Spirit

The Spirit System is a game mechanic in Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance. It involves the creation and training of Spirit Dream Eater companions that act as party members to Sora and Riku.

Ability Link

The Meow Wow's Ability Link Screen in Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance.

The Ability Link (アビリティリンク, Abiriti Rinku) is a board where the player can acquire new Commands and Abilities. Each Spirit-type Dream Eater has a different Ability Link which includes different commands and abilities, which can be redeemed with Link Points (リンクポイント, Rinku Pointo) (LP) by the player. New commands must be installed from the Command Deck menu, while new abilities are automatically installed. Stat Abilities only stay active while the Spirit from which they were acquired remains in the party.

An Ability Link is composed of various icons connected by colored paths, each one being a bonus, with the needed LP to acquire them on their bottom right. The Keyhole icon shows where the Ability Link starts, which is initially connected to a single bonus. After purchasing a bonus, adjacent bonuses will break out of their crystal shields and a pink line will extend to the icon, indicating that it is now available for purchase as well. Some paths are unlocked only if the Spirit is in a certain Disposition, indicated by colored arrows. There are also door-like icons that block the path to other bonuses until a certain quota is met. These can require the player to have a certain amount of a certain item, level up the Spirit to at least a certain level, or even Link with the Spirit a certain number of times.

Link Points can only be acquired if the Spirit is currently in the party. In combat, each enemy defeated earns one Link Point. Certain Training Toys will reward additional Link Points, namely the Water Barrel and certain kinds of Treats.

Affinity

Affinity (相性, Aishō) represents Sora and Riku's bond with a Spirit. It determines how often a Spirit acts in battle and how quickly the Spirit's Link Gauge fills. The initial maximum Affinity level is determined at Spirit creation and can be increased to an absolute maximum of 9. Raising the maximum Affinity level is done through the accumulation of Affinity points, represented by a pink gauge.

Affinity Level	Affinity Points required for next level
2	100
3	200
4	400
5	800
6	1200
7	1600
8	2000
9	—

Affinity points can be earned by defeating enemies or petting the Spirit. Equipping the Affinity Gain ability will increase the number of Affinity points earned by defeating an enemy:

Levels of Affinity Gain equipped	Affinity Points per enemy
None	1
1	2
2	2
3	3

The Affinity of a Spirit can decrease over time. Each Spirit has a hidden value called the Affinity maintain value, which has an initial and maximum value equal to ([Maximum Affinity level] * 3) + 5. After every 60 seconds a Spirit spends in combat (+10 extra seconds for each level of Affinity Gain), its Affinity maintain value is examined. If the value is greater than 0, then it drops by 1. If the Affinity maintain value is 0, then there is a 50% chance that the Spirit's Affinity is lowered by one level.

If a Spirit's HP is reduced to 0, its Affinity maintain value will instantly drop to 0. The Affinity maintain value can only be recovered by petting the Spirit.

Petting

On the Spirit menu, players are able to interact with their Spirits. They can pet their Dream Eaters by touching the Nintendo 3DS's touchscreen, or the PlayStation touchpad in Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance HD. Petting Spirits in specific areas enough times can change their Disposition.

Disposition

The personality of a Dream Eater is determined by its Disposition (性格, Seikaku). Each Spirit has one of four dispositions, assigned semi-randomly during Spirit creation. Petting or poking the Spirit in certain areas, as well as having them eat certain types of treats, will cause it to switch to another disposition. Dispositions can only be changed once while in the Dream Eaters menu, and in order to change it again, one should go back to the main menu then back to the Dream Eaters menu.

The disposition controls which commands are available for Spirits to use on the battlefield and their relative frequency of use. In addition, a Spirit's disposition determines its eye color and shape and may unlock hidden paths on its Ability Link. While they do not have dispositions of their own, Nightmare Dream Eaters have access to the same attacks as a Spirit with a Type I (purple eyes) disposition, excluding abilities that grant positive status effects.

Stats

Table: Base max HP, Strength, Magic, and Defense; big ol' formula – also has maximum values

Table: Correction to base max HP, Strength, Magic, and Defense based on Forecast

Creating Spirits

Spirits are created through a special form of synthesis that uses Dream Pieces as synthesis materials. Each Spirit can be created through multiple different combinations of Dream Pieces, one of which is given by the corresponding Recipe. The Recipe is not required to create the Spirit. The base starting rank of the Spirit is determined by the specific combination of Dream Pieces used; the highest ranks are never given by the Recipe.

Certain combinations of Dream Pieces can create multiple different Spirit types. When selecting the Dream Pieces in the menu, the odds of creating each Spirit are shown. During a Risky Winds Forecast, the Spirit that usually has lower odds is 50% more likely to be created, and the ordinary spirit is 50% less likely to be created. The combination of Dream Pieces provided by a Spirit's Recipe always has a 100% of creating the intended Spirit.

The initial level and rank of a Spirit can be increased by using additional Dream Pieces in the creation process. The total number of materials used decides the bonus to the starting level, while the amount of each type of Dream Piece decides the bonus to the rank. The lesser of the two rank increases caused by specific Dream Pieces will be applied to the Spirit.

Total Dream Pieces Level 1–3 +1 4–6 +2 7–9 +3 10–12 +4 13–15 +5 16–18 +6 19–21 +7 22–24 +8 25–27 +9 28–30 +10 31–33 +11 34–36 +12 37–39 +13 40–42 +14 43–45 +15 46–48 +16 49–51 +17 52–54 +18 55–57 +19 58+ +20

Dream Pieces Required Dream Pieces Needed for Rank Boost Rank +1 Rank +2 Rank +3 Rank +4 1 — 2 3–4 5+ 2 3 4–5 6–9 10+ 3 5 6–8 9–14 15+ 4 6–7 8–11 12–19 20+ 5 8–9 10–14 15–24 25+ 6 9–11 12–17 18–29 30+ 7 11–13 14–20 21–34 35+ 8 12–15 16–23 24–39 40+ 9 14–17 18–26 27–44 45+ 10 15–19 20–29 30–49 50+ 11 17–21 22–32 33–54 55+ 12 18–23 24–35 36–59 60+ 16 24–31 32–47 48–79 80+

Table: Command bonuses

Table: Spirit's base level depends on the average level of Sora and Riku

Table: Initial disposition based on Forecast

Table: Likes and dislikes of sweets, based on rank and random chance (Royal Cake is special)

Notes: JP version has a 9 character limit for Spirit names, EN version has 11; names cannot be changed Maximum of 99 Spirits

See also

• Link System
• Party member#Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance