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"Our fealty is sworn to you, Arisen."


640px-Pawns

Pawns, sometimes referred to as Myrmidons,[1] are denizens of the Rift; lacking emotion and a true will of their own. Each are created by and follow an Arisen.

Overview[]

All pawns are created by an Arisen and serve their creator selflessly. The are marked by a glowing scar upon their hand that corresponds to the scar upon the Arisen's chest. Other than the scar, Pawns look physically human, the difference being that they neither age nor truly die; they lack any sort of real emotion and willpower.

The Arisen is introduced to pawns and their place in the world during the quests Upon a Pawn and Call of the Arisen. More of the nature of pawns is revealed during Selene's questline, at the end of the later quest Witch Hunt, where the Arisen learns of the 'Bestowal of Spirit'.

Finally, the future for the Arisen's own pawn is learned at the end of the final quest The Great Hereafter.

Main Pawn[]

"My kind grows better able to serve the more we learn."


Every Arisen has their own Pawn. This pawn has the closest relationship with the Arisen, and their name, appearance, behavior, vocation, gender, equipment and so on are all chosen by their master. In the tale told in Dragon's Dogma, the Arisen creates their pawn at the end of the quest Call of the Arisen at the Riftstone in The Encampment.

Much of what an Arisen can do, so can their pawn.  Just as with the Arisen, a Pawn's physical characteristics are a big factor on their performance in battle. Pawn also gain experience similarly to the Arisen, and can learn Skills and Augments and change Vocations.

For more information see :

Unlike the Arisen, they lack their own will and follow in the Arisen's footsteps, unable to have real adventures of their own. One's own pawn can be hired by others (if online) just as the Arisen can hire other player's pawns.

Hired Pawns[]

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A Pawn being selected in the Rift.

See also: Trading and Gifting

Hired Pawns are the pawns of other Arisen, that have been recruited to aid the Arisen's party.  Up to two pawns can be hired at a time for a maximum party size of four.

They can be found and summoned within the Rift (accessed via Riftstone) and can also be found throughout Gransys (see Wandering Pawns).  They are particularly common in Gran Soren and at The Encampment.

Before hiring a Pawn, it is possible to review their clothing, armor , stats, skills, inclinations, bestiary, quest and travel knowledge. Hired pawns do not gain Experience Points or Discipline Points while present in the party, instead they earn Rift Crystals on behalf of their own Arisen. It's not possible to hire pawns if the main pawn is lost.

Worn items and weapons equipped on hired pawns are considered given to that pawn, and may not be recovered.  This allows Trading and Gifting between Arisen. On release of a pawn a single gift may also be given; this is any inventory item, but not weapons, rings, or armor, and a few other excluded items.

On release of a hired pawn, ratings on appearance, battle, and helpfulness, and a comment can also be given as well as a gift. Pawns can be released either at the Rift, or when hiring in a 'fourth' pawn. With the exception of the gift, inventory items remain in the ownership of the original owner, and are returned to storage; in a similar fashion, a hired pawn comes only with its armor and equipment, but without any items such as curatives.

A pawn that dies in battle, to a fall, or to the Brine receives a 3* rating, and cannot be given a gift item.

Pawns can be added to a favorites list (up to 100 pawns).  Favorites appear more often in the world, and will appear preferentially when visiting the rift.

Most pawns will readily join the Arisen's party if asked, with some exceptions such as Barnaby, Johnathan, and Quince who will aid the Arisen in other ways. A few pawns who have lost their masters or have become corrupted may also be encountered, but cannot be hired.

Hiring Costs[]

See also: Rift Crystal

In general hiring a pawn that is a higher level than the Arisen (or substantially better equipped) will cost Rift Crystals.  Lower- and equal-level pawns are free.

Wandering Pawns[]

Main article: Wandering Pawns.

Wandering Pawns can be recruited by talking to them on the roads, paths, and streets of Gransys.  They are from the same group that pawns found in the Rift are from, and answer to an Arisen.

Offline Pawns[]

Offline Pawns

Actual offline pawns.

When offline, a static selection of Pawns replace other (online) Arisen's pawns - both the Rift as well as Wandering Pawns. They have a fixed range abilities, vocations, and equipment that depends on their level.

  • In almost all respects offline pawns behave and function like online pawns, including requiring Rift Crystals to hire.
  • Generally offline Pawns appearing in Gransys are between five levels above or below the Arisen's Level.
  • Pawns appear randomly, but are fixed in appearance and name. Searching repeatedly in the Rift for a specific set of skills and level will eventually bring back a previous pawn.
  • Offline pawns cannot accept gifts when released, nor can they be rated. They can be equipped with any giftable gear as usual but will not keep it the next time they are summoned back.

