Pokemon d6 Combat and Stat System Help

[DespondDestiny]

Hey there Giantitp!

I've been a lurker of the forums for a few years now but now, I've reached a point where I'm trying to make an easy to pick up d6 system for a Pokemon group I'm working on.


All the battles would be done within chats and dice/dice rollers, but the issue I am having is finding or making a system that wont scare off players but covers a good chunk of the battle system one could get from Pokemon.

I've eradicated the different types of experience gain (erratic vs fast and so on), but I'm not sure how best to issue xp, what guide to follow, and how the Pokemon would get more powerful between leveling up and evolving.

I found one system that worked nicely for low levels.

• Starting HP = [wiki HP * 2] / 10; +2 HP per level
• d6 + level for initiative (if same level, just d6)
• Moves do [wiki damage / 10], drop any remainders / fractions (so 35 becomes 3)
• All moves have 100% hit rate
• Roll initiative, winner declares a move, determine the result
• Statuses (sleep, poison etc) have a 50% chance of lifting each turn (coin toss, just like the card game)
• Bonuses to Damage are +2 instead of x2
• Resistances are -2 instead of x.5 and -1 instead of x.25

Now this is very straight forward, easy to use, and doesn't drop in too many mechanics- that is until you need to consider how items and levels will actually effect a Pokemon.

Now if Levels only effected Initiative, that wouldn't be too bad. But it effects the HP level as well. Even some of the stronger moves wouldn't be enough to leave more than a scratch on a a Pokemon of even level 50.

It would read something like this;

Zangoose Lvl 1

• HP: 17
• Move: Scratch - 4 damage.

This is the barest of the bare really for a level 1, but still do able. When we increase the Level to 50 and then to 100 though (a single move a piece, just to show what I mean without too many numbers involved;

Zangoose Lvl 50

• HP: 115
• Move: Close Combat - 12 damage

Zangoose Lvl 100

• HP:215
• Move: Last Resort - 14 damage

If you are lucky, you get a +2 for Type Effectiveness to your damage, if you are ****ed you get dinged since the Pokemon you are up against is resistant to the type you are using.

You cant do much more damage at level 100 than you did at level 50. Type Effectiveness almost makes no sense to have the way it is. (Though this would be easy to change back to the classic of multipliers)

Lets not forget Secondary Effects. Status effects like Paralyze are easy to work with. Just a coin flip. Poison however needs a comfortable way to determine how much damage it can do each turn (burn as well) but Pokemon Effects can also target Defenses and Attack levels.

"Close Combat inflicts damage and then lowers the user's Defense stat and Special Defense stat by one stage each. "

This doesn't do anything helpful for someone in this system. There are no Stat Blocks. Only HP and damage.

I attempted to use the base stats of the other Pokemon to allow bonuses depending on the tier they were part of. Most stats are anywhere between 0 and 250 for the base stats of Pokemon (before leveling up). So I tried dividing them as such:

0-50 +0
51-100 +1
101-150 +2
151-200 +3
201-250 +4

So back to our Zangoose, his stats would look like this;

Zangoose Lvl 1

• HP 17
• Speed +1
• Sp. Atk +1
• Sp. Def +1
• Atk +2
• Def +1

Move: Scratch - 4 damage.

So, Initiative could now involve Speed (d6+1+lvl)

But my other stats still don't do much to effect attack damage in levels.

So I had considered the HP treatment. (Base Stat x 2 / 10)

• HP 17
• Speed 18
• Sp. Atk 12
• Sp. Def 12
• Atk 23
• Def 12

But I'm not sure how best to apply this information Fairly.

Adding Evolutions and Mega Evolutions into the equation complicates things as well because an evolutionary stage has a different Base Stat than a previous stage.

I'm looking for a formula I could attach to any Pokemon to make the Evolution and Leveling system as fair as possible.

I'd like to allow players to use their Defense Stats somehow to reduce damage and their Attack Stats to Increase Damage.

Adding new moves is basically already mapped out. You just add new moves based on what moves a Pokemon can learn at certain levels, and players can earn or purchase items, and tms/hms to beef up the Pokemon.

The long and short of it is, What is the best way to allow flexible combat in a Pokemon Tournament Setting while still keeping the stats balanced as possible from level 1 to level 100?



If you have more questions for me definitely do not feel shy! I'm more than happy to answer any questions you guys have for giving me even a little bit of a push in any direction.

