Mantra (Advancement System)

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The Mantra Advancement System is a progression system in the Digital Devil Saga series by which a character can learn skills.

Overview

Mantras are a type of equipment. Mantras provide no effects to the character; instead, they contain a set of skills unique to that Mantra. An equipped Mantra gains Atma Points after battle, and once it gains enough points, it is mastered, allowing its user to freely set the Mantra's skills. A Mantra is functionally useless after the character masters it, and they cannot equip a Mantra they have already mastered.

Atma Points (AP) are a statistic that behaves similarly to experience, in that enemies give an amount of AP when killed and stronger enemies tend to give more AP. However, if an enemy is devoured by a Hunt skill, all of its AP, plus an additional amount, goes to the killer. Acquisition of AP is prevented should the character be afflicted with Ache. An individual Mantra also has a difficulty rating, representing how much AP is required to master it.

Mantras are purchased and equipped at any Terminal from the Mantra Grid. Mantras must be purchased and mastered per character; they cannot be shared between characters and most progress through the Mantra Grid is done individually. Additionally, some Mantras are locked by other means, such as mastering a certain number of other Mantra or obtaining a key item from an optional boss.

Mechanics by Game

Digital Devil Saga: Avatar Tuner

The Mantra Grid is a tree-like structure, where characters start from the left, progressing towards the right, and Mantras are connected according to the types of skills they give. Outside of key items unlocking Mantras for all characters, there is no connection between characters' Mantra Grids.

If a character masters all Mantras, the Dissemination Machine displays a message.

Digital Devil Saga: Avatar Tuner 2

The Mantra Grid is a board, with each Mantra being one hexagonal tile in the grid. Characters start near the center of the grid, progressing towards the perimeter, and can equip any Mantra that is adjacent to one they have already mastered. The Mantra Grid is initally mostly hidden and must be revealed by mastering any of the Mantra in its perimeter until it is fully revealed. The Mantra Grid also contains two special types of tiles which must be unlocked by mastering each of the Mantra adjacent to it at least once between all characters: black tiles are Esoteric Mantra, which otherwise behave like normal Mantra, while the green tiles increase one statistic for the whole party.

When carrying over data from Digital Devil Saga: Avatar Tuner, characters will start with additional stats depending on how many Mantras they had mastered, up to 5 in each stat.

Nomenclature

Names in Other Languages

Language	Name	Meaning
Japanese	マントラ Mantora	Mantra

Gallery

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  The Mantra Tree System in Digital Devil Saga: Avatar Tuner