Santa Claus' New Year, New Upgrades

[XitSign]

Santa's PAD incarnation got quite a few upgrades this past holiday season. Not only was he buffed as a playable character, but he was given a new boss battle where he used a collection of abilities we've never seen before (Oh, and he had a boss battle last year that went completely undocumented for the page, whoops...). So it's time to freshen up Jolly Old Saint Nick's page a little bit.

1. Character Upgrades:

Lets start with the changes made to his most basic abilities. Thankfully they're documented very well on the Ilmina site here for his base form and here for his 'Holy Night Messenger' form to reference.

• For both keys and the Equip, Jingle Bells was buffed: The ability still increases the chances of new Fire and Light Orbs spawning and reduces cooldown for all allies' active skills, but it now also adds 2 Combos to all attacks for a limited time. (Damage Boost, already on profile)
• For both keys, Red Nose Formation was buffed: The ability now gives a 5x buff to all stats for all allies when Snow Globe Dragon Rouge, Snow Globe Dragon Vert, and Snow Globe Dragon Blanc all fight alongside Santa, and has a new boost that increases the power of attacks that use Fire, Light, and Wood Orbs by 20x (...Hilariously, this ability is still useless to Solo Santa even after the buff, because he still can't trigger it without team members. But deserves to be documented regardless) (Statistics Amplification, already on profile)
• For the 'Holy Night Messenger' key, 'Enhanced Light Orbs' was buffed to 'LightEnhancePlus': Acts as two 'Enhanced Light Orbs', increasing the odds of Light Orbs being enhanced by 40% and increasing the power of Enhanced Light Orbs by 14% (Damage Boost, already on profile)
• For the 'Holy Night Messenger' key, 'Enhanced Fire Orbs' was buffed to 'FireEnhancePlus': Acts as two 'Enhanced Fire Orbs', increasing the odds of Fire Orbs being enhanced by 40% and increasing the power of Enhanced Fire Orbs by 14% (Damage Boost, already on profile)
• For the 'Holy Night Messenger' key, Santa was given 'Resistance-Clouds': Passive that negates all foes' abilities that create 'cloud' effects (Power Nullification of Smoke Manipulation and limited negation of Weather Manipulation)
• For the 'Holy Night Messenger' key, Santa was given 'Resistance-Immobility': Passive that negates all foes' abilities that would prevent Orbs from being moved (Technically Power Nullification? But I don't think it negates any ability we recognize on the Wiki)
• For the 'Holy Night Messenger' key, Santa was given 'Resistance-Blind+': Passive that gives Santa a 100% resistance to abilities that cause blindness (Resistance to Sense Manipulation)
• For the 'Holy Night Messenger' key, Santa was given 3 'Cross Attack's: When using exactly 5 Orbs and matching them in the shape of a cross, increases the power of that attack by 2.5x, stacking multiplies for each instance, for a 15.625x attack, and negates the effects of Superblind abilities (Damage Boost and Power Nullification of Sense Manipulation)
• For the 'Holy Night Messenger' key, Santa was given 'Resistance-Bind+': Passive that gives Santa a 100% resistance to abilities that cause a bind (Resistance to Paralysis Inducement, Sleep Manipulation, and Time Stop)
• For the 'Holy Night Messenger' key, Santa was given 'Skill Boost+': Passive that gives Santa and all allies a reduced cooldown on their Active abilities, worth 2 normal Skill Boosts (Don't think this is an ability the Wiki recognizes for the PaA section)
• For the 'Holy Night Messenger' key, Santa was given 'Super Enhanced Combos': Increases the power of an attack that uses 10 or more combos by 5x (Damage Boost, already on profile)

2. Equip Upgrades:

Santa's main equip item, 'Holy Night Messenger, Santa Claus' Snow Globe', was also buffed. The Ilmina page can be found here.

