Start Here! Battle-By-Post Player Handbook - Generation 9

LouisCyphre · Oct 7, 2022

Welcome to Battle-by-Post!
The Pokemon Raising and Battling Text Fangame

Current Patch:	September Patch Follow-Up	2024-Sep-22

What is all of this?
The subtitle says it all: This forum is dedicated to our text-based game Battle-by-Post, where you battle other players one post at a time.

Here, you can be the trainer you always wanted to be. Assemble the roster of your dreams, and duke it out against real opponents from across the globe!

This is a game? How is it played?
BBP is played on this very forum, one post at a time.

Each battle (or series of battles) is a thread on the forum, like this League Circuit battle. Inside, users either battle as players or preside as referees. Because users often referee for each others' battles, you'll quickly get the chance to try both! Players contend with one another or with NPCs to earn prizes to upgrade their team: EXP, currency, items, special Techniques, and more. Once players have ordered to their Pokemon, referees report the results and progress the match. They also play the role of NPC trainers and Bosses.

Each round, players post orders for their Pokemon in sequence. This means that later posters can respond to the orders of earlier posters:

Ordering first, you're playing to survive. You need to prepare answers for the worst things your opponent can do!
Ordering second, you're playing to win. Try to exploit any hole in your opponent's strategy that you can!

Once the round is reported by the referee ("reffed"), post order will then reverse. Last round's second player will typically be the next round's first player. This is the essence of playing BBP, and while it is easy to understand, it is challenging to master.

The pace of play in BBP is quite slow: Battles often see about a post a day on average. Time limits are measured in days or, sometimes, weeks. The recommended way to play BBP is to check in once a day, to order or referee your matches, and then logging off or hanging out with the community.

As is the fashion, we do have a community Discord, where much of our social activity takes place. We don't force players to participate on Discord: You can play BBP purely on the forum, if desired.

:sv/caribolt:

Who are those?
This forum game incorporates CAP Pokemon! The CAP community has provided years of lovingly-crafted fanmade Pokemon though their ongoing metagame-exploring community project. Give them a look!

You can learn more about CAPs in the BBP Data Audit and the EnCAPlopedia.

What about role-playing?
BBP is a strategy game first and foremost, but that doesn't stop our users from allowing their imagination to run wild. Many players dream up rich inner lives or drama for their trainer avatars, and invent backstories for their Pokemon: How they came to the team, their personalities, and their histories.

...Do I get to role-play?
Of course! BBP may not have dedicated role-play threads outside of battle, but players are still encouraged to—and very often do—come up with fiction involving their trainers and Pokemon.

...Do I have to role-play?
Of course not! With few exceptions, you can play BBP purely as a strategy game. Some of our players are more interested in team-building and battling than they are in brewing nicknames and backstories.

By default, BBP's flavor does certain assumptions about your trainer character. (Or characters!) It often assumes that they're a decorated trainer, able to lead powerful Pokemon of any type or need; and that they're participating in the BBP League, playing in a genericized region, set a few years after the events after any of the source games. The game also assumes that your Pokemon are highly cunning; able to parse and implement complex instructions, and trained well enough to act independently without in-universe instruction. BBP often assumes that participating trainers are strong enough to be a Champion of a regular region's league.

BBP doesn't have any specific enforced canon. Trends in BBP fiction come and go, as users grow excited for certain fashions and then bored of them. So long as you moderate your tone appropriately (we are a teen-safe forum) and follow site-wide rules, you are welcome to invent whatever sort of fanon you wish. As long as your trainer battles by the rules, they could be a generic NPC trainer, a Pokemon, a machine, an extraterrestrial, a time-traveler, or whatever else pleases you.

Unlike its ancestor games (various Anime-Style Battling leagues), BBP lacks dedicated forum space for storytelling with other users. Collaborative storytelling for BBP happens during battles, in players' profiles, or elsewhere.

What's the goal?
Why, that's completely up to you.

BBP is a Smogon-affiliated game, and Smogon is primarily a competitive Pokemon website. Logically, a lot of our players aim to strengthen their team and improve their play, hoping to triumph in high-Level PvP against other players.

Many of our players are content to grow and raise their team. We have players who work to brew new and powerful strategies using overlooked Pokemon or items. We also have players who try to see how much they can achieve in BBP with gimmick teams.

Differing goals aside, all of these different player-types play on the same forum. As users referee for each other, clash with one another, and watch each others' teams grow, they often befriend fellow Pokemon fans in and out of BBP. The real goal of BBP (and the biggest reason we still run the game) is to meet and play with like-minded real people from all over the globe, and share a wonderful hobby with them.

:ss/sableye:

How different is BBP from the source games?
Very.

Eager veterans will point you to all kinds of examples—Switching phases, moves with new effects, abilities that we've buffed, and more. A single, simple example might make it clear just what playing BBP is like, though.

Here's a move you're sure to be familiar with if you've even casually played Pokemon: Thunder Wave!

Thunder Wave
The user fires a special jolt at the target. The jolt does no damage, but can interfere with the target's nerves.

Ground-type Pokemon are unaffected by this move.

Inflict Paralysis with two (2) Strain on the defender if the user is Electric-type, or one (1) Strain otherwise.

At first glance, this move looks like it was imported directly from the source games. It inflicts Paralysis, and it even fails to affect Ground-types, just like in the cartridge games. But, what's this about inflicting Paralysis "with Strain"? Why do Electric-type users inflict more Strain than non-Electric users?

The truth is that BBP is its own entire game. It uses pieces and names that are familiar to fans of the official Pokemon games, but rearranged and remixed. You'll want to approach game pieces as if you're seeing them for the first time, because in many cases, you are!

To whet your appetite, here's a few choice excerpts from real effects in BBP:

While the user is acting, or being acted upon: This ability also has the effect text of each Weather in play that was created by the user.
Transfer the user's Confusion status, if any, to the defender.
When the user is hit by a contact attack from a Paralyzed attacker: Inflict Sleep on the attacker until the end of their next turn.
When equipping items to the user in a send-out post, you may also equip them with one item from an opponent's backpack. Note those items as the user's "Contraband".
While it is a round where the user entered play: The user is unaffected by actions with the word "Ball" in their name.
Opponents are Infatuated with the user.

Sounds fun! How do I join?
Signing up is easy: You get to select three (3) purchasable Pokemon at their earliest stage of evolution. Those are your starters! Details about leveling and purchasing can be found below, as well as a list of Pokemon you're not allowed to purchase.

Don't worry too much about your starters. You'll earn enough currency for another Pokemon after every other battle or so. With some of your favorite Pokemon in mind, follow the steps below to create your BBP Trainer Profile!

Profile Creation
If you're interested in joining BBP, you'll go to the Registration Center forum. There, you'll use the new-thread field to create your own personal Trainer Profile Thread:

In the field, you'll type "Profile: ", followed by your Smogon username. This thread will hold everything you collect—including Pokemon, currency, items, and more—for the entirety of your BBP career!

The first post in your Trainer Profile Thread will be about you, as a trainer in the setting of BBP. To populate it, you can copy or approximate the following template:

Code:

[b]Pokemon:[/b] Pokemon 1, Pokemon 2, etc.

[b]Trainer Level:[/b] 0

[b]TC:[/b] 0
[b]RC:[/b] 0
[b]JC:[/b] 0

[b]Items:[/b]
1x:oran berry:Oran Berry
1x:lum berry:Lum Berry
1x:lucky egg:Lucky Egg
1x:muscle band:Muscle Band
1x:wise glasses:Wise Glasses
1x:life orb:Life Orb

[b]Key Items:[/b]
1x:shadow mail:Harvest Event Voucher
1x:snow mail:Festive Event Voucher
1x:heart mail:Devoted Event Voucher
1x:orange mail:Deviant Event Voucher
1x:star piece:Star Piece

[b]Current Battles:[/b]
None

[b]Prize Claims[/b]
None

Your first post in your Trainer Profile Thread should have the following features:

Trainer Name: (Optional)
It's not required to invent a Trainer identity for playing in BBP, but the game is more immersive if you do! Some players write descriptions for their Trainer, create sprites, or even formulate multiple cooperating Trainer characters!
Trainer Level:
You start BBP at Trainer Level 0 ("T.Lv0"), and as you train you strongest Pokemon to new Levels, you'll go up in Level too! Raising your Trainer Level lets you battle in harder and more rewarding venues, such as the Legend Gauntlet.
Pokemon Names: (Optional)
This is a list of every Pokemon you own in BBP. You can list them alphabetically, in order of acquisition, or however, as long as they're all listed.
Currencies:
Your three stocks of Counters. You don't start with any, but you'll be flush with them soon enough:
- TC: Stands for "Trainer Counters". Represented with :rare candy.
  - This currency is used to meet new regular Pokemon, and to evolve Pokemon.
- RC: Stands for "Retail Counters". Represented with :amulet coin:.
  - This currency is used to buy Items for your Trainer and Pokemon.
- JC: Stands for "Judge Counters". Represented with :tea:.
  - This currency is used to pay the player who acts as the referee for your battles.
Items:
Your trainer's full inventory of items. Eventually, like many trainers do, you might have to sort your items into different lists to keep track of them all! Every trainer starts BBP with the following items:
- Regular items: 1xOran Berry, 1xLum Berry, 1xLucky Egg, 1xMuscle Band, 1xWise Glasses, 1xLife Orb
- Key items: 1xHarvest Event Voucher, 1xFestive Event Voucher, 1xDevoted Event Voucher, 1xDeviant Event Voucher, 1xStar Piece
Current Battles: (Optional)
It is recommended to paste links to each of your ongoing battles in your profile, so you can check one place to see if you're due to post.
Prize Claims:
When you claim prizes in the Prize Claim tower, you will be required to paste a link to your claim into your Trainer Profile. BBP's Approvers will use these links when making sure that your counter earnings and spendings add up properly. Help make their job a little easier, please, and keep this section tidy!

Your next post, and likely your next several posts, will contain your Pokemon! It's recommended to only keep about 8 to 10 Pokemon in each post, and to make a new post once each one fills up. When you send your Pokemon to your referee for a battle, you will have to get that Pokemon's profile by editing your post. If you have too many Pokemon in the same post, retrieving their data can become a massive chore!

Before you pick your starting Pokemon, let's take a look at an example Pokemon Profile:

Muginn (Murkrow ♀)
Level 2 EXP: 06 / 10

Hardy nature ( +None, -None )
Typing: Dark/Flying
Abilities: Insomnia, Super Luck HA: Prankster

Name Etymology:
The younger raven serving the god Odin in Norse myth. Each dawn, she flies low along the entire mortal realm to learn the whispers of the soil, beasts, and corpses; and each dusk she returns to inform Odin of her findings.

Attitude and Motive:
Muginn has a slothful, impetuous personality. Rather than better herself or pursue challenging goals, it is her preference to laze about and eat junk food.

History:
Found at the roadside, ailing from apparent illness. After being brought home and tended to, however, Muginn revealed that she was merely ill from over-eating. The manner in which she displayed this--by expelling her meal all across the carpet--was to be an omen for the future. Muginn has proven herself to be troublesome, untidy, and all-round an extraordinarily irritating nuisance to her trainer.

HP: 85
Attack: 6
Defen.: 3
Sp.Atk: 6
Sp.Def: 3
Speed: 91
Size: 1
Weight: 1

Moves
Level 0:
Aerial Ace
Air Slash
Astonish
Attract
Brave Bird
Confide
Dark Pulse
Double Team
Drill Peck
Facade
Feint Attack
Mud-Slap
Protect
Psychic
Round
Shadow Ball
Thunder Wave
Toxic
Wing Attack

Level 1:
Air Cutter
Calm Mind
Confuse Ray
Curse
Defog
Detect
Flatter
Gust
Haze
Night Shade
Ominous Wind
Peck
Quick Attack
Rain Dance
Snore
Steel Wing
Sucker Punch
Sunny Day
Swagger
Swift
Taunt
Twister
Whirlwind

Level 2:
Assurance
Beat Up
Captivate
Double-Edge
Dream Eater
Feather Dance
Foul Play
Heat Wave
Hurricane
Nasty Plot
Nightmare
Payback
Pluck
Psycho Shift
Quash
Rest
Roost
Scary Face
Screech
Secret Power
Sky Attack
Take Down
Thief

You can get export a profile much like this one using the BBP Profile Maker spreadsheet, or you can make your own by hand if you prefer.

In this profile, we can see that Muginn's trainer has provided all of the required information for a Pokemon in BBP, in the proper order:

Sprite: You need an image that represents your Pokemon. Typing :sv/murkrow: on Smogon Forums gives you a nice, convenient animated .gif of Murkrow for Muginn's trainer to use; but any sufficiently small and recognizable image will suffice. If you aren't sure if a sprite is recognizable, ask your fellow BBP players!
Species Name: Muginn's species, "Murkrow", is clearly visible directly under her Sprite, where it belongs.
Level and EXP: Muginn's trainer has managed to advance her to Level 2. Your Pokemon will start at Level 0 with no EXP.
Nature: Because Muginn is a low Level, she can only have a neutral (non-stat-altering) Nature, if a Nature is desired. These are Hardy, Docile, Bashful, Quirky, and Serious. Once she Levels up more, she'll be able to select a stat-altering Nature to improve her stats!
Typing: Muginn's types, being Dark and Flying, are listed in the proper order for a Murkrow.
Abilities: Muginn's Abilities are listed in the proper order for a Murkrow. If Muginn's Level was lower, her Hidden Ability would be crossed out with [s]~~Strikethrough~~[/s] formatting. Pokemon can unlock their Hidden Ability by Leveling up to Level 2 or higher.
Stats: Muginn's maximum HP, her five core stats, and her Size and Weight Classes are listed, in order.
Moves: Every move at Muginn's disposal is listed, sorted Level by Level, and then alphabetically. As Muginn Levels up, she'll add new moves from each Level she reaches; each Level sorted alphabetically after the next.

The definition of what constitutes an "identifiable" sprite is subjective. If you are uncertain as to whether an image you wish to use is acceptable as a profile sprite, ask your fellow players.
Thanks to Smogon's talented userbase, there exists a repository of April Fool's Day sprites to provide some guidelines for what constitutes "recognizable":
✓ Acceptable:

✗ Unacceptable:

(See if you can guess what each of the "unacceptable" sprites are meant to be, without looking them up!)

In addition to the above, Muginn's trainer has furnished her profile with a few touches of flavor: Muginn has a nickname, a gender symbol ("♀"), and some short prose about her nickname's history, her personality, and her backstory. In addition, Muginn's profile has been freshened up with the use of [size][/size] and [b]bold[/b] tags to clarify the formatting. No such touches are required for a Pokemon in BBP, but they help bring your team to life!

Your Starter Pokemon
All this information about how to make your starters is well and good, but who can you actually choose?

Well, the answer is almost any Pokemon that hasn't evolved, except the Pokemon on this list:

Arceus

Articuno

Articuno-Galar
:azelf:

Azelf

Blacephalon
:brute-bonnet:

Brute Bonnet
:buzzwole:

Buzzwole

Calyrex-Ice
:calyrex-shadow:

Calyrex-Shadow
:calyrex:

Calyrex

Celebi

Celesteela
:chien-pao:

Chien-Pao

Chi-Yu

Chromera

Cobalion

Cresselia

Darkrai

Deoxys

Dialga

Diancie

Enamorus

Entei

Eternatus

Floette-Eternal
:flutter-mane:

Flutter Mane
:genesect:

Genesect

Giratina

Glastrier

Gouging Fire
:great-tusk:

Great Tusk
:groudon:

Groudon

Guzzlord

Heatran

Ho-Oh

Hoopa-Unbound
:hoopa:

Hoopa

Iron Boulder
:iron-bundle:

Iron Bundle
:iron crown:

Iron Crown
:iron-hands:

Iron Hands
:iron-jugulis:

Iron Jugulis
:iron leaves:

Iron Leaves
:iron-moth:

Iron Moth

Iron Thorns
:iron-treads:

Iron Treads
:iron-valiant:

Iron Valiant
:jirachi:

Jirachi

Kartana

Keldeo

Kubfu

Koraidon

Kyogre

Kyurem-Black
:kyurem-white:

Kyurem-White
:kyurem:

Kyurem

Landorus

Latias

Latios

Lugia

Lunala

Lycanroc-Dusk
:magearna:

Magearna

Manaphy

Marshadow

Melmetal

Meltan

Meloetta

Mesprit

Mew

Mewtwo

Miraidon

Moltres

Moltres-Galar
:naganadel:

Naganadel

Necrozma

Nihilego

Ogerpon

Palkia

Pecharunt

Pheromosa

Phione

Poipole

Raikou

Raging Bolt
:rayquaza:

Rayquaza

Regice

Regidrago

Regieleki

Regigigas

Regirock

Registeel

Reshiram

Rockruff-Dusk
:roaring-moon:

Roaring Moon
:sandy-shocks:

Sandy Shocks
:scream-tail:

Scream Tail
:shaymin:

Shaymin

Shaymin-Sky
:solgaleo:

Solgaleo

Slither Wing
:spectrier:

Spectrier

Stakataka

Suicune

Tapu Bulu

Tapu Fini

Tapu Koko

Tapu Lele

Terapagos

Terrakion

Ting-Lu

Thundurus

Tornadus

Ursaluna-Bloodoom
:urshifu:

Urshifu

Uxie

Victini

Virizion

Volcanion

Walking Wake
:wo-chien:

Wo-Chien

Xerneas

Xurkitree

Yveltal

Zacian

Zamazenta

Zapdos

Zapdos-Galar
:zarude:

Zarude

Zekrom

Zeraora

Zygarde

That's right, every Legendary and Mythical Pokemon, as well as every Ultra Beast and Paradox Pokemon. Hardly surprising, no?

:ss/type null:

Type: Null is purchasable in BBP. Amassing a suite of Memory items to maximize the potential of your Silvally into the best type for each challenge ahead can be a fun and rewarding goal!

This leaves a lot of possibilities. To stress again, if you're not sure who you want to start with, go with your favorites! They'll rapidly evolve and gain power, and you'll be able to add new Pokemon to your team after almost every battle if you wish.

That said, if you would like some guidance:

:ss/heracross:

It can be prudent to start with a mix of early-blooming and late-blooming Pokemon. Because moves are given Levels based on their complexity, rather than their power, some Pokemon will gain most of their strength early and some will gain their strength quite late.

Some Pokemon work effectively "out of the box". They can use their high stats to leverage the attacking moves common to Levels 0 and 1, and they learn few of the more complex higher-Level moves. Having a straightforward bruiser on your team, such as Heracross, Ursaluna, Drampa, or Volcarona can help you muscle through early battles and rack up EXP on your late-blooming Pokemon.

Many fan-favorite Pokemon are exceptionally powerful at high Level, once they've learned all of their best moves. However, until they learn moves that they rely on for survival, such as Gengar or Dragapult, or until they learn a particular move or moves that they're designed around, such as Grimmsnarl or Serperior, they will have to work harder to compete.

There are also well-rounded Pokemon who learn a variety of simple and complex moves as they Level. For the most part, bulky offensive Pokemon featuring lots of coverage moves such as Dragonite, Togekiss, Dusknoir, Gardevoir, and Gallade will fit this description.

If that sounds too much like metagaming for your taste, there's another option:

CAP Starters! These three Pokemon—Fawnifer, Smogecko, and Swirlpool—were designed from the ground up as Create-a-Pokemon 25. Their final evolutions Caribolt, Smokomodo, and Snaelstrom were lovingly crafted by the CAP community to celebrate more than a decade of the CAP Project. They cover each others' weaknesses well, and offer a blend of offense and defense that is sure to make your BBP experience a blast!

Once you've chosen your starting Pokemon, whoever they may be, it's time to put them in your Profile Thread!

Pokemon Profile Template
To make Profiles for your own Pokemon, you can follow the guidelines above to ensure all of the required information is present in the order required, or you can use the template below. Fill in the information fields with the data of your Pokemon. You can safely delete any field your Pokemon doesn't use, such as Forme data for most Pokemon.

[hide="POKEMON NAME"]
SPRITE
[b][size=7]NICKNAME[/size] SPECIES[/b]
[size=5]Level [b]0[/b][/size] EXP 0 / 10
[b][u]Unique Traits[/u][/b]
(If your Pokemon a Trait from their species, such as Rotom's Trait "Has the command Forme Shift." or Squawkabilly's Trait "Has two Hidden Abilities." it goes here.)

[B]Nature:
Typing:
Abilities:

HP:
Attack:
Defen.:
Sp.Atk:
Sp.Def:
Speed:
Size:
Weight:[/B]

(If the Pokemon has alternate Formes and can change Formes, the Sprites, Typing, Abilities, Stats, and Traits of those Formes would go here.)

[b][u]Moves[/u][/b]

[u]Level 0[/u]
(List all of your Pokemon's Level 0 Moves here, one move per line.)

[u]Level 1[/u]
(List all of your Pokemon's Level 1 Moves here, if they are Level 1 or higher, one move per line.)

(and so on)
[/hide]

You can spend as much time as you like sprucing it up with sprites, formatting, role-playing text, and whatever else you like, so long as your relevant information is legible.

Once you have your profile exactly the way you want it, you'll wait until an approver takes a look. Our approvers will review your profile and let you know if there are any errors. You can think of them as referees for non-battle posts, such as prizes and profiles.

Their review will look like this:

(He wouldn't let me have 44 Special Attack on my Sableye. Killjoy!)

After your fixes are made, notify an approver (by typing their username with an "@" in front of it) so they can double-check.

Once you get their seal of approval... You're ready to play!

Finding an Opponent
You may be fired up to get started, but you can't play BBP against yourself. It's time to find a worthy opponent, and the best place for that is the Battle Tower thread!

To get started, you'll post your request for a Beginner Battle, or challenge another player's requested Beginner Battle. You'll also include the current queue in your new post—an important courtesy to other players and referees!

Battle It Out!
Once you've found an opponent and a referee, and your battle's thread is posted, you're playing BBP! At this point, you've done quite a bit of posting. But now, you'll need to know how to battle.

Battling is done in rounds. Each round, you will give your Pokemon a number of orders in sequence. A round includes a definite number of steps (usually 3 or 2), and each step includes one turn per battling Pokemon.

You can think of a round of battle, with three steps, like this:

The Round

Start of
Battling Phase

Step 1

Zangoose's Turn

Seviper's Turn

Step 2

Zangoose's Turn

Seviper's Turn

Step 3

Zangoose's Turn

Seviper's Turn

End of
Battling Phase

A typical battle round will look like this example—one player will issue orders, then the other player will issue orders, and then the referee will report what happens.

In a battle with three steps, you might order your :bulbasaur:

Bulbasaur to use Leech Seed, then Sludge Bomb, and then Sludge Bomb, like this:

"Give them the ol' Drain and Pain, Littleroot!"

Leech Seed - Sludge Bomb - Sludge Bomb

Your Pokemon would use Leech Seed in Step 1, and then Sludge Bomb in steps 2 and 3.

If you're ordering first, you might think that your orders are defenseless. In reality, you're allowed to order a certain number of substitutions each time you give orders. For example, if you expect that your opponent will use Protect to block your Leech Seed, you might tell your Bulbasaur:

"Give them the ol' Drain and Pain, Littleroot!"

Leech Seed - Sludge Bomb - Sludge Bomb

At the start of the step, IF Charmander intends to use Protect, THEN use Growth, and use Leech Seed next turn.

This will ensure that your opponent needs to work a little harder to escape your Leech Seed strategy!

You still get substitutions when ordering second, though you will likely use them less often there. You might issue "IF your foe is Poisoned, THEN use Venoshock" to take better advantage of your Sludge Bomb's chance to poison. You might also try to use Leech Seed again if you miss the target.

Players typically alternate ordering first and second. Some actions, such as switching your Pokemon or forcing your opponent to switch, will force you to order first.

To make it easy to keep track of your battles, you may consider bookmarking the link "https://www.smogon.com/forums/watched/threads". This will show you all of the threads you've Watched on Smogon — which will include any thread you've posted in, by default. If you do, make sure to use the "Watch" button on threads you have yet to post in.

This button is found at the top-right of the first post in any thread (including this one), like so:

You are now fully equipped to play your first match. Order first, order second, and display the full breadth of your skills!

The Path of a Trainer
BBP is best thought of as a "sandbox" game, where you can challenge venues and opponents in a freeform order. However, not all of BBP is available to you right away.

As you train your Pokemon, so to will you grow and improve alongside them. Your Trainer Level increases as you reach certain milestones in BBP:

T.Lv0: Create a trainer profile.

T.Lv1: Promote a Pokemon to Level 1 via Beginner Battle.

T.Lv2: Promote a Pokemon to Level 2 via earned EXP.

T.Lv3: Promote a Pokemon to Level 3 via earned EXP.

T.Lv4: Promote a Pokemon to Level 4 via earned EXP.

T.Lv5: Earn :venusaurite:

one of each Advanced Technique.

Increasing your Trainer Level unlocks additional venues of BBP for play. For example, the Raid Frontier requires challengers to be at least T.Lv2. Raising your Trainer Level lets you earn EXP and currency in more places, allowing you to strengthen your team, which allows you to take on tougher opponents and eventually raise your Trainer Level again.

Each time you attain a new Trainer Level, you'll earn a one-time reward as a prize for your achievement. Most of these rewards are various :ability urge:

EXP Records, special consumable items that you can use to give EXP to your Pokemon. Some players will use these Records right away to fill their team with strong high-Level Pokemon. Other players will save these Records for use on Pokemon that are weak and have trouble earning their own EXP at early Levels.

The reward for reaching Trainer Level 5 hasn't yet been announced, so don't stress about racing to the top for the time being.

You can always find the requirement and reward for each Trainer Level in the Prize Claim thread.

:ss/meowth-alola:

The Spoils of Battle
Once you've finished your first battle: Congratulations! With your hard-fought victory or defeat comes your own hard-earned rewards!

A typical match will usually award and/or cost various Counters, which are the currencies used here. There are three types of Counters:

TC, or Training Counters, are used to catch, evolve, and promote your Pokemon.
RC, or Retail Counters, are used to buy more items.
JC, or Judge Counters, are used to pay referees for processing your battles. If you are a battler, you pay JC. To gain JC, you must referee matches. This is how we ensure that there's enough referees to go around.

Many other rewards exist for the taking! Unpurchaseable Pokemon, including Legendary Pokemon, are available from many different sources, including battle venues, PvP, various stores, and more. Some Facilities have self-contained rewards for their own internal progression. Some items can be obtained only as prizes from advanced content.

However, before you can play with your new rewards, you have to have them approved at the {Prize Claiming Thread}, where approvers will make sure your rewards are correct. Once approved, you can add them to your Profile thread. In addition, the Prize Claiming Thread is also the place where you'll spend your hard-earned Counters, for the purchase of Pokemon eggs, training, and items. These purchases will need to be approved in the same way as reward claims.

:ss/smogecko:

Training Your Partners
After your first prize claim, you'll have Pokemon who are ready to Level Up and begin their path to greater mastery!

Your Pokemon, who start unevolved at Level 0, have the following progression to look forward to:

They can begin leveling (and evolve, if applicable), which will make them Level 1, simply by participating in a battle, or if you spend a Training Counter in the Prize Claiming Thread.
To advance to higher levels, to the maximum of Level 4, they will have to battle in Facilities to earn Experience Points. As they level, they'll unlock features such as their Hidden Ability at Level 2, and your choice of stat-altering Nature at Level 3.
Lastly, once they've reached Level 4, they can begin to earn advanced techniques by fighting powerful Pinnacle Opponents in each of the different Facilities.

To advance a Pokemon to Level 1, you may either send your Level 0 Pokemon into a battle (which lets you claim your Level-Up after the battle ends), or you may pay a :rare candy:

Training Counter in the Prize Claiming Thread (in which case, they do not need to have battled). This represents the first step of their competitive training! They unlock all of their Level 1 moves when they're promoted.

Once your Pokemon reaches Level 1, you may select their evolution stage. For example, when you advance your Bulbasaur to Level 1, you get to decide whether they will exist in BBP as a Bulbasaur, an Ivysaur, or a Venusaur. Some unevolved Pokemon like Scyther have upsides over their evolved forms, but you'll typically want to choose the latest evolution stage. Some Pokemon have inherent Traits that modify how they evolve or what they evolve in to. For example, Nincada evolves into two Pokemon at once, and you get to keep both of them! Pokemon can be truly wondrous at times.

To reach Levels 2 through 4, your Pokemon will require 10 Experience Points ("EXP"). This target doesn't grow with Level — each Level is 10 points from the next. EXP can be obtained from Facilities, such as the Battle Tree and Realgam Tower. Pokemon can't "stock" EXP beyond this maximum of 10. For example, if a Pokemon is Level 2 with 5 EXP, and they are awarded 7 EXP from a battle, they must use 5 of that EXP to become Level 3, and only then may they receive the remaining 2 EXP from their reward.

Pokemon can only obtain EXP from a battle of their own Level or higher. If the Pokemon earns enough EXP to reach a level that's higher than the battle they're receiving EXP from, any excess is lost. In the case where your Pokemon has most of the EXP they need for a Level-Up, you might consider sending them into a battle of the next Level above them, so that none of the EXP you earn goes to waste.

You can send Pokemon into battles below their Level, as if they were the Level of that battle. This feature is called "Level Sync", and that Pokemon is said to "sync down" to the battle's Level. When a Pokemon is synced down to a lower Level, any higher-Level moves, abilities, or advanced techniques will be unavailable to them. Pokemon that are synced will still keep their Nature. Pokemon synced down in this way won't be eligible for the battle's EXP (since their "actual" Level is higher than the battle's), but this feature can help you build a stronger team for the Facility and improve your odds of earning lots of EXP for your other Pokemon.

:sv/charizard-mega-x:

Getting Technical
As you and your Pokemon grow in skill and experience, powerful Techniques will become available to you.

A resource called Technique Control ("tech", not TC), which represents your trainer's ability to direct and lead your Pokemon, is required to perform a Technique. You'll have to carefully decide which of your Pokemon will get to spend them in each battle. Some Pokemon are even so demanding that they themselves will require your Technique Control!

