ASB is a post-based battling game where you challenge your fellow forum members to realistic pokémon matches. This style of play blends game mechanics with role-playing-style fighting reminiscent of the pokémon anime, with emphasis on creative use of pokémon attacks and abilities. The more you play and, especially, the more you win, the more and better pokémon you'll be able to capture and train. In addition to standard forum battles, you'll have the opportunity to show off your creativity in anime-style contests and participate in tournaments for glory and big prizes. All the information you need to get started is here in this topic; feel free to ask questions, browse around some of the battles currently in progress and topics throughout this forum, and sign up to take part yourself.
Now that there's a battle with your name on it, what do you do? First of all, it's probably a good idea to browse through some of the other battles going on to see how everything comes together--not to mention to get an idea of how your fellow trainers strategize.
The battle begins with the referee's post, which restates the rules of the challenge, such as the DQ time and any banned moves, as well as a description of where you'll be fighting. Next, the referee will post both members' active squads--and here's where your profile is important! As soon as the referee copies the active squad from your profile and posts it in a battle thread, you won't be able to change your team around for the duration of the battle. Although you can switch up your active squad, evolve members of it, and so forth while in the midst of a fight, your active squad at the start of a battle is the one you'll be able to draw from for the duration of that particular fight. Finally, the referee's post will state the order in which the trainers post; typically, the creator of the challenger selects a pokémon from their active squad to send out, the person who accepted the challenge responds by selecting a pokémon and giving their first set of commands, and the first trainer then posts their own commands before the referee goes to work.
In battle, a pokémon's ability to continue fighting is measured by two values: its health and energy percentages. Both start at 100%, and when either reaches zero, the pokémon is considered unable to continue and knocked out. Health, similar to HP in the game, measures the pokémon's physical condition. Energy refers to the pokémon's vitality, or its ability to perform attacks and take other action.
Because the pokémon video games are not designed with an energy value, there is one special technique in ASB that allows a pokémon to recover some of its energy, called "chilling." If you tell your pokémon to chill for an action, it will relax and take a short rest rather than attacking. While this technique allows the pokémon to recover a little energy, it also leaves it extremely vulnerable to attack.
So, what do you do when it actually comes time to battle? Each round, you give your pokémon three commands. Each of these commands takes up one "action," the standard unit of time in an ASB battle. Once you and all of your opponents have posted their set of three commands, the referee will figure out what happens between the pokémon, calculate energy and damage totals for all battlers, and write up a dramatization that is then posted in the thread. This post is a "reffing," which covers one "round" of attacks between the battlers. Thus, there is one reffing per round, and each player gets three actions per round.
Usually, each one of your actions will be taken up by an attack you want your pokémon to make. Let's say your pokémon is a charizard and your opponent's is a blastoise. You want your charizard to first use sunny day to reduce the power of your opponent's water moves, then use double team to make itself hard to hit, and finally attack with a dragon pulse. That's three attacks--all the commands you have time for in one round. So, your post could look something like this:
Sunny Day ~ Double Team ~ Dragon Pulse
The attacks that make up your three actions can be any that charizard or its pre-evolutions could learn by any method. That means that egg moves, move tutor attacks, TM's and HM's, and even special moves, like the ones given out at New York Pokémon Center promotions or for purifying a pokémon in Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness, are allowed. ASB pokémon don't really have a limited "moveset" the way that pokémon in the games do; they have access to the entirety of their movepool immediately upon capture. All pokémon can also use struggle and the special ASB-only attack called "chill."
An action doesn't have to be an attack, even. You might want to tell your pokémon to move to a different part of the arena, pick something up, or even attack in a way that doesn't constitute a defined "move." For example, you could tell your charizard to slam his tail into the blastoise's face, using the flame on the tip like a weapon. This isn't an attack in the traditional sense, but it still could damage the opponent and maybe even cause a burn. You could even tell your charizard to dodge the opponent's attack, and it might be able to. It's also important to remember that attacks in the ASB, even if they have the same names as the ones in the games, may have different effects under ASB conditions or be performed differently than you expect. The Attack Guide provides a description of all the different techniques and how they work in this ASB. If you are still unsure of how something would work or whether using an attack in a particular way--for example, telling your pokémon to shoot a hydro pump at the ground to launch itself into the air--would work, you should ask your match's referee, as interpretations can vary between refs.
It is also possible to chain attacks together to create unique and powerful effects. For example, Horn Attack stabs the opponent for moderate damage, but what if you used Quick Attack to put more speed and force behind the attack? When two actions are performed simultaneously or in extremely rapid succession, the result is a combo. Combos can be tricky to pull off, as not all attacks can be used together, and they cost a little more energy than normal due to how difficult they are to perform, but when used properly, the effects can be spectacular. When ordering a combo, the tilde (~) that ordinarily separates actions is traditionally replaced with a plus sign to indicate which actions are being combined, like so:
Thunderpunch + Comet Punch ~ Light Screen
The pokémon performing this set of commands will perform only two actions, with the first having elements of both comet punch and thunderpunch and the second being light screen, which may correspond to its opponent's second or third action, depending on how the combo goes off. Note that it is also possible to chain all three actions together to form one stupendous combo attack. However, it is important to remember that not all attacks can logically combined. For example, it is rarely possible to combine hyper beam and, for example, ice beam, because hyper beam would usually be charged and fired from the same place as an ice beam, such that a pokémon wouldn't be able to power up and shoot both beams at once.
Finally, it is possible to give your pokémon commands that allow them to respond to specific battle conditions with different attacks. For example, let's say you tell your haunter to use hypnosis on his first action, then use dream eater the second. But what if your opponent's pokémon managed to evade the hypnosis? If they're not sleeping by the time Haunter's second action rolls around, you'll be wasting not one, but two actions! This is where conditional statements come in.
An attack conditional is an alternate attack that your pokémon can use in response to a specific condition. For example, "If your opponent isn't sleeping, try to hypnotize it again." Conditionals are most useful to counteract the disadvantages of posting commands first, where your opponent knows exactly what you're going to do and can tune their commands to counter your attacks.
A conditional is usually indicated by a virgule (/) between alternate orders, although commands are still clearly divided into three actions like so:
Hypnosis ~ Dream Eater / Hypnosis ~ Shadow Ball
Therefore, the pokémon will use either hypnosis OR dream eater on his second action, depending on which conditions in his commands are fulfilled. Remember, though, if you're going to use conditional statements, you need to make it clear exactly what circumstances would lead your pokémon to use each of its alternate attacks.
There are also a couple of disadvantages to using conditional statements. First, they often rely on your pokémon paying attention to what its opponent is doing, then taking appropriate action. This means, though, that your pokémon needs to wait and see what its opponent does before it can attack--therefore, even if it's faster, it will be sacrificing priority in order to carry out its commands, which may make it vulnerable. Additionally, if your orders are too complex, your pokémon won't know what to do. If you give more than three conditional commands in an action, you run the risk of confusing your pokémon and losing an action as it either sits, thinking over its commands (or waiting for you to finish them, if there are a whole lot) or acting erratically as it chooses an attack at random. The same may occur if two opposing pokémon are given circular commands, e.g. one is told to protect if the opponent attacks and use scratch otherwise, while the other is told to use tackle unless the opponent protects, in which case it should chill.
The referee is the person who oversees a match, judging how effective the pokémon's attacks are and whether the trainers' plans are successful or not. Referees have the most difficult and time-consuming job in ASB, and they are also the people who keep the game running, as no one could have a battle if a referee didn't step up to interpret it. Therefore, it is important to respect your referee and remember that they are handling your battle out of courtesy when it would be easier for them not to.
