Signature Booking Office

Pixel Chinchill said:

Name: Aisling
Ability: Prankster

Signature Move
Name: Pangur Bahn
Type: Fairy
Damage Class: Status
Base Power: --
Base Energy: 4%
Accuracy: 100%
Target: Single
Usage Gap: Four rounds

Effects: The target Pokemon's ability is changed to Infiltrator.
Description: Singing an ancient melody, Aisling shrouds her target in a mystic power that allows them to slip past defenses.

Flavor: Aisling's trainer often taught her about old myths and fairytales, including the story of the Secret of Kells, which inspired her name. One scene that stuck in Aisling's mind was the song sung by her namesake, to enchant a cat to tread where she could not to free her friend. Since then she trained herself, seeking a way t bring that ancient magic to the battlefield.

Click to expand...

Byrus said:

Changing the target's ability is a powerful effect, but changing it to something useful like Inflitrator seems like a decent enough drawback, so I think this is okay. Senior Approved 1/2

Click to expand...

This looks balanced enough to me. It's got my go-ahead as well. Consider it approved!

Alright, let's try to get a few of the older signature attributes that have been hanging around. I was hoping to bring up more of them but for now let's get these ones out there.

Byrus said:

[Nurglitch] Raticate (M) (Guts)

Signature attribute: Verminous

In the wild, Nurglitch was a high ranking member of a rag-tag group of rodents called Clan Pestilens. The clan grew from its humble beginnings on the outskirts of a run-down industrial town to a thriving mass of filthy vermin carrying all sorts of diseases. They were ugly brutes with matted brown fur and festering sores all over their body, and they were also surprisingly sly and cunning, if somewhat insane. They were devout worshipers of the diseases they carried, and considered it their solemn duty to spread the sickness throughout the world.

Though you’d be hard-pressed to find someone who’d admit to being afraid of a Rattata or Raticate, Clan Pestilens was certainly a case of its own, and the plague of critters caused much misery before the pest control finally decided to step in and round most of them up. Many of Nurglitch’s clan were exterminated, with Nurglitch himself put on the chopping board. However, he was saved at the last moment by a particularly shady looking trainer with a blatant disregard for health and safety regulations.

Effects: Nurglitch is crawling with filth and disease, making contact with him a risky business. His grotesque appearance discourages anyone from touching him, so all contact moves aimed at him have their accuracy reduced by 10%. Any Pokémon that does successfully make contact with him may occasionally find themselves feeling sick, and they have a 10% chance of having their defense lowered by one stage. His rancid stench gives away his position, however, and he is always considered to be under the effects of odour sleuth. His appearance doesn't lend itself well to moves like attract and captivate either, and they will always fail when used by him. Poison types, being generally well accustomed to this repulsiveness, are immune to his ability.

Click to expand...

Lord of the Fireflies said:

Intermediate Approved 1/2. Do Senior approvals still need a second approval?

Click to expand...

JackPK said:

Byrus — [Nurglitch] Raticate (M) — Verminous

Honestly, I'm not so sure about Odor Sleuth being a good drawback to this. It (1) resets evasion to normal, (2) makes Ghosts vulnerable to Normal and Fighting, and (3) prevents sneaky moves like Feint Attack. Evasion is honestly not changed much in ASB, so (1) is rarely going to come into play; Raticate is not a Ghost-type, so (2) won't have any effect; and judging by a (very quick) glance, the only move Raticate gets that falls under (3) is Double Team, which is admittedly a highly effective nerf, but it seems like if that's what you intended, you could have just said "his stench reveals him as the true Nurglitch, making him unable to effectively use Double Team."

Aside from that, Attract is so near-universally hated that I think the inability to use it is not much of a nerf, considering people so often include it in banned moves. The Poison-type nerf is good but situational.

I don't want to outright say no to this as written since others may convincingly argue that perma-0 evasion and inability to use Double Team are decent nerfs, but neither do I want to rubber-stamp this quite yet. So uh... I guess this is the opening of a conversation rather than a yes or no.

Click to expand...

I'm a little more inclined towards approving this, since the effects are hardly so spectacular as to require very significant drawbacks. The small pseudo-Evasion gain and the perma inability to actually gain Evasion by other means about check off; the Defense dropping effect is a little worthier of concern, since passively lowering enemy Defense is actually pretty good as far as effects go, but 10% is a noticeably low activation rate. This should be good to go with just a bit more adjustment.

Sangfroidish said:

[Priscilla] Minccino ♀
Ability: Technician

Signature Attribute: Crossbreed

Description: Somewhere generations back in Priscilla's bloodline, despite taboo and the usual logistics of Pokémon breeding, her ancestors somehow crossbred with Dragon-type Pokémon. The genes remained dormant at first, such that this abomination went unnoticed for a long while until finally Priscilla was born. The latent dragon genes finally awoke, and she was born unlike any of her predecessors, freakishly exaggerated in size and bestowed with elemental properties and abilities like none of her kind. She was duly shunned by her relatives and cast out, regarded as a freak and an abomination by all who came upon her. Despite being captured by the Asber league and finally accepted by her trainer, the emotional scars of this persecution have yet to fade.

Effects: Priscilla is granted the Dragon type, thus changing her typing to Normal/Dragon. Her height and weight are both double that of the rest of her kind. Being considered a freak and an abomination for her entire life has made Priiscilla cold, aloof and highly suspicious of any form of praise or friendly gesture, as well as unable to empathise with or pity opponents. Thus the moves After You, Attract, Baby-Doll Eyes, Captivate, Charm, Encore, Flatter, Helping Hand, Hold Hands, and Play Nice have no effect on her, though nor is she able to use any of those same moves herself. Taunt and Torment remain in effect on her for one action longer than normal.

Movepool changes:
+ Dragon Breath, Dragon Dance, Dragon Tail, Twister
- After You, Attract, Baby-Doll Eyes, Captivate, Charm, Dazzling Gleam, Encore, Gunk Shot, Helping Hand, Seed Bomb, Work Up

Click to expand...

Byrus said:

Priscilla - Looking at those movepool changes, I think you might have actually nerfed this a bit too much, and you could probably get away with some better options there, like Dragon Pulse. If you're satisfied with it, though, fair enough. Senior approved 1/2

Click to expand...

