Combat

Combat

Initiative

Combat in Pokémon Tabletop United takes place in a
sequence of 10 second rounds where combatants take
turns acting in order of their Initiative values. In most
situations, a Pokémon or Trainer’s Initiative is simply
their Speed Stat, though Items, Features, Moves, and
other effects may modify this.

During Tournament matches and other League Battles
where the Trainer doesn’t participate directly in the
fighting, all Trainers should take their turns, first, before
any Pokémon act. In League Battles only, Trainers
declare their actions in order from lowest to highest
speed, and then the actions take place and resolve from
highest to lowest speed. This allows quicker Trainers to
react to their opponent’s switches and tactics. Following
that, all Pokémon then act in order from highest to
lowest speed.

In “full contact” matches, wild encounters, and other
situations where Trainers are directly involved in the
fight, all participants simply go in order from highest
to lowest speed.

Ties in Initiative should be settled with a d20 roll off.
Combatants can choose to hold their action until a
specified lower Initiative value once per round.

Some effects in PTU last for “one full round.” This
simply means that they last until the same Initiative
Count next round.

Action Types

During each round of combat, each participant may take
one Standard Action, one Shift Action, and one Swift
Action on their turn in any order. In addition, they may
take any number of Free Actions, though actions with a
Trigger can only be activated once per Trigger.

As an important note, no matter what Action Type is
listed in this section, generally Trainers do not have to
spend actions at the very beginning of Combat to draw
a weapon or send out their first Pokémon for the fight.
It’s just tedious and doesn’t add anything to the game,
and in fights against other Trainers it just becomes an
action tax that both sides have to pay. The exception,
of course, is ambushes and otherwise getting caught off
guard.

Standard Actions: Moves and many Features require a
Standard Action during your turn to activate and use.
Examples of what you can do with a Standard Action:
»» Using a Move
»» Using a Struggle Attack
»» Retrieving and using an Item from a backpack or
similar on a target
»» Throwing a Poké Ball to Capture a wild Pokémon
»» Drawing a Weapon, or switching from one Weapon
to another.
»» Using the Pokédex to identify a Pokémon
»» You may give up a Standard Action to take another
Swift Action
»» You may give up a Standard Action to take another
Shift Action, but this cannot be used for Movement
if you have already used your regular Shift Action
for Movement. However, it may be used to activate
Features or effects that require a Shift Action.
»» Use Combat Maneuvers.

Shift Actions: The Shift Action is the most
straightforward action during a Pokémon or Trainer’s
turn; it’s simply used for movement most of the time.
Trainers may hand other Trainers a small item they
have on hand as part of a Shift Action, as long as the ally
is adjacent at either the beginning or end of the shift. A
Trainer can also sacrifice their Shift Action to perform
certain other actions:
»» Returning a Pokémon, or sending out a Pokémon
»» Returning a Fainted Pokémon and sending out a
replacement Pokémon

Free Actions: Many features can be activated as Free
Actions. Features with Triggers are often Free Actions.
You can activate as many Free Actions as you like, or
when they are triggered.

Swift Action: Trainers have exactly one Swift Action
a round, and it can only be used on their turn. Many
Features are Swift Actions.

Extended Action: Extended Actions take at least
a few minutes to complete, depending on the task.
If unspecified, assume at least a few minutes with
concentration adequate to the task. Simply, these actions
cannot be performed in the middle of combat.

Full Action: Some Features are Full Actions. Full Actions
take both your Standard Action and Shift Action for a
turn. The Take a Breather , Coup de Grâce, and Intercept Actions are all Full Actions.

Priority Actions: If the user has not already acted
this turn, an action with the Priority keyword may be
declared to act immediately; the user takes their full
turn, ignoring initiative. This counts as their turn for
the round. A priority action may not be declared during
someone else’s turn; it must be declared between turns.
Priority also comes in Priority (Limited) and Priority
(Advanced) varieties. The Priority (Limited) keyword is
like Priority except the user may not take their full turn;
they may only take the action that itself has Priority and
take the rest of their turn on their own Initiative Count.
For example, Orders are Priority (Limited), meaning the
user only uses their Standard Action and does not take a
full turn. Priority (Advanced) actions don’t require that
the user hasn’t acted that turn; if they have, they simply
give up their turn on the following round.

