This system is primarily used for Gym battles or Contests against NPCs, but can be used for any NPC battle you want modded. It is primarily Player vs. Self but has mod prompts thrown in. If you are playing a Trainer, you will want to pay special attention to this section, as it is crucial for advancing in your Class Rank.
At the start of the battle, the player will send out a number of Pokémon appropriate to the battle style (usually 1 or 2), roll a single percentile die, then Mod Call. The Content Moderator will send out the same number of Pokémon, then roll a percentile die for each of them. Whoever rolled higher, as well as the difference between the rolls, determines the difficulty of the battle. The battle can be labeled “Very Easy”, “Easy”, “Medium”, “Hard”, “Very Hard”, or “Super Hard”. For formats involving multiple Pokémon battling simultaneously per side, the player’s single percentile die is compared to each mod roll individually, meaning individual battles can be different difficulties.
The battle then plays out similarly to a freeform PvS battle, except that the battle’s difficulty determines a minimum word-count requirement to win the battle, based on a table further in this section. Type alignment can further modify the word-count requirement.
For formats involving multiple simultaneous battles, total word count matters more than individual word count, but the strength of each opponent should be driven by individual difficulty. For instance, a Neutral Easy Pokémon (250) and a Neutral Hard Pokémon (650) require 900 word-count to defeat both. The split does not necessarily need to be close to those word counts, but the Hard Pokémon should be the primary focus of the battle overall.
If your Pokémon faints or is withdrawn, you will send out a new one and roll again, and your new roll will be compared with the original rolls of that Pokémon. The word count you put into the fainted Pokémon is subtracted from the new word-count requirement. For instance, if you write a 300-word battle then have your Pokémon faint, the word-count requirement with your next Pokémon is reduced by 300. This represents the damage your first Pokémon dealt before fainting.
Once the NPC’s Pokémon is defeated, you will Mod Call to have the Content Moderator determine a replacement Pokémon for the NPC as well as compare your rolls and the NPC’s rolls to determine the next battle’s difficulty. The Content Moderator may also write a prompt for you to follow, such as use of a specific tactic that will need to be incorporated into your battle. Players are free to control the NPCs speaking and acting during the battle to some extent, as long as the NPC’s personality is followed.
If a Content Moderator feels you are abusing this system, they reserve the right to raise your required word-count or instantly faint one or more of your Pokémon as a result of writing the battle unfairly. This will typically only be done as punishment for abusing the system; as long as you are being reasonable with your battles, this should never happen.
There will also be a system to represent sustained damage on the player’s side. If one of your Pokémon is in battle for more than two posts, the word-count requirement is increased by 100 for each post, including the current one, that the Pokémon is in battle for. This means +300 WC for the third, +400 for the fourth, etc., until the Pokémon is recalled and removed from the battle.
Pokémon pushed too far can also suffer Injuries this way. At the end of the third consecutive post with the same Pokémon, that Pokémon has a 10% chance of suffering 1 Injury. At the end of the fourth, it has a 10% chance of suffering 2 Injuries and a 15% chance of suffering 1 Injury (for a 25% cumulative chance.) At the end of the fifth, it has a 10% chance of suffering 3 Injuries, and 15% chance of suffering 2 Injuries, and a 25% chance of suffering 1 Injury (for a 50% cumulative chance). At the end of the sixth and every post after that, it has a 10% chance of suffering 4 Injuries, a 15% chance of suffering 3 Injuries, a 25% chance of suffering 2 Injuries, and a 50% chance of suffering 1 Injury (for a 100% cumulative chance). Any Pokémon with 3 or more Injuries must be immediately recalled.
The steps above repeat until all Pokémon on one side have been rendered unable to battle. Note that due to the nature of the system, no Pokémon switching is allowed at all. Any move that causes a Pokémon to switch out, whether it be enemy or ally, cannot force a Pokémon to switch out. Feel free to come up with creative ways for these moves to work in your battles.
Only the most extreme type matchup will be applied per Pokémon. Multiple favorable or unfavorable type matchups on the same Pokémon overlap, not stack.
Both sides having the same amount of advantage or disadvantage cancel each other out. Advantage and disadvantage on the same side cancel each other out. If a double advantage or disadvantage is paired with a single of the opposite, only half of the double advantage or disadvantage is canceled out, resulting in single advantage or disadvantage.
Immunities only count when the Pokémon would be immune to all Pokémon on the opposing side. In this case, immunities are treated as double advantage. Immunities are not applied if there are multiple types involved, unless the Pokémon is immune to all of those types.
You must actually use moves of the appropriate type to utilize type advantage. While not every move needs to take advantage of this, you should be pressing your type advantage at least some.
Similarly, if your opponent has moves that have type advantage over you, assume your opponent will primarily use those. While not every move needs to be of this type, they should likewise be pressing advantages against you.
Here are the criteria used to assign difficulties for battles.
- Very Easy: The difference between your roll and the mod’s roll is +70 to +94.
- Easy: The difference between your roll and the mod’s roll is +30 to +69.
- Medium: The difference between your roll and the mod’s roll is -14 to +29.
- Hard: The difference between your roll and the mod’s roll is -54 to -15.
- Very Hard: The difference between your roll and the mod’s roll is -84 to -55.
- Super Hard: The difference between your roll and the mod’s roll is -85 to -94.
The below chart indicates the word-count requirements for every possible difficulty and advantage. Advantage refers to player advantage, and weakness refers to player disadvantage.
Exceptions to these rules are listed below:
- If you roll 96 or more, and at least 25 points above the opposing Pokémon, you may KO that Pokémon with no word-count requirement. For multi-battles, this only applies to each Pokémon you rolled at least 25 above.
- If you roll 96 or more, but within 25 points of the opposing Pokémon (either above or below), the battle is treated as one difficulty level easier than the chart would otherwise suggest.
- If you rolled 5 or less, and at least 50 points below the opposing Pokémon, your Pokémon will suffer an automatic loss, but the losing Pokémon’s word-count will carry over to the next Pokémon as normal. In multi-battles, this is applied separately for each of your Pokémon.
- If you rolled 5 or less, but within 50 points of the opposing Pokémon (either above or below), the battle is treated as one difficulty level harder than the chart would otherwise suggest.
- Nothing special happens when the mod roll is either 96 or more, or 5 or less.
We know it's a lot to take in, so if you have any questions, feel free to reach out to any staff member!