PMD Instinct Handbook

Introduction

Welcome to the Instict System! This is a system created to be able to play PMD with your friends through the magic of dice, and cross your own world and imaginations. Keep in mind the whole system was created using makeshift solutions from roll20 in mind, so adaptations if you want to go true table-top might be necessary.

Some Info

At the time of writing, the current version of the Instinct System was created, balanced, and written with the utilization of the Instinct Sheets utilizing Roll20, which are able to track the math utilized for HP and attack calculations.

In the future, the Valor System for use in true tabletop will be released.

Authors

Luka

Main Creator of the Instinct System.
Maintainer of the Instinct Sheets, repository at github.com/MagmaKnight/instinct
Maintainer of the Handbook and DMG.
Reachable at Luka#7615 on discord.

Casatex

Assistant Creator and Loremaster
Reachable at Casatex#4020

PSA

The PHB keeps in mind that you have basic knowledge of D&D 5e rules, and an overall knowledge of Pokémon up to gen 4. If any of the words confuse you, Dandwiki and Bulbapedia are your friends, and so is google.

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Summary

Chapter and Subchapters	Pages	Description
Chapter I: Mechanics	4-6	Describes basic mechanics.
Attributes and Level up	5
Abilities and Moves	6
Combat	7
Status Conditions	8
Types	9
- - -	-	- - -
Chapter II: Types	10-19	A list of types and their starting abilities/moves.
Fire and Water	11
Grass and Psychic	12
Fighting and Rock	13
Electric and Ice	14
Ground and Flying	15
Poison and Steel	16
Dragon and Bug	17
Dark and Ghost	18
Fairy and Normal	19
- - -	-	- - -
Chapter III: Adventure	20-22	Explains adventuring and Mystery Dungeon mechanics
World Mechanics	21
Mystery Dungeons	22
- - -	-	- - -
Chapter IV: Consumables	23-26	Lists most consumable items.
Fruits/Berries and Seeds	24
Orbs	25
Synthetics, Foodstuffs, and Throwables	26
- - -	-	- - -
Chapter V: Equipment	27-28	Lists equipment types, and examples
Backpacks, Pouches, Scarves, Bands, Accesories, Utilities, Weapons and Armor.
- - -	-	- - -
Final Credits	29

Chapter I

Mechanics

Points

The 3 cores of your Pokémon. When considered together, they show how much fight you still have left inside.

Health points

They represent how much damage you can take while staying on your feet. When this reaches 0, you are knocked out. Your HP is decided by your Level and Constitution Points. For every level you receive +3 HP, and for every point in constitution, you receive +3 HP.

Formula = (Lvl*3)+(Con*3)

Power Points

They represent how much energy you still have in your body. Moves, some abilities, and special movements consume PP. Your PP is decided by your Wisdom Stat. You start with 2 PP, and for every point in Wisdom, you receive +0.5 PP.

Formula = 2+(Wis/2)

Belly Points

They represent how long you can go without eating. Eating is a necessity, especially in dungeons. You start with 12 Belly Points. Details on the hunger system refer to Chapter 3

Primary Attributes

Strength

Your physical power, the brute energy that is released from your MUSCLES is categorized in Strength. Each point in Strength increases overall damage from physical skills. Every 6 points also increase

Intelligence

Your elemental power. The fire/water/whatever inside you that can be successfully channeled offensively. Each point in Intelligence increases overall damage from Special Skills.

Constitution

Represents your overall toughness. Each point increases HP by 2 and Def by 0.5

Wisdom

Represents your Mental Power. Each point increases PP by 0.5, and SP.Def by 0.5 Also increases how many moves you can learn. (Check moves section)

Dexterity

Dexterity represents the overall nimbleness of your body. Every 5 points increases your accuracy and AC by 1. Every 50 points increases your movement speed by 1 square.

Secondary Attributes

Defense

Defense reduces physical damage received.

Special Defense

Special Defense reduces special damage received.

AC

The minimum needed on a hit roll to hit you. Your base AC is 4, and it increases by 1 every 5 Dexterity points.

Accuraccy

The bonus added to your hit rolls. It increases by 1 every 5 dexterity points. There are also accuracy bonus related to Strength/Intelligence. They increase by 1 every 7 Str/Int points. You can choose which one to use in Physical/Special moves.

Move Speed

The quantity of squares you can move per tick/round. Your base movespeed is 4, but it increases by by 1 every 50 Dexterity points.

Leveling Up

Leveling up is currently done through 'Checkpoint Leveling', where the DM decides when you level up.

Your base stat growth is 1, this means that all your primary attributes increase by 1 when you level up. Your type affects your stat growth, changing which attributes increase on level up. You also receive three free points. This all sums up to 12 total stat points per level.

Free Points

You also receive three free points, which you can distribute as you want. There is a limit, though: You can't increase an stat by more than 4 per level, including your stat growth.

Abilities

Abilities are passive and special skills that have a great effect both inside and outside of combat, they are learned over time with practice, experience and lots of reading.

Some abilities are universal, while other abilities are specific to types and certain Pokémons.

You have no limit to how many abilities you can have, and abilities can level up with repeated use.

While your typal abilities are fixed, and very contextual, most of abilities that are learnable have some form of leveling.

