On Wagons and Caravan Members

Learn how wagons and caravan members work in Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince. Understand weight limits, member roles, and combat order for optimal team building.

A wagon in Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince consists of a guard monster, the wagon itself, and up to four caravan members. Each wagon has a weight limit (おもさ) that monsters and members consume. For example, early members like Slaron (1 weight), Alex (4 weight), Dekson (3 weight), and Randall (1 weight) total 9 weight. New members like Ripple (1 weight) can often join without exceeding limits, but heavier members like Alisa (2 weight) may require removing existing members. Monsters also contribute to weight, so powerful monsters might necessitate fewer human members.

Caravan members perform various roles, including map viewing, healing, and attacking in battle. Their actions are determined by their position in the caravan order. In a caravan order like Guard Monster, Wagon, Alex, Ripple, Dekson, Randall:

1. On the first turn, Alex attacks.
2. On the second turn, Ripple uses a special action (e.g., a dance to inflict status effects).
3. On the third turn, Dekson heals the guard monster if it's damaged.
4. On the fourth turn, Randall, having no combat purpose, does nothing.
5. On the fifth turn, members rest, and only the guard monster acts.

If a member in the order has no action or is absent, their turn is skipped, and the next member does not act in their place. The order then repeats.

With multiple caravans, the acting order is determined by the speed of the guard monsters. The wagon with the fastest guard monster acts first, followed by its members, then the wagon with the second fastest monster, and so on. This order can change each round based on current speeds.

The effectiveness of member actions scales with the number of members in the same role within a wagon. For example:

• One warrior: Axe Strike (オノだげき)
• Two warriors: Heavy Axe Hit (オノもうだ)
• Three warriors: Axe Combo (オノむそう)

Veteran characters count as two of a role, and Master characters count as three. For instance, a veteran warrior with another warrior performs an Axe Combo. A Master warrior performs an Axe Combo alone. If four members share the same role, they execute a combination technique. It's currently unclear if this requires exactly four or if roles summing to four or more (e.g., a Master and a normal warrior) suffice. When multiple members participate in a combined attack, it occurs on the turn of the first member in the caravan order, and all participating members skip their individual turns until the next cycle.