Shepherd

Vocation
Shepherd
Maribel as a Shepherd in DQVII 3DS.
Japanese name:	羊飼い (Shepherd)
Introduced in:	Dragon Quest VII
Appears in:	Dragon Quest VII Dragon Quest VII Reimagined

Shepherd (羊飼い, Shepherd) is a vocation featured in Dragon Quest VII.

Description

Shepherds are folk of the flock, and rely upon their cloven comrades to aid in battle. They make good early support characters with sleep-inducing skills and simple healing, but their real power lies in the lambpede skill.

Dragon Quest VII

Stat Changes

Statistics	Change
Battles to Master	135 (PS1)
	81 (3DS)
Strength	-15%
Agility	Null
Resilience	-20%
Wisdom	Null
Style	Null
Max HP	-20%
Max MP	-30%

PSX Abilities

While the American PSX release of the game used the old localization, the current names are also written for better navigation clarity.

Level	Title	Learns	Battles Needed	Target	Info	MP
1	Beginner		0
2	Novice	Squelch (Antidote)	8	One Ally	Cures one ally of poison	2
3	FarmHand	Heal (Heal)	17	One Ally	Heals ~30HP to one ally	2
4	SlopFeed	Nap (Slumber)	33	Field	Every step will restore 1 HP/MP to the caster. However, the caster will be asleep in the next battle.	0
5	Swain	Whistle (Whistle)	52	Field	Causes monsters to engage in battle. (Doesn't work in towns)	0
6	Fleecer		70
7	Herder	Woolly Blanket (WoolGuard)	90	All Allies	Reduces cold damage to all allies	0
8	SheepLord	Lambpede (Stampede)	135	All Enemies	Attacks random enemies four times	0

Hybrid Abilities

Hybrid	Learns	Target	Info	MP
Troubadour (Bard)	Counting Sheep (RamSong)	All Enemies	Has a chance of putting all enemies to sleep	0
Priest (Cleric)	Kabuff (Increase)	All Allies	Increases the defense of all allies	3
Dancer	Slumber Rumbaa (RamDance)		Does nothing	0
Martial Artist	Ram Raid (RamAttack)	Self/One Enemy	Reduces self and one enemy to 20% HP	0
Mage	Kasnooze (SleepAll)	One Group	Has a better chance of causing sleep in one group of enemies	5
Warrior	Sobering Slap (Mineuchi)	One Ally	Cures one ally of sleep and confusion	0

3DS Abilities

Level	Title	Learns	Battles Needed	Target	Info	MP
1	Lambateur	Slumber Rumbaa	1	One Group	A shimmy that summons a flock of sheep to send the enemy to sleep.	0
2	Tepid Shepherd	Squelch	5	One Ally	Cures a single ally of the effects of poison.	2
3	Sheep Keeper	Heal	6	One Ally	Restores at least 30 HP to a single ally.	2
4	Wool Packer		7
5	Handy Herder	Counting Sheep	8	All Enemies	A hypnotically repetitive song that sends the enemy to sleep.	0
		Whistle		Field	Summons monsters with a whistle.	0
6	Field Leader	Ram Raid	9	One Enemy	Summons a sheep that rams itself recklessly into a single enemy.	0
7	Mutton Master	Woolly Blanket	10	All Allies	Reduces damage from ice-based attacks.	2
8	Shear Genius	Lambpede	35	All Enemies	Summons a swarm of sheep to ride roughshod over the enemy.	2

File:DQVII Shepherd class.png

Usefulness

The Shepherd class's best skill is Whistle, which induces a battle any time the party is on the field. This is great for quickly leveling up vocation tiers and regular levels. The Wooly Blanket skill also protects the party from cold damage, good against monsters who use ice breath attacks like Gracos. Stampede works like Ruff's Howl attack and improves with the user's level.

In terms of career advancement, the Shepherd, when combined with a rank 8 Thief, becomes a Monster Master and learns all sorts of breath attacks. However, its main purpose is to tame monsters for Monster Meadows.