Face it. You like the idea of pulling an dragonite out of you pants and having it beat the living daylights out of some fool's ratata. It's quite the power trip, commanding a magical super animal to enter arenas and pummel away at other magical super animals, and totally understandable.
While the video games are worth the time put into them, it's kinda clumsy to play Pokemon Stadium to facilitate a Role Playing experience. So, presented here is a basic skeleton of a game that you can use to play PkMn away from the flashy TV and scripted stadium battles; a dice based emulation of the background mathematics that run the video games.
[spoiler]
Pokemon SAMEEveryone is familiar with RPing. It's a very instinctual concept. Pretend to be someone or something else and react to an imaginary environment. You know, dolls and action figures type of stuff
But some elements of pre-K are best left then and there. This is the high-school theater, and rules are sometimes important. Like when dealing with Pokemon. Sure, you're favorite is Mudkip, but can he really beat a higher level Charizard? No. But for some reason, some people need rules to remind them of facts like this.
Pokemon are incredibly diverse, a total of 498 different types, including multi-forms. Playing a dice game reflecting the power of Pokemon accurately requires a little more than just rolling dice. This system of rules is was created to emulate both the powerful nature of Pokemon, and the randomness inherent within battles.
This system isn't all encompassing, and certain elements are specifically left without rules. It's just here to help players figure out battles faster without "I win" syndrome or "god_mode" effects.
To play, you'll need one 20-sided die and a classic 6 sided die, hereafter referred to as a d20 and a d6 respectively.
If you're not willing or able to purchase dice from gaming and hobby stores, digital alternatives can be found on the internet. Search for "die roller."
The SAME SystemBuilt from the ground up with the concept that no matter what choices you make, you are equally powerful to any other entity of the same level. The concept is very important to gaming, to strategy and roleplaying alike.
Pokemon SAME's balance toppled when species modifiers to stats was introduced. The lesson is that not all Pokemon are created equal, and this is actually a wanted feature of the game. If you're playing as an Arbok, Mr.Charizard will put milk and you in cheerios and then eat you. Whole.
Good news is that the game balance found in the video games is emulated by this dice system.
Accuracy Roll: 1d20 - move's penalty + buffs + special abilities
Evasion Score: 8 + buffs
Base Damage: This number is based entirely on the move being use.
Total Damage: Move's Base Damage + Physical/Special Attack + Accuracy Roll Bonus
Soak Roll: 1d20 + Physical/Special Defence
Lost HP: (Total Damage - Soak Roll) divide by 2
Pokemon's Stats"...the power that's inside!"Although these numbers primarily important for battles, they are also used for determining obedience from Pokemon to trainers.
There are 6 stats, that start at 0, except for HP which starts at 10, and an evolution bonus.
Health Points (HP), Physical Attack (Atk), Physical Defence (Def), Speed (Spd), Special Attack (SAt), and Special Defence (SDf). (I highly doubt you can't figure out what these numbers mean on your own.)
Now, it is important that when recording a pokemon's stats, you have to record the stats with the bonus points you get from leveling up separately from and before the total stats, which you get by applying the pokemon's species modifiers.
So, a pokemon's stat sheet may look like this:
Plant / Poison
Evolution 0
Lvl 3
Base + Spec = Total
(HP) 3 + -4 = 9
(Atk) 3 + -4 = -1
(Def) 0 + -4 = -4
(Spd) 0 + -4 = -4
(SAt) 3 + -2 = +1
(SDf) 0 + -2 = -2
This separation and extra book keeping is for determining a PkMn's obediance. Which leads to the next section...
Trainers and Pokemon Obedience"Just say the line, or you'll get the gas."Why do Pokemon obey their trainers?
Machop is way stronger than any human body builder, yet it will punch other Machops on command. A little kid's order no less. Why would it do that?
There are a few reasons, which add up to humans being able to control most pokemon.
One, is that pokeballs form an empathic link between the owner and the contained pokemon. This isn't actually enough on it's own. But generally a pokemon is more inclined to obey a trainer that has a similar personality. Which is why bikers have weezings and muks while Officer Jenny is followed by a myriad of noble pokemon like Arcanine.
Another is the trainers skills and abilities. A powerful Gyarados is not likely to obey a human unless that human is very strong willed and has enough understanding of the pokemon's abilties.