Corrupted and Possessed Pawns[]

See also: Corrupted Pawn, Possession

There are several ways in which a Pawn may involuntarily turn against the Arisen:

Those found in the Chamber of Lament are other Arisen's pawns, whilst those on Bitterblack Isle are anonymous and masterless.

Pawns with unique roles[]

A few pawns have taken on special roles.  These are often pawns that have lost their Arisen and continue to carry out their former master's wishes.

Such pawns include the vendors Akim, Delec, and Joye; the Rift Shop vendor Johnathan; and the keeper of the Pawn GuildBarnaby. Other pawns such as Rochelle and Faircrest have lost all purpose with their masters' absence. See also Pawns (NPC).

A few other Arisen and Pawns may be encountered along the way, for example The Fool with The Dragonforged and Selene with Sofiah.

Pawn Creation and Growth[]

"We had arrived at the Rift, and the time had come for Savan to create his own pawn..." Morganna.[2]

All Arisen must create their own pawn.  The Arisen Savan (from the prologue The End at the Beginning) created his pawn Salde under the guidance of Morganna, another pawn.

During the quest Call of the Arisen, an Arisen will be prompted to create their own pawn (via the Character Editor).  Here choices such as sex, age, height, weight, appearance, voice, and so on are made. Further, a series of questions are asked of the Arisen in an attempt to judge what character traits are favored. This assigns the Pawn's initial inclinations. Once their physical make up has been decided, a choice of vocations is given; exactly as with the Arisen, these are initially Fighter, Strider, or Mage.

"... Pawns exist in every world, and are created at the rift by an Arisen, or summoned from the world of another Arisen." Morganna.[2]

Customizing Appearance[]

Pawn Customisation

After the initial creation the Main Pawn can have their entire appearance altered (via the Character Editor option in the Main Menu) if an Art of Metamorphosis (single use) or Secret of Metamorphosis has been purchased. All characteristics can be changed, including age, name, and sex.

Additionally, the hairstyle, color, and voice of a Main Pawn (and the Arisen) can be changed at Devyn's Barber Shop in Gran Soren for a fee of Gold.

Vocations[]

The vocation of the main pawn is restricted to the Basic vocations and Advanced vocationsHybrid vocations can not  be used by player pawns, though some non-hireable pawns have become Magick Archers (see Corrupted Pawn).  

Levelling and Learning[]

Main articles: Experience Points and Discipline Points.

Main Pawns gain Experience Points and Discipline Points just as the Arisen. However, if the main pawn became forfeit and the Arisen kept earning XP during that time, the lower levelled pawn will upon rejoining the party, gain experience rapidly, and soon attain a similar level to the Arisen. Each pawn has their own separate pool of experience and discipline, and separate level and ranks in vocations.

Pawn Training, Learning, and Behaviour[]

KnowledgeStarPawn

Pawn learning is marked by Knowledge Stars. Pawns can gain knowledge for Quests, Enemies (Bestiary), and visiting different areas of Gransys (nut not Bitterblack Isle)

Additionally Pawn behaviour can be altered by Pawn Inclination and their manner as set in the Knowledge Chair.

Quest and Travel knowledge[]

As Pawns travel and complete quests with different Arisen, they gain knowledge of areas, quests, enemy weaknesses and locations of secret paths, which will all be taken back to the Arisen that created them. Secret paths and shortcuts forms part of a pawn's Quest Knowledge, whilst general travels adds to their Travel Knowledge.  Progress in each is measured in 'stars' from zero to three.

If the Arisen hires a Pawn that has already a vast knowledge of areas, creatures and quests, they will be able to aid them. For example, if a pawn has knowledge of a particular quest in which the Arisen is involved, they will show them the way and may even go off to find hidden levers to open a hidden path.

Bestiary knowledge[]

Main article: Bestiary.

Also measured in 'stars' is the pawn's Foe Knowledge in their Bestiary which shows a pawn's understanding of each hostile creature it has encountered and fought.  Higher Bestiary knowledge ensures that they take appropriate actions in battle, and hopefully avoid inappropriate ones.

Battle tactics and skill use[]

Skill icon types

Skill types :
[First row] Slashing , Bashing , Ranged , Magick (attack) , Magick (support)
[Second row] Mobility , Auxillary action (support) , Weapon enhancement , Status enhancement , Defensive

In general it seems that a pawn's choice of battle tactics depends primarily on the creature they are facing - with better Bestiary knowledge they will also choose advantageous special actions including the use of one of the Five Archmagicks the creature is weak too, as well as targeting weak spots and so on.

