CAP 13 CAP 2 - Part 14 - Pokedex Entry Poll 3

[Rising_Dusk]

This is a very intriguing result for the final slate. I find that at every step of the CAP, community contributors have pushed for CAP 2 to be dark and malevolent, and yet in the Pokedex entry polls they have clearly totally changed their stance! The two finalists for Pokedex entries are completely neutral, and possess neither creepiness nor malevolence. They're about as generic "this is a plant that is also a ghost" as possible! That fascinates me. Does this mean that the community no longer supports the position they've taken this whole CAP? Does that mean that when faced with their own choices in word form, they reject them? What does it mean? I don't even know, but it's really interesting.

This has been one of my main goals of this poll and slate. I wanted to see where the chips would fall, on the side of creepiness, malevolence, or neither? It would seem that the community has chosen neither for whatever reason. Now we must choose the winner in this one last poll before the completion of CAP 2.

I have listed every slated submission's author below in the order they placed in the previous poll. I've included a link to the corresponding final submission post next to each name via the arrow, but please do not include that in your vote.

Temperantia
Mos-Quitoxe
​

This poll is a bold vote poll, the details of which are outlined here. A typical vote might look like the following:

My Preferred Entry

If the voter wishes, he may post comments on his vote below the actual vote. As with IRV, only the vote itself should be bold and none of the supplementary text should be bold.

Please post only your votes in this thread. Do not respond to other posts, or your posts will be moderated and you warned. If you feel compelled to say something in your own vote, you may still do so, but don't try to incite a discussion. Keep discussion to #cap.

This poll will be open for 24 hours.

Below is a detailed showing of the entrants' submissions in the order presented above. I've only quoted the relevant parts here, so check their final submission posts for more details.

Temperantia

Necturna, the Essence Pokemon

Black: A Pokemon said to be able to communicate with spirits. When in the location of a past tragedy, it weeps.
White: This Pokemon has the ability to speak to spirits. Necturna are said to have a harder time trusting the living than the dead.
​

Mos-Quitoxe

Necturna, the Channeler Pokemon

Black: Since it lacks photosynthetic pigments, it relies entirely on preying upon living things for nutrition.
White: Its mind is linked to the afterlife. As a result, some Necturna seem capable of calling spirits to their aid.
​

CAP 2 thus far:

Name: Necturna

Concept: Sketch Artist

Description: A Pokemon that learns Sketch, once, and everything that goes along with that.

Justification:

In terms of uniqueness, I think that few existing Pokemon can match DPP Smeargle, an otherwise laughably worthless Pokemon trolling OU with access to every trick in the book (or at least 4 of them) but also affecting the metagame greatly by becoming a top threat in the lead metagame. This Pokemon will borrow some of that uniqueness by learning the move Sketch and thus having access to ONE surprise/strategic/gutshot bonus move to supplement its pre-existing movepool. Being otherwise competently built (read: usable stats), this Poke could be a top threat or specialist for reasons we can't even predict yet.

Questions To Be Answered:

• How will a Poke that has access to any one move out of all the moves in the game affect common battling tactics, namely prediction, scouting, and switching?
• Which Sketch moves will become most common on this Poke's best sets? Does Sketchmon's success rely on hiding that secret Sketch move until just the right moment or can it succeed with predictably powerful moves like Spore, Spikes, Hurricane, Shell Smash, etc.?
• Does this unique and powerful access to moves need to be counterbalanced elsewhere in the Pokemon's design? If so, then to what degree?
• What kind of impact can Sketchmon have on teambuilding in terms of being able to patch holes with common utility moves like Rapid Spin or Toxic Spikes?

Explanation: The key here is that we have a lot of freedom to construct a unique Pokemon while staying within the confines of the concept. Typing, stats, abilities, and even most of the movepool are completely fair game so long as the Poke learns Sketch only once along the way and that we keep that in mind during previous steps. Now, this doesn't mean the CAP process will be directionless; Rising Dusk is pretty well organized and good at keeping discussions focused, and the concept itself has firm grounding in Smeargle's precedent. What's really being studied with this concept is movepool diversity and effectiveness, so it should have the most effect on the movepool process, where movepool creators will have to carefully balance their Sketchmon's actual movepool with the possibility of adding any one other move to the list. In terms of the metagame, there is no doubt in my mind that throwing a wildcard like this into the mix will strongly affect the metagame.

Focus: Bulky Offense
Typing: Grass / Ghost
Stats: 64 HP / 120 Atk / 100 Def / 85 SpA / 120 SpD / 81 Spe
Abilities: Forewarn / Telepathy (DW)
Movepool:
Primary Checks: Heatran, Jirachi, Skarmory, Hydreigon
Gender: Female

tl;dr: Quack! (Jews are good people too!)

 

[LouisCyphre]

Temperantia

 

[Mafeking]

Mos-Quitoxe

 

[capefeather]

Temperantia

Other than the weirdly structured first sentence, I pretty much prefer it in every way over Mos-Quitoxe's submission. I guess I prefer the tragic tale over the "lack of photosynthetic pigments" explanation (it does still have that head vine).

 

[Birkal]

Mos-Quitoxe

CAP2 has been a blast. Let's finish strong; best of luck to both contestants!

 

[Rising_Dusk]

Temperantia

The strange wording on the first sentence is something I pointed out to Temperantia during development and he ignored me. It is a poorly construed form of the passive voice, and so is legitimate, but well, makes me pretty unhappy. Despite it, it is still the best entry left in my opinion and was very good to start, hence its slating. Any rambling about photosynthetic pigments is best left to conjecture and out of the Pokedex.

 

[Asylum_Rhapsody]

Temperantia

 

[Danmire]

Mos-Quitoxe

Ahh, both of them are great, but I'm sticking to Mos'. That photosynthesis stuff is really creative.

 

[chocolate-kipp]

Temperantia

 

[levren]

Mos-Quitoxe

 

[Engineer Pikachu]

Temperantia

Despite the strange wording, it still gets the point across.

 

[Musashi1054]

Temperantia

 

[Bughouse]

Mos-Quitoxe

Plain and simple, I can't stand the species name "Essence Pokemon." Also, that's not bad passive voice. That's just a fragment.

 

[Solstice]

Mos-Quitoxe

 

[zyrefredric]

Mos-Quitoxe
the other one never really appealed to me. and Mos' is very short, which I prefer.

 

[DougJustDoug]

Temperantia

 

[Wyverii]

Temperantia

 

[milo v3]

Mos-Quitoxe

 

[elementalpenguin]

Mos-Quitoxe

 

[erisia]

Mos-Quitoxe

 

[Its_A_Random]

Mos-Quitoxe

 

[meddle]

Temperantia

 

[ProfPeanut]

Temperantia

 

[Xiom]

Mos-Quitoxe

@Cape, that vine isn't even green. I don't see how you can argue that that vine got any photosynthetic pigments. It's more likely a dead vine, considering it's a ghost, than something farfetched like Pheophytin, a brown version of Clorophyll.

 

[Lord Jesseus]

Mos-Quitoxe