[Meta Thread] Dragonstrike's Pokerole Test Game: Mount Coronet Mystery

[PhantomUnderYourDesk]

Original Post

Hmmmmm...regarding Evades and Clashes, which way would you guys prefer we use them?

a) Using them takes up your whole Turn, preventing you from taking another action until your next Turn.  Conditional Orders for Evading/Clashing generally only work when you're slower than your opponent in this case, and you have to dedicate a whole Action to Evading/Clashing.  Ironically, this makes it hard for speedy characters to abuse them unless they know they're facing a really slow/weakened opponent and can attempt to dodge everything, then fight back.  This is the method I used during Randolph's battle with Candice and Octavia's Swift.

b) Using them does not take up your whole Turn, but still counts towards your number of Actions for the Round as normal (makes it a little more work for me to keep track of when moves are being fired off if Turns are being used that quickly, but it generally makes them more useful even if you're faster than the opponent).  Initiative doesn't matter in this instance, only that you still have actions remaining in the current Round of combat, but there's little to no reason to dedicate an entire Action to Evading/Clashing in this case.  This is the method I just used for Core's Flamethrower.

At this point in time, I think I'm leaning towards option b), if only to make the two specialties more useful (particularly Evasion, since being too speedy in option a) can be more of a hindrance than a help due to it being harder to utilize that specialty you've invested in).

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And on a related note, what did you guys think of the thing I did with that Flamethrower Clash?  I imagine that if you were to Clash with a physical move, some of the force of the move that impeded the attack would still reach your target.  Different story if you're clashing with things like laser beams and other ranged attacks, though.  Hopefully that make Clash a little bit more appealing in the face of Evasion.

About Evasion I don't have an opinion, but Clash I'd actually like to be kept the way it is at the moment, which is simply the way the corebook interprets it/ option b) if I'm understanding this right - I'm just starting to like clashing and will probably invest more XP into this Speciality. Evading a foe's attacks is just not my style, but clashing seems to give me the niche I never thought I'd need battlewise but still always needed. Please don't nerf it that clashing insta-ends your Turn, that's affecting it much more negatively than it is helpful and there is no reason why a Pokemon can't still fire an attack at the foe after they defended themselves by clashing.

What's been done with Core's Flamethrower used to prevent that Arbok from biting him badly looks just fine, in mind I can see that if that snake attempts to bite your hard and you defend yourself by spitting fire (assuming your Clash Roll succeeds), the snake is averted BUT it still manages to nab you WHILE being roasted by the flames. It shouldn't matter whether you defend yourself by clashing a physical move with a special one or vice versa, because why should it? I can't see a general reason for that, may depend on the scenario however (Like, clashing a Hurricane with a Tackle? Good luck trying.)