The most dangerous aspect of combat in KC often isn't the damage you'll take or the monsters you'll face, but rather the status effects that will hinder your combat ability. Here is a list of the status effects in KC and how to deal with them. Except for Paralysis, status ailments do not fade after battle. The player must remove the ailments himself.

In addition to the items listed, certain heroes may be able to reverse status ailments by using their specials. Staying at an inn or using a quevari statue will remove all status ailments from all characters. The bioregulation talent Psion Panacea will reverse any status ailment except KO.

Paralyze Effect - Unable to act for a few turns. Item Cure - Stimutaffy Psionic Cure - N/A Refresh? - No

Curse Effect - Stops XP gain. Item Cure - Rabbit's Foot Psionic Cure - N/A Refresh? - Yes

Weak Effects
These ailments are so named not because they are weak, per se, but because you can safely ignore them without any huge detrimental effects. Because they are non-critical there is no psionic ability associated with removing them; you can, however, still stock items to do so. Paralyze is unique in that it will go away automatically after combat, and sometimes even dissolve all on its own during combat if you wait for a few rounds. Curse, however, must be removed manually.

Drain Effect - Saps every step or combat round. Item Cure - Detox Serum Psionic Cure - Psion Placebo Refresh? - Yes

Drain Effect - Saps every step or combat round. Item Cure - Brain Food Psionic Cure - Psion Conduit Refresh? - Yes

Drains
Drains are extremely detrimental ailments which will sap the target's or each combat round or every step. The amount sapped each round is based on a percentage of the target's total, so you can't "outlast" the effects simply by having high stats. Fortunately the cures for these ailments are cheap and widely available; make it a point to carry a few of these items with you just in case you get caught off-guard.

Down / Zero Effect - Lowers physical attack. Item Cure - Power Drink Psionic Cure - Psion Restore Refresh? - Yes

Down / Zero Effect - Lowers physical defense. Item Cure - Power Drink Psionic Cure - Psion Restore Refresh? - Yes

Down / Zero Effect - Lowers special attack and defense. Item Cure - Power Drink Psionic Cure - Psion Restore Refresh? - Yes

Down / Zero Effect - Lowers speed. Item Cure - Power Drink Psionic Cure - Psion Restore Refresh? - Yes

Stat Alterations
Negative stat alterations are dangerous because they lower a target's statistics. The four statistics that govern a character's combat effectiveness are: (physical attack), (physical defense), (special attack and defense) and (speed). The two types of stat alterations are StatDown and StatZero. StatDown will cut the stat in half, whereas StatZero will lower it to zero. Thus characters afflicted with Zero will be unable to deal any damage at all with physical attacks, whereas characters with Zero will be frozen in time and unable to act. Depending on the character, these ailments may or may not be particularly harmful. Nero, for example, has a low score anyway, so the Down ailment doesn't really bother him. Any stat alteration can be reversed with a Power Drink.

AttLock Effect - Removes attack command. Item Cure - Mystikey Psionic Cure - Psion Unlock Refresh? - Yes

AblLock Effect - Removes ability command. Item Cure - Mystikey Psionic Cure - Psion Unlock Refresh? - Yes

CmdLock Effect - Removes command skill. Item Cure - Mystikey Psionic Cure - Psion Unlock Refresh? - No

ItmLock Effect - Removes item command. Item Cure - Mystikey Psionic Cure - Psion Unlock Refresh? - Yes

Command Locks
The four command locks prevent a target from using a specific command in battle; the command in question will actually disappear from that target's command window in combat. Every character has four commands in combat: Attack (attacks with equipped weapon), Ability (uses a -consuming ability; Psionics, Chi, Gadgets, etc.), Command Skill (initiates a special command; Analyze, Refresh, Scrounge, etc.), and Item (uses an item from the party's inventory). Depending on the character, command locks may or may not require immediate attention. Karen, for example, would barely notice her Attack command suddenly going missing... but would definately be in trouble if her Psionics command vanished. Note that since CmdLock removes Nero's Refresh command, he can not use it to reverse the ailment.

DropWeap Effect - Unequips weapon(s). Item Cure - Requipper Psionic Cure - Psion Feather Refresh? - Yes

DropArmr Effect - Unequips body armor. Item Cure - Requipper Psionic Cure - Psion Feather Refresh? - Yes

DropShld Effect - Unequips shield. Item Cure - Requipper Psionic Cure - Psion Feather Refresh? - N/A

DropMisc Effect - Unequips miscellaneous gear. Item Cure - Requipper Psionic Cure - Psion Feather Refresh? - Yes

Equipment Drops
The especially nasty equipment drop ailments not only cause the target to drop a piece of their equipment, but makes it unable for that person to equip any other item until the ailment is dealt with. A dropped weapon means a character will be fighting with his naked fists; dropped armor means the character will be virtually defenseless; a dropped shield leaves the character without status or elemental protection, and dropped miscellaneous gear leaves the target without the special effects of their auxilary equipment. Equipment that is dropped is removed from your inventory completely, but automatically re-equipped in the slot it was dropped form once the ailment is removed. Note that since Azrael doesn't use equipment, he is immune to all equipment drops except DropMisc. Additionally, since Nero doesn't use shields, he is immune to the DropShld effect.

Blind Effect - Physical attacks will miss. Item Cure - Spritz Sprig Psionic Cure - Psion Tranquility Refresh? - Yes

Charm Effect - Doubles and attacks allies. Item Cure - Tranquilimint Psionic Cure - Psion Tranquility Refresh? - No

Rage Effect - Double and attacks enemies. Item Cure - Tranquilimint Psionic Cure - Psion Tranquility Refresh? - No

Terror Effect - Freezes in fear, or flees from combat. Item Cure - Gutsy Cola Psionic Cure - Psion Tranquility Refresh? - Yes

Behavior Effects
So named because they drastically alter the way your characters respond to combat situations, these are perhaps the most devastating of status ailments. While some characters may be able to neglect the Blind effect (such as ciphers who rely on their specials), and others may actually get a boost from the Rage effect (such as characters who rely mainly on their Attack command anyway), it is not advised to let these ailments slide for long periods of time. Terror is especially horrific, as it will cause the ailing character to sometimes flee combat entirely. If this happens, that character is out of play for the rest of the battle. If your last surviving character flees due to the Terror effect, you will lose the battle and get a Game Over.

Undead Effect - Stops XP gain; losing conditional. Item Cure - Blood Transfusion Psionic Cure - N/A Refresh? - Yes

Stone Effect - Unable to act; losing conditional. Item Cure - Liquid Chisel Psionic Cure - N/A Refresh? - No

KO Effect - Zero ; knocked out. Item Cure - Smelling Salts Psionic Cure - Psion Revival Refresh? - No

Losing Conditionals
The most severe of all status ailments are the losing conditionals. Simply put, if at any time your party is completely afflicted with any combination of these ailments, you lose and get a Game Over. What's worse, items to reverse these ailments are either rare, or expensive, or both. The safest way to deal with these effects is to know which enemies will give them to you, and destroy them before they get the chance. Note that KO is a special case and is automatically inflicted whenever a character's is entirely depleted.