Each character in your party roster is comprised of various stats, a job, a zodiac sign (constellations), and other info that is vital for team-building. We will go over each stat in greater detail from the character screen below:

Stats

HP – Hit Points, this value dictates how much “life” the character has. Reaching 0 will put them in KO status.

MP – Magick Points, consumed from casting magic-based abilities, such as Fire or Cure.

CT – Charge Turn, this gauge increases towards 100 after each unit’s turn. Consuming no actions and using only Wait will reduce it to 40. Consuming 1 action (either Move or Act) will reduce it to 20. A move and an Act will reduce it to 0.

Bravery – Influences the strength of bare-handed (no weapons) and Knight Swords as well as the overall chance for a Reaction ability to activate. A Bravery of 9 or less in battle will result in Chicken state.

Faith – Influences magic attack potency and healing potency, as well as damage received from magics. Susceptibility from status effects from magics is also increased/decreased depending on the value. A Faith of 95 or higher will result in the character leaving the party after the battle ends (does not apply to Ramza).

Zodiac Sign – The Zodiac Signs influence potential overall damage done and healing done based on the interaction of two or more characters in battle. For information and a chart visit, the zodiac compatibility chart.

Gender – Males inherently have 1 more PA (Physical Attack, the sword icon) higher compared to females making them typically better on physical builds, while females have 1 more MA (Magick Attack, the staff icon) making them slightly better for magic builds but the difference is 1% overall. Useful for min-maxing.

Move – How many tiles the unit can move in any direction, not factoring verticality. 

Jump – How many tiles the unit can move up or down based on verticality. This is factored into the Height stat, displayed by “H” in battles.

Speed – Affects how fast a character has to wait in order to get their next Active Turn (or AT). Speed does not affect “Spell Speed” which is used specifically for abilities that have a “cast” time associated with them.

Weapon Power (Right or Left hand) – The attack power associated with the equipped weapon or bare-handed. The percentage value denoted on the right side indicates your parry chance if you have the reaction ability Parry equipped.  

PA (Physical Attack) – This affects the values of attacks and abilities that scale with physical power.

MA (Magick Attack) – This affects the values of attacks and abilities that scale with magic power.

C-EV (Class Evasion), S-EV (Shield Evasion), A-EV (Accessory Evasion) – These stats influence the chance to evade physical or magick attacks (row is based on where the Sword and Staff icon are) based on the current Job, equipped shield, or accessory (like cloaks).

Abilities

Each character can equip 2 action abilities, 1 reaction ability, 1 support ability, and 1 movement ability. We will go into greater detail below. Keep in mind some classes, like Onion Knight, cannot have any abilities equipped:

Action Abilities (Up to two slots) – These abilities are also known as job abilities, allowing you to have 1 slot set as the current job role, and another slot for whichever job you have unlocked. Your main job may have an effect on your secondary action ability in terms of stat differences and effectiveness.

Reaction Ability (one slot) – Reaction abilities are also known as triggered abilities, may activate under certain conditions, like taking physical damage or being at HP critical status. Reaction abilities chance to activate (not all have a chance, but rather just a condition) are also based on how much Bravery that character has. 

Support Ability (one slot) –  Abilities that grant a bonus or increases the effectiveness of the character in a certain way. These abilities are very important and tend to help structure-specific builds, like using Equip Swords on a non-swords capable job.

Movement Ability (one slot) – These abilities help with maneuvering around the map, such as increased distance per move through Move +3, or ignoring the effects of water terrain through Waterwalking.