Hmmmm... I'm aware that a fellow approver has suggested them, but, all but one of the gained moves are elligible for a Technician boost. Dragon Breath in particular is arguably better than Dragon Pulse after the boost, having the same power alongside a spiffy effect with a semi-reliable activation rate. Furthermore, added susceptibility to Taunt and Torment isn't much of a check-off when you've already dropped most of your non-damaging movepool and have solid, diverse offensive options (even with the currently lost moves). All in all, you're gaining four resistances, secondary STAB, a few good attacking moves, and Dragon Dance, which will probably require a little more drawback to check off.

I'd consider adding Calm Mind and Fake Tears to the list of moves Priscilla can't use or be affected by, as it'd curb her access to many good Special moves enough that it'd help balance everything off. I feel like Last Resort could also go, in the light of Dragon Dance and invulnerability to two Attack-lowering moves, but I could be wrong about that (and also about the Calm Mind/Fake Tears thing, so, other approvers, feel free to add input). Lastly, in addition to some of those suggestions or not, I'd consider lowering her base Speed (or an initial/inherent 1- to the stat), which would be an effective drawback, a curb for Dragon Dance, and even likely fitting enough for the flavor.

Meursault said:

Łebsko the female Slowpoke <Oblivious>
Signature Attribute: Sheer Ignorance
Slowpoke are not the brightest of Pokémon. This is somewhat obvious to anyone who is not a Slowpoke. Łebsko is no exception to this. She tends not to notice things about people, or opponents. She has a decent enough memory to remember the basic facts about her opponents, but she's not too likely to notice if something is off, even if it's obvious to her teammates.

For example, if she's facing against a Cascoon that's been retyped to Bug/Rock, her teammates would get supereffective bonuses when using water moves against it, but not Łebsko. Similarly, Cascoon would get STAB when using rock moves against anyone other than Łebsko.
Effect: When attacking or being attacked by Łebsko, Pokémon are treated as not having a signature attribute. This does not affect movepool modifications.

Click to expand...

JackPK said:

Meursault — [Łebsko] Slowpoke (F) — Sheer Ignorance

Ha ha, I actually really love the idea of this. I'm not sure how fair it would be, for instance, against really complicated stuff like The Omskivar's proposed Cascoon (or even simple retypes like Eifie's Water/Fairy Luvdisc), so I'm only tentatively approving it and encouraging other approvers to join the conversation on this rather than just rubber-stamping it, but I do really really love the idea behind this. In any case, whether immediately approved or sent back to the drawing board, I encourage you to rephrase it so attributes are out of play all the time that Łebsko is in play, so as to avoid potentially ambiguous/contradictory circumstances in 2v2s and things like that.

Click to expand...

Hmmm, it's a little disappointing that this hasn't been discussed much.

Balanced, this should be; I'd have to hope we can operate under the assumption that a Pokémon with a signature attribute and a Pokémon without a signature attribute are roughly equals in terms of balance, so exchanging one for the other shouldn't be an excessive effect to apply against the opponent. There's the aforementioned edge case of things like Omskivar's Cascoon, but at least, I'd charitably assume that no one would send such a Pokémon out against Łebsko (then again, Łebsko can be sent out against such Pokémon -- and then again, a wise player would keep such Pokémon off the field for as long as them being one-on-one against Łebsko is a possibility). This whole train of thought gives me a bit of uncertainity in that Łebsko's presence can break an active squad built under the assumption of certain signature attributes (extreme example: "oh, all my Pokémon are originally Fire-, Fighting-, Ground-, Poison- or Rock-types, but all of them have signature attributes that change their types so it's actually a more diverse mix -- oh, wait, there's a Water/Psychic Pokémon in there that negates their type changes, crap"). That aside, though, I'm inclined towards approving, and I will if nobody has anything to add for the next while or so.

Trying my hand at another Sig. This time a move, of sorts.


[Pluto] Sneasel (m) <Inner Focus>

Name: Hush
Type: Ice / Stat: Other / Base Power: -- / Base Energy Cost: 5% / Accuracy: -- / Target: User / Usage Gap: 5 actions after target's sleep has worn off

Flavour:
The hill tribes of northern Sinnoh hide from the sprawl of civilization, choosing to live and make peace on the snow in which they were born. The elders, dressed in the finest hides of the largest Mamoswine, clutch dearly the pendants that symbolize their shamanistic rule. A prize of the earth and ice gods, hewn from the fallen scales of the great frost dragon that slumbered above the world, cursed water stolen from the charred lake at the center of the world without knowing the water would cool as it left the cavern. There were all manner of stories for the blackened ice. After all, Sinnoh is a place of myth. The elders believed many of these stories, or one, some even took many parts and made them new. But every elder held the shard close to him. Except the one kneeling before Pluto. “Return that, sweet child,” cracked lips spoke, blistered and torn but held together by hardness borne from enduring the cold. The children of the forest were what the tribesmen called them. Creatures that had lived so long in the cold and hunted so long in the forests of ever green that they had grown darker to keep their warmth, and grown claws to keep their prey, and grown feathers to keep their pride.

The Sneasel held the jagged shard of ice in his claw. His head cocked to one side as his wrist turned to the other, letting the dying glow of an orange flame dance across the shard’s edges. The shard was like a feather of a large crow preserved perfectly in ice. The more he looked at it, the more it looked less like a real feather. The more it looked like someone had split open the ice and painted a rich black down into the frost, then sealed it once more. He twisted his hand again, this time inspecting the other side. Ridges where the shard had cracked leapt up from the otherwise flat surface, former holes that had been filled by the ice growing over them.

He clicked his other claw, and emitted an unusually low chirp of approval. It would not be wise to alert the tribesmen.

A cough alerted him to the presence of one already there. “Return that,” the elder begged, pinned to the floor by the trail of blood pouring from his knee. It mingled with flecks of snow brought in by the mercurial wind, lifting little melting islands out of a red river. “Foolish rodent, please.” the begging had sharpened, as with the pain in his leg. “You do not know what power lies in the blackfrost. It must be kept, it must be hidden.” Pluto flinched for a moment, he could spare but one second to look away from his prize. The gleam in his eyes disappeared, perhaps the light of the fire could not shine through the shard at that angle. He adjusted his view to observe the elder’s pitiful form. He growled in dismay and returned to the shard.