Starting at Level 2, your Pokemon will become capable of combinations—powerful actions made by adding two or more moves together. For example, you can combine Confuse Ray and Hyper Beam, creating a powerful Ghost-type attack that confuses the defender. Once you have combinations available to you, the strategic possibilities of BBP truly become endless.

At the highest Level, your Pokemon can battle powerful opponents to earn Advanced Techniques, such as Mega Evolution, Z-Move access, and more. Each of these special options has the ability to swing battles in your favor, making them highly coveted.

Advanced Techniques are very far into your journey. Once you're ready to begin earning them, you can refer to the comprehensive rules for their full details.

Your Pokemon Journey Awaits!
You now know the basics. Get out there and fight! Win, lose, create bonds and have fun! Having fun is the most important of those, by the way.

If you're still unsure what to do after evolving your partners, here are a few suggestions for beginners!

These two Facilities accept T.Lv1 trainers:

Try exploring the Safari Zone for a while! You can catch powerful Pokemon and reinforce your team!
Climb the Battle Tree and tell a story, with your words and attacks!

Once you've raised your T.Lv, try these intermediate venues!

Gather your allies to clash with powerful Raid Boss Pokemon in the Raid Frontier!
Face various powerful boss Trainers in the Realgam Coliseum! You'll be fighting on their home turf, so prepare a team and plan carefully!

Finally, when your team is full of powerful and full-grown Pokemon, these advanced venues await you!

Face off against other Trainers for the favor of legendary Pokemon in the Legend Gauntlet!
Team up with other Trainers to face strange and wonderful Seasonal Events!
Announce your supremacy among Trainers in the Boasting Hall! Then, see if you live up to your own hype!
Take a load off, wear your heart on your sleeve, and enjoy a wholly different game mode in the Contest Spectacular!
Enter the unpredictable and ever-changing {Battle Pike}, and push your battling skills to their limit! With luck and competence comes a chance to battle the Pike Queen...

Should you overcome those challenges, you might earn rare and powerful Pokemon... Your Battle-By-Post adventure is yours to start![/post]

LouisCyphre · Oct 7, 2022

The Basics of Battle

In order to fight in your first battle, you'll have to have an idea as to how to issue orders to your Pokemon!

Below, you'll find some of the basic functions of battling explained in quick summaries. This covers most of what you need to know to get started; when you have a specific question, you can always find help in the Casual Discussion Thread. The game has a dedicated circle of veteran players who are always eager to help others along their journey, so put them to work!

For total and thorough clarification of any obtuse battle situation you could encounter, refer to the relevant section of the Comprehensive Rules... Or ask a veteran player to help you find the relevant rule, if need be.

How do I send out my Pokemon?

When it's your turn to send out a Pokemon, you'll make a post in your battle declaring your choice, that looks much like this one:

It's time for Ambulomeledes the Ivysaur to take the stage!

:sv/ivysaur:

It's time for [B]Ambulomeledes the Ivysaur[/B] to take the stage!

It is important that your send-out post contains your Pokemon's sprite and their species. Not all of our players will know every Pokemon from sight alone, and not every player will know what Pokemon you mean from name alone. Furthermore, expecting every player to memorize the nicknames of every Pokemon belonging to every other player (which might later change) is far too much to ask for.

How do I equip items to my Pokemon?

When you send your team to your referee before battle, you'll also send them a list of items that you want in your backpack. Each battle specifies how many items you can send.

Whenever you send out a Pokemon that isn't holding an item, you can equip an appropriate item from your backpack to that Pokemon in the same post. Your send-out post may thus look something like this:

I'm sending out Trivyoverutum, the Hydreigon holding a :dark gem:

Dark Gem!

:sv/hydreigon:

I'm sending out [B]Trivyoverutum, the Hydreigon[/B] holding a :dark gem:[B]Dark Gem[/B]!

When equipping an item, the only extra requirement is the item's name. Unlike Pokemon, using the item's sprite is merely suggested. This is because some items exist in BBP that do not have a :sprite code: built into the Smogon Forums.

How do I issue orders to my Pokemon?

When it's your turn to post orders for your Pokemon, you'll include almost always give two kinds of instructions: main orders, and substitutions. Your order post may resemble this example:

"Alright Triantis, take a little off of the top!"

Swords Dance - Dual Wingbeat - Dual Wingbeat

At the start of the step, IF Heracross is to use Rock Tomb, and your Speed is higher than Heracross's, THEN use Fly.

On your turn, IF Heracross is to use Counter THEN use Air Slash.

At the start of the step, only once, IF Heracross is to use a Rock-type attack, THEN use Roost and push orders down.

The bolded line in the example is the Main Orders being issued to Triantis. These are the default orders for Triantis to follow. They'll use the first listed action on the first step of the round, the second listed action on the second step, and so on.

Below the main orders, Triantis has a number of Substitutions issued to them. These are conditional instructions to change their orders in the middle of the round, in response to changing battle situations. This way, Triantis isn't entirely at the mercy of any opponents that order after their trainer does.

It's important to visually separate main orders from substitutions when making an order post.

How do I write a substitution?

A substitution is made of three parts: a timing, a trigger, and a result.

"Bring it home, Chlamy! Don't let them escape!"

Chlamydosundew - Thunderbolt | Thunderbolt | Thunderbolt

On your turn start, IF Gyarados is subject to Protection THEN use Light Screen on first instance and Substitute on second instance.

On your turn start, IF Gyarados is subject to Evasive THEN use Thunder.

The two conditional statements, below the main orders, are substitutions being issued to Chlamydosundew. Let's look more closely at the first substitution, and break it into its components:

Timing: On your turn start,

Trigger: IF Gyarados is subject to Protection

Result: THEN use Light Screen on first instance and Substitute on second instance.

The substitution is checked at the specified timing, so at the start of each Chlamydosundew's turns. If the trigger is true when the substitution is checked, then the result will be followed by Chlamydosundew as an instruction that changes their orders.

For a simple list of the clauses you're allowed to use, you can look to the bottom of the Quick Reference post.

You can find the full rules for substitutions in this post.

How do I switch Pokemon?

You can switch your Pokemon out manually, or you can use an effect to switch them out.

To manually switch out, you simply say so whenever you would otherwise order first:

->

We've gotta get out of here! Switching out :archeops:

Pterapenthes the Archeops for :malaconda:

Darlingtonia the Malaconda!

Switching is an essential skill for any trainer. By keeping control of the match-up on field, you can leverage the strengths of your Pokemon and shield their weaknesses.

Only the player ordering first can declare a Switch phase. When doing so, you must state which Pokemon you would like to switch to. This is just like sending out a new Pokemon normally, so you'll be able to equip an item to your new send-out if they aren't holding any.

However, if you do so and the other player would be able to switch, your switch will give them the opportunity to counterswitch, which means they can switch in response to your switch. You typically can't counterswitch a counterswitch.

Whether they accept or decline, the player who switched most recently now orders first. You can use this to your advantage, since if you order first in a given round, you necessarily order second in the coming round.

For battles with three or more trainers, it's recommended to refer to 2.5 "The Switching Phase" in the comprehensive rules or to ask for help.

What is a combination? How do I use one?

Combinations are a powerful tool unique to BBP. The user fuses two different moves into a single, hybrid action that has qualities from each of its "component" moves.

Using a combination requires spending Technique Control.
For two moves to be used together in a combination, they must share at least one Combo Class, one Combo Subclass, and one target.
Only Pokemon that have reached Level 2 or higher can attempt a combination.

As a fusion of two moves, Combinations inherit their properties from their components. For example, a combination typically has the type of the primary component, and the highest numeric Accuracy from among the component moves.

For more esoteric combination interactions, such as using a multi-hit move in a combination, refer to 11.2 "Combinations" in the comprehensive rules.

How do I know what moves can be combined?

Combination legality is probably best explained with examples before rules. First, illegal combinations:

Surf and Thunderbolt don't share a Combo Class and therefore can't be combined. Surf's Combo Class is "Material", while Thunderbolt's is "Luminous".
Magnet Bomb and Hyper Beam both have the Combo Class "Luminous", but they do not share any Subclasses and therefore can't be combined. Magnet Bomb's Subclass is "Pelleting", while Hyper Beam's Subclass is "Beam".
Scorching Sands + Tailwind both share the Class "Material" and Subclass "Aetherial", so they can be combined if they share a legal target. In the case of these moves, since Tailwind targets "All Allies" and Scorching Sands targets "Any One Target", so you would have to target one of your own allies to attempt this combo.

Some possible combinations include:

Focus Blast + Shadow Ball can be used in case you really don't want to miss. This combo helps upgrade Focus Blast by inheriting Shadow Ball's good accuracy and its chance to lower Special Defense. Because of Focus Blast's high Combo Level, the combination remains Fighting-type.
Rock Slide + Mud Shot targets multiple opponents and retains both Mud Shot's Speed-lowering effect and Rock Slide's chance to flinch. By slowing multiple foes, you can threaten them with further flinches in later rounds.
Metal Sound + Hyper Voice allows you to lower the Special Defense of multiple opponents before damaging them, resulting in very efficient spread damage. In addition, because the combination is an attack and has a BAP, it can be executed even while Taunted.
Confuse Ray + Hyper Beam delivers a powerful Ghost-type attack. Confuse Ray's type is used because of Hyper Beam's lower Combo Level. The inflicted Confusion can result in even further damage, and this combination also may be executed while Taunted, since it's an attack.

These examples only scratch the surface of what is possible with combinations, so please give them a try for yourself once your Pokemon have a high enough Level to use them!

I need help! Who can I ask?

First of all, it is important to emphasize that asking for help in an important part of the community. Players helping players keeps everyone sharp. Even veterans need a bit of help from time to time!

The Discord server has users with all manner of different timezones and schedules, so you will likely find someone to answer your question.
Outside of Discord, the Casual Discussion Thread and the Feedback Thread are meant for your questions.

You can make your question easier to answer by being specific:

Vague Ask	Specific Ask
"I don't understand my Sheer Force ability"	"What does Sheer Force mean when it says, 'Triggered effects can't trigger'?"
"How do multi-hit attacks work?"	"How do I calculate damage for multi-hit attacks?"
"Why doesn't Inferno work?"	"Why wasn't Cyclohm burned by Inferno?"

Including links to posts that you're asking about, or relevant text from effects you're confused about, helps other users help you much faster.

If you have a question that doesn't belong anywhere above, you can always DM the moderators, found here.

Why is this effect different from the source game?

As a reminder, you shouldn't assume game pieces in BBP work exactly the same as the source games. BBP has its own set of rules governing play, and most game pieces need some adjustment to adapt them to this new environment.

We tend to call such changes "fanfiction effects". Some examples:

Solar Beam, and other charge-up moves like Sky Attack, charge early in the step and attack later in that same step in BBP; rather than charging one turn and attacking in the next.
Heavy-Duty Boots prevent all non-attack damage in BBP; rather than just damage from field hazards.
Water Absorb heals the user after Water-type attacks targeting any Pokemon in BBP; rather than just after those targeting the user.

It's recommended to look up relevant game pieces in the Data Audit when you encounter them for the first time. If you're playing a low-stakes match, you can also ask other players for help in the Casual Discussion Thread or the Discord.

What should I do when I'm ordering first?

- this section is under construction, pending the January patch!
- if you feel confident in your abilities, feel free to suggest tips!

What should I do when I'm ordering second?

- this section is under construction, pending the January patch!
- if you feel confident in your abilities, feel free to suggest tips!

Which Pokemon should I get?

Teams in BBP usually can't afford to overload on passive Pokemon (those with low offenses), on frail Pokemon (those with low defenses), or on exploitable Pokemon (those with small movepools).

A team full of passive Pokemon will struggle to remove threatening opponents in a timely manner, allowing opponents to boost or set the field as they please.	A team of frail Pokemon will face a lot of danger when ordering first. Suffering early KOs can leave the team suddenly unable to deal with threatening opponents.	A team of exploitable Pokemon will often find themselves unable to make progress against disruptive opponents, and can be locked out of the game or rendered harmless.
Consider adding: Including a powerful attacker ensures that weakened opponents can be dispatched before they can recover.	Consider adding: Including a bulky Pokemon ensures the team has a safe switch-in or lead when ordering first.	Consider adding: Including a Pokemon with many moves ensures that at least one team member can answer controlling strategies.

No Pokemon perfectly avoids all three flaws (without another downside, such as costing Technique Control). Instead, you will need to make sure your team has Pokemon whose strengths complement each others' weaknesses—in more ways than just typing!

How do I beat such strong Pokemon?

Even when a Pokemon feels unbeatable, there's likely an answer somewhere. You might have to expand your roster to cover a weakness to a strong Pokemon. You might also have to diversify your roster.

If all of your Pokemon are frail and need time to set up, attackers that can deal damage right away will be troublesome, and you might consider a tank Pokemon to weather their assault. That's just one example—if you're out of ideas, ask your fellow players for guidance!

LouisCyphre · Oct 7, 2022

BBP Quick Reference

We have a thread you can bookmark, found here for the purpose of easing your experience in BBP!

It features both a Link Compendium for quickly navigating BBP, and a Quick Reference of certain important battling rules.

Link Compendium	Quick Reference
Every important thread in BBP, at your fingertips!	A quick cheat-sheet of the most-referenced rules!

We strongly recommend bookmarking the Quick Reference in your browser of choice, and using it often when playing the game.

BBP Leadership
:ss/zacian-crowned:

(also known as "The people you message when something breaks".)

Moderators
Users responsible for modifying, maintaining, and issuing rulings on the game rules and data. These users have the ability to move, lock, and edit threads, as well as to perform other moderation functions.

In addition to general functions, each moderator also has their own area of expertise:

LouisCyphre — Rules Manager — In charge of this Handbook, rules development, and playable content.

Mowtom — Facility Manager — In charge of rules management and content authorship.

TMan87 — Social Manager — In charge of forum and chat moderation.

JJayyFeather — Moderator — Maintained the game through most of Generations 7 and 8.

nightblitz42 — Facility Manager — In charge of supporting Facility Authors.

Facility Owners
Users in charge of designing, updating, and maintaining each Battle Facility.

Battle Tree — nightblitz42

Realgam Tower — Mowtom

Raid Zone — LouisCyphre

Safari Zone — LouisCyphre

Battle Pike — LouisCyphre

Legend Gauntlet — Gemini Taurus

Contest Hall — TMan87

??? — TheEver

Head Approver
User in charge of the Prize Claim tower and questions about profile formatting.

TheEver

Discord Moderators
Users, other than moderators, who are in charge of making sure everyone gets along... Or else.

Toon

Patch Notes
:ss/conkeldurr:

This game should always be considered under construction! As players battle and as new or previously undiscovered problems arise, the moderation team will make the necessary changes for BBP to keep chugging along.

If you want to skip to the first Patch Note of Generation 9, you can click here!

This also lets you skip the big, scary novel of detailed rules that you'll find in the sections below.

LouisCyphre · Oct 7, 2022

Conventions of Posting

:sv/venomicon:

Because BBP is a game primarily played by text, the possibility exists for miscommunication between players. To keep everyone on the same page, we use a set of conventions to outline what constitutes a clear or unclear post.

As a Player:
Always clearly indicate which part of your posts are game orders and which parts are flavor. Typically, [b]bold text[/b] is used for the key elements in a player's game orders, and [i]italicized text[/i] is used for flavor such as dialogue or roleplaying. However, any method that clearly segments game orders from flavor is sufficient. If you are unsure if your formatting is sufficiently clear, ask your fellow players.

You may dress orders other than your main orders and your substitutions (such as equipping an item or switching) in flavor, so long as the game action being ordered is clear.

✓ Acceptable: "We'll see who laughs last when I give :blacephalon:

Bozo the Blacephalon his favorite Choice Specs!"

✓ Acceptable: :pangoro:

Juice the Pangoro steps up. "Alright boss, I'm switching in. Leave them to me."

✗ Unacceptable: "We'll see who laughs last when I give Bozo his favorite Specs!"

✗ Unacceptable: :pangoro:

"Alright boss, leave the rest to me."

When issuing orders to a Pokemon or when sending that Pokemon into play, use the Pokemon's sprite, Mystery Dungeon portrait, or their menu icon in your post. To reiterate, your main orders and substitutions may not be dressed in flavor.

Example: You can access the menu icon for your Absol easily on Smogon forums by typing :absol:, which will become .

You can also access Mystery Dungeon portraits for official Pokemon. :pmd/absol: will become .

Furthermore, when sending a Pokemon in, the name of the Pokemon's species must be visible in that send-in order, even when that send-in is dressed in flavor text. Using the Pokemon's icon (as required above) or their nickname is helpful, but send-in orders are insufficient without the species name.

✓ Acceptable: "Switching to Tyranitar."

✓ Acceptable: "We'll switch back to :pmd/cyclizar:

Cyclizar."

✓ Acceptable: "Not so fast! We're shining a spotlight on :bewear:

Diana the Bewear for our next act!"

✗ Unacceptable: "Counterswitching to :crucibelle:

."

✗ Unacceptable: "Switching to Julius."

When equipping a held item from your backpack or profile to a Pokemon, or when using a trainer item on a Pokemon, that item's name must be visible in the item order. Furthermore, if your team has more than one possible recipient (such as when switching in multiple unequipped Pokemon), the chosen recipient of the item must be designated with their sprite or menu icon and with their species name, just like when sending that Pokemon in.

✓ Acceptable: "Using a Super Potion on :garchomp:

Garchomp."

✓ Acceptable: " :sirfetchd:

Penthesilea the Sirfetch'd will drink this :elixir:

Elixir and regain their energy!"

✓ Acceptable: "I'll lead with :excadrill:

Almace the Excadrill holding :life orb:

Life Orb and :hippowdon:

Ancille the Hippowdon holding :ground gem:

Ground Gem."

✗ Unacceptable: "Using :potion:

on

"

✗ Unacceptable: "I'll use my healing item on :miltank:

Hathor."

✗ Unacceptable: "I'll lead with :excadrill:

Almace the Excadrill and :hippowdon:

Ancille the Hippowdon, and I'll equip a :life orb:

Life Orb and a :ground gem:

Ground Gem."

As a Referee:

- check feedback for reffing conventions

- don't do casual reffing

LouisCyphre · Oct 7, 2022

Comprehensive Rules

:rb/porygon:

The rules in the sections above are all you need to get started with your first battles! Really, you'll want to bookmark this part of the Handbook and come back later—much later—once you've had a taste of the game.

Eventually, though... You'll encounter a situation, or likely many situations, where the outcome of an interaction is unclear. My move says it does something on hit, and your ability says it does something when it hits you, so which happens first? If I faint, does the other effect even happen? Your move says that it always hits, but I have an effect that says it never hits; so does it it? That's where these rules come in. In this post and the ones below, you will find the logic that makes up the guts and life of the game.

What follows will be quite dense, and might read more like legal code than plain English (because it essentially is). You've been warned! Consider these rules to be a reference to be referred to when needed, and not a textbook. These are not required reading for a new player!

Any text you see in the comprehensive rules that is italicized (like this text) is Supporting Text. This supporting text isn't rules text, and instead exists simply to help break down certain dense concepts or provide examples where they're needed.

[1.1c] The "Full Possible Effect" Rule: All possible instructions in an effect are followed. Any part of an instruction in an effect that is impossible to perform is ignored. Some effects will specify consequences for this. Even if no consequence is specified, that part of the instruction just doesn't happen; and the rest of the effect is followed if possible.

Example: An action may state, "Raise the user's Attack and Defense stages by one (1)". If that action is performed, by a user whose Attack stage is already at its maximum amount, then the Attack-raising instruction can't be carried out and is skipped. The effect still raises the user's Defense stage. In the same example, an effect may state to do something "When the user's Attack stage is raised". Because the user's Attack stage wasn't raised (because it couldn't be raised), that triggered effect doesn't trigger.

[1.1d] The "Zero Sign" Rule: Zero is not considered positive or negative by the rules of BBP.

In some systems, particularly in many tabletop RPGs, zero is considered a positive number for convenience. This is not the case in BBP; instead, zero is treated as being completely unsigned.

[1.1e] The "Fix It" Rule: If an effect would refer to a parameter and that parameter is found to have been sent in error (such as listing the wrong type or movepool), correct that error and then refer to the now-corrected parameter. Obviously.

That is to say, you can't use a typo'd Attack rank of 99, even if it was accidentally overlooked when it was approved.

[1.1f] The "You Know What They Meant" Rule: BBP has much of its content authored by users other than the rules-managing Moderators. Sometimes, that content will have abilities whose syntax is improper, or that refers to something with an improper alias. Those elements of that content still work as written, as well as they are able. The content's author should be asked for clarification in such cases when an effect is unclear, and the rules-managing Moderators should be contacted if help is needed with correcting the syntax of a piece of content.

Example: A Facility, authored by a user, may offer a custom move that may state, "Inflicts the target with the unique condition created by Taunt." This erroneously uses the term "target" instead of "defender", and it designates the condition to be inflicted in an unusual way. However, the intended result is quite clear, and it can be played as written.

Example: A Facility, authored by a user, states that its boss opponent "can't have their actions disrupted in any way." Disruption of actions isn't a recognized game term; and depending on plain-English interpretation, it could be taken to mean effects that restrict action usage, or also effects that diminish the impact of the boss' actions such as Light Screen or Protection. In this case, clarification is needed before the game piece can be used properly.

↑ Back to Top

[1.2]

Numbers Usage

Every game of BBP refers to, modifies, or calculates dozens or even hundreds of numeric values (or more!) over the course of even just a single battle. With so many different players making so many different calculations, it's important to have consistent guidance for handling these numbers.

[1.2a] Obligate Integers
BBP most commonly uses small integers for its math. The stat ranks of Pokemon are often single-digit, and effects are often adding or subtracting between 3 and 5 damage. As a result of this, the methods for rounding must be clearly defined.

The following values are only ever "seen" as integers by rules, effects, and calculations that refer to them. This means that they must be rounded (seen below) if they would be used for any purpose, and would otherwise be non-integer.

Numeric parameters of Pokemon.
- HP, Energy, and any derivations of these such as Tolerance, Fatigue, and so on.
  - By extension, any changes in HP or similar: damage, healing, and direct changes such as the effect of Pain Split.
- Stat ranks and Speed.
- Stat stages.
- Size and Weight class.
- Number of held items permitted.
- Substitution limit.
- Combo Token count.
- Level and Experience Points.
Numeric parameters from action data.
- Base attack power, Energy cost, and Priority.
- Combo Level and Z-BAP.
- Accuracy and Effect Chance
  - These values are integer percentages (e.g. 85%), because dice must be rolled against them. It's important that they always be divisible by an integer. Don't round these as if they were decimal (e.g. don't round 0.85 to 1.00.)
Numeric parameters of trainers and of teams.
- Number of field positions.
- Team Size and Bench Size.
- Backpack Size.
- Technique Control.
Numeric parameters of battles.
- Round count.
- Calculated progress rewards (Training Counters, Retail Counters, and so on.)
The numeric duration for conditions, stage changes, Round Hours, or other durations measured in units (such as a duration "for 3 turns".)

Furthermore, any minimums or maximums (including "at least" and "at most") applied to obligate integers are also themselves obligate integers.

[1.2b] Rounding
Values that are preferred as integers will have to be rounded before use or reference. Effects that modify these may say to round up or round down.

If you get a non-integer result for a value that is obligated to be an integer, and none of the modifiers have instructed you with a direction to round the value, the value is rounded "normally". While rounding normally, round decimals of 0.5 away from zero. (0.5 would become 1.0. -2.5 would become -3.0.)

The rounding method for the calculation can be changed by the modifiers being calculated:

If any modifier say to round up, round the entire calculated value up.
Else, if no modifiers say to round up and any modifier say to round down, round the entire calculated value down.
Else, if no modifier specifies how to round, round normally as described above.

Example: Liz's Garchomp has a held item that may state, "The user's Attack Rank is increased by one-half (x1.5) rounded up." They start with an Attack rank of 9 for being an Garchomp. Their Attack rank is 9 * 1.5 = 13.5, but any calculation that needs their Attack rank will use the rounded value. Because the effect says to round up, Garchomp's Attack rank is 14 for any purpose that asks.

Later, Liz's Garchomp becomes Burned, which may state, "While the subject is attacking with a physical action: The subject's Attack rank is halved (x0.5)." While her Garchomp is attacking with a physical Attack while Burned, their Attack rank will be 9 * 1.5 * 0.5 = 6.75. Any purpose that asks for Garchomp's Attack rank will get a result of 7. Even though the held item says to round up, the result isn't rounded until the end.

[1.2c] Base, Final, and Original Numbers
Some modifiers will alter a "base" value or a "final" value. These terms are used to change where the modifier will be placed in a calculation.

A "base" modifier will be evaluated before non-base modifiers. A "final" modifier will be evaluated after non-final modifiers.

In addition, rules and effects may refer to an "original", meaning "as it was legally supposed to be sent to the referee" for both numeric values ("original Attack rank") and non-numeric values ("original species").

[1.2d] Order of Operations
The majority of calculations in BBP are done in standard order of operations: Grouping, then exponentiation, then all multiplication and division, then all addition and subtraction. In this sense, the act of retrieving a specific value (like a Pokemon's Attack rank) can be seen as "grouping" or "parenthesis", in a calculation asking for that value.
(You are not likely to see exponentiation in a typical game of BBP.)

The terms "base" and "final" move a modifier's placement in a calculation. You can visualize it like this:

( original value * base multi ) + base additive = base value

( base value * non-final multi ) + non-final additive = non-final value

( non-final value * final multi ) + final additive = final value

It's very rare for a calculation to involve more than one or two of these steps, but knowing how all of the states relate can be helpful when resolving multiple overlapping modifiers.

[1.2e] Clamping
Some effects will limit or set a certain numeric value. These limiting operations are performed after the value has been calculated and rounded, in the following steps:

Overwrites: Effects that say a value are "always" a certain amount apply first. These effects discard the calculated value and instead provide the stated value.
Minimums: Effects that say a value is "to a minimum of", or "is always at least", a certain amount apply here. If the value is lower than the stated amount, it instead becomes the stated amount.
Maximums: Effects that say a value is "to a maximum of", or "is always at most", a certain amount apply here. If the value is higher than the stated amount, it instead becomes the stated amount.

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[1.3]

Match Rules

Players have the ability to specify a variety of match parameters when posting and accepting matches. When a battle starts, the parameters specified in the challenge and/or acceptance posts are inherited by the battle as its Match Rules.

The available Match Rules, their permissible and default values, and their functions are as follows:

Match Type - Default: Singles.
Must be Singles, Doubles, or Triples. Specifies how many Pokemon each team will be allowed to have in play at a time. (Larger match formats are possible, but require permission.)
Team Size - Default: 3
Must be a positive integer. Specifies how many Pokemon each trainer will be allowed to send into battle, over the course of the match. Can be referred to as "Bench Size" as well.
Species Restriction - Default: On
Must be "On" or "Off". Specifies whether or not teams containing multiple Pokemon with the same starting species and starting Forme are allowed.
Selection Size - Default: Team Size + 2.
Must be a positive integer. Typically the Team Size plus 2. Specifies how many Pokemon each trainer sends to the referee when starting the battle. In battles where the Selection Size is larger than the Team Size, some of a Trainer's Pokemon will remain unused (see x.x Active, Benched, and Unselected).
Step Count: Default: 3 for Singles, 2 for Doubles, and 1 for Triples.
Must be an integer from 1 to 3, inclusive. Specifies how many Steps occur as a part of each Round. (Very high Step Count makes both ordering and reffing a match exponentially more difficult, so they are disallowed.)
Disqualification Time - Default: 48 hours.
Must be an integer amount of hours or of days. Specifies how long a player or a referee is protected from disqualification, each time it is their turn to post. A trainer or referee who is tardy isn't automatically disqualified; instead, the option is exercised only at the other trainers' discretion. (In casual matches, the expectation is DQ leniency. In staked matches, the expectation is punctuality. In all cases, a player's real life obligations do take priority over gameplay. If you are considering disqualifying a tardy player, tag them in the match or reach out to them via a message first.)
Battle Level - Default: 4.
Must be an integer from 0 to 4. Determines what Level of Pokemon are legal for entry in the battle.
- If a Pokemon enters a battle whose Level is lower than their own, they are treated as knowing only moves of the Battle Level or lower.
- Pokemon in battles with a Level of 1 or lower won't have their Hidden Abilities, if any.
- Pokemon in battles with a Level of 3 or lower won't have any of their Advanced Techniques available, and their Hidden Power type will be Normal.
Substitution Count - Default: Battle Level + 2, or 4, whichever is lower.
Must be a positive integer or zero. Specifies how many Substitutions a trainer may issue to each of their Pokemon in play, when they are issuing those Pokemon their orders.
Recovery Count - Default: 2.
Must be a positive integer or zero. Specifies how many times per match a Pokemon can heal with an effect as a Recovery.
Chill Count - Default: 5.
Must be a positive integer or zero. Specifies how many times per match a Pokémon can use the Chill Command.
Switching - Default: "Off" if the Team Size is 1, and "On" otherwise.
Must be "On" or "Off" whether it is match-wide or specified for each team. Specifies if trainers are permitted to switch out Pokemon before those Pokemon have fainted; whether by an effect or by starting a Switch Phase.
- This match rule can differ between teams.
- In Facilities especially, it may be the case that some NPC opponents may not switch, and others can.
Half-Start Rule - Default: "Off".
Must be "On" or "Off". When enabled, the first round of the battle will have half as many steps. In highly-staked battles, it is common to enable this rule so that the player who orders second in the first round enjoys less of an unfair head start over their opponent.
Ability Count - Default: "All".
Must be "All", a positive integer, or zero. Specifies how many of a Pokemon's abilities will be considered in the battle. When sending in a team of Pokemon for a battle with an Ability Count limitation, specify which abilities each Pokemon will use.
Advanced Techniques - Default: "All" if the Battle Level is 4, and "None" otherwise.
Must be "All", "None", or a list of specific Advanced Techniques. Specifies which Advanced Techniques may be used in the battle.
Technique Control - Default: Team Size / 2, rounded up.
Must be a positive integer or zero. Must either be specified match-wide or individually per team. Specifies how many total Advanced Techniques each team may utilize during the battle.
Backpack Size - Default: Team Size * 3 + 1.
Must be a positive integer or zero. Specifies how many held items the trainer is allowed to bring to the battle. Multiple copies of the same held item are permitted, but each counts towards that trainer's backpack limit. (Trainers typically send in the list of items they're choosing to bring when submitting their team to the referee.)
Lifeline Uses - Default: 0
Must be a positive integer or zero. Must either be specified match-wide or individually per team. Specifies how many Lifelines each team can use. Lifelines are special actions that players are penalized for using, that offer powerful effects that can turn the tide of the match. Typically, only high-level ventures in battle facilities use this rule. If you use this parameter in your custom games, you'll have to design your own Lifelines or borrow them from ventures that have them.
Arena - Default: "BBP Arena".
Must either be "BBP Arena," an arena name from the { Arena List }, or an arena of the poster's creation that details the arena's effects. (If you post a custom arena, remember that you can specify what the moves Camouflage, Nature Power, and Secret Power do if desired.)

