It's Q&A time again. For the replies on previous Q&A, if I have no reply on your answer, it will not be included and the missing numbers are not because I have miss your answers.
endlessrain The sad news for you is that I don't plan of having extreme environments in Varius. The thing about making extreme environments is that other players might not have the character good enough to tackle such areas and a portion of the map are places that can't go. That just doesn't sound very fair to others IMO. That and I am not very sure if I have adequate knowledge on disasters and such to pull off.
So, I think permanent extreme locations like an ancient desert palace that is forever surrounded by sandstorm and not many have gone inside are out. Harsh environment, maybe I will put some, but extreme environment is unlikely. However, I am willing to have some seasonal disasters and such like a tornado just hit the west coast or something like that for your character to investigate if you are still rolling with this character.
(10 minutes later) After giving more thoughts to the subject, I think maybe some sort of extreme survivalist trainers who capture Pokemon in dangerous place, and looking to sell them for profit, can actually be workable idea. Varius can have experts like this. But I am still unsure about this whole idea as of now, I am still leaning toward having a more friendly wild. But I think I am willing to make some area especially dangerous, like the desert as a whole is fine but a portion of it being very extreme, but no special treatment on the Pokemon front for anyone who can go in, so others can find the same Pokemon around the desert, but maybe you can find something else in the danger zone.
As for survival in the wild, it is up to you and your Pokemon team. Having high survival yourself and a team of adequate Pokemon, you can theoretically become Tarzan and live inside forever. With survival knowledge,
- You know how to build your own fort and such with items found in the wild
- You and your (high survival) Pokemon know how to find foods. Your Pokemon will have much easier time if it's their natural habitat too.
And last I checked with food, water and shelter, one can live forever. But hopefully you don't live forever in the wild because I don't plan for this game to become Wild Survival Simulator feat. Pokemon, if you get my drift.
Another thing I am concerned about is the 7 days per month format I am going with doesn't run too well with long term survival in the wild. Unless I upped the supply cost or something, but that kind of like charging extra for the other trainers who are in the wild for maybe 1-2 days at a time looking for Pokemon. That and you might not need a lot of supplies if you are so good with Survival, but it's line I will have to find sooner or later. Survivalist will be too good if he can go cost-free in the wild. Realistic, but not healthy for the game.
As for danger in the wild, I will be taking Skyrim's approach on encounter levels rather than the traditional RPG approach, which I find more logical and essential to this game with 4 possible starting positions. This means no matter where you go, you will find encounters tailored to your level, but definitely not all of them. If you see warning signs or heard a sharp growl and the ground shaking, you'd best avoid that place but your character probably won't, then we will see how that goes.
The above paragraph extends to all players, if the first Pokemon you encounter is a Pangoro chilling in the wood with her two little Panchams, please don't think it is a Lv.8 Pangoro for some unknown reason, engaging them directly and you will be spending your first day in the hospital. But they are there for a reason, maybe you can find some clues on the environment if you ask the Pangoro nice enough, or maybe you can ask for a friendly match with one of the Panchams, or just ignore them, you don't have to tackle(pun intended) the first thing you see everyday.
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shadowblaze94I think you haven't answer my questions yet. Remember to do that when you have some time to spare.
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DarnellJermaine Biker3. Road Hogs is fine. Or if you think of something else, you can give me that too. You have full creative freedom on this.
4. That's definitely workable, and also tie in well with the campaign because you are bound to meet the person again in the future.
8. Hey, we actually thought of similar reasons for this.
New 1. You mind changing one of the pathetics away from education for a more weaknesses? It's true that someone living in the street are going to be uneducated, but maybe you picked up some knowledge in school for either one of your general, occult or tech to be untrained. Personally, I would say maybe General or Tech. Motorcycle is advanced machinery in the world and he probably isn't that bad on the tech side to know how to operate them, and maybe other tech stuff, gonna find own entertainment on the street. As for general education, I would imagine as a biker he has a lot of time to roam the region, and with time spending on the street, he at least has some working knowledge on things like custom and such. Of course, he can be ignorant to all of them.
N2. You forgot to edit the weight on top of the sheet to 250lbs.
N3. Does he has any siblings? Probably not a concern for the overall story but I am asking either way.
Prodigy1. That's cool and being Varius champion and getting crowned one of the Elite Fours is not small slouch either. Only one a year can claim that title or to quote the Rattata legend, "the top percentage".