There are 3 types of abilities :

Universal - Learnable by all Pokémon

Typal - Learnable by the type

Specific - Learnable by specific Pokémons

Examples of abilities:

Inventory Manager - (1/10) (Passive) (Universal) Increases the size of your inventory by 1 slot per level.

Throw Master - (1/4) (Passive) (Universal) Increases the damage of thrown items by 25% per level

Heavy Punches - (1/3) (Passive) (Typal - Fighting) Your moves now deal knockback on targets smaller than you. 1 Square knockback per level. Knocking units into each other or into walls deals 1 STR damage to both.

Guts - (1/3) (Passive) (Specific - Larvitar) Increases damage output by 50% per level when afflicted by any status condition

Moves

Moves are combat-oriented actions overall. They range from simple combat physical fighting to elemental attacks using your Poke Powers. Moves are the basis for combat in Pokémon, and combat revolves around them.

Moves consume Power Points, or PP when used, and can sometimes use HP or resources, depending on the move.

Learning

Moves can be learned in 3 ways in the Pokémon world:

Naturally - You can learn moves by experimenting and trying new things, either in combat or in practice.

Teaching -You can learn moves by being taught them by other Pokémon.

Books - You can learn moves from certain books.

Move Limits

There are no limits to the amount of moves you can learn.

STAB

When you use an move that has the same type as you, you apply a Same Type Attack Bonus, which multiplies the damage dealt by 1.5.

Melee

All pokémon start with a basic move called Melee. Since it describes mostly an physical attack, you can fluff it however you want.

Physical/Special

Physical or Special describe if the damage dealt is blocked by Defense or Special Defense, and if calculations are done with Str or Int.

Melee

Lesser Physical / 0 pp

Accuracy: 0

Range: Melee

Damage: 1d6 + 0.5 STR normal damage

Attacks an enemy physically, using whatever you can use.

Combat

Combat follows the Dungeons and Dragons 5e Style, but with added interactivity

Once in combat, initiative dices (1d20+AC) are rolled, and that decides the turn orders.

Combat Round

1 - First Movement
2 - Action
3 - Bonus Action
4 - Second Movement
5 - Reactions

In your first movement, you move a number of squares equal or lower than your movespeed.

In your action, you can execute an Move, use an Item, or execute an Special Action.

In your bonus action, you can use Moves that specify using a Bonus Action, or Abilities that specify using Bonus actions.

In your second movement, you use the remainder of your movement (that you didn’t spend on the first movement) to move. (AOO still applies)

After your turn has passed, you can execute a reaction in the midst of another Pokémon’s turn, such as an attack of opportunity.

Special Actions

These are special actions that can be used by any Pokémon. They count as 'Full Actions', meaning that they eat up your reaction and bonus actions as well.

Ability Use - You can use an ability that is not passive.

Dash - You move in a single direction at double your movespeed.

Throw - You throw something you are holding a distance of 4 squares. Damage is equal to your Strength * Item's multiplier.

Wield - You can wield an item, usually weapons.

Wait - Allows you to use an action outside your turn, waiting for a certain condition. This allows for team attacks.

Dodge - Doubles your AC bonus for the next attack you receive.

Focus - Doubles your accuracy for your next turn.

Combat Mechanics

Defense

Subtract the damage received by your defense/sp defense, depending on how you got attacked.

Evasion

You have a secondary attribute named AC(Armor Class), which begins at 4 and increases with your dexterity. When your Armor Class is above the enemy's

Criticals and Critical Failures

When your hit dice rolls a 1, you blunder and fall prone. When your hit dice rolls a 20, you deal a critical hit, you double the damage dealt.

Advantage and Disadvantage

When you have advantage, you roll twice for a hit, and pick the better result. When you have disadvantage, you roll twice for a hit, and pick the worse result.

Prone

When you are thrown prone, you must spend your entire movespeed to get up. Attacks against prone targets have advantage. Only bipedal pokémon can be thrown prone.

Resistances and Weaknesses

If you get attacked by a type you are resistant to, you receive half damage. If you get attacked by a type you are weak to, you receive double damage.

Status Conditions

All status conditions (except for Stun and Flinch) last for 4 turns, unless specified.

Physical Statuses

Icon	Condition	Effect
	Burn	You take damage every turn. Your Physical damage output is halved
	Freeze	You are frozen solid. Each turn you roll a 1d6, On a 6 you thaw yourself. Ice usually has an HP.
	Paralysis	Your dexterity is halved, and every turn you roll a 1d4. If it lands on a 1, you skip your turn.
	Stun	Your next turn is skipped.
	Petrified	You can't move or act until you receive damage.
	Poison	You take a certain amount of damage every turn.
	Bleed	Physical damage received is doubled.

Mental Statuses

Icon	Condition	Effect
	Fear	You have disadvantage when attacking target that caused fear
	Rage	You attack the nearest target on your action, without discerning.
	Blur	You can only use physical moves.
	Sleep	You skip your turns until you receive damage.
	Flinch	You cann't use any moves.

Other Statuses

Condition	Effect
Mobile	You can phase through walls, and walk above water and lava.
Pierce	Items thrown by the user will fly through walls and pokémon without stopping, affecting all targets hit.
Muzzled	You can't use any moves that utilize your mouth, or speaking.

Types

Pokémon has a very strong power balance dependent on types. In the mission to approximate the Instinct system to the Pokémon system, damage types were reworked as a whole to be just Types.

