Draw (Final Fantasy VIII)

Draw is a command ability in Final Fantasy VIII gained when a Guardian Force is junctioned to a character. Every Guardian Force has Draw as one of its default abilities, though it may be removed using Amnesia Greens, and later re-added using the Draw Scroll item bought from Pet Shops around the world. When a character draws magic from enemies, bright aquamarine spheres eject out of the enemy into the drawing character. In the game's PlayStation demo, the draw animation is longer, with the spells gathering up in the air for a moment before entering the drawing character.

Function
Draw is used to siphon magic from the many enemies the party faces. If magic is drawn from an enemy, it can either be Stocked or Cast.

Draw is also used to steal Guardian Forces from certain bosses, such as Eden from Ultima Weapon. If the GF is drawn from the boss, it is useless in that particular battle, but afterwards can be junctioned to a player character like any other GF.

How many of a spell can be drawn depends on the drawing character's magic stat, the spell they are drawing, and who they are drawing it from. Thus, high-level spells like Holy and Meteor are often only drawn in stocks of three or less. Draws can also fail entirely. Characters with high magic have a higher chance of drawing stronger spells, but no more than nine spells can be drawn at a time. This, however, does not apply to magic drawn from the field Draw Points, where the player character can draw up to fifteen of a given spell.

Stock
Stock refers to the option to draw magic and place them into the character's spell inventory. Each character has a magic spell inventory that can store 32 different spells, each as high as 100 units. Whenever the player chooses to stock the magic, it is saved in the inventory for later use with the Magic command. When a character has drawn 100 units of a magic spell, the Stock command is disabled. The character uses Stock automatically when drawing spells from Draw Points.

The formula for determining how much a character will draw a spell (referred to as DrawAmount in the following formula) is as follows.


 * If DrawAmount < 1, Draw command fails
 * If DrawAmount > 9, DrawAmount = 9

Cast
Cast refers to the option to draw a magic spell from the enemy and immediately cast it, without it being taken out of the player's spell inventory. If the player chooses to Cast when they draw, the magic will be weaker than it would have been if the player had Stocked it and used it with the Magic command (in case of status-inducing magic, they will last shorter).

The formula to determine how much damage is dealt through Casting instead of using the spell from the character is as follows.


 * If (DrawAmount < 1) cast fails, else

(The following is the formula for Magic, which is used in step 2 of the formula)
 * $$Damage = AttackerMag + Power$$
 * $$Damage = Damage * (265 - TargetSpr) / 4$$
 * $$Damage = Damage * Power / 256$$


 * $$Damage = Damage * ([0..255] + 10) / 150$$

Resistance
Each spell has a resist value to being drawn, with higher numbers meaning harder to draw. The formula for drawing spells first of all is as follows.


 * $$DrawAmount = (DrawerLevel - TargetLevel) / 2 + 4$$
 * $$DrawAmount = (DrawAmount + DrawerMag - DrawResist + [1..32]) / 5$$

The DrawResist value varies per spell, as shown below.