Pokexalted/Terms
Accuracy: For Techniques, represents a one-time boost to the user's natural attack skill. A Pokémon with Str 3, Brawl 4 would normally have an attack roll of 7 and do 3B damage. With a Technique that gives Accuracy +2 and Move Power 6B, their attack roll would be 9 and they would do 9B damage.
Base: In Techniques, base refers to the pools used to roll attacks with. There are physical attacks, which are the normal set of attack/dodge/parry stuff we all know and love. There are also presence attacks, which represent more elemental methods such as blasting the foe with electricity, or psychic trickery such as confusing the opponent into attacking oneself.
Evolution: Having reached an adolescent stage, some Pokémon are capable of taking an evolutionary leap and transforming into a higher-power relative. Their ability to do so is governed by their trainer's will - evolution can be stopped fairly easily - and whether or not such a relative exists. There are immediate benefits to evolving a Pokémon, but doing so early can prevent you from attaining their full potential... for instance, you'll never again have access to the benefits of growth into adult and dominant stages on their earlier form.
Growth: In Pokémon, it's all about the levels, which goes from 1 all the way up to 99, and higher if you cheat. This has been simplified vastly for Pokéxalted. Similar to Essence in game terms (an Essence 3 Charm, an Essence 4 Exalt), a level of Growth roughly represents ten levels in game terms and physical development in world terms, sharing none of the metaphysical connotations. There are six stages; 0: infant, 1: child, 2: juvenile, 3: adolescent, 4: adult, 5: dominant. In the infant stage, a Pokémon has just hatched (all Pokémon come from eggs, it seems), and knows its abilities but no Techniques. Evolution becomes possible at the adolescent stage or beyond. Each stage beyond infancy grants more Techniques and a one-time bonus of two points to be spread between Str, Dex, Sta, and HLs (but no two to the same one). Like Essence, Growth is a part of many Techniques, making is quite a valuable barometer of Pokémon progress.
Itemdex: An index of items. While a play on the term Pokédex, there is no artifact equivalent of a Movedex, unless you want to make one.
Linguistics: There's a new language family, the Pokétongue. The Pokétongue generally cannot be spoken by non-Pokémon, as the true language takes place in subharmonics; when communicating to humans, Pokémon use body language to get their point across. The audible component of Pokétongue conveys tone of voice, but no other meaning beyond that, and carries a distinctive sound. It is theorized these distinctive sounds are what gave each Pokémon their species name. If a Pokémon takes dots in Linguistics, they become able to speak and understand new tongues like anyone else.
Motes: The term is used to refer to the energy that powers Techniques. Like the Growth = Essence term, motes are all but identical in game terms. Pokémon do not incur anima banners when spending motes. For the purposes of Charms that bestow or steal motes, it's the GM's call; they represent the Pokémon's finite reserve of inner strength, not anything directly related to Essence. Once used up, a Pokémon is no longer able to use Techniques until they've had a chance to recover their strength.
Move power: For Techniques, represents a one-time boost to the user's natural attack strength. A Pokémon with Str 3, Brawl 4 would normally have an attack roll of 7 and do 3B damage. With a Technique that gives Accuracy +2 and Move Power 6B, their attack roll would be 9 and they would do 9B damage.
Movedex: An index of Techniques. While a play on the term Pokédex, there is no artifact equivalent of a Movedex, unless you want to make one.
Movetype: The type of a given Technique. In Pokéxalted, the offense of STAB is determined by Movetype; if a Grass-type Pokémon uses a Water-type Technique against a Fire-type Pokémon, it becomes more damaging despite the fact that Grass itself is not strong against Fire.
Physical: For Techniques, refers to the normal pools. A physical attack should be treated like any other physical attack, using either Str+Brawl or Dex+Brawl to attack and Str as the base damage; defense can be either Str+Brawl to block, Dex+Brawl to parry or Dex+Dodge to, well, dodge. The only reason this term exists is to separate such attacks from Presence attacks.
Pokéball: A small artifact that captures and houses a single Pokémon. Because it minimizes mass and volume, it's a handy way to store something like Steelix, which boasts a length of 30' (9m) and weighs 900 lbs (400 kg). Pokéballs are ubiquitious in any high-density Pokémon setting, and are probably available in vending machines.
Pokédex: Any number of information resources that accumulate data on Pokémon species, but generally refers to something small and portable that supplements a Lore (Pokémon) attribute. Many indices exist, but the quality and backing will spell out the difference between a tourist's pamphlet that only covers the highlights of the most common Pokémon in the area, and a comprehensive scientific resource that may even mention facts about rare and legendary species.
Pokétype: The type of a given Technique. In Pokéxalted, the defense of STAB is determined by Pokétype; if a Rock-type Pokémon is attacked by a Normal-type Pokémon using a Psychic-type Technique, it becomes less damaging despite the fact that Rock itself is not strong against Normal.
PP: In Pokémon, all attacks have PP (Power Points, or something, I'm not sure), a finite pool. These pools are kept seperate - you'll have an attack with 5 PP, that can only be used 5 times, but does not affect your other attack with 25 PP. Since this is an unwieldy mechanic designed (as far as I can tell) to make you return to a hospital and rest up to recover, mote costs have been substituted in their place and are recovered in traditional fashion, c.f. with time and rest.
