Introduction

Pokémon Tabletop United is a game that’s had a fairly decent lifespan, as far as “games made
in the creators’ spare time at post-secondary'' go. But, there comes a time when everything has
to end, and this is PTU’s time. The games are starting to diverge a lot more, and working on just
doing the same thing is rather exhausting. So, this is the end as far as official updates go.

But, we’re not going to leave you in the dark about how to continue on your own if you want to.
This document’s purpose is to help you in creating new Pokémon in the style of PTU, as well as
fixing older, less-performing ones.

Why fixing? Frankly, there have been a lot of lessons learned since PTU’s first edition in
January 2013, and even since 1.05 (released in February 2015, with its last update a year later
in February 2016). Six and a half years later, it’s clear that where PTU hews closest to the
games are often where it’s clunkiest, since Gamefreak definitely does not make Pokémon equal.

For instance, Generation 1 Pokémon are blessed with diverse Tutor Lists gained over several
generations, while newer Pokémon (especially from Kalos), may have only a bare handful.
Some ‘mon get wildly diverse Type coverage naturally, while some may not even get an attack
of their type until far too late (poor Yanma, for instance, doesn’t get any Flying or Bug moves
until level 43). And in a game where “using your favorites” should be viable… this isn’t great.

Thankfully, it’s not too difficult to make Pokémon workable (especially since doing it only for the
‘mon that your players will use saves a lot of work), and hopefully the guidance here will help
make it relatively painless. And make things a better experience overall.

Thanks for sticking with us all these years, and, hey, you’ll probably still see us around in other
projects that we get up to1. But, for now, it’s time for us to close a chapter here, and leave you
the tools to write any future ones.

1
If you’re interested in these projects: Doxy is currently working on Wyrdwood Wand, a fantasy tabletop
RPG. Data is currently working on the Field Guide to Iridia, a LANCER RPG Homebrew. Cast is currently
working on Pokémon Odyssey, a completely separate Pokémon Tabletop game, which can be found
under #pokeodyssey-discussion on the Discord.
 Components of a Good Pokémon

While it’s a little more complex than this, a Pokémon that can hold its own has these elements:

● Moves that tend to use its highest attacking stat (and not having stats like Zoroark, who
has an extremely high attacking stat with no moves to use for it).

● Having a Move of its primary type basically from the start, and of a secondary type no
later than level 15.

● Having moves in its natural movelist that are none of its types, and provide coverage.
(Grass, for instance, is not good coverage for a Bug Type, because they have a lot of the
same things that resist them.)

● Having a decent amount of Move types in its non-natural movelist that it couldn’t get
normally.

● Having access to AoE moves. (No-miss moves are also very powerful.)

● Not having much in the way of Status, unless it has a non-Standard way of using them.

● Having some higher DB moves, and having a decent escalation. (Sneasel is very sad
that it only gets a DB 4 move as its Level 47 Capstone… and it’s the only on-stat Ice
move that it gets.)

● Its Abilities should be consistently useful - whether this is something that passively
boosts the things it wants to do, something that can cover the weaknesses of its Type, or
something that gives a useful new thing to do in combat. (Grass Pokemon in particular,
often get Abilities that are very situational, as well as having poor Move choices.)

In short, every Pokémon should have a wide range of options that play to the strengths of its
stats. It should have the option to have some coverage that’s useful in various situations - even
if not necessarily every situation, and perhaps with limited frequency or slightly less power than
its on-type attacks.

Every level should be a move that you’re happy to get - ideally there’d be choices of whether
you keep older moves or take the new one, and they’d both be more-or-less valid. But the
general power should grow, roughly in line with the guidelines on Page 9 of the September
Errata (it may be regarding Tutor and Inheritance moves, but it’s a good rule of thumb to follow
regardless).
 How to Fix Existing Pokémon

First, make sure that you’re not using Base Stat Relations. All it does is make Pokémon with
unfortunate BSR worse, it does nothing to curb the powers of those with good BSR. Let Diglett
have HP.

Second, make sure every Pokémon has a DB 4 or 5 basic option right away, using its primary
attack stat - use a move like Ember or Ice Shard or whatnot as a template to homebrew one if
none exist. Homebrewing “X move but Y type” is going to be a common quick solution.

Third, give them a Move at level 15 (if they don’t have one by then) that’s around DB 6. This
move should be either the Pokémon’s secondary type, or a thematically-appropriate one for
single-type ‘mon. Having variety is very important. If there isn’t an appropriate Move, use
something like Psybeam as a template.

Fourth, they should periodically gain attacking moves of at least one type that’s not the same as
the first two. They should have the first one no later than level 15 (as a DB 4 or 5 move akin to
their basic attack option), to make sure that there’s some options available for every ‘mon.

