PTU: Pokemon Tabletop United [Complete System]

[zoofman]

mediafire link: http://www.mediafire.com/?qd8dmgz8e4098ly

Hello - seeing the success Dust seems to have had with establishing a base of sorts here and a feedback chain, I am likewise am here to share a system myself and a few others have worked on over the past few years.

You may have heard of Pokémon Tabletop Adventures - we were devs for that as well but over time we realized the dnd base was just not working well and needed a fresh start for the homebrew system. This is our result - granted it's the first draft and has a few outstanding typos we'll be correcting asap. The zip file also includes the Pokedex file for PTA, as we still need to tackle that monster.

As for the system itself, well, it's all inclusive aside from that. Only one last class (The Strategist) we really -need- to add that we need to review more, aside from that the core PDF itself is mostly balance tweeks until XY comes out. We also have some splatbooks planned to start getting out to expand on what we have here with a lot of tendencies we saw in PTA play over the years. These include:

1 - A book on Legendry Pokemon and their place in your setting - how to portray them as Gods and Deities and their interactions with mortals. Including a few suggestions on pantheon choices, and character advancement options including options from being cursed, blessed, or otherwise empowered by these beings.
2 - A book on advanced encounter generation for GM's, from gym leaders to puzzle fights to shadow of the colossus style encounters.
3- A book on sci-fi settings in a high variety, but castfromhp is the one writing that so he could say more on that than I can. I know he's got a few class ideas such as Engineer (assuming that one isn't also included in the core - it's in a tough spot for us at the moment), The Upgrader, and The Glitch Trainer
4- Potentially a counterpart to the above for not so futuristic settings, be it historical, fantasy, steampunk, ect. But this one we have less an idea how to tackle than the others.

Feel free to elicit feedback and opinions. We're very confident in what we got so far but it's been difficult to get opinions outside our usual dev community.

[Zelkon]

I love PTA, so this should be great.

[drew2u]

Not as a competing system since I didn't know about PTA until well into my own Pokemon Tabletop game, I created a Pokemon d20 game that resembles Pathfinder/d20 Modern.

Right I'm statting up 5th gen pokemon, gearing up for 6th. It took me a while to get started with 5th since it almost made me rage-quit pokemon, lol.

If you'd like to compare notes or anything, I'd be happy to upload what I have so far!

[Arcran]

I'm sorry, Dust? I don't think that I've ever seen him in a game here.

And love the system. Hopefully this first game using it goes well.

[zoofman]

I'm sorry, Dust? I don't think that I've ever seen him in a game here.

And love the system. Hopefully this first game using it goes well.

Dust is the head dev of the ffd6 system that has a very long and successful thread here

[GFawkes]

This is something I noticed on a casual browse through the rules that may warrant attention: It is possible to take Type Ace (Dark), raise a Shedinja, and Type Shift it to Dark/Ghost. You may want to do something about that.

[Arcran]

This is something I noticed on a casual browse through the rules that may warrant attention: It is possible to take Type Ace (Dark), raise a Shedinja, and Type Shift it to Dark/Ghost. You may want to do something about that.

Wonder Guard does not work if the Pokemon somehow obtains no weaknesses.

[zoofman]

Bit of a thread necro I guess, but hey, we got a new version out, new faces might be around, interest could change.

We're continuing to hammer out issues as we go along but we're very confident about the playability of this system!

[castfromhp]

Hey all, I'm one of the other devs of the system, and I thought I'd drop in to say a word too. Aside from regular tweaks to the base system, you can expect our next major release to be the Pokédex PDF, so you won't have to use the PTA 'Dex anymore. It'll have, in addition to the new capabilities in the core PDF, skill ranks for Pokémon, new abilities, and more!

Personally, I'm also working on a pair of supplements for the system (yes, yes, jumping the gun a little, but can you blame me for wanting to chase neat ideas?). The first is something I've been bouncing around in my head ever since I was working on PTA, before PTU was even conceived: a guide to creating interesting encounters, gyms, and boss fights. The second is a sci-fi supplement that will include, among other things, the Engineer class that veterans of PTA might recognize is missing from the core PDF now.

[Morph Bark]

I'm currently in a campaign of PTA, and besides the ability scores for trainers, I don't see any sort of DnD base in it, frankly.

What are the differences between this system and PTA? Why is this system better?