This is not to say, however, that referees are perfect and never make mistakes. If you feel that your referee has made a mistake in his or her last reffing or misinterpreted your commands, you may ask them why the round progressed as it did or why they had your pokémon act as it did. In some cases, the referee may make changes to his or her previous reffing in response to complaints, but if he or she considers the original interpretation valid, he or she may not. The referee is, after all, the final word on what goes on in any given battle. If you feel that your referee is proceeding unfairly or incorrectly and he or she does not respond to your complaints, you may appeal to the head referee, who is currently Negrek.
If you would like to become a referee yourself, see the Referee Headquarters for further information about becoming approved. Referees earn money for each reffing they complete and, of course, have the pleasure of taking the reins and being in control of others' battles.
When all is said and done and a battle ends, all those involved get a prize. The winner of a match earns $8 per pokémon that their opponent sent out against them, and the referee earns $5 times the number of pokémon the loser used. The loser receives $3 times the number of pokémon the winner had to use to defeat them.
Therefore, in a 3vs3 match where the loser sent out all three pokémon but the winner only had to use two, the winner would get $24; the referee, $15; and the loser, $6. In a 2vs2 double battle, the winner would receive $16; the referee, $10; and the loser, $6.
If a match ends in DQ before a single refffing has been completed, no participant receives anything. If a player loses by disqualification, he or she receives no prize and is barred from making or accepting new challenges for a period of two months.
If all parties agree to end a match in a draw, the prizes are half what they ordinarily would be.
New pokémon can be bought from the Registration Office the same way that the initial squad is purchased when a trainer first signs up for the ASB league. This is the most common way for a player to acquire new pokémon, but it is not the only way. There are other businesses that allow players to purchase or win new pokémon, although they typically allow the trainer less control over what species they get. Trainers may receive pokémon as gifts, purchase them from other trainers, or obtain them in a trade.
Regardless of the method of capture, pokémon must be approved in the Registration Center before they can be added to a player's profile or used in battle. Usually pokémon will be added to a trainer's active squad by default, but in some cases they may be added to his or her computer account instead. If a pokémon would be added to a player's active squad, but his or her squad is already full, he or she may choose to either send the new pokémon directly to his or her computer account or send one of his or her squad members to the PC and replace it with the new arrival.
Most pokémon will require battle experience before they are able to evolve. A pokémon gets one experience point simply for being sent into battle, whether it's knocked out in one round or manages to take down the opponent's entire team. After that, it receives one additional experience point for each pokémon it knocks out in battle. Therefore, if a pokémon only needs one experience point to evolve, it need only be sent out into battle once in order to fulfill the requirement. If, on the other hand, it requires two experience points to evolve, it could simply participate in two different battles, or it could score at least one KO in a battle in order to fulfill its evolution requirements.
It is recommended that you keep track of your pokémon's experience points in your profile. When you evolve your pokémon at the Registration Office, you will be required to provide a link showing where each of your pokémon's experience points was gained.
Experience is never officially awarded, but it is not valid until after the battle in which it is gained has been finished. For example, if you use a marshtomp as your first pokémon in a 3vs3 battle and it manages to KO the first opponent, earning it enough experience to evolve, you cannot actually evolve it until you have knocked out the other two members of the opponent's team (or had your own team KO'd).
You can bring up to ten pokémon with you to a battle, and these ten are known as your "active squad." If you have more than ten pokémon, some of them must be stored in your computer account. Pokémon in storage cannot take part in battles or contests, but they may still be traded, sold, have signature moves or attributes applied to them, or be sent to a business. To deposit or withdraw pokémon from the computer, visit the Computer Terminal thread to make the transaction. Note, however, that you cannot withdraw a pokémon from your computer account if its rarity and evolution level are higher than any of the pokémon in your active squad, or if it is a first-stage pokémon fewer than two rarity levels below the rarest pokémon in your active squad or a second-stage more than four rarity levels below the rarest pokémon on your active squad. Your computer account can hold an unlimited number of pokémon.
Your computer account also holds all the items not currently equipped to your active squad. The item portion of your computer account has unlimited capacity. Equipping or removing an item from a pokémon or adding or removing one from your computer requires a trip to the Computer Terminal.
A pokémon is capable of bringing an item with it into battle. Items can be acquired in a variety of ways, and they have a wide range of effects on the pokémon holding them. When an item is initially purchased, you may choose either to add it to your inventory or equip it to one of your pokémon, a process carried out at the Computer Terminal. Items can also be moved between pokémon, removed from pokémon and sent to the inventory, or equipped to a pokémon in the same thread. Note that while these transactions may be made at any time, the held items on your active squad, like the squad itself, are set in stone when a battle begins and any changes made after the fact will have no effect in that particular match.
Held items require neither energy nor a full action to use. Pokémon will use them when the conditions required for them to become useful are first fulfilled unless they are specifically told not to. For example, if a pokémon is holding a lum berry, it will eat it after being paralyzed by thunder wave unless its trainer has told it specifically to wait until later. The pokémon could then be commanded to eat the lum berry at any later point, but to do so would require a trainer's command and, therefore, an action.
Some held items, such as berries, are consumed in the process of their use. These items are gone once used unless restored with the move recycle. However, if an item is stolen through use of the attack thief, knocked off, or otherwise removed by the opponent, the trainer will be provided with a replacement at the battle's end. Effectively, this means that while a one-time-use item must be removed from the pokémon holding it and the inventory after its use, if that item were to be stolen by an opponent, no change would need to be made outside of that battle.
All pokémon, in addition to their ability and held item, may be customized with up to one body modification and one movepool modification. A body modification is something like a type change or the addition of armor; it alters the pokémon's physical appearance or capabilities in some way and does not require an action to activate the way an attack would. A movepool modification, on the other hand, is anything that adds a new attack to the pokémon's repertoire.
Modifications for pokémon can either be bought from a business or created by the trainer. If the movepool modification and the body modification are created by a trainer, they are referred to as a pokémon's signature move and signature attribute, respectively. It costs nothing to add one of these to your pokémon, but they do require approval, and once added there are restrictions on when they may be changed. See the Registration Office for further details and the sections below for more guidance in creating workable signature attributes and attacks. Signature attributes and moves are unique to the pokémon for which they are created--copying another player's signature moves or attributes is not acceptable.
If you purchase a new movepool or body modification when your pokémon already has one, the new one will overwrite the old.
All trainers may use a pokémon's movepool modification slot to teach it a signature move, an attack unique to that pokémon and often more powerful or spectacular than the standard attacks that many different pokémon can learn. If the trainer chooses to give his or her pokémon a special attack, it is known as a signature move. Signature moves must be approved at the Registration Office, but they are free to add to a pokémon unless it already has a signature move or other movepool modification purchased from a business.
A signature move allows for a great deal of creativity, allowing for a trainer to create effects far different from the standard attacks possible by creatures in the video game series, as well as add more individuality to his or her pokémon. Signature moves can be serious or silly, powerful or bizarre, complicated or straightforward, depending on what the trainer wants. If you're trying to think up ideas for a signature move, it may be a good idea to browse through the Registration Office or other people's profiles to get an idea of how other trainers design their pokémon's signature moves--provided you keep in mind that copying signature moves from other trainers is strictly forbidden!
