Yeah, I think that maybe thinking of all the dumb clerical ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ is getting me a little down.
I really did not like the PV idea, since it gives a little too much to the RNG. I remember catching at least three or four Wurmples before getting one that evolved into Silcoon when I was younger. As for attack v. defense, I think that would need Clamperl's base attack to equal its defense for it to be... uh, fair, I guess?
Yeah, a lot of them could affect the game a lot. Sturdy, to be fair, doesn't come up often on the player's end, unless you're, say, sitting Sawk in front of a really angry bird. I guess I just kind of want it to be useful? I can think of only one time off-hand in the main games where OHKO moves were even used at all, let alone to any significant effect. Damn Whiscash...
I personally see this as a bad idea. Just like Shinx, it would require re-learning the thing just for your hack. Same would go for adding lots of new types but I wouldn't mind having a new type or two if there weren't really any more than that.
Depending on how you want to "create the difficulty". If you make the super effective attacks do less damage, the healing items might turn out too good unless you change their effects as well or make them obtainable later on than normally or such.
