CaP 6 Pre-Evo - Part 2 - Abilities Discussion

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DHR-107

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Hey there guys! Welcome to the Abilities Discussion! Now, we have our typing we can work from there to try and make our little Cawmodore as cute as a button but deadly too.

Unlike a normal CaP Process discussion, we are discussing All Three Abilities at the same time! As a reminder, Cawmodore's abilities are Intimidate / Volt Absorb and Big Pecks as its Hidden Ability. Just as in the first thread, stupid suggestions will be disregarded and possibly infracted (For instance someone posting a suggestion for Dark Aura).

Remember the first rule of CAP Pre-evolutions? That's right, the first rule is that this is a flavour-based project! Just back your preferred abilities with solid flavor reasoning, and explain why your ability would make sense on Cawmodore's pre-evolution. Competitive reasoning is neither necessary nor sufficient when it comes of making the slate.

I will leave this topic open for approximately 24 hours (Maybe longer depending on how inebriated I am tomorrow night)...

Oh, and before I forget... Here is the link to Cawmodore's Final Product Thread so you can recap to yourself of what Cawmodore was like.

Our Prevo so far:

Typing: Steel/Flying
Abilities: TBC


I totally did not forget about Big Pecks I swear...
 
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Considering that Cawmodore is a frigate bird, which has that signature "chest", Big Pecks, its Hidden Ability, should stay.

However, Intimidate could be replaced with Keen Eye, due to most users of Keen Eye being some sort of bird, if I recall correctly.

My nominations, in that case, are Keen Eye and Volt Absorb for the natural abilities, and Big Pecks should remain the Hidden Ability.
 
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canno

formerly The Reptile
So my nomination for abilities are Keen Eye and Volt Absorb

I'll talk about Volt Absorb, since it is the easiest to justify - nothing that has Volt Absorb changes that ability with the exception of Eevee, which is a special case anyways and shouldn't be counted against this imo. However, it could be argued that there aren't enough pokemon with Volt Absorb to justify this. All we have are Jolteon, Pachurisu, Minun, Chinchou and Lanturn, Thundurus-Therian, and Raikou. Still, I feel like Volt Absorb is an ability that it should keep.

Now Keen Eye, on the other hand, is based on 2 things. The first is that it was considered for Cawmodore as a flavor ability due to the fact that he has a captain based design. Of course I don't have the design for baby caw, but the whole "Sea Explorer" theme is something that I think would stay. Not only that, but there are some cases where Intimidate is gained over evolution - Mightyena, Herdier, and Staravia. The first 2 had Run Away/Vital Spirit before Intimidate, and the latter had Keen Eye before Intimidate. For these reasons, I feel that Keen Eye -> Intimidate would work well for our prevo.

EDIT: Also, keep Big Pecks as its hidden ability. Makes sense with the whole frigate bird thing.
 
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I would like to bring up Hustle as an ability for this CAP prevo. The reasoning behind this is simply that this prevo could be represented as a new sailor or recent ensign, who may not fully know the ropes, or simply make mistakes, as anyone new to something might. Or it could be eager to please, and thus miss an important step in the task that it is trying to accomplish.

Aside from that brief and semi-bad reasoning, I also think Keen Eye is a great ability for this mon.

Added more reasoning. That last sentence for hustle, to be precise.
 
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Bughouse

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Agreeing with the above that Big Pecks should remain the Hidden Ability.

As for the two main abilities, Intimidate tends to stay constant on evolutionary lines that don't undergo huge morphological changes. And since we have consistent typing, I'd guess that isn't the case. So I'd prefer we stick with Intimidate. If we were to change, however, some options that have precedent are Run Away (Poochyena), Guts (Tyrogue), Keen Eye (Starly), or Vital Spirit (Lillipup). Of these, Keen Eye Starly seems the best precedent to go with.

Though Volt Absorb has always been constant, it's also always been on Electric types. I like the idea of Babydore evolving to learn how to navigate thunder storms. So I'd like something to change into Volt Absorb. I think Babydore wouldn't mind the rain but hates thunder storms, so I'm going to propose Hydration, an ability that has precedent off of Water types.