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Nether 1. No need to fake death(unless they insist) as Team XXX is willing to let his members part away within reasons, like after serving them for many years. No way you can join them for a year and then say "I am out" without any consequence. Either way, Team XXX is a profit-first organization and they are bound to contact you if you are make a big splash in the sport. Your character gives me ideas to bring them in, but they will mostly bother you and not others.
3. That's cool, but be careful of journalists if you make it big. They like dirty details as much as Garbodor likes trash.
4. Biology is good, although I always see it as Medical Edu. + Poke Edu. but I guess Pokemon Biology is fair.
6. Dump stats are fine if you can justify them, which you did so it's okay.
N1. Just a note on the note in your sheet, no worries on the separation. It's all depend on who I picked but there are no preference there. All three can start from the same school, team up together like a regular Pokemon game and I'd be fine with it. The core idea is that players can team up and separate at any time to do what they want, so no waiting or a contest just because there's a coordinator in a 4 man group and things like that. Two players can start from opposite side of the region meet each other eventually in the middle of somewhere and start a tag team ICly.
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Lockon 1. Very interesting answer, awkwardness shall be exploited in the campaign if you are picked.
2. You might have to give some info on them unless you are fine with me creating them on my own.
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oddeyes 1. I would argue that she is not a failed coordinator yet, just slower than her peer, and the teachers in Keldeo aren't a-holes enough to call any student a failure. Although from her personal view, maybe she's a failure. Either way, she is a failed coordinator if she cannot win in 10 E ranks contests in a row but that is to come, or not come, depend on whether she participate in contests. And Keldeo definitely produces non-coordinators, hopefully Gwen can be another example.
4. I think there has to be an actor or actress or more she looks up to if she is so interested in acting. Not a must but I would say they added something to the character, plus you are bound to meet them in the campaign if you are making progress in the acting industry. This game isn't just about Pokemon after all, NPCs of other occupations have their purpose.
6. That clears up my confusion.
N1. Does she play any musical instrument? Or she is mainly a vocalist?
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GM_3826 1 & Edit. Not necessarily, I am just more picky on this. Mechanical then fluff is totally fine.
3. From what I imagined, his hot-headed nature and insistent on shoving his belief down others' throat, reminds me of The Big Bang Theory's Sheldon Cooper, can be annoying to many people. Unless I am interpreting that paragraph differently than you intended, then my apologies.
4. That's a good take from the character perspective.
N1. Can't believe I didn't ask this last time but mind sharing a little about his family? Be it background, their stance on their child becoming a trainer, or anything else.
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sandsofazorin 1. Elite Four is already top of the food chain but if you want extra pedigree, how about your mother going to other regions and winning the leagues there? Something like a World Conqueror type of deal. Becoming Elite Fours in say three regions is pretty crazy.
2. If you are in, you will have to give me detail on that girl, Chatot~
5. I was going to say it's fine as long as you can justify it but pathetic intimidate works even better.
N1. Is he an expert, or just especially good, in any specific cuisine? You can answer me with things real life answer like Japanese cuisine and we can see how to fluff it in. Although if he is an expert baker, there's not much to fluff, baker's a baker in any universe.
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bloodmankey 5. What about music composition? Sounds like the perfect class and essential for him to put all types of sounds into something that resembles music.
N1. How big is his online following? Sort of indie, underground level or bigger than that?
N2. Does he plan to share him becoming a Pokemon Trainer to his fans? Or prefer to keep that part to himself for now?
N3. Picking some ideas from you, how do you think the Pokemon can help in his quest of musical exploration?
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ronike 1. No need to change, you can start anyway really, that's just a question for the sake of understanding.
2. Pokemon Biology(Anatomy is a sub-part of it I think) is okay. Pokeball Engineering sounds like a Cobalion class but I guess it is fine as an optional class in Virizion. Costume design is probably Keldeo-exclusive and even be optional there. You do mentioned Pokemon Theory, maybe something like World Beliefs in Pokemon that talks about occult beliefs of Pokemon in different region and culture is available. Or maybe Otaku Culture, a specific class specialized in that anime culture and such. Or maybe something like World Fashion that covers fashion history and such of various places in the world since he is into costumes. Maybe something like Pokemon Nutrition if you are looking into advancement of Pokemon, or Pokemon Sport Science that covers how the Pokemon use their technique, the speed and temperature of a Charizard's Flamethrower and something like that.
