Vigilance ( ability ) Vigilance , also known as Caution and Alert , is a recurring ability in the " Final Fantasy " series , associated with the Thief job class . It generally prevents back attacks Appearances . " Final Fantasy V " . Vigilance , also known as Caution , is a support ability for the Thief job class , costing 75 ABP . It reduces the chance of a back attack on the party from 1 / 16 to 0 . " Final Fantasy VI " . Vigilance is found on the relic Alarm Earring which protects against Back Attacks and Pincer Attacks . Because some enemies only attack in certain formations , this eliminates some Random encounter groups . " Final Fantasy VII " . Although not mentioned in the Materia ' s description , the Preemptive Materia , when mastered and placed on the last character on the party , gives an " Ambush Alert Bonus " , which halves the chance of back and pincer attacks . Each area in the game has a set number of battle formations that are possible to occur during a random encounter . When a random encounter is about to start the game performs a check to see if any of the " special attack formations " apply . If the area has any special formation battles ( Back Attack , Side Attack and Pincer Attack ) the chance of getting them is calculated first . These battles have the player at a disadvantage , but a mastered Preemptive Materia helps protect against these battles by halving the chances of the disadvantageous ones . The game uses two types of check in order to detect whether of not a party member has a mastered Preemptive Materia equipped : a single character check and a global check . The single character check is made whenever the player changes Materia or Equipment . If the character does not have a mastered Preemptive Materia the game will remove the Ambush Alert Bonus , which halves the chance of Back and Pincer Attacks , and it doesn ' t matter if another character does actually have a mastered Preemptive equipped . The global check is used when entering the menu or exiting the PHS screen by running the single character check on each character in the party in turn , starting from the top . What this means is that only the bottommost character in the party counts for whether they have a mastered Preemptive Materia equipped . " Final Fantasy VIII " . Alert is available from the Guardian Force Cerberus for 200 AP . It doesn ' t protect against fixed back attacks , such as the one in Deep Sea Research Center against a Ruby Dragon whilst answering Bahamut ' s questions . " Final Fantasy IX " . The Alert support ability costs four Magic Stones to equip and reduces the chance of being ambushed from 24 / 256 to 0 % . It is learned from the Barbut , Ninja Gear , and Germinas Boots . Alert can be learned by Zidane , Steiner and Amarant . Zidane learns it for 40 AP , Steiner for 60 AP and Amarant for 30 AP . " Final Fantasy Tactics " . Vigilance , also known as Caution , is a reaction ability . The Thief class learns it for 200 JP . Receiving an enemy ' s attack causes the character to take up a defensive position that doubles the unit ' s evasion rate ( but not reduce damage received ) . It lasts until the character ' s next AT . Vigilance is a support ability exclusive to the Sky Pirate class , belonging solely to Vaan . It allows the user to not take extra damage from side or back attacks . " Final Fantasy Dimensions " . Vigilance is the level 12 ability of the Thief class , requiring 230 AP to learn . It requires 1 slot in order to equip and use . The ability prevents sneak attacks and back attacks . " Theatrhythm Final Fantasy " . Vigilance is a special ability learned by Onion Knight , Bartz , Faris and Locke . Vigilance activates once per stage during Field Music Sequence , and prevents the character from being replaced if they fall . " World of Final Fantasy " . Alert is a level 3 Thief ability that costs 3 SP to use and requires 260 JP to learn . It finds enemies , traps , and items on the floor .