[Meta thread] Iron's PokeRole Adventure: The Skull Ruins

[PhantomUnderYourDesk]

I don't know if I want to have Fissure in the campaign, what do you think?
It can be Evaded, so it might not be all that bad? I could also ban it from League use but allow it in wild battles.

Uh, if I'm allowed to carefully chip in concerning Fissure and related OHKO-move and give my thoughts about it: I would be MUCH in favour of these kind of moves being allowed in battles against wild Pokemon but being banned in official Battles against the Pokemon of other people.

[PhantomUnderYourDesk]

Yes, the Almanac or Pokedex can transfer a ball. However, the Friend Ball in particular only ever works its magic on ONE Pokemon, the power would be lost if transferred. So you can't use it to befriend a Pokemon, transfer them to a red ball, then put a new Pokemon in the Friend Ball.

Ah, that makes sense if I am understanding this right, just in case: The Friend Ball's practically one-time use, means if I'd were to put Nightshade back into a normal Ball after her Loyalty is at its max. and transfer a new Pokemon to it, that new Pokemon won't enjoy the Friend Ball's benefits. A neat way to prevent an exploit of that unique Ball, good thinking.

I don't intend to do that though, I've been thinking for a long time which two Pokemon of mine will get a Friend Ball. It's definitely Nightshade and one Pokemon that'll hatch from an Egg.

[Lord Windos]

Spoiler

Yes, I was thinking over the Pokedex/smartphone/PC.


If it's been a TM, I'll probably accept it, including powerhouses like Earthquake. But it's gotta be on your Pokemon's list already, I'm not approving any new exceptions for this.

Gotcha! In that case, another question: Could I trade for the Cooking Lession, and hold off on getting the point until I want it? I ask that because Terra has 0 Points in either Crafts or Chemistry, and I sorta want to get 2 Points into each before getting a Free Point into either. After all, those freebies count for more if they cover the cost for something XP expensive....

In that case, for Genie, would Fissure and Earthquake be an acceptable TM choices for her to learn? Her base evo Trapinch learns Fiss. the move at Lv73 in the BW Corebook, and EQ at at lv 48 for her final evo, so....

On an unrelated note, snow?! I'm so jealous......it hardly snows where I live, and when it does its rather pathetic in all honesty....

Earthquake is definitely fine. I don't know if I want to have Fissure in the campaign, what do you think?

It can be Evaded, so it might not be all that bad? I could also ban it from League use but allow it in wild battles.

Fissure is a bit of a 'High Risk, High Reward' Move, in that it has great benefits if you can pull if off , but screws you over if you miss it, since all that Inaccuracy essentially forces it to be the only Action used in the round at least, or the first of two actions at most. And given that Evasion is pretty easy to pull off with DEX and Fighting being its root Accuracy components, and using Fissure against an opponent that isn't out of Actions, incapacitated in someway, or taken off guard is really hard, and its always a gamble to use an OHKO Move without having a Maxed Accuracy Roll + Will Point spenditure for Fissure. Even then, its none too reliable.

As for its usage in Battles, I say it would be perfectly fine to use it in Wild Battles and Non 'Competitive' Battles (As in not against Gym Leaders, Elite Four, Tourney Challengers, etc., but fine for the regular Trainer Battle or those that are okay with that sort of thing) , and if it would make you feel better we could always make Fissure a hard off 'Can only be used successfully once per Encounter, or three times unsuccessfully' to prevent it from being 'spammed.' 

If you're uncomfortable with OHKO Moves being in your game, though, then I'm perfectly fine and willing to settle with Earthquake for Genie, as that is a great Move that can be used in a variety of situations (Albiet with heavy caution in Doubles/Battle Royales) without worrying about all the stuff that Fissure can do (Like splitting the earth wide open, or being used to cheese some Boss Fights).

[Iron]

Nathan has 13 Canalize dice. He could pull off three Fissures per round without any buffs!

Anyway, if you're fine with (very strong only) NPCs having the move also, we'll try it out! Opponents will almost always try to Evade such a scary move if they can, even wild Pokemon who may not have much strategy.

For now, the League has instituted common sense rulings on destructive moves like Fissure and Earthquake - you're still responsible for any property damage you cause.

The Hiker you trade with isn't interested in the Fissure TM he found, since it's more likely to cave the tunnel in on him than to OHKO his foes.

[Dragonstrike]

Nathan has 13 Canalize dice. He could pull off three Fissures per round without any buffs!

Yup, but only if there's no Pain/accuracy debuffs involved (and it's usually a good thing to expect that you'll be under the effects of at least -1 Pain).  If you want to reliably land 'em after the surprise factor wears off (if there was any in the first place), though, that's when you probably have to limit yourself to only 1 or 2 actions.  Which, at that point, you're probably better off just attacking normally if your opponent is capable of avoiding getting hit by it.

Part of the reason I didn't teach Swiftfire Horn Drill when I had the opportunity in Atheneum is because Nathan's not the kind of trainer who would spam OHKOes in most situations, though it would definitely be a rather killer surprise if Swiftfire ever picked it up.

