Post by Satori on Jan 15, 2015 4:08:05 GMT
Naturally, because this is an RP forum and not a video game, the battle system is a bit different than what you would find in an actual Pokemon video game. This thread will give a general overview of the battle system, as well as notable changes from game mechanics.
Moves Per Post
Only one move can be used per post. That's it. Whether you use said move for attack or defense is up to you, but, frankly, there are too many potential issues with certain combinations of certain moves being used at the same time, and I'd rather not have to deal with them every time one comes up. So I'm just nipping the whole thing at the bud here and now.
Of course, for catching threads, this is slightly different. Since the whole thing is done in one post, then, clearly, you may use more than one move in the post. However, you may not use two moves back-to-back. The opponent must try to make a move between them. You must also take into account things like the charge time for moves like SolarBeam or Skull Bash, or the recovery time for Hyper Beam and Giga Impact.
Turn Order
Because we don't use speed as a determining factor for which Pokemon goes first, here are some guidelines:
-In a modded battle, the Player always gets the first move unless otherwise specified.
-In an ordinary PvP battle, this should be agreed on by both players. HOWEVER:
-In PvP for tournaments and similar events, the player who sends out their Pokemon first also gets the first move. As an example, the opening posts could be summarized like this: "Player A sends out Charmander." "Player B sends out Geodude." "Player A uses Metal Claw."
Once the opening move has been posted, opponents alternate turns. As explained above, only one move or turn per post. Even if one Pokemon uses a priority move (explained [moves and abilities topic]here[end tag]) and interrupt's the opponent's previous turn, it is still their turn next.
Switching
Okay, so, here's how switching out Pokemon works. Like in the games, switching takes up the entire turn. You use switching to avoid damage to one of your Pokemon, though the Pokemon you send in will take the hit instead. However, it's more than possible to use this to use this to your advantage. For example, your opponent's Electabuzz tries to use Thunderbolt on your Pidgeotto. You can call your Pokemon back, and send out a Sandslash in its place. It will take the Thunderbolt instead, but be unaffected due to its immunity to Electric attacks.
However, because switches use up the entire turn, you will not be allowed to have the Pokemon you send out attack in the same post. Likewise, there's always the risk of entry hazards; moves like Stealth Rock or Toxic Spikes. Additionally, they will be vulnerable to the move Pursuit, which, on this site, targets the Pokemon who is being switched in, rather than the one that's being switched out.
Types of Moves
On this site, moves used by Pokemon in battles are split into two types.
Normal Moves: These are moves that a Pokemon learns through leveling up. Since Pokemon don't have levels on this site, any Pokemon you start with can have up to four Normal Moves of your choice. If the Pokemon isn't naturally capable of learning four moves (like Caterpie or Magikarp), then leave the left-over slot blank. Egg moves also fall under this category, even if they were taught via Gene Manipulation rather than through breeding. It is possible to extend the number of Normal Moves a Pokemon can learn, by purchasing the "Move Expansion (Normal)" item from the Pokemon Shop. Doing this allows for a maximum of six Normal Moves.
Extra Moves: Extra Moves are moves that are taught through the use of outside means, either through TMs/HMs or through a Move Tutor. Special Moves (either Event Moves or moves unique to a specific form of a Pokemon) also fall under this category Like Normal Moves, a Pokemon can only learn up to four Extra Moves. However, purchasing the "Move Expansion (Extra)" item from the Pokemon Shop will increase this number to six.
Accuracy
Yes, we use accuracy. This is pretty simple, though. If you use a move that has less than 100% accuracy, you will have to roll to hit. What type of dice you roll is determined by the hit chance. For instance, a 90% accurate attack needs a 10-sided die with 1-9 indicating a hit, while a 50% accurate attack would only need a two-sided die with 1 indicating a hit. Of course, you could always use a 20-sided die for everything and count multiples of five, but it's probably simpler this way. When you roll for anything, be it hit chance, secondary effect chance, or evasion chance, please specify what numbers indicate a successful roll.
Status effects follow a similar rule. For status moves, such as Will-o-Wisp, roll for accuracy as normal. For secondary effects, such as paralysis from Bounce or Body Slam, make a secondary roll for secondary effect chance. For instance, in the case of Bounce (85% Accuracy, 30% Paralysis chance), you would have a d20 roll for accuracy, with 1-17 indicating a hit, then a d10 roll for paralysis, with 1-3 indicating a hit.
