Adventures in Helnith: Assault on the Town of Ash (OoC)

[Kareeah_Indaga]

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Assault on the Town of Ash (RPG)

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HOUSERULES

Players are reminded that we are using Gen IV as a base (where possible) for stats and move lists. Where differences exist within the Generation, we will be using Diamond and Pearl (not Platinum). Exceptions will be listed.

Spoiler: Training

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You can train your Pokémon whenever you have some time to kill and a reasonable amount of space to train in. You train your Pokémon by working with them uninterrupted for a certain stretch of time (dependent on level); you can fluff it however you like. Beyond that, there are no specific requirements other than that your Pokémon must be in reasonable state to be trained (i.e. not unconscious, asleep, or similarly inconvenienced) and you the trainer must be involved in the training (not asleep or doing something that would significantly distract you).

You can train a Pokémon up one level in (current level/10 drop decimal) hour(s) (or half an hour if they’re below level 10). You may only train one Pokémon at a time using this method.

Limitations:

• You can only train one Pokémon at a time (i.e. leveling up both Sandshrew at level 11 and Pikachu at level 12 one level would take an hour EACH, so a total of two hours).
• Each Pokémon is limited to a max of 3 levels by training in a day, and no more than 5 levels over a three day period. (Breaking this rule yields temporary stat loss and a Happiness hit due to exhaustion.)
• Pokémon that are Shadowed or otherwise disobedient must succeed an Obedience roll to get the level up.

Spoiler: Daycare

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Pokémon at Daycare get the equivalent of one hour of training for every 8 hours in Daycare. Daycares charge per day the Pokémon is in their care, not per level gained.

Pokémon in the Daycare are not accessible via Box Storage; to retrieve them you will need to visit the Daycare you left them at.

Spoiler: Battle

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Battle Options:
In addition to the usual options (Attack, Use Item, Switch Pokémon) you also have the option to order your Pokémon to Defend (halves damage for the course of the round) or Evade (Pokémon effectively has 1 evasion level for the duration of the round). In general, you are allowed 1 option per Pokémon per round, as in the games. You may also have a Pokémon Intercept attacks for one of its allies, see below for details.

Interception:

1. For every attempt at intercepting, the success rate goes down by 50% (so if the first intercept is 100% chance of taking the hit, the second is 50%, the third is 25% and so on). Note: That’s per attack, not per round. It goes down regardless of whether or not the attempt succeeds.
2. If you try to intercept while also attacking, the intercept fail chance starts at 50%, rather than 100%. If the attack is defensive in nature (EX: Protect, Iron Defense), it also has a 50% failure chance. If it isn’t defensive in nature, it fails outright, because you can’t stay between your interceptee and everyone trying to hit them while also chasing your target(s) around the battlefield.

Multi-target Moves:

• Stat reducing moves that hit more than one target (Leer, Growl, Tail Whip, String Shot etc…), will hit 10 targets for every 10 levels the user has (ie. Levels 1-10 will hit 10, levels 11 – 20 will hit 20, and so on). Also Smokescreen and Sand Attack are multi-target under this system.
• Status inflicting moves that hit more than one target are 1 target for every 5 levels (ex: a level 15 Pokémon will be able to hit 3). Sing is multi-target under this system.
• Damage causing moves that hit more than one target have the number of Pokémon hit determined by the stat ruling that attack. (EX: Rock Slide is Physical and is therefore determined by the Pokémon’s Attack stat, whereas Surf is Special and is therefore determined by the Pokémon’s Special Attack stat.) Exact number is determined as follows:
  
  
  2 + ((Attacking stat the move uses - 20) / 10)
  
  So for example, Swift uses the Special Attack stat to determine its damage. Sandslash has a Special Attack of 38. So for Sandslash, the number of targets hit will be:
  
  
  2 + ((38-20) / 10) = 3 targets.
  
  In other words, 1 target for every 10 points in the relevant stat, with a minimum of 2 targets. Attacks that can hit friend or foe have the number of targets split, and the user chooses half—the other half are determined randomly. (If it’s an odd number, the user gets to pick the ‘extra’ – in other words if the Pokémon will hit 9 targets, the user picks 5.) No Pokémon can be hit more than once, and the user can’t hit themselves.
  
• Weather moves will affect everyone on the battlefield.
• Stealth Rock, Spikes, and Toxic Spikes will affect 1 target for every 5 levels the uses has, and has a percent chance to affect Pokémon over that limit. Equation is as follows:
  
  
  = (user's level/5) / number of Pokémon on the affected side (including the one(s) being sent out)

Status Effects:
Some status effects have had their implementation tweaked from the handhelds.

Confusion:

Rounds confused:	Stays confused
Round 1:	80 or lower
Round 2:	60 or lower
Round 3:	40 or lower
Round 4:	20 or lower

Ends after 4 rounds max.

Sleep:
Sleep is 20% chance of waking up +10% per turn asleep.

Freeze:
Freeze is 20% change of defrosting +20% per turn frozen. Damaging Fire moves can thaw a frozen target.

General Attacks, Abilities etc. – Changes from the Handhelds:
Most attacks work as they did in Diamond/Pearl, except where unavailable or as specified otherwise.

• Pokemon can learn up to six moves in Helnith, rather than four.
  
• Defensive Stance only draws attacks directed at the user’s allies. (ex: Mina’s Natu and Houndour are fighting Zack’s Archeokat and Mr. Mime. Natu uses Me First on Houndour, Houndour uses Ember on Mr. Mime. Archeokat uses Defensive Stance. Houndour’s attack will be redirected to Archeokat, but Natu’s attack will hit Houndour, because it isn’t directed at Archeokat’s side.)
  
• Natural Gift does not consume the held Berry.
  
• Explosion does not halve Defense.
  
• Copycat, Mirror Move etc. are not limited to attacks that only affect an opposing Pokémon, however their effects cannot be re-directed. If you Copycat a Milotic using Water Pulse, you will attack the Milotic with Water Pulse, you can’t use it on the hordes of Geodude around the Milotic.
  
