Non-Standard Pokemon

Shiny Pokémon

“Shiny Pokémon” is a catch-all term for Pokémon with unusual characteristics.

The most common kind of Shiny Pokémon are the kind that simply have a Shiny Color. Most commonly, this is a result of a minor genetic abnormality that simply changes the color of a Pokémon’s fur, scales, or similar outer coatings without additional effect. Nonetheless, these Pokémon are valued highly by collectors and will often draw notice in Contests; they may roll +2d6 during the Introduction Stage. Shiny Pokémon should also give their trainer more cachet when attempting to trade the Pokémon.

Rarer “Shiny Pokémon” are usually the result of an environmental adaptation or more extreme genetic mutation. These Pokémon may have Abilities, Capabilities, or a Moveset different from other Pokémon of their Species – some may even be of a different Type. They may exhibit one or more of these capabilities.

For example, a Shiny Ninetales found in the ruins of a burned haunted house might be Fire/Ghost Type, have Pressure as an ability choice, have the Phasing capability, or have Moves such as Shadow Ball in its level-up Move List.

Even rarer still are Shiny Pokémon which have custom traits such as changes to their Base Stats, completely custom Features, or homebrew Moves. The writers of the system recommend using these two brands of rare Shiny Pokémon sparingly in most settings so as to avoid overshadowing the normal Pokémon the players have.

Examples of Shiny Pokémon

Below we’ve outlined a few example shiny Pokémon to get your creative juices flowing. Listed in order from a “Minor” Shiny to more significant “Shininess”.

Punchy Sentret – This Sentret somehow learned the Move Dizzy Punch! How about that?

Cave Breloom – This stark white Breloom was found deep in a cavern, lightless save from the eerie pale glow of the mushroom Pokémon there. It has the Glow Capability.

Heart-Spot Spinda – This Spinda’s spots are all shaped like hearts! These seem to give her a strange power; they glow whenever she uses the Move Attract, and she can successfully use that Move on any Pokémon, even genderless Pokémon.

Muscle Audino – This Fighting-Type Audino is super hulky! Its base Defense and Special Defense are each owered by -3, but its Attack is increased by +6! Its Power Capability is increased by +3 as well! It’s capable of learning all Fighting Type TMs, but its natural Move list remains physically … unimpressive.

Pacifist Chimecho – This Chimecho refuses to hurt others and isn’t even capable of learning Moves that hurt enemies – not even Confusion! Even teaching it offensive Status Moves like Toxic seems to fail! It knows Wish, Light Screen, and Reflect from the start, however.

Crystal Onix – This Onix is made of glass! Its typing is Glass/Ground. The Glass Type’s Elemental weaknesses and resistances are listed below, as are the final resistances of a Glass/Ground Onix. Glass-Type Pokémon gain STAB on Rock-Type Moves.

Raikou-Bred Manectric – It seems like one of this Manectric’s parents was a Raikou! It has the flowing cape-like purple fur of a Raikou coming from the back of its head, and its tail is identical to a Raikou’s. Its natural Move List is a combination of Raikou and Manectric’s, drawing from both directly, and its choice of Abilities similarly may draw from Raikou’s list in addition to Manectric’s.

Giant Caterpie – This Caterpie is the size of a Rhyhorn! Increase its Base Stats by +6 across the board! Its Power is increased by +3, its Overland Speed is increased by +4, and its Jump Capabilities by +2. It knows the Moves Tackle, String Shot, Bug Bite, Thrash, Body Slam, and Megahorn! However, for some reason, it can’t seem to evolve no matter what you do…

Glass Type

Immune: Water

Resist: Normal, Ice, Poison

Weak: Fire, Fighting, Ground, Rock, Steel

Glass/Ground

Immune: Water, Electric

Resist: Normal, Flying

Double Resist: Poison

Weak: Fire, Grass, Fighting, Ground, Steel

Type Changes

As a result of a Type Ace’s Features or perhaps simply because you’re making a Type-shifted Shiny Pokémon to throw at your players, you may have to deal with Moves and Pokémon that have changed Type.

Changing Move Type

Permanently changing a Move’s Type with Move Sync may change the effects of the move, sometimes severely. For example, an Ice Beam that is made to be Fire Type should probably no longer have a chance to cause Freezing - Burn would be an appropriate substitute. A Dark-Type Sunny Day would perhaps cause a Dark Day instead - raising the power of Dark Type Moves, and lowering the power of Psychic Type Moves.

