Kaelik wrote:This class is bad, and anyone who likes it is bad, and anyone who thinks it is too weak is drunk and bad.
1) "everyone else has better summons, look at all these classes that can summon something of HALF THEIR CR! Isn't that stronger than CR-1?" No. Basically never. Even at level 1, when the Summoner could use the mighty CR 1/3rd DOG, the Pokemaster is rocking 3 FUCKING DOGS (because dogs acting like they are supposed to is being told to do combat tricks with a move action each.) So I have no idea what level you think a CR = 1/2 your CR monster is ever better than Multiple CR -1 Monsters.
2) This class isn't "the single best monster of CR-1 to face this encounter" which could plausibly be considered "balanced" except for point 3. It's "That + two actions, which can be pushing animals, or using wands, or literally anything including casting spells after you spend one level in this class and just get to have 6 cohorts of CR-1 for your"
It's also "then the next best monster, then the next, basically I have 5-10 times the HP of everyone else, man, that will never help against monsters."
So basically, it's way stronger than "the CR system" by kind of a lot.
3) "It's balanced against the CR system, so it's fine" NOPE completely wrong. To demonstrate, let's look at a WEIRD SITUATION, which is, let's say that there exists somewhere in the the universe of all D&D books, a single monster at every single CR that is overpowered for that CR, and let's assume, for the sake of argument, that people mostly know what those are.
a) DM uses Overpowered Monster: Party has tougher than normal fight, but uses 80% of resources instead of 20% without losing though, and then rests, and the DM doesn't use that monster again.
b) Pokemaster uses Overpowered Monster: Party trivializes CR appropriate encounter..... and then EVERY SINGLE ONE FROM NOW ON.
No that's even before getting into the other issues which are: If everyone knows X is OP at CR 6, then the DM has incentive to not use it, and Pokemasters have the incentive to summon it from the ether with magic powers of turning a rat into literally anything in the Monster Manual.
Also, the other issue: the Monsters in the MM are good, the monster advancement rules are FUCKING GARBAGE. So if you are a DM and can't appreciate power, you can just use printed monsters, but if you are a pokemaster, you are explicitly told to morph all your shit into the most broken shit you can manage with crazy as advancement rules. You get you that CR 9 Disjunction at will monster, you get you that CL 24 Blasphemy at CR 11. GO TO TOWNNNNNN.
In Conclusion, don't play this fucking class, play a Summoner, thank you and good day.
Here's my attempt at trying to squeeze a square peg into a round hole
Prelude
Pokemon: Any creature explicitly labelled as a Pokemon is a Pokemon. Such creatures are particularly amenable to befriending and/or working with other creatures, though typically this requires another creature to 'prove their worth' by defeating the Pokemon in battle (however sometimes giving them treats and/or gifts and/or befriending them works too and sometimes they may even approach and take a liking to another creature of their own volition (I don't fucking know... use whatever you normally use for diplomacy type stuff or MTP this I guess) ). Similarly, they may also be coerced into cooperation through threats and intimidation instead. If a creature is not explicitly labelled as a Pokemon, it can be considered a Pokemon if it is an Aberration, Animal, Dragon, Elemental, Fey, Magical Beast, Ooze, Outsider, Plant, or Vermin which advances by "Hit Dice" rather than "By Character Class". Creatures which can advance by hit dice or character class – like Beholders – are Pokémon even if they have character class levels.
Poke Ball: A Poke Ball is a small spherical item that can contain Pokemon in an extradimensional space. The Poke Ball magically adjusts this space to be reasonably comfortable for whatever Pokemon is inside it upon entry. The Pokemon doesn't need to eat or breathe while inside and time spent inside counts as complete bed rest for the purposes of natural healing, fatigue and exhaustion. If the Pokemon is dying on entry, it gets stabilized. The Pokemon can take any equipment it has into the Poke Ball, except for any equipment involving extradimensional space (including other Poke Balls), which fall down harmlessly beside the Poke Ball.
Empty: When an empty ball is in contact with a Pokemon, the Pokemon gets pulled inside. If a creature isn't explicitly labelled as a Pokemon, and has an Int score of less than 3, it typically* becomes friendly towards whoever last touched the Poke Ball if it spends more than three rounds inside the Poke Ball, at which point it becomes Attuned (if whoever used the ball has fewer than 6 Poke Balls attuned) or Dormant. The Pokemon can leave the Poke Ball as a free action if it wishes, if it does so before the ball becomes Attuned or Dormant. Weaker Pokemon (CR 1 or less) sometimes choose to stay inside a Poke Ball, even without further prompting (if the Pokemon is an NPC and either explicitly labelled as a Pokemon, or has an Int of less than 3, roll 1d4 and it stays inside on a roll of 4). A Poke Ball can be treated as an exotic thrown weapon with a range increment of 20 ft that does no damage.
