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

[Spiritmon]

Awesome! But you forget the one dice to Burn 2 the target Iron. That might help in the capture of Shieldon. And now Rose have 5 in Happiness and 5 in loaylty! Yes!

A Burn 3 would also deal Lethal damage to Shieldon very, very quickly since you didn't hold back on Flare Blitz's burn.

Congrats on the perfect happiness and loyalty with Heart's closest companion!

Oh yeah right...then I holding back the Flare Blitz now! Dont want to kill the Shield pokemon D:

Indeed^^Imagine all the adventure they have together in this campaigh until now when she was still a Monferno. And now she is Heart one of strongerst pokemon.

[Lord Windos]

Huh....well how about that. I'm still thinking about trading it away for profit, though, since I'm not too found of Steel/Rock types, and between Basteele, Future Anubi, and Mawile he's covered on Offensive AND Defensive Steels. Still, all those Moves alone would make this dino an impressive battler, and having Sandstorm would just add even more chip damage if used with Basteele. Hmm....

IMO, it's almost worth keeping for Wide Guard alone.  Being able to protect a bunch of fellow party members from the worst of the damage that could be dealt is very, very valuable, and we don't have ANY Wide Guard users in the party atm (Dittolune doesn't count because it's not consistently available, and the only other party members that can potentially learn it atm are Honedge [learns it upon evolving via Dusk Stone] and A-Geodude [? move].)

Huh.....well, in that case I guess I'll keep Bastiodon after all. I was sort of on the fence whether or not I wanted to sell it or keep it, but if Wide Guard is that good of a Move for the party/group and itself, I can afford to sacrifice the worth of it to keep it around! Not a whole lot of Moves that buff Pokemon other than the user. Can only name Heal Pulse, Helping Hand, After You, Safeguard, Aromatherapy/Heal Bell, and Tailwind on top of my head, and now I can add Wide Guard to that list! Rage Powder and Follow Me could also be benefical for others, but more in an pulling aggro sort of way than directly supporting. Thanks for helping me with that decision, mate!

[Dragonstrike]

Huh.....well, in that case I guess I'll keep Bastiodon after all. I was sort of on the fence whether or not I wanted to sell it or keep it, but if Wide Guard is that good of a Move for the party/group and itself, I can afford to sacrifice the worth of it to keep it around! Not a whole lot of Moves that buff Pokemon other than the user. Can only name Heal Pulse, Helping Hand, After You, Safeguard, Aromatherapy/Heal Bell, and Tailwind on top of my head, and now I can add Wide Guard to that list! Rage Powder and Follow Me could also be benefical for others, but more in an pulling aggro sort of way than directly supporting. Thanks for helping me with that decision, mate!

YW!

Given Terra's protective tendencies and how useful you've seen the move is whenever Ditto, Geigeroach, and Airmid have used it (drastically reducing/outright nullifying incoming damage consistently), I'm kinda surprised that move alone wasn't a major consideration at first.

Also, 5 Str, STAB, 6 Power Head Smash is scary if you can land it.  REALLY scary.

[Lord Windos]

YW!

Given Terra's protective tendencies and how useful you've seen the move is whenever Ditto, Geigeroach, and Airmid have used it (drastically reducing/outright nullifying incoming damage consistently), I'm kinda surprised that move alone wasn't a major consideration at first.

Also, 5 Str, STAB, 6 Power Head Smash is scary if you can land it.  REALLY scary.

Hey, I'm not always the most aware of this sorta thing, so kudos to you for pointing it out! Also, Bastiodon gets Metal Sound and Taunt for even more fun and annoyance, and Block is also helpful if we want to prevent baddies or certain Pokemon from escaping (Like the Scims!)

Yeap, that's a right terror to behold, ESPECIALLY if amped up with either a Hard Stone or Life Orb (The later's Recoil add on doesn't matter with that Move in particular). Max Damage for the Move without a Helping Hand or STR Buff would be either 13 or 14 Damage (Up to 15 with both STR Badges!), depending on which Items you use. 

HOWEVER, Bastiodon will be suffering from the same damage as his opponent, so its sorta a suicide attack or last resort unless that much raw power is REALLY needed (Like against a Legendary weak to Rock, as I don't care how much Plot Devices it has, an SE Move with THAT much power backing it up will at least do a little harm to it) . I'm actually more likely to spam Ancient Power as its Rock STAB, since its still has good power without braining them in the process.