• The following healing moves can be used on either the user or another Pokémon:
  
  Heal Pulse
  Softboiled
  Wish (note that the healing still does not take place until the end of the following round)
  Also, the move Softboiled no longer drains the user's HP, in or out of combat.
  
• Pressure affects ALL moves the opposing Pokémon makes, not just offensive ones. On the other hand, if an allied Pokémon uses a move that will hit the Pokémon with Pressure, it won’t have its PP cost doubled.
  
• Pokémon with field affecting abilities (Tyranitar’s Sand Stream, Abomasnow’s Snow Warning) will have the effects of their abilities wear off 5 rounds after they leave the field rather than last indefinitely. This is boosted to 8 rounds if they were using a Held Item that increases the duration of the effect (Smooth Rock for Sandstorm, Icy Rock for Hail etc…).
  
• Intimidate affects the opposing Pokémon as long as the Pokémon with Intimidate is on the field, and will be renewed if the Pokémon opposing it switches out. (EX: Luxray with Intimidate is sent out against Sandshrew, Sandshrew is Intimidated. Sandshrew is recalled, Natu is sent out, Natu is now Intimidated. Natu is recalled, Sandshrew is sent out, Sandshrew is Intimidated again.)
  
• Struggle works as it did in Gen III (recoil is based off damage dealt, not user’s max HP).
  
• If Sturdy is activated more than once, its protective effects will have a failure chance for every time after the first, as with Protect, Endure, etc.
  
• Destiny Bond can be targeted to a specific Pokémon rather than the last attacker. (EX: You're against a Bandra Officer's Pokémon and 6 Grunt Pokémon, you want to use Destiny Bond on the Officer's 'mon.) If this is done, however, the chance of it working is (User's level/(target's level*2))—so a level 25 Wobbuffet has a 50% chance of successfully bringing down another level 25 Pokémon, or a 25% chance of bringing down an opponent who is level 50, or a 12.5% chance of bringing down a foe who is level 100. The exception to this rule is if the target Pokémon ALSO happens to be the last Pokémon to attack, in which case it works as normal. Also, the Pokémon to land the knock-out blow will be unaffected unless it is also the targeted 'mon. (You can still only knock out one Pokémon with Destiny Bond, in other words.)
  
• Mist now prevents positive stat adjustments on the affected side as well as negative.
  
• The effects of Shadow Tag, Arena Trap and similar Abilities are limited to 10 Pokémon per 10 levels the Pokémon with Shadow Tag has, as with Tail Whip.
  
• Growth uses its Gen V implementation.

Spoiler: Serious Injury

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When facing far superior foes, Pokémon may occasionally take damage more serious than a mere loss of hit points. This can result in broken bones and other injuries represented by stat loss. In general, Pokémon will regain 10% of a lost stat per day; this time can be cut in half with intensive care at a Pokémon Center but the Pokémon’s slot will be unavailable until it is returned to you. (Note: The nurse on duty will usually take badly injured Pokémon in for intensive care automatically, seeing as that’s her job.)

Occasionally, injuries will be serious enough to be permanent (EX: loss of a limb). Try not to let your Pokémon face foes that are significantly more dangerous than they are to avoid serious consequences!

Spoiler: Berries

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There is a listing of Berries in the Character Stats page (Berry tab). This includes Helnith-specific Berries.

Other homebrew changes are as follows:

• Oran, Chahal, and Sitrus will restore EITHER (respectively): 10, 20, and 30 HP OR 10%, 20%, and 30% of their max HP, whichever is higher. (EX: A Pokémon with 90 max HP will regain 10 HP from an Oran Berry while a Pokémon with 110 max HP will regain 11 HP.)
• EV reducing Berries (Hondew, Qualot etc…) allow you to remove EV allocations from the stat they lower and re-allocate them somewhere else (1 point per Berry). This only applies to trainer-granted EVs; points from Vitamins, Gym victories, Power items (barring the Macho Brace) etc. can’t be re-allocated. (Else there’s no point in making them stat-specific, is there? )
• Chilan Berries now activate only on super-effective Normal attacks.
• Growth Mulch requires Berry plants to be watered 5 times for max yield (1/stage plus once more—with reasonable gaps between waterings, watering twice in a 5 minute span will invoke DM ire) and Gooey Mulch allows you to skip 1 watering.
• As we aren’t playing with Nature (and therefore no likes-flavor-X/dislikes-flavor-Y mechanic) Berries that previously caused confusion to Pokémon that don’t like a flavor now cause confusion based on type. List is as follows:
  
  Figy – Fire, Electric, Fighting, Fairy
  Wiki – Water, Ice, Ghost, Dragon
  Mago – Psychic, Spectral, Normal, Dark
  Aguav – Grass, Bug, Flying, Poison
  Iapapa – Rock, Ground, Steel

Spoiler: Bitter Herbs

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In addition to their normal effects (lower Happiness and whatever other effects they have depending on the specific herb) the use of these herbs will increase a Pokémon’s resistance to disease by 50% for one day, or decrease the amount of time they spend sick by 50% for one day if they are already ill (ex: Pokémon would be sick for 3 days, you give it a Bitter herb on Day 1, it will now only be sick for 2 ½ days). They can be used on successive days, just remember that Pokémon don't actually like these and will be taking a Happiness hit each time.

Spoiler: Stat Gains and Vitamins

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Pokémon are limited to +10 to each stat from vitamins. Exceptions/edge cases: if a Pokémon has a negative value in a given stat in the Vitamin column (ex: from Rare Candy usage or excessive egg laying), this can be counteracted with vitamins (EX: Mark’s Gardevoir has a -2 to HP from Rare Candy usage. Mark can apply 12 HP UP vitamins to bring it up to +10).

Zinc, Calcium, etc... increase the stat they affect by 1 per Vitamin.