[Arcran]

This thread should answer your question very nicely. (http://forums.pokemontabletop.com/topic/9815794/1/)

[castfromhp]

I'm currently in a campaign of PTA, and besides the ability scores for trainers, I don't see any sort of DnD base in it, frankly.

What are the differences between this system and PTA? Why is this system better?

Arcran linked the thread that hashed out a lot of this discussion on the PTA/U forums, but rather than make you trudge through 6 pages of that, I can try to sum up the important differences as I see them, having worked on both PTA and PTU and played the former extensively.

Edit: I just realized I should probably list the basic differences here instead of directly jumping into a lot of the reasoning behind the differences that I listed below.

Trainers work on a three attribute system - body, mind, and spirit. Each of these governs a set of skills that scale from ranks 1 to 6, with skill rolls being Xd6 checks where X is your skill rank and you add the governing attribute for the skill to the final result. Attributes tend to be small, with the absolute maximum you can raise one being to +7 at level 50, and this would require lowering one or both of the other two attributes as well.

Trainers also keep a statblock of combat stats identical to what Pokemon use.

Many classes from PTA make a reappearance in PTU, at least in concept. There is no longer a base class - advanced class structure, with particular class groups tied to particular attributes. Instead, each class has its own prerequisites befitting the class, usually based on skill ranks.

Other than that, you'll see a bunch of changes such as changes to moves, status effects, etc.

And with that said, the reasons why I think this works out better:

1. There is a skill system in PTU, which makes it much easier to do task resolution for trainers in a sensible way. With all checks based on straight attributes in PTA, you have the problem of lacking differentiation between trainers (let's be honest - Prof with INT mod +7 shouldn't have a better chance at a knowledge check about psychic powers than a Psychic with only INT mod +4 or something - but in PTA they'd both just be straight INT checks or leave it up to the GM to come up with circumstantial modifiers for every check). There's also the problem of attributes in PTA scaling to absurd numbers - and furthermore a reliance on stacking for those absurd numbers to be effective (due to high DC activation feats among other reasons). In one game I'm in, the resident Dream Doctor has a 42 in WIS or something. And that +16 modifier applies to a huge range of tasks due to covering everything under the umbrella of the WIS attribute.

I would also add that the skill system produces less swingy results and allows highly skilled characters to be more consistent with their actions - Xd6 rolls develop a bell curve to them, compared to the straight linear graph of a d20 roll.

2. Trainer and Pokemon are more unified, both in that they now share a set of stats and that they have physical capabilities (high/long jump and power) that can be directly compared against each other now. This is really important actually, cause it means a number of moves that didn't affect trainers at all, like every combat stage modifying move, now have an effect.

You have no idea how many times I've had to explain to newcomers to PTA why trainers and Pokemon worked so damned differently in battle, why trainers had no def/sp. def by default, why trainers always acted first in battle and lacked a speed stat, why combat stages didn't apply, etc.

3. Trainer progression is more organic. Let's face it - if you start off as an Ace Trainer and then through RP your character wants to become a Chef, you're pretty much out of luck in PTA. Not only is your WIS score probably shot from the penalty of Ace, there is such a natural incentive to stack only class-relevant attributes that you probably didn't have a good base from which to start building WIS anyway. And if you do start building toward enough WIS to become a Chef, you pay a HUGE cost in how effective you can be as an Ace - too much for that kind of development as a character. In PTU, there's still obviously a cost to switching tracks, but it's generally much easier to organically develop a character instead of having to meticulously plan attribute gains from the start to ensure you meet prerequisites.

4. Overall balance has improved. For just one example, Psychics are way overpowered in PTA. I really don't think anyone contests that. They have telepathy, telekinesis, probability control, phasing, teleportation, and powerful attacks all in one class. The Elemental Psychics themselves bypass move frequencies for only the minor penalty of HP cost (negligible when they're CON-based, they can grab Empath to self-heal, and they easily get into multitasking which can let them both attack and heal in a given turn if need be). There's an Ace Trainer in a game I watched whose level 1 newly hatched Pokemon performed in battle at the equivalent of level 29 Pokemon numbers-wise.

Moves that completely shut down Pokemon such as Encore have been nerfed, and the way stat totals and move damages work out, low level combat is no longer the bloodbath that it is in PTA. AOE ranges have been significantly reduced in a lot of cases.

