Battle Rules and Capture

Pokemon Battle Rules:

Before we set off, there’s two types of Battle Styles one can partake in, depending on your preference of Roleplay vs. Mechanics, though both require a fair deal of role playing.

First off, the Pure Roleplay style battle is just that, pure roleplay. In regards to these battles we ask that you foremost adhere to conventional standards of RP fights. This means no godmodding, puppeting, auto-hitting, dodging every attack, etc. Generally keep in the spirit of limited attacks per turn, for fairness sake. If you need a guideline for anything in battle, feel free to refer to PP to see how often you should be using attacks, as well as move descriptors for accuracy, power, and any additional effects.

We could use a bunch of convoluted rules, but as far as battling goes we feel it’s best to trust players. Just keep a basic awareness of moves, levels, stats and Pokemon abilities. A Shuckle will be unlikely to dodge attacks, but it’s also not going to take a lot of damage. A level 50 will pretty much always be able to 1 hit KO a level 5. In this same thread, most status conditions are fairly self explanatory. That said, don’t feel to constrained, if you want to use a move stylishly, feel free to flavor it as you will. If you feel someone is breaking these rules, talk it over with them first. If that doesn’t work, consult a mod.

As a final detail on battles, directly attacking an opponent either with your body or your Pokemon is strictly prohibited by law in the Saidonis region. Not to say you couldn’t try it, but it would most certainly invalidate any Gym Challenge and almost always cause local to come crashing down upon you eventually. Certain official battles may have other rules as well, and Gym Battles have their own specific rules which can be found on the Gym Battle Rules page.

Beyond the Pure Roleplay, there is another battle type, referred to as Showdown to RP. This is for those who want to experience their battles more in the style of the games, which one can do through use of the following site: Pokemon Showdown. Here, one can construct Pokemon teams and edit the parameters of their teams at will. If two players wish to do a showdown battle for RP purposes, they can simply battle each other over Showdown. After the battle, simply role play out the battle by writing up the sides, and you have a completed battle.

For this form, while you can alter EVs, IVs and Natures as fits your whims, we ask that you otherwise maintain accuracy regarding Pokemon levels, moves, and items. In battles between players, if you want a particular outcome you may agree to change the results (ie, one player wins the battle instead for personal plot reasons), and the parties in the battle will be held responsible for determining whether the thread results match up to the Showdown Battle (that said, don’t change the results unless you’ve both agreed to do so, that’s a pretty jerky thing to do).

We highly recommend that during showdown battles, you remain in character with your banter and such, as that will help you later when writing up your halfs of the battle. Save the logs of the battle so you can use them for reference. It is important to note that both types of battles are held to the same standards by graders. On a lighter note, feel free to have non canon battles as you like, though know they will yield no in character benefits.

A final note: In regards to choosing which style of battle to go with, the choice is largely in the hands of the players. When multiple players are battling they must come to a consensus on the method employed. Furthermore, when battling as a result of an encounter, the final choice is always that of the player, though the mod in charge may state their preference to inform the decision making process. If a Pokemon is to be captured, the battle continues until the player is ready to begin capturing attempts, at which point it switches over to Pure Roleplay if it was previously on showdown.

Pokemon Capture Rules:
Naturally, one would want to expand their Pokemon team, and there’s only one way to do that: capture wild Pokemon. While the game presents the sole method as battling, here we also accommodate captures where the trainer manages to befriend a Pokemon. Note that you may not always have both options, as a Pokemon may initially be hostile, or very timid and hence not wanting to battle.

Capture Via Friendliness:
To capture a Pokemon via friendliness, you essentially befriend a Pokemon such that it desires to journey with you, and is as a result willing to allow you to capture it. Generally, there will be a handful of objectives you need to clear before a Pokemon will reach this level, which will vary from Pokemon. Common objectives may include helping a Pokemon that is trapped or injured, playing with a Pokemon, etc. Another manner of making a wild Pokemon friendlier towards you entails feeding it, usually berries or other Pokemon friendly food which you will have to have acquired via past threads and Pokemart purchases. Once you have cleared a certain number of objectives, the encounter mod will have the Pokemon warm up to you, and OOC [Out of Context] tell you that the Pokemon may now be captured with a Pokeball.

Capture Via Battle:
Alternatively one may capture a wild Pokemon via battle with it. This method requires far less explanation. As is the case in the Pokemon games, a number of factors can be used to increase your chances of a successful capture. Lowering the Pokemon’s health first, using higher grade Poke Balls, and applying status conditions all are factors which can attribute to higher chances of catching a Pokemon. Unlike with captures via friendliness, you must first throw the Pokeballs at the opposing Pokemon, and you must also do your best to be able to hit the Pokemon with the ball. Should you be successful, the mod will inform you on their next post that you have successfully captured the wild Pokemon.

Capture Via Battle Friendliness?
In some rare cases, you may manage to inadvertently meet the conditions to capture a Pokemon via friendliness while battling that Pokemon. In this case, the mod will indicate that you are able to capture the Pokemon as if you had been attempting to catch it via friendliness.