WIP
Name: Convergent Form CAP
Description: This CAP consists of two Pokemon, the second being a convergent form/ecologically similar species to the first.
Explanation: Game Freak has recently developed a habit of introducing new ways to make variants for old Pokemon, and convergent forms/ecologically similar species are among the newest of these new types of variants. Only three convergent species were introduced in SV, and only one of these mons is actually good (rip my boy Toedscruel...), so they've fallen to the wayside compared to the more common and powerful Paradox Pokemon in terms of competitive viability. However, I think there's quite a bit of potential to this concept, simply because of the wide design space it offers. I'll go more into specifics in the Restrictions/Deviations, but the way convergent species work (admittedly a lot of these "rules" aren't set in stone since we currently only have three examples to work with, but IMO working with the limited examples we have now is MUCH less of a headache than reworking certain rules to accomodate for something that might not even happen) allow us to create two Pokemon that are simultaneously drastically different and quite similar, which would be a really fun challenge.
Admittedly, when laid out like this, it does look quite complicated at first glance. But I still think it would be really interesting to explore, and I have faith that, once we get past the early hurdles, choose our concept, and determine the directions we want to go in, we can make some truly intriguing final products :333
Name: Convergent Form CAP
Description: This CAP consists of two Pokemon, the second being a convergent form/ecologically similar species to the first.
Explanation: Game Freak has recently developed a habit of introducing new ways to make variants for old Pokemon, and convergent forms/ecologically similar species are among the newest of these new types of variants. Only three convergent species were introduced in SV, and only one of these mons is actually good (rip my boy Toedscruel...), so they've fallen to the wayside compared to the more common and powerful Paradox Pokemon in terms of competitive viability. However, I think there's quite a bit of potential to this concept, simply because of the wide design space it offers. I'll go more into specifics in the Restrictions/Deviations, but the way convergent species work (admittedly a lot of these "rules" aren't set in stone since we currently only have three examples to work with, but IMO working with the limited examples we have now is MUCH less of a headache than reworking certain rules to accomodate for something that might not even happen) allow us to create two Pokemon that are simultaneously drastically different and quite similar, which would be a really fun challenge.
Restrictions/Deviations:
- One of the true constants between all convergent species is that they have the same BST as their "normal" counterparts - therefore, these two CAPs should also have the same BST. They can copy each other's stat totals value for value (as seen with Wugtrio/Dugtrio and Toedscruel/Tentacruel) or the stat values can be slightly tweaked to fit different roles (as seen with Sinistcha/Polteageist), but each of their total BSTs must add up to the same number.
- The other true constant between all convergent species is that the typing(s) of the convergent species must be super effective against the typing(s) of the "base species". They can share a typing if it fits within this criteria (as seen with Sinistcha/Polteageist, as Ghost is super effective against itself). If both species are dual types, the convergent species should still be able to hit the base species for SE damage with at least one of its STABs (as seen with Toedscruel/Tentacruel - Toedscruel takes neutral damage from both Water and Poison, Tentacruel takes neutral damage from Grass, but it still takes super effective damage from Ground, meaning Toedscruel still has the advantage STAB-wise).
- The base species and the convergent species must have different Primary Abilities. They can have a different number of Abilities (as seen with Toedscruel/Tentacruel) and they can share a Secondary Ability and/or a Flavor Ability (as seen with Wugtrio/Dugtrio - admittedly this one might need to be tweaked a bit, as it's the part that'll probably give the TLT the most headaches
.)
- The base species and the convergent species can share up to two Defining Moves, but no more than that. This can be a shared STAB move (as seen with Sinistcha/Polteageist - seeing as both are special attacking Ghost types, their most common sets both run Shadow Ball), a good utility move (as seen with Toedscruel/Tentacruel, which both run Knock Off and Rapid Spin on their most common sets) or something unexplored entirely (a non-STAB coverage move that both mons would benefit from, a set-up move, a healing move, etc.) but they can only share two Defining Moves at most, to prevent the two from playing exactly the same. Their Full Movepools also cannot be the exact same - they can share some flavor moves, but there should be moves the base species can learn that the convergent species cannot, and vice versa
- Finally, the flavor restrictions...
- Just like with Venomicon's two forms, the base species and convergent species must be designed and submitted as a package by the same artist. The art polls will determine the designs of both the base species and the convergent species as a package - again, same as Venomicon's forms.
- The names of the CAPs should share one root word (as seen with Toedscruel/Tentacruel, and ofc Dugtrio and Wugtrio are just off by one letter LMAOOOOOOO) (Poltchageist and Sinistcha are a unique case, as their names are based on the opposite evolutionary line member of the base species, but since we save pre-evos until the very end, this is probably a better route to take.)
- On the topic of pre-evos, each CAP should have one pre-evo. All three convergent species introduced so far are two-stage lines, and while the concept of convergent species is still relatively unexplored
and therefore it is entirely possible that Game Freak introduces a convergent of a three stage line or a single stage Pokemon in PLZA in like four months and makes me choke on my words, it's much easier to just stick to the pattern we have.- All previous restrictions also apply to the pre-evos.
Admittedly, when laid out like this, it does look quite complicated at first glance. But I still think it would be really interesting to explore, and I have faith that, once we get past the early hurdles, choose our concept, and determine the directions we want to go in, we can make some truly intriguing final products :333
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