Pixel Radio: Creating a Pokémon Tabletop United NPC

While I said I’d be talking about world-building using radio in my last post, I wanted to do some world-building with radio instead. Specifically with the tabletop game Pokemon Tabletop United (PTU).

Because there’s a lot to learn to get into PTU, I’d suggest taking a look at the collab video between TheLoadingCrew and Davvy Chappy that gives a quick, six-minute, run down of the system.

The basics of PTU

Pokémon Tabletop United seems like a fairly complex system at first. There’s a lot of stuff the keep track of as both player characters and individual Pokémon have their own character sheets. There’s also a lot of stuff for the game master (the person who runs the game) to keep track of, as the game includes all 905 Pokémon included by the end of generation 8 (with a generation 9 dex in the works by your’s truly). There are also three supplemental rulebooks focusing on different genres or ideas. But I’ll only be using one of those to create this character, Game of Throhs, as it’ll give me access to the “Type Sync” ability.

You have the same basic combat stats from Pokémon, but your trainer character also has them. For those who’ve never played a Pokémon game, here’s a short run down.

There are also derived stats:

• AP. Resources required to use some features.
• Hit Points. Not to be confused with the combat stat, this is how many hitpoints you actually have.
• The three evasion stats. Which are determined by your defense (physical evasion), special defense (special evasion) and speed (speed evasion).
• Power. How strong you are.
• High Jump. How high you can jump.
• Long Jump. How far you can jump.
• Overland movement speed. How fast you can move on land.
• Swimming speed. How fast you can swim.
• Throw range. How far you can throw. This is important when catching Pokemon.

Features give your character powerful abilities. These come in two flavours, class and general.

Class features are associated with a base class, such as musician or cheerleader (both used in the build today).

General features often don’t act as requisites for other features and aren’t associated with a class so anybody can take them. The only one we’re using today is Type Sync.

Edges are pretty much just less powerful features. They can boost skills or give you other, very minor, abilities.

And finally, the skill background.

I’m not going to go through every skill in the game as this long “Basics of…” section would go on for way too long, but at character creation, you choose one skill to be at an adept level, one skill to be at a novice level and three skills to be at a pathetic level. For reference, this is how skills generally go:

While this all seems overwhelming at first, you start to get into the flow of it with the help of some tools that I’ll link at the end.

Introducing Rachel Diaz (Ray Dia for short)

I’ve been creating a region for PTU, the Amare region. When I eventually gather a group of friends to run a game in this setting, I’ll be using a radio-based non-player character (NPC) who broadcasts over the rotom phone as a means to do quest recaps. I’ve done this in the past for a Dungeons & Dragons setting and I’ve had players tell me that it helped them feel more involved in the setting, like their actions had an impact. So I’ll be building that NPC here as a means to teach you how to create one.

Now for a bit of background. Because backgrounds are important in PTU.

Rachel Diaz starts with the Following:

Background: Radio Host

Character Features

Rachel’s classes are Cheerleader, Musician, Coordinator and Fairy Ace.

Cheerleader allows her and her Pokémon to bolster each other through the other class features it provides. I only used Cheer Brigade out of the other class features in this, which allows you to use tutor points (special points your Pokémon have that can be used on a number of things) to give her Pokémon the Friend Guard ability. This ability allows them to intercept an attack aimed at an ally beside them without taking any damage.

Musician is more for flavour, giving her knowledge of the music she’s playing. I also gave her the class features Mt. Moon Blues, Cacophony, Noise Complaint and Power Cord. All of which give Rachel moves she can use in combat, even when her Pokémon aren’t fighting.

Coordinator allows her to reroll damage rolls. I also gave her adaptable performance as a stepping stone for nuanced performance, which makes it so that a Pokémon doesn’t expend the use of a move when it misses. I also took Innovation to give Pokemon special moves, though this ended up being filler as I didn’t end up using it. That said, innovation is good to have in case I need something to challenge a particular player.