All signature moves, when submitted for approval, should be posted in the following format:
Signature Move: Name
Description
Type / Stat / Base Damage % / Accuracy / Target / Energy / Duration
Effects
Usage Gap
The name of a signature move must be different from any canon pokémon attack for the sake of clarity. The attack's description should give background as to how the pokémon developed it or how it came to have the ability to execute it. The description also explains how the attack is performed, and it should be clear from the description why the attack has the effects that it does.
Type, of course, refers to which of the seventeen pokémon types the attack is classified as. A signature move must have exactly one type; it cannot have more, and that type cannot be one that you made up. Also, while it is not necessary that a pokémon have a signature move whose type matches one of its own or is commonly associated with it, the more exotic the type is to the pokémon the better your description must be in order to justify the fact that your pokémon can use it. For example, if you want to try to give an ice-type signature move to a fire-type pokémon, your description of how the signature move is executed had better be excellent.
If the signature move does damage, it should be noted whether it is based on the physical or special stats and the base damage percentage should also be included, as well as any alternate base damages that might occur if the signature move is one whose effectiveness changes based on whether or not particular conditions are met. For example, if the signature move would do 10% damage if the foe is not water-type and 15% if it is, this section would be filled out as "10%/15%" with a note in the effects section explaining which applies when. Signature moves can vary widely in power, but in general they may not deal over 25% damage, and the lower the evolutionary level of a pokémon, the weaker its move should be.
The accuracy of an attack is fairly straightforward. One of the easiest ways to balance a signature move that is too powerful is to decrease its accuracy.
The target of a signature move indicates what pokémon on the field it would strike in a doubles or greater match. Therefore, it would be something along the lines of "all allies," "self," or "single airborne pokémon." The number and nature of the target(s) should make sense given the signature move's description.
The energy field for a signature move should give a rough idea of how costly the attack is to use. Like the base damage percentage, there can be more than one value here if the signature move can be used at different intensities, but again, this should be explained in the effects section. Increasing energy cost is another easy way to balance a signature move.
If the signature move's effects last for more than one action or it takes more than one action to perform, the duration field should indicate how long the attack and its effects last.
The effects of a signature move can include anything from stat boosts to causing your pokémon to sprout wings. Everything besides damage that the attack accomplishes should go here, and if the damage and energy costs are not straightforward, or the attack can behave in variable ways, all its different permutations should be explained here. Only if the attack does absolutely nothing but cause damage should this field be left blank.
All signature moves must also have a usage gap. As they are generally more powerful and complex than standard attacks, it is assumed that a pokémon will need to recover a bit before being able to use a signature move again. In some cases, the attack may be so powerful that the pokémon will only be able to perform it once over the course of an entire match. The usage gap indicates how much time a pokémon has to wait before it can use its signature move again, if it can at all.
These fields may be omitted for signature moves that do not require them. That is, if you create a non-damaging signature attack, you may omit the base damage percentage field.
Here are a couple examples of signature moves to give you an idea of what is possible:
Here are some tips to help you get your signature move approved on your first try:
1. Time in ASB battles is measured in actions or rounds, not turns. Therefore, you should not refer to how long attacks last in terms of turns to avoid confusion.
2. If the attack has the chance to cause a secondary effect, make sure that you are explicit about what that chance is. "Chance of causing a burn" is wrong. "20% chance of causing a burn" is correct. Similarly, how much an attack raises or lowers stats should be explicitly defined.
3. If you want an attack with a powerful effect, there are several ways to balance it. You could have it only be usable or most effective under very specific conditions. You could have it be less accurate or cost more energy. You could add a drawback, such as recoil damage or a drop in the user's stats. Or, if all else fails, you could make it just a wee bit less powerful.
4. Make sure that your attack isn't too similar to an existing pokémon attack. For example, an 8% damage high-crit-chance dark-type move might be known in another life as "night slash." Type-changing a standard attack so that your pokémon can learn it is also frowned upon. For example, making a 9% damage dark-type attack with the potential to burn (the name being "So Totally Not a Dark-type Flamethrower") for your umbreon would be frowned upon.
The body modification equivalent of a signature move is a signature attribute, something about a pokémon's physical capabilities or appearance that make it notably different than others of its species.
The main focus of the signature attribute is on the "bio" section, wherein is described why and how this pokémon is different and how it came to be that way. The bulk of your energy should be spent on fleshing out this part of the signature attribute submission. Not only does it need to provide background about how this pokémon is different from most others of its species, but it needs to logically explain how these differences translate to the in-battle effects you want this attribute to have. For example, let's say you have an arbok born in a far-away continent where arbok's hood patterns are totally different. Fine, but how does this somehow make all of arbok's poison-type attacks 1.2x stronger? The better your bio section is, the bigger the effects your pokémon's signature attribute can have.
The second section, of course, is the effects section, where you actually describe the specific effects of the signature attribute. As with signature moves, it should be possible to guess what effects the signature attribute has by reading its bio section, but the effects section should clarify them more concretely and in game terms. For example, if your umbreon secretes especially poisonous sweat during battle that has a "slight chance" of poisoning the foe upon contact, what is that chance, exactly? Five percent? Ten? The effects section makes this clear.
In some ways, signature attributes can be much more difficult to create than signature moves, simply because of how wide-open they are--there is an incredible range of options in terms of what you can accomplish with signature attributes. It is easy to make them overpowered, so be careful, and remember that if you want any really significant effect, you're going to need to pay for it by giving the attribute a drawback as well.
Rotom and other pokémon with formes must have their forme declared when they are sent into battle. The pokémon will remain in that forme for the duration of the battle, even if recalled and sent out again later in the match.
Smeargle can learn up to twenty attacks through use of the move "sketch." When initially captured, a smeargle's moveset consists of tail whip, doubleslap, iron tail, protect, and captivate in addition to sketch. It may therefore learn up to fifteen additional attacks, after which point newly-sketched moves start to overwrite old ones. Sketch cannot be overwritten. Newly-sketched moves, like experience, can be claimed at the end of a battle in which smeargle participated, and its new moveset must be posted in the Registration Office in order for the newly-acquired attacks to be used in later battles.
Shedinja is treated as a normal pokémon with 100% health and the ability wonder guard. It can be obtained by evolving nincada, but special rules apply. See the Registration Office for further information.
Unown is the only pokémon that can choose its hidden power type as well as change it at will.
While in the games, there are numerous pokémon that can learn fly or have the ability levitate, in the anime there are far more species that can either hover or take off from the ground, at least for a little while. In ASB, the main difference between hovering and flight is distance: a hovering pokémon will not be able to lift itself off the ground more than a couple of meters without considerable effort, while for a flying pokémon it takes the same amount of energy to fly at low altitudes as at high ones. Flying pokémon also have to be careful in that if their wings are damaged, they may be forced back to the ground; hovering pokémon, which stay aloft through a variety of mechanisms, are generally more difficult to bring down. Finally, flying pokémon are generally more maneuverable than hovering ones, though this is not always the case.
In addition to the basic classifications of flying or hovering, each set of pokémon is split into the categories "inherently flying or hovering" or "consentually flying or hovering." Inherently flying or hovering pokémon rarely touch the ground. Many, such as zubat and beldum, lack any apparent legs. These pokémon will already be flying or hovering when released from their pokéball unless specifically told to start on the ground. They do not need energy to maintain their hovering or flying state or to take off from the ground if they have been pulled down to it somehow, unless they are overburdened. Ground-type attacks will miss them by default, although they can still deal damage if the pokémon has been forced to land somehow. Finally, inherently hovering pokémon will automatically float when knocked out, rather than falling to the ground.