And part of the reason I have a Rhyxemplar with a +1 Dex Surprise, a Wide Lens, and Horn Drill in the Celadon Campaign is because it was originally trained by Giovanni, who would have absolutely no qualms with creating a monster such as that.  (I've only managed to land it 2 or 3 times because of really bad luck, though)

[Lord Windos]

Spoiler

Nathan has 13 Canalize dice. He could pull off three Fissures per round without any buffs!

Anyway, if you're fine with (very strong only) NPCs having the move also, we'll try it out! Opponents will almost always try to Evade such a scary move if they can, even wild Pokemon who may not have much strategy.

For now, the League has instituted common sense rulings on destructive moves like Fissure and Earthquake - you're still responsible for any property damage you cause.

The Hiker you trade with isn't interested in the Fissure TM he found, since it's more likely to cave the tunnel in on him than to OHKO his foes.

Fair enough, but as they said that's without any Pain or other hindering factors, so the minimal actions you can take to 'reliably' use it would be 1-2. Their also the fact that Nathan is an extremely DEX and Flex oriented character, which means just about any Move or Action he and his Pokemon commit will have great odds than not of succeeding with all but the most Inaccurate of Moves/Actions. Heck, even using Inferno with Swiftfire with 1-2 Pain wouldn't be to daunting of a task to work in a 3-4 Action chain, especially if he spends Will on it or has them use Flame Charge to just make them ludicrously fast/Accurate.

I digress, though! Honestly, I'm halfway tempted to get Earthquake or Low Sweep (For Shiranui - He'd love more methods of speed control with his kit!), but if the option is there, I'd still like Genie to learn Fissure, even if it means I'll  have to resume being being paranoid of any Pokemon I enounter that could know OHKO Moves conventionally (Through Level Up or Breeding, mostly), as having even an mostly unreliable Screw You, Go Away option is too good to pass up. Its one of the reasons why I like Seismic Toss/Nightshade, Super Fang, Endeavor, Destiny Bond, Grudge, etc.. so much, and want to get Final Gambit onto Anubi: Having a Damaging Move that just straight up ignore Vitality or convention defense is super good. Maybe not a consistently good as Priority or Always Accurate Moves, or more devious/crippling options like Sleep or Encore/Disable, but when you can pull off an OHKO/Unconventional Move, it really does its job well.

Besides, Genie can learn EQ naturally for a not too step cost or settle for Bulldoze for a better Ground STAB than Sand Tomb, while learning Fissure as a Surprise would likely be impossible or incredibly expensive. In sum, Genie's learning Fissure and opening up the OHKO Box, for better and worse!

As for the obvious damages the Move causes, Terra's more than aware of the potential for all sorts of bad stuff to happen with Pokemon Moves, so he'd be very careful with ordering Genie to use Fissure, and make sure she knows to be careful too. He owns a Explosive and Explosively tempered Forrestress and far too easily excitable Manetric with Discharge, so he has plenty of experience with both dealing with the fallout of said 'type' of Moves and how to use them safely/sensibly. For instance, he wouldn't use Explosion unless only the Pokemon and non - important property would be non-Lethally affected by the blast, and won't have Melly indiscriminately fire off Discharge without clearing the area of friendly fire target or at least some warning its going to happen soon. 

On another topic entirely, how else can Fissure be used, besides just OHKOing? Like tearing open a gap to prevent others from following, clearing away obsticles or opening up passages, mining, etc..?

[Iron]

Yeah, it could be used as a poor-man's Rock Smash or something. It would be better at sealing off passages than opening them, since it can only be directed downward. The gap idea is a good one. The Fissure is big enough to hold a sizeable Pokemon, so it would definitely be too big to leap for most foes.

[Dragonstrike]

Almanac makes Pokeballs? Cool. I might check them out at some point.

Some of this was actually mentioned awhile back, when we first got a list of stuff available from the Department Store.  The ones available at the Department Store are:

Flash Ball: $225 (same as the ones at the Spring Festival, just slightly more expensive)
Net Ball: $1000
Dive Ball: $1000
Dusk Ball: $1000
Quick Ball: $1000
Luxury Ball: $1000
Timer Ball: $1000
Safari Ball: $225
Beast Ball: $600 (effective on Deltas and pokemon modified by humans, including those that have had Almanac products used on them.  May work well on other variants of pokemon at GM discretion.  Almanac exclusive, and the only one on the list I have that I 100% know is sold by them.)

[Lord Windos]

@Spiritmon: You might want to take the Beldum on offer, as if you get a total of 4 Beldum you can immediately evolve it into a Metagross, for better or worse. If that isn't all that appealing, though, then trading Rhydonzilla for other stuff is a neat idea too.

@Dragonstrike: Alright, does Nathan have time to talk right now, or would he be too tired after all that time travel? And would you want talking to be done in the game thread, or via PM?

[Dragonstrike]

Dragonstrike: Alright, does Nathan have time to talk right now, or would he be too tired after all that time travel? And would you want talking to be done in the game thread, or via PM?

Hmmmmm...I guess he'd have time if it's important.  But yeah, he does want to get some rest as well.  I'll leave the final decision to you.

PMs, please.