I gave her Fairy Type Ace after I noticed she had a lot of Fairy Types. Being a Type Ace allows her to give her fairy-type Pokemon the “Last Stand” or “Type Strategist” ability by spending 2 tutor points. Last Stand gives them +5 damage on fairy-type moves, +10 if they’re below half health. Type Strategist gives them temporary hit points (extra hit points that are used up before normal ones) when they use a fairy-type move.

The only general feature I took is Type Sync, which allows me to either add the fairy type to a Pokémon, or change one of it’s types to it.

Character Edges

For edges, I’ve used Grace, which provides a lot of bonuses in Pokémon competitions, allowing you to use more of the stat-boosting poffins. Charmer gives you the Baby-Doll Eyes move, which lowers your opponent’s attack. Flustering Charisma allows you to debuff your opponent after using a move that has the “social” keyword.

Her Pokémon

So, there are a couple differences between Pokémon in the games and in PTU. The first is that Pokémon can have up to six moves instead of just four. You can get more through Advanced Connection so long as an ability connects to the move. Pokémon can also have any number of abilities from many sources. Generally, you have a basic ability starting at level 1, an advanced ability starting at level 20 and a high ability starting at level 40.

Pokémon can also have PokéEges that give them additional capabilities.

Jigglypuff (LV 41)

Moves: Disarming Voice, Dazzling Gleam, Hyper Voice, Disable, Defense Curl, Sing (Advanced Connection – Lullaby)

Abilities: Lullaby, Competitive, Friend Guard (Cheer Brigade), Type Strategist (Fairy Type Ace)

PokéEdges: Underdog’s Strength, Realized Potential, Advanced Mobility (Overland), Advanced Connection (Sing)

Reasoning: This was her starter Pokémon that initially helped her on her journey to becoming a Gym leader.

Sylveon (LV 38)

Moves: Safeguard, Moonblast, Light Screen, Swift, Misty Terrain, Draining Kiss

Abilities: Gentle Vibe, Fairy Type Aura, Pixelate, Last Chance (Fairy Type Ace)

Reasoning: Sylveon can both sense and help easy anxiety or stress in people and other Pokémon, this makes them a perfect Pokémon to have around the station.

Galarian Weezing (LV 40)

Moves: Clear Smog, Self-Destruct, Toxic, Defog, Venoshock, Aromatherapy

Abilities: Levitate, Misty Surge, Neutralizing Gas, Friend Guard (Cheer Brigade)

Reasoning: Unlike their Kantonian counterparts, Galarian Weezing purify the air around them. This is super helpful in a radio station.

Rotom (Fairy) LV 38

Moves: Thundershock, Shock Wave, Thunder Wave, Dazzling Gleam, Double Team, Reflect

Abilities: Levitate, Motor Drive, Last Chance (Fairy Type Ace)

PokéEdges: Realized Potential

Reasoning: Rotoms are known for interfacing with technology and are generally helpful, as seen with the Rotom Phone in the main series games.

Raichu (Fairy) LV 38

Moves: Slam, Nuzzle, Discharge, Thunder Wave, Double Team, Play Rough

Abilities: Motor Drive, Lightning Rod, Last Chance (Fairy Type Ace)

PokéEdges: Advanced Mobility (Overland)

Reasoning: Raichu has the ability Lightning Rod, which attracts any sort of shock and absorbs it. This would be great for dealing with static.

Alcremie LV 38

Moves: Decorate, Aromatherapy, Dazzling Gleam, Acid Armor, Sweet Scent, Draining Kiss, Aromatic Mist (Advanced Connection – Flavorful Aroma)

Abilities: Sweet Veil, Flavorful Aroma, Type Strategist (Fairy Type Specialist), Friend Guard (Cheer Brigade)

PokéEdges: Advanced Connection (Aromatic Mist)

Reasoning: Alcremie smell nice. That’s it.

Useful Tools

You can find all the source books for Pokémon Tabletop United online here.

You can find an automated character sheet to make your bookkeeping less annoying here.

Pokémon vector art was created by me.

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