Notes From Caleb

Well met, adventurer! Before we continue; grab a cup of tea, take your place by the fire (or, alternatively, grab a blanket), and get comfortable. No point in reading without comfort, ay?

Now then–my name is Caleb. Not professor, mind you. Simply Caleb will do (and I don’t need to know whether you’re a boy, girl, or neither, really). You seem like the curious sort of person who might be willing to test out the eccentricities of life. Allow me to present to you with a new script pulled directly from the yellow pages of Ye Olde Dungeons and Dragons rulebooks and classic Pokemon challenge runs. I call it: Pokemon and Party Wipes.

Collected from scholars the Pokemon world over, from the wide plains of Galar to the bustling metropolises of Unova, here you’ll find a new collection of rules designed for incorporating a very Dungeons and Dragons feel into the Pokemon experience. In this tome, I set forth to detail the perfect ways for complicating Pokemon in as extreme a manner as possible–you’ll find associated Classes, Subclasses, Magic Items, and even rules for incorporating dice and Martial/Magical attack types into your game!

This is a hardy piece, I’ll admit, and it’s always going to be somewhat of a work in progress. I could sit well into the dead of many moonlit nights for months on end, and still this product would never be nearly as good as I’d like it to be. That’s simply the challenge that comes with designing something such as this, and the variety of different experiences Pokemon is known to create means this ruleset is going to have skiffs and scuffs for everyone. If you just so happen to be “everyone,” please, let me know–critique is the key to revision, and I always appreciate it.

That said, I do believe that this document lays out a unique, entertaining Pokemon experience, and I hope you’ll view as such by the time you’re done with it, too. I’ve explored many a starry vista, many a snowy mountain peak, and many a forest dark and twisted, where nameless things crawl and stir like infinite shadows, to gather the information presented here. The bones, at least, should be good. If they aren’t, well… I’m not a doctor. I’m not trained to fix bones.

Simply put, thank you so much for taking the time to read through this document. If you take a liking to it, please tell your friends, business partners, acquaintances, and family pets met passing through the hallway. And whatever may happen to you or I in the future, know that I am now and ever,

Caleb_Strange

HOLD ON A MINUTE!

Pokemon and Party Wipes is a challenge run designed for Pokemon 9th Edition as on PC. It is not cross-compatible with other versions–it relies on the use of PKHex or other methods to cheat items into the game. It should function for editions preexisting 9th (Such as Diamond, Platinum, and Pearl, all 4th Edition games) so long as they are run through Emulation Software, but changes may need to be made on the part of the player. We the writers recommend the following 9th Edition games for use in this challenge:

• Inclement Emerald
• Radical Red
• Unbound
• Vintage White
• Renegade Platinum

Howdy there! Thanks for continuing forward after that quick little snippet. We hope you're liking this setup so far--the goal is to make this look as official Dungeons and Dragons as possible. Now, onto the actual ruleset itself!

As a Pokemon Challenge Set, Pokemon and Party Wipes takes a few basic rules from the Nuzlocke Challenge in order to set the ground work for what's to come. After these have been laid out, you'll find information relating to Class types, Attack Types, and a few other new ruletypes we've added along the way.

Immediately following Part I is a collection of all 905 Pokemon sorted based on their assigned class (Part II), which is in turn followed by a few tables detailing the rarity levels of different held items (Part III).

In line with other Challenge Sets, the judgement of any unique situations are up to the player. As we receive more feedback on the balance and application of the rules presented here, we'll update the document accordingly. So, please--if you run into any recurring problems, send them straight on over to Caleb on Twitter at @CalebStrangest.

Basic Rules

There are two basic rules that outline the entirety of Pokemon and Party Wipes, both of which are torn directly from the Nuzlocke Challenge.

Catch Clause

First of all, the player may only catch the first Pokemon they encounter on any given route, in any given area, or may otherwise only take the first Pokemon they receive in any area via gifting, hatching, or other methods. If you're ever confused as to what area a pokemon originates in, you can easily determine this by going into their summary screen and checking the "Caught/Met In..." blip--this is where your game considers the Pokemon as having come from, and this blip CANNOT be repeated amongst Pokemon. If it is, the most recently caught 'mon counts as illegitimate.

Of course, there are a few other rules that go along with this one. If your first encounter within an area faints or escapes, it still counts as an encounter--there are no redos. If your encounter is a double battle, you may catch one, but not both, of the presented Pokemon. Things such as scripted encounters are up to player discretion. You might choose to consider them normal encounters. You might also choose to consider them as entirely separate from the area you encounter them in, or you might simply determine them to be illegitimate due to their guaranteed nature. Whatever you choose, it's up to you--play how you see fit.

What's the Cause For Shiny Clause?

