Camelot
Adventurer
I wasn't sure where I should put this, but since it uses 4e rules, I thought this would make a nice spot for it.
So, this has been done before, but I want to put a different twist on it. I want to create a Pokemon tabletop RPG using D&D 4th edition rules. It's rather difficult to come up with ideas for a lot of stuff, so I thought I'd see if anyone has any feedback. Here's my ideas so far.
Each Pokemon species is a race/class mixture. As they evolve, they get paragon paths and epic destinies. Pretty much everything is just a metaphor for the 4e rules. The abilities are the same, the defenses are the same, etc. The only major difference is that some of the skills are different, and that Pokemon do not use skills. This is where trainers come in.
Trainers are no longer just the guy or gal standing in the background picking which moves their Pokemon use. Trainers get their own ability scores, trained skills, powers, and feats. They're the ones who do the skill challenges, not the Pokemon, who only use ability checks when necessary. First thing to do for trainers is choose their class. This determines which ability scores are most important for them and gives them a few features and a trainer power. Trainer powers are different from traditional 4e rules in that the trainer themself does not use it. Any one of the trainer's Pokemon can use a trainer power that the trainer has, but if the power is encounter or daily, the power can only be used once per encounter or day by all Pokemon. For example, if a trainer has an encounter trainer power, and is using five Pokemon at once, only one of those Pokemon can use the power in this battle, because after that it is expended until the trainer takes a short rest with his Pokemon.
Which brings me to battles. Battles in this are different from traditional Pokemon battles because they are tailored to fit 4e rules. Of course, this makes them more fun in my opinion. You now have 4 - 6 Pokemon at once on the battlefield. Being a tabletop RPG, there will likely (hopefully) be 4 - 6 players and one PM (Pokemon Master), so each player will control one Pokemon at a time, but have the option to choose which Pokemon they use. This prevents much confusion from having to deal with 5 fully fleshed "PCs" all at once.
So, before I get ahead of myself, let me return to the first speed bump I need some help getting over: the trainer classes. The trainer classes are based off of the Pokedex holders from the manga, so the first four are the Battler, the Evolver, the Healer, and the Raiser. (The idea behind trainers is that their Pokemon learn from their trainer's physical and mental abilities, so if a trainer is strong, that will lend to their Pokemon being strong, etc. See the Evolver or the Raiser for good examples of this.)
BATTLER
Battlers focus on strategy and tactics to win battles. They recognize that high accuracy is a more tactically sound strategy than high damage. They put physical strength and toughness second to strategy. They also draw a bit on experience and gut instinct to help out in dire straights.
Primary Abilities: Intelligence
Secondary Abilities: Strength, Constitution
Tertiary Abilities: Wisdom
Battler's Strategy: You have the battler's strategy power.
Battler's Strategy Battler Trainer Power
Encounter
Free Action, Personal
Trigger: You miss with an attack.
Effect: Add 1d6 to the attack roll.
EVOLVER
Evolvers prepare their Pokemon for evolution. During evolution, a Pokemon uses a lot of energy, so evolvers try to keep their Pokemon tough and healthy to withstand that event when it comes. Some evolvers use strategy to endure battles while others use gut feelings. All evolvers recognize that while toughness helps endure the battles it takes to reach evolution, strength will help win those battles.
Primary Ability: Constitution
Secondary Abilities: Intelligence, Wisdom
Tertiary Ability: Strength
Evolver's Preparation: You have the evolver's preparation power.
Evolver's Preparation Evolver Trainer Power
Encounter
Free Action, Personal
Trigger: You are hit by an attack.
Effect: Add 1d6 to the defenses targeted by the triggering attack for the duration of that attack.
HEALER
Healers hate to see their Pokemon get hurt, so they focus on not letting their Pokemon faint. They are usually very close to nature, from which they can get medicine that will aid their Pokemon. Healers try to let their Pokemon take as little damage, so they focus on either enduring that damage or dodging it. Most all healers realize that encouragement can be a great help in keeping their Pokemon standing.
Primary Ability: Wisdom
Secondary Abilities: Constitution, Dexterity
Tertiary Abililty: Charisma
Healer's Encouragement: You have the healer's encouragment power.
Healer's Encouragement Healer Trainer Power
Encounter * Healing
Free Action, Personal
Trigger: You receive healing.
Effect: You regain 1d6 additional hit points.
RAISER
Raisers train their Pokemon in harsh environments to make them stronger. The raiser's tactic is to simply get as strong as possible to beat all those who stand against them as quickly and brutally as possible. Raisers try to increase their Pokemon's damage output by training them to hit their opponent's weak spots and by encouraging them to give them more strength. Raisers rely on instincts before set strategies, knowing that battles can be won best through improvising.
Primary Ability: Strength
Secondary Abilities: Dexterity, Charisma
Tertiary Abilities: Wisdom
Raiser's Example: You have the raiser's example power.
Raiser's Example Raiser Trainer Power
Encounter
Free Action, Personal
Trigger: You deal damage with an attack.
Effect: You deal 1d6 extra damage.
So there's what I have so far. As you can see, they are a bit lacking in additional features. In fact, they are completely lacking in additional features. I'm at less of a speed bump and more of a brick wall with coming up with useful features that utilize the trainer's abilities in their order of importance. There are two secondary abilities because I want their to be one feature, like most 4e classes, that gives you two options that each use a different score and let you choose which one you want. Since trainer's don't do any attacking, I need to find a way for their primary ability score to still be the most important one, then the secondary score, whichever they choose, to be a little less important, and the tertiary score only affects minor things.
If anyone has any ideas on this problem or other problems you see in the future, I want to hear everything! And if you're curious as to what else I have in store, I'd be glad to answer, provided I've gotten that far yet.