These two are things that can easily be applied to PTA as well. Cutting down Pokemon movesets by over half has done a LOT to make more Pokemon viable (previously if a Pokemon didn't have a huge movepool, it was fairly useless late game when TMs and tutors were widely available) as well as make Pokemon less homogenous. I swear to god I had ice beam on half my team in a game and generally just absurd coverage everywhere to the point that it hardly mattered which Pokemon I was using at a given time. The injury system in PTU makes it a lot harder to keep using the same Pokemon battle after battle without rotating your team, or to keep healing yourself indefinitely to sustain yourself, as a party usually could in PTA if they had a few Pokemon with Heal Pulse and either an Empath or a Medic in the group.

5. General options have improved. By this I mean there are a variety of Edges and Feats open to all trainers that are very worth taking, compared to PTA where few were very good (though some, like I Believe in You!, were way too good). Not to mention options for codified trainer equipment now.

6. Lots of clarified mechanics. We've been trying very hard to answer a lot of the questions people have had running PTA such as how to address falling damage, what Pokeball ranges are, how out-of-battle training works, how redoing character progression works, etc.

This ended up quite a bit longer than I intended, but I hope it was helpful!

Edit 2: That all said, we're still in the process of converting the PTA Pokedex for PTU use, so you'll unfortunately not be able to take full advantage of all of the differences quite yet. That is to say, skill ranks for Pokemon and capability changes, for the most part.

[Morph Bark]

I'll be awaiting the full Pokedex then. Right now I'm playing an Ace Trainer, alongside a Capture Specialist, and since we're only three sessions in, no huge differences in balance have shown up yet.

[Lizard Lord]

I am a bit confused on classes. Is it like Adventures where you choose them as features? Is there multiclassing and, if so, is there a limit to how many classes you can take.

I apologize if this is in the book, but I didn't see it anywhere under creation, advancement, or classes. If it is in the book, where may I find it?

[Arcran]

I am a bit confused on classes. Is it like Adventures where you choose them as features? Is there multiclassing and, if so, is there a limit to how many classes you can take.

I apologize if this is in the book, but I didn't see it anywhere under creation, advancement, or classes. If it is in the book, where may I find it?

Classes are taken as a feature.

The limit on the number of classes you may take can be found where Feature Tags are explained. You may take 4.

[Lizard Lord]

Classes are taken as a feature.

The limit on the number of classes you may take can be found where Feature Tags are explained. You may take 4.

Huh. I looked there and still can't see where it mentions the limit of classes.:smallconfused:

[castfromhp]

I think that line got mistakenly deleted while we were shuffling things around for v1.01. Apologies for the inconvenience! The class limit is indeed 4.

[Sypher667]

Is it intended that only some types are represented by the Elementalist class? There are quite a few missing, and I was wondering what the reason behind that was.

[Arcran]

Is it intended that only some types are represented by the Elementalist class? There are quite a few missing, and I was wondering what the reason behind that was.

The types not represented are Normal, Dragon, Steel, Psychic, Fighting, Poison, and Rock.

Psychic, Fighting, and Poison are all represented by a class already (Various Psychic classes, Martial Artist, and Ninja respectively).

I'd assume Rock shares enough overlap with Ground that there wasn't much point in creating one, although that could be nice in the future. Rock also has very few mid-low tier moves, making it hard to create a full move list.

Steel isn't really as "Elemental" if that makes sense. It's attacks are a little harder to fluff as energy beams and the such, and it also is less natural, which likely led to it being axed.

Finally, Dragon and Normal Types are both more associated with more "natural" attacks, if that makes sense. Dragon has very few mid-tier moves which may have made it have the same issue as Rock. Normal doesn't really make sense for Elementalist, just because it isn't nearly as exotic as, say, shooting fire out of your hands.

Not an actual developer, just my two cents.

[Sypher667]

About evolution...So, I stat pokemon X with all its points into special attack. Then it evolves, and becomes an attack focused pokemon, so I put all its points into attack. That could be a shift of easily 30 points. Is that intended?

Also, abilities must be from the same position as the original, meaning the first, second, third ect? Or just high vs. normal abilities?

[Eurus]

I can't seem to successfully download and open the file, for some reason. Also, does this system do anything to fix the problem in PTA (or what I considered an issue, anyway) where the stat and level system for the 'mons makes it easy and practical to just dump everything in one stat? That was one thing that rather turned me off PTA, to be honest.