Pokemon Umbral Discussion 38: Shenanigans At Dawn, Sir!

[Dracorion]

It appears we've become...
*puts on sunglasses*
... the butt of all the jokes.

*slow motion walk away, EXPLOSIONS*



I don't know why I did that.

Anyway, the last thing I want is to have to fail utterly at everything, Gem! Sometimes, I want to actually get something done by annoying someone into doing it for me!

[Menarker]

Wasn't Fifthfiend also one of the audience way back in discussion 12 or so? Pretended to ask to join and claimed he had "concept arts" and all that ready for us?

Hehe, quite a while ago.

Makes you wonder who else read our stuff.

[Dracorion]

To be fair, that could just have been Fifthfiend being Fifthfiend.

[Geminex]

Yah. I really wasn't sure if he was just trolling of if he was just trolling HARDER.
I think it was both.

Anyway, this intermission's over, let's get back to business.
And by business, I mean pokemon.

Menarker, what say you?

[Dracorion]

SCREW YOU GUYS, I'M TAKING MY TOYS AND GOING HOME.

[Menarker]

>_> What the heck do you mean "what say me"? I said that it's really up to AB if he would allow such a system in the first place before I say yay or nay. It was then you got up in my grill about competiveness and then all Krylo broke the fourth wall and everything trolled down to hell!

We're still waiting for AB to respond to multiple questions, least of all being the question asked twice regarding Psy-Renny's Phantom Blessing Protection thing so we can proceed with the RP itself.

[Astral Harmony]

About Cheerful Backup: I don't have any issue with this.

About Renny's Pokebrid Attack Buffs: It's a workable idea, I suppose. I can't for the life of me find a reason to make an issue of it, whether you forsake Slayer weapons or not. 'Cause if you're Pokebrid attacks increase in power just because you don't use Slayer weapons and thus become comparable in power to the Slayer weapons you forsook (SP?), then why have Slayer weapons at all?

About Trainer Attack Rage Generation: There is no Rage generated for Trainer Attacks.

Originally Posted by Menarker

AB: You didn't answer Drac's previous question.
"Hey AB, how exactly would Psyshade Renny's Phantom Blessing work? I mean, would it activate before our attacks this turn, so we wouldn't know who's protected until it's too late, or would it work next turn, so the enemies will be protected then?"

Actually, I did answer this question...mostly by wondering out loud who the hell came up with the idea of Phantom Blessing. Because I did not, and I do not intend to use it. More than likely, Psyshade Renny would sooner use its own version of Valiant Rush.

Originally Posted by Geminex

At this point I'm also gonna recommend that the bonuses for getting Slayer 8 (Overblade 3) get reevaluated. Two attacks per turn does seem a bit wonky. I still maintain that, compared to Trainers, Slayers are just a bit underpowered. But getting two attacks per turn would do more than just overcompensate for that. And since none of the other classes get anything comparable... Maybe try to find another way to finally even the odds?

I have an idea. Not exactly the perfect solution, but I think it hits the mark damn close. I'll explain it at the end of the rest of the questions.

Originally Posted by Menarker

AB: One question that seemed odd to me. The PCs are all humans. Doesn't that mean that technically Slayers have a weakpoint to fire and poison too like the other humans we fought so far? Or does being trained in slayer mean that they worked out that particular weakpoint and made it neutral through endurance?

Also, forgive me for forgetting, but what sort of damage does Ruin type attacks do on Ruin type pokemons. Like if the Ruin element was selected as an attack type with the RDPA and said slayer attacked a Ruin type. Is it not effective like with fire against fire? Super effective like Dragon against Dragon? No damage? Quad Damage? Neutral like Fighting against Fighting?

Also, can you provide a sample Overdrive technique so we can see what the power level of that should be like? Because the implication of a name like "Overdrive" sounds incredibly potent, especially since it can only be used one time per battle.

Humans characters on the Watchman side don't fall prey to Fire and Poison like enemy humans.

Ruin type damage does x1 damage to other Ruin types.

I'd say, put on the spot like I am, that it'd be somewhere from 1.5x that of a Testament Drive to maybe even 2x. And it doesn't actually have to be offensive. Not even the Testament Drives have to be. Actually, let me get my thinking straight and, at the bottom of this, I'll explain in detail everything I've been thinking about on duty.

Originally Posted by Dracorian

AB, I propose that we ban Menarker and Geminex from interacting directly ever again.

Can't do that. So long as they're brainstorming for the betterment of everything else, RP including, and are not at each other's throats with thread-long arguements about balance (which seem to always include you as well, Dracorian), I have open ears (well, eyes) to the words they have to type.

I just wished they didn't type so much.

Originally Posted by Dracorian

Oh, and AB, about Trainer Actions... I dunno, did you actually intend for Trainers to have access to more than one Trainer Action? Because I kinda got that impression. Then one turn we could choose to, I dunno, give small buff to our pokemon and the other turn we could use a regular old Trainer Attack. Then the next we could buff one of our pokemon's attack.

Of course, you probably just wanted to limit it to one. It makes sense that way too.