Keep in mind that when you roll for accuracy, roll only based on move hit chance and any accuracy buffs or debuffs your Pokemon has received. For the sake of simplicity, and because we understand that not everybody is good at math, accuracy modifiers will be additive, altering move accuracy by plus or minus 10% per stage.
And, as one last note, should you fail to include an Accuracy check when using a move that should have one, then your opponent will have free reign to act as though the move missed, even if it had a high chance of hitting them. This might seem unfair, but just think of it as an incentive to remember to actually make the check. After all, you'll only have yourself to blame.
Evasion
For the sake of mathematic simplicity and hopefully a bit of extra strategic depth, evasion is an entirely separate stat from accuracy. That's right, you do not need to factor an opponent's evasion into an accuracy roll. Instead, evasion functions as a dodge chance.
Evasion starts at 0, regardless of Pokemon or moves used. Like accuracy, evasion buffs and debuffs are additive and only modify evasion by 10% per stage. (Weather-based evasion abilities Sand Veil and Snow Cloak modify evasion by one stage, 10%, when active.) This is not a lot: even with a full six stages of evasion boosts, that's only 60% evasion chance. However, for faster Pokemon, there is another option: dodging. Dodging is, as you'd expect, a large one-use boost to evasion. However, this has a number of restrictions:
-In order to successfully execute a dodge, a Pokemon must exceed its opponent's speed by 25% or greater (protip for the less mathematically inclined: almost all computers have a calculator button. Just take the target speed and multiply by 1.25 to see what you need to be able to dodge). The reason for this is to give faster, less defensive Pokemon a balance to their tanky counterparts in a setting where speed doesn't matter all that much.
-Dodging constitutes a free action, meaning it does not count as your single action in a turn. However, even if you're more than fast enough to dodge an opponent, you can only do so once per Pokemon per battle.
-The only way to raise this number of dodges is by boosting speed. This can even give slower Pokemon a chance to dodge attacks. However, because of the potential for this to be very broken if over-used, speed can only be raised or lowered by three levels rather than six.
-In contrast, reducing an opponent's speed can cripple their ability to dodge, requiring the opponent to raise it just to have that first dodge chance.
-Dodges modify evasion by 50% for the action they're used against. That's right: even dodges are not fool-proof, and still require some amount of evasion boosting to be made more reliable. Lowering evasion works against dodges, making them even less effective.
Keep in mind that moves with -% accuracy (Aerial Ace, Aura Sphere, Clear Smog, Feint Attack, Magical Leaf, Magnet Bomb, Shadow Punch, Shock Wave Swift, Vital Throw) can not be evaded except through moves that make them impossible to target (Fly, Bounce, Dig, Phantom Force).
Because dodging is effective against the previous attack rather than the next one use, and because of how Proboards v5's dice plugin works, all evasion rolls should be edited into the previous post.
Multi-Battles
Because formation and positioning is largely arbitrary in a RP setting, AoE moves will work a little differently than in the games. Rather than having limited range, AoE moves will be able to hit all possible targets. Instead of "All adjacent Pokemon", such moves will simply hit "All Pokemon". Likewise, with moves such as Blizzard or Rock Slide that hit "all adjacent enemy Pokemon", they will simply hit "all enemy Pokemon. This does not mean that, if multiple battles are taking place in a thread (this will often be the case for missions and events), you can have your Pokemon use Blizzard and hit the opponents of every other player as well as yours. Only the Pokemon you are fighting are considered possible targets.
Naturally, when you have multiple Pokemon on the field, each of them can use one move in a turn. In other words, if you are doing a triple battle and have fielded three Pokemon, each of them can attack once in a turn. There is also one other action available in multi-battles: blocking. This is exactly what it sounds like: you can have one of your Pokemon take a hit for another. Be warned: if the Pokemon being defended is targeted with multiple attacks, the blocking Pokemon will take all of those hits. They can't simply pick and choose which to take or not take. This also counts as a free action: a Pokemon can block and attack in the same turn. Multi-target moves like Blizzard and Rock Slide cannot be blocked in this way. The only way to block them is with a defensive move like Mat Block or Wide Guard.