No, if you want to see true power, look no further than its Heavy Slam. Given how HEAVY it is, and the fact that Terra's Man of Steel status grants it + 1 STAB on its Steel Moves, the max. total Damage it can output with/without at Life Orb is STR + 5 + STAB X 2 = 12 - 15 Damage. Which is only slightly less powerful than HS, but without LO it does that damage without Recoil. Iron Head is also nasty stuff, as its practically a STR + 5 Move due to Double Stab and the chance for Flinching it has. Then you add in either Sandstorm or Metal Sound (Or both), and things just get that much worse for whatever is fight against it.

Problem is that it has horrible weakness to Fight and Ground types, and a not as bad but still not good weakness to Water, but beyond that its not too bad of a Pokemon at ALL. Plus, it can maybe learn Fissure or Guard Split (Ah yes, those moves can Help Pokemon too!) in the future, so even better!

[Dragonstrike]

Spoiler

Hey, I'm not always the most aware of this sorta thing, so kudos to you for pointing it out! Also, Bastiodon gets Metal Sound and Taunt for even more fun and annoyance, and Block is also helpful if we want to prevent baddies or certain Pokemon from escaping (Like the Scims!)

Yeap, that's a right terror to behold, ESPECIALLY if amped up with either a Hard Stone or Life Orb (The later's Recoil add on doesn't matter with that Move in particular). Max Damage for the Move without a Helping Hand or STR Buff would be either 13 or 14 Damage (Up to 15 with both STR Badges!), depending on which Items you use. 

HOWEVER, Bastiodon will be suffering from the same damage as his opponent, so its sorta a suicide attack or last resort unless that much raw power is REALLY needed (Like against a Legendary weak to Rock, as I don't care how much Plot Devices it has, an SE Move with THAT much power backing it up will at least do a little harm to it) . I'm actually more likely to spam Ancient Power as its Rock STAB, since its still has good power without braining them in the process.

No, if you want to see true power, look no further than its Heavy Slam. Given how HEAVY it is, and the fact that Terra's Man of Steel status grants it + 1 STAB on its Steel Moves, the max. total Damage it can output with/without at Life Orb is STR + 5 + STAB X 2 = 12 - 15 Damage. Which is only slightly less powerful than HS, but without LO it does that damage without Recoil. Iron Head is also nasty stuff, as its practically a STR + 5 Move due to Double Stab and the chance for Flinching it has. Then you add in either Sandstorm or Metal Sound (Or both), and things just get that much worse for whatever is fight against it.

Problem is that it has horrible weakness to Fight and Ground types, and a not as bad but still not good weakness to Water, but beyond that its not too bad of a Pokemon at ALL. Plus, it can maybe learn Fissure or Guard Split (Ah yes, those moves can Help Pokemon too!) in the future, so even better!

- Do note that Block only affects a single target at a time.  Spider Web and Fairy Lock are the only trapping moves that affect all opponents (though Fairy Lock is also temporary and also affects allies. Also by contrast, however, is that Fairy Lock's effects don't end immediately if the user (most likely a Prankster Klefki) is KOed).

- Would probably want to give Bastiodon that Life Orb or a Hard Stone or similar if you want to use Ancient Power, imo, given that AP is a mere 2 Power move.  That's below average.

- I can name one reason to lessen the worry about recoil: Sturdy.  Since you can escape being KOed once, so long as the Recoil doesn't KO you (since that does ignore Sturdy), you don't have to worry about your opponent KOing you if Head Smash hasn't ended the battle.

- I could argue that using Belly Drum is rather suicidal as well, given the nature of the pokerole mechanics. Same with Pokerole Life Orb.

- Guard Split would be better if the user actually had allies to share a huge Defense stat with.  If Nathan remains an actual Glass Cannon, though, the move could see some use.  Or if you start stacking Defense/Vitality Surprises on Bastiodon (just like with Power Trick, GS does not account for stat boosts when used in the games).

In a game where individuals all use their own stats instead of a group stat pool, it'd also be a lot better since most Guard Splitters have a tendency to be able to surpass 5 Vit.  Bastiodon has a max of 8, for example.

