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

[Lord Windos]

Spoiler

Well, maybe they'd use it anyways because it stacks with Curse due to technically being a different effect?  I could see some Ghosts gladly exploiting that in the future.   

Yeah, slight spoilers, but unless you guys manage to land a Freeze, I don't expect that change to come up until my main game anyways, as I don't have any major foes coming up with Freeze inflicting moves after the Diamond Steelix.  *shrug*

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Also, regarding Cover, once we hit my main game, I think I might have to change that slightly.  The book lists it alongside the other basic maneuvers (Strike, Grapple, Knockdown, Ambush, Stabilize), which all take an action to perform (with the exception of Ambush in some cases), so Cover probably needs to get similar treatment. 

This is mostly with regards to intentionally covering an ally from an incoming attack mid-battle, as that's a rather deliberate thing to focus on doing.  It's easy enough to intentionally hide behind a stationary object as long as you're using ranged attacks, but hiding behind a living creature that's moving around the battlefield would almost certainly require at least one of the characters to dedicate an action to doing so.

As such, I'd kinda like to split the Cover an Ally action into a second action as well: Take Cover.  Mechanically identical, but it changes the dynamic of the characters involved slightly.  Cover an Ally is a character intentionally taking the brunt of a ranged attack for someone else, while Take Cover is hiding behind someone else (provided they're willing) in the hopes that the damage you take will be minimized.  Whichever one's used determines which of the two can continue to attack with ranged moves while the Cover initially takes effect.

Larger pokemon can also possibly provide cover for an extended period of time compared to smaller pokemon since they don't have to move as much to cover stuff hiding behind them.

Again, I don't plan on applying this until my main game starts.

In that case, I'd be perfectly happy with Confusion have Curse-like effects! Diam don't have Curse, but she DOES have Confuse Ray, and can certainly learn Curse it later if I wish!

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....Well, I'm not too bothered with the Cover mechanic being made more complex and costly to use on the basis of making it a skill test of sorts and the logic you presented, but if you go ahead with it I'll personally likely never ever use either mechanic in the main game BECAUSE it has an Action cost, it cleanly locks out most Contact Moves in the corebook, and the way you're wording the new version your presenting implies that the Cover only lasts for 1 Action. I much rather have my Pokemon just attack in a mass party attack scenario on Pokemon or take my chances with Evasion (Or Clash, if that's the better option) instead of spending a valuable Action on one or two of my Pokemon using each other for cover OR provide cover for other players/NPCs Pokemon for 1 Action unless whatever my chara. or they plan on doing in Cover can almost guarantee a win in 1 - 3 Actions. And If the 'No Move Spam' and/or the newest Action Cost system is carried over to your main game, there even less reason to use Cover when it takes up the valuable Action space and drives up the 'cost' of later Actions .

The only way I see myself engaging in the revised Cover mechanics is if being/taking Cover is persistent upon Action use (IE: Costs an Action, but the user then Covers / is Covered for the rest of the Round) or it doesn't drive up the cost of the Coverer / Covered next Action BUT does count towards the total Action limit per Round. Either that, or just make Cover /Taking Cover cost 1 Will for a Pokemon to hide / hide behind another Pokemon instead of revising the mechanic for your main game entirely, if you want it to be a skill / resource test for us players and avoid rampant use of the mechanic unless we want to go without healing (if you carry Will Cost Healing into the main game) and increased consistency on our Moves/Actions.

These are my two cents on the matter. Let me restate that I have no obejction if you go ahead with implementing the revisions, but as it stands I can't find myself too interested in utilizing Cover going forward into the main game.