Moves Per Post
Only one move can be used per post. That's it. Whether you use said move for attack or defense is up to you, but, frankly, there are too many potential issues with certain combinations of certain moves being used at the same time, and I'd rather not have to deal with them every time one comes up. So I'm just nipping the whole thing at the bud here and now.
Of course, for catching threads, this is slightly different. Since the whole thing is done in one post, then, clearly, you may use more than one move in the post. However, you may not use two moves back-to-back. The opponent must try to make a move between them. You must also take into account things like the charge time for moves like SolarBeam or Skull Bash, or the recovery time for Hyper Beam and Giga Impact.
Turn Order
Because we don't use speed as a determining factor for which Pokemon goes first, here are some guidelines:
-In a modded battle, the Player always gets the first move unless otherwise specified.
-In an ordinary PvP battle, this should be agreed on by both players. HOWEVER:
-In PvP for tournaments and similar events, the player who sends out their Pokemon first also gets the first move. As an example, the opening posts could be summarized like this: "Player A sends out Charmander." "Player B sends out Geodude." "Player A uses Metal Claw."
Once the opening move has been posted, opponents alternate turns. As explained above, only one move or turn per post. Even if one Pokemon uses a priority move (explained [moves and abilities topic]here[end tag]) and interrupt's the opponent's previous turn, it is still their turn next.
Switching
Okay, so, here's how switching out Pokemon works. Like in the games, switching takes up the entire turn. You use switching to avoid damage to one of your Pokemon, though the Pokemon you send in will take the hit instead. However, it's more than possible to use this to use this to your advantage. For example, your opponent's Electabuzz tries to use Thunderbolt on your Pidgeotto. You can call your Pokemon back, and send out a Sandslash in its place. It will take the Thunderbolt instead, but be unaffected due to its immunity to Electric attacks.
However, because switches use up the entire turn, you will not be allowed to have the Pokemon you send out attack in the same post. Likewise, there's always the risk of entry hazards; moves like Stealth Rock or Toxic Spikes. Additionally, they will be vulnerable to the move Pursuit, which, on this site, targets the Pokemon who is being switched in, rather than the one that's being switched out.
Types of Moves
On this site, moves used by Pokemon in battles are split into two types.
Normal Moves: These are moves that a Pokemon learns through leveling up. Since Pokemon don't have levels on this site, any Pokemon you start with can have up to four Normal Moves of your choice. If the Pokemon isn't naturally capable of learning four moves (like Caterpie or Magikarp), then leave the left-over slot blank. Egg moves also fall under this category, even if they were taught via Gene Manipulation rather than through breeding. It is possible to extend the number of Normal Moves a Pokemon can learn, by purchasing the "Move Expansion (Normal)" item from the Pokemon Shop. Doing this allows for a maximum of six Normal Moves.
Extra Moves: Extra Moves are moves that are taught through the use of outside means, either through TMs/HMs or through a Move Tutor. Special Moves (either Event Moves or moves unique to a specific form of a Pokemon) also fall under this category Like Normal Moves, a Pokemon can only learn up to four Extra Moves. However, purchasing the "Move Expansion (Extra)" item from the Pokemon Shop will increase this number to six.
Accuracy
Yes, we use accuracy. This is pretty simple, though. If you use a move that has less than 100% accuracy, you will have to roll to hit. What type of dice you roll is determined by the hit chance. For instance, a 90% accurate attack needs a 10-sided die with 1-9 indicating a hit, while a 50% accurate attack would only need a two-sided die with 1 indicating a hit. Of course, you could always use a 20-sided die for everything and count multiples of five, but it's probably simpler this way. When you roll for anything, be it hit chance, secondary effect chance, or evasion chance, please specify what numbers indicate a successful roll.
Status effects follow a similar rule. For status moves, such as Will-o-Wisp, roll for accuracy as normal. For secondary effects, such as paralysis from Bounce or Body Slam, make a secondary roll for secondary effect chance. For instance, in the case of Bounce (85% Accuracy, 30% Paralysis chance), you would have a d20 roll for accuracy, with 1-17 indicating a hit, then a d10 roll for paralysis, with 1-3 indicating a hit.