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[1.4]

Match Stakes

Matches have varying levels of competitiveness, said to be the match's "stake", depending on the severity of the match being played:

Unstaked matches are treated more casually, and players (and referees) are allowed to help one another with their orders.
- Level 1, 2, and 3 matches, that are played between a player and their referee, are Unstaked. This content is often called "leveling" content for the EXP-focused rewards they offer.
- Casual matches between players, in venues like Events and the Battle Tower, are also Unstaked.
Staked (or "competitive") matches are treated as tests of a player's skill. Giving or seeking advice with these matches is restricted.
- Level 4 matches between a player and a referee opponent are Staked. This content is often called "pinnacle" content for the Legendary Pokemon and Advanced Techniques they offer.
- Matches played in the League Circuit or the Legend Gauntlet are always Staked, regardless of their Level.
- Matches played with at least one player having Boasted are always Staked, regardless of their Level.

Depending on the match's stakes, certain types of discussion are allowed or disallowed:

Can you...	Unstaked	Staked
...seek or offer strategy advice for a challenge you are planning? ("Is Donphan good in this Habitat?")	✓ Yes	✓ Yes
...ask or answer true-or-false questions about the game state? ("Can I switch here?")	✓ Yes	✓ Yes
...ask or answer legality questions about your own orders? ("Is my substitution legal?")	✓ Yes	✓ Yes
...seek or offer strategy advice on past rounds? ("Should I have switched to Raichu?")	✓ Yes	~ Depends Avoid questions or responses that result in advice applicable to current or future rounds.
...ask or answer legality questions about opponents' orders? ("Are my opponent's orders legal")	✓ Yes	✗ No You are expected to be able to spot illegal orders to exploit on your own.
...seek or offer strategy advice for the current round? ("Should I sub for Taunt or for Bide?")	~ Depends Only offer current-round advice to very-new players (whose profile is 90 days old or less).	✗ No You are expected to come up with your own orders in staked matches.

"You" in this chart refers to teams—Members of the same team can always collaborate with one another when deciding their strategies.

A pseudo-stake exists, called Beginner Battles, where unsolicited advice is encouraged. For details on Beginner Battles, see the Battle Tower thread.

Example: Amaryllis is playing a Staked match, and is uncertain if the sub she wants to write is legal. She asks, "Is this sub legal?" in Discord. Onlookers may answer her with "yes" or with "no".

Example: Blake is using a Zoroark in a Staked match, with Avery as his Illusion confidant. He messages Avery to say "the Ninetales I sent out is actually my Zoroark." Avery is allowed to respond "Understood", and is not allowed to respond "Really? Isn't Ninetales better here?"

Example: Rose is playing in a Staked match. She privately messages Dave, who is not involved in the match, saying "I'm going to type my thought process about my orders here." Dave is allowed to respond "Sure, when your battle is done I can give you commentary on it", but no more.

Counterexample: Catherine is playing in a Staked match. She posts her orders and mentions in public chat that her opponent's first sub is illegal. Vivienne, a non-player spectator, reads the sub and doesn't see why it would be illegal. Vivienne is not allowed to ask Catherine about this—Catherine is expected to use her own rules knowledge to correctly identify weaknesses in opposing orders.

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[1.5]

Randomization

Many elements in the game have only a chance to occur when resolving their effect. Effect Checks, Accuracy Checks, moves that target opponents at random, status conditions that inhibit their subject at random intervals, and so on all require randomization to determine their result.

There are two types of rolls in BBP: Target Rolls (made against a high or low target) and Range Rolls (made among a range of integers).

In addition, random rolls can be made Lucky or Unlucky. If a roll is ever both Lucky and Unlucky, roll it as if it were neither.

[1.5a] Target Rolls
Target Rolls are used to check the success or failure of a random event.

A range of numbers is decided upon, from 1 to a number that can cleanly represent the target fraction
- Example: Using a die from 1 to 5 for an 80% chance roll, or or a die from 1 to 20 for a 95% chance.
A target (high or low) is specified at one of the ends of the range.
- Example: A 40% chance could roll from 1 to 5, and target 1 and 2 (low target) or it could target 4 and 5 (high target).
A random number, between and including the lower and upper bound, is rolled. If the rolled number is within the target, and is failed (unsuccessful) otherwise.
- If the target roll is Lucky, and not also Unlucky, roll the random number twice, and the roll is successful if either result is on-target.
- If the target roll is Unlucky, and not also Lucky, roll the random number twice, and the roll is successful only if both results are on-target.

[1.5b] Range Rolls
Range Rolls are used to return a random value from a set.

A range of numbers or of possible results is defined by the source of the roll.
- Example: An effect might say, "Select and apply one of the following effects at random with equal odds," or "Select a type at random with equal odds", or "This move deals between 2 and 5 hits at random."
If the range roll is selecting from a continuous set of numbers, a die is rolled starting with the lower number and ending with the higher number. The rolled number is the result of the roll.
Otherwise, a die is rolled to select from among the options presented, with the odds specified if any, or with equal odds if none are specified. The indicated option is the result of the roll.
- If the range roll is Lucky, and not also Unlucky and is selecting a random number, roll twice and keep the highest result rolled.
- If the range roll is Unlucky, and not also Lucky and is selecting a random number, roll twice and keep the lowest result rolled.
- If the range roll is selecting among a set of options (instead of among a range of numbers), then being a Lucky or Unlucky roll don't affect the result at all.

[1.5c] Formatting Roll Results
Rolls made for random events during a round should be communicated in the log of the round, with a note as to why the roll was made, like so:

Example 1

Skylord used Focus Blast!

Hit <= 216: 116

Crit <= 10: 204

Effect <= 24: 19

Googly-Eyes' Special Defense fell!

Example 2

Wily's Shadow Ball! (Crit 1 / 24: 1, Effect 1 / 10: 2)

A critical hit!

Example 3

You threw an Ultra Ball!

Fatigue Roll (3-8): 7!

The wild Pokemon gained 7 Fatigue!

The required form of randomization service for referees is an online random number generator. Use a fresh roll for each check; do not use one roll for multiple checks. Some referees will roll batches of dice at once, such as numbers from 1 to 600 (divisible by 2, by 5, by 24, and so on), to be used one by one for whatever rolls are required while reffing the round.

For highly staked matches, such as matches for the League Circuit, The Legend Gauntlet, and other PvP matches for rewards; it is important to show your work. Doing so can help insulate your reffings from accusations of rigging, which is preferable for all parties involved. You can provide a screenshot, or link to your rolls in the BBP Discord like so:

The most important stipulation is that a generator be used at all, rather than ruling the result by gut or feeling.

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[1.6]

Data Audit Tables

The data and properties of Pokemon, Moves, Abilities, and more can be found in the Data Audit Tables, or DAT.

Almost every single object in a battle that has effect text or data, gets that data from the DAT. The information in the DAT is organized in a way intended to be easily searchable, so that players and referees can quickly find the data they're looking for. However, this does make the DAT quite dense to simply read. The reference below clarifies the layout of each primary page in the DAT.

Reading Each Page:
{ this will take me time to fill in. the Moves hide tag is completed; and the others will look like that one. }

Please note: The screenshots within aren't updated from patch to patch, so the data on display (such as the effect text of a move) may drift from truth over time.

ID: The Species' Pokedex number.
Name: The Species' name.
Typing: The Species' types, in order.
Abilities: The Species' non-hidden Abilities, in order.
Hidden Ability: The Specieis hidden Abilities, if any, in order.
HP: The Species' maximum HP.
Atk, Def, SpA, SpD: The Species' Attack, Defense, Special Attack, and Special Defense ranks.
Spe: The Species' Speed stat.
Size, Weight: The Species' Size Class and Weight Class.
Signature Move: The Species' Signature Move or Moves, if any.
Traits: The Species' inherent Trait or Traits, if any.
Sprite Alias: The name of the Species' :forum code: for their sprite, only if it differs from the name of the species.

Placeholder for guide.

Type: The Move's Type.
Category: Whether the move is Physical, Special, or Status.
Target: The targeting scope of the move.
- All Allies: The move targets every Pokemon in play on the user's team, and those on teams allied with theirs.
- All Opponents: The move targets every Pokemon in play on a team opposed to the user's.
- All Other Pokemon: The move targets every Pokemon in play except the user.
- Any One Ally:The move targets any one Pokemon in play on the user's team, or on a team allied with theirs.
  - Any Other Ally: As above, except that the move can't target the user.
- Any One Target: The move targets any one Pokemon in play, except the user.
- The Battlefield: By default, the move does not target any Pokemon.
- User: The move targets the user.
BAP: The base attack power of the move.
Acc: The base Accuracy of the move.
En Cost: The base Energy Cost of the move.
Effect%: The chance of success for any Effect Checks the move's effects call for.
Priority: The priority with which that the move is executed. Some moves ready or charge at a different priority, but they will say so in their effect text.
Combo Lv.: The Combo Level of the move, used to determine which move contributes its type, category, and so on to a combination.
Z-BAP: The base attack power of the generic Z-Move that results from linking this move. See 10.3 "Z-Moves".
Contact?: Whether or not the move makes contact with any defenders.
Snatch?: Whether or not the move is susceptible to being stolen by the move Snatch.
Reflect?: Whether or not the move can be repelled back to its user by Magic Coat and Magic Bounce.
Effect Text: The left-side large text field holds the flavor description, restrictions, and ability text of the move.
- The first line of text is its flavor text.
- Any parenthetical text immediately after the flavor text is restriction text, describing costs for executing the action.
- Each line after the flavor and restriction text is effect text, detailing the actual effects of the action, if any.
- Any parenthetical text within the effect text is reminder text, for clarifying certain effects or interactions in plain language.
Z-Effect Text: Some moves have an additional effect that occurs when the move is linked as a Z-Move. See 10.3 "Z-Moves".

Ability: The name of the ability.
Description:The flavor text and effect text of the ability.
- The first line of text is its flavor text.
- Each line after the flavor text is effect text, detailing the actual effects of the ability.
- Any parenthetical text within the effect text is reminder text, for clarifying certain effects or interactions in plain language.

Item: The name of the item.
Description: The flavor text and effect text of the item.
- The first line of text is its flavor text.
- Each line after the flavor text is effect text, detailing the actual effects of the item.
- Any parenthetical text within the effect text is reminder text, for clarifying certain effects or interactions in plain language.
N. Type: If the item is a Berry, it will list a type here for the effect of the move Natural Gift.

Term: The name of the condition or marker.
Definition: Describes the flavor text and effect text of the condition or marker.
- The first line of text is its flavor text.
- Each line after the flavor text is effect text, detailing the actual effects of the item.
- Any parenthetical text within the effect text is reminder text, for clarifying certain effects or interactions in plain language.

Placeholder for guide.

Low numeric values in effect text may be repeated in both word and numeral form ("for their next two (2) turns"). This isn't an instruction to repeat the number or otherwise alter the effect. Instead, this is a safeguard against human error. Read these phrasings as a single number. If the word and the numeral indicate different numbers, that's a sign that there was a mistake made in the effect text. Such occurrences should be reported in the Feedback Thread for moderator correction.

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LouisCyphre · Oct 7, 2022

2. Battle Structure

[2.1]

Phases of a Battle

A unit of time within BBP are referred to as a phase. Every battle is divided into a number of phases, some of which repeat on a loop until the battle ends. These phases are the Starting, Switching, Ordering, Battling, and Cleanup Phases.

Within most phases, sub-phases exist. Some such sub-phases contain yet further sub-phases. Most commonly, the Battling Phase contains multiple Action Phases, which contain each battling Pokemon's Turn Phase.

The Battle Loop refers to the perpetual cycle of phases that drives the game's logic. The loop consists of the Switching, Ordering, Battling, and Cleaning Phases, in that order. One cycle of the loop is sometimes called a "Round". The Starting Phase exists outside of the loop, and occurs before the first round of the battle.

As a bit of history, in BBP's predecessor "Anime-Style Battling", or ASB, the phrase "a round" was really only used to refer to the set of turns Pokemon took, in sequence, after all trainers were done posting orders. Once it was decided that more proper battling rules were needed, the entire battle loop was built around what we knew as "rounds", and the Switching, Ordering, Battling, and Cleanup Phases were named and defined.

That history can still be seen today: Effects that trigger at the start of the Battling Phase are still said to trigger "at the start of the round", even though two whole other phases have come and gone.

This list is an overview of each type of phase in the game. These phases are covered in greater detail in their respective sections.

2.4 Starting Phase

The first phase of the battle, before the Battle Loop properly begins. This phase is typically performed entirely by the referee. In this phase, the battle's opening post (and a thread, if needed) is created, initial player order is determined , and any starting conditions for the battle are listed. If the battle format has a prescribed pre-battle action for players, such as banning or drafting Pokemon or arenas, these actions also occur in the Starting Phase before the start of the first round.

2.5 Switching Phase

Every Battle Loop starts with this phase. In this phase, certain essential battle functions, such as Phazing and Switching effects, occur. Next, any players who have empty field positions (such as from Pokemon fainting or pivoting out of play) will send out Pokemon until their field positions are full or until they have no remaining Pokemon on their bench who are eligible for send-out. The order in which players post their send-outs, as well as how many field positions they must fill in each post, is typically detailed in the match rules.

In addition, most matches allow the first-ordering player to intentionally recall one or more Pokemon on purpose, to replace them with the same number of benched Pokemon. This action is often said to be "initiating a Switch Phase," but don't be fooled--the Switch Phase occurs quietly in the background every round even if no posts are made for it.

2.6 Ordering Phase

This is where each player still in the battle (including the referee, if they are playing as an NPC trainer) posts orders for their Pokemon. In addition These orders will be referenced in the Battling Phase to determine what the Pokemon do in each step.

2.7 Battling Phase

This is where the bulk of the referee's posts will be posted. In this phase, each of the orders given to the battling Pokemon are carried out, and the vast majority of {wip}

Within the Battling Phase, there's a number of steps (or properly, Action Phases) determined by the match rules. In each Action Phase, each Pokemon typically gets to take one turn to act in.

2.8 Cleanup Phase

This is a distinct phase of its own, even if it often shares posts with the Battling Phase. Most of the time, the purpose of this phase is to allow effects to end quitely and to "clean up" any loose ends before starting the next Loop.

When one Cleanup Phase ends and the next Switching Phase begins, a new Round has begun. There's no time "between Rounds".

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[2.2]

Structure of a Phase

Each phase consists of a sequence of discrete battle events, { blah blah blah }

(list of possible gameplay events)

- phases starting or ending

- after a non-ongoing effect resolves

- after a damaging hit

Each phase has a distinct beginning and end. The end of one phase and the beginning of the next phase are the same event. Nothing ever occurs "between" one phase and the next.

Effects that begin or end within a specific phase will do so in a fixed order. The "beginning" order and the "ending" order can be thought of as mirroring each other. This order as detailed below:

As a phase ends. . .

Effects that trigger "at the end of" that phase, do so if their other conditions are met.
A Post-Event Check occurs.
Effects that are active "during" that phase, no longer have that condition met.
Any duration that lasts "until the end of" that phase end, all at once. See 7.1 "Durations".
The old phase ends, and the next phase begins.

As a phase starts. . .

The previous phase ends, and the new phase begins.
Any duration that lasts "until" that phase end, all at once. See 7.1 "Durations".
Effects that are active "during" that phase, have their phase requirement met.
A Post-Event Check occurs.
Effects that trigger "at the start of" that phase, do so if their other conditions are met.

Once this phase-beginning checklist has been completed, and all relevant effects that have triggered are finished resolving, that phase is said to be "underway", and remains so until that phase ends.

Example: Grassy Terrain is in play which may state, "At the end of the step: Each standing Pokemon heals 2 HP." Liz' Metagross was granted the Hovering condition "for the next six (6) steps", which is the same as "until the end of the sixth step from now." On that step, the referee reviews to the list above to determine if Metagross gets Grassy Terrain healing on that step. The triggered effect of Grassy Terrain triggers before the Hovering conditon on Metagross expires, so Metagross isn't a standing Pokemon when that effect triggers. Metagross won't get any healing from Grassy Terrain on that step.

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[2.3]

The Posting Schedule

- each round has its own post schedule. this is an order in which each trainer and the referee is intended to post.

- the post schedule can be modified as it proceeds by both certain game actions and by effects.

The player or referee who is expected to post next in the post schedule is said to "have priority".

[2.3a] Determining the Initial Post Schedule
- the referee will determine the first round's post schedule during the Starting Phase.

Two of most common default methods of creating the first post schedule for teams are as follows:

Signup Schedule: Most common in casual matches. The initial post schedule matches the order in which each trainer signed up. In matches with multiple trainers per team, the first trainer in each team to sign up is considered.
Randomized Schedule: Most common in staked matches. The teams are selected sequentially at random, with equal odds out of all remaining teams. The first team in the schedule is selected from all teams in the battle; then, the second team is selected out of all remaining teams, and so on until all teams have been sorted. (You aren't required to select the last team at random out of a pool of one, but you can if you'd like.)

When creating a custom match in the Battle Tower, other methods of determining a post schedule are certainly possible, if you would like.

[2.3b] Determining the Post Schedule of Later Rounds
By default, the post schedule for the second round onward is determined by copying the post order of the round prior, and then moving the prior round's starting player from the beginning of the post schedule to the end.

When an effect or rule says to make a specified player "the starting player", it means to move that player from their current position in the post schedule to the beginning. several effects might do this in sequence, with each new starting player "pushing down" the previous. this modified post order will still become the basis of the post order of later rounds, which may themselves be modified, and so on.

Effects that make a single player become the starting player may result in teammates becoming separated from one another in the post order.

Snake Posting is a manner of post schedule for teams with two or more Pokemon in play. In this manner, the starting team will give orders to some, but not all, of their Pokemon (with the amount being specified in the match rules). Then, each other team will post in their usual sequence. Lastly, the starting team will order for their remaining Pokemon. This manner of post scheduling is generally used for easing the burden of ordering first against multiple opposing Pokemon at once.

If a player would have multiple posts in a row in the post sequence, they may combine those posts. In order to do so, the player must clearly divide the contents of those "component posts", and also specify what allows them to post sequentially.

Example: Isaac's Gengar has inflicted Trapping, which may state in part, "The subject can't be manually switched out, including for a counterswitch," on Madeleine's Heracross. Isaac posts in the Switching Phase that he wants to switch to his Hawlucha.

Normally, Madeleine would then post whether she would like to counterswitch or stay in. However, counterswitching isn't possible for her. Knowing this, Isaac then says as much in his switching post: "Since you can't counterswitch, we'll go right ahead!" He then concludes his post with a set of orders for his switched-in Hawlucha — combining his switching post in the post schedule with his ordering post.

Other posts, such as rulings from game moderators or questions regarding the game state, may occur in a battle's thread. Such posts aren't posts for any of the above phases, and typically exist outside of the game logic.

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[2.4]

The Starting Phase

- this phase is primarily the domain of the referee. the usual scheduled post in this phase is the thread-starting post that lists the teams, pokemon profiles, arena, and match rules.

- reference to 2.3, above, to define what the post schedule actually is (and how to set it up)

- some types of content will schedule additional posts in the starting phase.

(example: TLG schedules the arena-striking posts in this phase, before the first sendout phase)

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[2.5]

The Switching Phase

Trainers will send out and recall Pokemon many times throughout a typical battle. This process, referred to as "switching", is actually a collection of related processes that occur in sequence in the first phase of a round, the Switching Phase.

When a battle starts, neither Trainer has any Pokemon in play. To do battle, they'll have to select and send out their first Pokemon, said to be their "Lead".

As a battle proceeds, Pokemon will often leave the battlefield for their trainers' benches, to be replaced by other Pokemon from their trainers' benches or reserves. This can occur when a Pokemon faints, when they are removed from the battlefield by an effect, or when their trainer recalls them manually.

In addition, advanced trainers may Terastallize their Pokemon, radically altering their properties. Due to the dramatic shift in match-up that can occur, this technique is performed in this phase as well.

The procedures of the Switching Phase make up a combined event. This means that, once the procedures have begun, no Post-Event Checks will occur until after each of the procedures have finished. (See 2.9 "Post-Event Checks")

The Switching Phase consists of the following distinct procedures, performed in sequence.

2.5b Forced Switching Procedure

Pokemon with Phazing markers or with Switching markers on them, that are eligible to leave play, do so. As they do, the trainer whose Pokemon created the Phazing marker or Switching marker, if any, becomes the starting player in the round.

2.5c Pokemon Replacement Procedure

In the order that they were vacated (regardless of how they were vacated), each empty field position is filled by a send-out from its trainer. The replacement is a different Pokemon than the one that last vacated that position, if possible.

In the first round of battle only, the Switching Phase ends here.

2.5d Manual Switching Declaration Procedure

After all forced switching has resolved, the current starting player has the choice to declare that they will manually replace a switch-eligible Pokemon on the field with one from their Bench or Reserve, or that they will Terastallize their Pokemon in play; if they choose to. If the starting player does none of these things, the Switching Phase ends and the Ordering Phase begins.

2.5e Counter-Switching Declaration Procedure

If the starting player opts to manually recall or to Terastallize any of their Pokemon, the next player in the post schedule then has the option to declare that they will switch and/or Terastal, or the option to declare that they will do nothing (to "decline counterswitch"). This process repeats until all players have declared or declined their counterswitch; then, whichever player accepted a counterswitch most recently becomes the round's starting player.

2.5f Declaration Resolution Procedure

Trainers automatically perform the switches and Terastallizations that they declared, as well as they are able, in the order that they were declared. Once each of those have been done, any triggered effects that have triggered at any point in the Switching Phase will resolve, in the order they were triggered. (They've been waiting in the effect queue until now.)

[2.5a] Switching Eligibility
A Pokemon is said to be "eligible to switch" if it meets the following criteria:

If their trainer has any remaining Benched Pokemon and/or remaining team selections (See 4.2 "Active, Inactive, Benched, and Reserve Pokemon"), and
If the Switching match rule for that trainer is "On".

Some effects state that a Pokemon "can't be declared for manual switching." These effects are referring to this eligibility, which impacts both the process of starting a switch and the process of counterswitching.

Certain steps in the Switching Phase are performed only on eligible Pokemon, and certain other steps are performed on all Pokemon in the battle.

[2.5b] Forced Switching Procedure
As the first procedure in the Switching Phase, the following operations are carried out in order.

Eligible Pokemon with Phazing markers are returned to their trainers' benches, in the order that their most recent Phazing marker was created. For each of those recalled Pokemon, all Conditions and Markers are discarded, except those that "persist after leaving play." As they are returned, the trainer whose Pokemon created the most recent Phazing marker on the returning Pokemon (not the trainer of the returning Pokemon) becomes the round's starting player.
Eligible Pokemon with Switching markers are returned to their trainers' benches, in the order that their most recent Switching marker was created. For each of those recalled Pokemon, all Conditions and Markers are discarded, except those that "persist after leaving play." As they are returned, the trainer whose Pokemon created the most recent Switching marker on the returning Pokemon (typically, but not always, the returning Pokemon's own trainer) becomes the round's starting player.
Once all eligible Pokemon have been returned to the bench, ALL Phazing markers and Switching markers are discarded from ALL Pokemon. (Active, Benched, and Reserve, just to be sure.)

To reiterate; it is the trainer of the marker's creator, not the trainer of its recipient, that becomes the starting player.

[2.5c] Pokemon Replacement Procedure
As a result of effects that force trainers to switch or as a result of fainted Pokemon being recalled, trainers can be left with vacant field positions.

In the order that each position on the battlefield was vacated, each trainer posts to send out a Pokemon from their Bench or their Reserve to fill that position. This can result in a long string of alternating posts, or it can result in less posts containing multiple send-outs if many of one trainer's Pokemon left play all in a row. This series of replacement posts isn't necessarily made in the sequence of the round's post schedule. (Due to how step 2.5b works, the last replacement is often made by a trainer that has just become round's starting player, but this can vary depending on battle circumstances.)

When sending out a Pokemon to fill a position vacated by another Pokemon, the new send-out is said to be "replacing" the Pokemon that previously occupied that position. Certain effects refer to a Pokemon's replacement, to a Pokemon that their user has replaced, or to the act of replacing.

A Pokemon can't be its own replacement on the field if any other Pokemon could be their replacement; that is to say, a Pokemon can't be sent out into the battle position it just vacated unless their trainer has no other Pokemon to send out. This can happen if a trainer's last Pokemon is forced out, or in certain other circumstances where a Pokemon's prospective replacement was sent out before they were.

Rarely, a Pokemon may be sent out as a replacement and then immediately leave the field, such as if they faint upon send-out. If this happens, that newly-vacated position is queued with the rest in this procedure. In certain battle circumstances, this can result in one trainer sending many sequential replacements into the same position on the field.

If a trainer doesn't have enough Pokemon in their Bench and in their Reserve to fill all of their permitted field positions, they simply don't. If that trainer later gains or regains Pokemon who can fill those vacant field positions (such as when a fainted Pokemon is revived), they will do so in the next available Switch Phase, in this step in that phase. (And typically, those left-vacant positions will be filled first, as they were vacated the earliest.)

If this is the first round of battle, the Switching Phase ends here.

[2.5d] Manual Switching Declaration Procedure
Once all forced switching and forced replacement has concluded for the round, the post schedule for the round begins, starting with the round's current starting player. That player has the following options:

The starting player may declare their intent to manually switch one or more of their active Pokemon with an equal number of Pokemon on their bench and in their reserve, if those active Pokemon are eligible to switch and there are enough benched and reserve Pokemon to replace them on the field; then
The starting player may declare their intent to Terastallize any of their Pokemon who are capable of the technique and who have not been declared as being manually recalled; then
If the starting player did not declare intent to manually recall nor Terastallize any of their Pokemon, they must post orders; which ends the Switching Phase and begins the Ordering Phase. (This also denies later players a chance to manually switch or to Terastallize this round.)

As a result, if the starting player posts orders and ends the Switch Phase, no other players may manually switch or Terastallize. In matches with many competing teams, this can make positioning to manually switch or to Terastallize very difficult. Because this choice, made by the starting player, determines if any players manually switch or Terastallize, choosing to do so is sometimes casually referred to as "starting a switch phase".

If the starting player does declare intent manually replace one or more of their active Pokemon, or to Terastallize one or more of their active Pokemon, they do not post orders. Instead, the next player in the post schedule gets a chance to make the above choice, with additional stipulations detailed below, and are said to have the chance to "counter-switch".

[2.5e] Counter-Switching Procedure
After the current starting player declares intent to manually switch a Pokemon or to Terastallize a Pokemon, the next player in the round's post schedule is given an opportunity to select from choices similar to those above; this player is said to be "offered a counter-switch".

The counter-switching player may declare their intent to manually switch one or more of their active Pokemon with an equal number of Pokemon on their bench and in their reserve, if those active Pokemon are eligible to switch and there are enough benched and reserve Pokemon to replace them on the field; then
The counter-switching player may declare their intent to Terastallize any of their Pokemon who are capable of the technique and who have not been declared as being manually recalled; then
If the starting player did not declare intent to manually recall nor Terastallize any of their Pokemon, then that player declares nothing. (Unlike 2.5d, they don't immediately post orders.)

If the counter-switching player declares any switching and/or Terastal, they are said to have "accepted counter-switch"; and if they do not, they are said to have "declined counter-switch". Then, each remaining player is offered a counter-switch as well, in their order in the post schedule, which they may each in turn accept or decline. Each player in sequence who accepts the offer to counter-switch then becomes the round's starting player (pushing the other players down); and each who declines, retains their present position in the post sequence (except for possibly being pushed down).

This process continues until each remaining player has been offered a chance to counter-switch.

[2.5f] Declaration Resolution Procedure
All Trainers will recall the Pokemon for whom they declared switching intentions, in the order that they were declared. For each of those recalled Pokemon, all Conditions and Markers are discarded, except those that "persist after leaving play."

Then, each trainer will send out and equip the specified replacement that they declared, in the order that the Pokemon they are replacing were withdrawn. Lastly, each trainer will Terastallize the Pokemon for whom they declared Terastallization, in the order they were declared.

The Pokemon sent out in this way will be equipped with items they can legally hold, in the order that held items were declared for them. Any items that the Pokemon could not legally hold will not be equipped, and will remain in their trainer's backpack if they exist.

Then, whichever player ended up being the final starting player for the round will post issuing orders, which then becomes the first post of the Ordering Phase for the round.

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[2.6]

The Ordering Phase

In this phase, players each post in the sequence of the round's post schedule to give instructions to their active Pokemon.

The orders that players issue to their Pokemon consist of main orders, substitutions, and order addenda. These are defined later in their respective sections: 9.1 "Issuing Orders", 9.2 "Issuing Substitutions", and 9.3 "Order Addenda".

-for details on when a Pokemon receives intent from their orders, and how substitutions or effects change them, see x.x

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[2.7]

The Battling Phase

The Battling Phase is where each Pokemon decides their intent, based on the orders they received from their trainers, and then take turns attempting that intent. The majority of effects in the game occur and resolve in the Battling Phase. This phase occurs entirely within a single post made by the referee, once per round.