Consentually flying or hovering pokémon are terrestrial until told to use their flying or hovering capabilities. It takes energy for them to take off, as well as a small amount of energy for each action they remain in the air. Taking off does not require a full action, so such a pokémon could be commanded to "fly up and use thunderbolt," for example. However, to reach their maximum altitude, as with the move "fly," a full action must be expended. When knocked out, they return to the earth unless recalled while falling, and they must be specifically commanded to start flying upon release if they are to appear in the air immediately.
The pokémon grouped into each type are as follows:
Inherently Hovering: Magnemite, magneton, gastly, haunter, koffing, weezing, porygon, porygon2, misdreavus, unown (all varieties), shedinja, solrock, lunatone, baltoy, claydol, castform, shuppet, banette, duskull, chimecho, glalie, beldum, metang, mismagius, chingling, bronzor (if using the levitate ability), bronzong (if using the levitate ability), carnivine, magnezone, porygon-Z, dusknoir, froslass, rotom, munna, musharna, yamask, vanillite, vanillish, vanilluxe, escavalier, klink, klang, klinklang, tynamo, eelektrik, eleektross, accelgor, and cryogonal.
Consensually Hovering: Cleffa, clefairy, clefable, gengar, staryu, starmie, dunsparce, gardevoir, dusclops, metagross, bronzor (if heatproof), bronzong (if heatproof), spiritomb, probopass, solosis, duosion, reuniclus, elgyem, beeheyem, lampent, chandelure.
Inherently Flying: Butterfree, beedrill, zubat, crobat, venomoth, yanma, gligar, beautifly, dustox, wingull, masquerain, ninjask, mothim, combee, vespiquen, drifloon, drifblim, togekiss, yanmega, gliscor, woobat, swoobat, sigilyph, and volcarona.
Consensually Flying: Charizard, pidgey, pidgeotto, pidgeot, spearow, fearow, golbat, farfetch'd, doduo, dodrio, scyther, scizor, aerodactyl, dragonair, dragonite, hoothoot, noctowl, ledyba, ledian, togetic, natu, xatu, hoppip, skiploom, jumpluff, murkrow, heracross, delibird, skarmory, taillow, swellow, pelipper, volbeat, illumise, vibrava, flygon, swablu, altaria, tropius, salamence, starly, staravia, staraptor, kricketune, buizel, floatzel, honchkrow, garchomp, pidove, tranquill, unfezant, cottonee, whimsicott, archen, archeops, ducklett, swanna, emolga, golett, golurk, rufflet, braviary, vullaby, mandibuzz, and hydreigon.
Flygon and vibrava are an interesting conundrum; with the levitate ability, they should be considered inherently hovering, but their wings and anime appearances also suggest that they can fly. Hydreigon is similar and can actually learn fly in the games. These pokémon in fact combine the traits of inherently hovering and consentually flying pokémon. While ground-based by default, they require no energy to lift off and maintain a low hover over the ground. They will also instinctively dodge ground attacks by doing so unless somehow prevented from doing so. However, they can also be commanded to fly higher at the cost of energy like a normal consentually flying pokémon.
Ghosts, being spirits rather than living creatures, are not as bound to the physical realm as are most other pokémon. This accounts for many of their unique traits, as well as endowing them with some special abilities in battle. Ghosts are able to become invisible, turn incorporeal to pass through obstacles or avoid attacks, and even occupy solid objects for a small amount of time. These abilities are collectively known as "phasing."
The easiest ability for a ghost to use is its ability to become invisible. While invisible, a ghost retains all its normal weaknesses and resistances, but obviously is nearly impossible to hit because it cannot be seen. Unerring attacks like magical leaf will still be effective against invisible ghosts, and reliance on sound may still give an indication as to where a ghost is. Also, if a ghost uses any attack that makes it obvious where it's hiding--basically any projectile that is not invisible and would be seen to come from the ghost--invisibility is obviously of little help. Mind reader and lock on can be used to find an invisible ghost, as can scanning with psychic abilities. It costs a ghost 1% per action to remain invisible.
Ghosts may turn incorporeal in order to pass through solid objects or allow attacks to pass through them. In this form, a ghost can only be affected by energy-based (special) attacks and, in turn, can execute only attacks of this nature. Pokémon with the scrappy ability ignore this effect. Staying in a phased state requires no energy to maintain. However, if a ghost is phased and then tries to occupy a space taken up by a solid object for any more than a single action, it counts as "possesssing" that object and different rules apply.
Possession requires energy to maintain (2% per action). Anything on the field, including enemy pokémon, can be possessed. While possessing something, the ghost is diffused throughout its form and it naturally loses any physical abilities that it might have. It is also blind, deaf, and dumb, as it no longer has the necessary organs to obtain these sensory inputs. A trainer should therefore be wary; there is no way for a ghost to receive its trainer's orders. Therefore, any actions for the ghost to take while possessing an object must be ordered ahead of time. The ghost will by default rematerialize after it has completed them unless somehow prevented from doing so.
While in possession of an object, the ghost is at a disconnect with the material world; it cannot actually influence the actions of the host, if any. It is restricted to using special or energy-based attacks, and is further restricted in that these attacks cannot require body parts, such as a mouth or tongue, to use. However, a ghost is safe from anything but energy damage when in this state as well, and attacks that work by sight or sound cannot affect them. However, even ambient energy that would normally not affect the host can damage a ghost within it. For example, an electric-type's cells are naturally immune to the current they generate. However, a possessing ghost-type would be negatively affected by the buildup of charge when possessing such a pokémon. An attack like spark, which merely discharges electricity from the surface of the body, would not affect a possessing ghost. However, an attack like charge, which increases the level of electricity in the pokémon's body, would. Similarly, flamethrower does not affect a posessing ghost, but if it was inside a pokémon that used overheat, it would certainly be uncomfortable.
Phsyical damage to the pokémon or object being possessed has no effect, as the ghost's "cells" are gaseous and merely slide through whatever medium is undergoing stress without sustaining damage. For example, if a ghost is inside a rock affected by an earthquake attack, it will not take damage. However, if an energy-based attack is able to penetrate the object being possessed deeply enough, then the ghost may take damage.
Attacks that rely on a rush of energy to expel unwanted status effects, such as refresh or rest, will also drive out resident ghosts. If knocked out while posessing an object, a ghost will automatically rematerialize in order to be recalled.
There are some ghosts that are tied to physical objects in one way or another and therefore cannot phase completely. These include sableye (gems), shedinja (shell), myrid (chains), and spiritomb (keystone). These pokémon can still phase as normal, but these physical objects will be unaffected and still susceptible to normal damage. For example, sableye can turn its body invisible, but the gems apparently floating in midair are liable to give its position away. Pokémon made ghost-type through means other than dying do not have access to phasing abilities.
Ghosts can be locked into the physical realm through the use of the attacks odor sleuth and foresight, which make them unable to use their phasing abilities for the duration of the effect. If these commands are used to identify a ghost while it is possessing something, it will be trapped in that object until the effect fades.
TCoD ASB Rules Version 5.1
TCoD League Rules
The Beginning of Battle
The Beginning of Battle
Now that there's a battle with your name on it, what do you do? First of all, it's probably a good idea to browse through some of the other battles going on to see how everything comes together--not to mention to get an idea of how your fellow trainers strategize.
