Knowing Your Pokemon

Overview
At the top of a Pokémon’s page are its name and if applicable the fact that it is legendary or shiny. Then coe the hit points, and friendship points. HP are twice strength plus mind, and are represented as black boxes. The grey boxes can be colored in in ink as strength or mind are increased. FP are equal to 1/10 mind and are also represented by boxes. Below that are the Pokémon’s stats. It’s initial values (IV’s) almost never change but its effort values (EV’s) can be trained to increase them. To the right of the stats box is the Pokémon’s picture with its gender and egg group above that. To the right of that is the Pokémon’s type or types with icons representing the damage types the Pokémon is strong or weak against.  

Below that are the Pokémon’s dash and range, its evolution method, nature, and ability. Dash is equal to the speed IV while range is equal to 1 plus the sense IV; increases to those IV’s will increase dash or range. Evolution method is how the Pokémon evolves. Nature determines how the Pokémon gains friendship points while ability is a special way the Pokémon breaks the normal rules gaining some sort of advantage. 

Below all of that is a list of moves the Pokémon already knows. Below the list of known moves is the full list of moves the Pokémon can learn without needing a TM or other special method to teach it more obtuse moves. Pokémon can learn up to 6 moves and if it wants to learn any new ones after that it will need to forget an older move to make room for the new one. The player may choose any move to immediately forget, even an HM move.

Shiny and Legendary Pokémon
Next to the Pokemon's name at the top of the page you may see the words "shiny" or "legendary". A shiny Pokemon appears different than a standard Pokemon of its type. Any time you catch a Pokemon there is a chance it could be shiny. Additionally, there are some special variants that are always shiny, like a Cosplay Pikachu, Mega Snorlax, or a Cherry Blossom Sudowudo.

There are rare Pokemon that are rare, sometimes so rare people aren't sure if they exist at all. These are called legendary Pokemon. No trainer may have more than one legendary Pokemon in their lineup. 

Friendship Points
 Friendship points are a measure of a Pokémon’s bond with its trainer. Pokémon can have friendship points equal to one tenth their mind score. 

A Pokemon can spend a friendship point at any time to reroll one of the dice it rolled. It is stuck with the new result, even if it’s worse. Only one friendship point may be spent per die, although the player may reroll each die for a friendship point.

By default, friendship points are gained by encouraging your Pokémon in battle and by doing the things it likes from its nature. But the GM may award friendship points for good roleplaying with the Pokémon or showing kindness to it. Conversely, if you are mean or cruel to your Pokémon, the GM can make your Pokémon lose friendship points.

A Pokemon that loses a friendship point when it has no friendship points goes into negative friendship point territory. Until it gets back up to 0, it will disobey and may run away at the discretion of the GM or the player who is running it.

Items
You should denote somewhere on the Pokemon's page what items it has. Each Pokemon can hold a single item. If the item is consumable, such as a berry it may be eaten as a free action generally. Instead of holding an item, a Pokemon may wear a costume, which grants it some sort of bonus. But no Pokemon may take more than one item into battle under normal conditions.

If a Pokemon gets ahold of more than one item at once, usually by stealing an opponent's item, it must drop one and the item lies on the ground right below the Pokemon, or on an adjacent space of your choosing.

Disobedience and Gargantuan Pokémon
By default, Pokémon trust their trainer and obey. However, there are exceptions. Certain Pokémon, such as those with the Conflict nature, roll to disobey. The Pokemon rolls 1d6 and if the result is higher than or equal to the number of badges the trainer has, the Pokémon rebels and does something of the GM's choice. Once the player has 7 badges, he or she has gained the skill and confidence to earn the respect of any Pokemon.

If the trainers come across a Pokemon that's much more powerful than usual, it will likely disobey.

Gargantuan Pokemon are one example of a powerful Pokemon that disobeys. Also known as dynamax or gigantamax Pokemon, these are building-sized creatures that take up multiple spaces on the battlefield and which wield incredible force.

