Item Caddy

Sometimes, characters don't have the physical strength of the Lightning Bruiser, nor the toughness of the Mighty Glacier or even the magic abilities of the Squishy Wizard and White Mage. Maybe they have the speed of the Fragile Speedster, but sometimes not even that. Oh, what is a Tagalong Kid to do in order to be actually helpful then?

Well, if that is your problem, why not become an Item Caddy? This character role specializes in using and obtaining items and money more efficiently than most. How do they do that, you may ask? Well, they quite often have at least one of these four abilities:

• Item Splitting: When this type of Item Caddy uses an item, it affects several targets instead of just one, even though only a single item is used.
• Free Item: When this certain Item Caddy uses an item, he doesn't consume it. This essentially makes said item inexhaustible.
• Exclusive Items: Certain items can only be used by the Item Caddy. Nobody else can use those items.
• Drop Rate Up: Some Item Caddies get passive abilities that up the amount of money earned, rate of items gained, etc.

Item Caddies sometimes get a stealing ability, just in case they run out of items.

See also Spoony Bard, which this character sometimes mixes with.

Examples of Item Caddy include:

• Myau from Phantasy Star.
• Jeff (a quasi-Mad Scientist) from EarthBound. In fact, he's the only one who could use the shatteringly powerful Bottle Rocket items, as well as use (and make) other useful things like the Defense Shower or Shield Killer.
  • Likewise, Lloyd/Loid/Roid from Mother. He and Jeff both use special attack items in exchange for not having any PSI abilities like the other party members.
• Boney from Mother 3.
• Itty Bitty the shopkeeper from Kid Radd. He was a shopkeeper in his original game, and thus has access to Hammerspace (where else is he going to keep all of those potions?) and an infinite supply of every item he sold (which include an airship).
• The Final Fantasy series do this a lot.
  • Another variant of item-depending class is the ability to throw weapons or money at the enemy. The former is usually given to Ninjas, the latter varies more (the Tactics Advance series gave it to the Juggler, Final Fantasy V gave it to the Samurai class, because... Samurai are aristocrats? Or something?).
• Scholars from Final Fantasy III are a mix of these and spellcasters.
  • Edward in Final Fantasy IV has a bit of this with Salve, an ability that splits a potion among the party. In the DS remake, it was upgraded, allowing him to use the same type of item on everyone in the party.
  • The Chemist class from Final Fantasy V.
  • In Final Fantasy VIII you had to equip an ability to use Items.
  • Rikku in Final Fantasy X and the Alchemist job in Final Fantasy X-2., a combination of exclusive and stealing. One weapon skill doubles item effects.
  • In Final Fantasy Tactics, you have to learn a separate Chemist ability for each type of item and equip the Item command. Of course, considering the strength of items in the game...
  • All characters innately possess the Item command in Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, but it has to be equipped in the secondary class slot to be used.
  • Alchemists and Rangers in Final Fantasy Tactics A2. Both have other abilities but can learn a passive skill to double the effects of items. Alchemists also get the Item Command for free, while Rangers enter Game Breaker territory with Mirror Item, which reverses an item effect on an enemy (those potions that heal 200 hp? Now a nearly unmissable 400 damage attack).
• The Thief class in the Disgaea series isn't particularly good in any regard other then speed, but nonetheless ends up on the main team of most players, due to being much better at stealing then any other class. They can also receive better items from treasure chests starting from Disgaea 3: Absence of Justice.
  • Also in Disgaea 3: Absence of Justice is the Gunslinger class, whose abilities revolve almost entirely around granting you more rewards, either through larger bonus gauge increases, more money from defeated enemies, and a chance to create a treasure chest when defeating enemies. Her Distaff Counterpart has abilities that are geared towards improving damage, but statistically, the two are virtually identical.
  • In Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories, archers had the unique ability that enemies they killed had a 30% chance of turning into treasure chests.
• Virginia in Wild ARMs 3 who while not a particularly strong fighter, gets this because she's so damn good at using items due to her "Mystic" ability, which lets her make an item hit multiple targets instead of just one, or in the case of certain plot items, cast spells embedded in them for free. Given that she's fast to boot, means she's always ready for a quick heal/revive to kick off a round. She also keeps the elemental gems from being Too Awesome to Use (or makes them even better Vendor Trash).
• Arguably, Midna in The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess. Link's definitely not carrying all his junk, and Midna is seen to teleport the Ordon sword and shield away when you go into Faron Woods' Twilight.
• Pokémon that have the Pick Up ability can get free items at a random chance after battles and are also generally capable of learning Thief or Covet, which allows them to steal items. They tend to not be good for much else, due to frequently being Com Mons.
• The Hireling in the Munchkin card game. He can't help in combat normally, but he can carry around an extra big item for the player, and can use the siege engine in battle if you have it.