The battle begins with the referee's post, which restates the rules of the challenge, such as the DQ time and any banned moves, as well as a description of where you'll be fighting. Next, the referee will post both members' active squads--and here's where your profile is important! As soon as the referee copies the active squad from your profile and posts it in a battle thread, you won't be able to change your team around for the duration of the battle. Although you can switch up your active squad, evolve members of it, and so forth while in the midst of a fight, your active squad at the start of a battle is the one you'll be able to draw from for the duration of that particular fight. Finally, the referee's post will state the order in which the trainers post; typically, the creator of the challenger selects a pokémon from their active squad to send out, the person who accepted the challenge responds by selecting a pokémon and giving their first set of commands, and the first trainer then posts their own commands before the referee goes to work.
Health and Energy
In battle, a pokémon's ability to continue fighting is measured by two values: its health and energy percentages. Both start at 100%, and when either reaches zero, the pokémon is considered unable to continue and knocked out. Health, similar to HP in the game, measures the pokémon's physical condition. Energy refers to the pokémon's vitality, or its ability to perform attacks and take other action.
Because the pokémon video games are not designed with an energy value, there is one special technique in ASB that allows a pokémon to recover some of its energy, called "chilling." If you tell your pokémon to chill for an action, it will relax and take a short rest rather than attacking. While this technique allows the pokémon to recover a little energy, it also leaves it extremely vulnerable to attack.
Attacking
So, what do you do when it actually comes time to battle? Each round, you give your pokémon three commands. Each of these commands takes up one "action," the standard unit of time in an ASB battle. Once you and all of your opponents have posted their set of three commands, the referee will figure out what happens between the pokémon, calculate energy and damage totals for all battlers, and write up a dramatization that is then posted in the thread. This post is a "reffing," which covers one "round" of attacks between the battlers. Thus, there is one reffing per round, and each player gets three actions per round.
Usually, each one of your actions will be taken up by an attack you want your pokémon to make. Let's say your pokémon is a charizard and your opponent's is a blastoise. You want your charizard to first use sunny day to reduce the power of your opponent's water moves, then use double team to make itself hard to hit, and finally attack with a dragon pulse. That's three attacks--all the commands you have time for in one round. So, your post could look something like this:
Sunny Day ~ Double Team ~ Dragon Pulse
The attacks that make up your three actions can be any that charizard or its pre-evolutions could learn by any method. That means that egg moves, move tutor attacks, TM's and HM's, and even special moves, like the ones given out at New York Pokémon Center promotions or for purifying a pokémon in Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness, are allowed. ASB pokémon don't really have a limited "moveset" the way that pokémon in the games do; they have access to the entirety of their movepool immediately upon capture. All pokémon can also use struggle and the special ASB-only attack called "chill."
An action doesn't have to be an attack, even. You might want to tell your pokémon to move to a different part of the arena, pick something up, or even attack in a way that doesn't constitute a defined "move." For example, you could tell your charizard to slam his tail into the blastoise's face, using the flame on the tip like a weapon. This isn't an attack in the traditional sense, but it still could damage the opponent and maybe even cause a burn. You could even tell your charizard to dodge the opponent's attack, and it might be able to. It's also important to remember that attacks in the ASB, even if they have the same names as the ones in the games, may have different effects under ASB conditions or be performed differently than you expect. The Attack Guide provides a description of all the different techniques and how they work in this ASB. If you are still unsure of how something would work or whether using an attack in a particular way--for example, telling your pokémon to shoot a hydro pump at the ground to launch itself into the air--would work, you should ask your match's referee, as interpretations can vary between refs.
It is also possible to chain attacks together to create unique and powerful effects. For example, Horn Attack stabs the opponent for moderate damage, but what if you used Quick Attack to put more speed and force behind the attack? When two actions are performed simultaneously or in extremely rapid succession, the result is a combo. Combos can be tricky to pull off, as not all attacks can be used together, and they cost a little more energy than normal due to how difficult they are to perform, but when used properly, the effects can be spectacular. When ordering a combo, the tilde (~) that ordinarily separates actions is traditionally replaced with a plus sign to indicate which actions are being combined, like so:
Thunderpunch + Comet Punch ~ Light Screen
The pokémon performing this set of commands will perform only two actions, with the first having elements of both comet punch and thunderpunch and the second being light screen, which may correspond to its opponent's second or third action, depending on how the combo goes off. Note that it is also possible to chain all three actions together to form one stupendous combo attack. However, it is important to remember that not all attacks can logically combined. For example, it is rarely possible to combine hyper beam and, for example, ice beam, because hyper beam would usually be charged and fired from the same place as an ice beam, such that a pokémon wouldn't be able to power up and shoot both beams at once.
Finally, it is possible to give your pokémon commands that allow them to respond to specific battle conditions with different attacks. For example, let's say you tell your haunter to use hypnosis on his first action, then use dream eater the second. But what if your opponent's pokémon managed to evade the hypnosis? If they're not sleeping by the time Haunter's second action rolls around, you'll be wasting not one, but two actions! This is where conditional statements come in.
An attack conditional is an alternate attack that your pokémon can use in response to a specific condition. For example, "If your opponent isn't sleeping, try to hypnotize it again." Conditionals are most useful to counteract the disadvantages of posting commands first, where your opponent knows exactly what you're going to do and can tune their commands to counter your attacks.
A conditional is usually indicated by a virgule (/) between alternate orders, although commands are still clearly divided into three actions like so:
Hypnosis ~ Dream Eater / Hypnosis ~ Shadow Ball
Therefore, the pokémon will use either hypnosis OR dream eater on his second action, depending on which conditions in his commands are fulfilled. Remember, though, if you're going to use conditional statements, you need to make it clear exactly what circumstances would lead your pokémon to use each of its alternate attacks.
There are also a couple of disadvantages to using conditional statements. First, they often rely on your pokémon paying attention to what its opponent is doing, then taking appropriate action. This means, though, that your pokémon needs to wait and see what its opponent does before it can attack--therefore, even if it's faster, it will be sacrificing priority in order to carry out its commands, which may make it vulnerable. Additionally, if your orders are too complex, your pokémon won't know what to do. If you give more than three conditional commands in an action, you run the risk of confusing your pokémon and losing an action as it either sits, thinking over its commands (or waiting for you to finish them, if there are a whole lot) or acting erratically as it chooses an attack at random. The same may occur if two opposing pokémon are given circular commands, e.g. one is told to protect if the opponent attacks and use scratch otherwise, while the other is told to use tackle unless the opponent protects, in which case it should chill.
The Referee
The referee is the person who oversees a match, judging how effective the pokémon's attacks are and whether the trainers' plans are successful or not. Referees have the most difficult and time-consuming job in ASB, and they are also the people who keep the game running, as no one could have a battle if a referee didn't step up to interpret it. Therefore, it is important to respect your referee and remember that they are handling your battle out of courtesy when it would be easier for them not to.
This is not to say, however, that referees are perfect and never make mistakes. If you feel that your referee has made a mistake in his or her last reffing or misinterpreted your commands, you may ask them why the round progressed as it did or why they had your pokémon act as it did. In some cases, the referee may make changes to his or her previous reffing in response to complaints, but if he or she considers the original interpretation valid, he or she may not. The referee is, after all, the final word on what goes on in any given battle. If you feel that your referee is proceeding unfairly or incorrectly and he or she does not respond to your complaints, you may appeal to the head referee, who is currently Negrek.
If you would like to become a referee yourself, see the Referee Headquarters for further information about becoming approved. Referees earn money for each reffing they complete and, of course, have the pleasure of taking the reins and being in control of others' battles.