Actual skill use depends on the foe being fought - for example Strider they use Whistle Dart or Dazzle Blast against Bandits and will practically ignore other skills against these foes - this behaviour does not seem to be affected by Pawn Inclination.

When facing enemies with a known elemental weakness they may use skills with that component almost exclusively - this includes non-spell skills such as using Splinter Dart against foes weak to fire. Weapon Enchantment has also been shown to directly change pawn behaviour - for example versus Poisoned Undead a melee pawn usually climbs and attacks the head, but with a Holy enchantment on their weapon they will use Core Skills as attacks and climb less; and with a Fire enchantment they will use fast hitting multistrike skills.

Skills themselfs are categorized into sets (by display icon) such as "Defense", "Support spell", and maybe additionally colored according to Element etc. It is not known if these skill classes affect pawn behaviour as a whole, outside those effects that are already influenced by Bestiary, or possibly Inclination.

Curative and tool use[]

Main article: Pawn curative and tool use.

Pawns act with a degree of self-determination with the items in their own inventory. In general, pawns may use curatives to heal, regain stamina, and cure debilitations. They may also use certain items in combat, most commonly objects that can cause thrown damage. Under certain circumstances they may use more powerful items, such as periapts and special arrows.

Pawns may pick up, mine and gather items, and will fill Empty Flasks when the opportunity arises. They will not discard items, swap amongst themselves, or combine items to make new ones. Nor will they swap weapons or armor without the instruction of the Arisen, even if they carry better ones.

Inclinations[]

Main article: Pawn Inclination.

Pawn Inclinations modify how a Pawn will behave in a party, in combat, and when exploring.  Its primary effect is combat behavior. When the Main Pawn is first created, a series of questions are asked that will give a starting basis to their inclinations.

Inclinations change over time based mostly on the Arisen's behavior.  They can also be directly altered through the use of Inclination Elixirs and at the Knowledge Chair.

Inclinations are one of the most important factors in creating an effective pawn: not all inclinations work well with all vocations, and some inclinations are significantly less desirable than others. Two inclinations are shown in the "Status" section of the pause menu; a primary and secondary, and the tertiary inclination may be revealed in conversation at the Knowledge Chair.

For full details, see the main article; further advice is given at Pawn Inclination troubleshooting.

Speech and gestures[]

For "Pawn Chatter" on various topics see the individual articles, for example, see Goblin and The Catacombs. and so on. 

The Arisen's Main Pawn, and any Hired Pawns will speak whenever they feel they have something to say that might be of use to the party.

In battle much of what pawns say will relate to their personality.  Pawn personality as set in the Knowledge Chair affects victory celebration, responses to orders, response on being saved, or saving the Arisen, or being defeated.

Other elements of what pawns say in battle may be Inclination, or foe specific ; and with enough Bestiary knowledge, pawns will be able to call out suitable tactics for both offense and defense against foes.

With suitable Quest Knowledge pawns may be able to give helpful advice at different stages of a quest.  Their quest knowledge also affects the comments they make on quest completion.

Additionally pawns will make comments in response to the local and wide environment, calling out the directions paths lead, points of local interest, background lore, as well as commenting upon trees, chests, traps and so on.

Pawns will also beckon and gesticulate to the Arisen depending on the setting, such as idleness or victory in battle - their choice of action is thought to be conditioned by inclination.

'Death'[]

Main article: Unconscious.

If a pawn has fallen Unconscious, they can be aided by the Arisen within a certain amount of time, after which they are returned to the Rift.

Unhired Wandering Pawns cannot be revived, nor can pawns slain by Death, petrification, the Brine, the Magick Archer spell Great Sacrifice, or Ghosts that have drained all their health.

The main pawn can be resummoned by touching a Riftstone at no cost; however, lost hired pawns must be rehired within the Rift.

Resummoned main pawns keep all items in their inventory they had when they became forfeit.  All items a hired pawn was carrying in their inventory upon their death are sent to the Arisen's storage.

In general, pawns do not drop equipment on being slain and returned to the Rift, however, hostile Corrupted Pawns may. Both Wandering Pawns and Corrupted Pawns can be stolen from using Master Thief.

"The Arisen has the power to breathe life back into their pawns, simply by touching them." Morganna.[3]

Loot[]

In Dragon's Dogma only the corrupted pawns in the Chamber of Lament drop loot. The items are :

Vocation Common Rare
Fighter Coin Pouch (10%) Small Coin Pouch (25%) Harspud Milk (8%) Blank Scroll (5%) Foreign Knife (2%)
Strider Coin Pouch (3%) Small Coin Pouch (30%) Empty Flask (10%) Wool-Cloth (5%) Large Coin Pouch (1%) Balmy Perfume (1%)
Mage Small Coin Pouch (25%) Ancient Scroll (17%) Blank Scroll (5%) Coin Pouch (3%)
Warrior ? ?
Ranger Large Coin Pouch (50%) Giant Coin Pouch (50%)
Sorcerer Small Coin Pouch (20%) Poison Flask (12%) Shackle (8%) Foreign Knife (5%) Coin Pouch (4%) Large Coin Pouch (1%)


Wandering Pawns can be stolen from - for their loot see Master Thief.

