Char

Char (チリ Chili) is a Mars Djinni found in.

Char is the fourth Mars Djinni in. The separate Djinn list viewable with the Select button from the status screen lists Char and all other Mars Djinn introduced in The Lost Age before the seven Mars Djinn from the original Golden Sun, most likely because all the Djinn from the original game can be gotten all at once late in The Lost Age. However, the original Djinn are ordered before all of the Djinn introduced in The Lost Age in the Djinn inventory screen while they are allocated to characters. By this order, Char is the eleventh Mars Djinni in the GBA series, rather than the fourth.

Basic description

 * "Paralyze foes with a strong blow."

When Set, Char increases its Adept's base HP by 9, base Attack by 2, base Agility by 2, and base Luck by 1.

When Char is unleashed in battle, the user strikes the target with an elemental physical attack equal to a normal physical attack performed by the user, with 50 additional damage points. Being a Mars-based attack, Char's battle effect is also affected by the user's Mars Power and the target's Mars Resistance. There is then a chance that the target will be afflicted with the Stun status condition.

Visually, Char's unleash animation resembles the user summoning the glowing white image of a Mars Djinni that floats above the party, which projects a reddish grainy substance at the target in a stream, and when the target is hit it is surrounded by red electricity bolts.

Location
To get it into your collection, though, you first have to have collected the Healing Fungus from the Gondowan Cliffs (this item is accessible by casting Frost on a puddle over there and using the resulting pillar as a hopping step). Then present the Healing Fungus to the old man, and a short cutscene will have them give it to you as a "pet" in exchange.

Analysis
General: The GBA games do not have any Mars Djinn that increase damage based on a multiplier, so Char is one of the only and "best" offensive Mars Djinn that the player has, having a relatively strong 50 set damage bonus and the chance to inflict the useful Stun status condition. In, Chili and Pepper are also offensive Mars Djinn that can Stun, but Chili has a set damage bonus of 80 while Pepper has a damage multiplier of 1.5.

By game
Stun is always a strong secondary effect, which makes this the attacking Djinni of choice for much of the game. When Isaac's party joins Felix's party late in the game along with their returning Djinn from the first game, the Mars Djinni Scorch that returns become an identical copy of this Djinni in ability. Char and Scorch can be equally practical for the Stun chance backed up by satisfactory power ratings, and are perhaps as generally good as attacking Mars Djinn get. Though, the Mars Djinni with the highest added damage rating is Fury with 70 points (though its secondary effect is Haunt, oft-viewed to be far less beneficial).

Name Origin
To char something is to burn it until it is or is like charcoal. It could also mean to burn something slightly in order to change the color.

Chili refers to a notoriously spicy family of peppers.

Trivia

 * Before Chili was introduced as its own Mars Djinni in Dark Dawn (originally named Nitro, to differentiate), the manual to the North American version of The Lost Age used the original Japanese names for Char and some other Djinn instead; Chili for Char, Guts for Spark, Axel (actually Accel) for Kindle, and Turbo for Coal. It is unknown whether the Chili of Dark Dawn being a "superior version" of Char is more than coincidence.