Often, the phrase "the round" is used as shorthand for the Battling Phase specifically, such as when referring to "the start of the round".

As stated in 3.3a "Effect Shorthand Phases", the shorthand "On round start" is used to stand in for the phrase "At the start of the Battling Phase". Such effects also trigger when the Battling Phase begins, as outlined in 2.2 "Structure of a Phase".

The Battling Phase itself consists of a number of sub-phases, called "Action Phases" or "steps". The amount of Action Phases in a Battling Phase is determined by the match rule "Step Count". The default is three (3) for a Singles match, two (2) for a Doubles match, and one (1) for matches played in Triples or larger.

In a Singles battle with standard rules, the Battling Phase can look like this:

The Battling Phase

Start of
Battling Phase

Step 1

Zangoose's Turn

Seviper's Turn

Step 2

Zangoose's Turn

Seviper's Turn

Step 3

Zangoose's Turn

Seviper's Turn

End of
Battling Phase

[2.7a] The Action Phase
Each Action Phase, hereafter called "steps", within the Battling Phase can be thought of as a miniature phase unto itself. It begins and ends just like a "real" phase does, as outlined in 2.2 "Structure of a Phase".

The first step starts after the start-of-phase procedure for the Battling Phase has finished. The end-of-phase procedure for the Battling Phase is processed after the final step's end-of-phase procedure has finished.

Steps are numbered in sequence within a round. That is, there's a first step, a second step, a third step, and so on; and each step is said to be "before" or "after" its neighbor steps.

The "final step" refers to the last legal step of the round. This can be the highest-numbered scheduled step in a round, or the step that ends with only one team's active Pokemon in play, whichever happens first. When an effect refers to the highest-numbered scheduled step for that round, regardless of whether or not the battle actually reaches that step., it will refer to the round's "last scheduled step".

Once a step is underway, the following operations occur within that step in sequence:

Check for multiple active teams.

As a step would start, if only one team has any Pokemon in play, that step and any further steps that were scheduled are instead skipped entirely — they do not start or end, and no actions or turns are taken within them.

Pokemon decide their intent.

At the start of the step, Pokemon decide their intent—the action they would like to perform on their turn—from the appropriate step in their main orders, if they can attempt that ordered action.

Pokemon can, however, intend to use an action that they can attempt but cannot execute. Pokemon can also intent to use an action that they won't be able to attempt due to something that will happen after they receive the order. (that is, future statuses aren't considered.)

Example: A Pokemon can intend to Recover even if a faster Pokemon was ordered to use Taunt on them in the same step.

Most commonly, the Pokemon's main orders will come from the Pokemon's order post, but some substitutions or effects may have modified the Pokemon's intent or their main orders during the round.

If a Pokemon's corresponding order is for the use of a trainer item (such as a Ball or Medicine), the Pokemon will make that their intent even though no action is required of them. The ordered item will be used by the trainer further into the step; and the Pokemon receiving the order will take an "empty" turn. The trainer can be said to be "spending" the Pokemon's turn, like a resource.

If a Pokemon has multiple turns in a step, and their trainer orders a trainer item, that single turn's order among their multiple turns will be spent in this way.

After initial intent is decided, any Pokemon who could not decide on their intent (be it action, an item, or something else) will be assigned intent to use Struggle. This order will have no specified target. See 8.3c "Target Legality Check".

"Start of Step" Substitutions are checked.

- after all intent in decided, substitutions triggering "at the start of the step" trigger; which may result in replacing some pokemon's intent. See Section 10 "Substitutions".

- substitutions for all pokemon in the step are checked in the sequence they are posted, starting from the top.

- for each Pokemon, once one of their substitutions has successfully triggered within a step, none of their other substitutions can trigger in the same step.

Trainer items are used.

Any trainer items, such as Medicines, that trainers have ordered are used, in the sequence they were written. The trainer is the user of the ordered item.

The turn that was spent to use the item will still occur in the turn sequence, below.

The step's Turn Sequence is created.

The sequence in which Pokemon act in a step is said to be the step's "Turn Sequence". The active Pokemon in the battle are sorted into a sequence based on their intended action, their Speed, and other factors.

First, sort all active Pokemon by the priority of their intended action, if any, from highest priority to lowest. Pokemon with no intent (typically, those whose trainers used a trainer item) have a priority of 0 for this sort.

Then, sort Pokemon that are tied by priority amongst their co-tied Pokemon, from highest Speed to lowest. Pokemon with no Speed stat have a Speed of 0 for this sort.

Last, sort Pokemon that are tied by priority and Speed amongst their co-tied Pokemon, from earliest order post to latest. Pokemon with no order post are sorted to the end of this sort, in the sequence that they entered play, amongst themselves.

Some Pokemon take multiple turns each step. They have one turn in the turn sequence for each order they've received and their corresponding intended actions, and each of those turns is sorted separately. Sort tied turns in the sequence that they were ordered. See 2.7b "Pokemon with Multiple Actions".

The step's Turns are processed.

Once the Turn Sequence is created, starting from the first Pokemon in the sequence, each active Pokemon takes one or more turns within the step.

Initially, all turns are "incomplete". After a turn concludes, that turn is marked as "complete".

To resolve the turn sequence, the earliest incomplete turn in the turn sequence is selected. That turn's Pokemon takes that turn. Typically, this consists of that Pokemon attempting their intended action, if any. After the Pokemon has acted, and the effect queue (if any) has finished resolving, the turn completes and is marked as "complete".

A Pokemon who has no intended action will still take a turn. This most commonly occurs when a Pokemon's turn was spent on a trainer item. That turn is said to be "empty", and simply ends after it has started.

If a turn would be taken, but the turn's Pokemon isn't active (typically because they've Fainted), the turn is marked as "complete" and then skipped. (It doesn't start or end)

Once all turns in the turn sequence are complete, the step can then end.

Ending the Step

A step ends once all of the turns in the step's turn sequence have been marked complete, or have been skipped. Very rarely, an effect may also end the step.

The last scheduled step of the round is the round's final step by default.

After a round's final step has ended, the end-of-phase procedure for the Battling Phase as a whole is processed.

[2.7b] Pokemon with Multiple Actions
Sometimes, an effect or rule will allow a Pokemon to use multiple actions in a single step. That Pokemon is said to have "Multiple Actions per Step", or just "Multiple Actions". The numeric property "Actions per Step", which is typically 1 by default, determines if the Pokemon has multiple actions.

A Pokemon whose Actions per Step is greater than 1 can be issued, and can receive, that many orders each step in their main orders. When issuing orders to a Pokemon with multiple actions, dividers between steps must differ from any dividers between the actions within each step.

Example: A Pokemon with 3 Actions per Step could receive main orders such as, "Tackle, Growl, Leer | Leer, Tackle, Growl | Growl, Leer, Tackle". The dividing character between steps "|" is clearly more visible than the commas between actions within a step.

Pokemon that act multiple times in one step will have one turn in the turn sequence for each of their actions. Those turns will occur in their usual priority; and turns in the same priority will be taken starting with the earliest order.

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[2.8]

The Cleanup Phase

asdf (this phase has functionality that will be clarified later)

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LouisCyphre · Oct 7, 2022

[2.9]

Post-Event Checklist

Every time something happens in battle—more specifically, after each effect finishes resolving, and after each part of the phase cycle is followed--a set of cleanup actions occur in order to keep the game running. Each of these rules actions have a specific activation condition (much like an effect has) and, if the condition is met, a prescribed instruction to be taken. Collectively, this list of conditions and instructions is called the Post-Event Checklist.

This checklist is responsible for many of the occurrences in battle that you may think of as simple or obvious. Pokemon Fainting when their HP or Energy runs out, teams winning after all of their opponents are gone, and players leaving the game if they forfeit are all taken care of by this checklist. As mentioned, you can think of this checklist as "cleaning up" any loose ends like stray Conditions or 0 HP Pokemon left over in the battle before the next effect or phase action is handled.

As described above, the battle consists of a series of discrete events, such as damaging hits, effect resolutions, and phase changes. After each such event in a battle, the following checklist is referenced. For each condition that is true, the corresponding instruction is followed.

The Post-Event Checklist is as follows:

If...	...Then...
1. There's only one remaining team...	...That team wins the battle.
2. Any team has no players...	...That team loses and leaves the battle.
3. Any player has conceded...	...That player loses. They leave all teams.
4. If any player has no Pokemon in play, and none to send in...	...That player loses. They leave all teams.
5. If a Marker isn't on anything, or a condition has no subject, or a Field Condition has no team... AND / OR If a condition or Marker is on a Pokemon who is not in play, and it was made while they were in play, and it doesn't persist after leaving play...	...It stops existing.
6. If a Pokemon is "unaffected" by a Condition on them... AND/OR If a Pokemon has copies of a Condition, in excess of the highest Stack Limit among copies of that Condition...	...Discard the oldest copy of that Condition from that Pokemon.
7. If a Pokemon can't legally hold all of their held items...	...They drop items until they can, starting with the item they have held the longest.
8. If a Pokemon can't legally have as many abilities as they currently have (typically due to match rules)...	...Discard abilities from them until they can, starting with the ability they've had the longest.
9. If a triggered effect that mentions "Faint" in its criteria would trigger...	...It does so, and is resolved, even though Post-Event checks aren't finished. (A special exception.)
10. If a Pokemon in play is Fainted, and no Pokemon is acting...	...Discard all of their Conditions (except those that say otherwise), set their HP/En to 0, and put them on their trainer's bench.
11. If any Pokemon has 0 or less HP or En...	...Put Fainting on whichever non-Fainted Pokemon fell to 0 or less HP/En least recently.

Each of the prescribed instructions are, themselves, a rules event. Thus, after each item on the checklist is evaluated, if the instruction was carried out, the checklist is restarted from the beginning.

This will repeat until every condition in the checklist is false, or until the checklist causes the battle to end.

A Post-Event Check where none of the instructions were followed is said to be "empty". After an empty Post-Event Check; any triggered effects that have had their trigger conditions fulfilled at any point, between this empty Post-Event Check and the last prior empty Post-Event Check, will resolve in the order that they triggered.

After each of those effects resolve, a new round of Post-Event Checks will occur, which may cause more triggered effects to trigger.

Pending triggered effects put into a Trigger Queue are said to be "queued", and queued effects will persist until they are resolved or until the battle ends, whichever comes first.

After an empty Post-Event Check, if there are no effects in the Trigger Queue, the game may finally progress to the next procedure.

Example: Liz's Heracross is performing the contact attack Megahorn on Madeleine's Sharpedo; each Pokemon is the last one standing on their respective teams; and the referee is in the damage calculation event. Madeleine's Sharpedo takes a large hit from that attack, triggering their ability Rough Skin, which may state "When the user is hit with a contact attack: The attacker loses HP, equal to a portion of the damage." This triggered effect is noted, but doesn't do anything yet. The referee deducts the hit's damage from Sharpedo's HP, bringing them to a negative value. With damage calculation finished, the referee performs a Post-Event Check. Because Sharpedo's HP is below 0, the referee puts the Fainting condition on Sharpedo; then, because the referee followed one of the Post-Event instructions, they immediately begin a new check.

This time, they see that Sharpedo has Fainting and is in play; but because Liz's Heracross is still performing Megahorn, that condition isn't fully met. This means that the check reaches the end of the list and is empty, so the first queued triggered effect get to resolves next. The referee follows the instruction given by Sharpedo's Rough Skin ability, deducting HP from Heracross and bringing their HP below zero as well. After resolving an effect, Post-Event Checks occur once more. The referee makes it all the way through the checklist and puts the Fainting condition on Heracross. Then, as Heracross is still performing Megahorn (Fainting doesn't say that it halts an action in progress, after all), that condition isn't met in the subsequent check. Megahorn has no additional effects, so there's nothing left to do after the damage event, and the action finishes.

Because the end of an action being performed is also an event, Post-Event Checks occur. The referee now reaches the condition "If any Pokemon in play has Fainting, and no Pokemon is performing an action" and carries out its instruction. Because Sharpedo was the first to faint, they're returned to Madeleine's Bench, and the referee restarts the checks. This time, they find that all of Madeleine's Pokemon are both on her bench and are fainted; so they mark Madeleine as having lost the battle and remove her from her own team. This starts another check, where they find that Madeleine's former team has no trainers in it, so the referee discards that team and starts one more check. They find that Liz has no remaining teams opposing her, and the referee declares Liz the winner, ending the battle. At the moment the battle ends, Liz' Heracross remains in play with negative HP, because Post-Event Checks had simply hadn't gotten around to them. If Madeleine had remaining Pokemon on her bench, then instead Heracross would have been returned to Liz' bench after Sharpedo was returned to Madeleine's. But only after, never at the same time.

The above is a very long-winded way to say that the game is "cleaned up" after each effect, and a very detailed breakdown of the involved steps. However, hopefully each step is intuitive enough that you'll rarely, if ever, have to check this list to figure out what happens in a battle. Of -course- a Pokemon that has no HP left will faint. Of -course- a team with no players left in it isn't a team anymore. With that in mind, rather than trying to memorize the entire list, let intuition guide you while you play and then return to this section if an unclear scenario arises, or to make sure that a certain plan will play out the way you're envisioning.

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[2.10]

Simultaneous Effect Resolution

The short version of this section is to simply state, effects are never simultaneous in BBP. This section consists of rules for sequencing effects that would otherwise be simultaneous, and create a single linear order for them to resolve in.

[2.10a] Timestamps
An important tool for resolving effect conflicts is the timestamp of the effect.

A timestamp is a quality that all effects and game pieces possess. Effects with older timestamps are resolved before effects with newer timestamps. If multiple effects come from the same object, the effect mentioned earlier in that object's effect text have an earlier timestamp than effects listed later.

An ability's timestamp is the moment its owner most recently entered play. If the owner of the ability hasn't yet entered play, the ability's timestamp is the user's position in the first post in the thread.
An action's timestamp is the moment it is attempted. Each attempt of an action is its own "copy" with its own timestamp, even if the same action is attempted repeatedly. See 8.1 "{name of 8.1 in "steps of using an action"} to 8.4 "{name of 8.4}".
A held item's timestamp is the moment it was most recently equipped.
A condition's timestamp is the moment of its creation, or the moment its subject most recently entered play, whichever is more recent.
An arena's continuous effect's timestamp is the start of the battle, or the moment the battle moved to that arena, whichever is more recent. (The battle starts in the initial arena, so that timestamp is earlier even than those belonging to benched Pokemon.)

[2.10b] Conflicting Ongoing Effects
When multiple ongoing effects state conflicting truths about the game; follow the statement of the ongoing effect that became active most recently. (Non-conflicting statements of the other ongoing effects remain true as well.)

If multiple ongoing effects became active at the same time and then conflict with one another; follow the statement of the ongoing effect with the most recent timestamp. (Non-conflicting statements of the other ongoing effects remain true as well.)

[2.10c] Conflicting Replacement Effects
When multiple replacement effects would replace the same event, they do so in Timestamp order, starting with the oldest.

This may result in later replacement effects being unable to replace that event; or becoming able to replace that event.

An event that is replaced in this way is said to a "revision" of the original event. An event can't be replaced by a replacement effect that replaced any of its previous revisions.

[2.10d] Sorting Trigger Effects
When multiple triggered effects all trigger from the same event, or when multiple trigger effects trigger in the same Post-Event Checks, they go into the Trigger Queue. See 3.4 "The Trigger Queue".

When sorting triggered effects in the Trigger Queue, use the following steps in sequence, until all timing conflicts have been differentiated.

Event Order Sort: When multiple effects trigger after the same Post-Event Checks, effects triggered by earlier events will always revolve before effects triggered by later events. This is self-maintaining, as effects that trigger sooner become queued sooner, and thus resolve sooner. It is mentioned in the rules to name this process, and as a reminder.

Component Trigger Sort: If multiple effects trigger as a result of the same event, they are sorted by what manner of effect they are. Effects with a component found earlier in this list will resolve before effects whose components may only be found later in this list.

An effect is considered to have a component even if another effect is modifying, replacing, or forbidding that component.

Effects that restore HP.
Effects that restore EN.
Effects that cause HP loss, including effects that deal HP damage.
Effects that cause Energy loss, including effects that deal Energy damage.
Effects that remove conditions.
Effects that remove markers.
Effects that create conditions.
Effects that place markers.
All effects having none of the above components.

Example: If two effects trigger as a result of the same event; where the first effect restores Energy to a Pokemon, and the second effect removes a condition from a Pokemon and heals their HP; the second will resolve earlier than the first, because it is an effect that restores HP. This would remain true even if that Pokemon's team was under the effect of Heal Block, which may state, "Pokemon on the affected team can't gain HP."

Speed Trigger Sort: If multiple effects trigger from the same event, and those effects rank the same in Component sorting, then they are sorted by their owner's Speed order.

Arena effects, Field Conditions, Battle Conditions, Trainer Items, and other effects not owned by a Pokemon are treated as having 0 Speed for the purposes of this sort.

Some effects alter how Speed is considered when sorting the turns of Pokemon. Those effects alter this sort in the same manner.

Example: The battle has Grassy Terrain in play which may state, "At the end of the step: Each standing Pokemon heals HP." Isaac's Donphan has very low remaining HP, has had Liz' Serperior inflict Leech Seed on them which may state, "At the end of the step: The subject takes damage; then the creator of this condition or their replacement in play is healed for that much HP" and is holding Leftovers which may state, "At the end of the step: The holder heals HP." Liz' Serperior, in turn, is holding a Sticky Barb, which may state, "At the end of the step: The holder takes damage." The amount of damage Donphan would take from Leech Seed and that Serperior would take from Sticky Barb is enough to knock either Pokemon out.

To determine if either Donphan or Serperior will be healed first or take damage first, the referee refers to these rules. Since each of these effects trigger from the same event--the end of the step--Event Order Sort is of no use here. Referring to Component sort, the referee finds that Grassy Terrain, Leech Seed, and Leftovers are all tied as a result of their HP-healing components; while Sticky Barb merely deals damage and comes after those three. However, this still leaves three effects tied. Moving to the next method, the referee finds that Grassy Terrain is treated as being "slower" than Donphan's Leftovers or Leech Seed. This still leaves Donphan's Leftovers and Leech Seed tied in Speed sorting.

The referee considers the timestamps (see below) of Donphan's Leftovers and Leech Seed. Donphan was equipped with Leftovers when they were sent into battle, but they gained Leech Seed only when Serperior used that move on Donphan. Thus, Donphan's Leftovers have an earlier timestamp than their Leech Seed status. The resolution order of these "simultaneous" effects is thus: Donphan is healed by Leftovers; then, Donphan has HP stolen by Serperior; then, Grassy Terrain heals both Pokemon; then, Sticky Barb damages Serperior. As a result of this effect order, both Pokemon heal enough HP to survive the damage they take, before they take that damage.

Timestamp Sort: If multiple effects where triggered by the same event, and are tied in Component Sort, and their owners have the same effective Speed, then they are sorted by their timestamp.

Details on timestamps for various game pieces can be found at the start of this section.

Because it's impossible to write two effects "intersecting" or "overlapping" one another, one will always come before another in an object's effect text. Any attempt to do so, such as conjoining those effects with "and then", would result in fusing them into a single effect. As a result, it's impossible for multiple effects or game pieces to have the same timestamp. Even a single effect that creates multiple conditions in a row does so *in a row*, and not all at once, which gives those conditions different sequential timestamps relative to one another.

Example: Liz's Heracross uses the move Rest which may state, "Inflict Sleep on the user" and "Grant the user a unique status to the user, until they wake up" in that order. The Sleep condition may state, "At the end of the step, if the subject has taken a certain amount of damage from a single hit during this step: Discard this condition." The unique status created by Rest may state, " At the end of the step: If the subject is Asleep, the subject heals HP." During the step, Heracross takes a hit large enough to disrupt their Sleep. At the end of the step, the effects of both the Sleep condition and the Rest condition trigger. Because Rest created the Sleep condition before it created the unique status, Sleep has an earlier timestamp and its triggered effect is resolved first, waking Heracross up. Then, the second effect is resolved. Because Heracross is awake, they don't heal any HP.

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LouisCyphre · Oct 19, 2022

3. Effects

[3.1]

Anatomy of an Effect

An "Effect" is an instruction contained in the rules text of a move, ability, item, or other game piece. Every effect on every game piece in the game will have a criterion (either explicitly, or implied) and a statement. If the criterion is explicitly stated, then it will be separated from the statement using a colon (":"). The criterion is the requirement for the effect to be considered. The statement is either a declaration the effect makes that dictates something about the game state, or an instruction given to the players to change the game state in some way.

Example: An effect may state, "While the user is attacking: That attack has more power." The statement is true within the game, so long as the criterion is met.

Example: An effect may state, "When this item is consumed: The consumer heals HP." The statement occurs and changes the game state when the criterion is met.

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[3.2]

Effect Types

The following types of effects are recognized by the game, sorted by how they are phrased.

Effects are each of the types that they qualify for, based on the outline below.

Ongoing Effects:
These effects of game pieces, other than Actions, don't specify their criteria. The criterion "While this game piece is in play" is inherently implied.
If an effect with no stated criteria is in the text of an action, it is an Execution Effect instead.

While the game piece that has the effect is in play, the effect's statement is true.
When the game piece comes into play, the effect is said to become "active" until the game piece is no longer true.

Examples:

"The holder's stat stages can't be lowered by the effects of other Pokemon."

"The holder cannot Chill."

"Hits can't reduce the holder's HP to less than 1."

Conditional Ongoing Effects:
These effects start their criterion with the word "While" or "During".

So long as the criterion is true, the statement is also true.
When the criterion becomes true, the effect is said to become "active" until the criterion is no longer true.

Examples:

"While the holder is Farfetch'd or is Sirfetch'd: The holder's critical hit stage is increased by three (3)."

"While the holder is performing a Physical attack: The holder's Accuracy stage is increased by one (1)."

Triggered Effects:
These effects start their criterion with the word "When" or "Whenever".

Each time a game event occurs that matches their criterion, their statement is followed once as an instruction. When this occurs, the effect is said to "trigger" and to have "triggered".
Triggered effects that trigger in the middle of another effect will wait until after the activating effect is finished resolving, before they themselves resolve. (e.g. They are queued, in the order they were triggered, starting with the earliest.)

Example:

"When the holder is hit by a contact attack: The attacker loses HP, equal to one-fourth of the damage of the hit (x0.25)."

"When a Berry is equipped to the user: The user consumes that Berry."

Power-Modifying Triggered Effects:
These effects are Triggered Effects (they start their criteria with "When" or "Whenever"), whose statement says to give an attack a "Power Bonus" or "Power Penalty".

These effects are Triggered Effects in every sense. However, some effects and rules may refer to "triggered abilities, except power-modifying ones".
Power Bonuses and Power Penalties are special modifiers with their own step in damage calculation. See 8.10 "Damage Calculation".

Examples:

"When the user is attacked with a Fire-type attack: Give that attack a Power Bonus of five (5)."

"When the user attacks with a move tagged #Sound: Give that attack a Power Bonus, equal to the number of Music markers on the user."

"When the user performs an Electric-type attack that was originally Normal-type: Give it a power bonus of two (2)."

Timed Triggered Effects:
These effects start their criterion with the word "At", and specify a game timing rather than an event.

At the specified time, once each time; the statement is followed once as an instruction.

Examples:

"At the end of each step: The holder heals two (2) HP."

"At the end of each turn, if the user was targeted by a Water-type attack: The holder consumes this item."

"At the start of the round: Grant the user Hovering until the end of the round."

Execution Effects:
These are any effects of Actions that don't specify their criteria. The criterion "When execution effects of this action are processed" is inherently implied. (See 8.9 "Execution effects")

If an effect with no stated criteria is on a game piece other than an action, it is an Ongoing Effect instead.
The statement is followed once as an instruction each time the action is performed. The Execution effects of an action are followed in their printed order.

Examples:

"Lower the defender's Defense stage by two (2), for their next two (2) turns."

"Inflict Sleep on the defender."

Data-Setting Effects:
These are any effects of Actions that refer to that Action by name, and state something about the Action's data.

This type of effect is effective even when the action isn't being used.
If the effect does not refer to the action it's on, it's not this type of effect; even if it names another Action.

Examples:

"While the user has one or more Major Status conditions: Facade has 14 BAP."

"While Grassy Terrain is in play: Grassy Glide is priority +1."

"While the defender's Accuracy stage is 0 or higher: Night Daze's effect chance is 100%."

Replacement Effects:
These effects start with the word "If", then specify an event to be replaced, use the word "instead", and then describe a new event to that occurs as the replacement.

These effects replace an event with a new event. The replacing event may have some or most of the qualities of the replaced event.

Examples:

"If a Pokemon would take an amount of damage; instead, they take that amount of damage plus one (1)."

"If Sleep would be inflicted on a Pokemon; instead, inflict Freeze on that Pokemon for the same duration."

"If an opponent would be healed for an amount of HP; instead, the user is healed for that amount of HP."

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[3.3]

Effect Instructions

The majority of work done in the game will involve resolving effects: Written instructions, carried by most game pieces, that describe to players and to the referee how they should change the current game state. The vast majority of effects are resolved by the referee during the Battle Phase, but effects can sometimes hold instructions for players to give specific decisions or other input.

If an effect issues an instruction to a specific player (such as selecting a Pokemon to send into play), and it doesn't specify what post the player does so, that player will follow that instruction in the next post they make in the battle. Such an effect may instruct that player to post out of schedule (such as to make a selection); if such an instruction is given, that player will do so before scheduled posts resume.

Example: The ability Trace may state, "After this Pokemon enters play: The user's trainer posts to declare whether they will Activate Trace; after which, scheduled posts resume." If Liz makes a post to send her Gardevoir into battle, she can declare whether she wishes to use the Activate Trace command in the same post as her send-in. If, instead, Liz' Gardevoir is brought into battle outside of a switch phase, such as by a phazing effect; then other posts will pause until Liz posts, specifying if she would like to Activate Trace.

Mentions of Pokemon (such as "Each Pokemon" or "opposing Pokemon") in effects refer to only Pokemon in play, unless they specify otherwise (such as "including inactive Pokemon").

In the same way, mentions of Pokemon in effects refer only to Pokemon that aren't Fainted, unless they specify otherwise (such as "target a Fainted Pokemon in reserve").

[3.3a] Effect Shorthand Phrases
Some common effect conditions and statements exist in shorthand form. Shorthand can only occur at the beginning of an effect's condition, or the beginning of an effect's statement.

Example: An action may state, "Effect Check: Inflict Burn on the defender."

This is the same as if the action stated, "Whenever this move hits a target, if the user passes an Effect Check against that target: Inflict Burn on the defender."

This action would have a chance to inflict Burn on a defender, if the action manages to hit that defender, and if the attacker makes a successful Effect Check against that defender.

The following shorthand stands in for the following full phrases:

"On hit" stands in for "Whenever this move hits a target".
"Effect Check" stands in for "Whenever this move hits a target, if the user passes an Effect Check against that target".
"On consume" stands in for "When a Pokemon consumes this item", and furthermore, effects using this trigger refer to the item-consuming Pokemon as "the consumer" (as opposed to the item holder, in case they differ).
"On round start" stands in for "At the start of the Battling Phase".
"Capture Criteria—[criteria]" stands in for "When this Ball is thrown, if [criteria]: Add this Ball to the capture target's Capture Tracker."

When evaluating an effect condition, or resolving an effect statement, that starts with shorthand; that shorthand is treated as the phrase it stands in for from the list above. The phrasing being represented never contains any shorthand itself, even if the words are the same. (That is to say, shorthand is never recursively nested.)

[3.3b] Ongoing Existence Statements
Some ongoing effects, including conditional ongoing effects, state that a Condition or other game objects exists in play so long as the effect's condition is met. These effects are said to be "ongoing existence effects", and are said to "generate" the object they mention while their criterion is met. Fittingly, objects generated by an existence effect are said to be "generated" objects.

Example: An ongoing existence effect may state, "Poisoned Pokemon in play are also Burned." This effect generates the Burned condition on each such Pokemon while it applies.

A conditional ongoing existence effect may state, "While the user's HP is at or below half of their maximum: The user is holding Leftovers in addition to their other held items." This effect generates a held Leftovers while the criterion is met, and stops generating that held item when the criterion is no longer met.

Objects generated by an ongoing existence effect cease existing once that effect's criteria are no longer met.

Certain object types may not be generated in certain situations, even when an effect states otherwise.

Conditions will only be generated on a Pokemon, a team, or the battle once that condition could legally be created on that host object.
- Most commonly, a condition will fail to be generated because the host object is unaffected by that condition, or already has a condition of the same names. Once that condition of the same names is gone, the generating effect "kicks in".
Held items will only be generated if the holder could legally hold the generated item.
- Most commonly, effects that generate held items will generate them "in addition to other held items" to sidestep this restriction. If the effect does not, then the held item won't be generated until the would-be holder has room or an item.

In rare circumstances, multiple conditional ongoing existence effects may end up generating objects that fulfill each others' criteria. This can result in multiple overlapping generated objects that are difficult to for players to rid themselves of.

Example: A pair of existence effects may state, "Frozen Pokemon in play are Burned" and "Burned Pokemon in play are Frozen." Any Pokemon that becomes Frozen will then be continuously Burned by the first effect. Once the Pokemon's Freeze expires, if they are still Burned (including by the first existence effect), they will still be Frozen by the second existence effect. This can leave the afflicted Pokemon in quite a predicament if they don't have a way to remove both mentioned Conditions with a single effect.

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[3.4]

The Trigger Queue

Whenever a triggered effect triggers, that effect's statement (and only their statement, not their criterion) goes into the Trigger Queue. The Trigger Queue holds statements only.

Once a statement is added to the Queue (because the triggering effect was triggered), it doesn't matter if the triggering effect's criteria later becomes false. Queued statement also "remember" who or what each of their references referred to when they were triggered.

Example: Knock Off may state, "On hit: The defender drops each of their held items." Weakness Policy may state, "When the holder is hit by a super-effective attack: The holder consumes this item."