In Dark Arisen the Corrupted Pawns of Bitterblack Isle also drop unique items.

Notes[]

Hiring[]

  • Pawns such as Quince,  Johnathan, Barnaby, Joye, Akim, and Delec are available on and offline, but are not hireable since they are intended to perform other roles.
  • Online Pawns have a logo showing two arrows pointing towards each other, indicating that Pawn as someone else's Main Pawn for hire; offline pawns do not have this logo.
  • In an interview with 4gamer.net, the director, Hideaki Itsuno, revealed that the list of 100 pawns that appear for hire when in the rift is sorted based on the most recent pawn upload. Thus he recommended that players sleep often at Inns since this will add their pawn to the top of the list at that time.[4]
  • Pawns that have been save edited to change to hybrid vocations are marked in the Rift as "Corrupted Pawn Data Omitted," and cannot be summoned.

Platform notes[]

  • Hired pawns are specific to the platform the game is being played on. ie Ps3 x256px, Ps4 x256px, 360 x256px, Xone x256px, Pc x256, Gog logo
    • Running the game in backwards compatibility mode ie Ps5 logo, Xbox series sx logo will allow hiring of pawns from the original respecitive Ps4 x256px, Xone x256px version.
    • There is no 'cross play'.
  • Pawns in the original Dragon's Dogma versions could be cross hired in the Dark Arisen update on the same platform.
    • In some cases pawns would appear naked in the original version - usually due to them being equipped with DLC armor which the player had not bought.
  • (Glitch) Xone x256px, Xbox series sx logo Player created pawns may not appear in the world or in the rift, even when online with the correct settings. When this occurs player created pawns can still be found in the rift by searching manually and summoning.
  • If another Arisen is on a specific (ie Ps3 x256px, Ps4 x256px, 360 x256px, Xone x256px, Pc x256, Gog logo ) "friend list", their friends' pawns will oft appear in their friend's world, and can be hired without cost. A "friend request" must be sent via the pawn to the other Arisen first; this friend list is a separate and different list from the platform-specific friend lists.

Other[]

  • Sorcerer pawns with large area of effect spells such as Bolide, Maelstrom, or Seism, might accidentally kill innocent Gransys residents, such as nuns in The Abbey (when they encounter the undead on the graveyard during night), or people in post-game Gran Soren (when fighting the guards).(verify)
  • (BUG) Xone x256px, Xbox series sx logo Even when online both Wandering Pawns and Pawns that appear in the Rift may be offline pawns. Only by manually searching in the Rift can online (user generated) pawns be found and hired.

Trivia[]

  • Pawns are collectively referred to as the "Pawn Legion", both by humans and by pawns themselves.
  • The Main Pawn returning with rent from the adventure in other player's game will briefly comment on the type of benefit it brought it, Eg Pawn who gained significant portion of knowledge will say " 'Twas quite a learning experience".
  • Just as the present Arisen was guided by Rook, so the Arisen Savan had help from pawn Morganna, who guided him to a Rift where he would create his own pawn:
"We had arrived at the rift, and the time had come for Savan to create his own pawn. [..] Pawns exist in every world, and are created at the rift by an Arisen, or summoned from the world of another Arisen." –Morganna[5]
  • The code name used for pawns during game development was CMC (for Custom Mercenary Character).
  • According to Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen credits Pawns are voiced by: Troy Baker, Keith Silverstein, Mary-Elizabeth McGlynn and Laura Bailey.

See also[]

Gallery[]

References[]

  1. "They're a strange lot. Not human, quite. They look the part sure enough,[...] Myrmidons, they're called."Chief Adaro
  2. 2.0 2.1 Dragon's Dogma Digital Comic, Chapter 2 "Barta Crags" (Capcom, via www.youtube.com)
  3. Dragon's Dogma Digital Comic, Chapter 3 "Estan Plains" (Capcom, Youtube)
  4. ポーンを使った遊びこそが「Dragon's Dogma」の原点であり一番表現したかったこと――ディレクター 伊津野英昭氏へのインタビューを掲載 4gamer.net , Interview with Hideaki Itsuno on Dragon's Dogma
  5. Dragon's Dogma Digital Comic, Chapter 2 "Barta Crags" (Capcom, Youtube)
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