Table of Contents
ATB Penalty
In Chrono Trigger, characters who use techs - single, double, and triple - are meant to incur a percentage-based penalty to their speed on their next turn, causing their ATB bar to fill more slowly. However, due to a programming error, the first character listed in the game's script for that tech will not be penalized. Thus, single techs carry no ATB penalty.
You can view all of the intended penalties on this spreadsheet (courtesy of Pseudoarc).
This also means that in the case of a double tech, only one character will incur the penalty; two characters in the case of a triple tech. The penalties for each character are hard-coded, so you cannot make a different character take a penalty based on whose menu it is executed from, for example.
The below tables illustrate which characters suffer penalties from which techs, and how much.
Dual Techs
| Tech | Character & Penalty |
|---|---|
| Aura Whirl |  Crono 10% |
| Ice Sword |  Marle 20% |
| Ice Sword 2 | Marle 30% |
| Fire Whirl |  Lucca 10% |
| Fire Sword | Lucca 10% |
| Fire Sword 2 | Lucca 30% |
| Rocket Roll |  Robo 10% |
| Max Cyclone | Crono 30% |
| Super Volt | Robo 40% |
| X-Strike |  Frog 10% |
| Sword Stream | Crono 30% |
| Spire | Crono 50% |
| Drill Kick | Crono 10% |
| Volt Bite | Crono 30% |
| Falcon Hit | Crono 30% |
| Antipode | Lucca 10% |
| Antipode 2 | Lucca 30% |
| Antipode 3 | Lucca 50% |
| Aura Beam | Robo 10% |
| Ice Tackle | Marle 20% |
| Cure Touch | Robo 20% |
| Ice Water | Marle 20% |
| Glacier | Marle 30% |
| Double Cure | Frog 30% |
| Twin Charm | Marle 10% |
| Ice Toss | Marle 20% |
| Cube Toss | Marle 30% |
| Fire Punch | Lucca 10% |
| Fire Tackle | Lucca 30% |
| DoublevBomb | Robo 30% |
| Red Pin | Lucca 10% |
| Line Bomb | Lucca 20% |
| Frog Flare | Lucca 50% |
| Flame Kick | Lucca 10% |
| Fire Whirl | Lucca 30% |
| Blaze Kick | Lucca 30% |
| Blade Toss | Frog 10% |
| Bubble Snap | Frog 20% |
| Cure Wave | Robo 10% |
| Boogie | Robo 20% |
| Spin Kick | Robo 20% |
| Beast Toss | Robo 30% |
| Slurp Kiss |  Ayla 10% |
| Bubble Hit | Frog 20% |
| Drop Kick | Ayla 30% |
Triple Techs
| Tech | Character & Penalty | Character 2 & Penalty |
|---|---|---|
| Delta Force | Marle 30% | Lucca 30% |
| Lifeline | Crono 10% | Robo 20% |
| Arc Impulse | Frog 30% | Marle 30% |
| Final Kick | Crono 50% | Marle 30% |
| Fire Zone | Crono 50% | Lucca 30% |
| Delta Storm | Lucca 30% | Frog 30% |
| Gatling Kick | Crono 50% | Lucca 30% |
| Triple Raid | Robo 20% | Frog 10% |
| Twister | Robo 20% | Ayla 40% |
| 3D Attack | Crono 10% | Frog 10% |
DarkEternal  | Lucca 30% |  Magus 40% |
Omega Flare  | Robo 20% | Magus 20% |
Spin Strike  | Robo 20% | Ayla 30% |
Poyozo Dance  | Lucca 10% | Ayla 30% |
Grand Dream  | Marle 30% | Robo 20% |
Penalized Characters
The following table shows how many penalties characters take out of all of their double and triple techs (listed separately), as well as their average penalty for each category to help illustrate how badly that character is hit by penalties versus the others. Average penalties are rounded to the nearest whole number.
| Character | DT Penalties | Avg Penalty | TT Penalties | Avg Penalty |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lucca | 14/15 | 24% | 6/7 | 27% |
| Robo | 9/15 | 21% | 6/7 | 20% |
| Crono | 7/15 | 27% | 4/10 | 40% |
| Marle | 7/15 | 26% | 4/7 | 30% |
| Frog | 5/15 | 18% | 4/6 | 20% |
| Ayla | 2/15 | 20% | 3/6 | 17% |
| Magus | N/A | N/A | 2/2 | 30% |