue from there, so that even one turn of Slowness is detrimental, but an even number of turns will leave the afflicted mobile during the last of these. Turns do not compound, and the condition is lifted when the battle ends. If a character who is already Fast has Slowness applied, the Fast condition is removed but the Slowness is not actually applied, and vice versa; a character cannot be Slow and Fast at the same time.
- Drunk: Being drunk has the same effects as being Dizzy, but it does not wear off until the character sleeps for a night, after which they will be hung over. Furthermore, while drunk, all field stats except for Strength, Platform, and Weight are halved, rounding down (the minimum of 1 still applies, but Hand-Eye is not minimized to 1 as with field Dizziness, being only halved). Weight determines a character's alcohol tolerance, and therefore how easily they can get drunk; 9 - Weight (also with a minimum of 1) multiplied by the item's alcohol content is how much the consumer's blood alcohol level will increase. Drunkenness is attained when the character's blood alcohol level reaches 0.08; if it is lower, their performance is not hampered, and they will not be hung over the next morning, even though their blood alcohol will be reduced back to 0.00. If an item or ability that heals Status Problems is used on a drunken character, their blood alcohol level will be reduced to 0.07, so although the condition is lifted, they cannot drink any more alcohol without re-attaining it. Blood alcohol level does not decrease upon death, so a drunk character who dies will still be drunk upon revival, and if revived in mid-battle, such a character will attain a Sleep count of 5 turns (in the field, this will be reduced to brief role-playing-based drowsiness). Due to already being similar to Dizziness, drunk characters are immune to Dizziness as long as they remain drunk.
- Alcohol Poisoning: This occurs when a character's blood alcohol level reaches 0.20 or higher, and thus can only occur when a character is already drunk. In addition to the drunk effects, the character is now considered to be permanently Poisoned, so will take 1 damage per turn (2 or 3 if the character is +2 or +5 weak to the Poison Element, but characters immune to Poison are immune to alcohol poisoning) until sleeping for a night. If an item or ability that cures Status Problems is applied to a character with alcohol poisoning, their blood alcohol level will be reduced to 0.19, so the alcohol poisoning will be lifted but the character will remain drunk and in danger of reacquiring the poisoning. Being alcohol poisoned does not add any additional effects to the hangover the next morning, but as with drunkenness, the condition is not removed upon death and revival. For the duration of suffering from alcohol poisoning, a character is temporarily immune to regular Poisoning, similarly to drunkenness and Dizziness.
- High: Like being drunk, being high does not wear off until the end of the day; however, there is no equivalent to blood alcohol level, so items and abilities that cure Status Ailments will completely get rid of it, and it will be lifted with death. There is also no equivalent to the hangover. A character who is high will deal +2 damage with all psychic attacks, but will also take +2 damage from all psychic attacks. Furthermore, the field stats Knowledge, Clever, and Charisma will be at -2 (the minimum of 1 still applies).
- Feral: This is based on the Feral Ones from Fire Emblem 9 and 10, which are laguz who have been turned into mindless fighting machines, via a drug invented by Izuka. Unlike most Status Problems, a character who has been turned Feral will not return to normal after a certain turn count or a night of sleep, and the condition can't be cured by normal curing items or abilities: only miraculous curing powers, such as the Galdr of Rebirth or the Star Beam, can remove the Feral state. A Feral character's base Attack Power counts as +1, while their Brain Power is reduced to 0; unlike with a Stat Increase or Stat Decrease, the base value of the stat is affected, in other words the +1 occurs pre-multiplication. The Strength field stat also gets a +1, which can even allow it to exceed the maximum of 9, but Knowledge, Clever, and Charisma are all halved, rounding down (still with a minimum of 1). The Feral state affects laguz (and possibly other, similar shapeshifters) more intensely than other characters: firstly, they are locked into animal form, unable to revert to humanoid form under any circumstances; and secondly, instead of their Brain Power falling to zero, it is multiplied by -1, turning them insane. (An already insane laguz will simply retain insanity rather than becoming sane.) It should also be noted that the +1 to field Strength is to a laguz's humanoid form, it therefore doubling in animal form. Laguz or not, a Feral character loses mental faculties, likely becoming unable to speak (except where necessary to perform attacks), and is essentially only useful as a combatant or physical laborer; however, rather than being a bloodthirsty beast that attacks all in sight, the character follows the commands of whoever administered the Feralizing drug, completely obedient without question. A command to obey someone else as well, or instead, will be followed, and can therefore be used to transfer control. In a given game of Arpeggio, the obedience aspect can be excluded if an indiscriminate berserker state is more plot- or mechanically-appropriate, and similarly the condition can be made easier to cure, and therefore more usable as a general Status Problem than a major story element.
- Instant Death: Some attacks may attempt to kill the target in one hit, regardless of any offensive or defensive numbers. These are attacks such as Horn Drill from Pokémon and Lethality from Fire Emblem. The standard is for these attacks to have Arpeggio's typical "minimum" accuracy of 25% (meaning they require two consecutive coin flips to turn up heads, otherwise they will miss). If the attack hits, the target is reduced to 0 HP (any armor worn is completely unaffected). Since this is a powerful ability even with low accuracy, it should cost a lot of VP or MP, and some characters will be inherently immune to these attacks, notably most bosses. Instant Death counts as a Status Problem in reference to conditions like Neutralization and Safeguard, which block Status Problems, or the Defend command, which reduces their accuracy. When a character's blood alcohol level reaches 1.00 or higher, the character dies instantly even if Safeguarded or the like (and even if immune to Poison); if revived after this, the character's blood alcohol level will be set to 0.99.
Turns Added Consecutively (Compounding)
- Poison
- Burn
- Sleep
- Dizzy
Turns Added Concurrently (Not Compounding)
- Stat Decrease
- Paralysis
- Freeze
- Time Freeze
- Disarm
- Psych Out
- Silence
- Embargo
- Slow
Remains After Battle
- Poison
- Burn
- Drunk
- Alcohol Poisoning
- High
- Feral
Status Problems | Status Benefits