Fifth, just fold Egg Moves, Tutor Moves, and TMs into one list. It’s extremely clunky to have
them all separate. And then also make sure that every Pokémon has some moves in every
category of the guidelines on Page 9 of the September Errata, including Moves from types it
normally doesn’t get. Make sure that there are fairly regular opportunities to learn Moves from
this list - a lot of opportunities can be cut off if there’s no access.

As a corollary to the previous, (and mostly on a tangent) just axe breeding entirely. You should
be able to make your existing Pokémon good, rather than having to breed it. Just have eggs be
a special way to add ‘mon to your party, and have them hatch at the level for your team. (For
more on Milestone levelling and other good practices that have been learned, check the
#ptu-references channel on the Discord.

Sixth, just give fish some speed. All Pokémon should have a land speed of at least 4, really.
Even if you want to say “PokéFish just hover”, and give them Levitate 4, it won’t break the
game. But it’s not fun to have certain ‘mon cut off just because of their body type - they certainly
aren’t balanced by some other hidden strengths.

Seventh, Pokémon with one evolution should evolve by level 25, and ones with two evolutions
shouldn’t evolve later than 15 for the first and 30 for the 2nd. Also, evolution items/requirements
should be removed. They don’t bring power, and are just either a money tax or the GM giving
one and there being no difference.

Lastly, moves later than Level 50 should be learned at level 50 (or 40, really). Games are not
going to get that high most of the time, and many Pokémon don’t even have Moves left to gain
at that point.
 Converting Moves, Abilities and Pokémon

Note: The advice on Fixing Pokémon above is a good reference to compare your Pokémon to.
It will help see if there are parts that maybe need to be tweaked before finalizing.

Moves

Some things for Moves are very simple.

● DB is the Move Power divided by 10. Round up if the resulting number has a decimal of
.5 or higher, down if otherwise.

● 100% accuracy moves begin at AC 2 (though self-Status moves have no accuracy), and
increase AC by 1 for every 5% lower accuracy it has.

● A 5% effect gives a 20+ effect range, lowering by 1 for every increased 5% of the effect.

Other things are less simple. Range, Frequency, and Tags are a lot more subjective. DB 9 is
about as high as you’ll want to go with EOT moves, less if it’s a Burst or Blast. Any Ranged
Blast 3 or Burst 2 should probably be Scene or Daily, and going larger on those AoEs isn’t
advised. It’s good to check with existing moves to see if you’ve gone a bit too high.

Single Target DMG AOE DMG Status

At-Will 1-6 DB – 1 CS adjustment, bad

status with bad
accuracy

EOT 7-9 DB, 5 Strike (2-3 1-7 DB (higher DB 2 CS adjustment, bad

DB) should be restricted status at good
AOE like cardinals or accuracy, strong
what Flame Burst status (ie: Sleep) at
does) bad accuracy

Scene (x2) 10-12 DB 8-10 DB 3+ CS adjustment,

strong status at
reasonable accuracy,
blessings

Daily (x2) 13+ DB 11+ DB real healing effects,

field manipulation,
no-sells

We do break some of these DB rules ourselves, but whoops.

In addition, Moves that have less coverage potential (like Shadow Ball) should have a longer
range than an equivalent Move with good coverage (Flamethrower, Ice Beam, Thunderbolt).
Note that these suggestions with Status Moves are made to follow existing PTU convention and
not to make Status Moves actually good or competitive. You’ll have to do more of a system
overhaul to make that happen, in particular with making Swift or Free Action Status Moves more
accessible (with a lot of caveats, unfortunately - it’s not an easy and simple adjustment).

Frequency Adjustment Factors:

● Conditional damage bonuses like Hex won’t affect base Frequency but should have a
built in limit
● Guaranteed status effects or other additional effects can bump Moves to a more
restricted DB
● Extremely bad accuracy or other drawbacks can bump Moves to a less restricted DB
● Be generous with the Frequency of signature moves for bad Pokemon
● Keep in mind that Scene x2 is actually not super restrictive and is similar to EOT for
most battles, with the main difference being you can’t PP Up it to At-Will like you can
with EOT

Abilities

Abilities are a lot more complex, and unfortunately there’s not really an easy way to convert
them (or making entirely new ones to give some less unique ‘mon a bit of flair). Mostly be wary
of giving out free CS too easily, or increasing the power of damaging Moves too much. A good
rule of thumb is that good abilities make your turn more interesting, rather than just increasing
how good something you were going to do anyways is. Unfortunately, not all Abilities in PTU
quite do that.