Rare Candies subtract 2 from max HP for each one used.

The EV enhancing items (EX: Power Lens, Macho Brace) increase their respective stats by 1 point per level up and 1 point per two hours of training. (The points acquired from the Macho Brace can be applied to any stat.) EX: Training a level 20 Pokémon to level 21 while it has the Power Lens equipped will increase its Special Attack by 2—one for the level up and one for the two hours you spent earning the level up.) Each item gives a max of 20 points.

Pokémon can also gain permanent bonuses to their stats via earning Badges or defeating similarly dangerous foes like Bandra Officers or Legendary Pokémon. These bonuses will be stat specific, and are limited to +15 per stat regardless of source. (EX: Earning the Hammer Badge from Pellana will grant the participating Pokémon +15 Attack each.)

As noted below, Poffin will increase a Pokémon’s normal battle stats by up to +17 per stat (except HP which is capped at +34).

Spoiler: Poffin

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To mix Poffin, you need one or more Berries and access to a Blender. Berries are scattered throughout Helnith. Blenders you will usually find in Contest Halls, though of course smaller, portable versions exist.

The time used for Poffin making is calculated as follows:

65 – (1 per person blending) – (number of first guesses correct) = total time in seconds

For each Berry you mix into Poffin, you are required to guess 1 flavor of the resulting Poffin, starting with the highest flavor and going to the lowest, in order. (EX: You mix an Oran Berry, you have to guess the highest flavor. You mix an Oran Berry with a Hondew Berry, you need to guess the highest and second highest flavors.) You are required to guess the flavor itself, not the value of the flavor. As the Blenders don't get large enough to allow more than 4 Berries, the most you will ever have to guess is 4 flavors.

You give me all your guesses at once, like so:

1-Berry Poffin:

Highest:
1. Sweet
2. Spicy
3. Sour
4. Bitter
5. Dry

2-Berry Poffin:

Highest:
1. Sweet
2. Spicy
3. Sour
4. Bitter
5. Dry

2nd Highest:
1. Sour
2. Dry
3. Bitter
4. Sweet
5. Spicy

If your first guess is correct, you get a bonus of 1 second per correct first guess per flavor per person (so, two people mixing a total of two Berries can get 4 seconds off their time assuming they both guess correctly for both flavors). If your second or third guess is correct, you receive neither bonus nor penalty. Your fourth guess will accrue a Burn and you fifth guess will accrue two Burns.

You may, but are not required to guess flavors beyond the number required for the Poffin, for a possible boost in time or Spills for wrong guesses (works the same way as normal, but the fourth and fifth wrong guesses accrue Spills rather than Burns). You are also not required to guess all the remaining flavors if you choose to try for a bonus, but your guesses must still be in order from highest to lowest. (In other words: If you're mixing a two-Berry Poffin, and decide to guess a third flavor in addition to the two required, you have to guess the third highest flavor. But you don't have to guess the fourth and fifth highest after that unless you want to.)

If two flavors are tied for a spot, you can guess either of them and it will count as correct.

The Poffin will be ruined (Foul Poffin) if you accrue EITHER 5 Burns, 5 Spills or a combination of 6 total Burns and Spills.

Poffin affects stats as follows:

(Taste/Color/Condition)

All boosts are +1 to the stat for every 15 points of Condition. Conditions cap at 255, so the maximum stat gain in a category is 17 points.

Dry/Blue/Beauty – Special Attack
Spicy/Red/Cool - Attack
Sour/Yellow/Tough - Defense
Bitter/Green/Smart – Special Defense
Sweet/Pink/Cute - Speed

HP is boosted by increasing any of the other conditions, up to a max of 34 points. Also, you have a "Feel" cap of 255.

You can still feed your Pokémon Poffin after their Feel caps out, however, DOING SO WILL NOT INCREASE THEIR STATS IN ANY CATEGORY, it’s solely a roleplaying aid and Happiness boost at that point.

We aren’t playing with Nature so your Pokémon liking/disliking a certain flavor will not affect its Contest stat growth.

Spoiler: Contests

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Unlike Gym battles, Contests are held at pre-determined times and cannot be participated in outside those times. (You can however practice outside those times.) Upcoming Coordinators would do well to make note of the Contest schedule.

Contests in Helnith are divided into the Appeal Round and the Battle Round; unless noted otherwise, you are required to use the same Pokémon for both rounds.

Appeal Round:
The purpose of the Appeal Round is to show off pure Contest stats and attack usage. The number of rounds you have to Appeal is dependent on the Contest; generally more advanced Contests have more rounds.

Battle Round:
The Battle Round is timed, and thus you also only have a limited number of rounds to compete with. The Battle Round ends with the time limit, or when one of the participating Pokémon is knocked unconscious. Scoring is similar to the Appeal round, but is modified as follows:

• -1 for each 25% of max HP in damage your Pokémon takes
• -1 if your attack misses or is ineffective
• -3 if your Pokémon is knocked unconscious
• +1 if you get an advantage from your opponent's attack (they use Water Pulse on Lapras with Water Absorb, Flamethrower on something with Flash Fire, the HP loss triggers Overgrow, that sort of thing)

No item uses are allowed by the trainer, but Held Items are fine.

Spoiler: Telepathy

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In general, Psychic Pokémon can only use telepathy for communication with other Psychic types, or telepathic humans. Major benchmarks are as follows (details provided below):

• Special Attack 50 – The Pokémon can psychically link with a non-telepath.
• Special Attack 100 – The Pokémon can clearly read unguarded minds.
• Special Attack 200 – The Pokémon can communicate with anyone not immune to telepathy. (Note: Dark types are immune to telepathy without the use of Miracle Eye.)

Psychic Link:
A mental link between a Psychic Pokémon and a non-telepathic human allows one-way telepathic speech and clear enough mind reading to fake two-way communication. However if the Pokémon gets knocked out there is a 25% chance the non-telepath will be knocked out by the backlash. (This is averted if both parties are telepathic.) Some powers will be easier to use on a linkmate; the linkmate will be counted as a ‘place visited’ for the purpose of Teleport, and at a combined Special Attack of 200 the two parties can sight share.

