Monster recruitment

Introduced in Dragon Quest V, the recruitment of bested beasts has appeared in some capacity in nearly every title in the series since 1992.

The cast of Dragon Quest VI along with several monstrous mates.

Dragon Quest V

Monster recruitment was simplistic in its original inception, being a fixed percentage that could not be changed by the player. If multiple recrutiable monsters appear in the same encounter, only the final felled foe will have a chance to join the Hero. In the DS and cell phone versions, monster allies will only alternate between two lines of dialogue during party chat, as opposed to the fuller conversations of human characters.

As of 2019, the cell phone ports saw the addition of the Monster Magnet accessory for the The Hero, which when equipped can increase the odds of a monster joining up by one rank. This is likely due to the release of Dragon Quest: Your Story, which would have attracted a new audience to the title and such players would have desired an easier time collecting monsters.

Sprite	Monster Name	SNES	PS2	DS & Phone	Tame Rate	Level required
	Archdemon	No	No	Yes	1⁄64	30
	Bad apple	No	Yes	Yes	1⁄4	7
	Barbatos	Yes	Yes	Yes	1⁄256	41
	Battle pip	No	Yes	Yes	1⁄16	7
	Beastmaster	No	Yes	Yes	1⁄4	30
	Blizzybody	No	Yes	Yes	1⁄64	26
	Bomboulder	Yes	Yes	Yes	1⁄256	30
	Brownie	Yes	Yes	Yes	1⁄4	7
	Chimaera	Yes	Yes	Yes	1⁄16	15
	Conkerer	No	No	Yes	1⁄32	27
	Conkjurer	No	No	Yes	1⁄32	27
	Conkuisitor	No	Yes	Yes	1⁄32	27
	Conkuistador	No	Yes	Yes	1⁄32	27
	Cross eye	Yes	Yes	Yes	1⁄32	9
	Cureslime	Yes	Yes	Yes	1⁄64	16
	Dracky	Yes	Yes	Yes	1⁄4	7
	Drag-goof	Yes	Yes	Yes	1⁄16	18
	Dwight	No	Yes	Yes	N/A	N/A
	Epipany	No	Yes	Yes	1⁄16	7
	Fandangow	Yes	Yes	Yes	1|32	9
	Fat rat	No	Yes	Yes	1⁄2	7
	Flamethrower	No	Yes	Yes	1⁄64	16
	Funghoul	No	Yes	Yes	1⁄16	7
	Ghost	No	Yes	Yes	1⁄2	7
	Gigantes	Yes	Yes	Yes	1⁄32	34
	Golem	Yes	Yes	Yes	1⁄4	25
	Goodybag	Yes	Yes	Yes	1⁄16	16
	Great dragon	Yes	Yes	Yes	1⁄64	35
	Grudgerigar	Yes	Yes	Yes	1⁄32	9
	Hades helm	No	Yes	Yes	1⁄64	29
	Hawk man	No	Yes	Yes	1⁄32	23
	Healslime	Yes	Yes	Yes	1⁄32	7
	Hellion	Yes	Yes	Yes	1⁄32	23
	Hoodlum	Yes	Yes	Yes	1⁄16	25
	Hulagan	No	Yes	Yes	1⁄16	9
	Hyperanemon	Yes	Yes	Yes	1⁄64	41
	Jailcat	No	No	Yes	1⁄16	7
	Killing machine	Yes	Yes	Yes	1⁄256	34
	King cureslime	Yes	Yes	Yes	1⁄64	28
	King slime	Yes	Yes	Yes	1⁄64	10
	Liquid metal slime	Yes	Yes	Yes	1⁄256	20
	Magic marionette	Yes	Yes	Yes	1⁄32	12
	Man o' war	Yes	Yes	Yes	1⁄2	18
	Mandrake marshal	Yes	Yes	Yes	1⁄32	32
	Metal slime	No	Yes	Yes	1⁄256	7
	Minidemon	Yes	Yes	Yes	1⁄32	20
	Moosifer	Yes	Yes	Yes	1⁄32	30
	Mudraker	No	Yes	Yes	1⁄4	11
	Old man of the sea	Yes	Yes	Yes	1⁄32	25
	Orc king	Yes	Yes	Yes	1⁄4	21
	Pip fighter	No	Yes	Yes	1⁄16	7
	Pocus poppet	No	Yes	Yes	1⁄16	10
	Powie yowie	Yes	Yes	Yes	1⁄32	7
	Prestidigitator	Yes	Yes	Yes	1⁄4	10
	Rebjørn	No	Yes	Yes	N/A	N/A
	Restless armour	No	Yes	Yes	1⁄64	10
	Revaulting horse	Yes	Yes	Yes	1⁄16	27
	Rockbomb	Yes	Yes	Yes	1⁄64	15
	Rotten apple	No	Yes	Yes	1⁄2	7
	Saber	Yes	Yes	Yes	N/A	N/A
	Samigina	Yes	Yes	Yes	1⁄32	20
	Slime	Yes	Yes	Yes	1⁄2	7
	Slime knight	Yes	Yes	Yes	1⁄4	7
	Small fry	Yes	Yes	Yes	1⁄16	7
	Snowbird	Yes	Yes	Yes	1⁄32	34
	Starkers	No	Yes	Yes	N/A	N/A
	Ticking timeburrm	Yes	Yes	Yes	1⁄32	7
	Walking corpse	Yes	Yes	Yes	1⁄32	7
	Warhog	Yes	Yes	Yes	1⁄32	28
	Wax murderer	No	Yes	Yes	1⁄16	7
	Wiz pip	No	Yes	Yes	1⁄16	7

Dragon Quest VI

In the original SNES version of VI monster recruitment worked identically to V, though someone in the party must be a Monster Master. When the DS version (and subsequent mobile ports) were produced, this mechanic was retired in favor of "Slime Buddies": slimes players could interact with in towns and dungeons like NPCs who would join the party once certain conditions were met. These slimes are not treated as full characters, however, and thus lack the detailed party chat of humans and Lizzie.