• Merlinus' entire point of existence in Fire Emblem 7 is to be your army's item caddy. He starts off as an immobile tent on the field where you can drop off or pick up items between your character and collective inventory. Later on, he gets an upgrade that allows him to freely move around the map.
  • Strangely enough, in Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones (FE8), the Item Caddy is combined with the heroine... as in, she apparently keeps an entire caravan in her pocket. So I guess that means it's averted, since she's a good fighter.
  • The Laguz from Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn are also Item Caddies in a way. The only items they can actually use are healing items (and special offensive "cards" in Radiant Dawn), while they use their transformations and natural abilities to contribute to the fight. They can use their item slots to carry backup weapons and items for other units, or to unload any treasures that your Beorc (human) characters pick up.
• In Dungeons & Dragons 3.5, the Eberron setting's Artificer class is all about this. They can craft items cheaply (and without knowing the spells normally required to do so), spend multiple uses of a charged item at once to increase its power, temporarily turn any item into a magic item, or change the effects of magic items. They also get some abilities for healing/damaging Constructs - the setting also introduces a Construct race who can treat parts of his body as magic items, meaning that these will see plenty of use. It's generally considered one of the most powerful classes in the game, if one of the most difficult to play.
• Dawn of War 2 has the tactical marine squad lead by Tarkus. Compared to the other squads at your disposal, they are basically middle of the road units (until Tarkus gains the temporary invicibility ability virtually required to win anything on Primarch difficulty) but their main advantage is the huge number of accessory slots they possess. Thus Tarkus is usually the one toting the medkits, grenades and other sundry expendables in many missions.
• In Warhammer Fantasy Battle scrollcaddies are a common use of low level wizards who just walk around ready to dispell enemy spells.
• In Front Mission, any Wanzers dedicated to carrying items are these, particularly in 3 since no repair-type backpacks exist at that game. In 4, the Resistance Army in Darril's storyline also features one item-carrying "medic" that some stages provide you with.
• In Castlevania: Circle of the Moon, one of the New Game+ builds is a Thief type. You gain an incredibly high Luck Stat and not much else, so you will be buried in stockpiled items from fallen enemies, which you'll spam constantly in order to survive.
• Both the basic Magician class and the Alchemist class in Dokapon Kingdom have aspects of this. Basic Magicians can carry a lot of Overworld Spells (which are essentially items, they just have their own inventory space) and get a bonus when using them. Alchemists can double items, even if their inventory is lacking. Multiple copies of an item that lets you steal an opponent's town? Yes please!
• Resident Evil Outbreak has backpacker Yoko Suzuki. Slow as molasses and is injured by light breezes, but she can carry twice the items, be they weapons, herbs, or keys.
• Fallout 2 has Lenny, a ghoul with an alrightish skill with submachineguns, which can be rather expensive to keep stocked if fired on auto all the time, or really weak if they're not. However, he can carry a lot of stuff. So if you get the Magnetic Personality Perk you can get him along to hold the ammo for guys like Marcus.
  • Fallout: New Vegas has Raul, and ex-vaquero ghoul whose bonus perk slows the rate at which your weapons deteriorate, meaning they can last longer before breaking. Finishing his personal quest either slows that further, or boosts his fire-rate with lever-action weapons, making him more a hybrid.
• Luke in Eternal Eyes. He has no magic to speak of, but he's the only one who can use items (some of which have the same effects as spells). He's also the only one who can use Jewels in battle, which also act spell-like, but can also be used to lay traps.
• In an interesting take on this trope, Pichu in Super Smash Bros Melee was designed specifically with items in mind. His extreme speed would allow him to capitalize on item drops to gain the upper hand. Unfortunately for him, tournament rules largely ban items, sending him to the bottom of the tier list.
• Repede from Tales of Vesperia gets many skills that are based around improving items, such as decreasing the cooldown between uses and the ability to steal from enemies. While some of these skills can be learned by other characters, several are exclusive to Repede, and he tends to learn the ones that are shared earlier than anyone else.
• The Robots of SaGa 2 automatically half the number of remaining uses of an item they receive, but when they heal at the inn, the uses heal back up to that half level.
• Wizardry has exclusive items for almost all classes, but for a Bard in 6-8 games Use item is the main activity, especially on low levels. They can fight, hide and cast spells a little, but mostly play musical instruments (this effectively casts spells from Stamina rather than Mana points). In Wizardry 8 Bard can't cast spells or hide any more, and Gadgeteer is much the same, only can make his own gadgets and also has Ranged Combat (can shoot straight) and Locks & Traps as class skills, while Bard can identify stuff.