Pokemon with that ability have a number of characteristics not mentioned on their sheet. They have triple the HP that their sheet would indicate. They cannot dodge any attacks from regularly-sized Pokémon or crit against them, as if harshly blinded. One hit-KO moves do 300 damage to gargantuan Pokémon instead of automatically KOing.

Gargantuan Pokémon also take up multiple spaces on the battlefield, usually 4, 6, or 9 depending on which makes the most sense for the Pokemon. No gargantuan Pokémon may pass through a space occupied by another such Pokémon, and if a gargantuan Pokémon moves into a space occupied by a regularly-sized Pokémon that Pokémon must make a speed save. It is moved to a space adjacent to the gargantuan Pokémon of its choice, but if if fails the speed save it takes damage equal to the gargantuan Pokémon’s strength. Once it passes that speed save, it can automatically get out of the way for the rest of the turn. When calculating range, that range goes out from every space the Pokémon occupies to make the largest range possible, and of course adjacency means adjacent to any space the gargantuan Pokémon occupies. If they are occupying different types of terrain hazards, they take the problems of anything that constitutes half or more of the spaces they’re occupying.

Gargantuan Pokémon cannot ride non-gargantuan Pokémon but any number of non-gargantuan Pokémon may ride a gargantuan one.

Advancing Pokémon
 Pokémon’s stats are a combination of the initial values (IV’s) and effort values (EV’s). IV’s usually range from 10-50 and rarely change, while EV’s can be increased through hard work and being pushed to the limit and range from 10-60. 

 At the end of a battle, every Pokémon that participated in the fight learns a move from its learnable moves list.

An evolved Pokemon retains all the moves it has learned, as well as its friendship points, nature, badge bonuses, and so on. The only things that change are its IV's and learnable moves, as well as possibly its ability. Certain Pokemon are not able to breed until they evolve. Be especially cognizant of a Pokemon's changing list of learnable moves as it evolves. Later evolutions typically have stronger moves available, but you may wish to ensure your Pokemon has the stats to learn those powerful moves. Also, each evolutionary level has a different set of moves to learn from, and you may miss out on the opportunity to learn a useful move in the future if you evolve. You do not have to roll for evolution if you don't want to, and because of the above reasons it is sometimes advantageous not to. 

Whenever you raise an EV, remember that raises the stat as a whole. If you increase strength or mind, check hit points and which new moves might become learnable. Mind also increases max friendship points. 

Teaching Moves
A Pokémon can learn any melee move whose power is no higher than its strength. It can also learn any ranged move whose power is no higher than its mind. It can learn any self move so long as its strength or mind is at least as high as the move’s power. And to learn a weather move it has to have both strength and mind at least as high as the move’s power. 

If the Pokémon’s IV is high enough on its own to learn the move, then the move is natural, and can be used as often as desired. If not, the move is difficult and can only be used once per scene. If the move’s power is too high to be learned, then until the Pokémon raises its stats, the move is impossible unless other methods are used to teach the move. 

If one of the Pokémon’s types is the same as the move’s type, then the Pokémon gets a same-type bonus, treating its strength and mind as if they were 30 higher for purposes of learning the move. For example, a normal/flying Pidgey with mind IV of 20 and EV of 10 can learn the dragon-type 30 power move Twister as a difficult move. But even though Mirror Move is flying type and 40 power, the Pidgey can learn it as a natural move because Pidgey gets the +30 same type bonus. It can learn any normal or flying ranged move up to 60 power as a difficult move, if it had any available. 

The exception is Steel. Having the steel type grants no same-type bonus for steel moves unless the Pokemon has the natural steel ability.

Sometimes you will have a technical machine (TM) or hidden machine (HM). You can use one of these to teach a Pokémon a move. Doing so only takes a few minutes. Additionally, using a machine bypasses the minimum stat requirements for the Pokémon to be able to learn the move. If you have a TM for the move fire blast (a 100 power move), you can use that even on a dratini with 20 mind. TM’s have only a single use while HM’s can be used an unlimited number of times.

