Part 125: Characters - Kain

Name: Kain Highwind (aka "Hooded Man")
Job: Dragoon -> ??? (As Hooded Man) -> Holy Dragoon

Description:

Kain served as a dragoon in the Baron army, following his father's footsteps. He is friends with Cecil, though he secretly resents him because Kain is actually in love with Cecil's girlfriend, Rosa. Kain and Cecil are sent by the King of Baron to Mist, where they accidentally blow up a town and murder a little girl's mother. In the ensuing earthquake, Kain is lost, only to reappear later in Fabul during a fierce attack. This time, Kain turns on Cecil, exposing his allegiance with Golbez and stealing both the Wind Crystal and Rosa.

After Tellah sacrifices himself to slightly inconvenience Golbez, Kain regains his senses and rejoins Cecil. This time, he waits until you go in and out of the annoying-as-hell Sealed Cave before deciding you guys haven't been kicked in the balls enough by stealing the crystal you just got and nullifying the entire point of that dungeon. He does rejoin yet again once everyone realizes that hey, maybe that Golbez guy ain't so bad, and then he abstains from betraying until they defeat Zeromus. Once everyone gets back home, Kain goes off by himself to train at Mt. Ordeals and become a hermit.

Then he decides after seventeen years or so that the mysterious figure that keeps talking to him wasn't a voice in his head, and so he decides he's finally ready to face his dark side and become a Paladin. Except it totally doesn't work out, and his dark side betrays him, escapes, and goes on a mission to be the biggest dick imaginable. So Kain decides to drape himself in robes and renounce spears and jumping until he beats the shit out of his dickhole side. And thus he runs into Ceodore, mentors him a bit, and they go on a majestic adventure through rehashes and bullshit dungeons.

Meanwhile, dickhole Kain goes on a magical adventure of betrayal, fucking over Porom, making a nonsensical deal with Mysterious Girl, then betraying Yang by stealing the Wind Crysal, then betraying Edward. He kidnaps Rosa again and goes off to kill Cecil to be a dick. But the other Kain catches up, and betrays his naughty self by beating the shit out of him before absorbing him. Thus by embracing his darkness did Kain become a Holy Dragoon, thus betraying the concept of being a fucking Paladin. So Kain goes into the throne room to beat the shit out of Evil Cecil, thus betraying the Mysterious Girl and pretty much everything everywhere.

Abilities:

Jump - Kain leaps up in the air, rendering him invulnerable for a brief moment, before landing on the enemy and delivering massive damage. Has a significant charge time. Deals additional damage if Kain has a spear equipped.

White Magic

Kain does not learn White Magic from levels. He gains select spells upon becoming a Holy Dragoon, and these are the only ones he gets.

Cure
Cura
Hold
Esuna
Teleport
Blink
Haste

Equipment: Swords, Spears, Daggers, Axes
Best Stats: Strength, Stamina

Tactics:

Important Note: Holy Dragoon Kain has different growths than Hooded Man Kain, the most significant of which is HD Kain having much higher MP gains. Thus for optimal growths, ensure Kain becomes a Holy Dragoon at the lowest possible level, L15. Unless you don't want to solo both tales as Ceodore, of course.

At any rate, Kain is pretty damn awesome. He has some solid stats, Jump does a great job both dealing big damage and bypassing a bad moon, and his meager White Magic selection is actually useful.

Kain is great at offense, as he has strong attacks and access to a variety of powerful swords, spears, and axes. Of course, Jump amplifies his damage output, especially with spears, but even his regular attacks will hurt hard. He can also take a hit well, and has great speed to ensure he keeps the damage flowing.

The most surprising thing about Kain is just how great he is as a utility player. Sure, he only knows seven spells, but it never hurts to have access to Esuna, and Teleport is always welcome for escaping rough battles or long dungeons. However, Kain has access to the two best buffs in the game, Haste and Blink. He can help set up your party along with a White Mage so that the entire party is Hasted and invulnerable to physical attacks before they tear any boss apart.

Really, what is there to say? Kain is a powerhouse that can actually do other things that help the party. He's probably one of the best characters in the game just because of that additional variety. You can't go wrong with Kain in your party.