Keep in mind that when you roll for accuracy, roll only based on move hit chance and any accuracy buffs or debuffs your Pokemon has received. For the sake of simplicity, and because we understand that not everybody is good at math, accuracy modifiers will be additive, altering move accuracy by plus or minus 10% per stage.
And, as one last note, should you fail to include an Accuracy check when using a move that should have one, then your opponent will have free reign to act as though the move missed, even if it had a high chance of hitting them. This might seem unfair, but just think of it as an incentive to remember to actually make the check. After all, you'll only have yourself to blame.
Evasion
For the sake of mathematic simplicity and hopefully a bit of extra strategic depth, evasion is an entirely separate stat from accuracy. That's right, you do not need to factor an opponent's evasion into an accuracy roll. Instead, evasion functions as a dodge chance.
Evasion starts at 0, regardless of Pokemon or moves used. Like accuracy, evasion buffs and debuffs are additive and only modify evasion by 10% per stage. (Weather-based evasion abilities Sand Veil and Snow Cloak modify evasion by one stage, 10%, when active.) This is not a lot: even with a full six stages of evasion boosts, that's only 60% evasion chance. However, for faster Pokemon, there is another option: dodging. Dodging is, as you'd expect, a large one-use boost to evasion. However, this has a number of restrictions:
-In order to successfully execute a dodge, a Pokemon must exceed its opponent's speed by 25% or greater (protip for the less mathematically inclined: almost all computers have a calculator button. Just take the target speed and multiply by 1.25 to see what you need to be able to dodge). The reason for this is to give faster, less defensive Pokemon a balance to their tanky counterparts in a setting where speed doesn't matter all that much.
-Dodging constitutes a free action, meaning it does not count as your single action in a turn. However, even if you're more than fast enough to dodge an opponent, you can only do so once per Pokemon per battle.
-The only way to raise this number of dodges is by boosting speed. This can even give slower Pokemon a chance to dodge attacks. However, because of the potential for this to be very broken if over-used, speed can only be raised or lowered by three levels rather than six.
-In contrast, reducing an opponent's speed can cripple their ability to dodge, requiring the opponent to raise it just to have that first dodge chance.
-Dodges modify evasion by 50% for the action they're used against. That's right: even dodges are not fool-proof, and still require some amount of evasion boosting to be made more reliable. Lowering evasion works against dodges, making them even less effective.
Keep in mind that moves with -% accuracy (Aerial Ace, Aura Sphere, Clear Smog, Feint Attack, Magical Leaf, Magnet Bomb, Shadow Punch, Shock Wave Swift, Vital Throw) can not be evaded except through moves that make them impossible to target (Fly, Bounce, Dig, Phantom Force).
Because dodging is effective against the previous attack rather than the next one use, and because of how Proboards v5's dice plugin works, all evasion rolls should be edited into the previous post.
Multi-Battles
Because formation and positioning is largely arbitrary in a RP setting, AoE moves will work a little differently than in the games. Rather than having limited range, AoE moves will be able to hit all possible targets. Instead of "All adjacent Pokemon", such moves will simply hit "All Pokemon". Likewise, with moves such as Blizzard or Rock Slide that hit "all adjacent enemy Pokemon", they will simply hit "all enemy Pokemon. This does not mean that, if multiple battles are taking place in a thread (this will often be the case for missions and events), you can have your Pokemon use Blizzard and hit the opponents of every other player as well as yours. Only the Pokemon you are fighting are considered possible targets.
Naturally, when you have multiple Pokemon on the field, each of them can use one move in a turn. In other words, if you are doing a triple battle and have fielded three Pokemon, each of them can attack once in a turn. There is also one other action available in multi-battles: blocking. This is exactly what it sounds like: you can have one of your Pokemon take a hit for another. Be warned: if the Pokemon being defended is targeted with multiple attacks, the blocking Pokemon will take all of those hits. They can't simply pick and choose which to take or not take. This also counts as a free action: a Pokemon can block and attack in the same turn. Multi-target moves like Blizzard and Rock Slide cannot be blocked in this way. The only way to block them is with a defensive move like Mat Block or Wide Guard.