Companions and Pets

Dragon Quest X offers a rich companion system, allowing players to adventure alongside several allies, from traditional party members to loyal monster pets. These companions can significantly enhance your gameplay, providing extra damage, healing, or utility in battles and exploration. Understanding how to acquire, train, and use them is crucial for success in Astoltia.

Recruiting Story Companions

Throughout your main story progression, you will encounter and recruit several key NPCs who join your party. These companions are integral to the narrative and offer unique abilities. Their levels and equipment often scale with your own, but you can influence their effectiveness through specific quests.

Early Game Allies: Your initial story companions will join you as you complete the prologue and your chosen race's early story arc (Elf, Ogre, Dwarf, Weddie, Pukuripo). These characters are fixed and cannot be customized beyond their natural progression.
Advanced Job Quests: Certain advanced job quests, detailed in the "Occupations/Jobs" section of this guide, may temporarily or permanently grant you access to powerful NPC allies. For instance, completing the quest to unlock the Paladin job might involve a temporary Paladin companion.
Key Emblem Quests: As you progress through the Minor and Major Key Emblem storylines (e.g., Green Key Emblem, Black Key Emblem, Purple Key Emblem), new story companions will often join your party for specific segments, offering their aid in challenging dungeons and boss encounters.

Taming Monster Pets

Beyond story characters, Dragon Quest X allows you to tame and recruit various monsters to fight alongside you. This system offers a deeper level of customization and strategic choice, as each monster type possesses unique skills and stat distributions. Taming a monster involves specific steps and items.

How to Tame a Monster

Unlock the Monster Tamer Class: First, you must unlock the Monster Tamer (魔物使い) job. This typically involves completing a specific quest. Look for the quest giver in the Monster Tamer's Guild, often found in a secluded area of a major city or a dedicated monster-taming hub. The quest usually requires you to defeat a certain number of specific monsters or retrieve a rare item.
Acquire Taming Items: To tame a monster, you'll need specific taming items relevant to the monster type. These are generally purchased from the Monster Tamer's Guild shop or dropped by certain monsters. For example:
- Monster Feed (モンスターのエサ): A basic item used for many common monsters.
- Specific Monster Treats (例: スライムゼリー for Slimes): Some monsters require specialized treats. Check the Monster Tamer's Guild vendor for a list of available items and their corresponding monsters.
Encounter and Tame:
- Equip the Monster Tamer job.
- Find the desired monster in the field.
- During combat, use the "Tame" (なつき) ability. This ability consumes a taming item from your inventory.
- The success rate of taming varies. Stronger or rarer monsters will have a lower success rate, often requiring multiple attempts and more taming items.
- Once successfully tamed, the monster will be added to your Monster Stable.

Managing Your Monster Stable

Your tamed monsters are housed in a Monster Stable. You can access this stable at designated locations in most major towns or via certain housing items. Here, you can:

Select Active Pets: Choose which monster you want to accompany you. You can typically have one monster pet active at a time.
Train and Level Up: Monsters gain experience alongside you in battle. They also have their own skill trees and can learn new abilities as they level up. Invest skill points wisely to tailor your pet to your playstyle.
Equip Monster Gear: Some monsters can equip specialized gear, such as collars, saddles, or unique accessories, which can be crafted, purchased, or found as drops. This gear enhances their stats and abilities.
Release Pets: If you no longer wish to keep a monster, you can release it from your stable. Be mindful that released monsters cannot be recovered.

Recommended Early Game Pets

For new players, certain monsters are easier to tame and offer excellent utility in the early stages of your adventure:

Slime (スライム): Easily tamed with Slime Jelly (スライムゼリー), Slimes are sturdy tanks with decent healing abilities, making them great for solo play. They can learn "Heal" and "Squelch."
Great Sabrecat (おおきづち): A strong physical attacker. Tamed with Monster Feed, they offer significant damage output and can learn abilities like "Claw Slash" and "Roar."
Dracky (ドラキー): A magical attacker and support unit. Tamed with Monster Feed, Drackies can cast basic offensive spells and even some minor healing, making them versatile. Look for them in areas like the Eltnan Region.

Experiment with different monster types to find the perfect companion to complement your playstyle and current job!