Intimidate or Keen Eye for the first. Hydration for the second.
 
I also agree that big pecks should remain the hidden ability

As for the main ability I would like Klutz. It shows a sort of natural progression from a new sailor trying to get his sea legs into a formidable captain, who should be feared on the sea (intimidate). It could also make for some pretty cool art. Then as for secondary I think we should stick with Volt Absorb as for reasons said before in the thread
 
I'll echo the sentiments regarding Big Pecks -- it should be kept for the relation with the concept of the evolution line and Cawmodore's trademark chest. However, I'm not a huge fan of Keen Eye, due to the fact that while it would still be plausible for Cawmodore's prevo to learn it, it is also plausible for Cawmodore to learn it flavour-wise as well. Therefore the transition would make little sense. and would bring up questions over why Cawmodore doesn't learn Keen Eye. Aside from the Starly line, every Pokemon that learns Keen Eye keeps it upon evolution. Hustle, previously brought up, would fit quite well for Cawmodore's prevo, reasons already mentioned. As would Light Metal, which would showcase our prevo's fragility and youth, something we may want to encapsulate. Pickup could also work as it relates to the snatching attributes of a frigatebird (while maintaining innocence), and it's commonly seen on non-evolved Pokemon. Lastly, Unaware could work as contrast to Intimidate, while Unnerve could be seen as a lesser form of Intimidate.

I think Volt Absorb should be kept, if only due to precedence.

1st Ability: Big Pecks/Hustle/Light Metal/Pickup/Unaware/Unnerve
2nd Ability: Volt Absorb
3rd Ability: Big Pecks
 
Honestly, I feel that Intimidate should be replaced with either Early Bird or Keen Eye. Out of all of the Pokemon with Intimidate, only six out of the thirty Pokemon with said ability haven't evolved, and we could easily compare Cawmodore to Staravia, as both have Intimidate, both are birds, and (if we decide to replace Intimidate) both gain Intimidate only upon evolution.

Anyway, Keen Eye has merit in that most of the Pokemon with that ability are birds, and that Prevodore (yes I'm honestly calling it that) will most likely keep the nautical theme that Cawmodore has, in which case Keen Eye would come in handy from a flavor standpoint, as being able to pick out objects from a far distance would undoubtedly be helpful. Also, Keen Eye has additional merit in that it was considered for Cawmodore's Hidden Ability, and actually came in second place during the polls.

Early Bird is also a viable option flavor wise , as rising early in the morning would be quite beneficial for a sailor, and it keeps the same general theme that Cawmodore has.

As far as secondary abilities go, I feel that Volt Absorb is good enough already, as nothing (except Eevee) gains Volt Absorb upon evolution, but if we did decide to change it, I feel that Light Metal would be an adequate choice. As I said when I threw my opinion about it into the ability thread, I feel that it has sufficient flavor, as if a real bird has lighter/hollow bones to support flight, then a (partly) metal bird could feasibly have lighter metals/alloys that would have the same effect. Also, Hustle, as previously mentioned, does seem like a good choice to represent Prevodore's youth and relative inexperience.

Finally, Big Pecks is IMO the best flavor option we could have if Prevodore even moderately resembles Cawmodore, which it probably will, because, you know, its a pre-evolution.

To sum it all up, this is what I support:

First Ability: Keen Eye/Early Bird
Second Ability: Volt Absorb/Light Metal/Hustle
Third Ability: Big Pecks
 

