CaP 19 Pre-Evo - Part 2 - Ability Discussion

[DHR-107]

So hey there guys! Now that Plasmanta's flavour ability has been decided we can really get going with this prevo! Thre was a slight miscalculation on my part over the timings but hey, it's all good now so lets get this sorted.

We decided to stick with the original typing of Plasmanta for our prevo, that being Electric/Poison.

Plasmanta's abilities are Storm Drain / Vital Spirit / Telepathy. Keep these in mind when discussing abilities for our Prevo.

I'll likely create a poll similar to the one I made for Volkritter, taking people's views into account. So I will say here that I believe the above order is Primary/Secondary/Hidden. Please keep this in mind when you are talking about switching abilities around as it will give me an easier time to work out which abilities switch with which (if any are changed!).

Our Prevo So Far:
Typing: Electric/Poison
Abilities: TBA

 

[boxofkangaroos]

I was thinking:

Water Absorb / Vital Spirit / Poison Point

While they achieve very similar things, Water Absorb is seemingly an underdeveloped version of Storm Drain. Hence I think it is fitting for Plasmanta's pre-evo. Similarly, Telepathy seems a bit to "powerful" for a smaller Pokémon. Poison Point was our second choice for Plasmanta, and it would be a fantastic, underpowered ability choice.

 

[FMD]

Storm Drain / Hustle / Telepathy

Hustle seems like a more fitting generic unevolved ability. The Nidos all have Hustle before reaching their final forms and trading it for Sheer Force, for example. Remoraid, Combee, Darumaka and Rufflet also lose Hustle upon evolving.
It's also worth noting that every Pokemon with Storm Drain has it at every stage of evolution and every Pokemon with Telepathy has it at every stage of evolution.

 

[GoldNinja]

Storm Drain / Run Away / Telepathy

This seems like a good fit. It has Plasmanta's primary and flavor abilities, and Run Away just seems like a common and generic prevo ability.

 

[CerberusSONE]

Water Absorb / Vital Spirit / Telepathy
Whenever I think of a Pre-Evo I think of youth and vitality, so Vital Spirit sounds fitting.
I think Water Absorb would also be feasible. It's too weak to utilize Water as means for offense, but it can regain HP from Water attacks.

 

[Pikachu315111]

Either keep it the same as Plasmanta or what CerberusSONE said. I really don't see anyone playing the Prevo any bit different then they would Plasmanta. What can it help set up for in Little Cup?

 

[HeaLnDeaL]

Pikachu315111 CAP prevos are made for flavor/fun, and are not specifically designed to take on LC threats.

 

[Empress]

Let's keep it the same- Storm Drain / Vital Spirit / Telepathy. Far, far too many CAP prevos change their abilities upon evolving. Not every evolution is like Horsea -> Seadra, where an ability gets altered. Usually this only happens if the Pokémon has only one ability, like Kakuna -> Beedrill. Changing Telepathy to something else would be less unprecedented, but let's not tamper with Storm Drain or Vital Spirit.

 

[Pikachu315111]

Pikachu315111 CAP prevos are made for flavor/fun, and are not specifically designed to take on LC threats.

I know, though doesn't hurt to pretend. Consider it a mental exercise. Though with that said, if this is just for flavor and nothing else (are the prevos programmed into Showdown?) and the prevo doesn't radically change from the evolution we might as well do what wh0sy0urpapa suggested:

Let's keep it the same- Storm Drain / Vital Spirit / Telepathy. Far, far too many CAP prevos change their abilities upon evolving. Not every evolution is like Horsea -> Seadra, where an ability gets altered. Usually this only happens if the Pokémon has only one ability, like Kakuna -> Beedrill. Changing Telepathy to something else would be less unprecedented, but let's not tamper with Storm Drain or Vital Spirit.

 

[Mova]

I was originally thinking that we should keep all three Abilities as they are, but the choice of Storm Drain / Vital Spirit / Hustle wouldn't hurt, although I don't see how the Prevo would be more aggressive than Plasmanta itself, considering Plasmanta doesn't even need Attack.

Overall, I believe consistency and simplicity are the way to go for once, since most official Pokemon do that, and not many CAPs do.