Mind Reading:
Prior to reaching Special Attack 100, Psychic Pokémon will only be guaranteed to get a general sense of someone’s thoughts, not the exact content. For example, say you’re interrogating a Bandra Grunt, and you ask them what the combination to their safe is. The Pokémon will be able to tell whether or not they’re lying when they answer, but only have a chance to pick the safe combination directly out of their skull. The chance is:

Pokemon’s Special Attack – (50 + (Target’s Special Defense – Pokemon’s Special Attack)) * 2 = % chance

Boost the roll by 10% if the Pokémon is making eye contact or physical contact with the target, 20% if they are doing both.

Spoiler: Teleport

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Teleport is much more flexible than in the handhelds, however, there are still limitations.

• The Pokémon must Teleport to a place it has been or can see and locate.
• Until it exceeds level 50 or Special Attack of 150, the Pokémon using Teleport MUST be in contact, directly or indirectly, with the person/Pokémon being teleported. (So you can have everyone hold hands and only one person actually touching the Pokémon; that counts.)
• The Pokémon does NOT have to teleport everything it’s in contact with. (Otherwise they’d be taking chunks of the ground with them whenever they Teleport.)
• Can’t transport Dark types with Teleport without the use of Miracle Eye. (Or a Pokéball. It's a psychic power and they're immune to psychic powers.)
• The Pokémon can Teleport 1 individual for every 20 points of Special Attack it possesses. The Pokémon itself does not count towards its Teleport limit.
• You can't teleport into physical objects. (So don't worry about accidentally getting fused with a wall.)
• Pokémon in Pokéballs don't count towards the Teleport limit.
• The distance a psychic Pokémon can Teleport is as follows:
  
  
  (Special Attack / 10) + Level Bonus = miles
  
  Level Bonus:
  Level 5 - 0
  Level 10 - 0.25
  Level 15 - 0.5
  Level 20 - 1
  Level 25 - 3
  Level 30 - 5
  Level 35 - 7
  Level 40 - 10
  Level 45 - 13
  Level 50 - 16
  Level 55 - 19
  Level 60 - 22
  Level 65 - 25
  Level 70 - 28
  Level 75 - 31
  Level 80 - 34
  Level 85 - 38
  Level 90 - 42
  Level 95 - 46
  Level 100 – 50

Spoiler: Move Acquisition and Tutoring

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Technical Machines (TMs) in Helnith are called Skill Machines (SMs). They are single use.

Hidden Machine (HM) moves can be overridden as normal moves. You don't need a Move Deleter to get rid of them. HMs are multi-use.

There is a Move Tutor/Move Relearner in Trainer Hill. Pokémon can be tutored with any attack they could learn up to their current level in any of the mainline games in addition to moves they could be tutored with. (Note: I am not counting Let’s Go Pikachu/Eevee as mainline games, but X and Y or Scarlet and Violet would be fine.)

Spoiler: Non-Typical Abilities

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Some Pokémon can have their Abilities altered/upgraded intentionally. The list is on the Character Stats sheet on the “Non-Typical Abilities” tab.

Spoiler: Shadowing

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Pokémon have a Shadow Gauge; when it reaches 100% the Pokémon will be Shadowed. The Shadow Gauge can go up a number of ways, the most common of which are as follows:

• Abuse
• Hit by a Spectral-type attack (Note: A KO by a Spectral attack will increase the victim’s Gauge to 100% in most cases)
• Spending time in the Spectral Dimension

Spectral-type Pokémon are immune to Shadowing. Aura users (EX: Riolu, Togekiss) are more susceptible to being Shadowed and take longer to de-Shadow. Legendary Pokémon are rumored to be resistant to Shadowing.

Pokémon that become Shadowed are dangerous as well as difficult to control and will usually require an obedience roll to successfully direct in battle. Shadow Pokémon will still gain XP, but do not level up until they are cleansed. Also, Pokémon that become Shadowed have a small chance per round to enter a Shadow Rage. This chance goes up the lower the Shadow Gauge becomes.

Pokémon that enter a Shadow Rage are completely uncontrollable. They may also become mutated, resulting in different attacks, Abilities, typing, etc. after being cleansed.

Pokémon can be cleansed of Shadowing by bringing the Shadow Gauge back down to 0%. There are a number of methods with which to accomplish this:

• Battle outside the Spectral Dimension
• Cologne (once per day)
• Purification Chamber or Time Flute (Note: This will completely cleanse the Pokémon)

Shadow moves cannot be Sketched, and a Pokémon that transforms into a Shadow Pokémon will have the moveset the target would have had as if it were NOT Shadowed unless the transforming Pokémon is also Shadowed. Likewise, a Shadowed Pokémon transforming into a non-Shadowed Pokémon will have a Shadowed moveset.

Spoiler: Mining

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The mining minigame can be played whenever you’re in a place suitable for digging (EX: mountains, caves). You use the radar included in the Mining Kit to detect spots where treasure is hidden. After you locate a spot, you may proceed with a round of digging.

The game itself works a bit like a cross between the Pokéwalker Dowsing Machine game and digging in the Underground: I give you a row of fifteen numbers ranging from 1 to 3. That’s the depth of your stone. You have 10 ‘hits’ before the spot you work on collapses, destroying any unexcavated treasure.

As in D/P/Pt, you have two tools, the mallet and the pick. You choose which tool you’re using and which slots you’re hitting with it. Both the mallet and the pick subtract a certain amount from the ‘stone’ and the number of ‘hits’ you have left, which break down as follows:

Mallet: -2 ‘hits’ per use, Pattern (-1, -2, -2, -1)
Pick: -1 ‘hit’ per use, Pattern (-1, -2, -1)

Your goal is to get the stone numbers down to 0 before you run out of ‘hits’ and ideally find treasure, so choose your hits wisely. Item sizes range from 1 to 3 slots.

