False Goat's Beard

Overview

False goat's beard (Astilbe) is a plumed Perennial herb that fights as a self-healing, poison-leading staller. It is native to Eastern North America and has no invasive form, so the arena only ever fields it as a native buffer for your bench. It is a solid but soft card: modest damage, thin armor, and enough healing to grind out slow fights. Use it to stall, not to close. See nativity.

Moves

Its starter attack, Steady Growth, unlocks at level 1 and costs 2 Sun for about 35 damage, leaving the target poisoned so it keeps losing health over the next turns — see statuses. The free once-per-battle ability, Stabilization, arrives at level 25: Pins the ground down — the foe stalls, and can't break away. Its advanced attack, Deep-Seated Grudge, unlocks at level 40 for 6 Sun (37 damage) and mends the plant as it strikes. Most of your specimens sit below level 40, where only the starter is available. See moves.

Abilities

False goat's beard keeps a single always-on trait: Resprout. It draws only one eligible trait, so Resprout comes in at half strength on the level 10 riser and matures on the level 68 one. When it works it lets the plant survive one otherwise-lethal hit at roughly a quarter health, but it triggers only about 60% of the time, so treat it as a coin-flip reprieve rather than a guarantee. See abilities.

Features

It carries no trait keywords — no thorns, no toxin — so nothing punishes an attacker for hitting it, and it is non-toxic with no hazard ring. Its growth habit is terrestrial, so it is not eligible for a Moss Pole. As a native, defensive field gear such as a Cloche or a Ca/Mg amendment for extra DEF suits its stalling game.

Stats

At level 40 it reads 103 HP with 25 ATK; there is no invasive form, so it has only the one attack line. DEF is just 4, low in the perennial-herb band, so it takes hits with almost no armor. Its tempo is uneven: turn 1 runs on a low initiative (32), so it is out-paced off the mark, but every turn after runs on a higher SPD (34), so it grows relentless as a fight drags on. Retreat costs 16 Sun. As a native it gains a +15% HP cushion and, while benched, projects an HP overshield onto your active. See Stats.

At Level 100

Matured to level 100 it swells to 190 HP and 44 ATK, but its DEF only reaches 8 — as a soft herb it gains bulk in health, never armor, so it stays vulnerable to any real hitter. Retreat rises to 33 Sun and its tempo sinks to roughly 1% of cap, so a mature plant acts last against almost anything younger. Maturing buys staying power through HP, poison, and healing, not toughness.

Weaknesses & Resistances

As a perennial herb it sits in the Competitor succession group. It hits Ruderal plants (annual forbs, grasses, aquatics, bulbs) for x1.5 and is struck for only x0.667 by them; it is weak to Specialist plants (succulents, conifers, ferns, epiphytes), which hit it for x1.5 while resisting its blows. Against other Competitors and the off-wheel Weird group the matchup is neutral. See Weaknesses & Resistances.

Gameplay uses

Play it as a native bench filler that poisons on the way in and then heals through the reply: park it behind a stronger hitter, let the cushion and overshield protect your active, and use its poison plus mend to wear opponents down over many turns. It is support, not a finisher, and its thin armor means it should not stand toe-to-toe with a real attacker. Its value is also economic: it is inedible, so any nutrient banks x1.25 XP rather than coins. It fights as a slow-opening skirmisher whose bulk takes over as it levels, crossing around level 22 — always stronger in raw stats higher up, so never hold it back.