On a more positive note, it was also indirectly, slightly buffed in base Pokerole due to Vit determining both Def and Sp. Def.

- Good point on heavy Slam being ultra powerful as well.  If Bastiodon isn't holding any items that buff Head Smash's power, Heavy Slam is usually going to be just as powerful thanks to the innate Metal Coat buff.  Not many pokemon weigh more than 400 kg (basically meaning A-Exeggutor, Snorlax, Avalugg, Metagross, Mudsdale, various Legendaries, and other Heavy Slam users).  However, on that note...it seems Pokerole also buffed Bastiodon's weight for the purpose of buffing Heavy Slam, just like with Forretress.  Bastiodon weighs 149.5 kg according to the pokedex in the games.  Forretress had its weight doubled.  Bastiodon had its weight QUADRUPLED.  This also seems to be a consistent thing in the book...Steelix weighs 400 kg in the games, but 1 ton in the book.  They really didn't want any pokemon to get gimped because of the decision to base Heavy Slam's effect on flat numbers instead of percentages, I guess...

- I think a better way to think of the Steel/Rock typing is an offensive combination.  What with how good of a type Fairy is and how amazing Rock is offensively, the STAB combo can be used to great effect, as is sometimes seen with Rock Head Aggron in lower tiers of Smogon play.  Aggron's probably more suited to an offensive role than Bastiodon is from a movepool standpoint, but having a strong offensive pokemon with some really good support options because of how this game is run can be really good, too.

[Lord Windos]

Hm....now that I think about it, their's another good reason to have Bastiodon around: It can be ridden with a Large Saddle (Which Terra has!), or used to haul heavy stuff around! Probably not all that useful outside of certain situations, but it'll certainly be fun and eye-catching to do!

[Dragonstrike]

Hm....now that I think about it, their's another good reason to have Bastiodon around: It can be ridden with a Large Saddle (Which Terra has!), or used to haul heavy stuff around! Probably not all that useful outside of certain situations, but it'll certainly be fun and eye-catching to do!

Can't argue with that!  Bastiodon probably makes a great pack animal!

[Lord Windos]

I need to fix some dinner to eat, and then I'll get to posting back to you, Dragonstrike. I imagine that everyone else will hear about this conversation by listening in, so I don't mind if it starts only between our characters first.

[Spiritmon]

Well, I dont know if I going to let Shieldon stay in my party. I already have 2 strong Steel pokemon with me: Honedege and Lairon. And there D-Onix who I going to evolve him to D-Steelix. I going to sell that pokemon to get a few important items: One of them is a Flamethower move to teach Rose, because since the battle against those Nuzleaf I see I lack in some ranged moves with her, along with a better no-self damage move than Ember of Flame Wheel. The other items would be Ice Beam to Gustav, Shadow Ball to Viktor, Blizzard to Mudkip, Stone Edge to Lairon, Ice Punch when Caesar evolve, along with others...its gonna be difficult to choose another one.

[Dragonstrike]

Well, I dont know if I going to let Shieldon stay in my party. I already have 2 strong Steel pokemon with me: Honedege and Lairon. And there D-Onix who I going to evolve him to D-Steelix. I going to sell that pokemon to get a few important items: One of them is a Flamethower move to teach Rose, because since the battle against those Nuzleaf I see I lack in some ranged moves with her, along with a better no-self damage move than Ember of Flame Wheel. The other items would be Ice Beam to Gustav, Shadow Ball to Viktor, Blizzard to Mudkip, Stone Edge to Lairon, Ice Punch when Caesar evolve, along with others...its gonna be difficult to choose another one.

Keep in mind that some of those will probably need GM approval.  Namely, all of them except Flamethrower on Rose because that's the only one that's actually listed in the book (because Chimchar can learn it via leveling, which automatically makes the TM compatible no matter what).

Viktor could also learn Shadow Claw via level, which is just as strong as Shadow Ball.  Another thing to note: he could use Phantom Force to effectively teleport out of any kind of entrapment because the he will always physically strike his target from behind due to interdimensional shenanigans. The strike itself isn't ranged, but Viktor can use it to attack from any reasonable distance due to the strange nature of the move.

BTW, expect Nathan to ask how the encounters with Shieldon and Bastiodon went after the thing with Terra and Deoxys is addressed sufficiently (for now).