Creating a character is a straightforward process. There are nine individual steps to it that should be completed in order, though the final step may be appropriate to cut in certain campaign frameworks.
Important: Make sure that, when creating a creature intended to be a Player Character, that you manually navigate to the traits tab of the character sheet and enter the [Ace] trait by hand, along with [Trainer], [Ranger], [Explorer], or other appropriate trait. The system does not know automatically whether a character is one of these things unless you tell it. Luck and Resources will not be editable or rollable without entering the [Ace] trait, and skill point allocations will not be correct.
This one is slightly nebulous, but the first thing you should do when making a character is consider what that character will be. What are you trying to achieve? How should this character play? What makes them tick? Do they have any prominent goals or affiliations? What is their history? The more you can come up with at this stage, the easier the rest of character creation should be.
In Pokemon Tabletop Reunited: Evolved, you are not necessarily limited to stock Human characters. You may play as a Pokemon, or in a campaign setting that supports it, you may find yourself as the likes of a Dwarf or an Elf. You should check with your GM what species they intend to allow.
Our recommendation as developers is that you should try to stick to species with the [Underdog] trait, even if they have later evolutions which cease to be [Underdog]. For [Humanoid] type species, you will have a Base Stat Total of 240, and have 110 Base Stat Points to allocate, totalling to 350 BST.
Humans start with 40 in every stat, however if you decide to incorporate Fantasy Races the stats may be shuffled around slightly!
At character creation, you can only increase any single Base Stat up to 90. In order to access the allocation for Base Stats and EVs, you simply double click on the stat radar on your character sheet. For Pokemon, the base stats will already be pre-allocated.
Typically, Humanoids will gain the [Trainer] trait as part of the game's framework, and Pokemon PCs would gain either [Explorer] or [Expedition Leader] traits depending on the nature of the game, but this is not always the case.
A GM may wish to run a campaign where [Humanoid] characters gain the [Ranger] trait for example instead of [Trainer]. Check with your GM what comes with your framework as standard.
Effort Values (or EVs) are assigned at character creation. There are 508 EVs to be distributed across the 6 stats, and these function almost exactly like they do in the Pokemon Video Games, though we have reduced the cap per individual stat to 200 EVs to reduce minmaxing. Don't worry too much about getting this perfectly right as there are ways in which your EV allocation can be altered during play if it's not working out how you had initially wanted.
You must choose a dominant Nature for your character, regardless of species. This functions exactly like it normally would in the Video Games in terms of it's impact on stats. Be mindful that your character's Nature is not the totality of their personality, but it is meant to be a significant part of it.
As all player characters receive the [Ace] trait, they gain a starting Skill Point budget of 400 points to allocate at level 1, while non-player characters (such as owned Pokemon) gain 110 skill points to allocate at level 1.
All skills start at 1, or the base rating for your chosen species - whichever is higher. You may spend skill points from your budget to improve any skill you want, at a 1-for-1 ratio, up to a maximum of 70 points invested in any one skill.
Before you lock in your skill investment, a couple of points of consideration. Resources as a meta-currency skill locks off further investment after you first save skill point investments, and you may wish to look at and pre-plan your perk purchases prior to locking in your skill investments, so that you don't find yourself unable to take perks you want after having spent your skills elsewhere.
At level 1, [Humanoid] characters gain 20 advancement points to spend on the Perk Web, while [Pokemon] characters receive 10 advancement points to spend. These may be used to purchase Perks in the same manner that you would during character advancement. Your first Root node (characterised by the door icon) on the Perk Web is free to purchase. You can purchase additional root nodes at a cost of 1AP if you can link to them from your existing Root, or at a cost of 5AP if you are unable to draw a link to another owned root. The enhanced cost will be retroactively refunded if you later link up with this root.
At this stage, select your starting gear. Typically, [Humanoid] characters will likely have the [Trainer] trait and would receive a standard Trainer Kit featuring a stack of basic balls, a stack of potions (and a suitable weapon, if appropriate to the campaign) with room to make additional pre-game shopping rolls or take items as agreed by the GM, while [Pokemon] characters would receive an Explorer's Kit featuring an Oran Berry and a Status Cure Berry of their choosing, if they have [Explorer] or [Expedition Leader]. Example Explorer's Kits may include some curative berries and perhaps a basic armour or held item.
