Alrighty, folks.We know that some games have abilities that affect the tides of a battle in most scenarios, like Sturdy in Pokemon. We also know that from RPG Maker VX up, the engine gave us some static abilities, like Super Guard. But, ever think that they could be a lot worse to face or a lot better to use if there was a bit more creativity with it? Let's take Super Guard, for example.

Super Guard causes damage to be reduced by another quarter, making the guarded damage 3/4ths instead of 1/2nd. Of course, it has its own use, but what if there was a static ability that granted something on top of less damage?

Let's try it with a touch of healing shall we?

Critical Guard- While guarding, if you're hit by a critical attack, reduce the extra damage by 1/4th, and recover HP equal to the damage prevented this way.

If you wanted to go a little more physical:

Counter/Storm/Spike/etc Guard- While guarding, 1/3rd physical/magic/some form of damage is returned. Does not trigger if the target is defeated before damage is dealt.

Some other examples of abilities I've used:

Critical Endurance- If a lethal blow were to kill (insert bearer's name here), instead, remaining HP becomes 1 and damage is prevented for the rest of this round.

(Place Element Here) Guard- During battle, if your HP is 25% or less, a named element will deal reduced damage.

Now, you may be curious as to how that helps. Well, when you look at a game, hack and slash games push through because there's no real need for abilities. However, when you're playing turn-based, shooting-based, or even Stationary games and scrollers, they all have some form of abilities that make their game stand out. One Finger Death Punch has Freezing Point, which allows you to kill all enemies on one side of the map, while some like Mario and Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story have items like the Challenge Medal, which boosts foes and gives you 1.4x the profit. Static, but it stands out.

It makes sense to push your game out with the smaller things people bypass at the beginning, because later on, down the road, they'll be looking at it with awe. Now, here's another tip. You don't want to push your abilities to be game breaking. Having a low DEF person with Super Guard doesn't really seem fitting, and having a physical tank with Super Guard would make the battle dull and possibly endless. You want to focuse on the main points of the character before you decide to give them any abilities.

For Example:

Let's take my character Hope. Being the Kitsune she is, she has high speed and high evasiveness. To mark, her abilities are listed below:

Slide Guard- While active, the bearer cannot be frozen.

Holy Fur- During each turn, recover 5% of your current HP.

Shift- If an enemy shifts into a different form at anytime, inflict poison and burn.

Nine Stride- While in critical condition, normal attacks have a chance to hit up to nine times.

Of course, this could be game breaking, seeing how she has high HP, heavy skill and spell power, and can cause both poison, which drops 10% of your HP per turn, and burn, which drops 5% of your HP and drops attack power by 25%. However, Nine Stride is the one I want to look at. If any actor or enemy has the option to deal extra normal attacks with a X% chance, then it may trigger. Now, if you have it at 50%, you have one that may trigger at 50, and then a possible bonus third that may trigger at 25%.

I hope this helps those who need it! And remember kids, Riki has some fruit punch for ya while I write my Nowi/Robin fanfic... Not being perverted, but they make a great team... That, and I need to beat Undertale XD