In both versions of the game, any recruited slime may enter into the gladiatorial contests at Slimopolis.

Available in the SNES version

Sprite	Monster Name	Tame Rate
	Battering ram	1⁄16
	Boss troll	1⁄16
	Dreamaera	1⁄32
	Feralball	1⁄8
	Gustbluster	1⁄64
	Healslime	1⁄16
	High djinks	1⁄256
	Lesser demon	1⁄4
	Liquid metal slime	1⁄256
	Lips	1⁄64
	Mud mannequin	1⁄64
	Overkilling machine	1⁄64
	Rockbomb	1⁄32
	Slime	1⁄2
File:Dq6slimeknightsnes.png	Slime knight	1⁄4
File:Supertensk.gif	Sluggernaut	1⁄4
	Walking corpse	1⁄32

Available in the DS & phone versions

Sprite	Monster Name	Location
File:Dq6slimeknightsnes.png	Goowain	Howcastle
	Healie	Clearvale
	Spot	Castle Graceskull
	Kingsley	Château de Sass
	Goober	Slimopolis
	Curie	Suite dreams
	Shelley	Underwater Inn
	Mercury	Suite dreams

Dragon Quest VII

VII is an interesting case; while several monsters can join the heroes, they will never participate in battle. Instead, they will sojourn off to a sort of "wild life reserve" called the Monster Meadows that is unlocked during the normal course of the game. Once there, they can be spoken to in their natural habitat as if they were NPCs, though only one line of dialogue will be spoken. The Animal Magnetism skill makes taming these beasts much easier than in previous games, being the first time a player has direct influence on the probability.

Additionally, defeated monsters will occasionally drop Hearts. These function similarly to the Draconic Diligence and Liquid Metal Mind scrolls from VI and allow the character holding them to take on monster-based vocations at Alltrades Abbey. The main difference is that a character's sprite/model will change into the corresponding monster once the vocation is mastered.

• In the 3DS remake, the character will immediately become a monster after using a heart.

Dragon Quest VIII

In the PS2 version of the game, players will notice several monsters wandering the overworld. These infamous beasties prove much more capable than their randomly encountered counterparts, but once the player pays a visit to Morrie's place they can join the party. This allows the monsters to enter the competition in Morrie's Monstrous Pit, and through the use of the Call team skill they may be summoned into battle for 3 or more turns. All recruited monsters grow more powerful as the Hero's level rises, and do not need to gain battle experience themselves.

• In the 3DS port, all monsters are visible in the overworld, with the infamous monsters being given distinctive icons.

Available in all versions

Archer, Archfiend, Arges, Big Al, Bishop, Bladewolf, Blizag Jr, Bones, Brickman, Brontes, Bush-W, Capers, Clio, Cowboy, Curer, Cybot, Deadnoble, Dolldrums, Doug, Dumbking, Fat cat, Faunus, Flameman, Fletch, Foul fowl, Frillsaur, Goldman, Gryphus, Hackzilla, Hazel, Healer, Hev, Hoodwink, Hori, Hork, Jack Frost, Jewelbag, Jockey, Klub kong, Lonely Joe, McHammer, Mechabubo, Metabble, Metaly, Moppet, Mornstar, Nightwing, Nohi, Octurion, Orcus, Orrid, Pa Troll, Potbelly, Roborg, Robster, Sagittari, Salsa, Scorpius, Seasaw, Sippy, Skeledoid, Slurpy, Smiles, Snap Case, Spike, Spot, Squiggles, Steropes, Stoneman, Sugi, Talos, Torchman, Tori, Trick Bag, Twiggy

Dragon Quest X

Certain monsters can be recruited by players beginning in version 2.4 Taming is done through a skill attack that creates a fixed 10% chance to capture the monster once it falls. The skill does not need to be the final blow of the battle; as long as it has been used over the course of the encounter the chance to recruit the beast is established. Monsters that have joined players are controlled through A.I. and essentially serve as party members for times when the player's fiends and comrades are offline.

Dragon Quest Monsters 1 & 2

While monsters retain a base chance to join the player upon defeat as in previous games, the chance can be greatly enhanced by using Monster munchies in battle.

Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker series

Recruitment is implemented via the Scout option in the battle menu. When selected, the player's team of monsters will perform a group assault on the target to impress the monster into joining. The percentile chance is displayed onscreen, and can easily reach 100% if the group's sum attack power is high enough. However, if the enemy is too durable then the assault can easily leave the player with a big fat 0%--it is imperative to apply Oomph and Sap to raise the chances even higher.

• In Joker 2, tossing a bundle of Beastie bites at the foe will raise the chance by a flat 10%.

Gallery

• 
  Level requirements and percentages in V

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