Explanation on Physical and Special Split in simple English

[MM980]

Hi, this is my first post in gaming community but I am active in ROM hacking community.
So, can anyone explain physical and special split, uses,etc in simple English ?(I am not from an English speaking country)
And should i (try) to add in my ROM hacking I am making?

 

[Nah]

Before Diamond/Pearl, what determined if an attack was a physical move or a special move was the type of the attack. All Fire attacks were special, all Rock attacks were physical, for example. After Diamond/Pearl, moves of the same type could be physical or special, depending on the move. Fire Fang is a physical move, Flamethrower is a special move, but both are Fire type.

Does that help a little?

 

[Roni]

Physical - any move where the user hits another one with body contact (Body Slam, Bite, Fire fang)
Special - any move where the user deals damage without body contact (Thunderbolt, Ice Beam, Psychic)

before Gen 4, moves were classified into physical and special based on their typing, rather than what the move actually does. this was bad because, for example, Bite being a special move because it's dark type doesn't actually make sense. so they had to manually change this for every move from Gen 4 and forward.

 

[MM980]

Before Diamond/Pearl, what determined if an attack was a physical move or a special move was the type of the attack. All Fire attacks were special, all Rock attacks were physical, for example. After Diamond/Pearl, moves of the same type could be physical or special, depending on the move. Fire Fang is a physical move, Flamethrower is a special move, but both are Fire type.

Does that help a little?

That's not a little help, ITS A BIG HELP, THANK YOU

 

[MM980]

Physical - any move where the user hits another one with body contact (Body Slam, Bite, Fire fang)
Special - any move where the user deals damage without body contact (Thunderbolt, Ice Beam, Psychic)

before Gen 4, moves were classified into physical and special based on their typing, rather than what the move actually does. this was bad because, for example, Bite being a special move because it's dark type doesn't actually make sense. so they had to manually change this for every move from Gen 4 and forward.

Thank you very much, both the posts helped