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In general good Pokemon.; Not min-maxing
Topic Started: Mar 3 2016, 12:24 AM (2,197 Views)
SandsofAzorin
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Pokémon Trainer
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Alomomola is actually pretty amazing as a support pokemon. It has a beastly HP of *17*! Not to mention its speed and defensive are decent. It however suffers from 'Melee Fish Syndrome', and it doesn't learn any ranged attacks till level 25. But with some mentor/TM support that becomes a minor issue. But it does learn a bunch of healing moves, and it can be used as a tank. Its abilities also support this, Healer to get rid of one status affliction per scene for free, regenerator to heal 1/3 twice per day and Blessed Touch, which gives another 1/4 hp heal.
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Ealon
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"Lover of the Law"
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I'll place a plug for Rotom, perhaps the most versatile Pokemon in the game.

Outside of combat, wired is an amazing ability to have and can get you out of (or into) several sticky situations. Also, having a Levitate speed, the ability to go through walls, and invisibility makes scouting easier.

Incombat, you can change what kind of Pokemon you want it to be as you go about your adventure. Since altered Rotom gets a different stat distribution from normal Rotom, you can have normal Rotom stated for Sp. Att and Spd and altered Rotom stated for Def, Sp. Def, and Hp. Need a Sweeper next combat? Normal mode. Need a more tanky pokemon, use a hairdryer to have Fire Rotom (be careful with this, the rules for multiple form Pokemon is that the HP stat must stay the same on all forms, making HP base stat relation hard to work out. Natures, vitamins, or enduring soul helps with this issue.)

Also, it's an underdog so +1 in all base stats from the pokémon edge is a bonus.

Only downside is probably the lack-luster move pool, but honestly, I've never found it an issue.
Edited by Ealon, Mar 3 2016, 05:22 PM.
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Trustydryingpan
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Thank you guys so much! This gives me a much better idea of what to catch and what not to catch.
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BatiroAtrain
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Pyramid King
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With the amount of customization you can put into your Pokemon in this system, no Pokemon is truly worthless in PTU. One of my players once had a Slugma that was stacked for Speed, meant to False Swipe everything and make catching things much easier. Slugma's base speed is 2.

That said, if you're going by stats and movepools alone, I have to give a special shout-out to Rattata. A small horde of little rats Quick-Attacking, Biting, or lord forbid Hyper Fanging a freshly-statted party is the quickest way to show any group how radically different PTU compared to the games.
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The Sneaky Prinny
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Optional Bonus Boss
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So, when considering what makes a good pokemon, note that the correct Ace can make most pokemon completely viable. An Attack Ace can turn a Kakuna into a lethal combatant, and a speed ace can make Snorlax into an Olympic sprinter. With that said.
Good stuff:
Highly varied movepools. A lot of moves in Pokemon Tabletop have extremely useful effects in terms of range, added secondary features, or plain utility. The easiest way to find such a move is to get access to as many as possible. In general, the generic monster TM dumpster pokemon, like Aggron, Rhydon, Tyranitar, or the Nidos, can learn such a wide variety of moves that it is easy to make them useful, even if they wind up operating more as a defensive supporty pokemon on account of it.

Ghost Pokemon: Not only do you not need to feed them, but most of them fly, many of them can go through stuff, and most of them get to laugh in the face of trainer combat, since a huge chunk of trainer moves are Normal or Fighting.
With the above in mind, if you are a Martial Artist/Athlete, picking up something with a move to change the types of enemies, like Soak, is highly desirable.

Basic bug Pokemon, especially the Ariados line: Threaded is a great capability, not so much for battles, but for out of combat problem solving. Need a bridge? Ariados can do that. Need a trap? Ariados can do that. Is there a time bomb? Encase it in the thickest string Ariados can shoot, and watch the explosion cough out of existence. Is your armor broken? Ariados will have it fixed by morning. Did you find a naked person in the woods? Give Ariados 10 minutes to whip up some long-johns. Are you being chased by an angry Ursaring? Not after Ariados finishes with it. Did you loose your tent? Ask Ariados to make a silky lean-to. Of the games I have played, the two that I carried an Ariados saw that Ariados as my most used pokemon, not because it was good in a fight (It was passable), but because of just how much it is an acceptable answer to. A few times, when face with a problem I had no idea how to solve, I just threw Ariados at it to see if it stuck. More than once, this helped.

