| Welcome to Pokemon Tabletop. We hope you enjoy your visit. You're currently viewing our forum as a guest. This means you are limited to certain areas of the board and there are some features you can't use. If you join our community, you'll be able to access member-only sections, and use many member-only features such as customizing your profile, sending personal messages, and voting in polls. Registration is simple, fast, and completely free. Join our community! If you're already a member please log in to your account to access all of our features: |
| Catching Up Low-Leveled Pokémon; How to make them catch up in level? | |
|---|---|
| Tweet Topic Started: Jun 20 2014, 02:32 PM (975 Views) | |
| Darkholme | Jun 20 2014, 02:32 PM Post #1 |
|
Pokémon Trainer
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
|
So, I'm new to PTU, and I've got a GM who is going to run a game of PTU in two weeks, and I'm building a character for the game, and I have a three-part question: 1. If I catch or breed a low-level Pokémon, how do I make it catch up in levels to the rest of my group? If we're level 30 and I pick up a level 5 Pokémon, will I have to convince my group to abandon the plot to level up our lower leveled Pokémon to where our higher leveled Pokémon are, likely annoying the crap out of the GM as we just grind against random encounters for several sessions? 2. If 1. is a painfully slow process, is there an edge or feature that speeds it up? Rare candies are prohibitively expensive, and apparently you can only ever eat 5 rare candies, so using them to make a Pokémon catch up to the rest of the group is notan option. They're clearly priced for going ahead of the power curve, not for catching up to it. 3. How steep is the power curve, exactly? Will my lower leveled Pokémon be useless to the group? |
![]() |
|
| Lockdown | Jun 20 2014, 02:46 PM Post #2 |
|
I SEEE YOUUUU
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
|
1. This really depends on how your GM handles XP distribution Darkholme. If they use a pool system, then getting your mon up to snuff isn't that hard to do. If they don't then you've got the Training option detailed in the rulebook. Provided your Command rank is high you can catch up newborn mon easily. Also remember that the higher level the mon, the more xp it takes to get them to that next level. Given enough time and opportunities, then you should be able to get them up there. Also I can tell you right now, there's no way in hell that the GM would simply let you grind against random encounters for several sessions. What's more likely to happen is that he'll throw a different plot hook at you; or provide you with some kind of Daycare service to let your mon level up. 2. There's an edge that lets you train more pokemon at one time, but other than that there's not a lot you can do. 3. A pokemon's "usefulness" isn't always defined by it's pure power. Remember that their capabilities and skills can also come into play to make a mon that's not suited for combat at the moment still incredibly useful. Edited by Lockdown, Jun 20 2014, 02:47 PM.
|
![]() |
|
| castfromhp | Jun 20 2014, 02:47 PM Post #3 |
|
Mawile Ace
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
|
1. Check out the rules for Training Pokémon outside of battle on page 180. It's a slow process, but it's something you can generally do each day if you aren't in a huge hurry and doesn't take time out of the game session. Your GM should take a look at page 428, which details how experience is handed out, particularly the column under "Regulating Experience". What's common practice after large battles is to allow a certain percentage of Experience from a battle to be given even to Pokémon that didn't participate in the battle. For example, in a battle worth 1000 EXP, the GM might say 700 has to go to Pokémon you used in that battle only, while the other 300 can be split up among other Pokémon you have, maybe with a limit like a maximum of 200 EXP per Pokémon. Contests are also a way lower-leveled Pokémon can gain Experience, but I can understand if that also feels like derailing the game for a few sessions just to grind. Finally, your GM can consider giving Experience for non-combat challenges, where you might for example use a lower leveled Squirtle to help put out a wildfire and gain Experience from that, or using an Onix to help evacuate survivors of an earthquake. 2. You want Baby Food (page 256) for particularly low leveled Pokémon. You won't necessarily need it. The options in 1 are all pretty feasible as long as the GM is reasonable. 3. What tends to matter more than raw stat points from levels for a good portion of the game is access to a good move pool. So this will depend on the Pokémon, and in the early game, level differences will feel more pronounced. Some Pokémon, like Gastly, will be able to contribute to a party even at low levels by using Moves like Hypnosis, Mean Look, and Curse, even if they aren't damage dealers. Others, like Seedot, are basically useless unless given TMs or raised to a high enough level. The boost that comes from Evolution is also a factor in level differences feeling more pronounced early on - the difference between a level 5 Fennekin and a level 15 Grotle feels a lot bigger than the difference between a level 30 Delphox and a level 40 Torterra. By the time you get your Pokémon around level 20 or 30, even level differences of 10-ish won't necessarily feel huge. In the game I'm playing in, I've used Pokémon around level 30 or 35 alongside my party members' Pokémon around level 40 or 45 and not felt a huge disadvantage. |
![]() |
|
| Darkholme | Jun 20 2014, 05:02 PM Post #4 |
|
Pokémon Trainer
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
|
Hmm. Thanks lockdown, castfromhp. I will definitely keep those things in mind, especially when it comes to choosing Pokémon and focusing on their move pools.
Edited by Darkholme, Jun 20 2014, 05:02 PM.
|
![]() |
|
| gourdcaptain | Jun 20 2014, 08:35 PM Post #5 |
|
Pokémon Trainer
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
|
The solution we came up with for this in our group was to just homebrew an EXP Share item that when equipped by a Pokemon, makes them always count as in the battle for EXP distribution purposes. |
![]() |
|
| castfromhp | Jun 21 2014, 12:01 PM Post #6 |
|
Mawile Ace
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
|
Why do you need an EXP share item? Page 428 already establishes that a GM should be allowing players to distribute a portion of Experience even to Pokémon that haven't participated in a fight. It's written there as a recommendation for boss battles, but that's easily expanded to any fight worth a significant amount of Experience. An item is just an unnecessary tax to do something that should already be permissible. |
![]() |
|
| gourdcaptain | Jun 21 2014, 11:39 PM Post #7 |
|
Pokémon Trainer
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
|
To be fair, I think we came up with the EXP Shares previously to the current version. And we may just have missed the rule, and we were gifted them IC. |
![]() |
|
| 1 user reading this topic (1 Guest and 0 Anonymous) | |
| « Previous Topic · Pokemon: Tabletop United · Next Topic » |
| Track Topic · E-mail Topic |
7:42 AM Jul 11
|
Pokéball created by Sarah & Delirium of the ZNR





![]](http://z4.ifrm.com/static/1/pip_r.png)



7:42 AM Jul 11