Difference between revisions of "Pokexalted/Conversion"

Revision as of 20:16, 20 November 2005

HP: HL
Att: Str/Dmg (assumed B), Brawl
Def: Sta/Soak, Temperance
Spd: Dodge, Dex
SpA: Presence, Conviction
SpD: Willpower, Valor

STAB...
Psychic (weak: metal, strong: fighting)
Fighting (weak: psychic, strong: normal)
Normal (weak: fighting, strong: Electric)
Electric (weak: normal, strong: darkness)
Darkness (weak: Electric, strong: grass)
Grass (weak: darkness, strong: water)
Water (weak: grass, strong: fire)
Fire (weak: water, strong: metal)
Metal (weak: fire, strong: psychic)

Psychic > Fighting > Normal > Electric > Darkness > Grass > Water > Fire > Metal >

001 Bulbasaur
2'4", 5.6 lbs
Type: Grass

Growth levels...
0 - Overgrow
1 - Growl, Tackle
2 - Leech Seed, Vine Whip
3 - Poison Powder, Sleep Powder, Razor Leaf
4 - Growth, Sweet Scent
5 - Synthesis, Solar Beam

Growth...
	0: infant (none)
	1: child
	2: juvenile
	3: adolescent (evolutionary stage)
	4: adult
	5: dominant

Attack conversions...

Accuracy n/a, 30-100
Base PP 5-40
Base Power n/a, 10-250
Special effects: ungodly variation, no direct correlation possible

Actual damage formula: Damage = ((((2 * Level / 5 + 2) * AttackStat * AttackPower / DefenseStat) / 50) + 2) * STAB * Weakness/Resistance * RandomNumber / 100
STAB = 1.5x damage for type-matched attacks, 1x for unmatched, .5x for mismatched
Attack types: nerf opponent attribute, boost own attribute, absorb damage dealt, negate modifiers, high critical hit ratio, multiple attacks, cure status ailment, cause flinch... too many

Accuracy: attack modifier
	01-30: -5
	31-45: -2
	46-60: -1
	61-75: +1
	76-90: +2
	91-100: +5
PP: mote cost
	05-09: 7m
	10-15: 6m
	16-20: 5m
	21-25: 4m
	26-30: 3m
	31-35: 2m
	36-40: 1m
Power: base damage; most Techniques act as one-shot weapons
	n/a: no direct damage
	01-20: 2B
	21-50: 4B
	51-90: 6B
	91-150: 8B
	151-200: 10B
	201-250: 12B

Mote cost 1-10(+1w+1h)
Stat conversions...

HP 1-255
Att 5-180
Def 5-230
Spd 5-180
SpA 10-180
SpD 20-230

Str 1-14
Sta 1-14
Dex 2-4
Willpower 2-5
HL 2-14
Spd 2-6
Atk 4-9
Dmg 1-14L
Dodge 0-8
Soak none-6L/12B

I wanted Pokémon to be relatively powerful compared to the standard critters, with room to grow - but not constantly overshadowing Exalted.  So I wrote up some quick distribution curves for Core pg 316, and for the Pokedex, and put them side-by-side to try and agree.  Any number of pages and gamefaqs have a pokedex for your use, I went with the Emerald version whenever necessary.

HP: HL
	01-40: 2 (-3/I)
	41-80: 4 (-0/-2/-4/I)
	81-120: 6 (-0/-1/-1/-2/-4/I)
	121-160: 8 (-0/-0/-1/-1/-2/-2/-4/I)
	161-200: 10 (-0/-0/-0/-1/-1/-1/-2/-2/-4/I)
	201-255: 12 (-0/-0/-0/-1/-1/-1/-2/-2/-2/-4/-4/I)
Att: Str/Dmg (assumed B), Brawl
	01-30: Str 1, Brawl 0
	31-60: Str 2, Brawl 1
	61-90: Str 3, Brawl 2
	91-120: Str 4, Brawl 3
	121-150: Str 4, Brawl 4
	151-180: Str 4, Brawl 5
Def: Sta/Soak, Temperance
	01-40: Sta 2 - 1L, 2B soak, Temperance 1
	41-80: Sta 4 - 2L, 4B soak, Temperance 1
	81-120: Sta 6 - 3L, 6B soak, Temperance 2
	121-160: Sta 8 - 4L, 8B soak, Temperance 3
	161-200: Sta 10 - 5L, 10B soak, Temperance 4
	201-230: Sta 12 - 6L, 12B soak, Temperance 5
Spd: Dodge, Dex
	01-30: Dex 1, Dodge 0
	31-60: Dex 2, Dodge 1
	61-90: Dex 3, Dodge 2
	91-120: Dex 4, Dodge 3
	121-150: Dex 4, Dodge 4
	151-180: Dex 4, Dodge 5
SpA: Presence, Conviction
	01-30: Pre 0, Conviction 1
	31-60: Pre 1, Conviction 1
	61-90: Pre 2, Conviction 2
	91-120: Pre 3, Conviction 3
	121-150: Pre 4, Conviction 4
	151-180: Pre 5, Conviction 5
SpD: Willpower, Valor
	01-40: WP 2, Valor 1
	41-80: WP 3, Valor 1
	81-120: WP 4, Valor 2
	121-160: WP 5, Valor 3
	161-200: WP 6, Valor 4
	201-230: WP 7, Valor 5