One of the most common alterations players make to the Catch Clause is known as "Shiny Clause," which states that you may ignore the rules of the Catch Clause in the few cases you may encounter a shiny Pokemon. Once again, such a decision is up to player discretion--you might choose to use this rule, or you might ignore it in games where shiny odds are increased or otherwise altered in a way that massively benefits the player, as this could remove some of the challenge.

whereas the latter result means it lives to fight another day. How you choose to roll these dice is up to you; you might roll them in immediate sequence, or you might roll one after every turn in combat to really give it that table top feel.

Either way, there are a few tweaks you can make to this system if you'd like it to be a bit more streamlined. In Dungeons and Dragons, the end of a combat session typically means the party goes around healing one another, meaning death is often only relevant during the actual events of combat itself. Similarly, you can choose to make it so that ending a combat encounter before a Pokemon has rolled all of its Death Saves immediately forces 3 Life Saves. This only matters if you're not rolling the dice in sequence, of course.

As a streamer, you may also of course choose to have Chat roll the Dice for you. There are dozens of bots that will allow this (Nightbot, for example). In this situation, you might follow the rules as laid out above, or you might take the first roll you see in Chat, or even average the total number of rolls and use this as the result.

Nuzlocke

If you're trying to run the Nuzlocke Challenge with Pokemon and Party wipes, the first thing to do is get rid of the Dice mechanics for death. The second thing, of course, is to add a level restriction to your Pokemon outside of the rules presented in the Advanced P&P section. The third and final thing to do is realize you just set yourself up for a limited party, near-itemless, highly restricted Nuzlocke, and I wish you the best luck I possibly can in your run. Godspeed.

Egglocke and Randomizers

Due to the restricted nature of party composition in Pokemon and Party Wipes, any challenge revolving around random Pokemon can very much destroy a run from the get-go, depending on your early encounters (namely because, depeneding on what you catch, you might flat-out not be able to use them). In order to make up for this, a caveat had been added to the Catch Clause for your first capture while running a combination of these Challenge Sets: rather than taking your first encounter, you may instead take the first encounter of a different class than your starter Pokemon.

This should, to an extent, guarantee that you stand at least some chance in the early game, even if the rest of your party is sorely lacking.

Soullink

If you're running a Soullink with Pokemon and Party Wipes, an additional bit of fun can be found in linking the items you both pick after each gym, as well as your Party-Class composition. The latter could be impossible depending on both of your encounters, however, so if you choose to use this rule, it's recommended that you also use the alternative rule present in the "You Meet in a Tavern..." blurb two pages before this one.

Yours,

--Caleb_Strange

[Art By Shimanoko]

With the basic rules out of the way, we can now jump into Classes! Some cringey shit follow, I'm sorry, but flavor text is necessary to stay in the Dungeons and Dragons handbook theme.

As I've already stated, all 905 Pokemon present up through Legends Arceus have been divided into the eight unique classes following this page. You'll also find little blurbs making up for some rules if you choose to play Advanced Pokemon and Party Wipes, as well as little snippets of Pokemon lore and the real-life basis for certain designs, much of which is here to back up Class placements.

Class Design

Every class is, of course, divided into a Martial or Magical fighting style, which determines their movepool eligibility. On top of this, every Class has a unique Class Feature, which is a permanent unique effect granted to all Pokemon contained within it. These features grant exceptions to the core rules of Pokemon and Party wipes, which is another reason party size has been limited. Through their inclusion, I hope to create

a fun way to balance parties outside of arbitrary Class divisions.

While there are only eight classes as of now, certain Pokemon (I'm looking at you, various Steel-Types) have led me to consider the inclusion of a 3rd Artificer class, though if this is included, it'll be in a future update including some fan-made regional forms from games such as Radical Red, which I also intend to classify due to their popularity.

Class	Size	Feature
Artificer	XXX	Infuse Item
Barbarian	XXX	Rage
Cleric	XXX	Channel Divinity
Druid	XXX	Wild Shape
Fighter	XXX	Second Wind
Monk	XXX	Ki
Rogue	XXX	Expertise
Wizard	XXX	Arcane Recovery

Artificer Features

As an Artificer, Pokemon gain the following features

Class Feature

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• Infuse Item: When you catch a Pokemon with the Artificer Class, you may also choose an item from the Magic Item Tables of accordingly rarity.

Artificer Level	Item Table
1-19	Uncommon
20-39	Rare
40-69	Very Rare
70-100	Legendary

Barbarian Features

As a Barbarian, Pokemon gain the following features

Class Feature

---

• Rage: Pokemon with the Barbarian Class can be swapped in through Switch Mode after an enemy Pokemon has fainted.