If Knock Off hits super-effectively against a Pokemon holding Weakness Policy, two instructions are added to the Trigger Queue:

Knock Off's instruction "The (Pokemon that was the) defender drops each of their held items", and
Weakness Policy's instruction "The (Pokemon that was the holder) consumes this item."

Both statements remember who the defender or the holder was when their effect triggered.

Whenever a statement is added to the Trigger Queue, the entire Queue is sorted. See 2.10d "Sorting Trigger Effects". In practice this rarely matters, since any newly-added statements probably triggered from events that are newer than those already in the Queue.

Effects in the Trigger Queue resolve one at a time, as much as they are able. The status of the source object is rarely relevant: for example, trigger effects of items resolve even if their source item was consumed or dropped after the effect triggered.

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[3.5]

Belonging and Control

Sometimes, a rule or effect may check who controls, owns, or created a game piece. An effect is created by the game piece whose text it comes from and that game piece's owners; and it is owned by that game piece and that game piece's owners. A game piece typical

Control, ownership, and creatorship are inheritable. Objects share control, ownership, and creatorship of effects and game pieces with any objects containing them. The chain of inheritance is:

Teams inherit from their Trainers,
who inherit from their Pokemon,
who inherit from their held items, abilities, condition, typing, and other parameters.

Thus, an ability's effect belongs to the ability itself, the ability's user, that user's trainer, and that trainer's team.

Example: Isaac's Metagross has the Clear Body ability, which may state "The user's stat stages can't be lowered by the effects of other Pokemon." Isaac's opponent, Madeleine, sends her Arcanine into play, and orders Snarl. Both Arcanine's Intimidate ability and Snarl move belong to Arcanine, so their effects belong to a Pokemon other than Metagross. Thus, Clear Body will forbid both such effects from lowering Metagross' stats.

Objects only have a creator if they were created in battle by an effect. However, all non-team, non-trainer objects in a battle have an owner.

These are the three ways objects can "belong" to one another:

Creator: An object's creator is the source of the effect that created it. If the object wasn't created mid-battle, it has no creator.
Owner: An object's owner is its creator (if any); else, its host object (if any), else, their trainer (if they are a Pokemon or other combatant, such as dummies). Trainers and Teams don't have owners.
Control: An object's controller is its current host object (if any), else, their trainer (if they are a combatant); else, their team (if they are a Trainer).

An object's creator and owner can't be changed after that object is created, but an object's control can change as a result of a rule or effect. When an object is assigned to a new controller (such as when an item is stolen), the object's controllership is updated to be inherited by objects containing its new owner, rather than its old one.

Example: Madeleine's team has the Mist condition on their field, which may state, "The affected team's stat stages can't be lowered by their opponents' effects." Madeleine's Indeedee uses Thief to steal an opponent's Room Service item, which may state, "On consume: Lower the holder's Speed stage by two (2), until they leave play or Trick Room ends." She then uses Trick Room, activating the item. Even though the Room Service was originally her opponent's item, Madeleine's Indeedee has taken control of the stolen Room Service item. The item will successfully lower Indeedee's Speed stage.

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LouisCyphre · Oct 19, 2022

4. The Playing Field

[4.1]

Teams, Trainers, and Zones

Each battle has a number of Teams, contesting one another for victory in the battle. A team may have one or more trainers, or no trainers at all.

Battles organized in the Battle Tower always have an equal number of trainers per team. Battles that occur in facilities can have teams that have no trainer, such as a Boss opponent in the Raid Zone. These teams still have Pokemon in their possession.

Trainers are the battle participants that have active and inactive Pokemon, that are capable of switching their Pokemon in and out of play, and capable of equipping items to their Pokemon from a backpack.

Trainers can be players who have brought their own Pokemon and items to a battle, or they can be NPCs that are played by the referee, with Pokemon and backpack items designated for them by the facility that houses the NPC.

Non-trainer teams may have Pokemon added or removed from play by the facility, or have items assigned to them in a certain manner, but this isn't switching or equipping the same way as a trainer.

[4.1a] Zones of Play
The battle has a number of zones, where Pokemon, items, and conditions reside:

The battlefield is a zone containing all of the objects that are "in play". Arenas and Battle Conditions also reside here.
Each team has their own field zone, in which that team's Field Conditions and active Pokemon reside; and their own sidelinezone, where a team's players have their own zones:
- Each player has a bench zone and a reserve zone, where that player's inactive Pokemon reside.
- The bench zone stores Pokemon that have entered play or otherwise been "selected" for the battle.
- The reserve zone stores Pokemon that have not yet been moved to the field or the bench.
Each player also has a Backpackzone, which stores that player's items until they are equipped, dropped, consumed, discarded, or otherwise moved.
- Items that are dropped by trainers or Pokemon are moved specifically to the battlefield.
There are two rarely-used extra zones:
- A destroyed zone, where consumed and otherwise-destroyed items go.
- A limbo zone, where Pokemon go arena or Boss effects in certain ventures. A Pokemon in limbo is inactive.

Team A's Sideline

The Battlefield

Team B's Sideline

Trainer A's Bench
Trainer A's already-selected Pokemon

Trainer A's Reserve
Trainer A's as-yet unselected Pokemon

Trainer A's Backpack
Trainer A's items.

Team A's Field	Team B's Field
Team A's active Gengar Team A's Field Conditions	Team B's active Nidorino Team B's Field Conditions

Battle Conditions

Trainer B's Bench
Trainer B's already-selected Pokemon

Trainer B's Reserve
Trainer B's as-yet unselected Pokemon

Trainer B's Backpack
Trainer B's Backpack

Destroyed Zone: This zone just exists to hold destroyed items somewhere out-of-play, where they can be held to maybe be later restored.

Limbo Zone: A holding zone for certain Pokemon in certain ventures. Regular battles don't use this zone.

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[4.2]

Terms for Groups of Pokemon

This group of terms refers to groups of Pokemon in the possession of each trainer.

Pokemon on the field are said to be "active", and Pokemon that are not in play are said to be "inactive".
Pokemon that have been in play, that have since left play, are said to be "benched".
Pokemon that have not been in play at all are said to be "in reserve".
Trainers who have sent in less total Pokemon than they are allowed to send in, as specified by the Team Size match rule, are said to have "team selections remaining" equal to the difference.

An additional designation is made for Pokemon in excess of a match's Team Size, once the trainer has sent in enough Pokemon to fill the Team Size and has no selections remaining. These excess Pokemon from the trainer's selection, who are now stuck in reserve, are said to be "unselected".

Pokemon can refer to other Pokemon, or groups of other Pokemon, using terms based on their team status:

A teammate is another member of the reference Pokemon's team.
An ally is either a teammate, or a member of a team that is allied with the reference Pokemon's team.
An opponent is a member of a team that is not allied with the reference Pokemon's team.

When an action's effect uses these terms, it is assumed that the action's user is the reference Pokemon, unless stated otherwise.

When a team has multiple trainers, a Pokemon on the bench of one of those trainers is said to be the "benched ally" of each of that team's active Pokemon, regardless of who their trainers are. Some effects will specify "benched teammates" or similar, so be sure to read effects that interact with inactive Pokemon closely to determine which Pokemon are affected.

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[4.3]

Arenas

Each battle takes place in one or more battlefields, said to be "the Arena". Depending on the parameters of the battle, Arenas may be featureless or may have one or more effects. The effects of Arenas work much the same as those of any other object.

Arenas may have flavor descriptions given for them by the venue that created the battle, or by the Arena's author. However, these descriptions have no effect on the battle. If a content author wishes to give an Arena's terrain, locale, inhabitants, or other features an influence on the outcome of a battle, they will have to write effects for the Arena to simulate those features.

Effects that change an ongoing battle's Arena do so in one of the following ways:

Swapping: This type of Arena change replaces the current Arena with the specified Arena. Each field condition and battle condition in play persists in the new Arena; only the Arena itself is replaced.
Traveling: This type of Arena change moves the battle to a new Arena, leaving the prior Arena. Field conditions and battle conditions in play are left behind in the Arena they were created in when this type of Arena change occurs. (Unless the facility allows backtracking to prior Arenas, those conditions don't need to be tracked and are functionally discarded.)

Authors can modify these Arena changes when writing effects.

Example: Instructing to "Travel to the Magma Fields, but keep any Weather in play," or "Travel to the Grasslands, and create Sun in the Grasslands when another Pokemon travels there."

No effects in the core rules will swap to or travel to a new Arena. Instead, this rule is for content authors to use while writing effects.

Arenas have no owner and no creator, and no objects inherit ownership or creatorship from Arenas.

- { what else should be said about arenas? }

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LouisCyphre · Oct 19, 2022

5. Pokemon

[5.1]

Parameters of a Pokemon

A Pokemon has many different parameters to track, both in and out of battle.

Every Pokemon in BBP has two representations that are used in gameplay:

A profile, kept in their trainer's profile thread, that tracks the Pokemon's out-of-battle information.
A battle status, which tracks their resources and condition over the course of a match or challenge.

The parts of a Pokemon Profile are as follows:

Example

Sprite - A visual representation of the Pokemon.

Species - A starting template for a Pokemon's information. Much of a Pokemon's information is derived from their species.
Nickname - Optional. A trainer's name for the individual Pokemon.

It From Above (Deoxys)

Level - A Pokemon's accumulated battle power.
EXP - A Pokemon's progress to their next Level.

Level 4 — EXP: -- / 10

Techniques - Unlocked special battle actions, if any.

Techniques:
Z-Moves
Terastal (Dark)

Nature - An optional stat modifier. Unlocked at Level 3.

Quiet nature ( +Special Attack, -Speed, Evasion -10 )

Types - A Pokemon's elemental attributes.

Typing: Psychic

Abilities - Special objects, attached to the Pokemon, that typically provide passive effects.

Abilities: Pressure

Traits - Exceptional features or rules relevant to the certain species.

Traits: Has the command Forme Shift.

Stats- The Pokemon's battle statistics, used primarily for determining damage or turn sequence.

Ranks - Attack, Defense, Special Attack, and Special Defense are measured in "ranks".

HP: 80
Attack: 11
Defen.: 4
Sp.Atk: 12 (+)
Sp.Def: 4
Speed: 130 (-)

Substats - Further battle statistics used for certain effects.

Size: 3
Weight: 4

Other Formes- Some Pokemon species have alternate Formes (sub-species). Forme data is only included for Pokemon that can change Forme.

(Deoxys should have more other Formes, but we're including only one in the example.)

Other Formes:

Deoxys-Attack
Typing: Psychic
Ability: Pressure
Has the command Forme Shift.

HP: 80
Attack: 13
Defen.: 2
Sp.Atk: 14 (+)
Sp.Def: 2
Speed: 130 (-)
Size: 3
Weight: 4

Moves- Unique actions available to the Pokemon, based on their Level.

Some Pokemon species have Signature Moves (marked "(sig)"), which they will know regardless of their Level.

Movepool
Level 0:
Aerial Ace
Avalanche
[ ... and so on ]
Level 1:
Agility
Amnesia
[ ... and so on, including: ]
Psycho Boost (sig)

During battle, a Pokemon has additional parameters called their status, detailing changes affecting them:
[example battle status]

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[5.2]

HP and Energy

All Pokemon have two primary resources that they manage during battle: Hit Points (HP) and Energy (En), which determine how much damage a Pokemon can withstand and how many actions they can perform in battle without rest. Typically, Pokemon will have an amount of maximum HP determined by their species, and will have 100 maximum Energy.

Pokemon who have 0 or less remaining HP, Energy, or both will Faint the next time Post-Event Checks are made. See x.x "Post-Event Checks".

Effects typically can't raise a Pokemon's HP or Energy above their respective maximums. Some effects, however, specify that they can. These effects may state this plainly; or they may state that they "overheal".

Once a Pokemon's HP or Energy has been raised beyond its respective maximum, it may remain above that maximum until it is later lowered beneath it. Other effects will remain unable to raise that Pokemon's HP or Energy, that has exceeded its maximum, unless those effects also state they can raise these values beyond maximum as well.

A Pokemon whose HP is in excess of their maximum HP is considered to still have full HP; and this is true of Energy as well.

Example: Isaac's Blissey uses Healing Wish, which may state both "Create a Delayed Heal on the user's team that heals a large amount of HP to its Recipient" and "This healing can overheal." After Blissey faints, Isaac sends out his Sawsbuck holding Grassium-Z. Once Healing Wish overheals Sawsbuck, they will have 140 remaining HP out of their "maximum" of 90.

Isaac orders his Sawsbuck to use Horn Leech, which may state "On hit: Heal the user," and Z-Aromatherapy, which may state in part, "The user heals 20 HP, and this healing can overheal." Sawsbuck won't heal any HP with Horn Leech, since their HP is already at or above their maximum. Their HP won't be "corrected" back down by this healing, either. Afterwards, when Sawsbuck uses Z-Aromatherapy, they will successfully heal 20 more HP above their maximum.

[5.2a] Recoveries and Chills
During battle, each Pokemon has two resources that limit their capacity to restore large amounts of HP or of Energy. The battle's Match Rules will specify how many Recoveries and how many Chills each Pokemon are allotted.

When a Pokemon heals HP "as a Recovery", it means they heal that HP only if they have 1 or more remaining Recovery count, and as they do so, their Recovery count is reduced by 1.

When a Pokemon heals Energy "as a Chill", it means the same as above, except with the Pokemon's remaining Chill count.

[5.2b] Maximum Resource Changes
Some effects alter a Pokemon's maximum HP or Energy, either for a duration or while a condition is met. When that effect starts or stops altering a Pokemon's maximum HP or Energy, their maximum value will typically change. This can have a resulting consequence for the Pokemon's remaining HP or Energy, depending on the change made:

When a Pokemon's maximum HP or Energy is lowered, and their remaining value exceeds that new maximum, the remaining value is lowered to their new maximum.
When a Pokemon's maximum HP is raised, their remaining value is raised by the same amount that the maximum was.
When a Pokemon's maximum En is raised, their remaining value is multiplied by their new maximum, then divided by their old maximum. (And then rounded normally, after.)

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[5.3]

Types and Effectiveness

Pokemon have one or more properties called "types", analogous to elements or affinities in other RPGs, that govern many of their other properties. A Pokemon takes more or less damage from attacks based on their Types, is unaffected by certain actions, and may even gain passive effects from their Types.

[5.3a] Types
A Pokemon typically has one or more types. A Pokemon's default types come from their species. Different formes of the same species may have different types.

Example: Snorunt is Ice-type. Syclant is Ice/Bug-type.

Example: Rotom's typing is Electric/Ghost. After using Forme Shift to become Rotom-Wash, their typing is Electric/Water.

Pokemon can't have more than one copy of each type.

Example: Scizor is Bug/Steel-type. Trevenant is Ghost/Grass-type. Forest's Curse, which may say, "The subject is Grass-type in addition to their other types," would cause Scizor to be Bug/Steel/Grass-type, but would not cause Trevenant to be Ghost/Grass/Grass-type.

There are currently eighteen "core" types in Pokemon:

The Eighteen Core Types

Bug	Dark	Dragon	Electric	Fairy	Fighting	Fire	Flying	Ghost
Grass	Ground	Ice	Normal	Poison	Psychic	Rock	Steel	Water

Each Type has a defined list of weaknesses, resistances, and immunities; additionally, some types have additional effect text. All such properties can be found in the Types Tab of the Data Audit.

Type effects aren't ability or item effects (for things that care), but they are effects that belong to the owner (for things that care).

Example: The Flying-type is weak to Electric, Ice, and Rock; resistant to Bug, Fighting, and Grass; and is immune to Ground. It also has the effect "The Pokemon can't stand in Terrain."

In addition, Pokemon sometimes referred to as "having" or "being" the following non-core types:

Typeless: Refers to a Pokemon or Move that no longer has any types.

All core types typically have x1 effectiveness on Typeless Pokemon.
Typeless moves typically have x1 effectiveness on all Pokemon.

Stellar: A special type associated with the Terastal phenomenon. (See 11.7 "Terastal") Stellar typing is associated with :terapagos-terastal:

Terapagos.

Pokemon don't typically become Stellar-type. Instead, Pokemon can select Stellar as a possible Tera Type.
Certain moves, such as Tera Blast, copy their user's Tera Type when used and can become Stellar-type.
The Stellar type has special effectiveness:
- Terastallized Pokemon, whose Tera Type is Stellar, have an additional immunity to Stellar.
- Pokemon who have spent Technique Control in battle have an additional weakness to Stellar during that battle.

Shadow: A special type used by certain battle ventures. A "Shadow Pokemon" has been made ruthless and violent.

Pokemon don't typically become Shadow-type. (Example: Shadow Tyranitar isn't "Rock/Dark/Shadow-type"). Instead, some moves provided to certain NPC opponents are Shadow-type.
The Shadow type has special effectiveness:
- Shadow Pokemon have an extra resistance to Shadow.
- Non-Shadow Pokemon have an extra weakness to Shadow.

[5.3b] Effectiveness
Pokemon can have any amount of weaknesses, resistances, and/or immunities to a type. These can influence the effectiveness of attacks, as well as certain non-attack actions belonging to those types, when performed against the Pokemon.

The effectiveness of a type against the Pokemon is best expressed as a multiplier ("The effectiveness of Fire against Scizor is x2.0"), indicating that attacks of that type deal more or less damage than normal.

Ranges of effectiveness are expressed with certain terms:

x0: The type is "ineffective" on the Pokemon, and the Pokemon is "immune" to that type.
Below x1.0: The type is "not very effective" on the Pokemon, and the Pokemon is "resistant" to that type.
Exactly x1.0: The type is "normally effective" on the Pokemon, and the Pokemon is "neutral" to that type.
Above x1.0: The type is "super-effective" on the Pokemon, and the Pokemon is "weak" to that type.

A type has an effectiveness of x0 on a Pokemon with any immunities to that type.

Otherwise, to find the effectiveness of a type on a Pokemon, subtract the Pokemon's resistances to a type from the Pokemon's weaknesses to that type and refer to the following chart.
(Positive results are increasingly weak to the action, and negative results are increasingly resistant.)

Result	-4 or less	-3	-2	-1	0	+1	+2	+3	+4 or more
Effectiveness	x0.01	x0.25	x0.5	x0.75	x1.0	x1.5	x2.0	x2.5	x3

Some effects adjust the effectiveness of an action directly, or even round the effectiveness of an action.

Example: An effect may state, "The effectiveness of contact attacks against the subject is at least x1.5."

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[5.4]

Abilities and Traits

Pokemon receive one or more Abilities, and possibly also Traits, from their species.

Abilities are a type of object that exist attached to the Pokemon, carrying a wide variety of effects that influence the battle. They are analogous to held items, except that they come with the Pokemon by default.

Traits are additional rules (not effects) that apply to Pokemon of specific species, and dictate how they're fielded, how they learn moves, or more. Traits can be permissive (such as granting a Command) or restrictive (such as disallowing certain battle actions). A Pokemon's Trait should be listed in their profile, after their abilities and before their stats.

One or more of a species' abilities may be said to be their "hidden ability". These abilities are available only to Pokemon that are Level 2 or higher. See 5.5 "Levels and Experience".

Match rules for a battle or venue may require that you sign up with only a certain number of a Pokemon's available abilities. Any of a Pokemon's original abilities not selected in this way are ignored for the duration of the match. (They can still typically gain, lose, or transfer abilities due to effects.)

Some effects can add, remove, or overwrite abilities. Abilities granted by effects can exceed the ability limit of the match rules.

A Pokemon can't typically have more than one copy of each ability.

Some Pokemon species will have complicated or compound traits, and will refer readers to rule 5.10 "Unique Pokemon" for further information.

Some Pokemon species have traits that modify them outside of battle, such as evolving into two Pokemon at once.

[5.4a] Common Traits
The full rules text for certain common Traits can be found below.

:eternatus:

"Cannot Dynamax"

The Pokemon cannot unlock Dynamax, and furthermore cannot perform Dynamax, if for some reason a Pokemon with Dynamax should gain this Trait.

If a Dynamaxed Pokemon gains this Trait, their Dynamax ends.

"Considered to be Dynamaxed. Can order Max Moves."

The Pokemon is treated as though they are Dynamaxed. The Pokemon can order Max Moves.

"Fusion of [species] and [species], using the [item]"

The Pokemon is sent out through the use of an item-based Technique, Pokemon Fusion. See 11.3 "Pokemon Fusion".

"Has the command Forme Shift."

The Pokemon has access to the command Forme Shift, which is not typically available.

If the Pokemon uses Forme Shift to transform into a Forme that does not have Forme Shift, they're stuck in that Forme for the rest of the battle.

"Has [x] Hidden Abilities."

The Pokemon has multiple hidden abilities.

"Requires 1 Tech to send out, once per battle."

The Pokemon can't be sent out from the reserve, unless their trainer spends 1 Technique Control to do so.

The Pokemon can still be sent out from their trainer's bench without any such payment.

"Requires 1 Tech as tribute after each round; else, leaves."

At the end of each round, if the Pokemon is in play, the Pokemon spends 1 of their team's Technique Control.

If that Technique Control can't be spent, the Pokemon is removed from all zones and leaves the battle.

"Spends no Tech for their first Technique each battle."

The first time the Pokemon performs a Technique, including Combinations and Advanced Techniques; the Pokemon spends none of their team's Technique Control to do so.

"Tera Type is always [type]."

While the Pokemon has this species and Forme, the Pokemon has the specified Tera Type.

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[5.5]

Level and Experience

Every Pokemon has a Level from 0 to 4, which is a numeric representation of their strength and mastery in battle. Their Level determines which parameters, moves, and privileges the Pokemon has access to.

A Pokemon's movepool is determined by their Species, Forme, and their Level. Every Species, and many Formes, each have an associated movepool for each Level from 0 to 4. A Pokemon knows every move their Species and Forme can learn, from Level 0 up to their current Level.

Formes of a Species sometimes have their own movepools. Follow th

If the Pokemon's default Species and Forme has no movepool (e.g. Unown, Smeargle), then they will have a movepool-replacing Trait.
If the Pokemon's default Species and Forme has a movepool, but their current Forme does not (e.g. Mega Venusaur), they have the movepool of their default Species and Forme instead (e.g. Venusaur).
Pokemon with the same Species, but different default Formes (e.g. Electrode and Electrode-Hisui) should each have their own movepools.

Additionally, some species have one or more "Signature moves". A Pokemon knows the signature moves of their species, regardless of the Level of those moves.

Example: Mystical Fire is a commonly-learned Level 3 move. Pokemon whose species learn Mystical Fire will have to reach Level 3 to know the move. Mystical Fire is also the Signature move of Delphox, so any Delphox will know Mystical Fire even if they aren't Level 3 yet.

Level 2 and higher Pokemon have their Hidden Abilities, if any. They also become able to use Combinations, special actions made out of two different moves. See 11.2 "Combinations".

Level 3 Pokemon may have a stat-altering Nature. See 5.8 "Nature and Training".

Level 4 Pokemon select a type for Hidden Power. BBP offers Hidden Power even to Pokemon that don't normally learn it (as long as that Pokemon has a normal movepool). See 5.8 "Nature and Training".

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[5.6]

Stats, Ranks and Stages

In addition to receiving an amount of maximum HP, Pokemon have a number of other numeric parameters given to them by their species as well.

Attack (Atk) increases damage a Pokemon does with Physical attacks. It is typically added to the power of such attacks.
Defense (Def) mitigates damage a Pokemon takes from Physical attacks. It is typically subtracted from the power of such attacks.
Special Attack (SpA) increases damage a Pokemon does with Special attacks. It is typically added to the power of such attacks.
Special Defense (SpD) mitigates damage a Pokemon takes from Special attacks. It is typically subtracted from the power of such attacks.
Speed (Spe) is used to determine the order that Pokemon take action during a battle step. Unless otherwise stated, Pokemon with higher Speed act before Pokemon with lower Speed.
Size Class (SC) and Weight Class (WC) are used by various effects as a reference for comparison. They doesn't affect gameplay on their own. Instead, they become relevant when an effect mentions them.

Attack, Defense, Special Attack, and Special Defense are said to be the "four core stats". The four core stats and Speed are said to be the "five core stats". The four core stats are also referred to as Stat Ranks because of how they are represented as smaller numerals. Maximum HP and Speed are not ranks, instead they are simply numeric values.

When preparing new Pokemon for BBP, we convert their source-game base stats into a maximum HP stat, four core stat ranks, and a Speed stat.

:sv/cresceidon:

Let's use the 33rd Create-a-Pokemon, Cresceidon, as an example.

Cresceidon has the following source-game base stats:

80 HP

32 Attack

111 Defense

88 Special Attack

99 Special Defense

124 Speed

Speed in BBP is the same as the source-game base stat.

"Ranks" for Attack, Defense, Special Attack, and Special Defense are found by dividing the source-game base stat by 15, then rounding down and adding 1. For Cresceidon's core stats:

(32 / 15).floor + 1 = 3 Attack Rank

(111 / 15).floor + 1 = 8 Defense Rank

(88 / 15).floor + 1 = 6 Special Attack Rank

(99 / 15).floor + 1 = 7 Special Defense Rank

Cresceidon still has formidable defenses and workable Special Attack in BBP. These smaller numbers are easier for players to use in manual calculations.

For HP, we first find an "HP Rank", and then multiply the result by 5 and add 60:

(80 / 15).floor + 1 = 6 (temporary "rank")

(6 * 5) + 60 = 90 HP

This results in Creceidon's BBP statline:

90 HP

3 Attack

8 Defense

6 Special Attack

7 Special Defense

124 Speed

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Pokemon in BBP also have a Size Class and a Weight Class.

Cresceidon's Pokedex data states that they are 10 meters long, and that they weigh 999.9 Kg.

This chart has conversions for different weight brackets and different size brackets. For Size, Pokemon get different ranks based on their overall shape.

Cresceidon falls into Weight Class 12, the last one. Cresceidon's immense size would qualify as Size Class 7 in any shape, so that's what they get.

Rank	Weight (kg)	Size	Size (Serpents)	Size (Bipeds)	Size (Quadrupeds)	Size (Avians)
1	<10	<0.8	-	-	-	-
2	10 - 25	0.8 - 1.2	1.2 - 2	-	-	-
3	25.1 - 50	-	2.1 - 3.5	1.3 - 2	1.0 - 1.5	1.3 - 2
4	50.1 - 100	-	3.6 - 5	2.1 - 2.5	1.6 - 2.5	2.1 - 2.5
5	100.1 - 200	-	5.1 - 6.5	2.6 - 3.5	2.6 - 3	2.6 - 3.5
6	200.1 - 274.9	-	6.6 - 8	3.6 - 5	3.1 - 4.5	3.6 - 5
7	275 - 349.9	-	8.1+	5.1+	4.6+	5.1+
8	350 - 449.9	-	-	-	-	-
9	450 - 599.9	-	-	-	-	-
10	600 - 749.9	-	-	-	-	-
11	750 - 949.9	-	-	-	-	-
12	950kg+	-	-	-	-	-

Each Pokemon has seven stat stages as well, each represented by a numeric value. These correspond to the five core stats of the Pokemon, plus their Accuracy and their Evasion. Effects more often modify the Pokemon's stages, rather than their stats or ranks directly.

In the case of Accuracy and Evasion, there is no matching core stat or rank of the Pokemon to modify.

In addition, Pokemon have a critical stage, which is used to determine the probability that their attacks will deliver a critical hit.

All of a Pokemon's stages are 0 until an effect in the battle raises or lowers them. A stage is always an integer. In typical battle conditions, a Pokemon's five core stat stages can't be raised above +6 or lowered below -6, their Accuracy and Evasion stages can't be raised above +2 or lowered below -2, and their critical stage can't be raised above +3, or lowered below 0.

Each stage affects the Pokemon in different ways.

Attack stage and Special Attack stage are added to the damage of Physical or Special attacks that the Pokemon performs; respectively.
Defense stage and Special Defense stage are subtracted from the damage of Physical or Special attacks that the Pokemon is hit by, respectively.
- See 8.10 "Damage Calculation" for details on modifying the damage of an attack using the stages of the involved Pokemon.
Speed stage is applied as a multiplier or divisor to the Pokemon's Speed stat, depending on whether their stage is positive, negative, or neither.
- If a Pokemon's Speed stage is positive: Multiply their Speed by their Speed stage times 0.75, plus one. Round up.
- If a Pokemon's Speed stage is negative: Divide their Speed by their absolute Speed stage times 0.75, plus one. Round down.
Accuracy stage and Evasion stage are applied as a numerator or denominator to an action's Accuracy Check.
- See 8.7 "Accuracy Check" for details on this procedure.
Critical stage is referenced in a table of probabilities. The greater a Pokemon's critical stage, the greater the probability that their attacks will hit critically.
- See 8.8 "Critical Check" for the table of critical hit probabilities that correspond to each critical stage value.

See 7.6 "Pokemon Stages" for specifics regarding how stages change, when they change, and for how long they remain changed.

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[5.7]

Moves and Commands

Pokemon have a list of special named actions, called moves, that they can perform in battle. In addition, they may have access to both universal commands, and commands offered to them by an effect, granting them further options.

Some terms refer to certain large groups of moves and/or commands, including but not limited to the following:

Attacks include any action with a BAP. Other actions may change HP directly or indirectly, but only an attack can deliver a damaging "hit". See 8.7 "Accuracy Check and Hits" and 8.10 "Damage Calculation".

The universal commands available to all Pokemon are as follows:

Aim: Raises the user's Accuracy stage by two (2).
Chill: Restores some Energy to the user.
Cover: Take certain attacks in place of a smaller ally.
Hide: Redirect certain attacks to a larger ally.
Struggle: Deal an amount of typeless damage, but lose HP after.

Other commands, such as Forme Shift and Ball Reject, are also available to certain Pokemon or in certain venues.

Full info on these commands can be found in the Moves tab of the DAT for convenience, even though they are not moves.

Figure x.x: A template for a move in the DAT.

-a pokemon's movepool is derived from its species and its level.

-description of the process of creating a Pokemon's movepool for its level.