There are 18 types. Your type combination determines what attacks you are weak to, or resistant to. Your resistances and weaknesses, and be fair when attacked.

Pure Damage

Besides the 18 different types of damage, there is also another type added called 'pure damage'. Pure damage is not affected by defense/sp. defense, no type resists or is weak to it, and it's mostly utilized by items, status conditions, traps, and dungeons effects.

Chapter II

Types

Every Pokémon has one or two types. If you only have one type, you are called a “Pure” type. If you have two, there is your Primary and Secondary Type. These 2 categories define your stat growth, and base abilities.

Fire Species

Category	Growth per level
Pure	+2 STR, +2 INT
Primary	+2 STR
Seconday	+2 INT

With a burning flame inside of them, Fire Pokémon are hotheaded, built for battle, and great appreciators of caves, warm bonfires. Touching a Fire type's body reveals their inner warmth, and make for great heaters in cold conditions.

Innate Abilities

Summer Blood (Passive) - Fire types receive no adverse effects from hot environments.
Hot Lungs (Passive) - Able to easily breathe in smoke, or low-oxygen conditions.

Starting Move

Ember

Lesser Special / 1 pp

Accuracy: -1

Range: Melee

Damage: 2d6 + 0.5 INT fire damage

Spews a small quantity of fire in front of you.

Water Species

Category	Growth per level
Pure	+2 DEX, +2 WIS
Primary	+2 DEX
Seconday	+2 WIS

A Water Pokémon's greatest characteristic is its love of water. They enjoy rivers, oceans, and lakes more than your common pokémon, and depriving them of such things is nothing less than torture.

Innate Abilities

Swim (Passive) - You can breathe underwater, and swim at a base speed of 6 squares per second.
Aqualocation (Active) - Able to “feel” movement inside of a water body, up to an incredible range

Starting Move

Bubbles

Lesser Special / 1 pp

Accuracy: -2

Range: 4 squares

Damage: 2d4 + 0.5 INT water damage

Spews a bubbles with strong pressure in front of you.

Grass Species

Category	Growth per level
Pure	+3 INT, +1 WIS
Primary	+2 INT
Seconday	+2 WIS

With a deep sense of love for all that grows, Grass Pokémon often find themselves most at home where there are plenty of plants, water to drink, and sun to bathe in.

Innate Abilities

Photosynthesis (Passive) - Grass types can do photosynthesis while under the sunlight. While exposed to sunlight, belly reduces in half the rate.
Breathable (Passive) - Grass types can store oxygen in their leaves in incredible quantities, allowing them to go without breathing for days.

Starting Move

Vine Whip

Lesser Special / 1 pp

Accuracy: 0

Range: 2 Squares

Damage: 1d12 + 0.5 INT Grass damage

Whips an enemy with a vine in front of you.

Psychic Species

Category	Growth per level
Pure	+3 INT, +1 WIS
Primary	+2 INT
Seconday	+2 INT

Some are afraid of befriending Psychic types. Merely approaching one can creep some out, as one look from their eyes and all your emotions are quickly screened. But fear not, as most Psychic types are not interested in your emotions at all, as they tend to think of bigger pictures in their lives.

Innate Abilities

Telepathy (Active) - Psychic types can communicate using brainwaves, meaning they have a small range where they are able to feel, and transmit emotions from and to other Pokémon . Further developing of this skill allows for long range communication of complex phrases and thoughts.
Telekinesis (Active) - Psychics are able to move small objects by using the power of their mind.

Starting Move

Psyblast

Lesser Special / 1 pp

Accuracy: 0

Range: Sight.

Damage: 1d6 + 0.5 INT psychic damage

Attacks the mind of an enemy, causing severe headaches.

Fighting Species

Category	Growth per level
Pure	+2 STR, +1 CON, +1 DEX
Primary	+2 STR
Seconday	+2 CON

Fighting Pokémon have this name not due to an certain element but due to their very nature. They love to fight, spar, brawl, and hand-to-hand combat in all its nuance. It is rare to see a fighting pokémon lazying around: Most are too busy training for their next spar.

Innate Abilities

Strength (Passive) - Due to their bodies, fighting types have a greater strength than normal. Fighting types have 2 extra slots for their backpacks and double throwing range.
Adaptable Body (Passive) - Fighting types have the capability of being able to train their bodies. This allows for stat gains from training to be multiplied by 1.5x.

Starting Move

Power Tackle

Lesser Physical / 1 pp

Accuracy: -1

Range: Melee

Damage: 2d6 + 0.5 STR fighting damage

Strikes an enemy with a powerful tackle. Pushes the target 1 square. If an unit is pushed into another, or into a wall, both take 2d6 damage.

Rock Species

Category	Growth
Pure	+2 STR, +2 CON
Primary	+2 STR
Seconday	+2 CON

Rock Pokémon will usually not be offended if you accidentally kick them while walking through a stone path. Often strong willed, simple minded pokémon, they love rocks and minerals, and would rather spend time with them instead of you.

Innate Abilities

Rocky Lungs (Passive) - Rock types don’t need to breathe.
Rock Camo (Passive) - Rock types often look like a type of stone, and can camouflage themselves by hiding amongst rocks, stones, and ores.

Starting Move

Rock Toss

Lesser Physical / 1 pp

Accuracy: -1

Range: 4 squares

Damage: 1d10 + 0.5 STR rock damage

Throws a random rock you found.