The elder had looked into the Sneasel as it had done to him. Drooping bags where his cheeks had once been young sagged further. There was a glossiness over his eyes, as faint as could be but unmistakable to those who looked. Like a cloud passing over a lake of pure blue. He opened his mouth to speak to the creature that had raided his hut, the mindless beast driven by pure fascination. He knew the creature would not understand, or would not care. But these were the last words he would say and he would have to make do with what company he had.

“Cold is the grave, sweet child. The earth above may be warmed with tears, but the damp heat only gets so far in this prison. You have marked me as much as that shard of the damned has marked you. I could believe the great dragon could shed such a beautiful scale in his eternal slumber. I could believe it fell from the sky. I could believe it shattered into a million pieces, spreading the warm light of the stars all over the world. I could believe you hold one of his precious shards, hold that curse of his in your very hands. “ he paused, and coughed.

“But I cannot believe you would take it from me.”

Pluto looked at the elder once more. He could not tell which were words and which were coughs, and normally humans would not bleed when speaking.

“Without paying a price.”

The shard stung Pluto’s claws, sending a line of cold as thin as one of the elder’s hairs down his arms. He pulled his shoulders together and tightened his arm muscles in reflex. The thread of cold blossomed, rippling all across his body, spreading through him like he was water. Pluto shrieked, calling out to his kind in tongues they would not understand. He did not cry for help, or for mercy or for release. He cried because of pain, and he did not know anything but that he must make a noise. A primal urge roaring out of him as the core of ice twisted around the center of his chest, tightening and tightening and getting all the more cold. He fell to the ground writhing, covering himself in his own wounds. He clawed at his chest and his face and his feathers and everything he could find. Something had to get the cold out of him. His long white claws extended and retracted madly, flaring shades of black every time they grew.

The elder looked peaceful, on the verge of joy. His eyelids drooped low in knowing satisfaction.“Now come and claim your first; put an old man to sleep, sweet child. Take my curse and send me to the slumbering dragon, give me a gift you can never have again.”

Effects: Hush cannot be used by itself and does not take an action to perform. Instead, Pluto may apply the effect of Hush to a physical contact move and use it in his command string.
Hush will modify the chosen move in various ways:
The move that is Hushed will cause the target to become drowsy, and fall asleep after its next action.
The move will do one half of its final damage (rounded down) to the target, assuming it connects.
The move will have the base energy cost of Hush added on to its final cost.
The move will not be affected by increased priority (a Hushed Quick Attack will be at normal priority, but a Hushed Avalanche will still have negative priority).
If the move connects, it will remove any major or minor statuses currently affecting the target on the action the move hits. This includes status such as Paralysis, Burns, etc. as well as Confusion and status that has to do with emotions, such as Attract, Taunt or Torment.

The state of drowsiness immediately following the move connecting can be treated as similar to the drowsiness inflicted by Yawn. Switching or obtaining an ability such as Vital Spirit will stop the affected target from falling asleep. Whereas, in the same manner as Yawn's drowsiness, Safeguard will cause the drowsiness portion of the Hushed move to fail but will not remove the drowsy status if already inflicted.

Pluto can use Hush (as in, Hushed moves) while under the effects of Taunt or similar moves that disable the use of Other category moves, as it is a modification on an attack.

If a Hushed move fails for whatever reason, Pluto must wait two actions to attempt another Hushed move.


Description: Pluto’s claws extend. A blackness spreads across the tips, edge to edge, like unlit night spreading across a lake of ice, chasing away the day. Even a simple nick of the blackfrost would unsettle the strongest of hides. At first there would be a sensation of cool, riding up from the fresh wound. A simple, painless feeling like the trickle of cold water. But soon the cold would crawl up under the skin, weakening all in its path, and up into the eyes. Their vision would fill with cracking black, tiling gently across the surface of their eyes and blackening their vision. Consciousness fails as the chill apprehends all semblance of sense, leaving the cursed in a state of chilled slumber. A comatose state of such bitter cold.

A familiar sight to most, if not all of you approvers! I already know what basically all of you will say to this one, and nearly all of you were okay with a straight ability swap without a drawback for a fully-evolved Pokémon, but I want to hear from Byrus on this one before it goes through. If it needs a drawback, I'll give Lena a permanent -1 to Evasion.

Lena Meganium (F)
Signature Attribute: Entrancing Aroma

Flavour: Meganium are known for the lovely aroma that comes from their petals, its spicy scent having positive health benefits on all those that inhale it. Lena's aroma is particularly strong in this regard. (She always brushed her teeth, or something.) The scent clears the head and stimulates the senses, with the result that Lena gains the ability Aroma Veil in place of Overgrow.

Effects: Lena has the ability Aroma Veil in place of Overgrow.

Description: Lena smells really fuckin' good, yo.

(I really want to do a cool something with the fact that Meganium can revive dead plants with its breath, but I guess I'll make a signature move for it later.)

Keldeo said:

edit: Okay, here's a move for my Gardevoir! Let me know if I need to clarify or depower some of the effects.

[River] Gardevoir (f) <Synchronize>
Signature Move: Echo
Type: Psychic / Stat: Status / Base Power: — / Base Energy: * / Accuracy: — / Target: self / Usage Gap: 9 actions after a special move is used

Effects: River's next special attack will cost 2% more final energy but have its damage calculated as if she had +6 Special Attack, even if the attack misses, fails, or is blocked. Echo costs 4 - (River's current Special Attack stages)% energy, or 1% if this number would be less than 1, and does not factor in her STAB energy cost reduction.

Description: River's entire body glows light blue as she builds up Psychic power, creating a charge of energy in preparation for her next attack. Doing this takes much more out of her if her concentration has already been disrupted, but on the other hand, it's easier for River to perform this technique if she's already spent some time improving her mental abilities. The next time River uses a ranged move, a faint "echo" of her earlier energy stockpile will increase the attack's damage, but releasing the echo along with the attack takes a fair amount of concentration on her part.