Rules: Humans (Trainers) have stats, similar to a pokemons, minus the base Speed stat, and they can't get an evolution bonus. They also have up to two types, like pokemon. Instead of a base Speed stat Humans have an Accuracy (Acc) stat and an Evasion (Eva) stat. These are used to figure out his ability to throw pokeballs and help his pokemon avoid thief balls respectively, and are added together to determine a human's Spd, and a
A Pokemon will obey the commands of a trainer if at least one of the Pokemon's two highest base stats is no more than four points higher than the trainer's corresponding stat.
Pokemon add their evolution bonus to their own stats for obedience purposes.
When a trainers shares a type with a pokemon, their stats count as one higher for the purpose of controlling their Pokemon. 2 shared types means a +2 bonus as well.
However, if a Pokemon is of a type which a trainer's type is weak against, the trainer get's a -1 penalty to determine obedience.
Pokeballs"I've got a Dragonite... In my pants."It's not really important how they actually work. You throw them, and sometimes the pokemon you hit disappears into it. But you have to hit the pokemon, and sometimes the pokemon will break the ball.
Pokeball Rules:
Accuracy Roll: 1d20 + trainer's Acc
Has to beat 8 + the pokemon's HP, success indicating that the pokemon has been absorbed into the ball.
The pokemon then makes 3 d20 rolls to try to break out. It must beat the ball's power with one of the rolls to break free of the pokeball.
The first roll is d20 + HP + Atk or SAt
The second roll is d20 + HP + Spd
The third roll is d20 + HP + Def or Sdf
A regular pokeball has a power of 15. Different balls have different power levels and maybe special abilities.
Normally, no pokeball can be used to capture another trainer's pokemon. The Theif Ball, on the other hand, can. However, the pokemon adds its trainer's Eva stat to it's evasion score to avoid the pokeball.
Leveling UpAn integral part of all RPGs is becoming more powerful. Generally, in video games you get points for defeating enemies. This works well for that medium, but for pen and paper RPGs it's a potential for abuse and disaster on a monumental scale.
For this game, level ups occur at the end of quests and short adventures. Pokemon evolve into more powerful forms after a few quests, and learn new attacks whenever the Game Master and controlling player agree. Be aware that some pokemon evolve quickly, like most bug pokemon, while others will probably not reach their highest form 'till near the end of a series of quests, such as Dragonite.
A few rules to keep things from getting out of hand.
There are a total of 20 levels.
At 14 certain levels, a floating point is handed out to pokemon and trainers which are allocated to any stat. However, no stat may have more than 6 floating points added to it.
Additionally, at 6 certain levels, all of a pokemon's, or trainer's stats increase by one.
Lvl 1: +1 one stat
Lvl 2: +1 one stat
Lvl 3: +1 one stat
Lvl 4: +1 to all stats
Lvl 5: +1 one stat
Lvl 6: +1 one stat
Lvl 7: +1 one stat
Lvl 8: +1 to all stats
Lvl 9: +1 one stat
Lvl10: +1 one stat
Lvl11: +1 to all stats
Lvl12: +1 one stat
Lvl13: +1 one stat
Lvl14: +1 to all stats
Lvl15: +1 one stat
Lvl16: +1 one stat
Lvl17: +1 to all stats
Lvl18: +1 one stat
Lvl19: +1 one stat
Lvl20: +1 to all stats
Using the Numbers: Battles"Magikarp! Use Splash Attack!" "Now Magikarp! Counter with Splash Attack!"This system works in the same way as the video game, with simple changes to incorporate dice instead of calculus.
Just like the video game, trainers go first. Most often they give their pokemon a command. Unlike the video game, trainers have a varying speed stat, so there's isn't always cases of rolling off to see who goes first.
Next, the pokemon perform their designated actions. Obviously, the pokemon with a higher speed would go first.
Most often, a pokemon is going to perform an attack move. First the move has to hit. An hit is determined by comparing an accuracy roll against a static evasion score.
Accuracy Roll: 1d20 - move's penalty + buffs + special abilities
Vs.
Evasion Score: 8 + buffs
Many moves reduce the accuracy roll. Buffs also mean de-buffs like Sand-attack. Some pokemon have special abilities that improve accuracy.