Electric Species

Category	Growth
Pure	+3 DEX, +1 INT
Primary	+2 INT
Seconday	+2 DEX

More often than not, Electric Pokémon are the heart of any party they find themselves in. Constantly chasing thunder, they are agile, energetic, and driven by an electric passion not often seen around other pokémon.

Innate Abilities

Electrosense (Active) - Electric Types have an sixth sense, that allows them to detect static in the air. This allow them to feel where other electric pokemon are, where thunder will strike, where there are high concentrations of machinery, and even predict the weather.

Starting Move

Spark

Lesser Special / 1 pp

Accuracy: -1

Range: Melee

Damage: 1d6 + 0.5 INT electric damage

Strikes an enemy with your inner charge. If there is an enemy adjacent to the target, it takes half of the damage dealt.

Ice Species

Category	Growth
Pure	+3 INT, +1 WIS
Primary	+2 INT
Seconday	+2 WIS

Cold, calculating, uncaring, are all attributes assigned to Ice Pokémon, but they are not quite correct. They are not emotionless, just very bad at expressing them. Most of the time. They prefer cold climates, and absolutely dread most flames.

Innate Abilities

Ice Shield (Passive) - Ice creatures consistently transform the steam and sweat around their body in ice, making a, over time, thick shield over their bodies. Every battle, the first damage they receive is negated. (Unless it’s a psychological attack)
Winter Blood (Passive) - Ice types receive no adverse effects from cold environments.

Starting Move

Snowblast

Lesser Special / 1 pp

Accuracy: -1

Range: 3 squares in front of you. (3x1 line)

Damage: 1d4 + 0.5 INT ice damage

Sneezes very cold powder in front of you.

Ground Species

Category	Growth
Pure	+3 STR, +1 CON
Primary	+2 STR
Seconday	+2 CON

Most Ground Pokémon are too foolhardy admit it, but there are exactly two things they fear the most: flying, and swimming. There is only one place a ground pokémon feels safe, and it is the ground, where they can sense anything around them with their eyes closed.

Innate Abilities

Geolocation (Active) - Ground types have phenomenally sensitive senses inside them, that allow detection of many things using ground sense: anything stepping on the ground, you can sense its direction, size of paw, weight and more.
Diggers (Active) - Ground types can easily dig, and make small to medium holes in a few minutes.

Starting Move

Mud Punch

Lesser Physical / 1 pp

Accuracy: -1

Range: Melee

Damage: 1d12 + 0.5 STR ground damage

Throw dirt at an enemy, but the mud is inside your fist.

Flying Species

Category	Growth
Pure	+3 DEX, +1 STR
Primary	+2 DEX
Seconday	+2 DEX

There are few things a Flying Pokémon loves more than the feeling of wind rushing through their feathers. Born to explore the airs, a flying type that spends too much time in the ground gets giddy to fly again.

Innate Abilities

Fly (Passive) - Flying types can fly at a base speed of 6 squares per second.
Eagle Eyes (Passive) - Flying types have incredibly precise eyesight.

Starting Move

Air Blast

Lesser Special / 1 pp

Range: 4 squares

Flaps your wings to blast a square with air, knocking all units adjacent to it by 1 square. If an unit is pushed into another, or a into wall, both take damage equal to 1d12 + 0.5 INT.

Poison Species

Category	Growth
Pure	+2 Wis, +1 INT, +1 DEX
Primary	+2 WIS
Seconday	+1 INT, +1 DEX

It is best to stay away from a Poison Pokémon's dejects, meals, and bodily fluids, as they tend to be the quickest way to land yourself a trip to the hospital. Poison species aren't naturally evil or ambitious, but they do have a knack for ambushing, and take certain pleasure from watching others squirm in pain due to their venoms.

Innate Abilities

Antidote (Active) - Poison types have an innate gland that can quickly produce the antidote of a move they know. The Antidote comes out from their mouths tho, which is pretty creepy.
Purple Blood (Passive) - Immune to toxin related debuffs and status conditions. Can eat practically anything, including oren berries.

Starting Move

Poison Sting

Lesser Special / 1 pp

Accuracy: -1

Range: Melee

Poison Damage: 1d4 + 0.25 INT poison damage

Poisons an enemy.

Steel Species

Category	Growth
Pure	+3 CON, +1 WIS
Primary	+2 CON
Seconday	+2 CON

Steel Pokémons are often regarded as smart, wise, and qualified leaders, when the grand truth is that they are just overthinkers. They are allowed to overthink in mid combat, due to the fact that they simply don't feel most attacks by other pokémon.

Innate Abilities

Heavy Step (Passive) - Steel types aren’t affected by any kind of knockback.
Steel Skin (Passive) - Steel types negate damage from multiple hit moves, such as Fury Swipes, if the damage is below 10% of their Max Health.

Starting Move

Harden

Lesser Special / 1 pp

Increases your constitution by 25% for 4 rounds.

Dragon Species

Category	Growth
Pure	+3 INT, +1 STR
Primary	+2 INT
Seconday	+1 STR, +1 INT

Dragon Pokémon can be resented for being prideful, and they often are. With strong sense of ego, and an even stronger sense of responsibility, Dragon Pokémon are filled with ambition, and the will to execute their ambitions.