Flavor: Through the many battles she's watched and participated in, River has a fuller understanding than more inexperienced Pokemon that clever use of stat boosts and drops can be the keys to victory. As a result, she's spent a fair amount of her time learning how to nullify drops and leverage boosts with moves that she naturally knows, like Stored Power or Psych Up. In researching these techniques, however, she also became determined to transcend the inevitable losses that often resulted upon accruing heavy stat drops, and soon formulated the idea to release a hefty energy charge at the same time as another attack, greatly augmenting its damage output; the exact size of the charge would scale depending on her Special Attack stages for maximum efficiency. After many hours of careful practice she perfected her ability to store a charge and then release it with another move, eventually naming the technique "Echo" after the resulting attack's semi-translucency.

Click to expand...

This has been waiting for a second approval for a little while, so I'll approve it now.

Ether's Bane said:

Noted. Hence:

---

[BurNIng] Cyndaquil (M) (Flash Fire)

Signature Attribute: B-God

Effects: Any physical damage done by BurNIng to "mage-type" Pokemon (in this case, Psychic and Fairy) is multiplied by 1.1x (after the original final damage of the attack is tallied). Every opposing Pokemon KO'd by BurNIng earns an extra $2 for his trainer, however, BurNIng must get the last hit - if the other Pokemon KO's itself through self-damage, poison, burn, confusion self-damage, or anything other than BurNIng getting the last hit, no extra money will be awarded. BurNIng gains access to Pay Day. However, in double or triple battles, BurNIng will be unable to help his partner(s), so he will not attempt to shield his partner(s) from damage, combine attacks with his partner(s), or any other form of positive battle interaction with his partner(s). Furthermore, if a Dark-type damaging move with 60 or more base power hits BurNIng if BurNIng is on 25% health or less, BurNIng is automatically KO'd on the spot.

Flavor: When he isn't training or battling, Ether's Bane really enjoys Dota - both playing and watching it. His favourite professional player is Xu "BurNIng" Zhilei, the greatest carry player in the history of Dota. He is such a fan of BurNIng that one day, when he obtained a Cyndaquil for his team, Bane aptly named the Cyndaquil after BurNIng. After that, quite often, when Bane would watch a professional game of Dota, BurNIng (the Cyndaquil) would come to his side and watch with him. Somehow, the Cyndaquil had some sort of connection with his namesake, and soon, portions of things in-game which BurNIng (the player) was famous for started to seep into the Cyndaquil's own battle abilities. The Cyndaquil soon gained the ability to earn money just by getting the last hit, and he also discovered that he had become rather effective against magical Pokemon - he was now an "anti-mage", if you will. However, during internal training sessions, the Cyndaquil's teammates also discovered that at times, he would be unwilling to help them out when they were on the same team. Furthermore, it also became apparent that he was now more susceptible to powerful Dark-type attacks if he could be KO'd. Ironically, this discovery was made during a run-in with a Bug-type specialist (who, as an aside, insisted on using the Japanese names for every type; thus, he referred to his own type as "Mushi"). Nevertheless, with the spirit of the legendary carry ablaze within him, BurNIng (the Cyndaquil) has only one goal in mind:

Farm.

...Wait, what? Win, not farm!

...Okay, farm as well.

...At the expense of the team, though?

...Here we go again...

Click to expand...

This is also fine. Ask Zhorken directly about the $2 KO bonus, though I doubt that will be a problem. If she's okay with it, I'll give this a second approval.

Eifie said:

Lena Meganium (F)
Signature Attribute: Entrancing Aroma

Flavour: Meganium are known for the lovely aroma that comes from their petals, its spicy scent having positive health benefits on all those that inhale it. Lena's aroma is particularly strong in this regard. (She always brushed her teeth, or something.) The scent clears the head and stimulates the senses, with the result that Lena gains the ability Aroma Veil in place of Overgrow.

Effects: Lena has the ability Aroma Veil in place of Overgrow.

Description: Lena smells really fuckin' good, yo.

(I really want to do a cool something with the fact that Meganium can revive dead plants with its breath, but I guess I'll make a signature move for it later.)

Click to expand...

Not much to say on this one: junior approved.
e: I have some things I would like approved so I'm just going to edit them in here and hope senpai notices them.

Eifie said:

This is also fine. Ask Zhorken directly about the $2 KO bonus, though I doubt that will be a problem. If she's okay with it, I'll give this a second approval.

Click to expand...

I should point out that in the past league I've been able to get away with a signature move that included a 10% chance of awarding $1 extra to a random trainer, so there is at least precedent for sigstuff being capable of increasing prize money (albeit at a very small quantity and a very small likelihood of activation).

That said, this in tandem with gaining Pay Day is definitely pushing it. If I'm qualified, I'd say at least to take one or the other.

TruetoCheese said:

Trying my hand at another Sig. This time a move, of sorts.

Spoiler: Pluto: Hush

[Pluto] Sneasel (m) <Inner Focus>

Name: Hush
Type: Ice / Stat: Other / Base Power: -- / Base Energy Cost: 5% / Accuracy: -- / Target: User / Usage Gap: 5 actions after target's sleep has worn off

Flavour:
The hill tribes of northern Sinnoh hide from the sprawl of civilization, choosing to live and make peace on the snow in which they were born. The elders, dressed in the finest hides of the largest Mamoswine, clutch dearly the pendants that symbolize their shamanistic rule. A prize of the earth and ice gods, hewn from the fallen scales of the great frost dragon that slumbered above the world, cursed water stolen from the charred lake at the center of the world without knowing the water would cool as it left the cavern. There were all manner of stories for the blackened ice. After all, Sinnoh is a place of myth. The elders believed many of these stories, or one, some even took many parts and made them new. But every elder held the shard close to him. Except the one kneeling before Pluto. “Return that, sweet child,” cracked lips spoke, blistered and torn but held together by hardness borne from enduring the cold. The children of the forest were what the tribesmen called them. Creatures that had lived so long in the cold and hunted so long in the forests of ever green that they had grown darker to keep their warmth, and grown claws to keep their prey, and grown feathers to keep their pride.