-movepool-altering effects

-movepool-replacing effects (just transform, i think? and rotom appliance switch, technically)

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[5.8]

Nature and Training

- nature, hidden power type, technique 5 selection

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[5.9]

Species and Formes

Each Pokemon is said to belong to a Species, from which they gain the vast majority of their relevant gameplay data. A Pokemon's original type, stats, abilities, traits, size, weight, signature moves, and movepool are each determined by their Species.

Some Pokemon have named additional Formes; alternate iterations of the same Species. Some Pokemon have the capacity to change from one Forme to another during battle, most typically due to the effect of an ability or trait.

[5.9a] Transforming
Effects that change a Pokemon's Species are said to "Transform" the Pokemon to the specified species. When an effect changes a Pokemon to a new Species, or to a new Forme within that Species (see 5.9b "Formes"), the Pokemon's prior Species and Forme are replaced with that new Species and/or Forme. As a result of Transformation, the Pokemon's orignal maximum HP, type, stats, abilities, traits, size, weight, signature moves, and movepool become that of the new Species and or Forme, for the duration specified for the Transformation.

If an effect Transforms a Pokemon to a Species without specifying a Forme, it transforms that Pokemon into the first default Forme of that Species. (See 5.9b "Formes")

After a Pokemon's Transformation's duration elapses, if no other Transformations are in effect on the Pokemon, their Species and Forme become their original Species and Forme. (Being the Species and Forme sent to the referee as their default, rather than the Species and Forme they had when they Transformed.) This is said to be "transforming back" to their default Species and Forme.

When a Pokemon Transforms into a Species and Forme using another Pokemon as reference, only the data of that other Pokemon's Species and Forme are used. Ownership of that Pokemon, arena or Facility effects, and other periphery are not referenced.

While a Pokemon's Species differs from their original Species, any moves they know that they did not originally know are considered to be Borrowed.

[5.9b] Formes
Many Pokemon Species are sub-divided into variants called "Formes". Each Forme within a Species has its own gameplay data in the "Pokemon" page of the Data Audit.

Much of the text of this rule refers to the "Formes" page of the Data Audit. It may be helpful to refer to that page while reading these rules.

As a reminder, some Formes that exist in the cartridge games, such as Mimikyu-Busted, don't exist in BBP.

A Pokemon can be sent into battle only in Formes specified to be "default" Formes.

For Pokemon belonging to a Species listed in the "Formes" page, any of their Formes listed in the left-most column are their default Formes, and the first time they are sent into battle may be as any such Forme. They may not be sent into battle in a Forme other than those listed in this column.
For Pokemon belonging to a Species not listed in the "Formes" page, their original Forme is their default Forme, and they may be sent into battle only in that Forme. This applies both to species without variants (e.g. only one Forme exists), and to Species whose Forme is selected when they are claimed (such as Vulpix-Alola).

When an effect instructs a Pokemon to change to a specific named Forme, that Pokemon will do so only if its species has such a Forme. If that Pokemon has such a Forme, it will change even if its Species isn't found on the "Formes" page.

Example: Liz' Alakazam has managed to obtain the ability Forecast from an opponent's Castform, which may state, "When the Weather changes: If the user has a Forme that matches the name of the Weather (Sun, Rain, or Hail), the user transforms to that Forme". When the weather changes to Rain, Liz' Alakazam won't change Forme, as there is no Alakazam-Rain Forme to change to.

Forecast may also state, "When the user transforms from one Forme to another: Place an Atmosphere marker on the user until they faint." When Alakazam Mega Evolves to Mega Alakazam, this ability will still trigger, even though the Forme change Alakazam performed wasn't one prescribed by Forecast.

Forme changes may alter the Pokemon's stats, typing, abilities, and even movepool. It is a type of Transforming.

Regardless of any changes in Forme a Pokemon undergoes during a battle, the Pokemon will always exist outside of battle in the Forme it was last claimed as.

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[5.10]

Unique Pokemon

Certain specific Pokemon have special movepool handling or other special traits, such as being able to use moves they don't know under certain conditions.

Some of the Pokemon listed in this section are exempted from the standard movepool rules entirely. Pokemon with a Trait that removes their standard movepool can't be given borrowed moves, except as outlined in their own Trait.

Example: In the source games, Smeargle learns a handful of moves via Event, such as Flamethrower. However, in BBP, Smeargle will have to Sketch Flamethrower if their trainer wishes to have the move.

[5.10a] Ditto
Instead of a traditional movepool, Ditto learns only Transform. Ditto can't learn other moves.

:mew:

[5.10b] Mew
Selects a set of moves from a massive movepool. Can't Combo.

When sending Mew to a referee (or when including Mew in your team as a player-referee), Mew's trainer will exclude moves from each Level, until they have fifteen or less moves of each Level.

Mew knows each move declared for them that battle, and no others. Mew can't attempt or execute combinations.

Opponents who import Mew's movepool (via Transform, Metronome, and so on) import the selected movepool of the Mew they're referencing.

When submitting Mew to a referee, insert a line break every five (5) remaining moves or use the Ordered List tool, to show your referee that Mew's selected movepool is compliant.

[5.10c] Unown:
Pays for moves using Letters drawn at random.

Unown completely lacks a movepool. However, Unown may use any traditional move in the entire game... Semi-randomly.

[ Letter Slots ]
Unown has 26 Letter Slots, numbered in order "A-1" to "Z-26". The number is to help with rolling dice.

At Level 0 and 1, Unown can know one move in each Letter Slot, that starts with that letter. This looks like:

A-1: Aromatherapy
B-2: Baneful Bunker
[ ...and so on ]

At Level 2 or higher, Unown can know two such moves in each slot, like so:

A-1: Anchor Shot / Attract
B-2: Boomburst / Bide
[ ...and so on ]

When claiming Unown, or when Leveling Up Unown, their trainer may fill these Letter Slots with any standard move of Unown's Level or below. Players may also re-select Unown's moves for a nominal fee in the Day Care shop, in the Prize Claim thread.

The numbers are required, so that referees may roll random Letters more easily.

[ Letters ]
Unown stocks a resource called Letters, and spends these Letters to execute moves. Unown starts each battle with the Letters "U", "N", "O", "W" and "N" stocked, and with no other stocked Letters.

Unown has a Stock Size equal to six plus their Level. (6 + Level) This is how many Letters Unown is allowed to Stock.

At the start of battle, and at the end of each round: Unown stocks random Letters, with equal odds, until their Stock Size is full. Unown can stock duplicate Letters.

Moves each cost Unown the stocked Letter that their name start with, in addition to their other costs. Combos instead cost the Letter that each component move's name starts with. Commands don't cost Unown any Letters.

Unown can't receive intent to use moves or Combos that they lack the Letters to perform. (This is important for opponents' substitutions.)

[5.10d] Smeargle:
Permanently learns moves via Sketch.

Instead of a traditional movepool, Smeargle learns only Sketch. However, with time and training, Smeargle can learn permanently learn moves from its allies and its opponents!

Upon adopting or Leveling up Smeargle, their trainer may replace any number of that Smeargle's Sketched moves with the same number of moves known by Pokemon that trainer own, of appropriate move Levels.

When claiming prizes for a battle in which their Smeargle has Painted one or more standard moves with Sketch, a player may choose to have that Smeargle permanently learn one or more of the borrowed moves, so long as the Level of those moves does not exceed Smeargle's own. (This works even if the move was borrowed from an NPC, except from Raid Bosses.)

In addition the move Sketch itself, Smeargle may learn up to 10 moves by "Sketching" them in this way, plus 10 more for each Level, to a maximum of 50 Sketched moves for a Level 4 Smeargle (and thus, 51 total moves). Lastly, Smeargle can't know more than 10 Sketched moves per level.

When claiming a new Smeargle or a Level-Up for Smeargle, a player may choose to have that Smeargle permanently learn new moves from other Pokemon in that trainer's profile or in that prize claim, up to the limitation of 10 Sketched moves per move Level.

Smeargle's Sketched moves can be discarded in the Prize Tower for no cost, though you must still post a claim to discard them.

Lastly, Smeargle can be taught new moves as if they were Leveling Up, for a cost. See the Prize Tower's shop post for more details.

[5.10e] Nincada, Ninjask, and Shedinja:
Evolves into two Pokemon at once.

When a trainer evolves their Nincada, they may find themselves short a Poke Ball. Later on, they may find themselves in possession of a spectral husk resembling their evolved Pokemon.

When Nincada evolves, their trainer will receive both a Ninjask and a Shedinja at once. The trainer may claim either or both of these evolved Pokemon at no additional cost.

For determining Shedinja's movepool, it is treated as an evolution of Ninjask.

[5.10f] Zygarde
Can be sent out as Zygarde-10% or Zygarde-50%.

Zygarde has two default Formes:

Zygarde-10 ("10% Completion") is the faster, frailer default Forme.
Zygarde ("50% Completion", sometimes stylized Zygarde-50) is a stronger, bulkier Forme.

Zygarde also has one non-default Forme:

Zygarde-Complete is a powerhouse Forme with massive HP and high stats elsewhere.

Zygarde can be sent out in either of their "default" :zygarde-10:

Formes: 10% or :zygarde:

50%. They can't be sent out in their Complete Forme; instead, their Complete Forme is accessible via Power Construct.

[5.10g] Silvally:
Changes Type based on equipped Memory item.

After raising a temperamental and pained Type: Null and earning their trust, a trainer is rewarded with the unique and versatile Silvally. However, without the appropriate data disks, Silvally's signature ability RKS System is functionally useless.

The "Memory" series of held items each alter the type of any Silvally that hold them, so long as that holder doesn't lose the RKS System ability. In addition, Silvally's signature move "Multi-Attack" changes to match its user's first type, allowing Silvally to hit hard with the typing they are equipped with. Furthermore, "Memory" items each have an effect that returns them to the backpack when their holder leaves play.

When a player obtains their first Silvally (via purchase, evolution, or prizing), that player receives their choice of up to three (0-3) of following items at no cost:

For this reward, the same item can't be chosen more than once.

Bug Memory
Dark Memory
Dragon Memory
Electric Memory
Fairy Memory
Fire Memory
Fighting Memory
Flying Memory
Ghost Memory
Grass Memory
Ground Memory
Ice Memory
Poison Memory
Psychic Memory
Rock Memory
Steel Memory
Water Memory

The remaining "Memory" items are available in the Prize Tower's Item Shop as normal.

[5.10h] Revavroom:
Can switch to different Torque moves each round.

This Pokemon is a favorite of a particular band of machine-building, show-stopping miscreants. As fruit of their labor, they've invented several bespoke moves designed for this Pokemon.

Revavroom knows the moves Wicked Torque, Blazing Torque, Noxious Torque, Magical Torque, and Combat Torque. However, once Revavroom has attempted a "Torque" move, any differently-named "Torque" moves that it attempts will fail until Revavroom leaves play. When Revavroom subsuquently returns to play, they will likewise get to choose one Torque move of their choice.

[5.10i] Necturine and Necturna:
Permanently learns any single extra move via Sketch.

This Pokemon family learns a single instance of Sketch and a single Sketched move at a time.

As Smeargle above, a Necturine or Necturna may know Sketch and a single move of their choice of their own level or below, following the mechanics laid out for Smeargle above.

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LouisCyphre · Oct 19, 2022

6. Items

[6.1]

Permanent Inventory and the Backpack

trainers can own an essentially unlimited of items in their profile, but they can't bring all of them to battle. the number of items a trainer may bring to a battle is limited by a match rule known as the Backpack.

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[6.2]

Held Item Effects

Most items that are relevant in a battle are held items, intended to be equipped to a Pokemon. They provide a variety of effects for customizing the capabilities of Pokemon for different situations.

The effects of held items will reference the Pokemon holding them as the item holder. If an effect refers to a Pokemon who consumed an item, it will reference them as the item's consumer.

Effects of a held item that refer to a holder do nothing while no Pokemon holds the item. (References to Pokemon such as "the previous holder" work as long as there was a previous holder, of course.)

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[6.3]

Interacting with Items

A variety of terms are used to interact with items, and to move them around the battle.

Destroy (like Incinerate): Remove the item from its holder and from the battle.
- Consume (like Pluck): Destroy the item; certain effects of that item (that trigger "On consume:") will trigger.
Drop (like Fling): Move the item from its holder to the dropped pile.
Equip (like equipping your send-out): Move an item from its current location to the equipped Pokemon.
Claim (like Pickup): Move an item from the dropped pile (but not anywhere else) to the claiming Pokemon.
Transfer (like Bestow): Move the item from the transferring Pokemon to the designated Pokemon.
- Steal (like Thief): Transfer the item to the stealing Pokemon.
Return (like a Memoryitem): Move the item to its owner's backpack.
- Restore (like Recycle): Return the item to its previous holder if possible, or to its owner otherwise; even if it was destroyed.

Some items are consumable. Such items have one (1) usage, said to be a "charge" of the item, by default, but some items may have more. Items whose charges are fully depleted are said to be fully consumed.

When an item is consumed, one of its charges are depleted. Most items that have consumable charges have effects "On consume", or when one or more charges are consumed. Fully consumed items are lost from the battle and are removed from their holder or from the backpack containing, but are not lost from their owner's permanent inventory.

Consumable held items (such as Berries or Herbs) usually feature an effect that causes a specified Pokemon to consume them. The Pokemon that consumes a charge of the item is said to be that item's "consumer" until another Pokemon consumes that item.

Some items refer to both their holders and to their consumers. these can be the same Pokemon or different Pokemon, depending on the specifics of their consumption.

Some effects instruct one Pokemon to consume another Pokemon's held item. The pokemon instructed to do the consuming is the item's consumer in this instance.

[6.3a] Immutable Held Items

Some items are immutable. They can't be moved from their original holders; except their own effects, effects that specifically mention immutable items, or effects mention that item or item group.

Example: A Water Memory equipped to a Silvally is immutable. It wouldn't be destroyed by an instruction to "destroy all items held by Pokemon in play." It would be destroyed by instructions to: "destroy all items, including immutable items", "destroy Silvally's Water Memory", or "destroy all Memories held by Pokemon in play."

The immutable items are as follows:

Mega Stones, including Red Orb and Blue Orb, when held by a Pokemon whose species they mention.
Z-Crystals.
Magna's Mail.
Memories when held by Silvally.
Adamant Orb or Adamant Crystal when held by any Dialga.
Lustrous Orb or Lustrous Globe when held by any Palkia.
Griseous Orb when held by any Giratina.
Vile Vial when held by any Venomicon.
Rusted Sword when held by any Zacian.
Rusted Shield when held by any Zamazenta.

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[6.4]

Trainer Items

[6.4a] Key Items
Some trainer Items are said to be "Key Items". They exist in a trainer's permanent inventory, and may have influence on battles from there, bypassing the backpack completely.

- example: reveal glass, gracidea, pikachu costumes.

Some Key Items have no effect at all, or have an effect that applies only when they are claimed. These are sometimes called "trophy items".

[6.4b] Medicines
Some trainer items are Medicines. Medicines typically take space in the trainer's backpack, and they may only be included in backpacks for battles that allow Medicine to be sent. The Pokemon that the Medicine is used on are said to be the medicine's "recipient".

By default, only a trainer's own Pokemon may be the recipient of that trainer's medicine; most medicines can't be used even on an ally trainer's Pokemon.

Some medicines have effects that dictate which Pokemon, and whose, may be the medicine's recipient.

For rules on ordering and processing the use of Medicines, see 9.7 "Using Items in Battle".

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LouisCyphre · Oct 19, 2022

7. Changes in Status

[7.1]

Duration

Every temporary change in the game state; including every Condition, every Marker, and every stage change, has a duration. Typically, a duration is a counter, that tracks passing time like a timer. Some durations are indefinite until a specified criteria is met, instead.

For x units: The duration is a numeric counter, counting a unit of time, both determined by the effect that generated the duration. The duration counts down, or "elapses", by one (1), every time the specified unit of time ends.
- Example: A condition is created "For three (3) of the user's turns." The duration's counter is 3 and the duration's unit is the user's turns. At the end of each of the user's turns, the duration's counter is ticked down ("elapsed") by 1. When the duration is ticked to 0, it ends.
For the next x units: As above, except that the duration doesn't elapse during this unit.
- This is equivalent to stating that a duration lasts "until x units have ended, without counting this one."
- The duration won't elapse during the unit it's created in, but will elapse in every suitable unit afterwards.
- The duration still starts immediately. This doesn't mean the duration "starts later".
- Example: Most commonly, this phrasing is used in the form of, "for a Pokemon's next x turns". If a Pokemon raises their Attack stage on their own turn, for "their next three turns", then the current turn isn't counted. The Attack stage duration will elapse at the end of the user's third turn after the current turn.
Until a specified event occurs: The duration has no numeric counter. Instead, it expires when the specified event, said to be its "ending event", occurs.
- Example: A duration of a condition, that lasts "until the subject Faints", will expire at the subject's moment of Fainting. So long as the subject doesn't Faint, that condition's duration will continue indefinitely. That duration won't be said to "elapse" (count down) at any point.

A duration that elapses to 0 or lower (if it is numeric), or whose ending event occurs (if it is event-based), is said to "expire" and to be "expired".

When the duration of a Condition or Marker expires, it is discarded from the game.

When the duration of a Pokemon's stage expires, that stage is reset to 0.

When comparing durations that use differing units (such as rounds and steps); the duration that would end later, if every round within those durations contained the full number of steps specified in the match rules, is determined to be the longer duration.

When a Pokemon gains a condition or other change, with a duration that would be measured in another Pokemon's turns (such as if a condition is transferred or copied); instead that duration is now measured in the recipient's turns.

[7.1a] Modifying Durations
Some effects can increase or decrease a duration, by acting upon it numerically. (Adding, subtracting, halving, etc.) Only durations expressed in units can be modified mathematically. Other durations can only be replaced with new durations.

Example: Doubling a 2-round duration makes it a 4-round duration.

Example: Halving a duration that lasts "until the user leaves play" doesn't do anything.

Effects that modify a numeric duration do so in the units that the duration was created with, or not at all.

Example: Increasing a 3-step duration "by 2 rounds" doesn't do anything.

When a duration is increased, the moment of that duration's expiry is moved to the timing that much later in the battle.

When a duration is decreased, the moment of that duration's expiry is moved to an earlier timing in the battle. If that new time of expiry is in the past, the duration simply elapses at the present moment that it was decreased. (Past events aren't "rewritten" as if the duration ended sooner.)

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[7.2]

Conditions

Unlike other game pieces, which stand alone on their own, Conditions are temporary game objects that exist "on" other game objects. That host object said to be the "subject" of the Condition, and is said to be "subject to" that Condition.

Markers are like Conditions in many ways, so much of the rest of this rule applies to them as well. For differences, see 7.5 "Markers".

At the start of battle, no Conditions exist in play. Instead, effects will create them as they are needed in order to track changes in the game state, and especially to modify other existing game objects. Like other game pieces, Conditions can carry effect text that modifies the game state in a variety of ways.

Instructions to "grant" or "inflict" a Condition both mean to create a Condition on a Pokemon. "Grant" is a benign synonym, and "inflict" is a hostile synonym. Effects can refer to "When a Condition is inflicted" to exclude the benign "grant", and vice-versa.

Effects may state to "transfer" a Condition. This term grants or inflicts that existing instance of the Condition to the new Pokemon if possible, moving it off of its current subject if successful.

If a condition would be created on or transferred to a host object that is "unaffected" by either the Condition itself or by the source of the creating effect; instead, that Condition isn't created or transferred.

The game recognizes the following types of Condition:

Status Condition: The most common type of condition, placed on Pokemon to track how different moves and abilities have affected them.
- Fainting: A particularly important condition managed mainly by the game rules. However, certain effects are capable of inflicting Fainting directly.
- Major Status: A collective name for certain specific, named Status Conditions. Major Status conditions persist when the Pokemon leaves play unless an effect says otherwise.
- Minor Status: A collective term for any status conditions that aren't Major Status. This includes both Named minor status conditions and Unique status conditions, detailed below. These status conditions will end when their subject Pokemon leaves play unless an effect says otherwise.
Field Condition: This type of condition is placed on a team, rather than on a specific Pokemon. These conditions' effects will apply to "the affected team" as well as "members of the affected team," most frequently. These conditions last until their durations elapse or they are removed, even as Pokemon on the affected team leave and enter play.
- Entry Hazards: This is a group name for a series of field conditions that have harmful triggered effects that occur when a member of the affected team enters play. Effects often refer to "hazards" collectively when removing, transferring, or counting these conditions.
- Screens: This is a group name for a series of field conditions that mitigate damage that would be dealt to the affected team or protect the affected team from weakening effects. Effects often refer to "screens" collectively when removing, transferring, or counting these conditions.
Battle Condition: This type of condition is placed on the arena itself, and can be thought of as being "battle-wide" or "global". Rather than referring to Pokemon using special terms, these conditions typically refer to all Pokemon in play, or to all Pokemon meeting a particular criteria such as typing.
- Weather and Terrain: These are two groups of battle conditions that are typically mutually exclusive with other members of their own groups. There is no rule forbidding the presence of multiple Weather conditions or Terrain conditions; instead, most effects that generate Weather will first discard any Weather in play, and likewise for effects that generate Terrain.

Conditions and Markers placed on Pokemon are discarded when that Pokemon leaves play, unless it is a Fundamental Condition (such as Fainting) or a Major Status (such as Burn), or unless it is stated to "persist after the subject leaves play". (See 2.9 Post-Event Checks.)

While some effects create conditions or markers that last "until the subject leaves play", this is merely for clarification. The absence of this text doesn't cause a status to last after leaving play.

Example: An effect may create a condition "on the user for their next two (2) turns, and on the defender until they leave play." The user's copy of the condition would also be discarded if the user leaves play, even though this effect doesn't specify such.

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[7.3]

Named and Unique Conditions

When the term "Named" conditions or markers is used, it refers to the list of "prefabricated" conditions and markers available for review in the Data Audit, on the "Named Conditions" page. These lists include a non-exhaustive list of the most common conditions, that are referenced by a multitude of effects throughout the game.

When an effect creates a named condition on a game object, the condition created is a copy of the object in the Data Audit. Thereafter, any changes made to that condition only affect that copy, and have no bearing on any other copies. It's common for effects to create a named condition and then modify it right away, such as by changing the condition's name or by adding more effect text to it.

Example: The move Doom Desire may state, "Create a Delayed Attack named 'Doom Desire' on the defender's team." The effect creates a copy of the "Delayed Attack" condition from the Data Audit, and then replace that copy's name with "Doom Desire" before placing the condition on the defender's team.

The move Future Sight may state, "Creates a Delayed Attack named 'Future Sight' on the defender's team." This effect will work even if Doom Desire was used previously. The condition created by Future Sight won't be renamed "Doom Desire" by the previous modifying effect. Instead, the copy created by the effect of Future Sight will start fresh.

When the term "Unique" condition or marker is used, it refers to an effect that is defined by the effect that creates it. An effect that creates a unique condition will assign it an object to be placed on, a duration or expiry condition, and one or more lines of effect text. Some effects that create unique conditions will name those conditions; otherwise, the unique condition is named after the object whose effect created the condition.

Example: The move Taunt may state the following:

"Inflict a unique status on the defender for their next three (3) turns, with the following effects:

● The subject can't receive orders to use actions with no BAP.

● The subject will fail to execute actions with no BAP, except for triggered actions."

The condition created by the effect will be placed on the defender of the move. The condition will last until three of the defender's turns have ended; and the condition will have the two effects assigned to its text upon creation. Lastly, since it wasn't named as it was created, and the effect that created it originated from the move Taunt, the condition will be named Taunt.

When issuing substitutions, their State Clauses can check for the presence or absence of a condition on a Pokemon, on a team, or on the battle; including checking for conditions that don't yet exist.

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[7.4]

Condition Stack Limits

Each Condition has a "Stack Limit", or a maximum number of copies a Pokemon or zone (the "subject") is allowed to have of that Condition.

A Condition's Stack Limit on a subject is one (1) by default.

Effects can raise or lower the Stack Limit for the same Condition on different subjects. If multiple effects each state different Stack Limits for the same Condition on the same subject, the highest applies.

If a Condition would be created on a subject in excess of the Stack Limit, instead, it isn't.

If a Condition has a Stack Limit of zero or less on a Pokemon, that Pokemon is considered to be Unaffected by that Condition. (For effects that care about whether a Pokemon is unaffected, if it should ever come up.)

The names (in plural) of Conditions are used to determine "sameness". Some conditions are given multiple names by the effect that creates them. Conditions that share some but not all of their names don't count towards the same Stack Limit.

Example: The move Whirlpool may state, "Inflict Partial Trapping that is also named 'Whirlpool' on the defender." The move Fire Spin may state, "Inflict Partial Trapping that is also named 'Fire Spin' on the defender." Isaac's Volkraken uses both Whirlpool and Fire Spin on Liz' Donphan.

After both attacks, Donphan has both a condition named "Partial Trapping" and "Whirlpool", and a condition named "Partial Trapping" and "Fire Spin". Even though both status conditions are Partial Trapping, they share only some of their names, so both conditions can be on Donphan at the same time.

Liz orders her Donphan to use Rapid Spin, which may state in part, "Discard all Partial Trapping from the user." Even though the two status conditions on Donphan have other names too, they are both named "Partial Trapping", and thus, the effect of Rapid Spin discards both such conditions from Donphan upon use.

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[7.5]

Notating Objects

Game objects in BBP can sometimes instruction to "note" text or integer information on them; meaning to write the information alongside the object in the battle status.

Noted values can be specific references to other objects or types of objects ("note a Move on this"), arbitrary numbers ("this object has a value named Example that starts at"), a true/false state ("starts the battle with their Illusion unbroken"), or any other minor piece of information that is volatile and needs tracking.

Notes on objects are necessarily written with their "host" object in the battle status. Typical formatting for a note involves parenthesis or a colon, to clearly segment the note from its host object, but also clearly associate the note with its host object.

Example: The ability Flash Fire may state, "This ability starts at zero Heat." This indicates that Flash Fire has a noted number, named Heat, that is tracked alongside the ability. The ability and its note would be rendered "Flash Fire (0 Heat)" or "Flash Fire: 0" when reporting the battle status in a reffing.

Example: The move Disable may state, "Inflict Sealed on the defender, specifying the declared move." This indicates that the Sealed condition has a noted reference to a specific move. The condition and its note would be rendered "Sealed (Flamethrower)", "Sealed: Flamethrower", or less preferably, "Flamethrower Sealed" when reporting the battle status in a reffing.

Notes are transferred from zone to zone and from controller to controller alongside their host object. An item with a note will still have that note, even if the item is stolen by another Pokemon.

Notes are typically not copied when an object is copied. The copy will be "fresh", and any notes it may gain are its own. An instruction will specify to copy an object "with its notes" in order to copy notes.

[7.5] Markers

Separate from Conditions are another type of game piece placed "on" other game objects, known as Markers. These can be thought of as smaller pieces, counters, or tokens, used to track certain quantities of other objects.

Markers operate mostly how Conditions do; in that they're game objects that can carry effect text, that must be placed "on" another game object to continue existing. However, they're crucially different in the following ways:

Multiples are permitted. Unlike Conditions, any number of the same Marker can be placed on a game object.
Markers can be placed on more objects. Conditions can only be placed on the object corresponding with their type—status conditions placed on Pokemon, field conditions placed on teams, and so on. Markers can be placed with less restriction, and they are even transfered from one object type to another by certain effects.
They can't be subbed for. Unlike asking about Conditions; a substitution can't ask about the presence, absence, or quantity of markers or a specific type of marker. (Generally, if an effect is tracked using a Marker rather than a Condition, it's for this reason.)

Markers are mainly used to track "lesser" changes that don't need a whole Condition; and to track stacks of things.

Example: The status condition Poison might create and place markers called "Poison markers" on the Poison condition. Poison might then refer to the number of Poison markers placed on it, to determine the intensity of one of its effects.

Some text shorthands exist when creating certain Conditions, specifying that the condition should be created "with x markers". The condition itself will specify the meaning of this shorthand. Typically, it can be assumed that the condition is created alongside a specified type and quantity of Markers. For details, see the text of the relevant condition.

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[7.6]

Pokemon Stages

As stated before, Pokemon have a set of numeric values called stages that represent changes to their battle performance. Each Pokemon has a stage for each of their five core stats, as well as for their Accuracy, their Evasion, and their critical hit chance. Effects can change the stages of a Pokemon in a variety of ways.

[7.6a] Stage-Changing Instructions
Most commonly, an effect will instruct players to raise or lower a given stage or stages, for a given duration. The Pokemon's stage will be raised or lowered by specified amount, for the specified duration.

A stage that has no duration, that is raised or lowered by an effect, will simply have the effect's stated duration.

A stage that already has a duration, that is raised, lowered, or set by an effect, will keep only one of the durations. Which duration is kept is dependent on the phrasing of the stage-changing effect:

If the effect states "without extension", the oldest duration is kept and newer duration is discarded.
If the effect states "overwriting duration", the effect's duration is kept and the older duration is discarded.
If the effect doesn't specify, the longer duration is kept.
- See 7.1 "Durations" for rules on comparing the length of any durations measured in differing units.

When a stage's duration expires, that stage resets to 0. Furthermore, when a stage is raised, lowered, or reset to 0, that stage's duration is discarded.

Example: An effect may state, "Raise the user's Attack stage by two (2) for their next three (3) turns". If the user's Attack stage is currently 0, this attack will raise it to +2, with a duration of three turns. If it is the user's turn when this stage is changed, it won't "count" this turn, as it counts only the "next three" turns.

Another effect may state, "Raise an ally's Attack and Defense stages by one (1) each, for that ally's next five (5) turns." If this effect is applied to the above Pokemon, whose Attack stage is +2 for three turns and whose Defense stage is +0, their Attack stage will be raised to +3 and their Defense stage will be raised to +1. Their Defense stage will simply have a duration of five turns. Their Attack stage will have their prior duration discarded, and replaced with the new, longer duration of five turns as well.

Yet another effect may state, "Lower each opponent's Attack stage by one (1) for their next six turns, without extension." If this effect is also applied to the above Pokemon, whose Attack stage is +3 for five turns, the effect will lower their Attack stage back to +2. Because the effect changes the stage "without extension" and the stage already has a duration, the old duration is kept and the new duration is discarded, regardless of which is longer.