These are mere suggestions, and the effects of each Move after Move Sync are up to the individual GM. Be creative, and don’t change the viability or power level of the move too significantly. Do not change effects if the effect doesn’t seem very inappropriate for the type; Thunderbolt could still paralyze, for example, if it were shifted to Normal, Ghost, Dark, Grass, Psychic and many other types. And most importantly, change the name of the Move after it’s been Type Sync’d! That Ghost-Type Thunderbolt may turn into Spiritbolt, for example.

Pokémon Type Change

Type Sync (found in the fantasy and sci-fi supplement books) permanently changes a Pokémon’s Type to match a Trainer’s Elemental Connection. Changing a Pokémon’s Type has several effects; First and most obvious, the actual Type is changed. You can either add the Chosen Type to an existing Type, or replace a Type with your Chosen Type.

You cannot cause a Pokémon to have more than two types in this way, but you can:

1. Turn a Mono-Typed Pokémon into a Dual Typed Pokémon with both its original Typing and your chosen Type.

2. Turn a Mono-Typed Pokémon into a Mono-Typed Pokémon of your chosen Type.

3. Cause a Dual-Typed Pokémon to become a Dual-Typed Pokémon with your chosen type replacing one of its original types. If you use Type Sync on a Dual-Typed Pokémon that is already of your chosen type, it loses its additional Typing and becomes a Mono-Typed Pokémon of your chosen Type.

Secondly, the Pokémon can generally learn TMs, HMs, and Move Tutor Moves of that Type. It should be able to learn MOST moves that match its new Types, but there may be exceptions; just like Steelix can’t learn Steel Wing, some Pokémon may not be able to learn some Moves that match its new Type. This is up to your GM.

Third, the Pokémon’s Capabilities change to match its new Type. It gains Capabilities associated with its new type; Firestarter and Heater for Fire Types, Gilled and Fountain for Water Types, etc. The exact Capabilities gained are up to the GM. If the Pokémon lost a Type, it similarly loses the Capabilities associated with its former Type.

Fourth, the Pokémon’s Ability may change. It may not. A Flying/Poison Gengar probably shouldn’t retain Levitate; a Dark/Poison Gengar could. Abilities that are very generally indicative of a Type, such as Volt Absorb or Flame Body, should probably not be kept – however, there are always exceptions. It may be worthwhile to be more lenient on weaker Pokémon over Pokémon that are already very strong.

And Fifth, a Pokémon’s Level-Up Move List will change. This is a delicate process that is up to the GM. enerally, the thought process for altering a Level-Up List should be as such: Was a Type replaced? Moves of that Type on the Move-List should be changed to that of the new Type. If those moves are very sparse, consider changing a few other moves of another Type to the New Type as well. If no Type was replaced, convert some moves of a Type the Pokémon doesn’t have to the new Type; often, many Normal-Type moves will be available for this. Generally, you should turn a Move into a different move of the Chosen Type with the same Frequency and power level.

Fluffing Type Changes

The Fluff of changing a Pokémon’s type can be tricky. Some Types seem made for it – the Ghost Ace who performs an ancient and eldritch ritual on their Pokémon to take them beyond death. Some Types … not so much. How do you explain a Pokémon suddenly becoming a Normal Type?

This is up to the GM! Here are a couple of ideas to get your started:

1. Pokémon are inherently mutable and unstable creatures. The easiest way to explain a sudden Type Change is to exploit this aspect of Pokémon. As a GM, you might require a Type-Change to be performed as a Pokémon is evolving; during this mysterious process, due to their Trainer’s inherent connection to a Type, the Pokémon changes their own form to match.

2. Single-Staged or Fully Evolved Pokémon may go through this same process, SEEMING to evolve – they glow, change shape slightly, and then wow, they have a new type!

3. Look at the Trainer’s other classes. A Type Ace / Researcher could perhaps concoct a strange and powerful potion. A Hex Maniac or Channeler would be a natural candidate for performing strange and unknowable rituals.

4. A Wizard did it. No, seriously; maybe the PCs have to visit a particular NPC and use their powers/super-advanced machine to effect a change in their Pokémon. Perhaps they have to visit an obscure and remote shrine. If the PCs in your game travel often, perhaps there are various of these wizard/machine/shrines throughout the region.

Whichever method you choose to employ, keep these things in mind:

The way in which the GM chooses to implement Type-Sync could affect the requirements and action-type of Type Sync, but we strongly recommend making these FLUFF requirements rather than overtly mechanical ones.