The Sneasel held the jagged shard of ice in his claw. His head cocked to one side as his wrist turned to the other, letting the dying glow of an orange flame dance across the shard’s edges. The shard was like a feather of a large crow preserved perfectly in ice. The more he looked at it, the more it looked less like a real feather. The more it looked like someone had split open the ice and painted a rich black down into the frost, then sealed it once more. He twisted his hand again, this time inspecting the other side. Ridges where the shard had cracked leapt up from the otherwise flat surface, former holes that had been filled by the ice growing over them.

He clicked his other claw, and emitted an unusually low chirp of approval. It would not be wise to alert the tribesmen.

A cough alerted him to the presence of one already there. “Return that,” the elder begged, pinned to the floor by the trail of blood pouring from his knee. It mingled with flecks of snow brought in by the mercurial wind, lifting little melting islands out of a red river. “Foolish rodent, please.” the begging had sharpened, as with the pain in his leg. “You do not know what power lies in the blackfrost. It must be kept, it must be hidden.” Pluto flinched for a moment, he could spare but one second to look away from his prize. The gleam in his eyes disappeared, perhaps the light of the fire could not shine through the shard at that angle. He adjusted his view to observe the elder’s pitiful form. He growled in dismay and returned to the shard.

The elder had looked into the Sneasel as it had done to him. Drooping bags where his cheeks had once been young sagged further. There was a glossiness over his eyes, as faint as could be but unmistakable to those who looked. Like a cloud passing over a lake of pure blue. He opened his mouth to speak to the creature that had raided his hut, the mindless beast driven by pure fascination. He knew the creature would not understand, or would not care. But these were the last words he would say and he would have to make do with what company he had.

“Cold is the grave, sweet child. The earth above may be warmed with tears, but the damp heat only gets so far in this prison. You have marked me as much as that shard of the damned has marked you. I could believe the great dragon could shed such a beautiful scale in his eternal slumber. I could believe it fell from the sky. I could believe it shattered into a million pieces, spreading the warm light of the stars all over the world. I could believe you hold one of his precious shards, hold that curse of his in your very hands. “ he paused, and coughed.

“But I cannot believe you would take it from me.”

Pluto looked at the elder once more. He could not tell which were words and which were coughs, and normally humans would not bleed when speaking.

“Without paying a price.”

The shard stung Pluto’s claws, sending a line of cold as thin as one of the elder’s hairs down his arms. He pulled his shoulders together and tightened his arm muscles in reflex. The thread of cold blossomed, rippling all across his body, spreading through him like he was water. Pluto shrieked, calling out to his kind in tongues they would not understand. He did not cry for help, or for mercy or for release. He cried because of pain, and he did not know anything but that he must make a noise. A primal urge roaring out of him as the core of ice twisted around the center of his chest, tightening and tightening and getting all the more cold. He fell to the ground writhing, covering himself in his own wounds. He clawed at his chest and his face and his feathers and everything he could find. Something had to get the cold out of him. His long white claws extended and retracted madly, flaring shades of black every time they grew.

The elder looked peaceful, on the verge of joy. His eyelids drooped low in knowing satisfaction.“Now come and claim your first; put an old man to sleep, sweet child. Take my curse and send me to the slumbering dragon, give me a gift you can never have again.”

Effects: Hush cannot be used by itself and does not take an action to perform. Instead, Pluto may apply the effect of Hush to a physical contact move and use it in his command string.
Hush will modify the chosen move in various ways:
The move that is Hushed will cause the target to become drowsy, and fall asleep after its next action.
The move will do one half of its final damage (rounded down) to the target, assuming it connects.
The move will have the base energy cost of Hush added on to its final cost.
The move will not be affected by increased priority (a Hushed Quick Attack will be at normal priority, but a Hushed Avalanche will still have negative priority).
If the move connects, it will remove any major or minor statuses currently affecting the target on the action the move hits. This includes status such as Paralysis, Burns, etc. as well as Confusion and status that has to do with emotions, such as Attract, Taunt or Torment.

The state of drowsiness immediately following the move connecting can be treated as similar to the drowsiness inflicted by Yawn. Switching or obtaining an ability such as Vital Spirit will stop the affected target from falling asleep. Whereas, in the same manner as Yawn's drowsiness, Safeguard will cause the drowsiness portion of the Hushed move to fail but will not remove the drowsy status if already inflicted.

Pluto can use Hush (as in, Hushed moves) while under the effects of Taunt or similar moves that disable the use of Other category moves, as it is a modification on an attack.

If a Hushed move fails for whatever reason, Pluto must wait two actions to attempt another Hushed move.

Spoiler: Usage example:

Hush would be used as such:
For example, a normal command string:
Taunt ~ Slash ~ X-Scissor

A command string using Hush:
Taunt ~ Hushed Slash ~ X-Scissor

In the second case, a Hushed Slash would cause the targetted Pokemon to no longer be under the effect of Taunt (or any other negative status, for that matter) immediately. And after the targeted Pokemon has completed its third action, it would fall asleep.

Description: Pluto’s claws extend. A blackness spreads across the tips, edge to edge, like unlit night spreading across a lake of ice, chasing away the day. Even a simple nick of the blackfrost would unsettle the strongest of hides. At first there would be a sensation of cool, riding up from the fresh wound. A simple, painless feeling like the trickle of cold water. But soon the cold would crawl up under the skin, weakening all in its path, and up into the eyes. Their vision would fill with cracking black, tiling gently across the surface of their eyes and blackening their vision. Consciousness fails as the chill apprehends all semblance of sense, leaving the cursed in a state of chilled slumber. A comatose state of such bitter cold.

[/spoiler]

Click to expand...

Superbird said:

The only thing I take any issue with is the usage gap, which is just a little too low for a Signature move

Click to expand...

This is something I've been meaning to bring up for a while now... Why should Signature Move always have usage gap? I do believe it's a good way of balancing out powerful moves, but when you come up with a balanced, creative new move which doesn't incredibly boost up a pokémon's pool of options, why should we need a usage gap at all? I mean, it's not even a concept that exists in the actual games or anything...

