Edit 23/07/2020
- changed gain to cause in "your physical attacks
gain cause the lock on effect on contact"; to clarify that Physical attacks cause the Lock On effect on Contact, as opposed to Physical Contact attacks have Lock On effect.
Spellsword
Boosts/Nerfs
- +30% Att/SpA
- -10% Def/SpD
Side Effects
- Your physical attacks cause the "Lock On" effect on contact. Attacks which can hit multiple targets do not cause this effect.
- You gain the Serene Grace effect until the end of the next turn if your special attacks hits. If you already have the Serene Grace effect, the %age chance for the secondary effect is set to 100%, except Flinch (60% maximum).
- Your Crit Chance is increased by +1 after using a Status Move until the end of your next turn.
The spellsword is an age-old trope of balancing the ability to hit something up close, and doing magic damage, typically involving a rotation. This Archetype works around the concept of an "attack rotation", and supports a mixed attacker set up if you wish (although you do not have to. The Lock-On effect allows you to work in a bit of role compression with some of the powerful status secondary effects. If it's not possible to specify Serene Grace capping at 60%, then please let me know and I'll rethink this. I've specifically not increased the Speed because of the potential risk of Flinch Hax.
The Spellsword can be run in a number of ways; mostly Physical - Crabrawler could enjoy using Iron Fist with Crabhammer, Dynamic Punch and Work Up or similar; increasing its attack, getting a high Crit Chance with Crabhammer and then 100% accuracy with Dynamic Punch. Mostly Special; anything that wants to make use of high secondary effect chances on moves that otherwise don't have Serene Grace support; Scald, Scorching Sands, Fiery Dance, Luster Purge etc, or go for the full Mixed Set, and get 100% accuracy on the Focus Blasts and the like.
The downside of the Spellsword to "balance" it is that although the boosts are varied, they are not longer lasting, and cannot be really used to sweep, as well as being a little more vulnerable; that does come with potential benefit though - if the Spellsword can heal themselves with a Status move, their next attack is coming with +1 Crit Chance - you better watch out!!
Alchemy
,
Boosts/Nerfs
- +20% to Att/SpA
- -20% to Def/SpD
Side Effects
- You gain the effects of the Harvest and Cheek Pouch abilities.
- If you have the Harvest ability, it works 100% of the time. If it is Sunny and you have the Harvest ability, you gain the effects of the Gluttony ability instead.
- If you have the Cheek Pouch ability, you regain 50% HP instead of 33% HP.
- Fling's Type changes to become the user's Type 1, and has a minimum Base Power of 90.
Notes; although this may seem like a lot of effects, the PokeSkill is meant to represent the archetype of the fragile herbalist, launching their bombs while refreshing their stock of potions on the go to keep them topped up. I originally considered making Fling's BP60 to work with Technician for theme, but then this means that the Harvest effects wouldn't work very well, and giving up essentially 2 moves (Fling+Alchemy Skill) wouldn't have been worthwhile. As it is, "meta" wise, this effectively turns Fling into their typical Physical STAB move; the big potential winner being Trevenant now getting a BP90 Physical STAB.
Athletics
Boosts/Nerfs
- +10% increase to Att/Def/Spe
Side Effects
- You gain the Stamina ability. This does not stack if you already have the Stamina ability.
Notes; Keep it simple,
stupid. It doesn't need to be especially complicated. There isn't a downside, other than the trade of a move for Athletics. Athletics goes hand in hand with Stamina, and the skills boosted represent the physical prowess. However, the boosts gained are lower than those of other poke-skills, despite no nerfs, so a specialised mon might want something a bit better, and as fun as it might be to get Stamina on top of your ability, you do miss out on that all important 4th move. An example pokemon which would benefit from Athletics could be something like Dragonite, who has the ability to heal, has two dangerous STABS, and trades coverage for the ability to stay much longer in a fight - Multiscale and Stamina being a very nice synergy.