Every move can come as a TM, and in lieu of listing every possible combination of Pokemon and move, the players and GM will vote at the table on the matter. Pokemon can learn any move that more than half the players agree is reasonable. Here are some examples of good examples of stating why you think it's reasonable for a certain Pokemon to learn a certain TM move:

"Charge Beam is an electric attack and it makes sense that Pikachu, an electric type, could use it."

"In the original games, Raticate could learn Ice Beam from a TM."

"I get that most Chansey aren't very territorial, but this one going potty as its nature, so if it's always peeing on stuff anyway, I would think that it could learn Mark Territory."

"Charmeleon's pretty dragon-like and it has a strong tail, so I can see it learning Dragon Tail with ease."

"Ambush is a pretty basic move. Any Pokemon can just wait."

"Snorlax is all about eating, right? So shouldn't it be able to learn Belch?"

"It's been a running joke for awhile that my Nidoking's a big farter. We should keep that going and let me teach it Toxic Cloud."

(Additionally, any Pokemon can learn any move that's on its learnable moves list or the learnable moves list of a prior or future evolution. This does not require approval from the players.)  

Trading Pokémon
The Pokémon League, in conjunction with governments, has worked to ban the sale of Pokémon. Prior to this, the mass capture for sale of Pokémon resulted in massive ecological devastation and retaliation from legendary Pokémon. 

Currently, it is illegal to sell Pokémon on the open market, though there is an exception for trading a Pokémon trade for money or goods no more than $500 in value. Obviously, giving the Pokémon away for free fits within this. 

Sketchy outfits have operated not-technically-illegal casinos where they give out tokens that cannot be exchanged for prizes (otherwise that would be illegal gambling). Next door is always a shop that just so happens to exchange worthless tokens for goods, often including Pokémon. 

Trading is legal as long as it’s a 1-for-1 trade. 

Friendship points represent the strength of a Pokémon’s bond with its trainer. Trading or giving away the Pokémon resets its friendship points to 0.

Trading vs. Lending
Trading represents one trainer giving a Pokemon to another, and that second trainer working to establish a bond with the new Pokemon. As such, the traded Pokemon fully counts as the new trainer's Pokemon. Many classes grant the trainer's Pokemon new benefits, such as the ability to learn different moves or to do special feats in combat. Once traded, the Pokemon takes on the perks of its new trainer's classes rather than the old trainer's classes. Certain classes may teach a Pokemon new tricks that they learn even when traded away such as an Ace Trainer teaching Pokemon moves they can't normally learn or a Breeder breeding Pokemon with better stats. If another trainer in the party owes you a favor, and they have a class like this, consider asking them to take your Pokemon for awhile and power it up.

Sometimes one trainer will briefly lend another a Pokemon for some quick help without the time being taken to establish a bond and the new trainer. The lent Pokemon can assist skill rolls and it doesn't lose any friendship points as it would for being traded. However, it gains no experience, evolution ticks, or friendship points for doing so. Nor does it benefit from cross-training or any class benefits from either trainer. Lent Pokemon disobey in combat while traded Pokemon usually don't.

Lending a Pokemon is intended as an informal quick fix while trading represents a fundamental change in the relationships the Pokemon has.

Evolution
Pokémon evolution has up to 3 stages: basic, intermediate, and final. Pichu is the basic form, Pikachu the intermediate, and Raichu the final. For a Pokémon with only two evolution phases, like Magikarp and Gyarados, Magikarp is the basic and Gyarados is the final stage. For a Pokémon line with no evolutions, like Farfetch’d, that form is its final stage. '''

Battle
Many Pokémon have to be pushed to their limits to evolve. Every time a Pokémon with a battle requirement defeats a rival, it gets a tick mark. Any such Pokémon that take part in a battle and are not fainted at the end also gain a tick mark. After battle, you may choose to roll a d6. If it comes up less than or equal to the number of tick marks the Pokémon has had, it evolves. Pokemon that evolve by battling can also get ticks for attacking wild Pokemon during encounters, but they cannot evolve that way. 