• 'Enhanced Fire Orbs' was buffed to 'FireEnhancePlus': Acts as two 'Enhanced Fire Orbs', increasing the odds of Fire Orbs being enhanced by 40% and increasing the power of Enhanced Fire Orbs by 14% (Damage Boost, already on profile.
• 'Enhanced Wood Orbs' was buffed to 'WoodEnhancePlus': Acts as two 'Enhanced Wood Orbs', increasing the odds of Wood Orbs being enhanced by 40% and increasing the power of Enhanced Wood Orbs by 14% (Damage Boost, already on profile)
• 'Enhanced Light Orbs' was buffed to 'LightEnhancePlus': Acts as two 'Enhanced Light Orbs', increasing the odds of Light Orbs being enhanced by 40% and increasing the power of Enhanced Light Orbs by 14% (Damage Boost, already on profile)
• Was given 'Resistance-Bind+': Passive that gives the user a 100% resistance to abilities that cause a bind (Resistance to Paralysis Inducement, Sleep Manipulation, and Time Stop)

3. Boss Battle abilities:

For the past year (...Two years, again, whoops), PAD has been adding new special boss battles with Santa Claus for Christmas, and during them he will use a variety of new abilities that we do not have documented on his profile. For both boss battles, Santa was in his 'Holy Night Messenger' form, so these will only apply to that key. The data for the first boss battle can be found here, and the data for the second boss battle can be found here.

• 'Erase all of the Fire and Light Orbs...'/'How About This?'/'Last One'/'Try Again!': Transforms all Orbs into Light Orbs (Transmutation)
• 'Here you go!': Transforms 5 to 10 Orbs into Fire Orbs (Transmutation)
• 'Ho ho ho♪': Forces the opponent to start with an Orb of the user's choice (Not sure this is an ability we list)
• 'Santa Super Resolve': Passive ability that prevents Santa from being killed by an attack that would normally be fatal while he is above 50% HP, surviving with 50% HP remaining (Limited Type 2 Immortality/Stamina Feat based on characters like Gaslowe who did the same thing)
• 'Ho ho ho...': Preemptive ability that locks all new Orb Spawns for the opponent for a limited time, preventing them from being transformed (Power Nullification of Transmutation)
• 'Merry Christmas!!': A preemptive attack that deals a reduce 0.5x damage and prevents the foes from using Skyfall Combos for a limited time (Power Nullification, but probably not of any ability we use?)
• 'If you are a good, nice kid...': Negates all foes' Awoken Passive skills for a limited time (Generic Power Nullification)
• '...you'll get a present!': An attack that deals a reduced 0.85x damage and increases the cooldown of a single foes' Active Skill massively (Don't think this is an ability we would list in PaA)
• 'Beard White as Snow': Creates a smoke cloud to obscure the foe's vision (Unclear, similar to characters who use Smoke Manipulation and characters who use Weather Manipulation, maybe list as Smoke/Weather Manipulation?)
• 'Rudolph's Horn': An attack that also forces the opponent to use a specific Orb for their next attack (Don't think this would be listed for PaA)
• 'Wrapping Ribbon': Seals the topmost row of Orbs for a limited time, preventing them from moving (Sealing)
• 'Super Swift Reindeer': A multi-hit attack that strikes 3 times, dealing 0.35x damage per hit
• 'Scattering Presents': Increases the Skyfall chance of Fire and Light Orbs by 25% for a limited time
• 'Let's ring the bells!': an attack that deals a reduced 0.99x damage and transforms the bottom row of Orbs into Roulette Orbs that change their element on a cycle (Transmutation)

4. Possibly new Equips?:

This year's event included a trio of new equip items called 'Santa Claus' Present - Fire', 'Santa Claus' Present - Light', and 'Santa Claus' Present - Magic Stones'

Santa does not use these (as far as we know) in battle, however he does drop them for the player upon his defeat in his newest boss battle. Furthermore, the player can then go on to choose to equip them to Santa at their leisure. So considering their name as 'Santa Claus' Present's and the fact that he has them, I am unsure if we should list them as equipment, as optional equipment, or not list them at all. I feel I lean 'Optional Equipment', but I am open to any answer.

(I have a CRT planned because with how the equip system works, ANY character can use ANY equip, so I think they should all be 'Optional Equipment', however I plan to do that with a linked approved blog once it's made, so that will be a different situation)

If we do add them:

Santa Claus' Present - Fire:

• Awoken Assist: Can be equipped to a monster, increasing all of the user's stats and granting them both this item's Active Ability and their Passive Awoken Abilities (Statistics Amplification and Power Bestowal)
• Holy Flare Gift: Heals the user for 100% their HP, unlocks all Locked Orbs, and transforms the bottom left 3x3 Orbs into Fire Orbs (Healing, Power Nullification of Power Nullification of Transmutation, Transmutation)
• 2 'Awaken Killer's: Increases the power of attacks by 3x against 'Awaken Material' Type foes per instance, dealing 9x damage total (Damage Boost)
• 2 'Enhanced Killer's: Increases the power of attacks by 3x against 'Enhanced Material' Type foes per instance, dealing 9x damage total (Damage Boost)

