It's well and truly past time to toss this "one ability at a time" paradigm in the fucking garbage. And fuck only having 3 abilities max to choose from, the number of abilities has swelled enormously since Gen III. We need to move on, to a better system that's way more interestingThe new system works like this. Pokemon all now have a LARGE ability pool to choose from. Any ability a Pokemon should, or could conceivably have is now part of their pool (unless there's very good reason to exclude some). Mons can all have more than one ability simultaneously now, and you spend points to get the abilities you want from the pool. Specific gimmick/special Pokemon like Arceus may still only have one ability, but I think even plenty of gimmickmons like Slaking and Shedinja can have multiple abilities now (as long as we're very careful about what options we give them). By design, the player won't be given obviously broken ability combos to choose from.This is a 4 point system. You have 4 points to spend on every Pokemon's ability pool. Additionally, every Pokemon has ONE ability they ALWAYS have, no matter the situation or circumstance. This is tied to their species. It is typically the signature and most iconic ability of that species, or something that mon innately NEEDS to function. It costs no points, but they can never remove that one ability they get at the start for free.This means Pokemon can have a maximum of up to FIVE abilities simultaneously now. Yes five, fuck you. (But of course this would be rather uncommon, and if you actually did this you'd get nothing but garbage-tier abilities. 2 or 3 abilities is more typical) Here's two examples of the new system.1/2
2/2@ = the mon's innate signature ability* = the point cost in the ability poolFlygon@Levitate (all mons with Levitate have that as their signature ability)(****)>Arena Trap(***)>Sand Stream >Speed Boost>Tinted Lens>Compound Eyes(**)>Sand Force>Sand Rush>Sand Spit>Wind Rider>Soundproof(*)>Keen Eye>Swarm (I wish we had Bug-ilate...)>Sand Veil>Inner FocusYou can spend your 4 points however you wish. The cost of each ability will need to be tailored to each species, since obviously something ridiculous like Huge Power Blissey and Huge Power Rampardos can't be considered equally valuable. Now with Milotic@Marvel Scale(****)>Prism Armor (dex says its scales are rainbow-colored and shift depending on viewing angle)>Multiscale(***)>Triage>Dazzling>Hydration(**)>Liquid Voice>Competitive>Serene Grace>Rain Dish>Swift Swim (should this cost more so you can't use it with Rain Dish? I think it's fine idk)(*)>Natural Cure>Healer>Guts (for Flame Orb / Marvel Scale meme sets)>Overcoat>Cute CharmYou get the idea. One last thing. If this system were to be implemented, the game NEEDS to outright tell you what abilities the opponent has, or at least give you partial information. I know the guessing games are fun, but this shit is not sustainable. If mons can potentially have ALL these abilities, then the game 100% needs to tell you, or at least help make it possible to guess what they have.You can theorycraft your own ability pools for your favorite mons, if it fancies you. Or just post about how stupid and gay I am, if you prefer. <3
>>59238532I’d rather they just hire a competent team to rebalance the game
>>59238578yeah, me.Altaria @Cotton Down.........why the fuck does it not get this ability already btw (****)>Magic Guard(***)>Fluffy>Friend Guard(**)>Cloud 9>Dragonize>Serene Grace(*)>Natural Cure>Big Pecks>Early Bird>Oblivious >Own Tempo>Overcoat
>>59238538Do Rhyperior.
>>59238532>Any ability a Pokemon should, or could conceivably have is now part of their pool>posts examples with like 9 choices
>>59238538>Didn't specify some Shillmons mike CHARIZARD gets way more points (20 for example) fo spend for its ability pool.
>>59238614Sure, why not. I'm on mobile + doing house chores so sorry if this took way too fucking long.Rhyperior @Solid Rock (yeah man it deserves it and needs it. it's got so many fucking weaknesses, I don't even think this will be OP at all)(****)>Stamina>Sand Stream(***)>Anger Point>Sheer Force>Moxie>Rocky Payload (cuz it launches boulders and Mega Launcher would not be of any use)(**)>Mold Breaker>Reckless (finally can use with Rock Head)>Guts>Sand Force>Intimidate>Armor Tail>Skill Link>Defiant(*)>Lightning Rod>Rock Head>Oblivious>Bulletproof>Battle Armor >Insomnia>Soundproof>Stalwart
>>59238866That's a good list here. Thanks OP.