Please note that you can’t choose to distribute the hit over a pattern other than the one specified. (EX: Hitting slots A-D with the mallet on one swing is fine; hitting slots A, E, G, and L on one swing is not.) Also note, you’re free to switch between the two tools between hits.

Mining takes 1 hour for every round of the minigame you play.

Spoiler: Riding

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Pokémon can ride one another provided the size and weight of the riding Pokémon is not beyond the carrying capacity of the ridden Pokémon. (No having a Pidgey carry an Onix, in other words.) During battle or other situations where the riding Pokémon may conceivably lose its perch, the formula for being thrown/falling off is as follows:

X+(5*Y)%

X = 50 if both parties are willingly participating, 0 otherwise.
Y = The number of crossed out numbers in Exercise 2A (Pokémon rider) or 2B (Pokémon being ridden)

When attacking, use the OTHER Pokémon’s Ride roll. (So if Houndoom is riding Skarmory, and Skarmory attacks, use Houndoom's modifiers to see if he falls off. If Houndoom attacks, use Skarmory's modifiers to see if he drops Houndoom.)

This roll can be modified by other factors, most noticeably if there is more than one Pokémon riding the same mount at the same time.

Also, when riding/being ridden on and being targeted by an attack that would only hit one of them, the rider/mount can make a roll to have the other Pokémon hit instead, EX: if Houndoom is riding Skarmory, and a Wispaferyn uses a Fire attack targeting Houndoom, they can roll to have Houndoom be hit instead.

(User's level/(target's level*2)) - ((Mount's Ride skill + Rider's Ride Skill)/200)

If the mount is a Flying type or has Levitate, the rider will also be unaffected by Ground moves (barring things like Gravity being in effect or other situations that would negate that immunity in the first place).

If either Pokémon has their Evasion increased, the effect is halved while they're riding/being ridden, however both Pokémon gain its effects. (Use whichever is higher.)

Spoiler: Miscellaneous

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Name Rater:
Helnith does not have a Name Rater. You can change your Pokémon’s nickname whenever you like, and it doesn’t matter if you are their original trainer or you got them in a trade.

Mega Stones:
Mega Stones can be found in Helnith, but there are some differences from the main games: when you find a Mega Stone, odds are it will be unattuned to any particular Pokémon. This means that it will be a generic 'Mega Stone' rather than 'Charizardite X' and it must be attuned to a Pokémon species to be used. (The method to do this will be revealed later.) Once it has been attuned to a Pokémon, it cannot be re-attuned; in other words if you turn it into Charizardite X it can't be re-made into Ampharosite.

A held Mega Stone can be taken with Thief, Covet, or other item-stealing attacks, so be mindful of what you fight. They can also be rendered unusable via Embargo or similar attacks as a normal Held Item.

Happiness:
Happiness (as pertains to evolution) is determined as follows:

Pokémon generally begin with a Happiness rating of 70. Happiness evolutions occur at Happiness rating 220. A Pokémon’s Happiness rating can be affected in the following ways:

• +1 for each day that passes in the real world. (Caps at 30)
• +1 for each day that passes in the RPG.
• +1 for each mile traveled during your adventures. (Note that Teleport travel doesn't count!)
• +1 for each "natural" item used on it (Berries).
• +2 for each vitamin used on it.
• +2 for each EV-reducing berry used on it (Pomeg, Qualot, etc...).
• +2 for each Poffin fed to it.
• +3 each time it is sent out to battle. Bonus applicable once per battle.
• +3 on learning a new move. Bonus applicable once per move. (So getting the HM for Cut and the HM for Strength and overriding one with the other over and over is only going to add to Happiness the first time you do it. )
• +5 each time it levels up.
• -5 for each "bitter natural" item used on it (Bitter Herb, Revival Herb, etc...).
• -10 for each level of training above the 3-in-one-day, 5-in-three-days’ maximum.
• -20 on fainting.

If you find a Soothe Bell and equip it to the Pokémon, the positive effects of Happiness boosting things are doubled. Likewise for using a Luxury Ball. Using both at once increases the effect by x3, not x4 (ex: an Eevee in a Luxury Ball holding a Soothe Bell will gain +9 to its Happiness rating for being sent out into battle.)

Repel:
Repel lasts for a number of hours rather than a certain number of steps. Rate is as follows:

Repel – 2 ½ hours
Super Repel – 5 hours
Max Repel – 7 ½ hours

Badges:
As there is no active Pokémon League in Helnith, collecting Badges is strictly optional. Badges have no effect on your obedience chance for unruly Pokémon. Pokémon that assist in winning a Badge gain points to a stat determined by the badge. The maximum number of points a Pokémon can have from this category is +15 per stat.

Evolution:
Pokémon are restored to full HP when they evolve.

Held Items:
You can give or take Held Items to your Pokémon while they're still in their Pokéballs, but you need a Pokédex to do it and it will only work on your Pokémon. If you need to give something to someone else's Pokémon, you need to let them out.

Fast Ball
Since there's no programming flag in this game saying 'this is a Pokémon that flees' and I don't want to force you lot to play roulette with them, I'm using the HG/SS version of the Fast Ball: it works better on Pokémon with Base Speed of 100 or more instead of Pokémon that flee.

Egg Groups

• Nidorina and Nidoqueen are in the Monster and Field (Ground) Egg Groups, same as Nidoran F.
• Trapinch and its evolutions are in the Bug and Dragon Egg Groups.

Resting outside a Pokémon Center will heal your Pokémon slowly. This time must be spent resting, not traveling, training or battling. Pokémon with no stat damage or major status effects (EX: Poison, Burn) will be restored to full HP in three hours. Major status effects will usually go away in 12 hours. Stat damage heals at the normal rate; use a Pokémon Center to make it go away more quickly.