The Difference is Purpose

In the original draft, Pokemon and Party Wipes made use of the Paladin Class instead of Barbarian. This was changed because, as I went on, I realized that I was basically just throwing Pokemon into Paladin due to them either 1) being big and bulky or 2) being protective or defensive. The problem was that this latter point imposed on Cleric, while the former didn't really feel like Paladin. So, the choice was made to split the Pokemon placed in the original Paladin tables into Cleric and Barbarian.

[Art by Alex Alcanter]

It's the Hair, Isn't It?

At first glance, the Starly line might seem better suited to the Fighter Class, but the Pokedex seems to think otherwise. One entry from Diamond states that "[Staraptor] has a savage nature. It will courageously challenge foes that are much larger," while another entry from Black and White mentions "It never stops attacking even if it is injured. It fusses over the shape of its comb." Most of this bodes towards Barbarian, it would seem, while the latter part of this latter entry really just bodes towards Staraptor being incredibly edgy.

Natural History

Relicanth is quite an interesting Pokemon. It's based of the Coelacanth, a though-to-be-long-dead fish discovered off the coast of South Africa in 1938, and as such is basically a living fossil. It is for this fact, that Relicanth is quite literally an ancient bit of natural history, that it's been placed into Druid. It's sort of a pun, actually. But puns make the world go round.

Rogue Features

As a Rogue, Pokemon gain the following features

Class Feature

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• Expertise: Pokemon with the Rogue Class can use 1 item per battle, so long as this item targets them exclusively. If you're playing a Rom Hack that removes the ability to use items in battle, Pokemon with the Rogue class instead copy the Artificer's "Infuse Item" feature.

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Sneak Attacks and Stabbing Backs

Rogue is, without a doubt, the most predictable Class in Pokemon and Party Wipes, more so than even Druid. Due to the nature of most Dark- and Ghost-type Pokemon, as well as the necessity of every generation having a few sneaky, rodent-like 'mons, Rogue has so far ended up becoming almost a dump Class. There are, of course, all of the Pokemon you would expect--Greninja, Weavile, Decidueye, the likes. But there are also dozens of others that simply fit into the cetagory of "somewhat stealthy, and basically nothing but this," such as Rattata. on top of this, Rogue also has just about every Pokemon known for playing pranks on people, such as Ghastly and Misdreavous. Rogue is bloated without a doubt--but, hopefully, you'll all enjoy this. Their Class Feature is fairly good, and due to the nature of Pokemon slotted into Rogue, you should have access to plenty of them early in your runs.

[Art (Left) by hakkasm, (Above) by Ｎ極]

Wizard

Amidst the bustling streets of Jublife City, a Mr. Mime performs tricks for a group of children. Whirling its hands in quick circles, it creates invisible walls that cause a ball to bounce back and forth between seemingly nothing, to the major excitement of the crowd.

On a cliff face above the swaying ocean, a Slowking quietly debates the slow regard of silent things. Rocks circle around its crown, forming complex patterns by means of the Pokemon's psychic energy. When it's finished, the Slowking sighs and falls backwards, mumbling something under its breath.

Sitting with a human, a Delphox helps to prepare a magical remedy for an injured Dusknoir. When the potion is finished, it carefully applies it to the ghost Pokemon, making sure that no harm comes to its trainer. The Dusknoir, once healed, leaves without a problem or thank you. Nodding, the Delphox and trainer get back to work on the long line of Pokemon no one else will help.

Wizards are defined by their powerful energy attacks, psychic prowess, and elemental adaptability. Nearly every Pokemon in this class is a largely special-attack based 'mon, with some of the most obvious choices being Pokemon like Alakazam, Hydreigon, and Delphox. Much like Rogue and Barbarian, Wizard is a sort of basic filler Class. If a Pokemon is known for incredible psychic, elemental, or seemingly magical power, and it doesn't fit into any other class, it's likely a Wizard.

Act II: No. 13

The ducklett line is unusual in the fact that it has basically no direct canonical information that helped us in placing it into any single class. Ducklett is, quite literally, just a blue duck, and swanna is defined by its dancing. In this sense, we decided to categorize the line into the Wizard class as a nod to Pytor Tchaikovsky's ballet "Swan Lake," as this both helped to expand the class and served as a neat reference.

Contained in Part III is a collection of Held Items split into different Magic Item Rarities. You'll notice that most of the "better" items (Leftovers, Life Orb), are placed much higher up on the list, while the more niche or single-use items (Gems, Heavy-Boots) are relegated to the lowers tiers. As time progresses, I figure this will probably be the most heavily-edited section of this document.

Exceptions and Then Some

On top of the four item rarity tables, you'll also find a table listing items that are exempt from the Magic Items rule. These are utility items, such as Everstone or Amulet Coin, that serve only to quicken or streamline certain processes outside of battle.