Hey guys, Just wanted to let you know I am definitely looking into all the info and suggestions you guys have given me! You guys have been really helpful so far and I'm going to run a couple more tests! Thanks so much!

[Karl Aegis]

Tenra Bansho Zero does anime characters really well. Just use the rules for shiki or ayakashi for Pokemon and the rules for samurai for mega evolutions. The rules for shiki are simpler than the rules for ayakashi, but ayakashi can more accurately represent weaknesses and resistances. I suppose both can be stored in Pokeballs if they have the possession ability; normal shiki that can be repeatedly summoned are stored in talismans, anyways.

[Hytheter]

My advice is to mostly ignore levelling altogether. Use it to determine new moves and evolutions, and maybe small periodic stat increases analagous to DND's ability score boosts (and to Pokemon's EVs), but leave it at that. That cuts a lot of complications out. This means that battles will come down more to strategy than sheer power, while power itself will be more to do with species than level (but since level grants better moves and evolutions it is still important). Static numerical modifiers will therefore be balanced for any level

Wild Pokemon and basic NPCs might not even need a level, just base stats and moves.

Also fyi stat/10*2 is just stat/5, save yourself the extra step. Also, I'd recommend adding a flat number (say +10) to all Pokemon HP (except shedinja of course) or you end up with Pokemon that have 4 HP and die to anything.

[DespondDestiny]

@ Karl Aegis -
Tenra Bansho Zero - That sounds very interesting! I'll definitely take a look at that it sounds like it could turn out pretty wicked.



@ Hytheter -
Ahh cool cool that sounds like a great way to do it as well! I'm definitely taking that down as food for thought!

"Also fyi stat/10*2 is just stat/5, save yourself the extra step." Oh gosh you know I should've known better. I'm not sure why I spaced that!

[Maglubiyet]

A single d6 is not much of a factor when you've got 100 levels that feed into HP, damage, and initiative. Why do you need so many levels? From what I remember about playing the Pokemon card game with my nephew, there are only a few levels for each creature when they "evolve" (don't get me started on how horribly misused that word is here).

If your goal is really to create "an easy to pick up d6 system", you seem to have strayed pretty far with all of the calculations you're presenting. Do you want the combat to be resolved by 30 or 40 dice rolls per side in a typical engagement? That's where this is heading now.

It seems in Pokemon that the battles are almost secondary to the initial strategy of choosing the combatants. Each creature only has one or two major abilities. If you pick the right one vs. your opponent, the outcome is fairly predictable -- kind of like rock/paper/scissors with a lot more options. To model that you probably only want the resolution to be handled by a die roll or two.

[Hytheter]

Why do you need so many levels? From what I remember about playing the Pokemon card game with my nephew, there are only a few levels for each creature when they "evolve"

OP is using a 100 Level system because Pokemon can go up to level 100 in the main Pokemon video games. Levels in this case refer to RPG levels that lead to new abilties and incremental stat gain. The "evolution" "levels" (called "stages" in the card game) you're thinking of are a separate, though frequently linked, system in Pokemon. Many pokemon evolve when they reach a certain level, but others have different requirements. Pokemon have at maximum three stages, though as of XY some have a temporary 4th stage.

100 levels is kind of an arbitrary video-gamey artifact and OP could maybe afford to simplify matters (at the cost of more busy work for him), but he hasn't made his decisions without reason.

[Knaight]

Toss the hundred level system. It's part of the way the video game rules represented the setting, and in the context of the video game they work fairly well. A tabletop RPG is going to have different goals, and you'll want to reflect the setting in a different way. There's no particular reason to keep the level system, the same stats, or much of a lot of other things in the setting. The moves are an actual setting element that you're working with and will want to keep, you'll want to keep things like the catching system and the technology, etc. Previous mechanical implementations? Those can all go away.

You might want to maintain some sort of level system, since the gain in power is fairly central. Maybe use 10 of them, which is enough to reflect differences between pokemon. For instance, the various bug-types might evolve at levels 2 and 4, while the typical starters might use 3 and 6. You might set a lower limit to certain types of pokemon. You might set moves to certain levels. Basically, 10 levels will be plenty.

In the actual games, pretty much everything major you get by level 50 or so, with the later 50 levels more or less being straight up stat upgrades. If you absolutely have to transfer them over via pulling from the mechanics, dividing everything by 5 and rounding basically covers it. With that said, you could easily make things a lot more open, going with a significantly less rigid interpretation of the setting.