Presence attacks: Pokémon have access to physical attacks - see: Physical. They also have access to Presence attacks, which take a different form. The base attack pool for any Presence attack is Will+Presence, as is the base defense pool. It can represent a wide variety of elemental, psychic or environmental approaches. Unlike physical attacks, Presence attacks have no base damage and cannot be used outside of Techniques, unless the GM feels like making an exception and letting you pull off an attempt at intimidation. Like physical attacks, the damage done by Presence attacks is bashing and chips away at HLs, since a weakened Pokémon is a weakened Pokémon.
Rarity: Some Pokémon are common, and you can't swing a cat through tall grass without smacking one. Others are not so common, and don't normally evolve in the wild without some sort of intervention, whether by conscious act or random chance. In Pokéxalted, the rarity factor is one determined by just how powerful a Pokémon's base stats are, and helps act as a barometer of how much a beginning character should have to pay to start with one. The five tiers are 1 (common), 2 (uncommon), 3 (unusual), 4 (rare), 5 (legendary). In world terms, this can help determine how often you run into them.
Shadow: Shadow Pokemon were created by Cipher and Team Snagem by artificially closing the door to a Pokemon's heart, turning them into fighting machines due to their lack of compassion and feelings. A fully closed Shadow Pokemon will not show their true characteristics, and they forget their normal moves and receive Shadow Moves in return. The human eye does not easily distinguish a Shadow Pokemon; with aid, the Pokemon will cast a dark purple glow. Shadow Pokemon are not generally available to PCs as they are evil and bad and stuff.
Special Ability: Just to confuse matters, each Pokémon has a special ability. Example - a popular ability for grass-type Pokémon is Overgrow, which boosts damage when the Pokémon itself is damaged. This ability is a persistent one and can be activated or suppressed reflexively by the Pokémon in question, unlike Techniques which have finite reserves and are generally performed consciously on some level. This is not to be confused with Exalted abilities, which really should be called skills anyway, but if I worked for White Wolf I'd probably be too busy slacking off on indices to write this.
STAB: STAB (Same Type Attack Bonus) refers to the mechanic that adjusts Technique damage according to type. In Pokéxalted, STAB works on defense; when your Pokétype is strong against a Movetype, double your soak against the Technique. When weak against a Movetype, halve your soak. See Type.
Stats: In Pokémon, there are essentially five stats - HP, Attack, Defense, Special Attack, and Special Defense. These have crossed over to Pokéxalted in various ways, and help to determine the basic attributes and abilities of one's Pokémon. Many Techniques provide stat boosts and drains, either raising or lowering a stat; in this case, these stats refer to base attributes such as Strength and Dexterity, or abilities such as Brawl and Dodge.
Status Condition: Many Techniques are capable of inflicting a Status Condition (a.k.a. Status Effect, Status Ailment) on the opponent. Status Conditions are ailments such as being burned, poisoned, or hopelessly attracted to another. Most wear off by the end of the battle or scene, but others must be treated in order to prevent your Pokémon from suffering; the timely use of Status Conditions can turn a battle in your favor, so don't neglect them simply because they aren't damage.
Technique: In Pokémon, your critters simply cannot haul off and smack something; they have to use a special move, such as MEGA PUNCH! These special moves have been termed Techniques in Pokéxalted, which are treated as Charms. Mechanically, they either have some tangible benefit (such as raising stats, negating undesireable status conditions, or improving the next attack), or act as an attack bonus, similar to that of a single-use weapon. A Daiklave Technique would be accuracy +2, move power 5L, PP 0 (with no inherent mote cost), and effects none (with no inherent special effects beyond stabby stabby). Like Charms, Techniques use motes and must be learned before use.
Trainer: Refers to someone whose primary vocation or hobby is dedicated to the capture and training of Pokémon, generally for battling with other trainers, because apparently cockfights were never considered a horrible crime in Pokéxalted. Many feel it perfectly acceptable to capture a living, breathing creature in a tiny ball and keep it there all the time, only letting it out to battle to the death in a terrible bloodsport. The Pokémon in question seem pretty cool with it too, so who am I to argue?
Type: Pokémon fall under eight different types, or elemental affinities. This is similar to the standard fantasy trope of an ice-based critter being vulnerable to fire. Many trainers focus on one or two types as their strength; the wise trainer knows that no one type is superior, as they all have a weakness as well as a strength. A ninth type, Shadowed, is akin to a status condition as it replaces the normal Poketype; all types are weak against Shadow, except Shadow itself (which is considered strong). See Shadow.
Wild: Pokémon come in two flavors. Normally, Pokémon are wild - living in the wilderness, behaving similar to animals with complicated social structures, low or no technology, and staking a claim on their territory. When raised in captivity, or when a wild Pokémon is captured in a Pokéball for the first time, they become tamed and more susceptible to suggestions and training. A tame Pokémon is not the same as a trained one, as it takes training and time to unleash their full potential... but there's no effort made to distinguish this in the rules, so don't look for it. Training is what increases Growth and skills is all.