Lord of the Fireflies said:

This is something I've been meaning to bring up for a while now... Why should Signature Move always have usage gap? I do believe it's a good way of balancing out powerful moves, but when you come up with a balanced, creative new move which doesn't incredibly boost up a pokémon's pool of options, why should we need a usage gap at all? I mean, it's not even a concept that exists in the actual games or anything...

Click to expand...

Signature moves are usually more powerful and complex than standard attacks, and even the most well-balanced of them are not made for repetitive use

Click to expand...

Basically, so that signature moves aren't spammable, which would would be broken at worst and annoying, anti-thematic at best. A once per round usage gap effectively prevents signature move spam while also not being much of a hinderance at all, so, although it's pretty much the bare minimum as far as usage gaps go, I could consider that valid under the right circumstances -- it's mostly a matter of how powerful the move is, drawbacks and all. For example, if you're sporting something arbitrarily high like 120 base power, no matter how badly it blows back on the user, it's not something anyone's getting to use many times within a short timeframe. (I mean, yes, they can just spam a regular base 120 move, but signature moves aren't really meant to give you that possibility in a controlled platter if you don't already have it)

Superbird said:

Interesting backstory, I like it.

This is one of those moves that could also work as a Sig Attribute. In essence, it's combining the move Yawn with an offensive physical move (of which Sneasel has plenty) for 1% more energy than Yawn would normally take, and without wasting an action. And while I might otherwise take issue with it, as it's essentially allowing a fourth move - one that Sneasel doesn't even normally have access to - in a round, the fact is that it has a very hindering effect on the move it's combined with, and that seems like enough of a nerf.

But at the same time, I don't really see why Hush needs to be attached to another move at all - if it were just its own lower-power (say, 20 or 30) physical attack with the secondary effects of removing all status conditions (Smelling Salts adds a precedent here) and adding Drowsiness, it would work just as well, especially since the strategic implications of using this most straightforwardly involve using a low-power, low-energy move (e.g. Scratch or Fury Cutter) in conjunction with it anyway. Not gonna approve it for now, but the idea is really cool and there are easier ways it could be implemented, which I encourage you to try.

Click to expand...

I wanted it to be tagged on to a move for two reasons. The less impactful of the two would be flavour, since the blackfrost would've affected Pluto's internals significantly. So that confining his ability to a single move seemed less relevant to the blackfrost overrunning him than being able to use what he'd been fused with.

Secondly, I preferred the versatility that the move could provide in a given situation. Out of Sneasel's movepool I could use a delayed Avalanche to inflict Hush, or drop a normal priority Fake Out to force a flinch, maybe even Power-Up Punch for the boost or use Thief to nick an item while I'm at it or Brick Break through a pair of screens. I could even clear out a horde of Double Team clones with Aerial Ace.

And now looking at all the situations I could use it in, maybe I should scale back the damage some more? Or increase its Usage Gap. The one aspect of this sig I'd really like to keep is the ability to add it onto other moves.

As for implementation, I wasn't sure if a Sig Move or Sig Attribute was better to use. Since Sig Moves are much more clearly defined when related to attacks (energy costs, usage gaps, etc.), but Hush comes off as an Attribute regardless. It doesn't matter much, I guess? Since I could easily tweak it to a Sig Attribute if that's what it should be.

And thank you for liking the flavour :3 I always end up going for Sinnoan things in sig flavours because fuck yeah Sinnoh.

Byrus said:

[Nurglitch] Raticate (M) (Guts)

Signature attribute: Verminous

In the wild, Nurglitch was a high ranking member of a rag-tag group of rodents called Clan Pestilens. The clan grew from its humble beginnings on the outskirts of a run-down industrial town to a thriving mass of filthy vermin carrying all sorts of diseases. They were ugly brutes with matted brown fur and festering sores all over their body, and they were also surprisingly sly and cunning, if somewhat insane. They were devout worshipers of the diseases they carried, and considered it their solemn duty to spread the sickness throughout the world.

Though you’d be hard-pressed to find someone who’d admit to being afraid of a Rattata or Raticate, Clan Pestilens was certainly a case of its own, and the plague of critters caused much misery before the pest control finally decided to step in and round most of them up. Many of Nurglitch’s clan were exterminated, with Nurglitch himself put on the chopping board. However, he was saved at the last moment by a particularly shady looking trainer with a blatant disregard for health and safety regulations.

Effects: Nurglitch is crawling with filth and disease, making contact with him a risky business. His grotesque appearance discourages anyone from touching him, so all contact moves aimed at him have their accuracy reduced by 10%. Any Pokémon that does successfully make contact with him may occasionally find themselves feeling sick, and they have a 10% chance of having their defense lowered by one stage. His rancid stench gives away his position, however, and he is always considered to be under the effects of odour sleuth. His appearance doesn't lend itself well to moves like attract and captivate either, and they will always fail when used by him. Poison types, being generally well accustomed to this repulsiveness, are immune to his ability.

Click to expand...

Meursault said:

Łebsko the female Slowpoke <Oblivious>
Signature Attribute: Sheer Ignorance
Slowpoke are not the brightest of Pokémon. This is somewhat obvious to anyone who is not a Slowpoke. Łebsko is no exception to this. She tends not to notice things about people, or opponents. She has a decent enough memory to remember the basic facts about her opponents, but she's not too likely to notice if something is off, even if it's obvious to her teammates.

For example, if she's facing against a Cascoon that's been retyped to Bug/Rock, her teammates would get supereffective bonuses when using water moves against it, but not Łebsko. Similarly, Cascoon would get STAB when using rock moves against anyone other than Łebsko.
Effect: When attacking or being attacked by Łebsko, Pokémon are treated as not having a signature attribute. This does not affect movepool modifications.

Click to expand...

Since there's been no further discussion on either count, going ahead and approving both of those.

Nira said:

BORIS THE AMAURA ♂ <Snow Warning>
Signature Attribute: Stone Cold
Effects: Boris is doubly weak to fire and takes 4% damage per round in intense sunlight. However, moves take 1% energy less to use in the hail, and takes 1.75x damage from steel- and fighting-type moves (rather than 2x), rounded up.
Description: Boris' skin is freezing cold to the touch, and occasionally freezes surrounding objects (especially water). When in the hail, his crest flares bright blue and he seems more vital.

