Needs Help: Gradual Grinder

(Please forgive my wording. This is my first TRS post, and I'm still getting used to the site's terminology and etiquette.)

I stumbled across this trope and noticed numerous issues with it. At first, I thought it was a recent trope that somebody had launched too early without refining. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that this trope was proposed and launched in 2009-2010. How this one escaped attention for so long is a mystery to me. The immediate problems I've noticed are as follows:

• The examples are painfully unorganized, as they are categorized solely under "Examples" and "Non-Video Game Examples".
• The trope's description is too broad. I'm pretty sure that it's supposed to mean "a character who specializes in slow tactics to achieve victory". However, the tropes referenced in the description are too varied and vaguely defined in-context to paint a concise picture of what the trope is supposed to represent.
• It's presented as a Video Game Trope despite being described as a general Character Trope.
• Many of the examples are speculative and describe a game's individual strategy or playstyle rather than a specific character's combat style.
• The name can be seen as misleading due to confusion over the use of the term "grind".

I believe that this trope should either be removed or heavily reworked.

Edited by XenXero on Oct 8th 2020 at 10:46:38 AM

Opening. Normally we'd ask for a bit more evidence than what was presented here, but the example section is indeed an unorganized blob.

Perhaps splitting the two concepts might work? Or just a cleanup could do the trick.

I feel like this is covered by Damage Over Time.

I agree. The description of Gradual Grinder even says it's about characters who deal Damage Over Time.

Merge with Damage Over Time.

Gradual Grinder as "a character who specializes in Damage Over Time" might be a legit subtrope. "Sure, most of the cast can learn the Poison spell, but this specific character's whole kit revolves around stacking different types of DoT."

RPG character specializations in general are covered by An Adventurer Is You. I could see the argument for splitting them all, but none of the other common combat strategies (such as Tank or DPS) have their own page.

Frankly, that sounds like an invitation for misusing it for any character that can use DOT.

I concur with merging.

Another vote for merging.

Agree with merging

Maybe we should have a crowner, but I'm not sure how to do it.

This is what I saw suggested above, unless I missed anything:

• Merge with Damage Over Time (mutually exclusive with all other options)
• Turn into a video game-specific subtrope of Damage Over Time and remove non-video game examples
• Split the concepts covered by the examples into separate tropes

Edited by GastonRabbit on Nov 26th 2020 at 10:05:52 AM

Regarding your second option, note that Damage Over Time is already a videogame-specific trope, so having a videogame-specific subtrope of that doesn't make sense.

I think there could be a salvageable trope here — the character who specialises in gradually wearing their opponents down with continual small attacks — which is distinct from Damage Over Time because that's when a single attack deals ongoing damage. The Thief from Dicey Dungeons would be a valid example.

And for the third one (the one I suggested), that was before I found out one of the concepts already exists (Damage Over Time), so it's redundant with "redefine as 'character who specializes in Damage Over Time'", which should also be on the crowner.

That is incorrect; the Damage Over Time trope is not limited to single attacks, and already covers characters that specialize in DOT. I see no reason to split that up.

Sure, Damage Over Time includes fields of effect and the like, but the distinction is still there: Damage Over Time is a status (usually coming from a single attack, but sometimes from other effects; sometimes multiple DOTs can stack up) that inflicts ongoing damage; the type of character I'm trying to distinguish from this is one that inflicts many small, otherwise normal attacks. The name "Gradual Grinder" would work better for the latter.

Edited by Vilui on Nov 27th 2020 at 4:48:26 AM

No, I don't think the distinction is there. There's a Magic: The Gathering card, Blood Artist, where a status effect is not inflicted, but a trigger (whenever a creature dies) allows it to cause an opponent to lose 1 life, while the controller gains 1 life. This is a special "attack" that occurs during normal gameplay, dealing damage over time, from a creature. You've also got Prodigal Sorcerer who can can be "activated" to deal just 1 damage.

I was tired when I posted my previous post, and in addition to that being why it was kind of poorly thought out, that's why I didn't feel confident in my ability to make a crowner myself; I was asking for input in case someone else wanted to make a crowner.

To me, the thread reads like consensus to merge. Shall we proceed with that or do you want a crowner first?

No reply, so I made one.

Hooked; shutting off clock.

Last nudge before calling.