Saying your trainer has to spend some time creating a Potion or setting up a ritual is alright – making it so they have to spend a big chunk of their available funds to do so is probably too mean. If you choose to have an NPC or location be involved in the process, these shouldn’t be places that are very hard to reach; you probably do not want to limit the opportunities to use their Features too harshly.

All of these options will of course vary by the campaign.

Example Type Change

4 Tail Whip - Normal

9 Ember - Fire

13 Flame Wheel - Fire

17 Stomp - Normal

21 Flame Charge - Fire

25 Fire Spin - Fire

29 Take Down - Normal

33 Inferno - Fire

37 Agility - Psychic

40 Fury Attack - Normal

41 Fire Blast - Fire

45 Bounce - Flying

49 Flare Blitz - Fire

4 Tail Whip - Normal

9 Vacuum Wave - Fighting

13 Rolling Kick - Fighting

17 Stomp - Normal

21 Power-Up Punch - Fighting

25 Low Sweep - Fighting

29 Take Down - Normal

33 Dynamic Punch - Fighting

37 Bulk Up - Fighting

40 Fury Attack - Normal

41 Focus Blast - Fighting

45 Bounce - Flying

49 Superpower - Fighting

A Fighting Ace / Researcher performs mad science to give his Rapidash big muscley arms, shifting it from Fire Type to Fighting Type. It loses Egg Warmer, Firestarter, Glow, and Heater while gaining +2 Power. Flash Fire is replaced with Discipline and Flame Body with Iron Fist. Its Level-Up Moves also change:

Mega-Evolution

Mega Evolution and End-Game Pokémon Late in a campaign or as the PCs are finalizing their main teams, the players will often want to seek out truly impressive Pokémon to finish off their teams. Much of the time, this will simply mean seeking out a rare “pseudo-legendary” Pokémon such as Dragonite or Metagross, but players will also often express interest in Mega Evolutions and even Legendary Pokémon.

How should a GM handle these quests and make them properly challenging and meaningful? Trainers will often have to prove themselves worthy of such a Pokémon rather than attempting to catch it outright. This is particularly the case for Mega Evolutions where a Trainer probably already owns the Pokémon of the species they’d like to Mega Evolve but must obtain both a Mega Ring and the appropriate Mega Stone.

The Mega Ring itself can be portrayed as advanced technology or a mystical artifact. Either way, it is likely kept under guard by an elite group charged with determining when Trainers are ready to handle a Mega Ring. The test can be anything from a Gym Challenge or series of battle challenges to trials that more broadly test a Trainer’s competence or their ethics and character.

You may even mix these up and combine them. For example, a Trainer might be tasked with retrieving an artifact from an ancient ruin to prove their competence.

However, upon arriving at the ruins and battling through the Pokémon within, they discover the artifact and reach out for it – and when they touch it, they are sent into a dream-like trance where they’re thrust into hypothetical situations that test their strength of character and ethical integrity.

Such trials are useful not only for giving Trainers Mega Rings but for granting entry to caves where rare or Legendary Pokémon make their home.

Of course, to achieve Mega Evolution, a Trainer needs not only a Mega Ring but the appropriate Mega Stone for their Pokémon. You will have to first decide what exactly a Mega Stone is. They may be similar to Elemental Stones that are used to Evolve Pokémon, just with an affinity to a single species rather than several. You may decide they are the byproducts of world-changing supernatural events, such as the leftover crystallized bits of life energy from an act by Xerneas or Yveltal. You may decide they are man-made, and a specific ritual or machine can create them when powered by the bond of friendship between Trainer and Pokémon.

What a Mega Stone is will determine what a Trainer has to do to acquire one. If they’re ancient relics or simply naturally occurring stones, you may have the PCs go ruin-diving or spelunking to find their Mega Stones. It could be a good idea in these cases to put them in areas where the particular species for the Mega Stone is commonly found, or where they were found in antiquity, for the case of ruins. If they’re man-made, then it’s likely that whoever provided them with the Mega Ring also has the ability to manufacture Mega Stones.

The proper timing for introducing a quest to acquire the equipment for Mega Evolution, a Legendary Pokémon, or other rare and powerful Pokémon is up to you. A good guideline for when to make Mega Evolution available is when most of the PCs’ teams are at least 5-10 Levels past their final Evolutionary Stages. Obviously, if everyone has largely Pokémon that evolve very late or very early, this isn’t as useful of a metric.

