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  1. - Top - End - #1
    Titan in the Playground
     
    Grod_The_Giant's Avatar

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    Default Pokemon Tabletop United -- Free-Floating Revision Thoughts

    Pokémon Tabletop United is a ridiculously huge, complicated, option-bloated, and frequently janky system—exactly the kind of thing that gets my goblin brain buzzing. I really admire how well they’ve translated video game mechanics into tabletop ones, but I can’t help trying to make things better. (Note that I'm basing this off version 1.05)

    The single biggest thing that bugs me is trainers. Using a completely distinct character creation process than Pokémon offends me on general principles, but it also feels weird to have Features as their own distinct thing when Abilities and Moves could easily fill the same role…I see the reason for keeping them distinct, but given that there are a bunch of Features that give you Abilities and Moves it seems like an unnecessary distinction.

    Trainers also take up too much time in combat—and design space in general— in my opinion. The reason you’re playing a Pokemon RPG is for the pokemon; putting too much emphasis on the trainer only detracts from that. At the same time, despite all the detail put into them, they really don’t feel that dynamic in combat. Using “Focused Training” over and over again isn’t that exciting compared to what we see in the anime.

    Finally, PTU is clearly based on 3e D&D, and it shares some weaknesses—namely, that combatants close to melee range and then just kind of sit there. I’d like to shake that up a bit too, and encourage players to spend more time running around the field and doing unexpected things.

    So…

    General Rules Changes
    • Introduce a new Pokémon type—Human. Human isn’t resistant to or weak against any types and explicitly cannot be copied by things like Color Change. Only Human-type creatures can learn Human-type moves.
    • Trainers and Pokemon share the same experience points. The trainer receives the points directly, and can either assign them to themselves or their pokemon.
    • Classes are just collections of Features laid out in a little skill tree; let’s treat them as such and ignore all the pretense.


    Combat Rules Changes
    • Double all movement speeds.
    • Attacks of Opportunity can only be triggered by the foe standing up or interacting with an item; in either case, using a standard action allows a character to do so without provoking an AoO.
    • Replace the narrow concept of flanking with the broader idea of stunts. If you find an advantageous position or describe your actions in a particularly exciting way—as judged by the GM—you either gain a +2 bonus on a skill check or reduce the AC of the move you’re using by 2, to a minimum of zero. Stunts should be fresh each time, rather than using the same maneuver or description over and over again. The GM can award stunts to their NPCs, but can only do so once per scene per player.
    • Introduce a new maneuver: Wait.

    Spoiler: New Maneuver
    Show
    Maneuver: Wait
    Action: Standard
    Effect: You gain a +2 bonus to Evasion until the beginning of your next turn, and your trainer can immediately take a Shift and Standard action.


    Trainer Rules Changes
    The key idea here is to make trainer and pokemon statblocks as symmetrical as possible. To do so, all we need is a “Trainer” statblock and a few custom moves and abilities.

    Spoiler: Trainer Stablock
    Show
    Trainer
    Base Stats: HP 10, all others 5
    Basic Information:

    • Type: Human type
    • Basic Ability: Pokemon Trainer
    • Advanced Abilities: Analytic, Anger Point, Competitive, Contrary, Courage, Defiant, Enduring Rage, Guts, Hustle, Inner Focus, Insomnia, Moxie, Oblivious, Own Tempo, Pride, Slow Start, Stall, Steadfast, Unaware, Vital Spirit (basically, anything that’s static and based on personality)
    • High Abilities: Pokemon Master

    Evolution: None
    Capability List: Overland 5, Swim 2, Jump 1/1, Power 2, Wielder
    Skill List: One Adept, two Pathetic, all others at Untrained
    Move List: At level 1, “Supporting Shout,” “Edge Training,” and “Feature Training”. Every third level, they learn Edge Training again; every fourth level they learn Feature Training again.
    TM/HM Move List: None
    Tutor Move List: All existing Features, converted to Human-type Moves (granting new Capabilities, if necessary).