Innate Abilities

Intimidate (Lesser) (Active) - Dragon types can flare their prides to try and affect enemies.
Courage (Lesser) (Passive) - Immunity to Pressure, and low-tier mental effects, such as Intimidate.

Starting Move

Dragon Pride

Lesser Special / 1 pp

Increases your Str and Int by 25% for 4 turns.

Bug Species

Category	Growth
Pure	+2 DEX, +1 INT, +1 WIS
Primary	+2 DEX
Seconday	+2 DEX

Bug Pokémon are not the strongest, fastest, or wisest of them all, but they take advantage in their numbers and pure courage. They have a very different, almost alien, way of thinking, that grants them a courage and determination not present in other Pokémon.

"All for the mother-hive, ktskt."

Innate Abilities

Swarm Tactics (Passive/Active) - Bugs can communicate with each other as if they had advanced telepathy, using pheromones. Bug types can 'paint' a single word as an action, only readable by other bug types.
Courage (Normal) (Passive) - Immunity to Pressure, and low-to-medium tier mental effects, such as Intimidate.

Starting Move

Commanding Order

Lesser Special / 1 pp

Accuracy: -1

Range: 3 squares

Paints an target with a targeting pheromone. Attacks on the target have a +4 accuracy to hit.

Dark Species

Category	Growth
Pure	+2 WIS, +1 STR, +1 Int
Primary	+2 WIS
Seconday	+1 STR, +1 INT

Those that were born as Dark Pokémon often have a tendency to be seen as evil by the societies in which they inhabit. Of course, there is also a tendency for the society to be right, as a Dark's pokémon innermost workings are usually selfish, through no effort of their own.

Innate Abilities

Dark Sense (Active)- Dark types have a way to “Feel” the shadows, and where they connect. Takes more practice to get used to than other “senses”
Courage (Lesser) (Passive) - Immunity to Pressure, and low-tier mental effects, such as Intimidate.

Starting Move

Low Blow

Lesser Physical / 1 pp

Accuracy: -1

Range: Melee

Damage: 2d4 + 0.5 STR dark damage

If an enemy's wisdom is lower than yours, this attack deals double damage, as they look when you point into the sky and say 'Look at that Charizard!'

Ghost Species

Category	Growth
Pure	+2 INT, +1 STR, +1 DEX
Primary	+2 INT
Seconday	+1 STR, +1 DEX

Ghost Pokémon were often regarded as legends by most folk, told by mothers to scare their children into eating their berries. The truth is that they do exist, and they love to scare others, often for silly reasons.

Innate Abilities

Intimidate (Lesser) (Active) - Dragon types can flare their prides to try and affect enemies.
Immaterial (Passive/Active) - Ghosts are truly Intangible: They can’t touch anything, thus can’t “use” items or carry anything. They can’t be affected by physical moves. However, special attacks will still hit them. They can become tangible as an action, but doing so consumes a PP.

Starting Move

Spook

Lesser Special / 1 pp

Accuracy: -1

Range: Sight

Scares an enemy, intimidating them.

Fairy Species

Category	Growth
Pure	+2 INT, +2 WIS
Primary	+2 WIS
Seconday	+2 INT

To say Fairy Pokémon are odd, is to underestimate the oddness of Fairy-types. Often bubbly, happy, and eccentric, they are an interesting kind to say the least.

Innate Abilities

Charm (Lesser) (Passive) - Fairy types have the ability to be adorable and everyone pokémon knows it just by looking at them. Makes social interaction easier.
Fae Dust (Active) - Fairy types can transform seeds and fruits into dust, and spread the dust over a 2x2 square area, applying the effects on many targets at once. Does not apply to Blast Seeds.

Starting Move

Fae Blast

Lesser A.O.E Special / 2 pp

Range: 4 squares, 2x2 area.

Damage: 1d6 + 0.25 Int Fairy damage

Blasts a small area with Fairy power.

Normal Species

Category	Growth
Pure	+2 Free Points, +2 WIS
Primary	+2 Free Points
Seconday	+2 Free Points

Normal Pokémon, are more often than not, normal.

Innate Abilities

Blank Canvas (Passive) - Normal types learn abilities and moves better and faster than other pokémon.

Starting Move

Quick Attack

Lesser Physical / 1 pp

Accuracy: -1

Range: 2 squares

Damage: 1d8 + 0.25 STR + 0.25 INT normal damage

Rushes forward up to 2 squares to strike an enemy.

Chapter III

Adventure

World Mechanics

Hunger

You have 12 ‘Belly Points’, which correspond to the time you can go without eating and operating at full capacity.

You lose a Belly point every tick that passes. In the overworld. This corresponds to every hour.

In a mystery dungeon, however, time seems to flow in a mysterious way. In most cases, a tick passes every floor. Sometimes, a tick passes every combat, or every square your move. In some cases, you seem to never be hungry at all

After you run out of belly points, you get the ‘starving’ debuff. All your stats are halved, and you begin to take 10 HP damage every tick that passes.

Movement

Your move speed is measured in “squares”. Those squares decide all of your movement speeds in all fields. Some methods of trnsport are faster than the others.

Location	Square Distance	Time
Dungeon/Combat	1 meter	6 Seconds
Overworld	5 Km	1 hour

Dungeon Movement

In a dungeon, the movement is measured in a square grid that covers the dungeon. When there is no combat going on, you can move all your tokens freely. When entering a next room, you must only define how your march is positioned.

