Battling

Battling is a fast-paced series of 2-phased turns that repeat until one Trainer emerges victorious. Alternately, you could Homebrew your game and play battles in-game, on Showdown, or through the card game. You should still choose moves and abilities for your Pokémon, though, as they can have effects on Roleplaying.

Cheat Sheet

• Challenge Phase
• Trainer Phase
  • Trainers contest Trainer Stat rolls, winner takes advantage on the the next Battle roll
• Pokémon Phase
  • Pokémon declare a move and roll Battle stats. Moves often have special effects, and type effectiveness often comes into play.
• Resolution
  • GM paints a word picture describing the turn
• Rinse and Repeat
• Pokémon Faints
  • One Pokémon has ran out of HP
• Battle ends
  • One trainer has ran out of usable Pokémon. They have lost the battle. All participants gain XP.

Default Battle architecture

This is the default architecture for two trainers battling each other.

• The Challenge
  • One trainer has challenged another to a battle
  • The GM declares any special Terrain or Weather conditions
  • Each Trainer chooses one Pokemon and throws them onto the field.
  • Any Actions or Attributes that state "When you engage in battle" or "When you are challenged to a battle" will trigger now.
• Trainer Phase
  • Each Trainer rolls their Trainer Stat. If the opponent is an NPC, the GM may make rolls for them on the spot, or they may have pre-determined rolls.
  • The Trainer with the higher roll gets Advantage on the following Battle roll. In the case of a tie, neither gets advantage.
  • The Player or GM may slip in some Roleplaying by delivering dialogue depicting how the trainer instructs their pokemon.
  • Any actions/attributes that state "At the beginning of a turn" will trigger now.
• Pokemon Phase
  • Each Pokemon chooses a move to use, which often has a special effect.
  • Each Pokemon rolls its Battle Stat. If the opponent is an NPC, the GM may make rolls for them on the spot, or they may have pre-determined rolls. This roll is often affected by Pokémon types
  • The result of the roll depends on whether the move was an Attack or Defense
  • Trainers can also switch Pokémon at this time. Pokémon will switch in and usually will take the brunt of the move their opponent used.
• Turn Resolution
  • The GM takes this information and describes an exciting round of battle for the players.
  • If neither Pokemon have fainted, the battle moves on to the next turn and repeats the cycle: Trainer Phase, Pokemon Phase, Turn Resolution.
• A Pokemon Faints
  • A Pokemon faints when they have taken damage equal or greater to their HP.
  • Depending on the rules of the battle, a trainer may send out a new Pokemon. In this case, return to the Trainer Phase and begin the cycle anew. The other Pokemon's HP will stay the same.
• Winner determined, Battle ends
  • When one trainer runs out of useable Pokémon, they lose, the other trainer wins, and the battle ends. All pokemon and trainers who directly participated in battle gain 1 point of XP. "Directly participating in battle" means at some point they rolled their Trainer or their Battle stat during the course of battling.

Alternate Modes and Modifications

Wild Battles

• Skip the Trainer phase
• If the opposing Pokémon is a lower level than the trainer's, the trainer always takes advantage during the Pokémon phase.
• Either side may flee at any time unless prevented by certain Moves or Abilities.
• The Main Character may attempt to capture the opposing Pokémon at any time.

Contest

• Contests last a certain number of turns decided by the GM, usually between 3 and 5.
• The Trainer phase treats the judges as the opponent. Roll Performance instead of Trainer.
• When a move would deal damage, it instead scores Points.
• The contest has other competitors whose results are determined by the GM (or other PCs who participated)
• Winners are determined in order of highest number of Points.