    Spoiler: New Trainer-Only Things
    Show

    Ability-- Pokemon Trainer
    Static
    Effect: You can learn any number of moves. However, you don’t get your own turn in the initiative order. Once per round, you may take a Shift action on your pokemon’s turn; in order to take a standard action, you must order your pokemon to use the Wait maneuver.

    Ability-- Pokemon Master
    Static
    Effect: By spending 1AP, you can use Supporting Shout as a Priority Interrupt move.

    Move: Supporting Shout
    Type: Human
    Frequency: At-Will, 1 AP
    AC: n/a
    Class: Status
    Range: 6, 1 Target, Reaction
    Effect: Once per round, you can activate this move as a non-action to allow one of your Pokémon can immediately attempt a Disengage, Dirty Trick, Manipulate, Push (1m only), Sprint, Trip, or Intercept maneuver.

    This is key for dramatic battles, I think: letting trainers order their pokemon to do unexpected things at the last possible moment. We see that in the show; I want to see it in the game, too.

    Move: Edge Training
    Type: Human
    Frequency: Static
    Class: Static
    Effect: You gain four new Edges which you meet the prerequisites.
    Special: You may learn this move any number of times, gaining another two new Edges with every iteration.

    Move: Feature Training
    Type: Human
    Frequency: Static
    Class: Static
    Effect: You learn four new Features which you meet the prerequisites.
    Special: You may learn this move any number of times, learning one additional move with every iteration.

    Features to Moves
    While you’d ultimately want to record them in a different format, I think you can get away without doing so. You’d just have a lot more Static moves.

    As an example,

    Spoiler: First Aid Expertise
    Show
    Feature: First Aid Expertise
    Prerequisites: Medic Training, Expert Medicine, Education
    Daily x3 – Extended Action
    Target: Pokemon or Trainers
    Effect: The target may remove one Injury, has all Hit Points restored, and is cured of all Status Afflictions.

    You may use First Aid Expertise only once per day per target. First Aid Expertise requires access to a First Aid Kit.

    Move: First Aid Expertise
    Type: Human
    Frequency: Daily x3 – Extended Action
    AC: n/a
    Class: Skill
    Range: Melee, 1 Target
    Effect: The target may remove one Injury, has all Hit Points restored, and is cured of all Status Afflictions. You can only use this move once per day per target.
    Special: You must have the Medic Training, Expert Medicine, and Education edges to learn this move. You cannot use this move if you don’t have access to a First Aid Kit.
    Last edited by Grod_The_Giant; 2022-07-18 at 02:45 PM.
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    STaRS: A non-narrativeist, generic rules-light system.
    Grod's Guide to Greatness, 2e: A big book of player options for 5e.
    Grod's Grimoire of the Grotesque: An even bigger book of variant and expanded rules for 5e.
    Giants and Graveyards: My collected 3.5 class fixes and more.

    Quote Originally Posted by Grod_The_Giant View Post
    Grod's Law: You cannot and should not balance bad mechanics by making them annoying to use

  2. - Top - End - #2
    Orc in the Playground
     
    WolfInSheepsClothing

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    Default Re: Pokemon Tabletop United -- Free-Floating Revision Thoughts

    Even if you're allowed to move, why would you? What makes moving interesting and relevant? Cover from ranged attacks? A varied environment with environmental effects?

    Second, my experience a good while ago was that the Pokémon weren't overly interesting. They either were a wall or a glasscannon, no inbetween. This due to the way the stats were assigned rather freely and the lack of diminishing returns on attack.

  3. - Top - End - #3
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    Grod_The_Giant's Avatar

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    Default Re: Pokemon Tabletop United -- Free-Floating Revision Thoughts

    Quote Originally Posted by Sneak Dog View Post
    Even if you're allowed to move, why would you? What makes moving interesting and relevant? Cover from ranged attacks? A varied environment with environmental effects?
    Free movement and stunts are kind of mutually reinforcing ideas. It's a lot harder to come up with interesting stunts when you're not allowed to move very much, and--as you noted--there's not a lot of reason to move unless you're pulling off a stunt.

