Additions

“In the end, you can only rely on your own sword.”

The Legend of Dragoon’s Addition system has already been briefly explained and (negatively) evaluated in my review of the game. Additions aren’t special techniques, but regular physical attacks that are nevertheless unique to each character, not just in their effects, but also in the rhythm and speed of button triggers for the attack to be executed successfully.

• Failure to press X during these timed triggers ends the attack prematurely and results in significantly reduced damage. Failure to press O when an enemy counters during Additions causes the character to take damage while not inflicting any.
• Only one Addition at a time can be set in the menu while outside of battle.
• Additions can be leveled up by through repeated use. The higher the level of the Addition, the more useful it becomes, capping at level 5 (which requires 80 successful executions).
• New Additions are learned upon reaching a specific character level. A character’s final Addition is unlocked once they have mastered all of their previous Additions.
• Additions of higher levels have more hits, speed and a trickier rhythm, making them more difficult to complete.
• Additions vary in damage percentage and Spirit Point gain. Leveling up Additions either modifies the damage or the SP gain, never both, which means that each Addition specializes in one of the two. Therefore, you’ll have to choose carefully which Addition to pick before a boss battle (as you’ll have to stick with it throughout the fight) depending on whether you prioritize steady physical damage or steady and high SP gain, the latter enabling Dragoon transformations.

Rose’s Additions are relatively easy to hit and she has fewer Additions than other party members (Kongol being the exception), which means that obtaining her final Addition requires less time and fewer total successful executions.

Here's a video of Rose’s Additions. Yes, they sound suggestive (perhaps intentionally so to add to her “mysterious allure” and “mature charm”?) — just you wait until you see her Dragoon magic.

Equipment

Rose is shown wielding a one-handed sword throughout the game, inside and outside of battles. More specifically, her initial weapon is a rapier, though the names of her equippable weapons include daggers and short swords. All weapons in the game are exclusive to the respective party members (or, well, Dragoons). If you count instant death as an abnormal status, Rose is the one with the most weapons capable of inflicting them, although she isn’t the only character with an instant-death weapon.

There aren’t many character-exclusive pieces of armour in the game (including headgear and footwear), though most characters share their available sets with another character within the party: Most female characters can equip the same pieces of armour, Dart, Lavitz and Albert can equip the same pieces, and so on. Each party member obtains their character-specific elemental armour during the last parts of the game. Rose alone obtains an exclusive headgear with unique properties.