If the Accuracy Roll is greater than the evasion score, the attack hits. To emulate critical hits, for every two extra points the Accuracy Roll beats the evasion score, the attack deals an extra point of damage.
But there's no guarantee that the attack will deal significant damage. The subject of the attack gets to roll to soak up and reduce the damage.
Soak Roll: 1d20 + Physical/Special Defence
Vs.
Total Damage: Move's Base Damage + Physical/Special Attack + Accuracy Roll Bonus
If the Soak Roll is higher than the damage, the defender takes no damage. But if the damage is still higher than the Soak Roll, the subject of the attack looses 1 HP. Again, to emulate critical hits, for every 2 extra points the damage is higher than the Soak Roll, the subject looses another point of HP.
When a pokemon has 0 HP, it's out of the battle.
There's 498 different pokemon and something like 478 attacks. That's allot of typing, especially for one person, so I releasing the chart I used to figure translate stats from PkMn to SAME.
To figure out a pokemon's or move's SAME stat modifier, look up it's base stat (minus EVs and IVs for PkMn). Try
Bublapedia. If the base stat is 80 to 89, it's SAME stat modifier is 0. For for every ten points higher, add 1 to the SAME stat. The reverse is also true. Base 70 to 79 become -1, 60 to -2, etc. down to less than Base 10 becoming a -8 modifier in SAME
#001 Bulbasaur
Base stats
HP: 45
Attack: 49
Defense: 49
SpAtk: 65
SpDef: 65
Speed: 45
SAME stats
HP: - 4
Atk: - 4
Def: - 4
Spd: - 4
SAt: - 2
SDf: - 2
Exception 1: Chansey has a base 250hp stat, a +17 to HP, and Blissey has base 255, +17 HP again. On the GBA, Blissey has just a few more Hp, so we'll give her another +1, total +18 to HP.
Exception 2: Barrage moves, like
Fury Swipes or
Egg Bomb don't translate the to SAME... the same. If you use this formula, barrage moves will deal around 5 times the expected damage of a single attack move. For barrage moves, translate the base damage of a single attack to SAME, then add 2 to it's power. When you use the move, roll two attack rolls and pick the highest result, then the defender rolls two defence rolls and takes the worst result.
Similarly, for double attack moves like
Double Kick and
Bonemerang, simply make two attack rolls and pick the highest result.
[spoiler]
Base Stat
to SAME Stat
255 +18
250 +17
240 +16
230 +15
220 +14
210 +13
200 +12
190 +11
180 +10
170 +9
160 +8
150 +7
140 +6
130 +5
120 +4
110 +3
100 +2
90 +1
80 +0
70 -1
60 -2
50 -3
40 -4
30 -5
20 -6
10 -7
<10 -8
[/spoiler]
Buffs: For most stats, these simply add or subtract 2 or 4, depending on the severity, to a maximum shift of 12 from normal. Tail Whip is -2 defence, while Screech is -4 defence.
For accuracy and evasion buffs, the first level of variance is 3, the second level is 2, and the last level is 1, for a maximum shift of 6 from normal. This is to make sure moves like
Double Team and
Sand-attack are still viable, but not maddeningly over powered when stacked.
Status Conditions- Burn reduces the pokemon's Attk by 4, and every turn it performs a strenuous action (like using a move) it looses 2 HP.
- Freeze stops a pokemon from moving for 2d3 turns.
- Paralysis reduces the pokemon's speed by 4, and it has a 50% chance to not do anything for a turn. Roll a d6: Even the PkMn does nothing, Odd the PkMn acts normally.
- Poison takes 2hp away every round. Badly poisoned takes away 1hp for every round the pokemon has been poisoned.
- Confusion causes the pokemon to do random stuff. Roll a d6: 1-2 it does any move it knows to anything it can do it too (including itself), 3-4 it loses 3hp by hurting itself, 5-6 it acts normal.
Sleep can work the same way as Freeze, but realistically the result of being KO'ed from chemicals or magic is the same as being pummeled into fainting: Unconsciousness. As an optional rule, Sleep inducing moves officially take a PkMn out of a fight if they succeed, like
Fissure and
Guillotine and must follow the same pattern: 30% accuracy, which becomes -5 to the attack roll in SAME.[/spoiler]