Actually, if you feel like it, go ahead and create up to five of them. And remember, if you feel that Pierce himself wouldn't be able to accomplish these Trainer Actions in-character, you can always involve the love interest, yours being Chizuru, of course.

-----

If I missed questions, I'm sorry. I know I missed some orange shit from Geminex. And probably some other questions that slipped through my speed-reading episode to catch up.

Anyways, while I was on duty, I had an idea that would afford us some balance, hopefully.

Ability Points.

That's right. Y'see, I've been playing Arc Rise Fantasia for the past several days (not a terrible RP, but the voice acting is shit) and I thought about that AP system they've got. Granted, I'm not going to do something wacky like make everyone share the same AP pool, but I will make it so that you all have your own AP meters.

Here's how I'm thinking it's going to work, and if it's a good idea, I'd like to implement it starting with Pierce's sidequest:

1. Each character has a maximum of 10 AP. Each character generates...oh, 6 AP every turn. Following me so far, everyone?

2. Now, various actions will cost AP. I'll imagine up a list right now that will be at the bottom of this post for reviews and suggestions. We're flowing, right?

3. So long as you have the AP to use an action, you can use it during your phase or right after the enemy's phase.

I think that's about it. Here, lemme do a list:

- Begin Watchmen Phase (standard morale): +6 AP
- Begin Watchmen Phase (low morale): +6 AP
- Begin Watchmen Phase (Overwhelming Tide): +4 AP
- Slayer / Pokebrid Attack: -4 AP (both in and out of RDPA and Paradigm Shift modes respectively)
- Pokemon Move: -3 AP
- Use an Item: -2 AP (Medics max out at 2 items per turn and everyone else at 1 item per turn)
- Rapid Deployable Powered Suit Summon: -6 AP (once per battle)
- Paradigm Shift: -8 AP (once per Paradigm Shift)
- Signature / Synchronicity Technique: -8 AP
- RDPA Overdrive: 0 AP (once per battle and only in RDPA)
- Love Technique: -4 AP for Both Characters (cannot divide it up like Rage.)
- Engineer Construction: -4 AP
- Exhaustion Status: Cuts AP Generation at start of turn by 3 AP.
- Paralysis Status: Cuts AP Generation at start of turn by 3 AP.
- AP Generated for Units in PC Support (your Enforcers) Per Turn: +2 AP (they still start the battle with the 6 AP, they just generate it slower when in the rearguard, same as you when you switch out to the rearguard)

By the way, I should mention that this doesn't replace the Rage system. Rage is still there.

That's all I can think of right at this moment. Things that affect attacks, like Divide and Focus, do not require additional AP to use.

I don't want to create an item or allow for the creation of skills or SignTechs or whatever that increase AP generation or make it not deplete when you use actions, so let's not suggest anything like that until we've gotten the system together and test-driven it.

Destroyer Specialists like Lexhur are not in any way affected by the AP system. Their Rage is pretty much their AP, to be honest.

And that's my wacky idea. Let's get some constructive criticism. I haven't reviewed all the class ideas you guys have scattered across this thread. I intend to do so tonight when I also post the possibly insulting sprite comic (I need to edit a few expressions, nothing more).

EDIT 1: Right, I said something strange about Testament Drives before, didn't I? I was thinking of letting you, the PCs, recreate them to your liking. I mean, they're your Legendary Pokemon. Their Testament Drives should reflect your personality, I'd say. So I'd like to let you guys create your own Testament Drives for your own Legendary Pokemon, especially the ones you've created.

[Menarker]

Ah, kinda like Xenosaga a bit, the proposed AP system.

Anyhow, I'll check it out in more detail in a bit. Late here.

[Geminex]

That... huh.
It's interesting. But see, I think there's one fairly large flaw.

That sort of AP-based system works fairly well, from experience. It's versatile, and emphasizes quick, tactical actions, which get progressively more frequent more than heavy, powerful strategic stuff. It has good potential for fun, I might even prefer it to our current system!

But see...
What we're playing right now, hinges on pokemon. It's getting progressively further removed from it, but it still hinges on it. And pokemon wasn't designed to work with this system.
It'd be possible, of course!
But it'd involve so much rethinking, so much rearranging, so much balancing. We'd have to more or less rewrite and rebalance the entire rulebook, it seems. Assigning an AP cost to every possible action, balancing those, rooting out all the pokemon attacks that'd break the system, balancing those...

I dunno, maybe I'm being pessimistic. But I feel it might not be such a good idea, here and now.

Though mind you, if we do decide to go through with it, I'd recommend that we really go for broke and add a Tactical Combat System. I've been thinking that we could totally treat this like a tabletop combat RPG, and include terrain and ranges in our battles.

[Astral Harmony]

I thought about it, but my head hurt at the prospect of terrain and elevation and moving people around on a grid. I guess it's asking for the impossible, but I kind of want a system that's quick, easy to fall right into despite not understanding it completely, and subject to change without coming out with a brand new rulebook.

Half my kingdom for a genie to grant that wish...and for her to be hot, slutty, a foxgirl, and willing to grant a different kind of wish.