Santa Claus' Present - Light:

• Awoken Assist: Can be equipped to a monster, increasing all of the user's stats and granting them both this item's Active Ability and their Passive Awoken Abilities (Statistics Amplification and Power Bestowal)
• Holy Shine Gift: Reduces all damage by 100% for a limited time and gives all Skyfall Orbs 100% chance to be Enhanced for a limited time (Temporary Invulnerability and Damage Boost)
• Resistance-Bind+: Passive that gives the user a 100% resistance to abilities that cause a bind (Resistance to Paralysis Inducement, Sleep Manipulation, and Time Stop)
• 6 'Enhanced HP's: Increases the user's HP stat, stacking additively for each instance

Santa Claus' Present - Magic Stones:

• Awoken Assist: Can be equipped to a monster, increasing all of the user's stats and granting them both this item's Active Ability and their Passive Awoken Abilities (Statistics Amplification and Power Bestowal)
• Holy Stone Gift: Gives all Skyfall Orbs a 100% chance to be Enhanced for a limited time and reduces the cooldown of all allies Active Skills (Damage Boost)
• Enhanced Fire Orbs: Passive ability that gives a 20% chance for new Fire Orbs to be enhanced, doing 7% more damage when used (Damage Boost)
• Enhanced Water Orbs: Passive ability that gives a 20% chance for new Water Orbs to be enhanced, doing 7% more damage when used (Damage Boost)
• Enhanced Wood Orbs: Passive ability that gives a 20% chance for new Wood Orbs to be enhanced, doing 7% more damage when used (Damage Boost)
• Enhanced Light Orbs: Passive ability that gives a 20% chance for new Light Orbs to be enhanced, doing 7% more damage when used (Damage Boost)
• Enhanced Dark Orbs: Passive ability that gives a 20% chance for new Dark Orbs to be enhanced, doing 7% more damage when used (Damage Boost)

 

[XitSign]

And it begins, the first bump

 

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[DaReaperMan]

I think I can agree with everything at a glance

 

[XitSign]

Thank you, getting feedback is always great on these threads, they can be pretty slow...

 

[Peppersalt43]

Nothing seems particularly wrong

I'll agree to this

 

[XitSign]

Thank you as well!

 

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Bump

 

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[DarkGrath]

This overall looks all well justified, but (as someone admittedly not familiar with the mechanics of the verse), there are a couple of questions I have.

• For the 'Holy Night Messenger' key, Santa was given 'Resistance-Clouds': Passive that negates all foes' abilities that create 'cloud' effects (Power Nullification of Smoke Manipulation and limited negation of Weather Manipulation)

What exactly is meant by a "cloud effect" in this case? Any ability that creates some kind of mist? What are some examples of abilities with cloud effects? The reason I ask is because, depending on what exactly a "cloud effect ability" is, this could be a different kind of Power Nullification.

• 'Ho ho ho...': Preemptive ability that locks all new Orb Spawns for the opponent for a limited time, preventing them from being transformed (Power Nullification of Transmutation)

How exactly does orb spawning work, and what form does locking orb spawns take? This sounds like, depending on context, it could either be Power Nullification or Sealing.

• 'Rudolph's Horn': An attack that also forces the opponent to use a specific Orb for their next attack (Don't think this would be listed for PaA)

Depending on how it's done, being able to force a person into certain actions could be one of several abilities (such as Mind Manipulation or Social Influencing). Though it seems very specific and limited in this case, one way or the other. Could you elaborate more on how Rudolph's Horn works?

 

[XitSign]

• For the 'Holy Night Messenger' key, Santa was given 'Resistance-Clouds': Passive that negates all foes' abilities that create 'cloud' effects (Power Nullification of Smoke Manipulation and limited negation of Weather Manipulation)

What exactly is meant by a "cloud effect" in this case? Any ability that creates some kind of mist? What are some examples of abilities with cloud effects? The reason I ask is because, depending on what exactly a "cloud effect ability" is, this could be a different kind of Power Nullification.