Interrupt Actions: Interrupt Moves may be declared
in the middle of another combatant’s turn to allow the
user to take an action. They work similarly to Priority
(Advanced, Limited) effects in that they only allow you
to take the action that has Interrupt and not a full turn.

Commanding Pokémon

Basically, when a Pokémon’s initiative in combat comes
up, simply let the player decide what the Pokémon does.
You do not need to announce your Pokémon’s action
during your Trainer Turn.
Pokémon can do the following with a Standard Action:

»» Use a Move or Struggle Attack
»» Use Combat Maneuvers
»» Activate an effect that requires a Shift Action. This
cannot be used for Movement.
»» Use Abilities, Capabilities, or make Skill Checks
requiring Standard Actions
»» Recall themselves into a Poké Ball for a Switch
»» Pick up Held Items

Additionally, Pokémon may drop most Held Items using
a Shift Action, though this varies.

Note: The topic of “uncommanded” Pokémon in general
is a bit tricky. As a GM, you shouldn’t be too strict about
only “commanding” one Pokémon at a time; it’d be
ridiculous that a trainer couldn’t go on a walk with all
of his Pokémon because “only one can shift at a time.”
The point is to not let Trainers have an unfair advantage
in battle. Feel free to control “uncommanded” Pokémon
in any way you choose to achieve this goal and to just
make sense.

You may also create special Double or Triple Battle
League events where can Trainers command two or
three Pokémon at a time within those events without
the need for Features such as Focused Command.
Another place where you may wish to bend the rules
when it comes to number of Pokémon turns a round
is how many Pokémon a villain or other NPC can
command at a time. Remember that the limit is there
for the sake of balance on the PC side. If your encounter
balance requires a villain to have multiple Pokémon on
the field at once, then go for it!

Pokémon Switching

Trainers can, of course, Switch their Pokémon in battle,
which returns their current active Pokémon into its
Poké Ball and sends out another Pokémon to take its
place. This is often done as one action but can also be
broken up into separate Recall and Release actions.

A full Pokémon Switch requires a Standard Action and
can be initiated by either the Trainer or their Pokémon
on their respective Initiative Counts. A Trainer cannot
Switch or Recall their Pokémon if their active Pokémon
is out of range of their Poké Ball’s recall beam – 8
meters. During a League Battle, Trainers are generally
considered to always be in Switching range. Trainers
may Switch out Fainted Pokémon as a Shift Action.

Whenever a Trainer Switches Pokémon during a League
Battle they cannot command the Pokémon that was
Roar or if they were Recalling and replacing a Fainted
Pokémon. Interrupts may still be used but consume the
next Round’s Pokémon turn as usual.

Recall and Release actions can also be taken individually
by a Trainer as Shift Actions. Recalling and then
Releasing by using two Shift Actions in one Round still
counts as a Switch, even if they are declared as separate
actions, and you may not do this to Recall and then
Release the same Pokémon in one round. A Trainer may
also spend a Standard Action to Recall two Pokémon or
Release two Pokémon at once.

If a player has a Pokémon turn available, a Pokémon may
act during the round it was released. If the Pokémon’s
Initiative Count has already passed, then this means
they may act immediately.

Flanking

It is difficult to fight when beset upon from all sides by enemies. When a combatant is Flanked by foes, they take
a -2 penalty to their Evasion.

A Small or Medium sized Trainer or Pokémon is considered Flanked when at least two foes are adjacent to them
but not adjacent to each other. For Large Trainers and Pokémon, the requirement is three foes meeting those
conditions. The requirement increases to four for Huge and five for Gigantic sized combatants.

Foes larger than Medium may occupy multiple squares – in this case, they count as a number of foes for the purposes
of Flanking equal to the number of squares adjacent to the Flanked target that they’re occupying. However, a single
combatant cannot Flank by itself, no matter how many adjacent squares they’re occupying; a minimum of two
combatants is required to Flank someone.