Virtues: The base virtues of Pokémon do not change with Growth and, unlike Exalted, do not alter Willpower.

You'll note that, of these virtues, Compassion is not included.  Compassion is dependent on training and upbringing; for a wild Pokémon, it defaults to 2.  As with other animals, we're talking Wits 2, Perception 3.  Intelligence is equal to its Rarity rating (see below for more on that, but it runs 1-5).  Normally, Charisma/Manipulation/Appearance are irrelevant for Pokémon - unless you run Pokémon as PCs, and if you do, let me know how it turns out!

Speed: I've skipped Speed completely because I don't freaking understand how it works.  If someone else wants to suggest a formula I'll take their word for it.

Growth: this variable emulates levels and the like.  It's easily comparable to Essence, and is added to many attacks and defenses; it just doesn't hold the same metaphysical elements as Essence would.  When adding a level of growth, you get two points to divide between the physical stats or HLs; whatever you decide upon, add one to it (in the case of HLs, one -0 level).  You have to choose two seperate items - Str and Dex are all right, but not two points on Str.

Backgrounds: starting with Pokémon!  Not all Pokémon were born equal; a Mewtwo will mop the floor with a Poochyena unless there are some SEVERE level discrepancies, so it wouldn't be fair to let player A start with a Poochyena and player B get the Mewtwo... unless player B pays for it.

Because I actually like showing my work these days, what I did is I added together the stages for each of the six stats.  A Alakazam has a 55 HP, which is stage 2 Health, so that's 2 points; a 135 in SpA, which is on the high end of 5 points - you get the picture.  Adding all six stages together, you get a quantifiable idea of how powerful the starting Pokémon is.  This isn't completely accurate, it ignores Techniques, but I'll be damned if I know a fast way to totally balance 387 Pokémon - some of whom don't even start with offensive Techniques at all.

Rarity...
	6-12: Rarity 1 (common)
	13-15: Rarity 2 (uncommon)
	16-18: Rarity 3 (unusual)
	19-21: Rarity 4 (rare)
	22-24: Rarity 5 (legendary)

Background Pokémon...
	0 dots - you have no Pokémon.  You suck.
	1 dots - one common child, or one uncommon infant.
	2 dots - one common juvenile, or one uncommon child, or one unusual infant.
	3 dots - ...you get the idea.

You can take the background multiple times, but the usual rules about bonus points and backgrounds above 3 apply.

STAB: In Pokétérms, STAB refers to the mechanic that checks both poketype and movetype and adjusts Technique damage accordingly.  In a desperate effort to simplify matters, I'm using TCG rules which halves the spectrum and bases it entirely on the poketype rather than both that and the movetype.  In Exalted, STAB works on defense; when strong against an opponent, double your soak against their Techniques.  When weak against an opponent, halve your soak.

Abilities: All Pokémon have an innate ability from birth that they can perform.

Pokémon vs. Exalted: Pokémon are highly natural creatures.  In comparison, mortals and Exalts alike are fairly unnatural; they get bounced back and forth between Creation and Wyld, are always wearing clothes and wielding tools, creating new diseases to infect eachother with, so on and so forth.  In game terms, non-Pokémon are not affected by status conditions or perfect knockouts; also, all damage done by Pokémon is bashing (save for the potential of being pushed off a cliff, etc).  Feel free to come up with a good justification of your own.

The soak of Non-Pokémon is not affected by STAB.  However, they do have their own types which can be applied against Pokémon as appropriate, namely - Mortals (Normal), Solars (Electric), Lunars (Grass), Dragon-Blooded (Fighting), Abyssal (Darkness), Sidereal (Psychic).  Any given Solar using a Charm against a Darkness-type Pokémon halves their soak, while using one against a Normal-type Pokémon doubles it.  Mortals do not have Charms, of course, but they can use magic...

