Status Buff: Difference between revisions

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The defining characteristic is that the buff must be temporary. Some must target a specific character for the effect, but more recently "auras", or area-effect constant buffs, have become popular. These apply to all allies inside a range of the caster, with a possible maximum number of total affected. This reduces micromanagement of buffing, but auras most often have a lesser effect than a straight buff spell.

These boosts can overlap with the concept of the [[Power Up]], in that both make your character stronger. Having said that, [[Power Up|Power Ups]] are more likely to be found in single-player games, and are always stumbled upon in the game-world instead of being bestowed upon you by a third party. Similarly, a [[Field Power Effect]] is usually due to external and non-human forces affecting the strength of a set of characters.

These boosts can overlap with the concept of the [[Power-Up]], in that both make your character stronger. Having said that, [[Power-Up|Power Ups]] are more likely to be found in single-player games, and are always stumbled upon in the game-world instead of being bestowed upon you by a third party. Similarly, a [[Field Power Effect]] is usually due to external and non-human forces affecting the strength of a set of characters.

For the narrative equivalent, please see [[Magic Enhancement]].

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* The ''[[Earthbound (Video Game)|Earthbound]]'' series has plenty. In this case, the [[Status Buff Dispel]] is a good thing, because if the enemy has the ability to cancel out your buffs and debuffs, that also means they have the ability to use very powerful PSI attacks. And wouldn't you rather keep them busy cancelling out buffs than attacking you?

** In ''[[Mother 3 (Video Game)|Mother 3]]'', buffing and debuffing are ''vital'' to winning boss fights; bosses have such high attack and defense stats that they have to be lowered to win unless you're highly overleveled.

* ''[[Seiken Densetsu]] 3'' has an entire ''character'' devoted to them: [[Spell My Name With an S|Rise/Lise]], at least her light classes. (Her dark classes devote themselves to [[Standard Status Effects]] instead). Lots of other characters can use some of the same spells, but with limits; Monk Kevin, for example, can give himself a strength buff, but ''only'' himself. Rise can give the entire party that same buff within ten seconds.

* ''[[Seiken Densetsu]] 3'' has an entire ''character'' devoted to them: [[Spell My Name With an "S"|Rise/Lise]], at least her light classes. (Her dark classes devote themselves to [[Standard Status Effects]] instead). Lots of other characters can use some of the same spells, but with limits; Monk Kevin, for example, can give himself a strength buff, but ''only'' himself. Rise can give the entire party that same buff within ten seconds.

* If a spell's name ends in "-kaja" in ''[[Shin Megami Tensei]]'', it's a status buff. Debuffs end in "-unda". Learn them ''very quickly'' or you're finished.

** Two exceptions are Dekaja and Dekunda. Dekaja is a [[Status Buff Dispel]], while Dekunda washes debuffs off your characters and is a LIFESAVER when you get hit with Debilitate (another exception, and one you will learn to DREAD).

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* The ''[[Dragon Quest]]'' series has grown to include an enormous variety of buffing magic spells and abilities, such as Bikill/Oomph (doubles one character's attack power for a while, but they can't get critical hits), Upper/Buff and Increase/Kabuff (raise one ally's defense, or the party's defense), SpeedUp/Acceleratle (boost the party's agility), Barrier/Insulatle (protect the party from fire and ice), and Bounce (create a barrier that reflects magic spells cast on the target). In earlier games, many monsters and some AI-controlled characters could spend a turn gathering their strength, in order to make their next attack stronger. Later on this ability was made available to your characters, as Psyche Up. ''Dragon Quest VIII'' made it even better by allowing you to Psyche Up multiple times to build up even more power, eventually giving you the appearance of having [[Dragonball|Super Saiyan]] hair, as can be largely expected because of the character designer being [[Akira Toriyama]].

** One of the more memorable buffs from the ''Dragon Quest'' series is the Be Dragon spell, or Puff as it is now known, which turned the spellcaster into a fire-breathing dragon for a few turns.

* ''[[Breath of Fire]]'' games have most of these, and the good thing is most of them are stackable. This is particularly helpful when doing a "[[Self Imposed Challenge|No Dragon Forms]]" run, especially in the third game, since [[Combat Medic|Ryu is the best healer and second-best buffer]].

* ''[[Breath of Fire]]'' games have most of these, and the good thing is most of them are stackable. This is particularly helpful when doing a "[[Self-Imposed Challenge|No Dragon Forms]]" run, especially in the third game, since [[Combat Medic|Ryu is the best healer and second-best buffer]].

* Although this is the specialty of ''[[Kingdom of Loathing]]'''s Accordion Thieves, every class gets at least two buff effects. They, like the [[Negative Staus Effects]], last for a certain number of turns, and are listed as effects under your character pane.

* ''[[Gaia Online|zOMG!]]'' has many rings that are buffs, including a passive, persistent buff in the Fitness ring. Some are single-target buffs (and some of these are ally-only or self-only), while some affect all players that were near the user when it was activated. Many buff rings also boost an additional stat or have a wider area of effect when used at higher [[Charged Attack|Rage Ranks]]. And then there are the buffs that target all players on the screen even at the lowest Rage Rank...

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* ''[[Skies of Arcadia (Video Game)|Skies of Arcadia]]'' has Increm, which is a flat 25% boost to offense and defense. It's the second Red Magic spell. Advice to new players: build the Red Magic stat, build it for everyone, build it fast.

** A second spell, Quicka, is the game's equivalent of Haste. Not always useful, except for one certain [[Boss Battle]], where it's a lifesaver.

* ''[[Xenosaga (Video Game)|Xenosaga]] Episode I'' has perhaps the most specific Status Buff in gaming history: MOMO Guard, which buffs Ziggy's attack and defense when [[Token Mini Moe|MOMO]] is in the active party, but in the back row.

* ''[[Xenosaga (Video Game)|Xenosaga]] Episode I'' has perhaps the most specific Status Buff in gaming history: MOMO Guard, which buffs Ziggy's attack and defense when [[Token Mini-Moe|MOMO]] is in the active party, but in the back row.

* Magic-specialist classes (Harvest Clerics and Macabre Dancers) in ''[[.hack GU]]'' can learn many kinds of status buff spells, such as Ap Do (25% speed boost), Ap Corv (strength boost) and so on.

* A few weapons in ''[[Team Fortress 2 (Video Game)|Team Fortress 2]]'' will provide buffs. The most obvious is the Soldier's Buff Banner, which when deployed will give everyone rallied around the Soldier mini-crits for a set amount of time. The Medic's Ubercharge and Klitzkreig also provide buffs, proving invulnerability and critical hits respectively. The Heavy's Killer Gloves of Boxing will give him 5 seconds of critical hits when he successfully kills someone. The Scout's energy drinks Bonk! and Crit-A-Cola boost his speed and attack, respectively. The Demoman's Chargin' Targe gives him mini-crits mid-charge and regular crits at the end of a charge. Also, after capturing the intelligence, the capturing team all gets a period of critical hits.