In combat, you can move in your “movement” part of your turn.

Travel Movement

You can travel at most up to 6 hours without stopping. After such, you must take a short rest of at least a hour. After 14 hours of travel, you must take a long rest.

Money

Some time ago, Pokémon used gold coins, the Poké, but as they were found to be impractical, the economy transitioned into PokéBucks, made out of plant fiber, they are lightweight and practical to carry.

Inventory

In the game, you’ll need items to bring around, be it food, orbs or consumables. To carry them around, you’ll need backpacks.

There are several different kind of backpacks, and depending on your size and you can carry bigger backpacks. Some abilities increases the amount of items you can fit into a backpack.

Backpacks have “Slots”, and each item usually occupies a single slot. (Per unit!)

Resting

To recover HP and PP, you need to rest properly and feed yourself. You can either have a long rest, or a short rest.

Long Rests

A Long Rest is a period of extended downtime, at least 8 hours long, during which a character sleeps or performs light activity: reading, talking, eating, or standing watch for no more than 2 hours. If the rest is interrupted by a period of strenuous activity, the characters must begin the rest again to gain any benefit from it.

When you long rest, you recover all HP and PP.

Short Rests

A Short Rest is a period of downtime, at least 1 hour long, during which a character does nothing more strenuous than eating, drinking, reading, and tending to wounds.

When you short rest, you recover half of your HP, and

Tiers

Many things in this world are divided in tiers, from Lesser to Greater.

Tier	Nomenclature
Tier 1	Lesser Tier
Tier 2	Minor Tier
Tier 3	Standard Tier
Tier 4	Major Tier
Tier 5	Greater Tier

You can get resistance to certain tiers of status effects. Effects applied by items are considered Standard Tier

As an example, intimidation granted by type is of the lesser tier, so courage of the lesser tier grants you immunity to it. Having courage of the standard tier would grant you immunity to intimidation from items.

Evolution

In this world, evolution is a primal instinct from Pokémon, and thus, pokémon that have became civilized are unable to become truly feral and evolve properly. For an Civilized Pokémon to evolve, an item named 'Feral Shard' is required. Evolving grants flat stat boosts, alongside new abilities and moves.

Feral Shards

Feral Shards are the D&D equivalent of 'Checkpoint' leveling. Because of the diverse requirements to evolve in pokémon, Feral shards are a story mechanic to round it all up, in the name of simplification.

Mystery Dungeons

Mysterious space-time distortions, mystery dungeons are the base of the game. Every different game has a reason for them, but they are usually the focus of all campaigns. Here's what you will find inside Mystery Dungeons.

Distortions

The very nature of a Mystery Dungeon is a distortion. They are places where Time and Space defy each other.

Due to this nature, a 5ft corridor can be turned into a corridor that would take years to get across. A day spent in a mystery dungeon could be a second outside, or a month outside.

Wild Pokémon

Inside Mystery Dungeons, you will find a collection of Wild Pokémon, more-so than on the surface world. It is not known if the Wild Pokémon were once civilized.

Items and Wonder Orbs

You will tend to find different Items, most of the time brought in by explorers who ended up fainting or dying, some other times brought in by Wild pokémon who accumulate shiny objects. You will also find Wonder Orbs, special relics that work only due to the distortions in dungeons themselves.

Monster Houses

Sometimes, Wild Pokémon tend to form 'Monster Houses', which are just enormous concentrations of pokémon that roam dungeons or make a shelter to ambush others.

Staircases

Dungeons are seperated in 'Floors', which are connected together by 'Staircases'. Although they are named this way, most of the time they aren't real staircases, just a connection between one floor to another that can take a variety of forms. Common ones are small tunnels, holes in the walls or in the ground, or severe distortions in space.

Weather

Because of the Distortions, weather effects in dungeons tend to be more severe. There are a variety of weather effects, but in the table below are the more common.

Weather	Effect
Sunny	Fire-type moves increase power by 50%, while the power of Water-type moves is cut in half.
Raining	Water-type moves increase power by 50%, while the power of Fire-type moves is cut in half.
Hail	All non-Ice type pokémon take 25 ice damage every tick.
Sandstorm	All non-Ground/Rock type pokémon take 25 normal damage every turn.

Pressure

Some Dungeons inflict a heavy effect on Pokémon inside of it called 'Pressure'. It makes exploring extremely harsh, and all pokémon that try to travel in such dungeons have to be properly equipped to do so. This effect doubles your PP consumption, and belly depletion.

Chapter IV

Consumable Items

Consumables

Consumables are one-use items, useful for planning ahead, exploring, healing, and some many other things.

Fruits and Berries

All berries restore 1 belly point after consumed.