GMs should, ideally, design a starter kit specific to their campaign, perhaps using the ideas above as a basis for it. It is advisable to update this stock kit as the campaign progresses either for new characters or for a quick template restock of gear.
While most elements of character creation follow a point-buy basis, for Luck to feel right it should be truly random. As such, you would roll your starting Luck at this stage. To do so, roll 3d6 and multiply the final result by 5. Luck is a resource unique to creatures with the [Ace] trait.
Finally, if playing a [Trainer], [Ranger], [Expedition Leader] or similar framework character, you should select your Starter Pokemon. This Pokemon does not receive the [Ace] trait but should be built using steps 1-6 and step 8 (if your GM is using the optional rule of Ace Starters) of the character creation process, with the initial skill points being reduced from 400 to 110 due to the lack of [Ace]. To reiterate, it is our recommendation that, like primary Player Characters, your starter Pokemon should be from a species with the [Underdog] trait by default, but always check with your GM what options are available in their campaign.
GMs, we encourage you not to be too strict on what Starter Pokemon are available. Maybe don't allow a Duraludon starter, but don't be too afraid to let someone take a Dratini for example. The likes of psuedo-legendaries ultimately pay for their strength by being late bloomers.
Your GM can also consider allowing your Starter to have the [Ace] trait, if you wish for your starter to be more involved early in the game!
While a character could have a [Humanoid] companion instead of a [Pokemon] one, do please ensure that any companion characters do not have the [Trainer] or [Expedition leader] traits. In the case of a scenario like a [Ranger] framework, consider replacing the [Ranger] trait on any companion characters with [Cadet].
Character advancement occurs between levels 1 and 100, as you accumulate experience points.
Character advancement is very straightforward in itself. Your stats will automatically increase based on your EV investment.
At each level, all actors gain 10 skill points to allocate to their skills, though at this stage the skill cap is lifted from 90 to 100. Evolutions may increase your skills above 100 - this serves to offer a cushion against penalties on skill checks for things your species is naturally adroit at.
The Resources skill cannot be improved after character creation through the use of Skill Points. It can only be increased or reduced as a result of gameplay rewards and circumstances, which will be covered in more detail in our GM guidance.
In addition to this, characters will receive Advancement Points (or AP). [Humanoid] characters receive AP at a rate of 1AP per level. [Pokemon] characters receive AP at a rate of 1 AP per 2 levels, earning an AP every even level. AP are used on the Perk Web to purchase Perks, which will have a cost between 0 and 5 depending on the Perk.
Pokemon unlock Ability slots at levels 1, 20, 50 and 80.
All characters start at Grade 'E'. Accessing higher grades of Items, Moves, etc. may require Perks to obtain even with level ups.
For reference, a character’s Grade updates at the following levels:
Level 1 -> Grade E
Level 15 -> Grade D
Level 25 -> Grade C
Level 35 -> Grade B
Level 45 -> Grade A
During your Journey in PTR 2e one of the questions you’ll undoubtedly stumble upon will be: how are our levels set-up?
Level-ups are based around the Medium Fast track from the Mainline Video Games. As the math is fully automated, and you won't be plugging it into a calculator, I wouldn't worry about those details!
Instead the below section is much more interesting:
¶ Rules surrounding level-ups
Whenever a character reaches an EXP Threshold they may immediately level-up; a GM might wish to delay a level-up until after a session or event occurs; but realistically due to the timing of when EXP is earned (more later) this shouldn’t be an issue.
Whenever a level-up occurs, the following happens:
- Gain +10 to spend amongst any of your Skills (except Resources). The cap remains 70 invested in any one skill.
- Gain +1 Advancement Point, you may immediately spend this in the Perk Web or save it for later.
- This only triggers once every even level if you are a [Pokemon]
- Perks can only be purchased during level-up or while camping.
You can check here to learn more on how GMs should award Experience!
Earlier on in our Alpha Testing we tried having seperate EXP tracks for Trainers & Pokemon, but didn't feel quite good, as Pokemon where on a faster track, meaning they'd overshadow any and all performance of a Combat Trainer that owned them.