#parameters

In RPG Maker MZ, a playable character's Parameters are set in the Classes tab. You decide what Class an actor is given in the Actor tab, but the Class determines stats, level-up skills, and more.

This doesn't mean all your sorcerers have to learn the same level-up spells if you have more than one. You can name two separate classes "Sorcerer" if you want - the name will display the same for both but you can determine which one is applied to the actor because the game actually draws upon the class's number to determine the actor's class.

You can even make a unique class for each character.

Parameters and Growth Rate

Up near the class's name is a section where you can determine how quickly the class grows in level. You can adjust the sliders to change different parts of how fast the class levels up, but I think it's easier to just look at the numbers. The To Next Level tab shows how much experience the character needs to go from the current level to the next (a level 1 character in this example needs 50 exp to reach level 2). The Total tab shows how much total exp the class needs at minimum to reach the specified level (0 exp for level 1 because the character starts there, 50 for level 2, etc.)

I'm honestly not going to play with a lot here at the moment but I'm including it for the sake of completeness. You can alter the sliders until you get a growth rate to your liking in order to have some classes grow more quickly or slowly than others. How fast any class should grow is something you'll likely determine through play testing. Lots and lots of play testing.

Parameter Curves are the class's stats as they level up and they can be adjusted in the next section of the Classes tab. They're represented by colorful graphs.

The eight Parameters that can be adjusted here are Max HP, Max MP, Attack, Defense, M. Attack, M. Defense, Agility, and Luck. However, you can change how those stat names appear to the player.

If, for example, I want to change M.Attack to Magic Force I can go to the Terms Tab. In this tab the user can change the way game terms are displayed to the player.

Remember, this will only change the term in how it appears to the player. In the game database you'll still be working with M.Attack when creating damage formulas and the like.

Whether you rename them for your project or not, half of these eight parameters are more-or-less what they say on the tin. Max HP is the maximum HP the class has at a given level without enhancements. Max MP is the same but for MP. Agility determines action order.

There's even a luck stat that changes the character's chance of being affected by a status ailment.

The other four, however, don't really mean anything on their own. Attack, Defense, M.Attack, and M.Defense are just numbers until you determine how they interact with each other through skills.

The damage formula is something the creator of the game has pretty much limitless control over. I'll explore it more when I focus on Skills, but in short there's nothing stopping you from creating a skill that pits the user's Attack against the target's Attack to determine damage. Heck, you can use Agility if you want to make something like Pokemon's Gyro Ball move.

So is 600 HP a lot or a little?

Well, if you use the default the game provides, it's about the Max HP a Hunter has at a mere level 7.

Of course, you have control over the bounds of these parameters and can adjust them to your individual project. You can pick from the Quick Settings (A being the highest and E being the lowest) if you want to have your stats at around the engine default for your game.

You can input your own values for the lowest and highest levels for complete control over the range of the class's parameters. The Growth Type generates the curve for the levels in between. Normal is a linear progression. Faster growth curves promote more stat growth toward the early and middle levels, tapering off toward the highest ones. Slower curves put the greater leaps from one level to another toward the end of the curve with more gradual gains in the middle.

In other words, you can have HP from 20 at level 1 to 600 at level 99 if you want to give the player smaller numbers to work with. It's all up to you - balanced over lots and lots of play testing.