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In the Pokémon TCG, there is something called Resistance and Weakness. Like this: Weakness and Resistance

For example, for some games, you have multipliers like 1x for 'Neutral Attacks' that aren't affected by Resistance or Weakness, 2x - or something like that - for 'Effective Attacks'and 0.5x for 'Ineffective attacks'.

But why in the TCG does Weakness cause 2x damage, and Resistance cause -20 damage?

There is an argument to this:

For a new change:

  • Low Damage attacks (those <20) will cause no damage, or even help them to heal (if it is possible).
  • If the damage is an odd number multiplied by 10 (like 10, 30, 150...), it would cause it to do damage like 5, 25, 75, 165 and damage like that. But this can be resolved by introducing a '5' Damage Counter, and that can be counted as 1/2 a damage counter.

Against a new change:

  • It has already been like this for a while.

Obviously, there are more arguments, but these few will provide enough justification, I believe.

So why was -20 introduced, not ÷2?

I am looking for:

  • Why they didn't do it like the mainline Pokemon games?
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  • To be clear, you are asking for an explanation for why the game was designed this way? Unlike other SE sites such as Arqade, that's on topic, but I think you'll have a more difficult time finding an answer. Mar 27, 2017 at 15:48
  • @Thunderforge , what do you mean?
    – Xetrov
    Mar 27, 2017 at 15:48
  • I wanted clarification on what you were asking, that you're looking for what the designers of the game intended. I don't recall that the designers of Pokémon have had as many design diaries as other games, so I'm not sure that there are any sources that will answer your question. Mar 27, 2017 at 15:50
  • @Thunderforge , talk in chat, and review my edit please =)
    – Xetrov
    Mar 27, 2017 at 15:55
  • @Thunderforge : chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/49/board-and-card-games
    – Xetrov
    Mar 27, 2017 at 15:57

1 Answer 1

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My uninformed, best guess:

The Pokémon card game was designed to be simple and playable by young children. Subtracting 20 is a simple operation, as is multiplication by small numbers, but division is more complicated, can lead to mistakes, and requires instructions on how to round "half" values (or 5s, in this case) up or down.

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