    Second, my experience a good while ago was that the Pokémon weren't overly interesting. They either were a wall or a glasscannon, no inbetween. This due to the way the stats were assigned rather freely and the lack of diminishing returns on attack.
    I can definitely see that, yeah. I wonder if it's possible to work out a formula of some sort that'll roughly maintain the stat distribution from the pokemon's base stats and nature...
    Hill Giant Games
    I make indie gaming books for you!
    Spoiler
    Show

    STaRS: A non-narrativeist, generic rules-light system.
    Grod's Guide to Greatness, 2e: A big book of player options for 5e.
    Grod's Grimoire of the Grotesque: An even bigger book of variant and expanded rules for 5e.
    Giants and Graveyards: My collected 3.5 class fixes and more.

    Quote Originally Posted by Grod_The_Giant View Post
    Grod's Law: You cannot and should not balance bad mechanics by making them annoying to use

  4. - Top - End - #4
    Titan in the Playground
     
    Grod_The_Giant's Avatar

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    Default Re: Pokemon Tabletop United -- Free-Floating Revision Thoughts

    Quote Originally Posted by Grod_The_Giant View Post
    I wonder if it's possible to work out a formula of some sort that'll roughly maintain the stat distribution from the pokemon's base stats and nature...
    Turns out it is! Sort of; it's not hard but there are a couple steps.

    1. Apply nature to base stats
    2. Subtract the (lowest base stat -1) from each base stats to find that stat's "shift value."
    3. Divide each stat's shift value by the pokemon's total shift value to get its "shift factor," the percentage of stat points that should be dedicated to that stat.
    4. Multiply each stat's shift factor by (10 + level + any bonus stat points) and round to the nearest whole number to find its "shift advancement"
    5. Add the base stat and shift advancement for each stat to get your final totals.

    Which is kind of a pain if you're not using Excel*, but you only need to repeat the last two steps once per level-up; shift factors will only change with evolution. In return, you get a lovely curve that maintains the relative distribution of stats from level 1 to level 100.

    Spoiler: Graphs
    Show


    Original stats: HP 5, Atk 7, Def 8, Spc Atk 9, Spc Def 10, Speed 11
    Level 100: HP 9, Atk 20, Def 25, Spc Atk 30, Spc Def 35, Spd 41


    Base stats: HP 15, Atk 3, Def 8, Spc Atk 7, Spc Def 10, Spd 4
    Lv 100: HP 56, Atk 6, Def 27, Spc Atk 23, Spc Def 35, Spd 10



    Spoiler: Code
    Show

    Specifically, if you have your six stats in A2-F2, and your level in G2...
    =???+(ROUND(((A2-(MIN($A2:$F2))+1)/(($A2-(MIN($A2:$F2))+1)+($B2-(MIN($A2:$F2))+1)+($C2-(MIN($A2:$F2))+1)+($D2-(MIN($A2:$F2))+1)+($E2-(MIN($A2:$F2))+1)+($F2-(MIN($A2:$F2))+1))*(10+$G2)),0))
    replacing ??? with A2 for your first stat, B2 for your second, and so on
    Last edited by Grod_The_Giant; 2022-07-27 at 11:43 AM.
    Hill Giant Games
    I make indie gaming books for you!
    Spoiler
    Show

    STaRS: A non-narrativeist, generic rules-light system.
    Grod's Guide to Greatness, 2e: A big book of player options for 5e.
    Grod's Grimoire of the Grotesque: An even bigger book of variant and expanded rules for 5e.
    Giants and Graveyards: My collected 3.5 class fixes and more.

    Quote Originally Posted by Grod_The_Giant View Post
    Grod's Law: You cannot and should not balance bad mechanics by making them annoying to use

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