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

[PhantomUnderYourDesk]

So what, they decided it's not insanely bulky in their Game, so there's that.

[Lord Windos]

So what, they decided it's not insanely bulky in their Game, so there's that.

Yeah, but that's kinda the point behind Blissey's (And Evolite Chansey, to an extent) existence: to soak up blows, and either stall out the enemy with Toxic and Softboil, or use Sesmic Toss to do damage the old fashion way, utterly independent of actual offensive stats! I thought it strange that it didn't have that bulk in Pokeroles....

I also noticed that Noiverns Boomburst, normally a move it can relearn via move tutor, has a whopping 75 XP cost. In X and Y, that dragon can just relearn that move with absolutely no level cost at a move tutor upon Niobat evolving into it. Given that those base level/re-teachable moves are 0 XP in the book, I don't understand why they decided to amp up the cost for that one move. Especially considering Togekiss, which has the similar stats to Noivern, learns Sky Attack for 0XP, which has high damage, high Flitch rate, and is automatically Lethal to boot. Which can only stand to get higher with either an Ancient Power stat boost across the board, or a Nast Plot boost.

[Dragonstrike]

It just feels odd, is all. Usually, I expect Blissey to take a few hits, so seeing it unable to sufficiently fill that tanking role is weird.

Now there is something else to mention since we're talking about Vitality, I guess. And that's an alternate system. Now, it's not something we'll be using, but one or two people on the forums did a sort of game HP to pokerole HP conversion thing at some point. Just a quick example being Onix, which has 28 HP in Pokerole. Based on its base 35 HP stat in the games, the conversion reduced that down to 3.

The writers mainly decided they didn't like that because a giant rock snake just isn't very scary if it can't take a hit. Well, that's one reason. I can't say I disagree, but dang, it's definitely quite a difference! An alternative thing they could have done is just given Onix a huge base Vitality, since that doubles as the pokemon's defenses. It's what Onix and Steelix are known for, after all.

Of course, they went ahead and gave Onix BOTH (28 base HP, 4 base vitality, 8 max Vitality), so...yeah, Brock is pretty brutal in games that follow Red's journey through Kanto to the letter.

[Lord Windos]

Of course, they went ahead and gave Onix BOTH (28 base HP, 4 base vitality, 8 max Vitality), so...yeah, Brock is pretty brutal in games that follow Red's journey through Kanto to the letter.

If Brock's Oynx is that buff, I'm absolutely terrified by Red Pokémon team. If he can overcome that type of colossus earlier on, yikes!

[Dragonstrike]

I also noticed that Noiverns Boomburst, normally a move it can relearn via move tutor, has a whopping 75 XP cost. Given that those base level/re-teachable moves are 0 XP in the book, I don't understand why they decided to amp up the cost for that one move. Especially considering Togekiss, which has the similar stats to Noivern, learns Sky Attack for 0XP, which has high damage, high Flitch rate, and is automatically Lethal to boot. Which can only stand to get higher with either an Ancient Power stat boost across the board, or a Nast Plot boost.

That would probably be for balance reasons.  Stone evos can get away with it because they don't learn any moves via level up anyways, and are known for that odd quirk.

Something like Noivern's Boomburst or Gallade's Close Combat though?  Well, they already learn the offending move via a large amount of leveling.  The 0 exp cost for those moves was just something added in the games starting in gen 6 to speed up the process of raising a competitive pokemon.  Getting moves that powerful so quickly on pokemon that aren't quite as difficult to evolve in Pokerole is likely overkill to some degree, as almost every pokemon would be slinging those moves around really, really quickly if they kept with the trend in the newer pokemon games.  I do wish they'd fully update the movepools, but I can understand why a lot of those powerful moves you can normally only learn with a load of exp or a move relearner in the games might be locked away at high exp costs when a pokemon learns it both at that high level and as a move relearner move.

Now, maybe if the GM decided to overrule that, or make it available for the low cost ONLY if you can fill the requirement of finding a move relearner and have the needed item to pay them with...

[Dragonstrike]

Of course, they went ahead and gave Onix BOTH (28 base HP, 4 base vitality, 8 max Vitality), so...yeah, Brock is pretty brutal in games that follow Red's journey through Kanto to the letter.

If Brock's Oynx is that buff, I'm absolutely terrified by Red Pokémon team. If he can overcome that type of colossus earlier on, yikes!

This was actually a concern brought up by a DM who'd set up that exact situation for his players.  Almost the exact situation Red would have been in if a Pichu had been his starter instead of a Pikachu.  Heck, with Pikachu, he would have probably gotten destroyed.  Pichu, though?

The writers responded with a 'hold my beer' type response, where they found a way for the Pichu to brutalize that Onix, despite its only damaging move being Thundershock.  Sweet Kiss and Charm OP, yo.  Brock's lv 14 Onix wasn't able to touch that Pichu.

A few rules have changed since then, but that scenario is still rather relevant regardless of a few mechanical changes.

[Dies Irae]

Tiny Pichu, Giant Onix

There seems to be something of a designer focus on winning via shutting down an opponent's move pool. I don't like it personally since it feels WAY too much like a Hard Counter Magic Bullet solution than something someone would use normally.

[Dragonstrike]

There seems to be something of a designer focus on winning via shutting down an opponent's move pool. I don't like it personally since it feels WAY too much like a Hard Counter Magic Bullet solution than something someone would use normally.

Yeah, we even saw a little of that with Riff and Raff.  They had an entire team of pokemon based around the core types and abilities that make their pokemon immune to those same types, followed by protecting their disadvantaged pokemon to minimize the damage dealt and maybe even take advantage of the abilities' effects.

Something I tried to emulate, but didn't manage because it was shut down before I had a chance to safely use a fire move to take advantage of Flash Fire.  I would have managed it too, if that Skiddo had missed Worry Seed or Ponyta had been withdrawn before Worry Seed went off.  I didn't want to risk their Ponyta getting the same boost, and was grateful my first double ember on turn one didn't set off their Ponyta's Flash Fire.

Of course, if I'd just had Ponyta fire off embers at Skiddo, maybe it would have gone down more quickly, seeing as Porygon managed to take out Ponyta pretty handily. Wingull might have caused similar problems with dealing that fire damage, though...shame I couldn't take as much advantage of the cover they were able to use because Porygon was using Tackle instead of a ranged move, but oh well.

[Lord Windos]

Tiny Pichu, Giant Onix

There seems to be something of a designer focus on winning via shutting down an opponent's move pool. I don't like it personally since it feels WAY too much like a Hard Counter Magic Bullet solution than something someone would use normally.

It is, however, a viable tactic to employ, especially for Pokémon that normally have low damage output in of themselves. If they can't hardly make a dent in the enemy, just lower their damage and accuracy to the point that you can just turtle it out! Like Stall in competitive, depriving you enemy of its damage and just chipping away at them is totally ok, especially if their is no other way to easily achieve victory.

In fact, if I ever get the opportunity to have Raphael learn Thunder Wave, I can totally pull of TPGO strategy for myself, given it knows Charm and Sweet Kiss too! It also has Yawn for extra deviousness, hehehe!

[PhantomUnderYourDesk]

In fact, if I ever get the opportunity to have Raphael learn Thunder Wave, I can totally pull of TPGO strategy for myself, given it knows Charm and Sweet Kiss too! It also has Yawn for extra deviousness, hehehe!

That's where me and skills as a Move Tutor may come in handy. Thunder Wave's not listed as available in Togepi's evo-line, but so is Double Team on my dear Abra...