Click to expand...

Hmmm... tricky balance, being that a blanket 1% minus energy cost to all moves is pretty good despite the low bonus amount (it also hinges on Hail being around, but Snow Warning curbs that significantly). The gained weakness to fire is most likely a sufficient flaw for that, though, specially being that the diminished effectiveness of Fighting- and Steel-type moves actually does little to slow most of those down (particularly the former). You'll have to be a bit more specific about the damage taken in sunlight, however -- is it 4% damage applied at the end of the round if the weather is sunny at that point?

While the effects just about fly, though, the description is insufficient. It doesn't seem to explain much that pertains to the effects, which is necessary for the attribute to be reffed -- both because of the narrative description and so the attribute's interactions with non-strictly mechanical aspects of battle can be determined. Therefore, not approved.

Resubmitting this as a Signature Attribute:


[Pluto] Sneasel (m) <Inner Focus>

Name: Hush
Effects: Pluto may apply Hush to a physical contact move and use it in his command string.

Hush will modify the chosen move in various ways:

• The move that is Hushed will cause the target to become drowsy, and fall asleep after its next action.
• The move will do one half of its final damage (rounded down) to the target, assuming it connects.
• The move will 5% energy added on to its final cost.
• The move will not be affected by increased priority (a Hushed Quick Attack will be at normal priority, but a Hushed Avalanche will still have negative priority).
• If the move connects, it will remove any major or minor statuses currently affecting the target on the action the move hits. This includes status such as Paralysis, Burns, etc. as well as Confusion and status that has to do with emotions, such as Attract, Taunt or Torment.

A Hushed move cannot be used again until after 5 actions after the target has woken up from the inflicted sleep. This only applies to sleep caused by Hush.

The state of drowsiness immediately following the move connecting can be treated as similar to the drowsiness inflicted by Yawn. Switching or obtaining an ability such as Vital Spirit will stop the affected target from falling asleep. Whereas, in the same manner as Yawn's drowsiness, Safeguard will cause the drowsiness portion of the Hushed move to fail but will not remove the drowsy status if already inflicted.

Pluto can use Hush (as in, Hushed moves) while under the effects of Taunt or similar moves that disable the use of Other category moves, as it is a modification on an attack.

If a Hushed move fails for whatever reason, Pluto must wait two actions to attempt another Hushed move.

Description: Pluto’s claws extend. A blackness spreads across the tips, edge to edge, like unlit night spreading across a lake of ice, chasing away the day. Even a simple nick of the blackfrost would unsettle the strongest of hides. At first there would be a sensation of cool, riding up from the fresh wound. A simple, painless feeling like the trickle of cold water. But soon the cold would crawl up under the skin, weakening all in its path, and up into the eyes. Their vision would fill with cracking black, tiling gently across the surface of their eyes and blackening their vision. Consciousness fails as the chill apprehends all semblance of sense, leaving the cursed in a state of chilled slumber. A comatose state of such bitter cold.

The frost must rest after it has bitten, taking time to recoup and flow through Pluto's claws once more.

ok time to finally try to work all this crap out again


[Priscilla] Minccino ♀
Ability: Technician

Signature Attribute: Crossbreed

Description: Somewhere generations back in Priscilla's bloodline, despite taboo and the usual logistics of Pokémon breeding, her ancestors somehow crossbred with Dragon-type Pokémon. The genes remained dormant at first, such that this abomination went unnoticed for a long while until finally Priscilla was born. The latent dragon genes finally awoke, and she was born unlike any of her predecessors, freakishly exaggerated in size and bestowed with elemental properties and abilities like none of her kind. She was duly shunned by her relatives and cast out, regarded as a freak and an abomination by all who came upon her. Despite being captured by the Asber league and finally accepted by her trainer, the emotional scars of this persecution have yet to fade.

Effects: Priscilla is granted the Dragon type, thus changing her typing to Normal/Dragon. Her height and weight are both double that of the rest of her kind. Being considered a freak and an abomination for her entire life has made Priiscilla cold, aloof and highly suspicious of any form of praise or friendly gesture, as well as unable to empathise with or pity opponents. Thus the moves After You, Attract, Baby-Doll Eyes, Captivate, Charm, Encore, Fake Tears, Flatter, Helping Hand, Hold Hands, and Play Nice have no effect on her, though nor is she able to use any of those same moves herself. Taunt and Torment remain in effect on her for one action longer than normal. Finally, her increased bulk makes her less nimble than an ordinary Minccino, giving her an inherent -1 to her Speed stat.

Movepool changes:
+ Dragon Breath, Dragon Dance, Dragon Tail, Twister
- After You, Attract, Baby-Doll Eyes, Calm Mind, Captivate, Charm, Dazzling Gleam, Encore, Fake Tears, Gunk Shot, Helping Hand, Last Resort, Work Up




[Logan] Abra ♂
Ability: Inner Focus

Signature Attribute: Big Hat

Description: Logan wears an enormous wizard's hat, with a brim wider than the height of its peak, such that it droops down and covers his eyes. The hat is too huge and heavy to snatch away with Thief, Covet, or the ability Pickpocket or swat off his head with Knock Off, and is too precious for him to offer up in exchange for his opponent's held item should they attempt to acquire it with Trick or Switcheroo.

Effects: Logan's concentration is increased immensely, reducing the duration of Taunt or Torment by one action, causing him to recover more quickly from confusion and attraction, (i.e. 6% fail chance reduction per action he passes a check), and increasing the final damage of all his special attacks by 1%. His eyes are also completely covered by the brim of the hat, meaning no moves requiring eye contact can effect him (or be used by him, for that matter), unless the foe using them is close up enough to peer under the brim. However, this also means the base accuracy of all his moves is decreased by 10% due to the difficulty of seeing his target, and the weight of the titanic piece of headgear reduces his base speed to 50.

