Abilities

Abilities, colloquially known as stats, are character traits that control the flow of discussion. Each character has different levels of Charisma, Intuition, Logic, Charm, Performance, and Stealth, determining how effective they are at getting people to follow them, how easily they spot lies, how good they are at lying, etc.

The player is no exception to this and can choose their stat spread at character creation. As the player gains experience they can level up at night, each level giving them an extra point to allocate at will. The player can subtract points as well if they'd like to make the game more challenging or take away from one ability to invest in another. To reallocate ability points, one must speak to Yuriko at night while playing as a Bug.

Leveling abilities is important not only for surviving loops, but for using skills as well. Many skills have ability thresholds that must be met in order to use them and a central part of the game's strategy is determining if you value access to certain skills over raising an important ability.

The player's current ability levels can be viewed in the options menu. The ability levels of NPCs are not directly stated, but a graph showing their relative ability levels can be viewed in their Crew Data file at any time.

Charisma
Charisma determines how easily others will trust and be swayed by your comments. Characters with high Charisma will have a higher chance of other characters following their lead when they suspect others and thus can easily gain control over the discussion.

Yuriko, Shigemichi, Jonas, and Setsu have notably high Charisma. Damaging their reputation early is essential if you're enemies with them as otherwise they'll quickly get to making their opinions the center of discussion. Remnan, meanwhile, has virtually no Charisma; if you suspect he has the right idea of things it'll be important to actively support him if you want his opinions to make any impact whatsoever.

Skills locked behind Charisma thresholds include:
 * Step Forward (Charisma 10)
 * Seek Agreement (Charisma 25)
 * Block Argument (Charisma 40)

Intuition
Intuition determines how easily a character can identify lies. If a character in an antagonistic role ([Gnosia, AC Follower, or Bug) claims a reporting role (Engineer or Doctor), their claim and any reports they give are considered a lie. Likewise, if they attack someone they know to be a human or someone they know to be Gnosia this too will be considered a lie. When an NPC lies, if the player's Intuition is high enough they will be alerted to this and can change their plans accordingly.

Unfortunately, it's fairly rare for the player to detect lies even at a high Intuition level, even from characters with poor Performance. Outside of getting skills, Intuition is thus probably the ability that should be the player's lowest priority to invest in. On the other hand, it's a smart idea to pay attention to the opinions of characters with high Intuition as they might detect lies the player doesn't.

Comet, Yuriko, Gina, Chipie, and Remnan have notably high Intuition. If they jump on someone after they've claimed a role or made an accusation it might be a sign that they caught them in a lie. Raqio and Sha-Ming, on the other hand, have very low Intuition; any accusation they make is likely based either on logical reasoning or a complete lack thereof.

Skills locked behind Intuition thresholds include:
 * Say You're Human (Intuition 20)
 * Don't Be Fooled (Intuition 30)

Logic
Logic is based on Trust. The higher a character's Logic is, the more damage they do to a character's Trust level when attacking them. Likewise, characters with high Logic will help a character they defend's Trust faster.

In addition to this, Logic determines how many lines the player can read in the Backlog, each additional point of Logic adding one more line.

Raqio, Yuriko, Otome, and Stella have notably high Logic. If they gang up on someone, their Trust will plummet and they'll become an easy target for cold sleep. If you're playing as an enemy role it's a good idea to get them on your side to bolster your own Trust level. Comet, Kukrushka, and Sha-Ming, meanwhile, have very low Logic; their arguments are more likely to be emotionally-based and they're more prone to slipping up as a result.

Skills locked behind Logic thresholds include:
 * Vote (Logic 10)
 * Don't Vote (Logic 15)
 * Definite Human (Logic 20)
 * Definite Enemy (Logic 20)
 * Retaliate (Logic & Performance 25)
 * Freeze All (Logic 30)

Charm
Charm is a defensive stat that reduces the amount that your Amicability and Trust decrease when attacked and increases the rate at which your Amicability and Trust recover. Characters with high Charm will typically have other characters rush to their defense when accused, making them difficult to target for cold sleep. This makes it a particularly good ability for the player to raise, as it helps them forge alliances and stay in the game.

Kukrushka, SQ, and Otome have notably high Charm, making them incredibly difficult targets to take down even if they're blatantly suspicious. Either get on their good side or eliminate them before they worm their way into everyone's hearts. Raqio, Shigemichi, and Jonas on the other hand have terrible Charm. This makes them frequent targets for cold sleep, especially on the first day of a loop where there's little tangible information to work with.

Skills locked behind Charm thresholds include:
 * Let's Collaborate (Charm 15)
 * Regret (Charm 25)

Performance
Performance targets a character's Amicability. Characters with high Performance will deal more damage to their target's Amicability and likewise boost recovery of Amicability for a character they defend.

Performance also determines how effective a character is at lying. Characters with low Performance will be easily caught when they lie, even by characters who don't have very high Intuition. This makes Performance an extremely important stat for the player to level early if they intend on playing as Gnosia at all, as most actions taken by antagonistic roles will count as telling lies.

