[X] Nacli
[X] Pawniard

I stopped playing after gen five, so I'm more interested in salt mushroom then drill mole.
 
[X] Tinkatink

Feeling a little sad for the Tink, and it is a fair argument that this is the only leading option that Roland actually likes.
 
A bit of a shame Nacli is losing. That ability is very good and interesting while also being a mostly defensive pokemon.
 
One of the appeals of Nacli is that having a white mage around saves us a lot of money on potions when "use a potion or a time slot healing" is a limiting factor. And we aren't exactly wealthy.
 
My biggest concern is that Nacli seems to have a more hostile relationship with Roland. Now, Roland isn't particularly fond of Drilbur either, but that seems more annoyed at Drilbur's enthusiasm for Roland as a playmate, whereas Nacli and Roland seem like they'd have a lot more animosity.

And Roland already has a hostile relationship with our other Pokemon.

If someone can reassure me on that front, I would probably swap my vote from Drilbur to Nacli.
 
I wonder, which other kinds of pokémon could fit the role of a white mage.
Outside of the ones with the Healer ability or that know Heal Pulse
 
I don't think there's a big difference in Roland's outlook between the two? let's look back at the options first:
After the band of Wild Pokemon were scattered, Nacli stayed behind trying to fight Roland by themselves, the two seemingly having grown a rivalry in the span of under an hour.
  • Kind of a Stubborn and Spiteful Pokemon. Gets along well with Renne, has what it believes to be a good natured rivalry with Roland.

After the Wild Pokemon were scattered, she stayed behind, preoccupied with chasing and being chased by Roland underground after he gave chase to the Drilbur for making faces at him. With the battle concluded, she all but begged to join your team to Roland's horror.
  • Considers Roland to be the best playmate she's ever had, to his consternation. At least Renne finds it funny. Is kind of young.
Both Nacli and Drilbur feel more positive about their relationship with Roland than he returns. Drilbur's is probably more flavored by her relative youth and playfulness, but that can also turn sour if she is too annoying, while Nacli's is a rivalry, yeah, but that can be something positive when channeled correctly. Either way there'll most likely be a conflict for us to solve between Roland and the new hire, and neither seems to be anywhere near as problematic as what Roland and Renne have got going on, so I personally at least I'm not really worried on that front.

I wonder, which other kinds of pokémon could fit the role of a white mage.
Outside of the ones with the Healer ability or that know Heal Pulse
You mean inside or outside of battles? Because Nacli has a really solid regenerative ability for outside of battle healing.
 
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Both Nacli and Drilbur feel more positive about their relationship with Roland than he returns. Drilbur's is probably more flavored by her relative youth and playfulness, but that can also turn sour if she is too annoying, while Nacli's is a rivalry, yeah, but that can be something positive when channeled correctly. Either way there'll most likely be a conflict for us to solve between Roland and the new hire, and neither seems to be anywhere near as problematic as what Roland and Renne have got going on, so I personally at least I'm not really worried on that front.
They could both be positive if we channel it correctly, but 'rivalry' is a much more hostile description than 'annoying playmate.' And the consequences of a rivalry gone bad seems much worse than what might happen with Drilbur. And that "what it believes to be a good rivalry" certainly doesn't make me feel confident in Roland seeing the rivalry in a positive light.
 
They could both be positive if we channel it correctly, but 'rivalry' is a much more hostile description than 'annoying playmate.' And the consequences of a rivalry gone bad seems much worse than what might happen with Drilbur. And that "what it believes to be a good rivalry" certainly doesn't make me feel confident in Roland seeing the rivalry in a positive light.
This is Pokémon though. Yeah Mariana has issues with hers, but that's down to it a) being one sided and b) her own pre-existing self-esteem issues. The second doesn't seem like it'll be an issue, and the first definitely isn't.
 
They could both be positive if we channel it correctly, but 'rivalry' is a much more hostile description than 'annoying playmate.'
eh, rivalries helping you get stronger is a common shonen trope, that doesn't read as directly hostile to me, especially when compared to Roland's reaction to Drilbur begging to join being described as "horror".
Plus keep in mind that Drilbur managed to get under Roland's skin so hard just via mean faces that she managed to completely derail him from anything else that might have been going on at the time to cause him to chase her.
Clearly the source of stress for Roland in both cases would be different, but I don't feel like Drilbur's attention seeking and play is something he'd have an easy time dealing with either if she can play him this badly.
 
