Characters

Anything on this page is subject to change throughout the development progress of the game. We will thoroughly test and validate any feature before it goes live.

Characters in Broken Aether form the emotional and narrative backbone of the game. The cast consists of multiple playable heroes, each with distinct backgrounds, motivations, and story arcs that tie directly into major world events rather than existing as standalone archetypes. The roster grows as the narrative progresses, with characters joining the party through key story moments rather than random discovery or grind-based recruitment.

Design Principles

• Characters represent different political factions, cultures, and personal histories, reflecting the world’s themes of war, legacy, and conflicting ideologies.

• Personal motivations drive narrative arcs, avoiding generic “class-based” identities; roles emerge from character context rather than defining it.

• New characters often introduce new mechanics - such as mech pilots expanding combat systems - aligning narrative growth with gameplay progression.

Gameplay Role

• Characters unlock through story progression and maintaining pacing.

• Growth focuses on skills, passive upgrades, and role adaptation rather than traditional stat grinding.

• Unique abilities and party combinations shape strategic options in combat, encouraging experimentation.

Attributes

Health Points (HP), a party member’s vitality. When it reaches 0 in battle, the character becomes unconscious.

Tactical Points (TP), the resource you spend for executing active skills in battle.

Attack (Atk), affects the power / damage of the party member’s physical attacks in battle.

Magic (Mag), affects the power / damage of the party member’s magical attacks in battle.

Defense (Def), affects the power of reducing incoming physical damage for that party member in battle.

Mind (Mnd), affects the power of reducing incoming magical damage for that party member in battle and the strength of the party member's healing magic.

Agility (Agi), affects the party member’s acting frequency during battle.

Critical Hit % (Crit%), affects the chance to land a critical hit during a party member’s attack in battle.

Resistances

Each resistance affects the incoming damage the party member receives from attacks of that element. Positive values decrease the incoming damage, negative values increase it.

Fire Water Earth Wind Darkness Light

Other

SP: Skill Points available for this party member GS: Grimoire Shards available for this party member ⠀ The total amount of acquired Grimoire Shards are displayed under the Stats section of the main menu. This is equal to the total level of your party member’s total level, considering you made use of all GS for each one.

General Tips

Plan your setups

Combat in Broken Aether, especially in the late-game, is all about setups. Your characters will unlock plenty of buffs and debuffs and it is key to lay those down to empower your team while simultaneously crippling the enemy.

For instance, Sienna alone has four very important buffs she should have active nearly all the time, while Glenn should always make sure the enemy has Break debuffs on.

Fleeing is okay

If you realize you're about to get stomped, flee the battle. Fleeing is instant and has no drawbacks nor penalties, except for losing stolen items and possible drops from downed enemies. No shame in that!

Crystal System Overview

The Crystal system allows players to customize characters by socketing ability- and stat-modifying crystals into equipment. Crystals can reinforce character strengths (e.g., increased critical damage for offensive builds) or provide utility effects such as status infliction on multi-hit attacks.

Crystals are obtained as drops from enemies and can be combined to create stronger or more specialized effects. The combining process is influenced by category compatibility and randomization, making high-tier crystals a long-term progression feature.

Agility is important

Agility (AGI) influences turn order and overall battle pacing. Characters with higher Agility act more frequently in combat, allowing them to perform additional actions, react to enemy patterns earlier, and maintain momentum during encounters. Because turn economy is a core component of the combat system, Agility is an impactful attribute across both offensive and defensive strategies.

Increasing Agility through skills, equipment, or crystal upgrades allows certain characters to take on speed-focused roles, enabling frequent skill rotations, faster application of buffs/debuffs, and quicker response to enemy attacks. Players can also apply Agility-reducing effects to enemies to slow their turn frequency, creating additional openings for the party.

Teambuilding Tips

Building an effective party in Broken Aether revolves around flexible roles and strategic swapping. Each party consists of three active members and three linked reserve members, and each reserve character can only swap with their designated partner. Swapping is intended to be a core part of combat flow rather than a backup option.

A stable team benefits from a mix of roles - for example, a durable frontline unit, one or more damage-focused characters, and at least one support role that can sustain the team through buffs, healing, or debuffs. This ensures coverage across different encounter types without relying on a single carry character.