Item	Effect	Description
Oran Berry	Heals for 20 hp.	A small, cyan colored berry. When crushed and applied to wounds, quickly aids in scarring and healing.
Sitrus Berry	Heals for 100 hp.	A more powerful version of the Oran Berry.
Oren Berry	Deals 20 poison damage.	A small, cyan colored berry. Very acidic, and rots organic matter.
Chesto Berry	Cures Sleep.	A blue chestnut with a meaty inside. Eating it can keep you awake for an entire night.
Pecha Berry	Cures most poisons.	A peach, with light spots on the ‘meat’. Works as an antidote for most toxins.
Rawst Berry	Cures Burns.	A small, cyan colored berry with dark spots. Explodes in meaty juice, and scars burn wounds quickly.
Star Fruit	You gain three actions next turn, and stunned thereafter.	A golden, star shaped fruit. Eating it gives you a quick burst of elemental power.
Fire Berry	Cures freezing.	A small, crimson red berry. It is hot to the touch, and makes your body warm up when eaten.
Razz Berry	Really Tasty. Restores 1 hunger point.	A raspberry. Most pokémon seem to love it, and it has a calming effect.
Smoke Berry	Explodes in a 3x3 cloud of smoke	A small, gray colored berry with dark spots. Munching on it causes it to burst in smoke.
Persian Orange	Cures Confusions	A small, orange colored berry with white spots. Seems to give the consumer a good amount of focus.
Enerberry	Restores 5 pp.	A small, cyan colored berry with dark spots. Gives you a quick boost in energy.
Golden Berry	Cures all physical status conditions.	A small, golden berry. Said to taste better than Golden Apples.
Scar Berry	Cures bleeding.	A small, red berry. Applying it to wounds quickly stops bleeding.

Seeds

All Seeds look the same. An Analysis must be done by a knowledgeable pokémon to identify it. All buff/debuff seeds effects lasts for 4 turns.

Item	Effect
Blast Seed	Explodes in a 3x3 area, dealing 40 pure damage.
Blinker Seed	Blinds the target, reducing their accuracy to 0.
Doom Seed	Lowers the target's level by 1.
Power Seed	Increases the target's damage output by 50%.
Sure-Hit Seed	The target's attacks never miss, and increases your critical rating by 1.
Eyedrop Seed	Grants the target the ability to see hidden/invisible entities.
Golden Seed	Raises the target's level by 2.
Heal Seed	Cures all of target's status conditions (Including buffs.)

Item	Effect
Hunger Seed	Reduces the target's belly points to 0.
Joy Seed	Causes the target to be in pure joy.
Life Seed	Permanently increases your constitution by 3.
Pure Seed	Warps the target to the dungeon's stairs.
Quick Seed	Increases your movespeed by 2.
Reviver Seed	Fully restores a Pokémon's HP/PP/Body Parts if it dies while holding a reviver seed.
Stun Seed	Stuns the target.
Warp Seed	Warps the target to a random place on the floor.

Wonder Orbs

Orbs are an interesting class of item. Crafted by storing power in Blank Orbs, they can hold and activate powerful effects once broken. Due to the nature of Orbs, there are infinite variations of Orb Powers. Listed below are relatively common orbs, found in your markets. Like with seeds, most effects last 4 rounds.

They can only be used in Dungeons, due to their very nature of distorting space and time.

Orbs and Pressure

Due to the nature of some legendary dungeons and legendary pokémon, powerful time and space distortions tend to disable or reduce the power of Wonder Orbs.

Item	Effect
Blank Orb	First found in mystery dungeons, able to absorb a move or ability for later use.
Align Orb	It makes the HP of your party members equal the highest HP among you.
Apathy Orb	The target is unable to use or pickup items. Pokémon affected also drop items they are holding.
Blowback Orb	Sends a pokémon flying behind, until they hit a wall. If they hit another pokémon, both sustain 50 pure damage.
Decoy Orb	Makes the target a 'Decoy', causing all other pokémon to attack it.
Drought Orb	Drains water and magma from the dungeon floor.
Escape Orb	For a limited time, stops a Mystery Dungeon's distortions in time and space, allowing an escape from a dungeon.
Silence Orb	Makes the target 'Muzzled', making it incapable of attacks or moves using its mouth.
Slow Orb	Reduces the target's move speed by 2.
Slumber Orb	Causes the target to sleep.
Spurn Orb	Warps the target in to another place room on the floor.
Switcher Orb	Switchs the user's position with another Pokémon, however distant.
Weather Orb	Changes the dungeon's weather to a random condition.
Hail Orb	Changes the dungeon's weather to Hail.
Sunny Orb	Changes the dungeon's weather to Sunny.
Rainy Orb	Changes the dungeon's weather to Rain.
Sandy Orb	Changes the dungeon's weather to Sandstorm.
Clear Sky Orb	Removes all weather conditions.

Orb Variations

Some orbs have different variations, that changes their targeting or effect. Some common variations are

Wide - Affects the whole floor, including the party.

Roomy - Affects the whole room, including the party

Team - Affects the whole party of the user.

Enemies - Affects all enemies on the room.

Item	Effect
Fear Orb	Terrifies a target, making them run away from the user.
Medusa Orb	Petrifies a target.
Seal Orb	Flinches a target for four turns.

Identify Orb	Reveals all pokémon and items on the floor.
Investigative Orb	Identifies an item.
Invisify Orb	Turns the user invisible.
Itemizer Orb	Turns a target into a random item.
Longtoss Orb	Things thrown by the user will fly until they hit a wall or Pokémon.
Luminous Orb	Reveals the entire floor to the user, including foes, items, and the stairs. Will not reveal the locations of traps.
Mobile Orb	Grants the user the 'Mobile' status condition.
Monster Orb	Summons a Monster House
Nullify Orb	Nullifies an target's ability.
One-Room Orb	Tears down all walls, turning the floor into a vast, open room.
Pierce Orb	Grants the user the 'Pierce' status condition.
Rebound Orb	The user counters the next move used against it, dealing full damage back.
Rollcall Orb	Draws all team members to the user.
See-Trap Orb	Reveals all traps on the room.
Trap-Bust Orb	Destroys all traps on the room.
Trawl Orb	Draws all items on the floor to the user.