Flavour: Logan is an introverted sort, much preferring to lose himself in thought than pay attention to others around him. Unfortunately, this led to him being considered something of an oddball, his presence often drawing the unwanted attention of staring eyes. Try as he might, he found it impossible to concentrate with so much ogling going on. Fortunately, his trainer found a solution; an enormous brown wizard's hat, with a brim much wider than the peak is tall, more than wide enough to block his ears and completely obscure his face. With it on, no amount of staring, noise, or snide gossiping could distract him! However, needless to say having a huge, heavy hat weighing him down and blocking his view is not without drawbacks.



[Solaire] Helioptile ♂
Ability: Dry Skin

Signature attribute: Praise the Sun!

Description: Solaire becomes irrepressibly jolly and upbeat whenever exposed to the sun, lifting his arms into the air at his sides and standing on tiptoe to salute it whenever it starts shining brightly. He will take every opportunity to stare directly at it in admiration whenever not busy fighting, and as long as its benevolent rays shine upon him, nothing is able to ruin his mood. Conversely, when it's dark and gloomy, he becomes incredibly depressed until his beloved sun returns.

Effects: Solaire's Dry Skin is nullified. In bright sunlight, his special attack and speed are boosted by one level independent of all conventional stat changes, while his accuracy is reduced by one level. (Thus during bright sunlight his special attack and speed range from -5 to +7 and his accuracy ranges from -7 to +5). The base power of his Return is also increased by 10, and he becomes unable to use Frustration. In rain, snow, hail, sandstorm, or in an inherently dark arena, his special attack and speed are reduced by one level (also independent of all conventional stat changes), the base power of his Frustration is increased by 10, and he becomes unable to use Return.

Movepool changes:
+ Morning Sun, Solarbeam, Sunny Day
- Iron Tail, Rain Dance, Sandstorm, Surf

Flavour: The sun is a wondrous body, like a magnificent father. If only I could be so grossly incandescent...
Almost all Helioptile adore the sun, it being the source of their electrical power and thus fundamental to their very lives, but Solaire takes it further, regarding the sun with an almost religious fervour. So dear is the sun to him that its rays fill him with jubilation, and he even goes so far as to stare directly at it whenever he is able, to the detriment of his vision.


Signature Move: Sunlight Spear
Type: Electric
Class: Special
Base power: varies
Base energy: 7%
Accuracy: 100%
Target: Single
Usage gap: 3 rounds

Description: Solaire holds his hand aloft, forming a glowing lance of electricity in his palm before tossing it at his target like a javelin. The spear will be shorter and less bright if the sun isn't out, and if it's raining, snowing, hailing, there is a sandstorm, or the arena is unlit, it will fizzle out in his hand.

Effects: in bright sunlight, Sunlight Spear has 100 base power and other targets standing within a few feet of the one struck recieve 3% splash damage. Without any weather effects in play, it has 50 base power and deals no splash damage. If rain, snow, hail, or sandstorm are in effect, or the arena is foggy, overcast, or without natural light, it does nothing. Whatever the case, Solaire's special attack is reduced by two stages until Sunlight Spear's usage gap is over; if he uses it again during the same round it becomes usable again, the reduction will linger and stack.

Flavour: through his religious observance of the sun, Solaire has taught himself how to focus its power into forms more potent than the rest of his kind can, and taken it upon himself to weaponise it to vanquish foes in its name.


(The inability to obtain Logan's hat with Trick and Switcheroo seems a little shakily-justified to me, but I think it's best not to get into the gross logistics of swapping signature attributes for held items. Espeically since this could end up with Logan having two held items at once and/or his foe having two signature attributes at once.

Also I gave Priscilla Seed Bomb back to give up Last Resort as suggested, because she's now losing about three times more moves than she's gaining.)

since she's evolved, it's time for Usagi to fulfill her destiny:

[Usagi] Clefairy (F) <Magic Guard>
Signature Move: Moon Tiara Action
Type: Fairy / Stat: Physical / Base Power: 100 / Base Energy: 7% / Accuracy: 90% / Target: Single / Usage gap: 6 actions
Effects: Usagi throws a spinning, glowing tiara at her opponent. If this move knocks out the target, it restores health equal to the damage dealt to Usagi and all allies.
Flavor: Usagi is the pretty sailor-suited soldier of love and justice, Sailor Moon! In the name of the moon, she will punish you!

Meursault said:

[Usagi] Clefairy (F) <Magic Guard>
Signature Move: Moon Tiara Action
Type: Fairy / Stat: Physical / Base Power: 100 / Base Energy: 7% / Accuracy: 90% / Target: Single / Usage gap: 6 actions
Effects: Usagi throws a spinning, glowing tiara at her opponent. If this move knocks out the target, it restores health equal to the damage dealt to Usagi and all allies.
Flavor: Usagi is the pretty sailor-suited soldier of love and justice, Sailor Moon! In the name of the moon, she will punish you!

Click to expand...

"The damage dealt to all allies" is very vague and I'm not entirely sure what it means. Does that mean all the damage over the entire battle? Or just during the action on which this move is used?

Superbird said:

"The damage dealt to all allies" is very vague and I'm not entirely sure what it means. Does that mean all the damage over the entire battle? Or just during the action on which this move is used?

Click to expand...

Jumping in here, but I'm pretty sure she meant the damage dealt to the opponent by Moon Tiara Action.

Superbird said:

"The damage dealt to all allies" is very vague and I'm not entirely sure what it means. Does that mean all the damage over the entire battle? Or just during the action on which this move is used?

Click to expand...

it doesn't mention damage dealt to allies anywhere ?_? it restores health to usagi and allies when it knocks out, equal to the damage it actually dealt.

rearranged the sentence to clarify, and added an indirect healing tag since i forgot it:

[Usagi] Clefairy (F) <Magic Guard>
Signature Move: Moon Tiara Action
Type: Fairy / Stat: Physical / Base Power: 100 / Base Energy: 7% / Accuracy: 90% / Target: Single / Usage gap: 6 actions / Category: Indirect healing
Effects: Usagi throws a spinning, glowing tiara at her opponent. If this move knocks out the target, Usagi and all allies gain health equal to the damage dealt by the attack.
Flavor: Usagi is the pretty sailor-suited soldier of love and justice, Sailor Moon! In the name of the moon, she will punish you!

Time to move some of the approval queue ahead.

I noticed a couple of older sig stuff needing second approval, along with more recent ones, so here goes: