Post by Professor Ironwood on Apr 29, 2010 2:11:15 GMT -7
Pokemon Basics
Pokemon, like Trainers, have a stat line, which is set up much like you'd expect it to in the game itself: HP, Atk, Def, Sp. Atk, Sp. Def, Spd. It's pretty easy to figure out what each of those stats does. The difference, in Slate, is that when you get your stats you don't get just one value. Rather, your Pokemon will have two values for each stat: their Base Stat, and their Current Stat.
Their Base Stat is the value that given stat would have if the Pokemon were at level one, and it takes into account nature. This doesn't have any bearing on actual battling, but rather controls the direction in which a Pokemon will advance. The Current Stat is the stat that will be used to determine attack strength, defense, etc. in battle.
So, for example, let's take a Rattata at 5th level, with no Nature. It might look something like this when you get it:
Base Stats/Current Stats
HP: 3/6
Atk: 6/10
Def: 4/8
Sp. Atk: 3/6
Sp. Def: 4/7
Spd: 7/12
So, what, exactly, does the Base Stat do? It determines your Pokemon's Spacing, or the distance each stat must be from the others for the Pokemon's build to be legal. To explain further, the above Rattata has an Atk Base of 6 and a Spd base of 7. Therefore, no matter how high you want the Rattata's Atk to be, its Spd must be at least one point higher. So, if you have an Atk of 9 and a Spd of 10, and wanted an Atk of 10, you'd first have to spend a point to increase your Spd to 11.
This doesn't mean you have to always advance linearly, however, If you level up at one point and just pump Speed, then the next turn you can give your Pokemon a hearty boost to Atk, or some other stat you have freed up. All-comer builds, or "single-stat pump" builds are both equally viable, though I'd advise you to put at least some points into your other stats at some point, just so you can actually survive a hit / have decent HP / aren't just a sitting fortress etc.
Natures
Natures affect base stats by a value of 1 point, and can therefore cause a significant shift in Spacing. For instance, the above Rattata could end up with Spd and Atk equal with a beneficial Nature - he could then pump his Atk stat like there's no tomorrow, and suddenly rather than a quick harrier, you have a physical damage sweeper.
When you get a Pokemon, it should always have its stats adjusted for its Nature already. With your Starter, the Nature should always be beneficial, unless you request something specific - any other Pokemon will have a completely random Nature.
Abilities
Abilities are a key part to several pokemon (Shedinja, anyone?) and are otherwise a very important part of the third gen of games and up. Fortunately, the actual effects of any given Ability translate pretty much straight into Slate's system. Therefore, Abilities are supported and will be added to Pokemon from now on.
Pokemon Sheet
So, here is the basic Pokemon stat sheet you'll be filling out for each Pokemon you get (though it should be given to you mostly filled out whenever you catch a Pokemon):
Move Lists
Moves in Slate work a little differently. Instead of having only four, you can have up to seven "combat" moves, and then seven "HM" moves which you can't use in combat, but which you CAN use for their on-the-field functions. I.E.: Cutting things with Cut. If you want to have a Pokemon use an HM move in combat as well, then it has to be added to your Combat Move pool as well as your HM Move pool.
For sake of simplicity, there will be some guidelines on how to convert moves for use in Slate, rather than creating a full compendium of moves on this site, on account of there being so many moves, which will be found in the next post in this thread.
Pokemon, like Trainers, have a stat line, which is set up much like you'd expect it to in the game itself: HP, Atk, Def, Sp. Atk, Sp. Def, Spd. It's pretty easy to figure out what each of those stats does. The difference, in Slate, is that when you get your stats you don't get just one value. Rather, your Pokemon will have two values for each stat: their Base Stat, and their Current Stat.
Their Base Stat is the value that given stat would have if the Pokemon were at level one, and it takes into account nature. This doesn't have any bearing on actual battling, but rather controls the direction in which a Pokemon will advance. The Current Stat is the stat that will be used to determine attack strength, defense, etc. in battle.
So, for example, let's take a Rattata at 5th level, with no Nature. It might look something like this when you get it:
Base Stats/Current Stats
HP: 3/6
Atk: 6/10
Def: 4/8
Sp. Atk: 3/6
Sp. Def: 4/7
Spd: 7/12
So, what, exactly, does the Base Stat do? It determines your Pokemon's Spacing, or the distance each stat must be from the others for the Pokemon's build to be legal. To explain further, the above Rattata has an Atk Base of 6 and a Spd base of 7. Therefore, no matter how high you want the Rattata's Atk to be, its Spd must be at least one point higher. So, if you have an Atk of 9 and a Spd of 10, and wanted an Atk of 10, you'd first have to spend a point to increase your Spd to 11.
This doesn't mean you have to always advance linearly, however, If you level up at one point and just pump Speed, then the next turn you can give your Pokemon a hearty boost to Atk, or some other stat you have freed up. All-comer builds, or "single-stat pump" builds are both equally viable, though I'd advise you to put at least some points into your other stats at some point, just so you can actually survive a hit / have decent HP / aren't just a sitting fortress etc.
Natures
Natures affect base stats by a value of 1 point, and can therefore cause a significant shift in Spacing. For instance, the above Rattata could end up with Spd and Atk equal with a beneficial Nature - he could then pump his Atk stat like there's no tomorrow, and suddenly rather than a quick harrier, you have a physical damage sweeper.
When you get a Pokemon, it should always have its stats adjusted for its Nature already. With your Starter, the Nature should always be beneficial, unless you request something specific - any other Pokemon will have a completely random Nature.
Abilities
Abilities are a key part to several pokemon (Shedinja, anyone?) and are otherwise a very important part of the third gen of games and up. Fortunately, the actual effects of any given Ability translate pretty much straight into Slate's system. Therefore, Abilities are supported and will be added to Pokemon from now on.
Pokemon Sheet
So, here is the basic Pokemon stat sheet you'll be filling out for each Pokemon you get (though it should be given to you mostly filled out whenever you catch a Pokemon):
[b]Name:[/b]
[b]Species:[/b]
[b]Gender:[/b]
[b]Nature:[/b]
[b]Caught on:[/b] This'll be the location you caught the Pokemon on.
[b]Level:[/b] 1-100
[b]HP Total:[/b] HP is calculated multiplying the Pokemon's HP by 3 and adding the Pokemon's level.
[b][u]Base/Current Stats[/u][/b]
HP:
Atk:
Def:
Sp. Atk:
Sp. Def:
Spd:
EV: For every 20 points of Spd, you gain +1 Evasion.
[b][u]Move List[/u][/b]
[b]Combat Moves:[/b]
[b]HM Moves:[/b]
Move Lists
Moves in Slate work a little differently. Instead of having only four, you can have up to seven "combat" moves, and then seven "HM" moves which you can't use in combat, but which you CAN use for their on-the-field functions. I.E.: Cutting things with Cut. If you want to have a Pokemon use an HM move in combat as well, then it has to be added to your Combat Move pool as well as your HM Move pool.
For sake of simplicity, there will be some guidelines on how to convert moves for use in Slate, rather than creating a full compendium of moves on this site, on account of there being so many moves, which will be found in the next post in this thread.