Each playable character in the Dark Cloud series has statistics such as hit points (also known as health or HP) and defense (often shortened to 'def'). Dark Cloud also features a thirst meter. If a character loses all hit points and has no Resurrection Powder in an active item slot then he will perish and the game ends, forcing you to reload the last save. This can be circumvented entirely by using recovery items or switching to a different character before the previous one dies. Fruit of Eden is the sole power up item capable of permanently raising a character's HP.
The thirst meter is a mechanic to prevent a player from progressing through a dungeon for too long, represented by a series of water droplets that each diminish and disappear over time. When the meter is empty a character's HP will begin to decrease. Items like Regular Water will fill the meter up again, as will the Healing Spring if entered. The Gourd will raise a character's thirst meter by one. Thirst replaces the mechanic in Dark Chronicle, it is an abnormal status condition which prevent a character from healing. Several weapon abilities such as Drain, Heal, Quench, and Thirst also affect hit points and the thirst meter in either a positive or negative manner.
Lastly is defense, which is a simple stat that affects total damage taken by a character. The more defense someone has, the less damage he takes. Each character has his own defense-raising item and has no other ways of increasing the stat. Only the Ridepod can gain defense from body parts, and has a unique limiter in the form of its Cores, it is also the only case where defense-raising items (Shield Kits) can be bought. Monster transformation does not require items either, as monsters automatically gain more defense as they level up.
Dark Cloud[]
| Health | Defense | Thirst meter | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Character | Base | Max | Base | Max | Base | Max |
| Toan | 70 | 170 | 3 | 66 | 3 | 10 |
| Xiao | 60 | 140 | 1 | 64 | ||
| Goro | 100 | 170 | 12 | 68 | ||
| Ruby | 90 | 140 | 23 | 58 | ||
| Ungaga | 110 | 180 | 38 | 59 | ||
| Osmond | 100 | 160 | 46 | 60 | ||
There are not enough Fruit of Edens or Gourds to max out all characters' stats. Three Fruits and two Gourds are missing to full complete every character. Each defense item can raise a characters defense by five, six, or seven. In order to achieve the highest defense, reloading is required. Because of the random numbers, a character has no true maximum level of defense, but rather a simple limit after which no more items will be available.
Ranged characters have less health and defense than melee characters, except Ungaga who instead makes up for it with the highest health cap.
Dark Chronicle[]
| Health | Defense | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Character | Base | Max | Base | Max |
| Max | 32 | 256 | 4 | 112 |
| Monica | 48 | 8 | ||
| Ridepod | 80 | 300 | 6 | 114 |
It is impossible to max out both character's HP, as you will be two Fruits short. Thus either both will be at 248, or one at 256 and the other at 240.