5. LARP is really just RP where you take the role of the character yourself, so you are acting them out(with no need of memorization because it's freeflow) instead of writing them down.
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Lessah 1. Still better than parents that let their children play with poisonous snakes.
3. They do have clubs for that. Class, maybe, you can read Ronike's #2 above for part for the answer.
6. Hmm, can't really associate high guile with mad scientist. Is it because they have to hide their craziness from the world? Pathetic focus I can sort of understand if that scientist keep changing projects.
N1. Does she has any experience with dowsing before Virizion. I guess it's fair to say that she has learn dowsing from her time there, probably from some wild exploration classes.
N2. Hmm, how is she with ghost then? Seeing that her uncle has his fair share of scary stories? Or maybe she is just afraid of Jellicent, which is more of a "Sea Ghost" than the other types of Ghosts?
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hazz3rd 1. I would argue that the whole background is occult-based, with some inspiration from mythical stories and the whole "living out of the world" thing and also the whole Pure philosophy. Why the pathetic occult education? Is it because he has zero knowledge on other cultures and maybe the whole world's occult perspective? I would actually argue that pathetic general edu is more appropriate because he has zero experience with, to him, "the outside world", and I don't think he can learn much hiding inside the desert. Or maybe pathetic tech edu. because stereotypically a nomad tribe isn't going to rely too much on technology, nor do some religions that consider technology as human creation and an offense to God, but I am not sure if that's Pure's view.
2. What God do the Pure worship? I am sure it's not Arceus because that's a Pokemon, so I would imagined it be something else, perhaps more human-like. Unless in Pure's view, Arceus isn't Pokemon and those are just made-up theories by "Pokemon people".
3. And I would assume he is just incredibly talented, because actually getting into the college is not small feat, which is tougher if he can't name a single Pokemon. The most logical thing I can think of is that he just lucked on having to control Earth Pokemon, in which he has a natural connection with.
4. I take it that the Pure sees Pokemon as mere source of food? I would imagine them having to hunt Pokemon to eat if they are living in desert.
5. How does the tribe knows chess, which I personally see as a creation of civilization. Unless it's their own invention kind of chess.
6. What's his view on other religions? Blasphemy?
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Warr 4. Students are loyal to their school mainly because the school gives them a chance to become Pokemon Trainer. As I have mentioned in multiple instances, becoming Pokemon Trainer is not easy, the tests are super hard and immediately filters out everyone that has the dream but in reality is not good enough to make it. Some applicants have said that their character pass the tests fairly easily but I always associate it to them being too talented. Just like how Lebron James make playing professional basketball looks easy but "not professional basketball is easy". There are only about 100+ to 200+ graduates per year, counting out a few Independents here and there, and that's not because no one wants to become a trainer but it is very difficult to even have a shot.
The OOC reason for this is that I am directly filtering out the many "crappy" trainers in the world, kind of like focusing on NBA solely instead of all the basketball leagues around the world, so every trainer is among the 95th percentile when it comes to Pokemon Training Skill. ICly, it just makes the job harder and why Pokemon Battle and Coordination is a legit sport league and why Pokemon Trainers are famous athletes. Basically, your character is someone like Johnny Depp before his first movie, Lady Gaga before her monster transformation and first album, Jeremy Lin when he's still in D-League, 16 years old Lionel Messi, and other similar examples, who is just given his first(and arguably only) chance to be a Pokemon Trainer. I am sure many athletes, actors and singers-alike are appreciative of their first chance. They might eventually become ungrateful son of a female Houndoom later on, but they are likely grateful at the time.
If you still believe that partial scholarship is the better way, then I would request that you make your character more of a prodigy and has shown incredible talent from the beginning - no way, the school will give partial scholarship to an average student - or maybe he is a relative of the school's chairman board or some high ranked comittee of the PBCA and they are pulling some strings behind the veil. Either reason can provoke jealousy from his colleagues and thus further establish why some of them hate him.
5. All the informations are stereotype, a Cobalion can be an anti-Cobalion System couch potato who gives middle fingers to all the maths and relies on his sheer talent and maybe some crazy ideas to be above his Cobalion colleagues.