Foods

You can split a food item into parts, to recover only a certain quantity of belly points.

Item	Effect
Apple	Restores 4 belly points.
Big Apple	Restores 8 belly points.
Perfect Apple	Restores 12.
Golden Apple	Restores 48 belly points. Tastes amazing.
Canned Meal	Restores 12 belly points.
Ration	Restores 24 belly points.

Synthetics

Item	Effect
Elixir	Restores 10 pp.
Max Elixir	Restores 25 pp.
Ultra Elixir	Restores 50 pp.
Protein	Permanently increases Strength by 5.
Iron	Permanently increases Constitution by 5.
Calcium	Permanently increases Intelligence by 5.
Zinc	Permanently increases Wisdom by 5.
Carbos	Permanently increases Dexterity by 5.
X-Stat	Doubles an attribute for 3 rounds, depending on which brand of X-Stat you consumed.

Throwables

Throwables always use Strength as an damaging attribute.

Item	Damage	Attr.Damage	Acc	Characteristics
Pebble	1d4	0.5 Normal	-2	Arc throw. Durable.
Georock	2d4	1 Rock	-2	Arc throw. Durable.
Bombrock	4d4	1 Fire	-2	Arc throw.
Steel Orbe	6d4	1.5 Steel	-1	Reusable. Arc throw.
Stick	1d6	0.5 Normal	+1
Iron Thorn	2d6	1 Steel	+2
Icicle	3d6	1 Ice	+2
Boomerang	2d12	1 Normal	+1	Reusable. Returning.

Arc Throw - Can be thrown over other entities.
Durable - Has a 50% chance of not breaking after use.
Reusable - Never breaks.
Returning - Returns to your hand.

Chapter V

Equipment

Equipments are the cornerstone of any team. They allow you to do more than if you were unequipped, often being the reason you can get out of a mystery dungeon alive.

Backpacks

Backpacks are the core of any explorer, allowing you to carry entire troves of your items with you. You can only carry one backpack at a time. Some abilities increase your slots

Backpack	Minimum Slots
Normal	4
Large	6
Big	10
Snorlax	20

Pouches

Besides the backpacks, a pokémon can carry a pouch, made to store a specific type of item.

Pouch	Description
Thrower's Pouch	Allows you to carry 4/8/12/20 throwing items, depending on your size.
Seeder's Pouch	Allows you to carry 3/6/9/15 seeds, depending on your size.
Boomerang Quiver	Quick storage for your boomerang. Increases it's damage by 0.5.

Accessories

Accessory	Description
Rescue Badge	If you faint in a dungeon with this equipped, you appear in the dungeon's entrance.

Scarves

Scarves are equipment that you wear wrapped around your neck. Pokémon with necks can choose to wrap it around the closes thing to a head they have.

Scarf	Description
Pecha Scarf	Prevents most poisons.
Shield Scarf	Increases Con by 20%.
Barrier Scarf	Increases Wis by 20%.
Mobile Scarf	The holder can walk on/through anything. Every time the holder walks 'through' something, he loses 2 belly points. If belly points goes to 0, Mobile Scarf stops working.
Sneak Scarf	The holder won't wake up sleeping Pokémon, and is very sneaky.

Bands

Band	Description
Persim Band	Prevents confusion.
Braveheart Band	Prevents intimidation.
Weather Band	Holder is not affected by weather conditions.
Detect Band	Increases AC by 2.
Hit Band	Increases Accuraccy by 2.
Power Band	Increases Str by 20%
Special Band	Increases Int by 20%

Utilities

Utility	Description
Rope (50ft)	Rope.
Case, map or scroll	Used for protecting maps/scrolls against environment conditions.
Torch	Stays alight for a hour.
Solrock	Stays alight for 8 hours. Light imitates sunlight.
Waterskin	Used to store water.

Weapons and Armor

Weapons and Armor are a rarity in a world where pokémon can blast fire out of their mouthes, but some pokémon do utilize it. Users of weapons and armor are mostly looked down upon by other pokémon.

Weapons

Weapons add 0pp moves to your moveset, which deal fixed damage.

Example: Steel Sword

Normal Physical / 0 pp

Accuracy: 0

Range: Melee

Damage: 25 steel damage

Strikes an enemy with a Steel Sword.

Armor

Armor adds fixed amounts of defense/special defense, and can give you resistance to certain types of damage.

Example: Rock Chestplate

Defense: 20

Sp. Defense: 5

Gives you resistance to Normal damage.

Made With Love

Luka here. The Instinct Project is the culmination of 5 years of rounding up some peeps to delve into the Pokémon world. Repetitive or not, Game Freak has built a fantastic world with their series, and ChunSoft has only made it even better.

Mystery Dungeon will always have a special place in my heart, and so will D&D. Nothing is much better than having a beer while playing with close friends.

A very warm thanks to @Casatex and @Solipso, who have contributed so much to the Instinct system, and the worldbuilding present in the DMG.

And the most special thanks to all my players, who have supported all the crazy playthroughs we have been so far.

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