[DespondDestiny]

A single d6 is not much of a factor when you've got 100 levels that feed into HP, damage, and initiative....

If your goal is really to create "an easy to pick up d6 system", you seem to have strayed pretty far with all of the calculations you're presenting. Do you want the combat to be resolved by 30 or 40 dice rolls per side in a typical engagement? That's where this is heading now...you probably only want the resolution to be handled by a die roll or two.

That was the issue I was running into. Trying to solve one issue was bringing even MORE issues to the board.

Spoiler: Image

Show

The system I started out with worked very well in lower levels! But only in very low levels. By the time I was getting past level 20 it became impossible to do much more than scratch another Pokemon. Keeping Type Effectiveness as a x2 multiplier helped out with this to a degree, but made lower levels nearly impossible to win for Pokemon with minimal HP.
One of my starting methods did resolve head to head battles within 2-3 rolls, but that number started stretching to 20-30 rolls when I tried to show leveling of any kind (Especially when only increasing HP)

OP is using a 100 Level system because Pokemon can go up to level 100 in the main Pokemon video games. Levels in this case refer to RPG levels that lead to new abilities and incremental stat gain. The "evolution" "levels" (called "stages" in the card game) you're thinking of are a separate, though frequently linked, system in Pokemon. Many pokemon evolve when they reach a certain level, but others have different requirements. Pokemon have at maximum three stages, though as of XY some have a temporary 4th stage.

100 levels is kind of an arbitrary video-gamey artifact and OP could maybe afford to simplify matters (at the cost of more busy work for him), but he hasn't made his decisions without reason.

I definitely could afford to try simplifying things. The original plan was just having a single, or a small handful, of formula(s) that would allow someone to reference the information on hand through Bulbapedia or similar sources and convert easily.

This definitely caused difficulties and I thank you for being so understanding!

Toss the hundred level system... The moves are an actual setting element that you're working with and will want to keep, you'll want to keep things like the catching system and the technology, etc. Previous mechanical implementations? Those can all go away.
You might want to maintain some sort of level system, since the gain in power is fairly central. Maybe use 10 of them, which is enough to reflect differences between pokemon...
In the actual games, pretty much everything major you get by level 50 or so, with the later 50 levels more or less being straight up stat upgrades. If you absolutely have to transfer them over via pulling from the mechanics, dividing everything by 5 and rounding basically covers it. With that said, you could easily make things a lot more open, going with a significantly less rigid interpretation of the setting.

I can definitely see what you are getting at here with this information. I do like the bit of making the actual level count much more manageable and just adjusting by Type for when evolutions actually occur.
And I'm always open to a less rigid interpretation!

[Knaight]

I can definitely see what you are getting at here with this information. I do like the bit of making the actual level count much more manageable and just adjusting by Type for when evolutions actually occur.
And I'm always open to a less rigid interpretation!

In that case, it comes down to what you want. Cutting out multiplication entirely (with the possible exception of damage) and just having modifiers could help, and if you go from +1 to +10 with a d6, you still maintain the situation where low level Pokemon are going to have a huge amount of trouble doing anything to high level Pokemon. If you aren't looking for the Pokemon to change significantly as they level up stat-wise, but are instead good with just an increase, it makes things really easy. Set some base stats, give a +level bonus to everything, have evolution change the base stats, and have the moves create the actual effects, ideally moving away from the endless iterations of "like that other move, but with more damage".

[darkscizor]

First: Does it have to only be a d6? Adding accuracies and a d20x5 would be good. Just make it kind of like this:



Max level: 20

Base stats: Base stat x 2 and divided by 10

Gained HP per level: 4 plus the pokemon's HP stat divided by 5 and rounded down

Move accuracies rolled on a d6 roll x16.6, if the roll result is below the move's accuracy as on bulbapedia, then the move is a hit. (example: rolling a 5-6 (83 and 100, respectively) wouldn't be a hit, but a 1-4 would hit. It at least adds a bit more resemblance to the video game, right?)

Moves do wiki damage/5

Initiative is: As stat for speed, roll d6 for tiebreakers

Statuses still lift at a 50% chance per turn or after four turns

Keep damage as in the games (x2, /2, /4)










Would this work either? I made it a while back.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...it?usp=sharing