Prizes
When all is said and done and a battle ends, all those involved get a prize. The winner of a match earns $8 per pokémon that their opponent sent out against them, and the referee earns $5 times the number of pokémon the loser used. The loser receives $3 times the number of pokémon the winner had to use to defeat them.
Therefore, in a 3vs3 match where the loser sent out all three pokémon but the winner only had to use two, the winner would get $24; the referee, $15; and the loser, $6. In a 2vs2 double battle, the winner would receive $16; the referee, $10; and the loser, $6.
If a match ends in DQ before a single refffing has been completed, no participant receives anything. If a player loses by disqualification, he or she receives no prize and is barred from making or accepting new challenges for a period of two months.
If all parties agree to end a match in a draw, the prizes are half what they ordinarily would be.
Acquiring New Pokémon
New pokémon can be bought from the Registration Office the same way that the initial squad is purchased when a trainer first signs up for the ASB league. This is the most common way for a player to acquire new pokémon, but it is not the only way. There are other businesses that allow players to purchase or win new pokémon, although they typically allow the trainer less control over what species they get. Trainers may receive pokémon as gifts, purchase them from other trainers, or obtain them in a trade.
Regardless of the method of capture, pokémon must be approved in the Registration Center before they can be added to a player's profile or used in battle. Usually pokémon will be added to a trainer's active squad by default, but in some cases they may be added to his or her computer account instead. If a pokémon would be added to a player's active squad, but his or her squad is already full, he or she may choose to either send the new pokémon directly to his or her computer account or send one of his or her squad members to the PC and replace it with the new arrival.
Experience and Evolution
Most pokémon will require battle experience before they are able to evolve. A pokémon gets one experience point simply for being sent into battle, whether it's knocked out in one round or manages to take down the opponent's entire team. After that, it receives one additional experience point for each pokémon it knocks out in battle. Therefore, if a pokémon only needs one experience point to evolve, it need only be sent out into battle once in order to fulfill the requirement. If, on the other hand, it requires two experience points to evolve, it could simply participate in two different battles, or it could score at least one KO in a battle in order to fulfill its evolution requirements.
It is recommended that you keep track of your pokémon's experience points in your profile. When you evolve your pokémon at the Registration Office, you will be required to provide a link showing where each of your pokémon's experience points was gained.
Experience is never officially awarded, but it is not valid until after the battle in which it is gained has been finished. For example, if you use a marshtomp as your first pokémon in a 3vs3 battle and it manages to KO the first opponent, earning it enough experience to evolve, you cannot actually evolve it until you have knocked out the other two members of the opponent's team (or had your own team KO'd).
The Active Squad and the Computer
You can bring up to ten pokémon with you to a battle, and these ten are known as your "active squad." If you have more than ten pokémon, some of them must be stored in your computer account. Pokémon in storage cannot take part in battles or contests, but they may still be traded, sold, have signature moves or attributes applied to them, or be sent to a business. To deposit or withdraw pokémon from the computer, visit the Computer Terminal thread to make the transaction. Note, however, that you cannot withdraw a pokémon from your computer account if its rarity and evolution level are higher than any of the pokémon in your active squad, or if it is a first-stage pokémon fewer than two rarity levels below the rarest pokémon in your active squad or a second-stage more than four rarity levels below the rarest pokémon on your active squad. Your computer account can hold an unlimited number of pokémon.
Your computer account also holds all the items not currently equipped to your active squad. The item portion of your computer account has unlimited capacity. Equipping or removing an item from a pokémon or adding or removing one from your computer requires a trip to the Computer Terminal.
Held Items
A pokémon is capable of bringing an item with it into battle. Items can be acquired in a variety of ways, and they have a wide range of effects on the pokémon holding them. When an item is initially purchased, you may choose either to add it to your inventory or equip it to one of your pokémon, a process carried out at the Computer Terminal. Items can also be moved between pokémon, removed from pokémon and sent to the inventory, or equipped to a pokémon in the same thread. Note that while these transactions may be made at any time, the held items on your active squad, like the squad itself, are set in stone when a battle begins and any changes made after the fact will have no effect in that particular match.
Held items require neither energy nor a full action to use. Pokémon will use them when the conditions required for them to become useful are first fulfilled unless they are specifically told not to. For example, if a pokémon is holding a lum berry, it will eat it after being paralyzed by thunder wave unless its trainer has told it specifically to wait until later. The pokémon could then be commanded to eat the lum berry at any later point, but to do so would require a trainer's command and, therefore, an action.
Some held items, such as berries, are consumed in the process of their use. These items are gone once used unless restored with the move recycle. However, if an item is stolen through use of the attack thief, knocked off, or otherwise removed by the opponent, the trainer will be provided with a replacement at the battle's end. Effectively, this means that while a one-time-use item must be removed from the pokémon holding it and the inventory after its use, if that item were to be stolen by an opponent, no change would need to be made outside of that battle.
Pokémon Modifications
All pokémon, in addition to their ability and held item, may be customized with up to one body modification and one movepool modification. A body modification is something like a type change or the addition of armor; it alters the pokémon's physical appearance or capabilities in some way and does not require an action to activate the way an attack would. A movepool modification, on the other hand, is anything that adds a new attack to the pokémon's repertoire.
Modifications for pokémon can either be bought from a business or created by the trainer. If the movepool modification and the body modification are created by a trainer, they are referred to as a pokémon's signature move and signature attribute, respectively. It costs nothing to add one of these to your pokémon, but they do require approval, and once added there are restrictions on when they may be changed. See the Registration Office for further details and the sections below for more guidance in creating workable signature attributes and attacks. Signature attributes and moves are unique to the pokémon for which they are created--copying another player's signature moves or attributes is not acceptable.
If you purchase a new movepool or body modification when your pokémon already has one, the new one will overwrite the old.
Signature Moves
All trainers may use a pokémon's movepool modification slot to teach it a signature move, an attack unique to that pokémon and often more powerful or spectacular than the standard attacks that many different pokémon can learn. If the trainer chooses to give his or her pokémon a special attack, it is known as a signature move. Signature moves must be approved at the Registration Office, but they are free to add to a pokémon unless it already has a signature move or other movepool modification purchased from a business.
A signature move allows for a great deal of creativity, allowing for a trainer to create effects far different from the standard attacks possible by creatures in the video game series, as well as add more individuality to his or her pokémon. Signature moves can be serious or silly, powerful or bizarre, complicated or straightforward, depending on what the trainer wants. If you're trying to think up ideas for a signature move, it may be a good idea to browse through the Registration Office or other people's profiles to get an idea of how other trainers design their pokémon's signature moves--provided you keep in mind that copying signature moves from other trainers is strictly forbidden!
All signature moves, when submitted for approval, should be posted in the following format:
Signature Move: Name
Description
Type / Stat / Base Damage % / Accuracy / Target / Energy / Duration
Effects
Usage Gap
The name of a signature move must be different from any canon pokémon attack for the sake of clarity. The attack's description should give background as to how the pokémon developed it or how it came to have the ability to execute it. The description also explains how the attack is performed, and it should be clear from the description why the attack has the effects that it does.
Type, of course, refers to which of the seventeen pokémon types the attack is classified as. A signature move must have exactly one type; it cannot have more, and that type cannot be one that you made up. Also, while it is not necessary that a pokémon have a signature move whose type matches one of its own or is commonly associated with it, the more exotic the type is to the pokémon the better your description must be in order to justify the fact that your pokémon can use it. For example, if you want to try to give an ice-type signature move to a fire-type pokémon, your description of how the signature move is executed had better be excellent.