Here’s a nonexhaustive list of Abilities that work (or don’t), and why, to help you create more:

Good Abilities:
● Compound Eyes (gives extra static hit chances. It can be a little stronger than normal
because Bug Types often match up poorly, type-wise.)
● Ambush (A Scene-limited offensive boost. It gives priority, negates Evasion via Flinch,
and gives a further Accuracy penalty)
● The updated Weather Abilities, such as Solar Power or Snow Cloak. (They always work,
but have an enhanced effect in weather. The Pokemon should still have other more
interesting abilities to balance them out, though, instead of focusing on Weather.)
● Vicious (Gives very good effects for using a Status move, making the Status worthwhile.)
● Beam Cannon (Gives the Pokemon a focus, and lets the more interesting effects of
single-target ranged moves go off more frequently.)
● Mini-Noses (Something fun and weird that gives the Pokemon an identity.)

Bad Abilities:
● Limber and other similar abilities (they have a very narrow focus, and only have an effect
when a single negative effect is hurting you. Similar abilities should get Static bonuses
unrelated to the condition.)
 ● Anticipation (With 6 moves, you can always assume that any given opponent will have a
Super Effective move. In addition, it doesn’t actually give any mechanical benefits.)
● Soundproof and Drown Out (Sonic moves are a very niche category, so the chance that
they’ll ever be relevant as Abilities is very small.)
● Magician (The opponent has to have a Held Item, and it needs to be helpful to you.)
● Rivalry (Interacts with gender mechanics.)
● Gooey (-1 CS is basically nothing, especially with Speed.)
● Beautiful (Contests are bad, and so the effect there doesn’t matter. A Standard for +1 CS
is not worth it, and clearing a single Status is situational.)

Pokémon

Base stats are the game stats divided by 10. Round up if the resulting number has a decimal of
.5 or higher, down if otherwise. If the total of all base stats is 45 or lower (and it’s not some weird
edge case like Wobbuffet or Shedinja), it gains Underdog.

Abilities are more difficult, because even comparing them to existing ‘mon isn’t going to
necessarily work. (For instance, Pumpkaboo has Flash Fire as a high ability - as a Grass type,
that immunity is huge. But on something like the Fire type Vulpix, it’s a Basic Ability.) In general,
things that negate a Pokémon’s weak points should be higher up, while less impactful abilities
should be lower.

Size can roughly be put into these ranges: Small (roughly 0’ 1” to 3’ 2”), Medium (3’ 3” to 5’ 11”),
Large (6’ 0”, to 8’ 11”), Huge (9’ 0” to 13’ 11”), Gigantic (anything larger)

Capabilities are mostly arbitrary. Make sure that they have at least one non-Swim speed of
minimum 4 (yes, even the Fish), and just ignore the Power capability. It’s something that’s not at
all realistic, and mostly just causes issues - just use your best judgement when needing to figure
out if something can lift a given thing. Other capabilities are just… give to taste, really.

One addendum to capabilities (since it was accidentally left out of being made explicit in the
books) is that the Jump capabilities in the PokéDex are in alphabetical order - High/Long.

Skills: Again, these ended up being mostly arbitrary. It’s best just to pick some Pokémon close
to what you’re trying to make and then tweaking, if needed, some numbers up and others down.

Generational Gimmicks

Inevitably, new Pokemon games add mechanics like Mega Evolution, Dyna/Gigantamax, and Z
Moves. Some of these are quite good and easily adapted to PTU, while others should be totally
ignored.

Mega Evolution works well because it’s a simple template - a stat boost and new Ability - that
can be used to customize any Pokemon, making players’ starters and other favorite Pokemon
more unique with homebrew Megas. The nature of the stat boost is that it’s spread out and
won’t (usually) be min-maxed, and the bonus Ability can be chosen to either strengthen weaker
Pokemon with a very potent Ability or to give a fun but not as strong Ability to an already strong
species.

In general, all future form changes like Dynamax can be done in mechanically the same fashion
as Mega Evolutions. If forms are too different or can only be changed out of combat, handle
them the same way other species-specific forms like Rotom are handled.

On the other hand, spiky power boosts to Moves like Z Moves should be avoided because they
risk pushing the game further into the realm of rocket tag and nova strategies. They add very
little that’s fun or flavorful to a Move, on top of that. If you must use these boosts, Type Gems
already handle that kind of bonus damage.

Another (more difficult) route is to write non-damage upgrades to specific Moves. For example:
● adding Push effects to melee Moves, with a bonus effect if you make a target crash into
an obstacle or other character
● creating terrain (pits, hazards, etc) or domains (a defensive zone, a zone that generates
temp HP for those inside, a zone that makes status moves of a certain type into swift
actions, etc) as a rider effect to a move
● adding unique status-like effects such as a Mark that makes it harder for the target to
attack anyone besides the user of the Move

Basically, adding in the fun tactical combat mechanics that are almost totally missing from PTU
otherwise.