Evolutionary Stone prices have been altered from their base game values - rarer stones are now worth more.
Fire/Water/Thunder/Leaf: Buy 2100 PD - Sell 1050 PD
Sun/Moon: Buy 6300 PD - Sell 3150 PD
Shiny/Dusk/Dawn: Buy 10500 PD - Sell 5250 PD

[essCee]

essCee, checking in.

[Kareeah_Indaga]

essCee, checking in.

I see you!

[Gnomes2169]

Red 5, standing by.

Do we want more people? I figure we have a good sized group right now, but I think I could handle one or two more.

Recruitment threads can be opened and closed as you need it, so if you wanted to look at the possibility of getting another player or two, you could open it up until you get them and then close it again until someone drops or you were interested in picking another person back up. And because this site has been updated since the invention of the internet, you can add tags to a recruitment thread to let people know if recruitment is open or closed without them needing to open the thread up.

Juuuuust adding some backstory naaaaaaaaaaames and nerds to this post.

Spoiler: Names and nerds

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Mark's dead friends.
-Jason Manden: Jericho (Froslass), Elijah (Lucario), Joshua (Gallade), Mary (Glacion)
Appearance: A young man with a serious but kind face. Has just a hint of a smile and eyes that seem to dance.
-Captain Maxwell Morris: Steelix, Flygon (He was uncreative)
Appearance: Older, looks like he was part of the Military for a few decades. Grumpy face.
-Alan Lorend: Guillotine (Scizor), Tank (Graveller), Oink (swinub)
Appearance: Looks like Zelgius, but he appears to be laughing. Must have been a twin...
-Markus Olen: Precious (Persian), Wraith (Haunter)
Appearance: Young, tall man with a wide belly and angry expression.
-Drake Bauer: Jolt (Pikachu), Spark (Quilava), Sprout (Leafeon) Appearance: Shorter man, more like a teenager, wearing thick glasses. He is holding paperwork and seems to be a little nervous.
-Zelgius Lorend: Avotre (Scyther), Gilliam (Larion), Jessia (Snorunt)
Appearance: The same old Zelgius, but well-rested, younger, unscarred and... happy.

Spoiler: Mark's t-shirts and other clothes

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Pants we know of
-Basic navy-blue jeans
-Sports shorts
-Tan cargo shorts

Shirts
-Blue "Kiss me I'm Johtan" t-shirt (Covered in ashes, very dirty)
-Black "I'm a tourist" t-shirt
-Black "Take me to your leader" t-shirt with multiple cartoon pokemon around the words.
-Red "You caught me at a bad time, I'm awake!" t-shirt.
-White "Ice, ice baby" t-shirt with a Frosslass on it.
-Black "You Only Die Once" t-shirt with a Haunter on it.

[gorman]

Ah yep, I'm here too.

[Kareeah_Indaga]

Excellent, all are present and accounted for.

EDIT:

And we now have a Recruitment thread. Yell if I'm missing anything you lot think should be included!

EDIT again:

We've had some interest in the Recruitment thread guys, we might get some new players soon-ish.

[Gnomes2169]

Just waiting for Pinklady to post on my end.

And yaaaaaay new people!

Edit: Oh hey, I know Feathersnow! We've played a few god games called Lords of Creation, where you basically make a setting for D&D by playing the gods of that setting and making stuff/ people/ D R A M A

Edit 2: Could move on if Pinklady doesn't have anything to add, was planning to train Jessia a level, so that my team is at least level 30.

[WindStruck]

Hello everybody! I'm standing by!

Very interested to see what happens!

[Lord Ruby34]

Also chiming in to say hello! Looking forward to playing with you all!

[Feathersnow]

Just waiting for Pinklady to post on my end.

And yaaaaaay new people!

Edit: Oh hey, I know Feathersnow! We've played a few god games called Lords of Creation, where you basically make a setting for D&D by playing the gods of that setting and making stuff/ people/ D R A M A

Edit 2: Could move on if Pinklady doesn't have anything to add, was planning to train Jessia a level, so that my team is at least level 30.

Hi! I remember!

I'm playing a lesser son of Johtoan nobility who acts like what he thinks Samurai were like!

[Gnomes2169]

Hullo there new friends! Kareeah is going to make things harder now that we have all of you too.

I'm playing Mark. A teen from Johto who's kinda a dork, has a prosthetic arm, draws stuff sometimes and has too many meme shirts. He also might have accidentally helped take down a Bandra taskmaster while he was disassociating hard. He's definitely better now though, no trauma at all, haha. Hahaha. He even stopped stuttering all the time and is doing all these kinds of mastermind-y things that might even make sense!

[Kareeah_Indaga]

Intro post is up! Stat pages will be a bit longer. And the stat pages should be done too now, let me know if anything looks off - one exception: Lord Ruby your Nidorina's Egg groups are listed as Monster and Field(Ground), not No Eggs as in the handhelds. This is on purpose, as far as I'm concerned the No Eggs on Nidorina/Nidoqueen is a bug the devs kept around as it is nonsensical and nothing in their Pokédex entries suggests they aren't supposed to be able to breed, rather the contrary. I don't expect this to affect gameplay in the near future, but so you know.

Hullo there new friends! Kareeah is going to make things harder now that we have all of you too.

Absolutely.

The dreaded DMPC is named Mina. She is also from Johto, and tends towards trust issues and mild paranoia. She has been in the group the longest, being the only original group member remaining.

[essCee]

Welcome, new folks! Y'all make it so I'm not the newest player anymore, yay

I'm playing Pinklady. Loves her forest home back in Unova, wannabe Pokemon Ranger, definitely on the "peppy" side. Can't wait so see our characters meet and interact!

[Lord Ruby34]

Hello!

Less if probably the oldest character in the group, at five-seven. Anyone who has traveled with him for more than a day likely knows that he used to be a teacher, whether he's said as much or not. Tends toward the serious and protective, especially where children are involved.

