[Kodai]

Yes, another Trait question. :,D I love you guys~

So ideas for a non-Shrine Trait that lets you defend your partner has been batted around, and I fully plan on implementing it. But that made me realize that... there's no Trait for defending yourself for a while! To that end, I propose a change to the way Damage Substitute works. Right now, it simply takes the damage your ally took last turn and puts it on yourself. What I would like to do is make it work a little like the Pokemon move Substitute (which uses a set amount of your HP to make a little doll that takes damage for you until it's used up all the HP you gave it).

Here's my idea:
You state you want to use Damage Substitute on either yourself or your ally. A magical 'copy' of the pet is then made, which is what the foe ends up attacking if they decide to attack that pet. The copy can take x amount of damage (where x is equal to the listed percentage of the pet's Endurance) before it 'dissolves', ending the Trait. So, for instance, if the Trait says Damage Endurance can protect for 20%, and the pet it is used on has 100 Endurance, the 'copy' can take 20 damage before it breaks.

In addition, this is what I'm thinking for Bodyguard:
-lasts x amount of turns, using x AP (where x is stated by the user; for instance, they use 5 AP to last for 5 turns)
-essentially replaces the original target's defenses with the user's defenses during an opponent's attack roll
-success is based on user's Speed; it must roll its Speed on 1d100 in order to protect its partner successfully
-if the user fails the Speed roll, it automatically uses a basic attack against the attacking opponent
-the user may attack while it is using Bodyguard, but has a -50% Precision penalty

See here for more discussion on Bodyguard.

Thoughts?

EDIT: Also, Diehard acting like Focus Sash (where you are restored to 1 Endurance if you were going to be KOed). Y/Y?

[Shieba]

- Totally for changing Diehard since I was the one who requested the change in the first place.
- Totally agreeing with Bodyguard. Awesome new Trait would be awesome like that.

Damage Sub, though...no. I don't think this would be a good idea at all, even though I first thought it would be awesome. The reason is that we have Stubborn Ferocity.

Stubborn Ferocity gives you basically +10 Endurance for free. Given that your max Endurance can be normally 100, this is 10% at least; more if your "normal" Endurance is still lower, which it will be for most pets since few have max level. Also, Stubborn Ferocity is automatic, meaning you don't need to waste AP on it.

From what I understand, you want to change Damage Sub into something like Stubborn Ferocity, except that it's percental and based on AP. That, however, isn't smart in my eyes. To be AP-friendly and useable, you need the percentage to have a certain height and that height needs to be over 10% or Stubborn Ferocity would automatically be better. So let's say you make it 20%. Then, however, it would get insanely overpowered at max level since you would then have +20 Endurance and you would - if AP-based - be able to use it multiple times. And making it not AP-based would just make it a Stubborn Ferocity copy.

Don't get me wrong - as I told you before, I think Damage Sub needs to be changed drastically since wasting a turn just to transfer damage around is hardly of any use or even Shrine-worthy, especially not with Bodyguard approaching. So indeed the concept needs to be totally changed. There are some suggestions from me:

- Make Damage Sub a Trait where your pet creates an illusion of itself lasting for X turns. The illusion attacks like your pet does, with the same stats, giving your pet basically an extra turn. It could also act as a decoy, maybe giving your opponent the "chance" to hit the illusion 50% of the time instead of your pet. So kinda like a temporary partner/Avoidance Trait in one.

- Make it a Trait for double battles where your pet casts Damage Sub and doesn't transfer the damage from the last turn onto itself, but onto the other opponent pet (the one that didn't deal the damage).

- Make it a Trait where 50% of the damage the opponent deals get temporary reflected back onto the opponent.