Brainstorming: New Techniques (Patreon)

Hey everyone, it's time to talk dual techs. These are something I considered early in development but didn't think was possible, so I didn't really plan for them. Now that they're possible (thanks to Decanter), I want to include them, but since I haven't planned them into my game balance stuff, I thought it'd be best to crowdsource the subject. You guys collectively have a ton of experience with TLS combat, after all.

First, the basic details of these skills' functioning. These skills will use only one character's turn, but require another character to be present in the combat party. You may have seen one introduced in the release: if Hilstara and Yarra are in the party, Yarra will gain a new physical attack (Hilstara is unaffected).

I have several goals for this system: make new party combinations more viable, give some characters more flexibility, and to emphasize the relationships between party members. You see how Yarra's skill hits the latter two and I'd like to think of more along those lines.

So this is where you can offer suggestions! You can come at it from any of the perspectives I listed, all kinds of recommendations are welcome. They won't all be included at this stage of the game, but I'd like to develop a mostly complete list of these for balance planning purposes.

One other item: we should probably think of a better name for these skills. "Dual tech" brings to mind Chrono Trigger, and there the skills used up both characters' turns. I've considered words like "assist," "teamwork" and "synergy" but haven't come across a combination that strikes me as the obvious choice, so more feedback is welcome!

EXAMPLE TECHS

Skill User + Required Member = Name: Description

Yarra + Hilstara = Force Kiss: Strong physical attack.

Aka + Hilstara = Backstab: Double debuffs on defense and magic defense.

Hilstara + Carina = Holy Shieldwall: Shieldwall plus a magic defense buff.

I think those are sufficient to give the idea, though I'll add to the list as people come up with ideas. Most of those examples allow for new capabilities, but I also want to include some skills that allow you to double down on something: Carina and Qum could have a stronger healing skill, for example, or pairs of succubi/mages/fighters could have a skill that lets them do even more of that type of damage. Especially in the endgame, I think there will be times where you want specialization.

I'm completely fine with skills that may not be amazing mechanically but reinforce character development. For example, I'd like Hilstara to mostly assist other party members instead of getting new skills for herself, because that's the kind of person she is. I'd also like something for Carina and Nalili as a symbol of their new friendship, but I haven't decided on an exact skill yet.

Alright, that's enough from me. Feel free to ask questions or suggest skills of your own!

 

CURRENT TECHS

Simon + Yarra = Grant Lust: Moves LP from Simon to another character.

Simon + Nalili = Sexual Strike: Strong attack with sexual element.

Yarra + Aka = Combat Flirt: Improved version of Flirt.

Yarra + Hilstara = Forceful Kiss: Strong physical attack.

Yarra + Altina = Poison Cloud: Poison AoE damage.

Aka + Yarra = Lust Stab: Strong single target lust damage, possible debuffs.

Aka + Hilstara = Backstab: Double debuffs on defense and magic defense.

Aka + Robin = Flaming Stab: Magical attack using physical strength.

Aka + Hilstara = Backstab: Double debuffs on defense and magic defense.

Qum + Yarra = Mass Drain: Drains all enemies, heals all allies.

Qum + Robin = Pretty Lance: Piercing lust damage.

Qum + Carina = Divine Orgy: Large party heal/cure (battle limited)

Qum + Altina = Sparkly Storm: AoE lust damage.

Hilstara + Qum = Sexy Encouragement: Encouragement buffs plus meaningful healing

Hilstara + Carina = Holy Shieldwall: Shieldwall plus a magic defense buff.

Hilstara + Uyae = Mighty Bash: Damage + Stun, Confusion, Paralysis

Robin + Yarra = Mana Drain: Drains enemy MP into Robin.

Robin + Qum = Disrupt: Hits an enemy with a variety of status effects.

Robin + Carina = Purification: Basically Cleanse + Calm.

Carina + Qum = Orgiastic Revival: Revives all fallen allies.

Carina + Robin = Inverse Healing: Drains enemy HP into Carina.

Carina + Nalili = Aegis Aura: Major lust protections to one character.

Nalili + Yarra = Flirtatious Blade: Flirt combined with a physical attack.

Nalili + Robin = ???

Nalili + Varia = Violent Orgy: Upgraded but more expensive version of Orgy of Blows.

Nalili + Carina = Healing Masturbation: Variant of Combat Masturbation that heals/cures.

Uyae + Aka = Agile Aura: Buffs party with speed/evasion.

Uyae + Hilstara = Steel Fist: Piercing single target physical attack.

Uyae + Robin = Arcane Heal: Strong single target healing.

Uyae + Nalili = Orgiastic Aura: Buffs party offense.

Altina + Robin = Earth Lance: Piercing earth damage to one target.

NEW ADDITIONS

Yarra + Robin = Lightning Whip: Lightning elemental attack.

Altina + Carina = Forgiveness: Party-wide healing. (only saner Altina)

Altina + Yarra = Perversion: AoE lust damage. (other Altina)

Aka + Altina = Poison Assault = Single target, multi-hit poison.

Varia + Altina = Earth Bomb: Multi-target earth attack.

Thoughts:

 - Unless we have some great idea, that's enough skills for Hilstara, though she can still grant more to others.

 - I'm leaning toward the word "synergy" for these. The skill note especially works for me: {Yarra Synergy}

 - I did this somewhat haphazardly, so if anyone has ideas for characters/combinations that are neglected, do share.