Pepper is a Mars Djinni found in Golden Sun: Dark Dawn.
Basic description[]
When Set, Pepper increases its Adept's base HP by 12 and base Attack by 3.
When Pepper is unleashed in battle, the user deals a Mars-based attack equal in power to the user's normal physical attack multiplies by 1.5. Then, there is a chance that the enemy will be afflicted with the Stun status condition.
In Dark Dawn, Pepper's unleash animation visually resembles the user summoning the 3D model of Pepper above him or herself while the background dims. Pepper floats around erratically for a moment, then floats into the target's position and disappears, and suddenly a fiery detonation ensues at the enemy's position. Then the enemy is briefly surrounded by electricity.
Damage calculation[]
Elemental physical attacks such as Pepper use the damage dealt by the attacker's standard physical attack as the base damage to be later modified. The total amount of damage dealt by a normal physical attack is half the difference between the attacker's Attack statistic and the target's Defense statistic, as this equation shows:
- base damage = (Attacker's Attack - Target's Defense) / 2
Pepper's attack then takes this base damage value and uses it in the following equation:
- final damage = (base damage * 1.5) * (1 + (Attacker's Mars Power - Target's Mars Resistance) / 400)
To word this in prose, Pepper takes the base damage of the user's normal physical attack, multiplies it by 1.5, and then this result is modified by how much higher or lower the user's Mars Power is than the target's Mars Resistance. The difference between the user's Mars Power and the target's Mars Resistance is divided by 400, then 1 is added to this, resulting in what can be called the "elemental damage multiplier". This number is what Pepper's damage is multiplied by.
For example, if an Adept with an Attack rating of 300 and a Mars Power of 150 unleashes Pepper on a monster with a defense of 120 and a Mars Resistance of 100:
- damage = ((Attack - Defense) / 2 * 1.5) * (1 + (Power - Resistance) / 400)
- damage = ((300 - 120) / 2 * 1.5) * (1 + (150 - 100) / 400)
- damage = (180 / 2 * 1.5) * (1 + 50 / 400
- damage = (90 * 1.5) * (1 + 0.125)
- damage = 135 * 1.125
- damage = 151
Therefore, if Pepper were to be unleashed under these circumstances it would deal approximately 151 points of damage.
Location[]
Golden Sun: Dark Dawn: Pepper is automatically acquired in a cutscene late in the game. In the palace in Yamata City, when you approach the sleeping Himi while the Third Eye item from Warrior's Hill is in your inventory, story-relevant cutscenes transpire that result in Himi permanently joining your party. She brings with her this Djinni along with five other Djinn - Geode, Clover, Magnet, Buckle, and Swift.
Analysis[]
General: Pepper has a niche among attacking Mars Djinn; it has the highest damage multiplier among Mars Djinn at present, x1.5, causing it to score a high amount of bonus damage if the Adept has a very high attack rating the turn it is unleashed. It is best on an Adept that is high in the Brute class series and has also received boosts to his or her Attack statistic either from Djinn like Forge or Psynergy like Impact. Its side effect is also good, being a chance to inflict the Stun condition that prevents the non-boss enemy from doing anything.
By game[]
Golden Sun: Dark Dawn: Pepper should be compared to the attacking Mars Djinni Chili; while they have entirely different types of damage bonuses, they are both attacking Mars Djinn that are given to the party automatically late in the game and have a chance to Stun the target. Chili is perhaps the best attacking Mars Djinni in the game because it has the highest-of-the-high set damage bonus of 80. Adding a straight 80 damage will very likely outpower the multiplicative bonus of Pepper unless you take the aforementioned steps to optimize the unleashing Adept's Attack statistic (the temporary boost is most easily achieved with the Weapon Grace Psynergy). That would make Pepper a good choice on a high-attack Adept while Chili would be good for a different Adept in the party. If the attack statistic of the unleashing Adept is extremely high, Pepper can be made to surpass even Chili in terms of total damage scored. (Although, a 50% damage increase can only go so far; the Venus Djinni Geode famously features a 90% damage increase.)
One other attacking Mars Djinni in particular also gives Pepper some competition: Wrath. It has a x1.4 damage multiplier, but its side effect is to inflict instant death on the enemy. The side effect should be considered superior to side effects like Stun, which may justify the damage bonus being lower (though if the attacking Mars Adept does not have a very high attack statistic, 40% is not much of a loss from 50%).