No time for thoughtful reply rn but keep going, good thread
>>59238532An easier one would be to just give each pokemon up to 5 abilities that are set and don't change. Like Magneton will always have levitate, magnet pull and sturdy. Takes away a small bit of customization but you could balance mons better that way and it sidesteps the need for open teamsheets. Plus realistically if you can pick them alot of abilities will go completely unused since people will prioritize the good shit.
>>59238538>You get the idea. One last thing. If this system were to be implemented, the game NEEDS to outright tell you what abilities the opponent has, or at least give you partial information.Honestly Ive never been a fan of team preview type shit and could easily chuck that idea in the trash. I would enjoy the everloving FUCK out of playing a meta like this where every Pokemon could have several different abilities and nobody knows what. I loved that gameplay in earlier gens where scouting and feeling out your opponent mattered. You wont take certain risks knowing your opponent could be minmaxed one way or the other. If anything the only downside I see of this is the game starts becoming more complex and you have to keep track of a lot more hypotheticals that your opponent may have. Even though I like this personally I could see why a lot of players wouldnt.
Noivern@Soundproof(****) >Aerialate>Gale Wings (it's nerfed now but I'll make it expensive just to be safe)(***)>Berserk>Speed Boost>Intimidate (I don't wanna slap Intimidate on everything, but I'd feel pretty intimidated if a giant black vampire-dragon pounced on me on a dark moonless night)(**)>Wind Rider>Ripen (it loves fruit, but this is the only berry ability that doesn't feel too weird to give it)>Infiltrator>Frisk>Unburden(*)>Telepathy>Insomnia>Keen Eye>Pressure>UnnerveI'll post Absol too, but it's not complete. I cannot for the life of me figure out what else to give it. . .so I'm just giving up. Here was my incomplete draft@Super Luck??? Idk(****)>Fuck if I know, dude :/(***)>Intimidate(**)>Magic Bounce (just cuz mega has it, but it's too frail to be very useful)>Sharpness>Defiant>Stakeout(*)>Justified>Pressure>Forewarn>Anticipation>Hyper Cutter
>>59240156Maybe a good way to do it is only telling you how they spent their points, but not on what. So (****) means they must have spent all their points on a 4 star move. Alternatively it shows (**/*/*) or (***/*) etc. You'd still usually need to do heavy guesswork
>>59240183I like that actually.
>>59238538Cool idea, I don’t even think it’d be that complicated because as you said hardly anyone would run many low-tier skills.Chimecho@Levitate(****)>Reskinned Punk Rock>Steel type Aerilate(***)>Wind Rider but for Sp. Atk>Friend Guard>Magic Guard>Filter(**)>Telepathy>Magic Bounce>Cursed Body(*)>Soundproof>Healer>Aftermath
Haven't seen Metagross in ages, forgot it even existed@Clear Body (this means I'm not giving it Mirror Armor as one of its options, but I'm okay with that)(****) >Neuroforce>Psychic Surge>Magic Bounce(***)>Heatproof>Magnet Pull>Technician(**)>Analytic>Aftermath>Iron Fist (this one is fun. Meteor Mash + tons of other moves it gets for this)>Bulletproof>Download>Synchronize(*)>Telepathy>Light Metal >Heavy Metal>Perfectly Average-Weight MetalOkay going to bed, have fun y'all <3
>>59240276Boy needs a psychic/ghost evo, it's been too fucking long
>>59240290Psychic/Ghost would be cool if it wasn’t complete ass.In a parallel universe Chimecho could have been the first Ghost/Steel type though.That would be extremely strong before gen 6, it would have only been weak to Fire while having four immunities lol
make the eevees all share Adaptability as their innate
Sounds fine on paper but>only SOME mons should have an ability locked in, like slaking or other ones where it's integral to their function, like Eelektross or whatever>mons should have like 5-10 abilities as options at absolute max, and only mons known for being versatile should have as many as 10ish abilities>only mediocre to bad abilities should be below 3 points, almost anything with an immunity, resist, or power boost should be 3-4 points>you absolutely cannot simply tell the opponent what all abilities you have in pokemon, not because of strategy or whatever as gf already uses open team sheets, but instead because those declarations would be cumbersome and annoying. Making them all able to be intuited is much better. The (**/**) style system the other anon recommended seems reasonable as an accomodation.good concept but having SO MANY options is bad instead of good. This should be an opportunity to add 2-3 abilities to most mons and let them run 1-3 abilities that are all about as strong as they are now, for the most part.Some of the cool thematic options like rocky payload on rhyperior for example are great ideas though.