If the signature move does damage, it should be noted whether it is based on the physical or special stats and the base damage percentage should also be included, as well as any alternate base damages that might occur if the signature move is one whose effectiveness changes based on whether or not particular conditions are met. For example, if the signature move would do 10% damage if the foe is not water-type and 15% if it is, this section would be filled out as "10%/15%" with a note in the effects section explaining which applies when. Signature moves can vary widely in power, but in general they may not deal over 25% damage, and the lower the evolutionary level of a pokémon, the weaker its move should be.
The accuracy of an attack is fairly straightforward. One of the easiest ways to balance a signature move that is too powerful is to decrease its accuracy.
The target of a signature move indicates what pokémon on the field it would strike in a doubles or greater match. Therefore, it would be something along the lines of "all allies," "self," or "single airborne pokémon." The number and nature of the target(s) should make sense given the signature move's description.
The energy field for a signature move should give a rough idea of how costly the attack is to use. Like the base damage percentage, there can be more than one value here if the signature move can be used at different intensities, but again, this should be explained in the effects section. Increasing energy cost is another easy way to balance a signature move.
If the signature move's effects last for more than one action or it takes more than one action to perform, the duration field should indicate how long the attack and its effects last.
The effects of a signature move can include anything from stat boosts to causing your pokémon to sprout wings. Everything besides damage that the attack accomplishes should go here, and if the damage and energy costs are not straightforward, or the attack can behave in variable ways, all its different permutations should be explained here. Only if the attack does absolutely nothing but cause damage should this field be left blank.
All signature moves must also have a usage gap. As they are generally more powerful and complex than standard attacks, it is assumed that a pokémon will need to recover a bit before being able to use a signature move again. In some cases, the attack may be so powerful that the pokémon will only be able to perform it once over the course of an entire match. The usage gap indicates how much time a pokémon has to wait before it can use its signature move again, if it can at all.
These fields may be omitted for signature moves that do not require them. That is, if you create a non-damaging signature attack, you may omit the base damage percentage field.
Here are a couple examples of signature moves to give you an idea of what is possible:
Signature moves can be changed whenever a pokémon evolves; also, if you got a pokémon with a signature move in a trade or adopted one secondhand, you may change it when you first get that pokémon approved. However, once a pokémon has evolved to its final stage, you may no longer freely alter its signature move, so be sure you like the one you're giving it!
Here are some tips to help you get your signature move approved on your first try:
1. Time in ASB battles is measured in actions or rounds, not turns. Therefore, you should not refer to how long attacks last in terms of turns to avoid confusion.
2. If the attack has the chance to cause a secondary effect, make sure that you are explicit about what that chance is. "Chance of causing a burn" is wrong. "20% chance of causing a burn" is correct. Similarly, how much an attack raises or lowers stats should be explicitly defined.
3. If you want an attack with a powerful effect, there are several ways to balance it. You could have it only be usable or most effective under very specific conditions. You could have it be less accurate or cost more energy. You could add a drawback, such as recoil damage or a drop in the user's stats. Or, if all else fails, you could make it just a wee bit less powerful.
4. Make sure that your attack isn't too similar to an existing pokémon attack. For example, an 8% damage high-crit-chance dark-type move might be known in another life as "night slash." Type-changing a standard attack so that your pokémon can learn it is also frowned upon. For example, making a 9% damage dark-type attack with the potential to burn (the name being "So Totally Not a Dark-type Flamethrower") for your umbreon would be frowned upon.
Signature Attributes
The body modification equivalent of a signature move is a signature attribute, something about a pokémon's physical capabilities or appearance that make it notably different than others of its species.
The main focus of the signature attribute is on the "bio" section, wherein is described why and how this pokémon is different and how it came to be that way. The bulk of your energy should be spent on fleshing out this part of the signature attribute submission. Not only does it need to provide background about how this pokémon is different from most others of its species, but it needs to logically explain how these differences translate to the in-battle effects you want this attribute to have. For example, let's say you have an arbok born in a far-away continent where arbok's hood patterns are totally different. Fine, but how does this somehow make all of arbok's poison-type attacks 1.2x stronger? The better your bio section is, the bigger the effects your pokémon's signature attribute can have.
The second section, of course, is the effects section, where you actually describe the specific effects of the signature attribute. As with signature moves, it should be possible to guess what effects the signature attribute has by reading its bio section, but the effects section should clarify them more concretely and in game terms. For example, if your umbreon secretes especially poisonous sweat during battle that has a "slight chance" of poisoning the foe upon contact, what is that chance, exactly? Five percent? Ten? The effects section makes this clear.
In some ways, signature attributes can be much more difficult to create than signature moves, simply because of how wide-open they are--there is an incredible range of options in terms of what you can accomplish with signature attributes. It is easy to make them overpowered, so be careful, and remember that if you want any really significant effect, you're going to need to pay for it by giving the attribute a drawback as well.
Signature attributse are a new addition and there are therefore few conventions in terms of their approval. However, if you're having trouble getting yours approved, you may want to consider a few things. First, the whole "Team Rocket experiment" has been done to death by everyone and their grandparents. Unless you seriously feel as though you can put a new spin on it, I would recommend against using that as your justification for how your pokémon ended up horribly mutated into something that can now command lightning or some nonsense like that. Similarly, a backstory linking the pokémon to a legendary(s) is probably inadvisable for similar reasons. In general if you can't explain why your pokémon gained certain abilities without resorting to "divine" intervention or bizarre torture, you may need to rethink it just slightly.
Rulings on Special Pokémon
Rotom and other pokémon with formes must have their forme declared when they are sent into battle. The pokémon will remain in that forme for the duration of the battle, even if recalled and sent out again later in the match.
Smeargle can learn up to twenty attacks through use of the move "sketch." When initially captured, a smeargle's moveset consists of tail whip, doubleslap, iron tail, protect, and captivate in addition to sketch. It may therefore learn up to fifteen additional attacks, after which point newly-sketched moves start to overwrite old ones. Sketch cannot be overwritten. Newly-sketched moves, like experience, can be claimed at the end of a battle in which smeargle participated, and its new moveset must be posted in the Registration Office in order for the newly-acquired attacks to be used in later battles.
Shedinja is treated as a normal pokémon with 100% health and the ability wonder guard. It can be obtained by evolving nincada, but special rules apply. See the Registration Office for further information.
Unown is the only pokémon that can choose its hidden power type as well as change it at will.
Flying and Hovering Pokémon
While in the games, there are numerous pokémon that can learn fly or have the ability levitate, in the anime there are far more species that can either hover or take off from the ground, at least for a little while. In ASB, the main difference between hovering and flight is distance: a hovering pokémon will not be able to lift itself off the ground more than a couple of meters without considerable effort, while for a flying pokémon it takes the same amount of energy to fly at low altitudes as at high ones. Flying pokémon also have to be careful in that if their wings are damaged, they may be forced back to the ground; hovering pokémon, which stay aloft through a variety of mechanisms, are generally more difficult to bring down. Finally, flying pokémon are generally more maneuverable than hovering ones, though this is not always the case.