Yuriko, Jonas, SQ, and Kukrushka have notably high Performance, allowing them to lie with ease and damage the reputations of everyone around them. Shigemichi, Comet, and Gina, on the other hand... if they end up as Gnosia, they're probably not long for this world.

Skills locked behind Performance thresholds include:
 * Exaggerate (Performance 15)
 * Retaliate (Performance & Logic 25)
 * Seek Help (Performance 30)

Stealth
Stealth revolves around Hate. Stealth reduces the amount that one's Hate increases and decreases, helping them keep a solid middle ground. While being strongly hated is obviously bad, having a very low Hate level makes others suspicious that you're hiding something. Stealth, thus, allows you to make comments/use Skills or hang back to observe discussion without drawing too much attention to oneself.

Stealth isn't only useful during discussion: high Stealth makes you less likely to be targeted by the Gnosia at night. This combined with how critical Hate management is makes Stealth arguably the most important ability to raise, especially early in the game. Getting told to shut up is a common problem early on when your stats are too low to sway a conversation and getting eliminated by the Gnosia is obviously undesirable, but Stealth helps mitigate both of these issues.

Sha-Ming, Shigemichi, Remnan, Kukrushka, and SQ have notably high Stealth. They can more or less get away with saying whatever they want and they aren't commonly targeted by the Gnosia, so if you're enemies with them you'll need to target them yourself. Raqio, Setsu, and Comet all have low Stealth and thus tend to get ganged up on during discussion and/or eliminated overnight. If you're trying to get them to survive until the end for a Note or other event it would be wise to play as the Guardian Angel or Gnosia.

Skills locked behind Stealth thresholds include:
 * Small Talk (Stealth 10)
 * Obfuscate (Stealth 25)
 * Grovel (Stealth 35)

So, what should I level?
Depends on your playstyle! If you enjoy playing enemy roles and making fake claims, you should focus on Performance. If you like playing offense and feel confident in your judgment, Charisma and Logic are important. If you mostly care about just surviving, Charm and Stealth are essential. If there's a skill you really like using, aim for its associated stat!

Overall, however, there are a few stats that are useful to level early on no matter how you choose to play:
 * Stealth: Keeping your Hate levels under control is essential to have any opportunity to speak your piece. Even more important is that Stealth keeps you from getting targeted by the Gnosia, helping avoid having loops cut short. Being able to use Small Talk at Stealth 10 is excellent as well, as even when you're stuck on Guard Duty it can help shake the Gnosia off of you.
 * Charm: Charm keeps people from disliking or distrusting you and is an essential ability to level if you want to avoid cold sleep. Let's Collaborate is usable at Charm 15, and this skill is very helpful in connecting with certain NPCs to unlock their Notes and see certain scenes.
 * Performance: This is mostly important if you have any intent to play enemy roles early on; if you'd like to focus on other stats, you could always get the other Notes out of the way first and then come back for the ones requiring you to be Gnosia.

Charisma and Logic are less straightforward choices. Getting Charisma to 10 to be able to use Step Forward is good to do as soon as possible, as forcing everyone to claim roles on Day 1 of a loop is essential for being able to spot lies and inconsistencies thereafter. It also allows you to make a bit of a reputation for yourself without drawing anyone's ire right away. Logic, meanwhile, has far more skills locked behind it, including the niche but game-changing Definite Human and Definite Enemy.

Of the two, Logic might be the better pick once you've gotten Charisma to 10; not only does it have more skills locked behind it, but being able to view more of the Backlog is helpful in finding inconsistencies and keeping track of who's made enemies of who. If you prefer aggressive play, however, Charisma might be better. Ultimately neither of them are bad to level and keeping them roughly equal can be a good compromise.

While Intuition isn't particularly effective for the player on its own, Say You're Human at Intuition 20 is a skill that can shake up the game by making suspicious parties clear. It's not a bad idea to get Intuition to 20 and leave it until you've got points to spare, but it shouldn't be your top priority.

NPC Abilities
The other characters have their own unique statlines as well. NPC abilities increase over the course of the game as their Notes are unlocked, reaching their strongest once the player has completed the game. Unlike the player, NPCs can have half points in their stats.

Base Stats
Character stats before any Notes have been unlocked; these will be the stats each character has when they are first introduced to the player.

Max Stats
Each character's maximum statlines, achieved after the player has collected all of the Notes for the character in question.

Trivia

 * Raqio, Comet, Sha-Ming, and Remnan are the only characters who have an ability that never improves. Raqio will always have 0.5 Intuition, Comet will always have 0.5 Logic, Sha-Ming will always have 6.5 Logic, Remnan will always have 2 Charisma.
 * Gina has the ability with the largest growth: her Intuition jumps up 41.5 points between base and max.
 * Sha-Ming has the ability with the lowest growth: his Intuition starts at 5.5 and grows by only one point, maxing out at 6.5.