Nyktos

Custom Loser Title
Definitely agreeing with the consensus that Intimidate should change and Big Pecks should stay. For the latter case in particular, we have a canon (albeit gen 6 and thus "from the future") example in Fletchling of a baby bird losing it on evolution, so it's definitely not something that should be associated with fully-evolved Pokémon only. I also agree Keen Eye is a pretty good choice for the Intimidate replacement; it's worth noting that Starly -> Staravia has that exact change, on a bird too. I was originally on the fence about Volt Absorb since I do kind of like the idea that only the fully-evolved form can survive in storms, however what I noticed is that not only is Volt Absorb never gained on evolution outside of Eevee -> Jolteon, but in fact the Starly line losing Keen Eye for Intimidate is the only canon case of a birdlike Pokémon changing ability on evolution. So I now definitely feel like Volt Absorb should stay too. (That said, I do like srk's idea of a rain ability here, and Hustle's not a bad idea either.)
 

scorpdestroyer

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I'd just like to bring up Prankster. I can imagine the young of a brave sailor bird starting off cheeky, inquisitive, mischievous, and full of pride that encourages it to play pranks. Also, I see lots of similarities to Honchkrow, whose prevo is Prankster.
 

Base Speed

What a load of BS!
I think pretty much everything I'd want to say has already been said. I'm throwing my support in for changing Intimidate and keeping the other two. Early Bird, Hustle, Klutz, Keen Eye and Prankster are all previously suggested abilities that I'm perfectly happy with.
 
Of ones that have not been mentioned yet and related to other bird pokemon and also kind of fit the theme, I would say Sturdy and Tinted Lens stand out, but if I'm honest, Big Pecks, Keen Eye and Volt Absorb are the best and work fine. I suppose Sturdy could work but no prevos have the ability if their evo doesn't. But I think we have covered all the good abilities already and I do like the idea of Klutz as the young sailor matures and loses it.
 
I think Big Pecks is a huge contender, seeing how the design will, imo, turn out. Hustle is an interesting ability for reasons mentioned by sol1d g0ld, and seems interesting for a little bird; it fits quite well. Keen Eye is another cool ability and seems to be one of the top abilities for discussion atm.
 
I agree that Big Pecks and Volt Absorb should stay. I'd like to nominate Unnerve to replace Intimidate. I like Unnerve because it seems like an "immature" version of Intimidate, which seems appropriate for a pre-evolution.
 
Just going to post my supported abilities I an organized fashion.

1st Ability: Hustle/Unnerve/Keen Eye
2nd Ability: Volt Absorb/Klutz
3rd Ability: Big Pecks
 
Agreeing that Big Pecks and Volt Absorb should remain. As for the first ability, echoing what has already been said; either Hustle or Keen Eye makes the most sense flavor-wise.
 
While I agree that Big Pecks should stay, I wonder if Rattled could replace Intimidate, as a progression from a rookie sailor to a stalwart sea captain. I also like the idea of Hydration as a second ability, though I see the reasoning for Volt Absorb.
 

HeaLnDeaL

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Though no one has mentioned it, I think that Cloud Nine could be a suitable replacement to Volt Absorb. Though there is no precedent of a Pokemon evolving and losing this ability, I feel it fits into the theme of a sailor/captain. Furthermore, Cloud Nine transitioning into Volt Absorb could be linked to a sailor that is decent at avoiding the effects of bad weather into a captain that can use thunderstorms to his advantage while traversing the seas. A common theme in this thread has been to have abilities that show growth from a novice sailor into a skilled captain, and I think that Cloud Nine at least somewhat follows this theme as opposed to leaving Volt Absorb as is.

I also favor Unnerve in place of Intimidate and think that Big Pecks should remain, for reasons that have already been discussed by others.
 

DHR-107

Robot from the Future
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Sorry for the small delay on this guys! I ended up being pretty busy the last day or so...

I am going to make en executive descision based on the discussion here and say Big Pecks will remain the Hidden Ability. Most people tended to agree on Volt Absorb staying too, but there are a couple of other suggestions that have been brought forward. This will likely be a bigish Poll with the amount of options available, but I will put down a few options for people.

Intimidate / Volt Absorb (No Change)
Unnerve / Volt Absorb
Keen Eye / Volt Absorb
Intimidate / Hustle
Keen Eye / Hustle
(Total Change)
Keen Eye / Hydration (Total Change)

I think this covers the majority of the opinions presented by people here.
 
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