Status conditions: Pokémon can be afflicted by various conditions upon failing a stat check.  Note that many Techniques can be replicated by items!
	Asleep: Unable to act; roll Willpower to wake up.
	Attracted: Roll Presence to attack source of condition; failure causes attack to automatically fail.  Must be recovered by Technique or end of battle.
	Burned: Lose one HL/turn; roll Resistance to shake off effects.
	Confused: Roll Presence when attacking; success shakes off effects, failure inflicts attack on self.
	Cursed: Lose one HL/turn; must be recovered by Technique or end of battle.
	Fainted: Unconscious.
	Flinched: Loses any actions for remainder of turn; automatically shakes off next turn.
	Frozen: Unable to act; must be unfrozen by Technique.  Cannot be thawed during Rain Dance, but is automatically thawed by Sunny Day.
	Paralyzed: Automatically moves last in initiative.  Roll Resistance when attacking; success shakes off effects, failure causes attack to automatically fail.
	Poisoned: Lose one HL/turn; must be recovered by Technique.  Lasts beyond battle.
	Trapped: Unable to leave the battle or be switched out.

Presence attacks: Pokémon have physical attacks, which are resolved in normal dodge/parry/soak fashion.  They also have Presence attacks, which are resolved slightly differently.  Where physical pools are generally Str+Brawl or Dex+Brawl to attack, and Dex+Brawl, Str+Brawl, or Dex+Dodge on defense, Presence pools are Per+Pre for both attack and defense, reflecting a Pokémon's force of will and grasp of natural forces (as well as their ability to perceive them to begin with).

Presence attacks are otherwise resolved in a similar fashion to physical attacks.  Flavor text on the defense can be any form appropriate to the nature of the attack, but the pool remains the same.  Damage done on Presence attacks stacks with that of physical attacks, and HL penalties apply to Presence and physical pools alike.

Techniques: the various attack moves are treated as Charms for all intents and purposes, complete with mote costs.  I'm calling them Techniques, and they have conversion formulae all of their own.  A Pokémon can know four Techniques at any time - any more than that, and they'll have to forget one to learn the next.  Harsh but true.  Techniques can be learned through growth, through training under someone who already knows it, or through the use of a Training Machine item.

Motes: The mote pool of any given Pokémon is 10*Growth + Willpower + sum of Virtues.  Motes are recovered at 2/hr while active, or 4/hr while inactive; while kept in a Pokeball, they recover at 8/hr.

Training: Any skill or attribute pre-defined by the base stats cannot be enhanced by training.  What does this leave us with?  Growth, Virtues and Specialties.  While Virtues can be boosted by evolution, raising one's Pokémon boosts them further - this is the difference between a wild Pokémon and one given careful treatment by a trainer!  Remember that Perception is also a set number, not a base stat, so it CAN be trained up.

As a suggested rule of thumb, a trainer character should get one or two extra XP each session solely for the training of their Pokémon - if they choose to burn their own XP on their Pokémon's behalf, this is also acceptable, and in a Pokémon-oriented game might end up being the norm.  XP are spent in traditional fashion (Rat*3 on Virtues, 3/specialty, max 3 on specialties).  Growth and Essence are comparable, so Growth is Rat*8 expensive.

Evolution is unlocked after reaching Growth 3, the adolescent stage.  At any time thereafter, rather than raising to the next Growth stage, you can choose to evolve to a higher form for the same cost - assuming there is a higher form available.  Doing so provides the Pokémon with several benefits.  Their stats raise, adding the difference between the base stats of their new form and their old one.  They unlock new features and abilities, of course.  And they start over at Growth 1, giving them a new ladder to climb.  It's an easy jump.

There are benefits to holding off on evolution, though.  Read carefully - you add the difference between the base forms.  That means if you raise your Pokémon to its full adult status, you're getting an extra two stages of benefits that someone who immediately evolves their Pokémon will miss.  Not just stats, but new Techniques as well - there are always new Techniques at each stage, and you may never have the opportunity to attain them again.

Criticals: Many Techniques will include something along the lines of "all successes count as critical successes".  Some strategies and combinations will stack these effects.  A critical success counts as two successes; stacking these effects adds more successes on, so a success would count three times or four times.  A Technique that reverses this effect backs it down the rungs again.