Project: Hold

[Reflect Suicune]

A new reader can read about 80% of the itemdex entries and have no idea whether a given item's effect works when that item is held.
For now I am listing the truly ambiguous ones, but I thought we should also discuss the best way to fix this problem. Obviously we need each entry to mention it's relevance as a hold item, but it occurred to me that there are probably hundreds of ways to accomplish this. The issue here is that consistency can not be stressed enough, and whatever ends up being decided on - be it a picture that signifies a "working" hold item, or a sentence at the end of each item's description - I feel that implementation needs to be universal. Six different things that all mean "this works when held" can be confusing to some readers. A current example of this is how some berries state "One-time use" while others state "consumed after use". I am quite bothered by things like this, but then, I am probably the only one, so I will stop rambling now:
examples:
http://www.smogon.com/dp/items/liechi_berry
http://www.smogon.com/dp/items/lum_berry


Anyway, I went through the list of items, and checked (most) of the entries, and listed the ones that needed clarification below:

If you update one or more entries, PLEASE post in this thread so I can update this post accordingly.

List of ambiguous item entries
- Leftovers
- Lustrous Orb
- Macho Brace
- Muscle Band
- "Plate" Items (see below)
- Power Herb
- Quick Claw
- Razor Fang
- Sacred Ash (lol)
- Type-boosting items (see below)
- "X" Items, (see below)

Complete lists, for double-checking purposes:
This way, if, for example, someone does some of the type boosting items, but not all, I can remove the fixed ones from the appropriate list below, and other users will know which ones still need fixing.

"X" Items:
- X Accuracy
- X Attack
- X Defend
- X Special
- X Sp. Def
- X Speed

Type-boosting items:
- Bug
- Dark
- Dragon
- Electric
- Fighting
- Fire
- Flying
- Ghost
- Grass
- Ground
- Ice
- Normal
- Poison
- Psychic1
- Psychic2
- Rock1
- Rock2
- Steel
- Water1
- Water2
- Water3

Plate Items
- Bug
- Dark
- Dragon
- Electric
- Fighting
- Fire
- Flying
- Ghost
- Grass
- Ground
- Ice
- Poison
- Psychic
- Rock
- Steel
- Water

 

[eric the espeon]

Good project, I've been doing a lot of work on the item database (not just for DP) and this has bugged me too. I avoided making the "this works when held" part consistent (other than within specific item types, like resist berries or plates) because I was not 100% sure about which was the best way to say it, and did not want to go through editing a few hundred scms entries twice. It would be great to have consistency in how this is said as well as clarification on exactly how and when an item's effect is activated.

For your links, use non caps in the url or you get a 404 error. You have caps in the type boosting and plate lists.

 

[Reflect Suicune]

Oops thanks I fixed the links thing.

 

[Xia]

I (following advice from eric) went through all of the [LONG DESC] sections of the Plate analyses and made sure the description mentioned the fact that they were hold items.

 

[Dark Talon]

Some of those can be fixed quite easily:

Leftovers

When holding this item, user recovers 1/16 max HP, rounded down, at the end of each turn.

Lustrous Orb

Raises the power of Palkia's Dragon and Water moves 20% when held.

Macho Brace

Reduces Speed 50% when held, but doubles EVs earned.

Muscle Band

Raises the power of physical moves 10% when held. Muscle Band boosts the power of Struggle.

Power Herb

When held by a Pokemon, removes the charge up turn from Bounce, Dig, Dive, Fly, Razor Wind, Shadow Force, Skull Bash, Sky Attack, and Solarbeam. Skull Bash still receives the Defense boost. Giga Impact, Hyper Beam, Roar of Time, and Rock Wrecker still need to recharge after use. One-time use.

Quick Claw

Gives the holder a 20% chance to go first. This only makes the Pokémon go first if it is using a move of the same priority as the other Pokémon. Higher priority moves will still always go before lower priority moves, regardless of Quick Claw. Pokemon activating Quick Claw completely ignore Trick Room.

Razor Fang

Precisely the following moves gain a 10% flinch chance. [original]

When this item is held by a Pokemon, the following moves gain an additional 10% flinch chance. [new]

Sacred Ash

Fully revives all your fainted Pokémon, heals their HP, and restores their PP. One-time use and has no effect when held by any Pokemon.

While I admit it's not these might not be the most eloquent ways to solve the problem, it cuts the ambiguity down for at least the short term.