So, this has been done before, but I want to put a different twist on it. I want to create a Pokemon tabletop RPG using D&D 4th edition rules. It's rather difficult to come up with ideas for a lot of stuff, so I thought I'd see if anyone has any feedback. Here's my ideas so far.
Each Pokemon species is a race/class mixture. As they evolve, they get paragon paths and epic destinies. Pretty much everything is just a metaphor for the 4e rules. The abilities are the same, the defenses are the same, etc. The only major difference is that some of the skills are different, and that Pokemon do not use skills. This is where trainers come in.
Trainers are no longer just the guy or gal standing in the background picking which moves their Pokemon use. Trainers get their own ability scores, trained skills, powers, and feats. They're the ones who do the skill challenges, not the Pokemon, who only use ability checks when necessary. First thing to do for trainers is choose their class. This determines which ability scores are most important for them and gives them a few features and a trainer power. Trainer powers are different from traditional 4e rules in that the trainer themself does not use it. Any one of the trainer's Pokemon can use a trainer power that the trainer has, but if the power is encounter or daily, the power can only be used once per encounter or day by all Pokemon. For example, if a trainer has an encounter trainer power, and is using five Pokemon at once, only one of those Pokemon can use the power in this battle, because after that it is expended until the trainer takes a short rest with his Pokemon.
Which brings me to battles. Battles in this are different from traditional Pokemon battles because they are tailored to fit 4e rules. Of course, this makes them more fun in my opinion. You now have 4 - 6 Pokemon at once on the battlefield. Being a tabletop RPG, there will likely (hopefully) be 4 - 6 players and one PM (Pokemon Master), so each player will control one Pokemon at a time, but have the option to choose which Pokemon they use. This prevents much confusion from having to deal with 5 fully fleshed "PCs" all at once.
So, before I get ahead of myself, let me return to the first speed bump I need some help getting over: the trainer classes. The trainer classes are based off of the Pokedex holders from the manga, so the first four are the Battler, the Evolver, the Healer, and the Raiser. (The idea behind trainers is that their Pokemon learn from their trainer's physical and mental abilities, so if a trainer is strong, that will lend to their Pokemon being strong, etc. See the Evolver or the Raiser for good examples of this.)
BATTLER
Battlers focus on strategy and tactics to win battles. They recognize that high accuracy is a more tactically sound strategy than high damage. They put physical strength and toughness second to strategy. They also draw a bit on experience and gut instinct to help out in dire straights.
Primary Abilities: Intelligence
Secondary Abilities: Strength, Constitution
Tertiary Abilities: Wisdom
Battler's Strategy: You have the battler's strategy power.
Battler's Strategy Battler Trainer Power
Encounter
Free Action, Personal
Trigger: You miss with an attack.
Effect: Add 1d6 to the attack roll.
EVOLVER
Evolvers prepare their Pokemon for evolution. During evolution, a Pokemon uses a lot of energy, so evolvers try to keep their Pokemon tough and healthy to withstand that event when it comes. Some evolvers use strategy to endure battles while others use gut feelings. All evolvers recognize that while toughness helps endure the battles it takes to reach evolution, strength will help win those battles.
Primary Ability: Constitution
Secondary Abilities: Intelligence, Wisdom
Tertiary Ability: Strength
Evolver's Preparation: You have the evolver's preparation power.
Evolver's Preparation Evolver Trainer Power
Encounter
Free Action, Personal
Trigger: You are hit by an attack.
Effect: Add 1d6 to the defenses targeted by the triggering attack for the duration of that attack.
HEALER
Healers hate to see their Pokemon get hurt, so they focus on not letting their Pokemon faint. They are usually very close to nature, from which they can get medicine that will aid their Pokemon. Healers try to let their Pokemon take as little damage, so they focus on either enduring that damage or dodging it. Most all healers realize that encouragement can be a great help in keeping their Pokemon standing.
Primary Ability: Wisdom
Secondary Abilities: Constitution, Dexterity
Tertiary Abililty: Charisma
Healer's Encouragement: You have the healer's encouragment power.
Healer's Encouragement Healer Trainer Power
Encounter * Healing
Free Action, Personal
Trigger: You receive healing.
Effect: You regain 1d6 additional hit points.
RAISER
Raisers train their Pokemon in harsh environments to make them stronger. The raiser's tactic is to simply get as strong as possible to beat all those who stand against them as quickly and brutally as possible. Raisers try to increase their Pokemon's damage output by training them to hit their opponent's weak spots and by encouraging them to give them more strength. Raisers rely on instincts before set strategies, knowing that battles can be won best through improvising.
Primary Ability: Strength
Secondary Abilities: Dexterity, Charisma
Tertiary Abilities: Wisdom
Raiser's Example: You have the raiser's example power.
Raiser's Example Raiser Trainer Power
Encounter
Free Action, Personal
Trigger: You deal damage with an attack.
Effect: You deal 1d6 extra damage.
So there's what I have so far. As you can see, they are a bit lacking in additional features. In fact, they are completely lacking in additional features. I'm at less of a speed bump and more of a brick wall with coming up with useful features that utilize the trainer's abilities in their order of importance. There are two secondary abilities because I want their to be one feature, like most 4e classes, that gives you two options that each use a different score and let you choose which one you want. Since trainer's don't do any attacking, I need to find a way for their primary ability score to still be the most important one, then the secondary score, whichever they choose, to be a little less important, and the tertiary score only affects minor things.
If anyone has any ideas on this problem or other problems you see in the future, I want to hear everything! And if you're curious as to what else I have in store, I'd be glad to answer, provided I've gotten that far yet.