[Gnomes2169]

I'm ready to move on to the next part of the adventure/ training on my end. I think I was just planning to do some training until around dinner time, and then call Wain after eating... so I guess I'll also train Tattersail 2 levels. Which should bring me to about 8 pm?

Also I will be feeding my Onyx, even though I'm not posting that IC. I'm not going to be mean and forget my rock snek, he's already had a bit of a rough time of it.

[Kareeah_Indaga]

I'm ready to move on to the next part of the adventure/ training on my end. I think I was just planning to do some training until around dinner time, and then call Wain after eating... so I guess I'll also train Tattersail 2 levels. Which should bring me to about 8 pm?

10 PM. (Technically 10:30, but you know what I mean.) Remember Tattersail is level 30, so it's 3 hours per level-up for her now. Did you still want to do two levels for her?

[WindStruck]

So as natives to Helnith (and also having no clue as a player), what might our new characters know about this Team Bandra?

FYI, I was thinking of playing it up as Flotsam being mostly ignorant about Team Bandra, but with a war that has gone on for years and big changes to the lands, it would be pretty hard to remain totally ignorant.

[Lord Ruby34]

Following up on the above, what exactly might our characters know about the war? I imagine Less has been following it quite closely.

Also, is there any chance we could start with a higher than default happiness on one of our pokemon? I imagine that Less and Buck have probably been together for about fifty years now. For what it's worth I'm not planning on teaching Buck Return or any other happiness move at any point, but I imagine that it would be flavorful for them to be a little closer.

[Gnomes2169]

10 PM. (Technically 10:30, but you know what I mean.) Remember Tattersail is level 30, so it's 3 hours per level-up for her now. Did you still want to do two levels for her?

Ah heck, thought it was still noon. In that case, I'll do one level for her and then give the ranger a call.

[gorman]

I completely forgot how to access this thread (until now clearly LUL) ... I fail at life

[Kareeah_Indaga]

So as natives to Helnith (and also having no clue as a player), what might our new characters know about this Team Bandra?

Bearing in mind this is what is commonly known by the average person in Helnith and not all of it is necessarily correct:

Spoiler: Team Bandra

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Bandra formed about seven years ago. The typical Bandra uniform is black and purple, and their emblem is a spiky purple ’B’. Their leader is known in most circles as Triple B (“Big Boss Bandra”).

Not counting their leader, there are generally three tiers of Bandra forces:

Grunts - These are the most common. Their uniform is a shirt, hat, black pants and a mask. They are also bottom of the barrel as far as rank and skill level. Their Pokémon usually consist of Rock, Ground, and Fighting Pokemon, and Wispaferyn (Bug/Fire Helnith Pokémon), with a smattering of other species and types, but with a strong tendency towards Pokémon that are common and easy to use. It’s not unheard of for Grunts to have Pokémon outside of those bounds, but in general more unusual Pokémon belong to…

Taskmasters - The war has been going on for seven years, and more people have been leaving Helnith than coming in, with the end result that anyone in Bandra with any degree of skill or experience has been promoted to Taskmaster. Taskmasters tend to be in charge of specific minor missions or set to oversee Grunts. Their uniforms resemble those of the Grunts, but they have a vest in addition to the above.

Officers - The highest tier aside from Triple B. Last count, there were about eight of them. It’s not uncommon for them to not bother with face coverings, since the relevant authorities know who most of them are anyway.

Spoiler: Officer Breakdown

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Altros - lowest-ranked of the Bandra Officers, he was arrested early in the game after his defeat by Dream and the player party. Currently cooling his heels in Steltag Prison.

Hannah - Coordinator. Last spotted meeting with Darrin in Ternai Town but previously spent a lot of time in Keida Village.

Darrin - Former resident of Hiresh Asylum. Killed Elite Four Tethys and is currently in possession of said Elite’s Pokémon - including the Legendary Pokémon Acquegon. Widely considered the most dangerous trainer in Bandra after Triple B. Largely responsible for the lack of actual police in most of Helnith. Recently took over Ternai Town.

Baynor - Driven out of Hillsbreak a few weeks ago along with the Bandra forces under his command, hasn’t been seen since. Assumed to still be at large.

Tenma - Bandra’s resident evil scientist. Last seen during the Bandra conquest of the Shrine of Light, but the Shrine was retaken recently and he wasn’t there. Location unknown.

Kerry - Telepath, and as you would expect specializes in Psychic types. In or around Stardust City at last report.

Noren - Runs Seapoint and the area around it. He took over the settlement in question early in the war by claiming to be a Gym challenger and used the ‘Gym Leaders can’t switch during official matches’ rule to take the Gym Leader out of the equation. Side note: if you do challenge a Gym Leader to an official match, they no longer use that rule.

Ray - Runs the southern part of the region (Coastmarch, Jikero, sometimes as far west as Plainshaven.) The last few months he’s been moving around a lot more; the rumor mill isn’t sure why. He was in charge of Tidepath, but Dream took it back while Ray was occupied elsewhere.

??? - kept his face covered, rumored to have a Moltres. Location unknown. There are a few rumors he had a falling out with Triple B and is out of the picture entirely, but nothing confirmed.

Following up on the above, what exactly might our characters know about the war? I imagine Less has been following it quite closely.

Anything particular you’re curious about? I put some info in the Bandra Officer block above. Beyond that the thing most relevant to you is

Spoiler: Emilia

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Emilia contacted you not long before she disappeared; she was down south, being chased by Bandra Officer Ray.

Also, is there any chance we could start with a higher than default happiness on one of our pokemon?

Absolutely. I don’t usually keep track of it unless it’s relevant (EX: for evolution) but I can add it to Buck’s stats.

I completely forgot how to access this thread (until now clearly LUL) ... I fail at life

Suggestion: Click the Thread Tools at the top of the page and click the option to subscribe. That should make it easier to keep track of.

Also: Introduce your character to our new players!