Requiring in-game research or basing qualification on a number of Gym Badges is another way to pace out the beginning of this type of quest. For finding an area to catch lower-leveled pseudo-legendary Pokémon, all it might take is some research and a dangerous trip out to their natural habitats. For gaining access to Mega Evolution or the homes of Legendary Pokémon, a Trainer might need anywhere from 4-8 Gym Badges depending on the pace of your campaign.

Giant Pokémon: Larger variations of a typically small Pokémon are also great for adding unpredictability to a fight. Take for example the Shiny Giant Caterpie described earlier in this chapter. Few players might expect it to know a powerful Move like Megahorn.

Other great candidates for making giant Pokémon are Trapinch, Magikarp, and Ditto. Imagine a giant Ditto transforming into a super-sized version of the party’s biggest and scariest Pokémon. Aquatic Pokémon and Bug Types in general make natural fits for this treatment. Give giant Pokémon boosted stats and changes to their Move and Ability lists to account for their size.

Body Slam, Thrash, Earthquake, and Bounce are all appropriate Moves, and Abilities such as Thrust and Thick Fat could prove a nasty surprise as well.

Swarm Pokémon: Typically, it isn’t recommended to use large numbers of Pokémon in an encounter, for two main reasons. First of all, it slows down combat tremendously to have many more actions per turn, and players can become bored waiting for their turn to act. Second of all, the action economy of many weaker combatants is incredibly dangerous, and you can very easily overestimate what your players can deal with.

If you encounter a swarm of Joltiks, the zoofbat encourages you to run for your life, as they are the most deadly predators you will ever encounter in the vast world of Pokémon. No, really, they’ll bind you in webs and eat your face. Sometimes, however, you have to break a few rules to make an interesting encounter. Sometimes it just plain makes sense that the PCs will be assaulted by a huge swarm of bugs or other small Pokémon.

For these cases, you can create a Swarm Template that lets you abstract large numbers of Pokémon into a single entity that roughly emulates how fighting a swarm would work. Note that this still results in a rather nasty encounter! Save it for special occasions.

First, decide on how big the swarm is in your encounter. This may vary from merely being a way to group a dozen or so enemies into one to save time and trouble to representing a fight against a flood of Zubat swooping out of a cave to attack the PCs. You can generalize the sizes of swarms into a Swarm Multiplier according to the following chart.

Swarm Multiplier Size of Swarm

1 Less than a dozen Pokémon

2 15-25 Pokémon

3 25-40 Pokémon

4 40-60 Pokémon

5 60+ Pokémon

These numbers may seem high, but, of course, it’s assumed that each individual Pokémon is trivially weak in this case and is only strong due to their numbers.

Here are the mechanics for the Swarm Template. The Swarm is treated as one entity and should be given one stat block for a Pokémon of an appropriate Level. It has a number of “Hit Point bars” to its Swarm ultiplier.

It can’t suffer Injuries, but as it takes damage in battle and loses all the Hit Points in a bar, its Swarm Multiplier decreases by one each time. The Swarm acts multiple times each turn in battle – it has a number of Swarm Points each turn equal to its Swarm Multiplier that it spends on actions.

The first Standard Action or attack each turn is free for the Swarm. It then subtracts 5 from its Initiative and can act again on that new value. Even if a Swarm hits Initiative 0, it can still act, even acting multiple times in a row on that Initiative tick. However, these actions have a cost according to their Frequency. At-Will actions cost 1 Swarm Point, EOT costs 2, Scene costs 3, and Daily costs 4. Yes, this means an especially large Swarm may use Daily Moves multiple times in a battle, making it especially dangerous. These costs apply only to Standard Actions. For Swift and Free Actions that are limited to Scene or Daily frequency, a Swarm can use each a number of times a Scene equal to its Swarm Multiplier. Otherwise, a Swarm can take At-Will and EOT Swift and Free Actions each time it acts, frequency allowing.

When a Swarm fails to be able to act due to a Status Affliction such as Sleep, it instead loses 1 Swarm Point for that turn. A Swarm always has at least one action each turn, no matter the result of its Save Rolls. Accuracy Rolls to hit the Swarm gain a bonus equal to its Swarm Multiplier, but all single target damage is resisted one step further. Area of effect attacks and attacks that hit multiple targets are treated as one step more super-effective, however.