If an instruction to change a stage is replaced with an instructions to raise another stage multiple stages, without specifying the amount to change the stage, the original amount of change is used. Furthermore, of such a replacement results in an instruction to raise a stage multiple times, do so.

Example: Madeleine's Furret is under an effect that may state, "If an effect would raise the user's Accuracy stage; instead, that effect raises the user's Attack and Accuracy stages." Madeleine orders her Furret to use Coil, which may state, "Raise the user's Attack, Defense, and Accuracy stages by one (1)." Due to the replacement, this effect of coil would become, "Raise the user's Attack, Defense, Accuracy, and Attack stages by one (1) each." Furret's Attack stage would be raised twice by this modified effect.

[7.6b] Stat Stage Conversion
Some effects may instruct that an existing stat stage, or an incoming stat stage change, should be "converted" into a different stage, a different sign (positive, negative, or opposite), or both.

When converting a stage from one sign to another, take the original stage's unsigned value and give it the requested sign: "+", "-", or "the opposite sign".

Example: The action Topsy-Turvy may state, "Convert each of the defender's stat stages to the opposite sign." If the defender has an Attack stage of +2 and a Defense stage of -3 before Topsy-Turvy is used on them; afterwards, they will have an Attack stage of -2, and a Defense stage of +3. The remaining duration of each of these stages remain unchanged.

{ example using contrary }

When converting an existing stat stage to another stat stage, increase or decrease the destination stage by the value of the origin stage; then, set the destination stage's duration to the longer of its own duration or the origin stage's duration; then, reset the origin stage to 0.

- example using weak armor

{ when converting an existing stat stage to another stat stage with a specific sign ("convert your defense stage into positive attack stage") do the above, but whether you add to the destination stage or subtract from it is determined by the declared sign, rather than the sign of the origin stage. (you are adding or subtracting the origin stage's absolute value.) }

{ when converting an incoming stat stage change to another stat stage, use critical thinking. }

{when converting an incoming stat stage to a specified sign, figure it out. }

[7.6c] Ongoing Stage Changes
Some ongoing effects may affect stages only while their conditions are met. While their conditions are met, the stage is raised by, lowered by, or set to the value specified value, and other effects modify the stage as normal.

These ongoing effects typically have no interaction with the duration of the stage. A stage can reach a very high or low value as a result of these effects, while having no duration at all.

Example: An effect of a held item may state, "Raise the holder's Attack stage by two (2)". If a Pokemon comes to hold two of these items, their Attack stage will be +4 with no duration.

Another effect may stage, "Lower the defender's Attack stage by three (3) for their next two (2) turns". This effect would lower the above Pokemon's Attack stage to +1 with a duration of two of that Pokemon's turns.

If the above Pokemon was made to drop one of their held items, their Attack stage would become -1 with a duration of two of their turns.

When the duration expires, the Pokemon's stage would be reset to 0. When that Pokemon's Attack stage is checked again, it will be +2 as a result of their held item.

[7.6d] Stage Maximums and Minimums
If a stage would be raised beyond its maximum, it is raised to its maximum instead. If a stage would be lowered below its minimum, it is lowered to its minimum instead.

If an effect would raise a stage that is already at its maximum, or lower a stage that is already at its minimum, the stage doesn't change instead. However, such an effect may still change the duration of the stage.

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LouisCyphre · Oct 19, 2022

8. Performing An Action
{ In every full-length battle, dozens of actions are performed by the battling Pokemon. }

[8.1]

Steps of Performing an Action

These steps are followed in sequence every time any Pokemon attempts any action, whether that action is their Turn Action or is a Triggered Action.

8.2 Action Modification:

Effects that modify the properties of the action are applied.

8.3 Legality Checks

A collective name for the following sequential checks:

8.3a Action Legality Check:

If the Pokemon is restricted from using the action or that type of action, that action fails.

8.3b Cost Check:

If the action has alternative costs besides Energy, it may require that those costs be paid or the move fails. Otherwise, it is attempted.

8.3c Target Legality Check:

If the action has possible legal targets, but no targets are specified, then a default target or set of targets are assumed. If the action has no legal targets, that action is attempted but fails. Otherwise, it is executed.

Once an action is successfully attempted, the following steps are repeated for each target (said to be "the defender") of that action, one target at a time (See r8.4 "The User-Defender Loop", below).

8.5 Effectiveness Tally:

The defender's weaknesses, resistances, and immunities are counted up. This matters primarily for attacks, though some other actions reference the defender's type effectiveness as well.

8.6 Validity Check:

Check for properties that prevent the action from affecting the defender. (Usually, an ability or a typing immunity.)

8.7 Accuracy Check:

A random roll is made against the action's calculated accuracy, to see if it can hit or affect the defender.

8.8 Critical Check:

If the action is an attack that doesn't deal fixed damage; one or more random rolls are made against the action's chance to hit critically.

8.9 Execution Effects

Effects of the action that don't specify a condition are followed once each, in sequence. (Such as lowering stat stages.)

8.10 Damage Calculation:

If the action is an attack, and it is able to hit the defender, it delivers one or more hits (instances of attack damage) based on the stats of the Pokemon and any relevant effects.

8.11 Defender Cleanup:

The user stops acting against the current defender. If there's any remaining targets, the user starts acting against the next one. (In the trainer-specified order, if any, or in a default order described within.)

After an action has been performed against each of the action's targets, one final step is performed:

8.12 Action Cleanup:

The user is no longer performing, or attacking with, the action. Any effects that trigger "after executing" the action, do so.

To attempt an action as their Turn Action, a Pokemon must have received an order to perform that action. Some effects will prevent Pokemon from receiving certain kinds of orders entirely. When a Pokemon is to take their Turn Action and they have no order, they attempt Struggle as their Turn Action.

See 9.1 "Issuing Orders" for more details on how to give Pokemon orders, and what information an order contains.

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[8.2]

Action Modification

Some effects alter an action as it is being performed. Most commonly, effects will give damaging attacks a power bonus or power penalty. However, a large variety of action-modifying effects exist; including but not limited to effects that alter an action's types, base power, energy cost, or even change what effects the action itself has.

Some effects can grant an action Power Bonuses or Power Penalties if the action is an attack. This is a modifier that is placed on that action for as long as that action is being performed.

Power Bonuses or Penalties of zero (0) or less can't be granted. (They don't "stick".)

Actions performed by Pokemon are each a distinct instance of that action. Modifications made to that instance of that action are local, and do not modify earlier or later instances of the same action. If an effect modifies all actions of a type, it will do so to each instance of that action, as that instance is performed.

Example: Both Liz' Mienshao and Tsareena are ordered to use High Jump Kick in the same step. Mienshao is faster and has the ability Reckless, which may state, "When the user attacks with a move that can deal recoil or crash damage to the user: Grant that attack two (2) bonus power." When Mienshao performs High Jump Kick, the attack will have bonus power. When Tsareena performs High Jump Kick afterwards, it will not have the same bonus power. Mienshao's ability modified only their own instance of the move; not the move itself.

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[8.3]

Legality Checks

Before an action can be performed by a Pokemon, checks must be made to ensure that that Pokemon is able to perform the action, as well as that the action has a target to influence.

An effect can cause a Pokemon to "freely execute" an action. Freely-executed actions are executed regardless of the action's legality, and the user pays no costs for that action.

[8.3a] Action Legality Check
First, a check is made to determine if the Pokemon is allowed to attempt that action. Some effects will instruct a Pokemon to "call" and attempt an action. Only certain legality checks apply to called actions.

Some actions specify that they are "readied" prior to their user's turn, and specify when the user "readies" that action. If a Pokemon would ready an action they can't legally attempt (at the time they would ready the action), they don't instead. Then, if a Pokemon would attempt an action that must be readied, and they have not readied to use actions with that name this step, they fail to attempt that action.

Some actions specify that they are "charged" prior to their user's turn. This is a form of readying that can be cancelled by specific effects. In all other ways, charging is a subset of readying. If a Pokemon would attempt a move that must be charged, and they have not charged for actions of that name this step or their charge was cancelled, they fail to attempt that action.

A Pokemon may not legally attempt a move from outside of their movepool, or a move whose level exceeds their own; except if that action is called.

A Pokemon may not legally attempt a command, except for the universal commands, unless an effect (typically that of an ability, trait, held item, or arena) grants them access to that command.

Effects that would forbid a triggered action only do so if they mention triggered actions specifically.

An action that passes its action legality check is attempted.

[8.3b] Cost Check
Second, for each cost of the action, the user attempts to play those costs.

Combo Token Check:
- If the action is a combination (See 9.4 "Combination Attacks"), and the user has no Combo Token to pay, the action fails.
- If the Combo Token Check fails, deduct the energy cost of the combination's components from their Energy. (Not the full cost of the combo.)
Energy Check:
- If the action is not an attack, or if it is a combination (attack or otherwise), and the user has less Energy than the action's energy cost, the action fails.
- Otherwise, the action passes this check. (That is, non-combination attacks can be performed even if the Energy cost isn't met; but the user will Faint after.)
- Deduct the energy cost of the action from the user's Energy; whether they passed the Energy check or not.
HP Cost Check:
- If the action costs more HP than the user has, the action fails and the user pays no HP.
- If the action costs HP equal to or less than the user's HP, the user pays that much HP.
Additional Cost Check:
- If the action has any additional costs (from its own effects or otherwise), the user pays those costs by following the instructions of those effects, as fully as they can be followed.
- If the instruction was able to be fully followed, the additional cost is considered to be paid.
- If the instruction cannot be fully followed (such as if it asks for a condition to be created on the user, that they already have), the cost is not considered to be paid.

The Energy paid for the move may bring the user to 0 or less Energy. As a reminder, Fainting doesn't stop a Pokemon from finishing their last action, and that fainted Pokemon don't return to the bench while there is any Pokemon still performing an action. (See 2.9 Post-Event Checks.)

Some actions or effects specify additional costs for the action. These costs must be paid as specified by the action.

Once this check is passed, the user will "execute" the action if they are able. They are said to be "executing" the action, and the action is said to be "executed". Some effects may prevent a user from executing an action; if the user would execute an action but can't, the action fails instead.

Furthermore, if the action is an attack, the user is said to "attack with" the action, and is said to be the "attacker".

[8.3c] Target Legality Check
Every action has a parameter called a "Targeting Scope", that determines which and how many Pokemon it can legally target. The targeting scopes are as follows:

All Allies: The move targets every Pokemon in play on the user's team, and those on teams allied with theirs.
All Opponents: The move targets every Pokemon in play on a team opposed to the user's.
All Other Pokemon: The move targets every Pokemon in play except the user.
Any One Ally:The move targets at least one Pokemon in play on the user's team, or on a team allied with theirs.
- Any Other Ally: As above, except that the move can't target the user.
Any One Target: The move targets at least one Pokemon in play, except the user.
Any Other Team: The move targets at least one Team's field, other than the user's own Team.
The Battlefield: By default, the move targets each Team's field.
User's Team: By default, the move target's the user's own Team's field.
User: The move targets the user.

Some actions have restriction text that will modify which or how many Pokemon and how many Teams they may target. (e.g. "This move targets two different opponents if possible.") Some actions will target only Pokemon, some will target only Teams, and certain actions may target an amount of each.

If the action as any declared targets (e.g. "use Flamethrower on Scizor"), check if the declared targets are within scope. Any targets of the action that are outside of scope (such as allies listed on a move target targets "All opponents"), and any targets that have become illegal (such as foes that have fainted and left play) are removed from the action's target list.

Then, if the action order has less legal targets than it requires specified, but there are legal targets available for the action, a target list is assumed for the action using the following priority.

Default targets for moves that target Pokemon:

If the action could target the user, it does so.
Then, if further targets are needed, and the action "prefers allies as default targets", it targets non-user allies in the order that they entered play.
Then, if further targets are needed, and the action could target any opponents, it targets opponents in play in the order that they entered play.
Then, if further targets are needed, and the action could target any non-user allies in play, it targets non-user allies in the order that they entered play,
Then, if further targets are needed, and the action could target any further Pokemon in play, it does so, in the order that the remaining Pokemon entered play.

Default targets for moves that target Teams:

If the action could target the user's team, it does so.
Then, if further targets are needed, and the action could target opposing Teams' fields, it does so in the order that they first sent out this battle.
Then, if further targets are needed, and the action could target any further teams in play, it does so in the order that they first sent out this battle.

Most actions need only one target to legally be attempted, but some actions such as Dragon Darts may require more targets if possible, or more targets to be attempted at all. When in doubt, refer to the action's text. If this default targeting behavior is undesirable, consider specifying the targets for your moves.

[8.3d] Target Replacement Check
After ensuring the action's target's are legal, effects can replace some targets with other targets. These effects can result in targets that would otherwise be illegal.

First, if any of action's targets are Pokemon or teams that Reflect the action, or if any of the action's target teams have a member in play that Reflects the action; then replace those reflecting Pokemon or reflecting teams with the user or the user's team.
(Replace Pokemon with only Pokemon and teams with only teams. Then, remove all but one instance of the user and all but one instance of the user's team from the action's targets.)

Then, if the action has a single-target scope, and the current target is a single non-user Pokemon, and there are any effects in play that Redirect the action from that target to another Pokemon, replace that target with that other Pokemon.

Most redirection effects only redirect actions from certain Pokemon to certain other Pokemon. (Such as "from allies to the user.") Some effects redirect only actions that meet certain criteria. (Such as "water-type attacks".)

After all of the above, if the action has no legal targets for one or more of its Targeting Scopes {have to rephrase reminder text} (after any illegal targets were replaced with any available default targets), that action is executed, but does nothing.

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[8.4]

The User-Defender Loop

The action will affect any remaining target Pokemon after finishing 8.3d "Target Replacement". Rather than affecting every target at once, the results of the action will be evaluated one target at a time.

The steps 8.5 "Effectiveness Tally" through 8.11"Defender Cleanup" are repeated for each legal target of the action. During those steps, that legal target is said to be the current "defender". If the action is an attack, the attacker is said to be "attacking" the defender.

If the action targets Teams rather than Pokemon, only 8.6 "Validity Check" and 8.9 "Execution Check" are performed. No defenders are "looped".

The remaining targets of the action will each be the defender in turn, in the sequence they were listed as targets, if the trainer who ordered the action issued that order with one or more targets specified. Then, any valid targets of the action not specified in the order (such as additional targets of an attack that hits all Pokemon) are processed in the order that they entered play.

In this way, a trainer who doesn't care about the defender sequence of a multi-target move, except that a specific defender be processed first, could specify only that target if desired. That target would be the first defender, and the remaining targets would be sorted in the default manner above.

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[8.5]

Effectiveness Tally

Pokemon can be granted weaknesses, resistances, and immunities to each of the 18 types. These can influence the effectiveness of attacks, as well as certain non-attack action, belonging to those types.

Pokemon have a multiplier for attacks of each type, said to be the Effectiveness of that type against that Pokemon.
(Positive results are increasingly weak to the action, and negative results are increasingly resistant.)

(See 5.3b "Effectiveness".)

Difference	-4 or less	-3	-2	-1	0	+1	+2	+3	+4 or more
Multiplier	x0.01	x0.25	x0.5	x0.75	x1.0	x1.5	x2.0	x2.5	x3

Some actions state that Pokemon with certain properties (such as Ground-type Pokemon) are Unaffected by that action. This is different from type immunity, for effects that care about that.

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[8.6]

Validity Check

If the defender is a Pokemon, that is unaffected by the action, or that has a typing immunity to the action and the action is an attack, the action is invalid against the current defender. Skip to 8.11 "Defender Cleanup".

If the action is targeting a team or teams, that that are all unaffected by the action, the action is invalid. Skip to 8.12 "Action Cleanup".

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[8.7]

Accuracy Check

If the action has an accuracy value, a randomized check must be made to see if the action can affect the current defender. If one or more effects would cause the check to "automatically succeed", the check is passed and no roll is made. Otherwise, if one or more effects would cause the check to "automatically fail", the check is failed and no roll is made.

If neither is true, a randomized roll is made based on the actions own Accuracy, plus or minus the Accuracy Stage Modifier. (Additively; a 70% accurate attack becomes 95% at +1.)

To find out an action's Accuracy Stage Modifier, you subtract the defender's Evasion stage from the user's Accuracy stage, and reference the result against the following table:
(Positive values are increasingly more accurate, and negative values are increasingly less accurate.)

Acc Diff	-4 or less*	-3	-2	-1	0	+1	+2	+3	+4 or more*
Modifier	Auto Miss	-50% and Unlucky	-25% and Unlucky	Hit Roll is Unlucky	---	+25%	+50%	+75%	Auto Hit

* "or more/less" is in case an effect changes the maximums or minimums of the Accuracy and Evasion stages.

If the roll fails, both the action and its user are then said to "miss" the defender, and the defender is said to have "evaded" the user and the action. In this case, skip to the defender cleanup step. (See r8.11 "Defender Cleanup")

If the roll succeeds, the action is said to have "succeed" against the defender. Furthermore, the user is said to be attacking, and is said to be attacking that defender.

[8.7a] Number of Hits
Some attacks state that they hit defenders a certain number of times (Example: "This attack hits twice."). These attacks are said to be "multi-hit attacks", and are said to have a "hit count" of two or more.

Certain steps of damage calculation are skipped for the second and later hits of a multi-hit attack. See 8.10 "Damage Calculation".

The accuracy check of an action is typically made only once against each defender, rather than once per hit, unless specified otherwise (Example: "Perform this attack's accuracy check until a miss is rolled or until three (3) total hits are rolled (Whichever happens first.) This attack hits that many times.")

(As a reminder, "hit" has a specific meaning in the context of BBP that refers to an attack's damage. An action may casually be said to "hit" by players, but the rules do not use "hit" as an antonym of "miss".)

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[8.8]

Critical Check

If the action is an attack, and it doesn't deal fixed damage, a randomized check must be made for each hit of the attack, to see if that hit is a Critical Hit. For each roll that succeeds, the associated hit is said to be a "critical hit". An attack that deals one or more critical hits is said to be a "critical attack", and both the user and the attack are said to have "hit critically". There's no specific term for a hit or an attack that isn't critical.

The probability of a critical hit is determined by the attacker's critical hit stage.

Critical Hit Stage	0	1	2	3 or more
Chance of a Critical Hit	1/24 (4.16666...%)	1/8 (12.5%)	1/2 (50%)	1/1 (100%)
Crits pierce screens/stages?	No	Yes	Yes	Yes

Each attack that hits critically has a critical damage bonus, based on the maximum number of hits the attack can deal.

Single Hit Attacks: 3
2 to 3 Hit Attacks: 2
4 or more Hit Attacks: 1

During the relevant portion of damage calculation, the critical modifier is added to the attack's power once for each critical hit rolled. Furthermore, Attacks that hit critically ignore certain effects and stages, if their user has a critical hit stage of 1 or more. See 8.10d "Critical Modifer".

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[8.9]

Execution Effects

The execution effects of the action (See 3.2 "Effect Types") are followed as instructions once each, in the sequence that they are listed in the action's effect text.

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[8.10]

Damage Calculation

Using the results of the prior checks, the attack will deliver one or more instances of damage to the defender, said to be attack hits, or just hits.

The first hit against each defender is said to be the main hit; and the rest are said to be extra hits.

Searches for "damage formula" should end up here. However, damage is calculated in sequential steps in BBP, rather than by using a formula.

Main Hits

8.10a. Find Base Attack Power

8.10b. Multiply and divide Power
8.10c. Add STAB, if applicable
8.10d. Add Critical Modifier, if applicable
8.10e. Add Stat Rank Modifier, if applicable
8.10f. Add certain Power Bonuses

Subtract certain Power Bonuses

8.10g. Multiply by Type Effectiveness
8.10h. Add or Subtract Stat Stage Modifier
8.10i. Add or Subtract total damage
8.10j. Multiply or Divide total damage

Extra Hits
8.10a. Find Base Attack Power 8.10b. Multiply and divide Power (skip 8.10c) 8.10d. Add Critical Modifier, if applicable (skip 8.10e and 8.10f) 8.10g. Multiply by Type Effectiveness (skip 8.10h and 8.10i) 8.10j. Multiply or Divide total damage

Fixed Hits
8.10a. Find Base Attack Power (skip 8.10b through 8.10j)

[8.10a] Base Attack Power:

Also referred to as "BAP". The initial power is always the attack's BAP. Some attacks have effects that alter or replace their own BAP.

(For example, an attack may state, "This move's BAP is equal to twice defender's Weight Class, to a maximum of 12.")

If the attack deals fixed damage, then the attack will deal this amount of damage. Skip to 8.10k "The Hit".

[8.10b] Power Modifiers:

Each applicable continuous effect that specifies that the power of an attack is "increased" or "reduced" is applied in this step.

[8.10c] Same-Type Attack Bonus:

Also referred to as "STAB". If the attack shares one or more types with its user, the power of that attack is raised by three (3).

If the user is Terastallized, this step is altered. (See 11.7 "Terastal")

[8.10d] Critical Modifier

The attack's critical damage bonus is added to the attack's power once for each critical hit rolled. See 8.8 "Critical Check".

While the attack has rolled any critical hits, and the attacker's critical hit stage is one or greater (1+):

The attacker's relevant Attack stage is treated as being 0 if it is negative, and
The defender's relevant Defense stage is treated as being 0 if it is positive, and
The damage of the attack can't be modified by the effects of Screen conditions.

[8.10e] Stat Rank Modifier

Add the attacker's relevant Attack rank to the damage total; then, subtract the defender's relevant Defense rank from the damage total.

[8.10f] Power Bonuses and Power Penalties

Attacks can be "given" power bonuses and power penalties from items, abilities, and other objects. Unlike power increases/decreases from continuous effects, these bonuses and penalties "wait" for this step, since only some of them may be applied.

Otherwise, add the following to the damage total:

The attack's largest power bonus from abilities (other ability bonuses are discarded here), and
The attack's largest power bonus from held items (other item bonuses are discarded here), and
Each remaining power bonus from other sources.

Then, subtract the following from the damage total:

The attack's largest power penalty from abilities (other ability penalties are discarded here), and
The attack's largest power penalty from held items (other item penalties are discarded here), and
Each remaining power penalty from other sources.

[8.10g] Type Effectiveness

Multiply the damage total by the type effectiveness multiplier from the Effectiveness Tally.

[8.10h] Stat Stage Difference

If the attack rolled any critical hits, and the attacker's critical hit stage is one or greater (1+), then certain stat stage modifiers are ignored. See 8.10d "Critical Damage Modifier".

If the attacker's relevant Attack stage, minus the defender's relevant Defense stage, is positive: Add four times (x4) the difference to the damage.

If the attacker's relevant Attack stage, minus the defender's relevant Defense stage is negative: Subtract three times (x3) the difference from the damage.

[8.10i] Additive Total Damage

{ effects that say that "damage is increased by x" or "damage is reduced by x" apply here. }

[8.10j] Multiplicative Total Damage

{ effects that say "damage is doubled" or "damage is halved", or that otherwise multiply all damage, apply here. }

{ if the attack has two or more targets, even if one or more of those targets are unaffected by the attack, the damage is multiplied by 2 and divided by 3. }

[8.10k] The Hit

{ each of an attack's hits deal a minimum of one (1) damage }

After all of the above calculations are completed, the result is dealt to the defender as one or more instances of attack damage, called "Hits".

The calculated total damage is divided by the number of hits to get the "damage per hit", in cases where it's relevant.

The defender takes HP damage, rounded normally, equal to the total damage of the hit or hits.

(e.g. The rounding is last. Three hits for 4.5 damage each would deal 4.5 * 3 = 13.5 ~ 14 damage.

It wouldn't deal 4.5 ~ 4 * 3 = 12 damage.)

If the attack is a contact attack, the attacker makes contact with the defender a number of times equal to the number of hits.

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[8.11]

Defender Cleanup

- the current defender stops being the defender, and the user is no longer attacking that defender. the next target, if there are any, in the list becomes the next defender. See 8.4 "The User-Defender Loop".

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[8.12]

Action Cleanup

- the user no longer "performing" the action, and the action is no longer targeting any Pokemon or teams.

LouisCyphre · Oct 20, 2022

9. Trainer Procedures

[9.1]

Issuing Orders

In the Ordering Phase of battles, each remaining trainer will issue orders to their Pokemon. Those Pokemon will follow those orders during the Battling Phase, as well as they are able. (See 2.7 "The Ordering Phase".)

A complete set of orders for a Pokemon consists of main orders and any substitutions. (See 9.2 "Issuing Substitutions".) Occasionally, orders for a Pokemon will also include other information such as whether or not they should activate certain items or abilities. Such an instruction is said to be an "addendum". (See 9.3 "Order Addenda".) The set of main orders, substitutions, and addendum issued to a Pokemon are (appropriately enough) said to be that Pokemon's "order set".

The main orders of an order set will consist of one action order per step in the round. An action order is exactly one action available to Pokemon in the game—so in most cases, a move or a command. (In some cases, alternative actions may be made available by the battle rules, such as the option to use a medicine item.)

Example: Liz might order her Serperior to "use Leaf Storm, then Draco Meteor, then Leaf Storm". Each move is one action order, and these three orders together make a set of main orders, appropriate for a round with three steps in it. Her Serperior will use the first action order in the first step of battle, the second order in the second step of battle, and so on. Serperior doesn't know Draco Meteor by default, and thus may not be able to follow Liz' orders fully, but that doesn't disallow Liz from ordering it.

If she so wished, she could format her order set with just commas ("Leaf Storm, Draco Meteor"), with dashes or long dashes ("Leaf Storm — Draco Meteor"), vertical pipes ("Leaf Storm | Draco Meteor"), or any other easy-to-read separator. All that's required of her formatting is that her main orders be the first part of her order set.

[9.1a] Action Orders
An action order is an instruction that a Pokemon receives from their trainer, to use a specific action. (This may seem obvious, but it's important to be specific.)

To specify further, an action order is a specific type of game object that Pokemon can receive and hold. The action order has the following:

Up to one specifically named Move or Command (the "action" of the action order).
Optionally, targets for the action.
Optionally, any parameters for the action (See 9.1b "Parameters of an Action Order", below).

Targets and parameters for actions are optional, even for actions that won't function properly without them. If a Pokemon is ordered to use an action but isn't told who to target, or aren't given enough targets for their action, they will try to find appropriate targets on their own. (See 8.3c "Target Legality Check".)

If a Pokemon is ordered to use an action that requires parameters of a certain kind, and the action order doesn't have those parameters, then the result will depend on the action that is requiring those parameters. Typically, such actions will cause themselves to fail unless they are ordered with the parameters that they require; but this is caused by the text of the action and not by any particular game rule.

[9.1b] Parameters of an Action Order
When making an order set, some actions may require additional decisions from the issuing trainer, such as target selection or declaring a move. These are said to be the "parameters" of that order.

Parameters that are associated with an effect, an action's restriction text, a rule, or other texts are said to be "requested" by those texts; and those parameters are said to "fulfill" their associated request. Actions can only have parameters that are requested for them. Arbitrary unrequested parameters issued for an order, that don't fulfill any request, are ignored. Excessive or frivolous use of unrequested parameters (such as to imply an interaction that your order doesn't actually have) can be construed to be angle shooting.

If parameters are requested for an action, but more than that many parameters are ordered, the parameters are considered in the order they are given.

An order's parameters should be visually formatted to be subordinate to the action in the action order. This is somewhat subjective, but common methods of doing so include wrapping the parameters in parentheses ("Disable (Earthquake)"), or using a conjoining word in the plain English sense ("Disable their Earthquake"). Formatting that could cause a parameter to be mistaken for an action order ("Disable Earthquake") should be avoided.

If an action orders has parameters that were requested by multiple different sources, each source should be clarified in the parameter.

Example: Isaac wants to order his Dewgong to use a combination of Disable + Entrainment. Disable requests that he specify a move known by the target as a parameter of the order. Entrainment requests that he specify an ability of Dewgong as a parameter of the order. He could format his order as "Disable + Entrainment (seal Earthquake, give Hydration)" or as "Disable (Earthquake) + Entrainment (Hydration)". If he wished to specify a target, he could do so by adding "targeting Weavile" or "on Weavile". The parameters are requesting different kinds of objects (a move, an ability, and a Pokemon), but it is still best to clarify what request each parameter is fulfilling.

todo:
- direct players to whatever reference explains when and how Pokemon receive their orders within each step.

- procedures to follow for each given part of an order, if that part of the order is missing.

- reiterate the conventions of posting re: posting orders.

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[9.2]

Issuing Substitutions

Substitutions are special conditional instructions given to a Pokemon. When their trigger conditions are met, they can modify or replace that Pokemon's current or future orders in the round.

Detailed rules for writing substitutions for a Pokemon are found in { link: section 10 "Substitutions" }. Instead, this rule describes how they fit in to the process of issuing orders, and what is required for their formatting relative to the rest of an order post.

**

{ the below was the placeholder rules before it was promoted to section 10. }
Substitutions are special conditional instructions given to a Pokemon. When their trigger conditions are met, they can modify or replace that Pokemon's current or future orders in the round.

Substitutions are comprised of a timing, a trigger and a result. When the specified triggering event occurs, the result is followed as an instruction. The result of a Pokemon's substitution can only affect that Pokemon's orders, and not the orders of other Pokemon.

The timing of a substitution can be specified by the trainer ordering it if desired, using a timing clause. If a timing clause is given, the substitution will trigger only if its trigger conditions are met at the specified timing. (See 9.3a Timing Clauses.)

- improving your substitutions is vital to getting better at BBP. read other matches and get assistance from other players, and your skill with substitutions will rapidly improve!

- stop using acronyms. to specify a timing, spell that timing out. "C.A.S.O.R." why don't you go cassor yourself some bitches

- explain subs, bonus subs, and sub count manipulation. you can't "lose subs" mid-round. if a sub was within your legal limit when you posted it, it remains so for the rest of the round, and if it was in excess of your legal limit, it remains illegal for the entire round.

- time travel.