Something that Flies: Whether a levitate or a Sky speed, at least one thing with this is a huge boon to any team. Think of the Anime for this one. How many general utility functions does the regional bird perform? One that can carry you is better, but anything is great.

Status Moves: These moves represent a method to defeat a pokemon in a single move. Burning, Poisoning, or Paralyzing the right pokemon is almost as good as fainting them, and a confused or sleeping pokemon is one that isn't fighting you.
Varied Capabilities: Think of every Capability your pokemon have as another tool at their disposal. A toolbox with six screwdrivers in it is probably less helpful than a toolbox with two screwdrivers, a hammer, a roll of duct tape, a ruler, and a sexton, even if you are relatively certain the sexton will never help you.


Less desirable:
Fighting Pokemon: A martial artist trainer will outperform a fighting type in most cases. Psychic trainers and pokemon are closer in balance (Since Psychic traits are divided across 3 classes). Fighting Types that can do other things are better, like Gallade or Blaziken, but it is tough to justify a Machop or a Mankey if there is already a Martial Artist on your team.
Massive Pokemon: The advantages of having a large pokemon like Onix are noticeable, but not as much as the disadvantages. Such pokemon will be outright unusable a good percentage of the time, and clutter up the battlefield when you can use them. A Pokemon like Onix is a decision with far reaching consequences that you will have to adapt for. Onix is a totally fun pokemon, but it is just too unweildly to rely on most of the time. Other pokemon with this flaw include the likes of Wailord, or Gyarados.

Typical Garbagemons: Things like Luvdisc, Delibird, or Farfetch'd. PTU goes to great ends to give these pokemon useful gimmicks and features. Most of the time, it isn't enough. The stats often aren't the entirety of these pokemon's problems, many of them fall into the other traps listed here. There are certainly ways to bring Delibird to its full potential, but at the end of the day, a Delibird is still a Delibird.

double weaknesses: With the movesets of 6 (or greater!) that pokemon carry in Pokemon Tabletop, coverage can be more varied. This means an opponent will more than likely be able to capitalize on it. Super Effective hits are less powerful in PTU, but are still nothing to scoff at. Pokemon with several double weaknesses, like Macgarco are right out. Slugma is a much better pokemon than Magcargo for this reason.

Pokemon without some form of Grasper: By grasper, I mean a hand, an opposeble claw, a flexible jaw, psychic manipulation, or something else like this. Things get difficult distressingly easily when your pokemon cannot easily interact with objects.


Avoid: Pokemon with very low HP. Unless you take the enduring Soul class, these pokemon will consistently be knocked out, if not die in easy fights. This is a problem that only gets worse over time, as your HP will grow at a snail's pace compared to the offence of your enemies. This is a serious knock against the aforementioned ghost type pokemon, as many of them have awful HP, though as an advantage, they may or may not be immune to death.

Shedinja: Shedinja only works as a surprise. The GM knows you have a Shedinja, and everyone you fight is in effect the GM. Ergo, you will never surprise anyone ever with a Shedinja.

Melee Fish: As covered above, their mobility is a serious issue that prevents them from shining in 9/10 fights, where they will spend several turns flopping up to their enemy, and run a serious risk of being kited indefinitely by a pokemon with a basic ranged attack. In the situations where they can realize their full potential, they don't become better than average either, they just become average.

Type-Locked pokemon: These are pokemon that, even including TM, Tutor, and Egg Moves, learn so little outside of their type that they are forever bound to run garbage on account of finding nothing better. Grass Pokemon are particularly vulnerable to this, though Water types run into it somewhat frequently as well. This can be remedied with trainer types that can teach unusual moves, but this is a drawback that is always felt.

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moorg
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Travelling with a Furret under the effect of Focused Training, means you'll probably never get ambushed. And if you're actively searching for something, you'll probably find it.
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