Keep the innate and hidden ability system. Just add one additional ability slot per pokemon. Put other thematic abilities in that pool and let players pick one. For some mons that pool includes their primary abilities (so they can run both primary abilities at once) while for others they have a set of totally different ones. This pool can be as small as just one ability and as big as 3 or maybe 4, no more than that.Abilities are already a really important part of what makes a mon good, when you start giving loads of ability options to loads of pokemon you make the game really centralized. Mons with good typing or BST basically become the automatic best users of most abilities, especially since a lot of the best abilities in the game (competitive, defiant, intimdate, levitate, sheer force, tough claws, sharpness to name but a few) are general as fuck and could justifiably fit the flavor of basically every single pokemon in the game. If ability distribution becomes widespread rather than hyperspecific, every team runs shit like intimidate sheer force garchomp or stamina sturdy corviknight, why would you ever run other mons to have access to the benefits of those abilities?
Reuniclus@Magic Guard(****)>Regenerator>Magic Bounce>Huge Power (It's vagely rabbit shaped)(***)>Water bubble (because of the stange liquid that surrounds the body)>Clear Body>Friend Guard>Telepathy(**)>Liquid Ooze (one of the dex entries mentions the green liquid being highly toxic to everything but Reuniclus)>Hydration(*)>Overcoat>Levitate>Cute Charm>Own Tempo
>>59241500Water Bubble is very interesting, I like it
>>59241500imagine putting water bubble below 4 even for reuniclus specificallyimagine putting LEVITATE at 1 point wtf
>>59241662no need to take it so serious, we're just doing fun hypotheticals. we don't need to actually live with the shit we post in this thread like it's gonna be real lol
Salazzle. Not gonna give it an innate ability, I'm not convinced it should be Corrosion cuz I feel like that's forcing a particular playstyle onto the player that they may not want. Just assume the innate would be one of the following. (****) >Contrary (for overheat)>Neutralizing Gas(***)>Merciless (fucking finally)>Poison Puppeteer (**)>Lingering Aroma (I imagine it'd erase one random ability of the foe every time Salazzle is hit)>Competitive >Infiltrator >Pickpocket (holdover from Salandit being a burglar)(*)>Corrosion (who the fuck is poisoning steel types when you have Fire STAB lmao)>Flame Body>Flash Fire >Oblivious>Cute Charm>RivalryI would give it Marvel Scale and Shed Skin, but it can't be poisoned or burned anyway so.... :/ I also wanna give it both Dark Aura and Dragon's Maw as options, but I understand that's a bit too fanfic-y.
>>59241662Water Bubble on Reuniclus is just Heatproof + Water Veil. 3 is fine.
>>59241882It also makes Water moves stronger, but what the fuck does it even get? Water Pulse? Literally it's fine
>>59241900It only has Rain Dance. The only way to use the Water Buff is Tera Blast (tied to a gimmick) or Hidden Power (no longer exists)
>>59241912I mean if we're redesigning how the ability system works is not that farfetched to assume that we could give Reuniculs one or two water moves to take advantage of Water Bubble. Like it's just a hypotetical we can have some imagination.
>>59242396In that case, Bubble and Bubble Beam are the obvious ones (Bouncy Bubble too if we get a bit Hackromish)Water Pulse would be fine too.Brine, Chilling Water and Muddy Water? Maybe?
>>59241500>Huge Power (It's vagely rabbit shaped)It's dex entries also like hyping up the physical strength of its Jelly arms.>While it could use its psychic abilities in battle, this Pokémon prefers to swing its powerful arms around to beat opponents into submission.
>>59242554I think water pulse, chilling water, bubble beam and weather ball (in rain) are more than enough. Maybe trade one of them for liquidation so it can have a physical one.
