The Minor Arcana cards appear during Shuffle Time and grant the player various effects depending on which card is chosen:Ĭups - Restores the protagonist's or party's health if drawn (amount depends on number) Wands or Staves - Grants bonus experience or stats if drawn (amount depends on number) Pentacles or Coins - Grants bonus Yen if drawn (amount depends on number) Swords - Grants the player a random weapon (power depends on number, and FES: The answer gives the player one random equipment)Īdditionally, Incense Cards, items that improve any of the protagonist's Persona's stats, are based on the four face/court cards of the Minor Suits, with the primary stat they improve being depended on the suit they belong to, and the amount they improve is based on how strong the court cards are to each other. See List of Persona 2: Innocent Sin Personas#Minor Arcana and List of Persona 2: Eternal Punishment Personas#Minor Arcana. These Personas cannot be summoned normally in the Velvet Room. Personas from the minor Arcana are featured in these games via mutation only. The Minor Arcana commonly employ the Italo-Spanish suits: Wands (alternatively, batons, clubs or staves), cups, swords and pentacles (alternatively, coins, disks or rings). The Minor Arcana are comprised of four suits with 14 cards each. Faith is listed on the bottom of the Confidant list in the menu. 9 The Visconti-Sforza deck where the Faith and Hope Arcana are from is unnumbered.6 Only mentioned in Persona 3, Persona 3 FES and Persona 3 Portable, with no gameplay effect.
Nontraditional decks used in the Persona series include Aleister Crowley's Thoth Tarot deck (Hierophant & Priest/Apostle, Lust/Hunger, Aeon, Universe), El Gran Tarot Esoterico (Consultant/Councillor), and the various incomplete Visconti-Sforza decks (Hope, Faith). While most Major Arcana in the Persona series are derived from the traditional 22-card deck, alternative and nontraditional Arcanas are also used, usually with the same numbers as their traditional equivalent, such as the Jester Arcana and the Fool Arcana both numbered as "0," or no numbers in the case of the Faith and Hope Arcanas. Each Persona user also has an Arcana they are related to as well, usually defined by their first Persona. Starting from Persona 3, each Arcana has a related Social Link or Confidant, usually with a "story arc" that represents the Arcana it's related to, with the exception of the World Arcana, which is rarely seen in gameplay and does not have a related Confidant, as it is to symbolize the end of the protagonist's journey.
These racial equivalences were partially kept in Persona 2 and abandoned in Persona 3 onwards, which instead divided Personas on how they are most closely related to their Arcana, such as the Lovers Arcana being comprised of demons who are related to love and relationships. According to the Persona World guide, each Arcana in Megami Ibunroku Persona equals a specific race (such as the Lovers Arcana being composed of demons from the Fairy race). In the Persona series, the Personas' Arcana are functionally equivalent to demon races.