* Exceptions include, but aren't limited to, a Pokemon that was trained to be hostile towards particular groups of people (e.g. guard dogs) that include the ball's user, a pet or an animal companion who knows that the ball's user is its masters enemy, Pokemon who were tortured or otherwise mistreated by the ball thrower ('Challenging it to a battle' is something wild Pokemon are always okay with)
Attuned: A creature can have upto 6 Poke Balls attuned. A Pokemon inside an attuned Poke Ball can hear outside of it, and may choose to leave any time with a standard action, appearing in an empty adjacent space. Someone holding the ball can also take out the Pokemon anywhere within 30 ft of them as a standard action, in which case it doesn't use the Pokemon's action. A creature can attune 6 Poke Balls with 15 minutes of concentration, which leaves any previously attuned Poke Balls Dormant. An Pokemon brought out from an attuned Poke Ball can be returned to the ball with a standard action.
Pokemon Trainer
HD: d8
BAB: Medium
Saves: Good Reflex and Fort
Class Skills: Bluff (Cha), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Handle Animal (Cha), Heal (Wis), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (all skills, taken individually) (Int), Perform (Cha), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Sleight of Hand (Dex), Speak Language (special), Survival (Wis).
Skill points per level: 6 + Int Modifier
Proficiencies: Poke Balls, Simple weapons, Nets, Bolas, Orcish Shotputs, Halfling Skiprocks, Harpoons, Shuriken, and Whips. Light armor. Can do non lethal damage without penalties if they want.
Level 1
Pokemon Empathy: A Pokemon trainer has Wild Empathy, as a Druid, except this works on any Pokemon and has no penalty when used on Magical Beasts
Party: Pokemon trainers can have upto 6 Pokemon their party. If a Pokemon in the party is killed, that party slot cannot be filled for a day, though reviving the Pokemon restores it to the same slot. Switching to a different party takes 15 minutes and this time can also be used to reattune different Poke Balls. Only Pokemon of the trainer's current Max CR (see table) may join the party.
Starting Pokemon: At level 1, a trainer starts with any Pokemon of less than CR 1. If a game starts at higher levels, the trainer starts with 2 Pokemon per level, at the trainer's max CR. Consult the DM for available Pokemon in the setting.
Train Pokemon: If a Pokemon has a lower CR than the trainer's current maximum (see table), the trainer may advance the creature.
...Advancement Rules...
Poke Balls: A trainer has an arbitrary number of Poke Balls they never run out of. Maybe they craft them themselves, or they buy them or they inherited a supply. Use whatever fluff is most suitable for the campaign.
Active Pokemon: By spending a standard action once per turn, a trainer can inspire any one Pokemon in their party (this can also be combined with the standard action to take a Pokemon out of its Poke Ball), boosting its abilities (see table). The Dmg1 value is added to any HP damage inflicted by an Active Pokemon on it's first attack, iteratives and AoOs, and the DmgA is added to the HP damage inflicted by other attacks. This applies to all types of damage, even from special attacks, spell like abilities or spells. Area of Effect damage and damage over time damage always add DmgA values instead of Dmg1 values. This does not apply to ability score damage. The attack value may also be added to maneuver checks such as trip attempts. Active Pokemon can do non lethal damage with any of their attacks or special attacks if they choose to at no penalty. Active Pokemon count as having the same HD as the trainer's level for effects inflicted on them based on HD (e.g. Color Spray) if it would otherwise be lower. From level 7 onwards, a trainer may have two active Pokemon at once, but the table benefits (besides Resolve) are four levels lower while two Pokemon are active.
Resolve: Any time an Active Pokemon takes damage, the trainer can opt to motivate the Pokemon to keep going, instead transferring any amount of the damage to the resolve pool (see table) as a non action, which decreases by that amount. This is a single resource shared amongst all party Pokemon, and can be refreshed with 15 minutes of rest (this can be combined with a party switch). Resolve can be used on a party Pokemon that isn't active, but this depletes the resolve pool twice as much as it would for an Active Pokemon.
Code: Select all
Lvl Max CR Resolve Attack Dmg1 DmgA Save DC AC Saves
1 <1 5 3 6 2 2 2 2
2 1 10 3 6 2 2 2 2
3 1 15 3 6 2 2 2 2
4 2 20 3 8 2 2 2 2
5 2 25 4 10 3 2 3 3
6 3 30 4 11 3 2 3 3
7 4 35 5 12 4 2 3 3
8 5 40 5 13 4 3 4 3
9 6 45 6 14 4 3 4 3
10 7 50 6 15 5 3 4 3
11 8 55 6 16 5 3 4 4
12 9 60 6 17 5 3 4 4
13 10 65 7 18 6 3 5 4
14 11 70 7 19 6 3 5 4
15 12 75 7 20 6 4 5 4
16 13 80 7 22 7 4 5 4
17 14 85 8 24 8 4 6 5
18 15 90 8 26 8 4 6 5
19 16 95 8 28 9 4 6 5
20 17 100 8 30 10 4 6 5