[WindStruck]

That is a lot of information! More than I would expect Flotsam to ever know.

I still do have some pressing questions though. What are Team Bandra's actual (or stated) goals? Does anyone know?

What other changes have they caused? From the looks of it, maybe some destroyed towns, made barren wastelands, and caused a bunch of rain elsewhere? Anything else?

[Lord Ruby34]

Just making sure I have everything straight. We're in Rieva, but I don't see it on the map. Can you tell us where the village is located? Found it.

As far as the war, how did it start? What is team Bandra's stated goals? Do they have non-pokemon based forces? What forces actually stand in opposition? Are there any regular organized forces left who oppose them? What do they do when they take over a town or some other kind of territory?

I know that's a lot of questions. Apologies. I make no promises that I won't have more later.

[essCee]

I have a couple things in mind for Pinklady to do now hers and Mark's meal and intros are over - reading up about Cosmas in her dex and contacting Mina - but also, since she's in the same location as the new folks, just later in the day, I'd like to wait a bit for their catch-up to possibly interact with them just after the meal.

[Kareeah_Indaga]

I still do have some pressing questions though. What are Team Bandra's actual (or stated) goals? Does anyone know?

As far as the war, how did it start? What is team Bandra's stated goals?

Short answer: they are out to take over Helnith. There is more to it than that, but some of it you’re going to have to wait until you meet the rest of the group for, as while the party has discovered it, it isn’t general knowledge.

Through Emilia, Less will know that

Spoiler: Less

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Triple B is Selene Icharias, the League Champion, and her fiancée died not long before the whole mess started. Emilia at least thought the two were connected, though it had seemed to her at the time that Selene was dealing with his death as well as anyone could. The ‘start a team of bad guys, conquer the region’ bit was very unexpected.

What other changes have they caused? From the looks of it, maybe some destroyed towns, made barren wastelands, and caused a bunch of rain elsewhere? Anything else?

That’s the bulk of it: they’re taking over towns, killing people who oppose them, and they’re mucking around with the local Legendary Pokémon. That last caused Salerdia’s absence for the last five years, which in turn caused the region to die off (she’s back now, but the damage doesn’t go away overnight) – for example the area around Siltis Village used to be grassy, and wild Pokémon in Helnith are rarer than in other regions.

The dimensional rifts opening at regular intervals predates Bandra, and is none of their doing.

Do they have non-pokemon based forces?

I’m not sure what you mean by this. They have a little more in the way of hardware than the rest of Helnith does (a few helicopters, vehicles, some tech that their opponents either don’t have or refuse to use).

What forces actually stand in opposition? Are there any regular organized forces left who oppose them?

Spoiler: Forces Opposing Bandra

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Aside from the party, there is the Starlight Squad, but they suffered a serious defeat not long ago – kicked out of Stardust City, chased through the Shrine of Light, retreated all the way to Ternai Town only for Bandra Officer Darrin to attack as soon as they started striking back. Their leader was killed – rumor has it by one of the Squad - and of his three lieutenants, one of them was lost during the aforementioned striking back, and the Squad is split between the other two. Subsequent finger-pointing and distrust mean that’s not likely to change without some outside intervention.

Beyond that, the Gym Leaders of the towns that have them are protecting their towns as best they can, Dream (and Emilia when she was around) is running interference, and Salerdia was spotted about three weeks ago.

In theory the Ranger Union is also opposed to Team Bandra, but in practice they're spread too thin to be useful as an organization; most of the region's police forces being wiped out means they're covering those in addition to their own duties.

What do they do when they take over a town or some other kind of territory?

Kill everyone who opposes them, hang the bodies of the people they killed in public places as a warning to others, take whatever they want, generally oppress the population and act like they own the place. That sort of thing.

I know that's a lot of questions. Apologies. I make no promises that I won't have more later.

That’s okay, every time I give you more info I keep having to apply the mental filter ‘but did we hear this from a Legendary Pokémon, in another dimension, or from some other source that would not be available to the average Helnith citizen?’ so don’t be surprised if I chime in with extra details later, either!

Bandra has the Radio Tower, and the newspaper is mostly only in circulation in Skybreak City due to heightened security there, so news doesn’t travel well.

I have a couple things in mind for Pinklady to do now hers and Mark's meal and intros are over - reading up about Cosmas in her dex and contacting Mina - but also, since she's in the same location as the new folks, just later in the day, I'd like to wait a bit for their catch-up to possibly interact with them just after the meal.

Sounds good!

[Lord Ruby34]

Thanks for the rundown! It's exceedingly helpful.

I’m not sure what you mean by this. They have a little more in the way of hardware than the rest of Helnith does (a few helicopters, vehicles, some tech that their opponents either don’t have or refuse to use).

I guess I'm asking how much they have in the way of men with guns. (Or swords? I know there was one pokemon episode way back when that had a gun in it, but I'm not sure it's still true that guns exist in the pokemon universe.) Or people that are willing to do violence without pokemon.

[Kareeah_Indaga]

I guess I'm asking how much they have in the way of men with guns. (Or swords? I know there was one pokemon episode way back when that had a gun in it, but I'm not sure it's still true that guns exist in the pokemon universe.) Or people that are willing to do violence without pokemon.

Not many (although guns do exist). Anyone who has spent more than fifteen minutes around the average Bandra Grunt knows very well that they’re going to end up shooting themselves in the face sooner rather than later if you give them guns.

[WindStruck]

Wow, Team Bandra sound like total jerks.

[Kareeah_Indaga]

Wow, Team Bandra sound like total jerks.

Yeah, some bad guy Teams may have good intentions and just go too far with them - Bandra is not one of those.

[Gnomes2169]

Wow, Team Bandra sound like total jerks.

Jessie and James they are not, no. Nor are they Maxie. Who WAS NOT WRONG. If I need a pokemon with Surf and a freaking gym badge just to I can go shopping at the mall, then clearly there's too much water.