So in-game 'Cloud' abilities spawn a disruptive white puffy cloud in your vision to prevent you from knowing what you're doing. For example in Moby Dick's boss battle, who is a monster based heavily on clouds and fought in the sky, will create these cloud effects fairly often with attacks and abilities named after clouds (you can see this in-game here, though you can also see the negation also because the player has this Resistance active)

There's a number of abilities that trigger this exact effect, however. Such as the ninja characters, who will use attacks that reference using smoke bombs, however the actual in-game effect will remain the same white clouds that obscure vision.

• 'Ho ho ho...': Preemptive ability that locks all new Orb Spawns for the opponent for a limited time, preventing them from being transformed (Power Nullification of Transmutation)

How exactly does orb spawning work, and what form does locking orb spawns take? This sounds like, depending on context, it could either be Power Nullification or Sealing.

Orbs spawn from the environment. This previous CRT I believe has a lot of the information when this was first brought to attention for the verse, but the TLDR for the lore is more or less that everything gives off elemental energy, releasing it in 'Orbs' that PAD characters can make use of. When Orbs are used up (mainly by characters using them to power themselves up), new orbs radiate out of the environment to replace the ones that were used. These newly spawned Orbs are sometimes called 'Skyfall' Orbs.

Locked Orbs become immune to the affects of abilities that allow characters to change Orbs into different Orbs (a very common ability in PAD). However they're only 'locked' out of being transformed, they're still useable energy, and characters can still make use of them, just not change the element anymore.

• 'Rudolph's Horn': An attack that also forces the opponent to use a specific Orb for their next attack (Don't think this would be listed for PaA)

Depending on how it's done, being able to force a person into certain actions could be one of several abilities (such as Mind Manipulation or Social Influencing). Though it seems very specific and limited in this case, one way or the other. Could you elaborate more on how Rudolph's Horn works?

You can see it in action: here

PAD characters can manipulate Orbs to launch attacks, typically firing off energy projectiles when they use them. I know that, at first glance, this looks like game mechanics, we thought so too, and initially we ignored this kind of stuff for the profiles, but refer again to the CRT above. The story mode of both the games (both the mobile and the 3DS releases) and the anime (which directly tie into the events of the games) take this stuff 100% literally for some ungodly reason. The characters really do match the orbs like a puzzle game, and really do score 'combos', and they use these powers to fight, and it's weird.

But in this situation, Santa has forced his opponent to use a specific Orb, and the victim is unable to defy that.

You are probably right however, this is likely hyper specific, and most likely non-applicable in most matchups. But if the character does it, it should at least get mentioned, no matter how inapplicable it is.

 

[DarkGrath]

Greatly appreciated.

The first matter does indeed sound like some form of smoke/weather manipulation, so that looks fine to me.

The second matter is very interesting. From what I understand, Santa is not directly affecting the opponent when he uses 'Ho ho ho...', rather, he's doing something to the orbs to prevent them from being transformed into different orbs. Is this correct? If so, I'm actually not sure if that would qualify as "Power Nullification of Transmutation", since he's not nullifying his opponent's ability to transmute orbs; he's just changing the orb in some way that prevents transmutation from working. If it's not Power Nullification of Transmutation, though, I'm not sure what that qualifies as off the top of my head. I'll look into it to see if we have anything that matches that concept.

The third matter is difficult to put a single power to with the current context. Does any ability like that appear in the story mode or anime? Some kind of dialogue or direct depiction might make it easier to understand how it works.

 

[XitSign]

The first matter does indeed sound like some form of smoke/weather manipulation, so that looks fine to me.

Sounds good!

The second matter is very interesting. From what I understand, Santa is not directly affecting the opponent when he uses 'Ho ho ho...', rather, he's doing something to the orbs to prevent them from being transformed into different orbs. Is this correct? If so, I'm actually not sure if that would qualify as "Power Nullification of Transmutation", since he's not nullifying his opponent's ability to transmute orbs; he's just changing the orb in some way that prevents transmutation from working. If it's not Power Nullification of Transmutation, though, I'm not sure what that qualifies as off the top of my head. I'll look into it to see if we have anything that matches that concept.

If that's the case, that might be a little embarrassing, because we've listed it on a few profiles with similar abilities in the past. They may all need corrected to a more proper ability/have the Power Null straight up removed.

You are correct though, the ability is affecting the Orbs, not an opponent. I'm not sure what we'd call that then.

The third matter is difficult to put a single power to with the current context. Does any ability like that appear in the story mode or anime? Some kind of dialogue or direct depiction might make it easier to understand how it works.