Kind of a Stubborn and Spiteful Pokemon. Gets along well with Renne, has what it believes to be a good natured rivalry with Roland.
Considers Roland to be the best playmate she's ever had, to his consternation. At least Renne finds it funny. Is kind of young.
As far as Renne goes I prefer her shown relationship with Nacli over Drillbur here, with it explicitly stating they'll get along as opposed to framing around her amusement at Roland's reaction.
 
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eh, rivalries helping you get stronger is a common shonen trope, that doesn't read as directly hostile to me, especially when compared to Roland's reaction to Drilbur begging to join being described as "horror".
Plus keep in mind that Drilbur managed to get under Roland's skin so hard just via mean faces that she managed to completely derail him from anything else that might have been going on at the time to cause him to chase her.
Clearly the source of stress for Roland in both cases would be different, but I don't feel like Drilbur's attention seeking and play is something he'd have an easy time dealing with either if she can play him this badly.

It's exactly what Roland did in the past, though?
 
My biggest concern is that Nacli seems to have a more hostile relationship with Roland. Now, Roland isn't particularly fond of Drilbur either, but that seems more annoyed at Drilbur's enthusiasm for Roland as a playmate, whereas Nacli and Roland seem like they'd have a lot more animosity.

And Roland already has a hostile relationship with our other Pokemon.

If someone can reassure me on that front, I would probably swap my vote from Drilbur to Nacli.
I mean, as someone who pointed out the hostile relationship, I think any one of the more Roland-negative options is an opportunity for character growth, not an active detriment to the team or anything. It's just More Stuff To Deal With, and it's stuff that Mary as a charming and empathetic person is fairly equipped to deal with, once the Bonds are at appropriate levels.
 
Adhoc vote count started by The Meddler on Apr 9, 2024 at 7:20 PM, finished with 263 posts and 80 votes.
 
I will say that my support for Nacli is pretty vibes-based more than anything. Right now we have something of a personal storyline - get strong enough to go out, find the Stakes of Ruin, and make sure they're all functioning right and nobody's screwing with them. I'm certainly not suggesting that we need or should monofocus on it, but it's good enough for now as a goal to work for. The Nacli line is the kind of tanky thick pokemon that we don't have yet (both Roland and Renne are glass cannons to varying degrees and approaches), so it slots into an important role on our team, but more than that I think it fits that goal we have? There's gotta be something we can do with its salts for purification/exorcism, even if in an only tangentially-related way rather than directly for the Sealing Spell and the stakes. Plus the whole "ancient purification ritual" aesthetic fits the vibes of someone who is going to be going out and doing weirdo sealing rituals in their off-time. It's also a healer that starts with 1 wound per day and is going to get better, so it means heading off into the wilderness to search out obscurely located stakes is a lot less of a burden on preparation because of all the healing we'll have access to to recover from whatever trouble we run into.

It's also not a super complicated pokemon to care for, compared to the grudge-prone neediness of Roland and Renne's whole emotional trauma? We're not going to need to stress about needing to sidequest, feed it a specific diet, or similar things for evolutions in the future since it's just "get stronger". Plus, I like the creativity it has with using it's natural abilities.

As for Roland not liking it...while I presume there's going to be some depth to it, I suspect the core of it comes from Nacli being a pokemon whose innate ability is to tell Ghost-types to fuck off, so the Ghost-type Roland would find that annoying to some degree. I think as long as we make sure we're bonding with Roland enough (and we really should be, they're our Starter after all and they have a grudge against Renne already), we should be able to alleviate that before it grows into anything problematic.

I'm not against Drilbur, who seems to be winning, but I like Nacli better when looking at a sorta general trajectory of what we're going to be doing in the future.
 
[X] Nacli
[X] Tinkatink

Spiteful proud dragon-ghost, superpowered pint-sized murderous psychic, and either a sadistic exorcist-rock or a battle-hungry ronin.
 
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Consider: Renne's "I have a move of every type" with Tera Stellar :V
The boost from Terra Stellar is smaller than just regular 'ol STAB, so even with Renne being able to swap between a variety of super effective moves to maintain the Terra Stellar boost... It's still going to be less damage than picking one super effective Terra Type and sticking to it, in any situation where the opponent isn't running an extremely diverse team... which still isn't necessarily a useful use case for it, since Renne managing to 1v2 or better is unlikely against peer or stronger opponents.
 
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