Long
Some Pokémon are tough to evolve. The Long evolution method is the same as the battle method, but you roll 2d6 instead of just 1, and their total must be less than or equal to the number of battle ticks the Pokemon has. The Pokémon that evolve this way typically turn out even stronger for the extra effort. 

Assist
Some Pokémon need to work one-on-one with their trainer outside of combat to evolve. These Pokémon gain a tick mark each time they help out on a skill test. After each skill test, roll a d6. If it comes up less than or equal to the number of tick marks the Pokémon has had, it evolves. 

Energy
Some Pokémon require exposure to massive amounts of elemental energy to evolve. For this, if you expose the Pokémon to an evolution stone or another suitable source of incredible energy, the Pokémon evolves. For example, Pikachu can evolve to Raichu by using a thunderstone, but being struck by a natural lightning bolt could also do the trick. What constitutes a suitable source of energy is up for determination by the GM, but it should take the party some effort to pull this off. You can’t just plug an Eevee into the electrical outlet and expect a Jolteon. 

Cross-Train
Some Pokémon require diverse experiences to evolve. For this, you must first trade the Pokémon to someone else. Mark ticks and roll to evolve as if the Pokemon were using both the methods of Battle and Assist.  

Combine
Some Pokémon evolve by combining, and simply getting the requisite number of them together inspires them to join into a new Pokémon. For example, to evolve a Slowpoke into a Slowbro, you’ll need to catch a Shellder as well. You can evolve Magnemite by combining 3 of them, and the same goes for evolving Diglett into Dugtrio. When calculating EV’s for combination evolutions, take the highest EV rating for each stat among all the Pokémon that went into the evolution. The newly-evolved Pokémon picks up to 6 moves known by its constituent Pokémon. It has the total friendship points of all the individuals, but no more than its max FP. It takes the owner's choice among natures.

Cocoon
Cocoon is the simplest form of evolution. The Pokémon simply needs to spend an entire session out of its Pokeball, usually being carried on the trainer’s back. After that, it will evolve.

Item
Some Pokemon evolve by holding onto an item. If they have it equipped for an entire session, they evolve, and the item disappears.

Friendship
Some Pokémon evolve as a result of their bond with their trainer. If such a Pokémon gains a friendship point when its friendship points are already full, it instead evolves. Sometimes a particularly heartwarming gesture of friendship can do this in a single bout, but often it takes steady bonding over time. 

Mega Evolution
Mega evolution is covered here. 

Breeding
Pokemon breeding is still a mystery, and efforts to delve into the actual mechanics behind it have not met with much success. However, what is known is that two compatible Pokemon will produce an egg that will hatch into a new baby Pokemon. Whenever there's some down time, trainers may release one or more of their Pokemon to wander off an produce an egg. These may be from different trainers or the same trainer, and if they're from different trainer.

To breed Pokemon, they must be from the same egg group. Additionally, one must be male and one female. If the egg group is listed as "none" then the Pokemon cannot breed. Ditto can breed with any Pokemon except those with an egg group of none or another Ditto. The offspring hatches into the first species in the mother's evolutionary line, so the offspring of a male Pidgeotto and a female Fearow will be a Spearow. The offspring of any Pokemon that can breed with Ditto and a Ditto will be the first Pokemon in the evolutionary line of the non-Ditto parent. The offspring of a the Nidoran evolutionary lines will have a 50% chance of being a Nidoran♂ and 50% of being a Nidoran♀. Illumise and Volbeat work similarly, and though it's not canon in the games, we recommend Tauros and Miltank sharing this connection.

The egg will hatch after about 1 session, so if the egg is created 3/4 of the way through a session, it will hatch about 3/4 of the way through the next session. If multiple in-game days happen within the same session, then the egg will hatch after 2d6 days. After hatching, generate the Pokemon at starter challenge rating. The hatchling also gains any moves that both parents know in its starting moveset.