 

[Dogfish44]

As much as I loathe to say it, I agree with wh0 on this one. I think of the 17 CAPs that have evolutionary lines (17/19 CAPs), only three have a consistent ability set (Stratagem line, Cyclohm line, and the Malaconda Line). This is a little bit off... so I'd say stick with the three abilities we have.

 

[The Avalanches]

I can't really see us changing Storm Drain, if I'm honest. All Pokemon that have Storm Drain as a fully-evolved Pokemon also have it in their first form (Dragonblaze052 is spot on), so we can't exactly say Water Absorb is an underdeveloped version of the ability.

I like the suggestions for Hustle, but I don't think we should tamper with Vital Spirit.

Right now, I'd be happy seeing the same three abilities make it to the poll, but we could certainly discuss some other abilities, as I like the idea of getting rid of Telepathy, certainly more than I do Storm Drain or Vital Spirit.

Some abilities to discuss, and these are mostly from the last ability poll include:

Anticipation, Poison Point, Illuminate, Damp, Poison Touch, and Unnerve.

Some that weren't slated in he flavour discussion but still might be suitable include:

Hydration, Inner Focus, Water Veil, Keen Eye, Static, and Wonder Skin.

And here is just a bit of a left-field suggestion from me, but we could alway replace Telepathy with Friend Guard, considering that they only work in doubles and that only unevolved Pokemon have Friend Guard. As to how friendly the art for Minimanta will look, I don't yet know, but it's another ability worry considering.

 

[Da Pizza Man]

While for the most part I agree with wh0sy0urpapa, I also feel like we should talk about some other options

What about Storm Drain / Rattled / Telepathy or Storm Drain / Swift Swim / Telepathy ?

Storm Drain is kept throughout entire evolutionary lines, so we can't say Water Absorb is a weaker version of it (I think somebody already pointed that out though), same case with Telepathy. Vital Spirit is a bit different since Vigoroth has it and Slakoth doesn't, so I decided that it is the ability we should be changing. Since Plasmanta is relatively big, I decided to change it, I got was able to get two options, Swift Swim and Rattled, which both come from the Magikarp and Gyarados line, another pokemon who has a small prevo but is really big (The relationship generation between Gyarados and Plasmanta was unintentional, but it does help with flavor.) Both focus on different flavor aspects. Swift Swim is also on Feebas, is rather common on pokemon associated with Water, and gives some sense to Plasmanta being so huge and still being rather fast. Rattled on the other hand can be better associated with pre evos in general (They don't have to be all cutsie, Poochyena gets it), and it getting Vital Spirit adds a flavor concept of it turning from being scared to rather brave. I'm more along the lines of Swift Swim, but I wanted the bring up both options

 

[sparktrain]

I agree that Storm Drain and Telepathy should be kept consistent, as all other mons that get these abilitis have them stay consistent throughout their evolutionary line. However, since this is not true of Vital Spirit, I'd like to bring up the possibility of Storm Drain / Early Bird / Telepathy. Early Bird is basically a toned down version of Vital Spirit, so it'd fit flavorwise with what we have so far (also plenty of non-Bird mons get the ability so that's not an issue). If this seems like too much of a stretch, we could keep the abilities the same as Plasmanta's, or potentially give it a completely different second ability.

 

[Dratios]

I like Early Bird a lot. I do believe, however, that only one ability should be changed, and I agree with a lot of people that Storm Drain should be kept. I think that we might be able to change Telepathy, though, to something like Forewarn. My reasoning behind this choice is that Plasmanta might use its telepathic powers to sense its prey. Since Plasmantoddler (I tried) isn't as strong as its evo, it might use its more limited psychic powers to alert it to predators.

So all in all, I'm thinking of these possible abilities:
Storm Drain / Vital Spirit / Telepathy

Storm Drain / Early Bird / Telepathy

Storm Drain / Vital Spirit / Forewarn

 

[DHR-107]

Sorry for the delay on this, outside factors.

Looking through this it looks like Storm Drain is pretty unanimously agreed to be ability one.

I really like Rattled as an idea, and I also like Early Bird for slot two. General consensus seems to be to keep Telepathy in the final slot.

So I guess it'll be a three choice poll! Winner takes all this round!

Storm Drain / Early Bird / Telepathy
Storm Drain / Rattled / Telepathy
Storm Drain / Vital Spirit / Telepathy