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Greenwolfkate 1. Just an idea, what about her father is someone who is trying to incorporate herbal medicine into modern medicine? The whole herb and repulsive thing is Chinese medicine or in Japan, Kampo, and has very different perspective on medical approach than the "western" and some USA athletes are using Chinese medical therapy for their Olympic preparation. In real life, western medicine are trying to incoporate some eastern stuffs too. It fits the theme because Dinisfora is a forest city and herbs are aplenty around. And if he is strictly working on medicine research, he is likely a biomedical scientist than a doctor. Just spitballing some ideas here, no need to change anything.
2. I would ask the same question as I did Gwen, what makes her choose a Pokemon school instead of an art college? There's no need of Pokemon involvement in the musical gloves performance and such and with her parents' objection at that. Although I would argue that the music business isn't really stable, counting out backstage jobs like technician. I guess she made it in so she at least has the raw talent to keep her motivated.
3. Definitely detail on Hunter if you make it in.
4. Chemist, what trigger her interest in that field?
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birdy51 1. Is his father a trainer before his tenure at the Terrakion College? If he is, how's his performance?
2. The crowd probably isn't that bad for Terrakion, as even the worst team in a sport league has its share of fans. But I do imagine Benjamin punching a monitor after reading hurtful comments about Terrakion trainers from a random bunch of keyboard warriors.
3. This is more of a mechanical question but how do you envision Berserker and Trickster working together in a match?
4. Tell me more about his mother.
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Robot 1. I assume her mother is first gen Cobalion and one of the founders of the school? Also plays a big part in creating the Cobalion System?
2. From what I read, he is a trainer but retired very early? What would you say is his rank and biggest achievement in his young trainer years? Assume he is a trainer before, I think creating an alter ego is needed because the database still has his name on it.
3. Instruction can maybe help you in the journey when some situation arises, hopefully not complete useless of an edge.
4. The pathetic survival I would assume is because he has forgotten about how to survive in the wild? I would assume he spent a lot of time in the wild as a trainer.
5. Mind sharing a bit about his Pokemon team and such when he is a trainer 40+ or 50+ years ago?
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General discussion of the previous page:
The Cobalion can be as flexible as other schools, they are just ultra competitive and aim for a balanced team because a balanced team is well, balanced and the "default" option in the Smogon battle community, viable in the meta all the time as compared to niche strategy. I also said that it depends on the trainer's style of approach, so the team can be adapted into the "offense" and "stall" general archetype. They work for the most part and is likely the type of team someone builds for the first time because of its consistency and "general approach"(unless someone has a specific idea like weather team, they are going to just build a standard team). Types coverage and such are also basic fundamental which they use. And that all leads to Cobalion's philosophy. It's the same as playing a safe pick in competitive game(like oh, I pick Azir because it's on tier A at the moment) just for being safe and viable, and most of the competitive players do that. Competitive players also show no mercy when it comes to cutting things that are not winning, just as they will leave Azir alone if it get ubernerfed and proceeds to love the next tier S champion. That is opposite of the not-so-competitive players who enjoy playing a few champions and stick to them no matter what.
Of course, as PTU is completely different than the video game and things can be very different here, balanced team might actually not be the best option out there, but I don't have the experience to dissect that.
Many characters can be Cobalion just by fielding a team of various types, which is most trainers anyway. Only Aces and Style Experts are direct opposite, but they can attend Cobalion just for the heck of it, not all Cobalion has to follow the system. For instance, the girl in sample 2 of the starter pick is a Cobalion. A jock among nerds, she got detained for 2 years and has to cheat to graduate. She also doesn't give much crap about Pokemon, forced to go into the best school just because her parents believe it is their golden ticket to a boatload of money, not only from her prize money but also all the sweet odds in Varius's Vegas.
One can also play a character who is trying to tell the world Cobalion is actually a very loving college but get hated by many people along the way. But I can understand why many pick the underdog, because being the underdog is fun and Cobalion is written as the school-to-beat anyway, kind of like this year's Golden State Warriors.
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As for powerleveling and tRPGs, there's really no right and wrong. It all depends on the players and the GMs really. In some games, especially arena games, min-maxing is essential because the fun comes from wrecking everyone with the most well-built character. I personally play for the story and experience so power builds aren't my thing most of the time. I do try to build decent character for team games because I don't want to be unable to provide anything to the team.