In addition to the basic classifications of flying or hovering, each set of pokémon is split into the categories "inherently flying or hovering" or "consentually flying or hovering." Inherently flying or hovering pokémon rarely touch the ground. Many, such as zubat and beldum, lack any apparent legs. These pokémon will already be flying or hovering when released from their pokéball unless specifically told to start on the ground. They do not need energy to maintain their hovering or flying state or to take off from the ground if they have been pulled down to it somehow, unless they are overburdened. Ground-type attacks will miss them by default, although they can still deal damage if the pokémon has been forced to land somehow. Finally, inherently hovering pokémon will automatically float when knocked out, rather than falling to the ground.
Consentually flying or hovering pokémon are terrestrial until told to use their flying or hovering capabilities. It takes energy for them to take off, as well as a small amount of energy for each action they remain in the air. Taking off does not require a full action, so such a pokémon could be commanded to "fly up and use thunderbolt," for example. However, to reach their maximum altitude, as with the move "fly," a full action must be expended. When knocked out, they return to the earth unless recalled while falling, and they must be specifically commanded to start flying upon release if they are to appear in the air immediately.
The pokémon grouped into each type are as follows:
Inherently Hovering: Magnemite, magneton, gastly, haunter, koffing, weezing, porygon, porygon2, misdreavus, unown (all varieties), shedinja, solrock, lunatone, baltoy, claydol, castform, shuppet, banette, duskull, chimecho, glalie, beldum, metang, mismagius, chingling, bronzor (if using the levitate ability), bronzong (if using the levitate ability), carnivine, magnezone, porygon-Z, dusknoir, froslass, rotom, munna, musharna, yamask, vanillite, vanillish, vanilluxe, escavalier, klink, klang, klinklang, tynamo, eelektrik, eleektross, accelgor, and cryogonal.
Consensually Hovering: Cleffa, clefairy, clefable, gengar, staryu, starmie, dunsparce, gardevoir, dusclops, metagross, bronzor (if heatproof), bronzong (if heatproof), spiritomb, probopass, solosis, duosion, reuniclus, elgyem, beeheyem, lampent, chandelure.
Inherently Flying: Butterfree, beedrill, zubat, crobat, venomoth, yanma, gligar, beautifly, dustox, wingull, masquerain, ninjask, mothim, combee, vespiquen, drifloon, drifblim, togekiss, yanmega, gliscor, woobat, swoobat, sigilyph, and volcarona.
Consensually Flying: Charizard, pidgey, pidgeotto, pidgeot, spearow, fearow, golbat, farfetch'd, doduo, dodrio, scyther, scizor, aerodactyl, dragonair, dragonite, hoothoot, noctowl, ledyba, ledian, togetic, natu, xatu, hoppip, skiploom, jumpluff, murkrow, heracross, delibird, skarmory, taillow, swellow, pelipper, volbeat, illumise, vibrava, flygon, swablu, altaria, tropius, salamence, starly, staravia, staraptor, kricketune, buizel, floatzel, honchkrow, garchomp, pidove, tranquill, unfezant, cottonee, whimsicott, archen, archeops, ducklett, swanna, emolga, golett, golurk, rufflet, braviary, vullaby, mandibuzz, and hydreigon.
Flygon and vibrava are an interesting conundrum; with the levitate ability, they should be considered inherently hovering, but their wings and anime appearances also suggest that they can fly. Hydreigon is similar and can actually learn fly in the games. These pokémon in fact combine the traits of inherently hovering and consentually flying pokémon. While ground-based by default, they require no energy to lift off and maintain a low hover over the ground. They will also instinctively dodge ground attacks by doing so unless somehow prevented from doing so. However, they can also be commanded to fly higher at the cost of energy like a normal consentually flying pokémon.
Ghosts and Phasing
Ghosts, being spirits rather than living creatures, are not as bound to the physical realm as are most other pokémon. This accounts for many of their unique traits, as well as endowing them with some special abilities in battle. Ghosts are able to become invisible, turn incorporeal to pass through obstacles or avoid attacks, and even occupy solid objects for a small amount of time. These abilities are collectively known as "phasing."
The easiest ability for a ghost to use is its ability to become invisible. While invisible, a ghost retains all its normal weaknesses and resistances, but obviously is nearly impossible to hit because it cannot be seen. Unerring attacks like magical leaf will still be effective against invisible ghosts, and reliance on sound may still give an indication as to where a ghost is. Also, if a ghost uses any attack that makes it obvious where it's hiding--basically any projectile that is not invisible and would be seen to come from the ghost--invisibility is obviously of little help. Mind reader and lock on can be used to find an invisible ghost, as can scanning with psychic abilities. It costs a ghost 1% per action to remain invisible.
Ghosts may turn incorporeal in order to pass through solid objects or allow attacks to pass through them. In this form, a ghost can only be affected by energy-based (special) attacks and, in turn, can execute only attacks of this nature. Pokémon with the scrappy ability ignore this effect. Staying in a phased state requires no energy to maintain. However, if a ghost is phased and then tries to occupy a space taken up by a solid object for any more than a single action, it counts as "possesssing" that object and different rules apply.
Possession requires energy to maintain (2% per action). Anything on the field, including enemy pokémon, can be possessed. While possessing something, the ghost is diffused throughout its form and it naturally loses any physical abilities that it might have. It is also blind, deaf, and dumb, as it no longer has the necessary organs to obtain these sensory inputs. A trainer should therefore be wary; there is no way for a ghost to receive its trainer's orders. Therefore, any actions for the ghost to take while possessing an object must be ordered ahead of time. The ghost will by default rematerialize after it has completed them unless somehow prevented from doing so.
While in possession of an object, the ghost is at a disconnect with the material world; it cannot actually influence the actions of the host, if any. It is restricted to using special or energy-based attacks, and is further restricted in that these attacks cannot require body parts, such as a mouth or tongue, to use. However, a ghost is safe from anything but energy damage when in this state as well, and attacks that work by sight or sound cannot affect them. However, even ambient energy that would normally not affect the host can damage a ghost within it. For example, an electric-type's cells are naturally immune to the current they generate. However, a possessing ghost-type would be negatively affected by the buildup of charge when possessing such a pokémon. An attack like spark, which merely discharges electricity from the surface of the body, would not affect a possessing ghost. However, an attack like charge, which increases the level of electricity in the pokémon's body, would. Similarly, flamethrower does not affect a posessing ghost, but if it was inside a pokémon that used overheat, it would certainly be uncomfortable.
Phsyical damage to the pokémon or object being possessed has no effect, as the ghost's "cells" are gaseous and merely slide through whatever medium is undergoing stress without sustaining damage. For example, if a ghost is inside a rock affected by an earthquake attack, it will not take damage. However, if an energy-based attack is able to penetrate the object being possessed deeply enough, then the ghost may take damage.
Attacks that rely on a rush of energy to expel unwanted status effects, such as refresh or rest, will also drive out resident ghosts. If knocked out while posessing an object, a ghost will automatically rematerialize in order to be recalled.
There are some ghosts that are tied to physical objects in one way or another and therefore cannot phase completely. These include sableye (gems), shedinja (shell), myrid (chains), and spiritomb (keystone). These pokémon can still phase as normal, but these physical objects will be unaffected and still susceptible to normal damage. For example, sableye can turn its body invisible, but the gems apparently floating in midair are liable to give its position away. Pokémon made ghost-type through means other than dying do not have access to phasing abilities.
Ghosts can be locked into the physical realm through the use of the attacks odor sleuth and foresight, which make them unable to use their phasing abilities for the duration of the effect. If these commands are used to identify a ghost while it is possessing something, it will be trapped in that object until the effect fades.
TCoD ASB Rules Version 5.1
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