Unfortunately so far not, kinda. It's never shown up in the anime, but it has shown up in story mode.

However characters in story mode have never made comments about it (example, saying how it makes them feel or anything like that) which is a touch frustrating.

The closest I think we had is I vaugely remember someone outright saying 'this Orb' while using the power, but that doesn't explain why that makes the opponent forced to use the Orb at all.

It's a weird ability, and story mode being mostly text based doesn't help when the characters never comment on that ability, but comment on other ones more frequently...

 

[DarkGrath]

I appreciate the detailed replies.

Regarding the Power Null of Transmutation: I think that actually qualifies quite well as Sealing, or more specifically, the second type of Sealing. To quote the Sealing page itself:

"The second type of sealing involves removing or locking attributes or even concepts of a target. Examples include sealing a target's magic or ki energy, or even their movement or consciousness. This type of sealing denies the target use of these aspects rather than specifically placing them in another object. These effects can be temporary or permanent depending on the user."

From what I have seen so far, I believe this definition aligns well with the effect of 'Ho ho ho...', in the sense that the ability involves preventing an object from being used in a form that it is usually capable of. This may be a bit redundant, given the other forms of Sealing already mentioned, but I believe this ability would be better defined as Sealing than Power Null. This may imply that the other profiles you've mentioned with similar abilities would also have to be changed, but that matter can be handled in a future CRT if need be.

Other than that, I don't have any more issues. Rudolph's Horn is worth keeping an eye on, since it does still sound like a relevant ability, but I doubt we have enough context to discern what exactly it is at the present time. Anything I haven't commented on so far is perfectly acceptable.

 

[XitSign]

I appreciate the detailed replies.

I care a lot about this sometimes stupid franchise, so I'd love their verse page to be as perfect as I can get it! I do my best!!!

Regarding the Power Null of Transmutation: I think that actually qualifies quite well as Sealing, or more specifically, the second type of Sealing. To quote the Sealing page itself:

"The second type of sealing involves removing or locking attributes or even concepts of a target. Examples include sealing a target's magic or ki energy, or even their movement or consciousness. This type of sealing denies the target use of these aspects rather than specifically placing them in another object. These effects can be temporary or permanent depending on the user."

From what I have seen so far, I believe this definition aligns well with the effect of 'Ho ho ho...', in the sense that the ability involves preventing an object from being used in a form that it is usually capable of. This may be a bit redundant, given the other forms of Sealing already mentioned, but I believe this ability would be better defined as Sealing than Power Null. This may imply that the other profiles you've mentioned with similar abilities would also have to be changed, but that matter can be handled in a future CRT if need be.

I had never considered that, but that likely lines up a lot better. I may need to make another CRT with this argument to have the ability listed corrected then. It's not the only form of 'sealing' in this franchise, yes, but definitely should be corrected on profiles where we've been listing it as a Power Nullification. Thank you a LOT for pointing this out.

Other than that, I don't have any more issues. Rudolph's Horn is worth keeping an eye on, since it does still sound like a relevant ability, but I doubt we have enough context to discern what exactly it is at the present time. Anything I haven't commented on so far is perfectly acceptable.

It's an odd one, and hopefully it gets fleshing out as newer story modes and new games are released (IF they're released...), but thankfully at least for threadmaking, non-orb abilities are still useable while under this ability's affect. With Verse Equalization in mind, I think that means it, realistically, probably only affects other PAD characters who use this very specific form of energy manipulation. So while the ability is...weird, it's probably also super irrelevant in the grand picture.

Thank you SO much for all of the feedback, it's been both a help to get it since PAD threads can be a little slow, but corrections like the Sealing situation are great for getting this pages to where I'd really like them to be. So again, thank you!

 

[DarkGrath]

No worries! It's probably obvious that I know very little about this verse, but feel free to contact me anytime if you need help with future PAD threads. I know it can be rough trying to revise a verse nobody knows about; I'm always willing to lend a hand.

 

[XitSign]

Thank you! It means a lot! Niche verses can be very slow...I will keep it in mind! It's greatly appreciated!

 

[Elizhaa]

What's DarkGrath agreed to seem fine to apply.

 

[XitSign]

Thank you so much for the feedback!

I've also made a thread about the Sealing concerns that were brought up, wish I had sooner, life is what it is though.