- explain that substitutions operate by replacing individual orders in various ways; mainly by replacing the Pokemon's currently held order, by manipulating the pokemon's main orders in your order post (moving up and down, including casual aliases of this like "push down"), or both

- subs can only trigger once per step. only one sub can trigger per step.

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[9.3]

Order Addenda

In addition to main orders and substitutions, a set of orders for a Pokemon can occasionally contain other optional instructions for the Pokemon, called "addenda". These can vary in function and in source.

The most common forms of order addenda occur:

When an effect states that it will trigger unless "ordered otherwise".
When an item or trait grants a Pokemon the option to change Forme at will.
When a feature of an arena or facility requires players to input a decision.

But, many other kinds exist. Simply think of addenda as referring to anything that goes in a Pokemon's orderset, that isn't their main orders and isn't their substitutions.

[9.3a] Ordering Otherwise
This is the most common order addendum, built into many effects across the game to make their activation optional for the user.

Example: Sand Stream may state, "When the user enters play or gains this ability, unless ordered otherwise this round: The user uses Summon Sandstorm as a triggered action." When sending in the user of Sand Stream or issuing orders to them, you may either "order otherwise" and prevent the Pokemon from using Summon Sandstorm, or you may simply allow it to trigger (which is the default).

To order otherwise, simply include a phrase similar to "Do not activate [object name]" in the Pokemon's order set, either directly before their main orders, or directly after their substitutions.

It's not possible, when ordering otherwise, to further specify when or how to activate or not activate an object's effect (example: it is illegal to state "Don't use Battle Bond if you have Contrary"). It can be thought of as a binary choice whether or not to allow the effect to trigger, and that choice persists for the entire round in which the orderset was issued.

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[9.4]

---

(Moved to 11.2 "Combinations". We didn't want to move all of the numbers again.)

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[9.5]

Ordering a Switch Phase

- reiterate that the switch phase happens "in the background" every turn even when no actions are taken within.

- teams can switch if none of their opponents have posted OR if their opponents' most recent post contains a post. See x.x The Switch Phase and x.x Player Posting Sequence for details on which teams may order, when, including ordering a switch.

- re-iterate the conventions of posting re: posting a switch order.

- explain the syntax for ordering a switch. refer to equipping held items from the pack, segueing into the section below.

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[9.6]

Equipping Held Items

When sending a Pokemon into battle, trainers may elect to send those Pokemon into battle with Held Items from their backpack. (See 6.1 Permanent Inventory and the Backpack, and 6.2 Held Items). The symbol "@" can be used as shorthand for "holding" or "will hold" when equipping items.

(Example: Nidoking @ Life Orb)

In most cases, a Pokemon can hold a single held item of any type. Some effects allow a Pokemon to hold more items, either generically, or only items meeting certain criteria.

The Pokemon can only be equipped with items they could legally hold. Pokemon may be equipped any number of times in a match, even if they were holding other items previously, so long as they have room for the new item. Once they're at their item capacity, a Pokemon must vacate their held item somehow (typically by consuming a consumable item), or gain more item capacity from an effect, to make room for more held items.

Trainers have a limited supply of Held Items in their backpack; they can't simultaneously equip the same held item to multiple Pokemon. In order to give multiple Pokemon their own copies of a given held item, the trainer must have at least that many copies of that held item.

The name of the item to be equipped is required in the equip message, and it must be adjacent to the name and icon of the Pokemon being sent out.

Illegal Example	Sending out Hydreigon @	Sending out Excadrill and Hippowdon @ Choice Band and Smooth Rock	"I'll send in Bozo the Blacephalon with his favorite specs!"
Reason	Icon without name is ambigious.	Item names grouped together, away from holders, are ambigious.	Item is not named in full.
Corrected Example	Sending out Hydreigon @ Dark Gem	Sending out Excadrill @ Choice Band and Hippowdon @ Smooth Rock	"I'll send in Bozo the Blacephalon with his favorite Choice Specs!"

Illegal equips in unstaked matches are to be corrected before other players respond. Illegal equips in staked or competitive matches are to be ignored.

When a Pokemon is sent into battle with one or more held items, it enters play holding those items. The held items aren't equipped "after" entering play.

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[9.7]

Trainer Items

Some items are used by Trainers to influence the battle. These include Medicines for recovering the HP and Conditions of their Pokemon, and Balls for capturing wild Pokemon.

Only some battles allow the use of trainer items, including Medicines and certain facility-specific items.

Much like switching, different trainers or teams may be subject to different rules for the use of battle items.

[9.7a] Using Medicine
The Pokemon that the Medicine is used on are said to be the medicine's "recipient". A Medicine's recipient(s) must be specified when ordering Medicine.

Most typically, Medicines are used in battle by including in battle orders:

"Picasso, buy us some time for us to get the Major back on their feet!"

Protect - Revive (Ursa Major the Bewear) - Protect

"Spending" a Pokemon's turn on Medicine has special handling in the turn sequence. See 2.7 "The Battling Phase".

By default, only a trainer's own Pokemon may be the recipient of that trainer's Medicine. It's possible to use a Medicine on active or inactive Pokemon. (Using a Medicine on a Pokemon you don't plan to use may be useful misdirection, for example.)

Some Medicines have effects that dictate which Pokemon, and whose, may be that Medicine's recipient.

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[9.8]

Pokemon Capture

:sv/voltorb-hisui:

In some ventures, it's possible for Pokemon to become Captured.

Captured Pokemon are removed from any teams and from any trainers, if applicable. This can result in a team having no remaining Pokemon to battle with (and thus, losing). These removed Pokemon exist in the battle, but aren't in play or in reserve.

They can later be added to a team or trainer by an effect, and are then said to "join" that team or trainer. A Pokemon that the team or trainer started the battle with is said to "rejoin" that team or trainer; an effect may shorthand this by stating that a Pokemon "rejoins their original team".

This has applications for content authors beyond just simulating Poke Ball capture — A boss opponent in a facility could use capturing mechanics to remove Pokemon from play temporarily, as just one example.

Whether or not the player gets to keep the Pokemon they capture, and how many of them they may keep, is determined by the facility in which the capture occurs.

[9.8a] Ordering Capture
Balls are trainer items, ordered in main orders just like a Medicine would be. An order to use a Ball is a "capture order".

A capture order consists of a valid Pokemon that the player doesn't own, which becomes the capture target; and a Ball name with optional icon, indicating which Ball the player would like to throw at their capture target.

If there's only one Pokemon in play that the player doesn't own, that Pokemon becomes the capture target automatically, and the Pokemon can be omitted from the capture orders. Otherwise, the player must also specify which Pokemon will be the capture target in their capture orders for those orders to be valid..

Each Ball in the capture orders undergoes the following steps:

If the Ball exists in the player's backpack, or if the ball is provided to the player by the battle's venue, it is thrown. (yes, we do need this step)
If the ball has an effect that triggers "On throw", that effect triggers.
If the capture target's Capture Objective is now met, the thrown ball captures that capture target for the Ball's owner.

Any Ball that is thrown in a capture attempt is lost from the owner's permanent inventory, like a Medicine is when used.

LouisCyphre · Oct 20, 2022

10. Substitutions

[10.1]

Overview of Substitutions

:sv/necturna:

Substitutions are conditional "if, then" instructions given to a Pokemon by their trainer. Skilled trainers can use substitutions to preemptively counter their opponents' best options.

Each substitution consists of three components: the timing, a trigger, and a result; in that order:

the timing component describes when the substitution is checked;
the trigger component describes whether or not the substitution will trigger when checked; and
the result component describes what happens when the substitution triggers.

Example: A substitution may read, "On your turn, IF you are Poisoned, THEN use Facade."

The timing is "On your turn", the trigger is "if you are Poisoned", and the result is "then use Facade".

Each component is built out of one or more clauses, which may have a number of modifiers called affixes. The number and type of affixes allowed will vary depending on the type of clause. At the substitution's specified timing, the substitution is checked, or "evaluated". If the specified trigger is met, the substitution is said to "trigger", the specified result is followed as an instruction.

Example: A substitution may read "Only once, at the start of the step, IF you are Burned, THEN use Refresh and push orders down." The timing of this substitution has been modified with the affix "Only once", so it can only trigger once in the round. The result of this substitution has also been modified with an affix "and push orders down," so that the recipient's old orders are preserved after they use Refresh.

Substitutions are issued by trainers to their Pokemon during the Ordering Phase (See 2.6 "The Ordering Phase"). Substitutions are only evaluated during the Battling Phase (See 2.7 "The Battling Phase"), and can only activate during this phase.

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[10.2]

Substitution Components

Substitutions operate by changing a Pokemon's intent and orders. Trainers build their substitutions out of clauses and clause affixes in order to create a logical instruction for the Pokemon. The number of allowed clauses and affixes are as follows:

The Timing Component (10.5)	The Trigger Component (10.6)	The Result Component (10.7)
Up to 1 Timing Clause. Up to 1 affix per clause.	Up to 1 Action Clause per Observed Pokemon. Up to 1 affix per Action Clause. Additionally, up to 3 State Clauses. State Clauses do not have affixes.	Up to 3 sequential Result Clauses. Up to 1 affix per clause.

The Timing Component (See 10.5) may contain up to one Timing Clause, which may have up to one appropriate affix.

A Timing Clause specifies either a sub-phase within the Battling Phase, a priority, or a specific event.

Affixes for timing clauses limit when and how many times they are checked.

Examples: "At the start of your turn", "Once, at the start of Charizard's Turn", "When you are critically hit", "Once, when you become poisoned".

If the timing component isn't specified in a sub, it will have a default timing.

The Trigger Component (See 10.6) may contain Action Clauses and/or State Clauses, as below:

Action Clauses observe the intent and orders of either a Pokemon or a legal set of Pokemon.

Affixes for action clauses limit which kinds of action are being observed for.

Examples of Action Clauses may include, "IF Heracross intends to use Counter" and "IF an opponent is to use a Protective move on Heracross".

State Clauses observe any other object in the battle, including the Pokemon themselves, and watch for the specified comparison (if the observed value is numeric) or the specified presence or absence (if the observed value is not numeric).

There aren't any affixes for State Clauses.

Examples of State Clauses may include, "IF Greninja is Dark-type", "IF Ursaluna is Burned", and "IF Durant has 20 or less Energy".

The trigger component must be written for a substitution to be legal.

(It may seem lopsided to have a different Clause type just for checking the received orders of Pokemon, but these Action Clauses are actually that important to writing substitutions.)

The Result Component (See 10.7) may contain up to three sequential Result Clauses. Each such clause may have up to one affix.

Result Clauses modify the intent and orders of the Pokemon they are issued to.

Affixes for result clauses specify what happens to the Pokemon's old intent and orders, and when the result clause is valid.

Examples of Result Clauses may include, "THEN use Focus Blast", "THEN use Detect and push orders down", or "THEN replace all instances of Leaf Blade with Solar Beam."

The result of a Pokemon's substitution can only affect that Pokemon's own orders, and not the orders of other Pokemon.

Aside: Proper usage of substitutions is often cited as the most important skill in BBP. A strong player can write substitutions that restrict their opponent's viable actions throughout an entire battle.

After your own matches, consult with your fellow players and ask about rounds where you had trouble writing substitutions. Targeted feedback will be your most powerful tool in your journey to grow into a strong player who can take on the challenging trainers around you!

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[10.3]

Substitution Legality

Though the clauses available in these rules allow for a staggering number of possible configurations, the available substitutions in BBP are still technically finite. Thus, there may be times where a player's substitution is illegal.

A clause is said to be illegal if it is:

not one of the prescribed legal clauses in this overall section
placed in the wrong component
modified with an affix not described in this overall section (such as "If Heracross does not intend to use Counter".)
modified with an affix corresponding to a different type of clause
modified with multiple affixes
in excess of the number of clauses allowed in that component (See 10.2 "Substitution Components")

If any of the clauses in a substitution are illegal, the entire substitution is illegal.

Asking your referee in private if a substitution is legal before ordering can be construed to be angle shooting.

[10.3a] Handling Illegal Substitutions
Substitutions that are illegal as written can't be evaluated using the game's logic. When such a substitution is found, what happens next will depend on the stakes of the match. (See 1.4 "Match Stakes")

In unstaked matches:

The illegal substitution should be indicated to its author for correction; and later-posting players and the referee can post out of sequence to do so. More commonly, this indication will happen via Smogon PM or via Discord. The match may proceed once all of that poster's substitutions are legal.

In staked matches:

The illegal substitution should simply be ignored, cannot be checked, and cannot trigger. Players in these matches are expected to audit their own substitutions for legality.

[10.3b] Plain Language Clause Aliases
Substitutions phrased using plain language can considered legal so long as its phrasing is logically equivalent to existing legal clauses. That is, plain English aliases for valid clauses are permitted.

Furthermore, substitutions that mention game elements using a different tense of their name, or a former name (e.g. referring to the Frost condition as "Frozen"), or that refer to game elements using a clearly understood synonym (e.g. referring to a Pokemon's Attack stage in the form "Attack is +2 or more") are legal.

As this rule helps to somewhat insulate substitutions against angle shooting or misspelling, this rule is sometimes said to be the "Anti-Pedant Clause."

Example: Liz's substitution reads, "IF you are Asleep THEN use Snore." There's no clause that checks for a status named "Asleep", but Liz's substitution clearly refers to the Sleep condition. Thus, her substitution is understood to mean "IF you have the Sleep condition THEN use Snore", rendering it legal.

Example: Madeliene's substitution reads, "IF Grimmsnarl is to use Faint Attack THEN use Counter." There's no action named "Faint Attack", but there is an existent move named "Feint Attack", which is clearly the move Madeliene intended to specify. Thus, her substitution is understood to refer to "Feint Attack".

Example: Isaac's substitution reads, "IF Bruxish's Attack is boosted THEN use Foul Play." The word "boosted" has no rules meaning, but it can be construed from context to mean "IF Bruxish has Attack stage boosts", "IF Bruxish has more Attack rank than their base rank", or both. However, because the exact meaning of the sub isn't clearly stated, the sub is illegal until further clarified.

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[10.4]

Evaluating Substitutions

A substitution is checked, or "evaluated", at each moment specified by its timing clause. If the substitution's trigger component is true, then the substitution is said to "trigger", and its result component is followed as an instruction.

In each step, no more than one of each Pokemon's substitutions may trigger. Once one of that Pokemon's substitutions has triggered, none of that Pokemon's substitutions are evaluated that step.

If multiple substitutions, issued to the same Pokemon or to different Pokemon, would be evaluated at the same timing, they are evaluated in the sequence that they were posted.

Each Pokemon has a numeric substitution count specified by the match rules, which may later be modified by traits and effects. Any substitution a Pokemon is issued, that was in excess of that Pokemon's substitution count when the substitution was issued, is illegal. Changes to a Pokemon's substitution count after those substitutions were issued have no bearing on whether or not they are legal.

Specific types of substitutions, including "KO Substitutions" (See 10.6e "State Clauses"), are exempted from a Pokemon's substitution count.

[10.4a] Pokemon Placeholders
Wherever a clause asks for a Pokemon, players may instead use a "Pokemon placeholder". The three valid Pokemon placeholders are "any opponent", "any ally", or "any Pokemon". (Other arbitrary placeholders, such as "any member of Team C", are not legal.)

Wherever a clause asks for a Pokemon, or when specifying the targets of an action, players may refer to their previous placeholder using what is said to be a "placeholder reference". The placeholder reference is typically written "that Pokemon", but may also be written "that opponent" or "that ally" when referring to the appropriate matching placeholder.

Placeholders and references are local to each substitution. Substitutions can't "see" each other's placeholders or references.

No more than one placeholder may be used per substitution. Later repeated instances of the first placeholder in the same substitution are understood to instead be the corresponding placeholder reference. Substitutions more than one type of placeholder become illegal.

[10.4b] Placeholder Evaluation Sequence
When evaluating a substitution that contains one or more placeholders, determining which Pokemon in the specified group is observed "first" can be critical to the outcome of a round.

The substitution should be evaluated as if each placeholder referred to the Pokemon, whose orders for the current round were posted earliest, that is described by that placeholder. If the substitution triggers, evaluation can stop there (because each Pokemon can only have one substitution trigger per step).

If the substitution doesn't trigger, then the earliest placeholder in the substitution is taken to refer to the next Pokemon, whose orders for the current round were posted next earliest, that is described by that placeholder. This is said to be "indexing" the placeholder. The substitution is re-evaluated repeatedly, referring to each Pokemon in turn that matches that first placeholder. This is said to be "indexing through" the matching Pokemon.

Example: Isaac is battling Madeleine in a Double Battle, and he wants to stop Madeleine's Dragapult from using Fly against his Heracross. Isaac issues a substitution that says, "IF any opponent is to use an Evasive Attack THEN use Pursuit on that opponent" to his Heracross.

To take advantage of this, Madeleine first orders her Arcanine to use Dig, then orders her Dragapult to use Fly. Despite Dragapult being faster, the substitution first sees Arcanine satisfy the requirements of the substitution, because Arcanine's orders were posted sooner, and doesn't check any further.

[10.4c] Out-of-Bounds Substitutions
By default, a substitution is understood to observe Pokemon in play, if the references uniquely identify a Pokemon in play. (As a reminder, ambiguous references render a substitution illegal.)

The zones of a battle can be found in "4.1a Zones of Play".

To manually reference Pokemon in zones other than the battlefield, substitution references may specify:

"benched [specific Pokemon or Pokemon placeholder]" meaning the bench zones only, excluding reserve zones.
"inactive [specific Pokemon or Pokemon placeholder]" meaning both bench and reserve zones.
"[specific Pokemon or Pokemon placeholder] anywhere/active or not/in any zone/etc." meaning in any zone.
any of the above, specifying a specific owning team or owning trainer.

References without zone specification only observe the referenced Pokemon while they are in play. (These references resume observing that Pokemon, if they somehow return to play.)

Clauses referencing Pokemon are only legal while those referenced Pokemon are in their expected zones. This can cause them to become legal or illegal during the round, if those Pokemon change zones. (Typically, but not always, due to having fainted.)

If a reference uniquely identifies a Pokemon, that starts the round out-of-play, the reference is understood to be "that specified Pokemon, in any zone". This is called the "Hey, You!" Rule.

Example: If you write "IF Groudon is Poisoned" in your substitution, and the battle's only Groudon is benched, your substitution is understood to mean "IF Groudon, in any zone, is Poisoned".

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[10.5]

The Timing Component

A substitution's timing component specifies when the substitution is allowed to trigger. It should always be the first listed component of the substitution.

A substitution's timing component may have up to one Timing Clause, which may be modified by up to one appropriate affix.

Optionally, a substitution's timing component can be omitted. If a substitution doesn't have any timing clauses specified by its issuing trainer, it will instead have a default timing that depends on whether or not its trigger component contains any State Clauses:

A substitution with no stated timing that has any State Clauses is checked at the start of the Pokemon's turn or before the Pokemon readies or charges their ordered action, whichever is sooner.
A substitution with no stated timing that has no State Clauses is checked at the start of the step, after Pokemon first decide their intent. ( See 2.7 "The Battling Phase" )

Timing clauses must be spelled out in plain language. The use of acronyms that obscure the meaning of the clause (such as old "CASOR") is forbidden.

Plain English aliases (such as "IF you flinch" as an alias for "IF the Flinch status is created on you") are acceptable ways to specify clauses, so long as they are logically equivalent to existing permitted Timing Clauses.

[10.5a] Timing Clause List
The acceptable Timing Clauses are as follows:

Start of Phase and End of Phase:

"At the [start / end] of each [round / step / Pokemon Name's turn]"

"Round" in this context is an alias for "Battling Phase".

Priority:

"At the start of priority [integer]"

Priority brackets aren't phases. Any timing written to be "End of Priority X" is taken to mean "Start of priority X-1" instead.
A timing written to be "At Priority X" is understood as an alias for "At the start of priority X".

Condition Creation:

"When [specific condition / a Major Status / a Screen / a Hazard / a Weather / a Terrain] is created"

"When [Pokemon / team] is [inflicted with / granted] [specific condition / a Major Status / a Screen / a Hazard / a Weather / a Terrain]"

Plain English aliases include "When you are flinched", "When you fall Asleep", etc.

When observing a single Pokemon for a field condition or battle condition, the substitution will be checked when that condition is created in a scope including that Pokemon, such as a hazard being created on that Pokemon's team.
When observing a team for a status condition, the substitution will be checked when any of that team's members have that condition created on them.
The scope of the clause may be reduced to instances of that specified condition with a specified note, or those without a specified note. (Example: "WHEN your Earthquake is Sealed" checks for the creation of the Sealed condition, with the note "Earthquake".)

When Hit:

"When [Pokemon] is hit [with specified move / with specified placeholder / with an attack from Pokemon / at all]"

As a reminder, only damaging attacks create Hits.

When Hit Effectively:

"When [Pokemon] is hit [critically / super-effectively / not very effectively / non-effectively]"

When Pokemon's Action has Result:

"When [Pokemon] [misses with / fails to attempt / fails to execute] [specific action / action group / any action]"

[10.5b] Timing Clause Affix List
A Timing Clause may be modified with up to one of the following affixes:

"Once" - The clause can't be true, if the substitution has triggered during this round.
"Non-Consecutively" - The clause can't be true, if the substitution has triggered during the previous step of this round.
"On Step [one or more Step numbers]" - The clause can't be true, except during the specified step or steps.

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[10.6]

The Trigger Component

A substitution's trigger can contain two types of clause: Action Clauses that observe the intent and orders of Pokemon, and State Clauses that observe the rest of the game state. The trigger component should always be written after any timing clauses, and before any result clauses.

[10.6a] Action Clauses
An Action Clause inspects the intent and orders of one or more Pokemon. It is said to "observe" the intent, orders, and Pokemon.

Action Clauses are typically written in a form similar to "IF [Pokemon] intends to use [action]", though any sufficiently clear format is permitted.

A trigger component may have no more than one Action Clause per observed Pokemon, and each Action Clauses may have up to one appropriate affix. Furthermore, a trigger component may have up to three State Clauses, which may each have up to one affix. Thus, the trigger component can become quite bloated in rare cases.

A substitution's recipient can't observe themselves with any Action Clauses, or that clause will be illegal.

[10.6b] Action Clause Observed Behavior
Each Action Clause observes their observed Pokemon for exactly one of these actions or action groups:

A specified action name — such as "Flamethrower", "G-Max Steelsurge", or "Cover".
Attacks of a specified typing — such as "Fire attack" or "Grass attack".
A specified action group — such as "Protective Move" or "Self-Sacrificing Move". (See 10.6d "Action Groups", below.)
Any of the above, as elevated with a specific Z-Power, with any Z-Power, or with no Z-Power.
Any of the above, as a Combination or not as a Combination.
A combination with the specified components — such as "Detect + Double Team".
The use of a specific trainer item — such as "Potion", "Great Ball", or "X Defense".
The use of any Medicine, any Ball, or any trainer item at all.
Any of the above (including specifying Z-Power or Combination status, for actions), targeting a specified Pokemon.

If the observed Pokemon's action will call a pre-determined move (at the time the substitution is checked), and that called move fits the criteria of the Action Clause, then the order as whole fits the criteria.
(Even if the observed Pokemon is later made unable to call that move, such as by Sealing.)

[10.6c] Action Clause Affixes
An action clause can have up to one of the following affixes. Affixes for action clauses help to narrow the scope of the observed-for behavior.

The affixes that are accepted for Action Clauses are as follows:

No affix.

[Pokemon] is to use [observed behavior]

The clause will observe the current step. If the observed behavior is present, then the clause is true.

Examples: "Mamoswine is to use Icicle Crash", "Any opponent is to use Protect this step", "Zacian is about to chill."

Amount of Behavior Occurrences

[Pokemon] is to use [observed behavior] on any step [at all/at most once/at most twice/etc] this round

The clause will observe all of the steps in the round. If the observed behavior is present, and not present more than the specified number of times (if specified), then the clause is true.

Examples: "Gengar is to use Pain Split this round", "Dragonite is to use Dragon Tail no more than once this round"

Future Behavior

[Pokemon] is to use [observed behavior] on [step number or numbers/any upcoming step]

The clause will observe the specified step or steps, excluding the current step and any prior steps (e.g. only steps that are still "future" are observed). If the observed behavior is present in any of the observed steps, then the clause is true.

Examples: "Wyrdeer is to use Trick Room on step 2 or 3", "Mienshao is to use U-turn on a later step", "Weavile is to use Pursuit later this round", "Slaking is to chill step 1 or step 3"

Behavior A and not Behavior B

[Pokemon] is to use [observed behavior], and is not to use [same or other observed behavior] in [any prior step/the previous step/any other step/the next step/any upcoming step/step number or numbers] this round

The clause will observe multiple steps differently. If the first observed behavior is present in the current step, and the second observed behavior (which may be the same behavior or a different one) is not present in the specified other steps, then the clause is true.

Examples: "Scizor is to use Dual Wingbeat, and not Bullet Punch later", "Ninjask is to use Baton Pass, and hasn't used Baton Pass prior", "Parasect is to use Spore now, and not on other steps"

Previously Executed Actions

[Pokemon] has executed [observed behavior] previously this [step/round]

The clause will observe the step- or round-to-date. If the observed behavior has been executed by the observed Pokemon one or more within the observed period (regardless of any results of that executed action, e.g. miss or immunity), then the clause is true.

Examples: "Walrein has executed Roar this round", "Grumpig has executed Magic Coat this step"

[10.6d] Action Groups
An Action Clause can check the observed Pokemon for orders to use any member of a pre-made list of actions, called an Action Group. Action Groups allow for substitutions that watch for variants of a move with identical or similar functionality, without having to issue a different substitution for each individual move in the group.

Only the Action Groups within the hide tag below are legal for use, and they cannot be further specified. Action Clauses watching for user-invented Action Groups not within the list will be illegal clauses.

Example: Action clauses watching for "Special attacks", for "Attacks with 15 or more BAP", or for "Super-Effective attacks" would all be illegal clauses.

Action Groups are not "negotiable"; a move is either within an Action Group because it is listed as such below, or it is not within that Action Group.

For the purpose of maintaining and updating this list, moves qualify for an Action Group if they meet the criteria under most "typical" battle conditions, without considering the effects of other objects.

Example: Will-o-Wisp remains a "Burn-Inflicting Move" even if every legal target in play is Fire-type.

Counter-Example: Haze does not become an "Attack-Lowering Move" while a Pokemon in play has a positive Attack stage.

Protective Move

Moves capable of granting the user broad Protection from most or all attacks.

Baneful Bunker, Detect, King's Shield, Mat Block, Protect, Silk Trap, Spiky Shield

Evasive Attack

Attacks granting the user Evasion.

Bounce, Dig, Dive, Fly, Phantom Force, Shadow Force

Priority Attack

Attacks executed at a priority greater than 0.

Accelerock, Aqua Jet, Bullet Punch, Extreme Speed, Fake Out, Feint, First Impression, Ice Shard, Jet Punch, Mach Punch, Quick Attack, Shadow Sneak, Sucker Punch, Vacuum Wave, Water Shuriken

Protection-Bypassing Attack

Attacks that bypass the Protection status of their defenders.

Feint, G-Max One Blow, G-Max Rapid Flow, Hyper Drill, Hyperspace Fury, Hyperspace Hole, Phantom Force, Shadow Force

Perfect-Accuracy Attack

Attacks with an effect to automatically succeed their own accuracy checks. Excludes moves that have this effect only conditionally, and further excludes moves with no Accuracy parameter.

Aerial Ace, Aura Sphere, Disarming Voice, False Surrender, Feint Attack, Flower Trick, Hyperspace Fury, Hyperspace Hole, Kowtow Cleave, Magical Leaf, Magnet Bomb, Pursuit, Tachyon Cutter, Trump Card, Shadow Punch, Shock Wave, Smart Strike, Swift, Vital Throw

Perfect-Accuracy Protectable Attack

Attacks with an effect to automatically succeed their own accuracy checks; but no effect to bypass Protection.

As "Perfect-Accuracy Attack", except for Hyperspace Fury and Hyperspace Hole.

Multi-Hit Attack

Attacks that hit two or more times, changing how they interact with certain conditions or effects.

Arm Thrust, Barrage, Beat Up, Bone Rush, Bonemerang, Bullet Seed, Comet Punch, Double Iron Bash, Double Hit, Double Kick, Double Slap, Dual Chop, Dual Wingbeat, Fury Attack, Fury Swipes, Gear Grind, Icicle Spear, Pin Missile, Population Bomb, Rock Blast, Scale Shot, Spike Cannon, Tail Slap, Twineedle, Triple Axel, Triple Dive, Triple Kick, Twin Beam, Water Shuriken

Variable-Hit Attack

Attacks that hit multiple times, typically randomized, and that have an effect upon hitting to disrupt a defender's charged action.

Arm Thrust, Barrage, Beat Up, Bone Rush, Bullet Seed, Comet Punch, Double Slap, Fury Attack, Fury Swipes, Icicle Spear, Pin Missile, Rock Blast, Scale Shot, Spike Cannon, Tail Slap, Water Shuriken

Switch-Forcing Move

Moves that place a Phazing marker on the defender.

Circle Throw, Dragon Tail, Roar, Whirlwind

Self-Switching Move

Moves that place a Switching marker on the user.

Baton Pass, Chilly Reception, Flip Turn, Parting Shot, Shed Tail, Teleport, U-turn, Volt Switch

HP Recovery Move

Moves that expend one of the user's Recoveries to restore their own HP immediately.

Heal Order, Milk Drink, Moonlight, Morning Sun, Recover, Rest, Roost, Shore Up, Slack Off, Softboiled, Strength Sap, Swallow, Synthesis

HP Recovery Item

Trainer items that heal HP, except those that remove Fainting.

Potion, Super Potion, Hyper Potion, Max Potion, Full Restore, Energy Powder, Energy Root

HP Recovery Order

Any "HP Recovery Move" or "HP Recovery Item".

Energy Recovery Action

Actions capable of restoring Energy to a Pokemon instantly.

Chill

Energy Recovery Item

Trainer items capable of restoring Energy to a recipient, except those that remove Fainting.

Ether, Elixir, Max Ether, Max Elixir

Energy Recovery Order

Any "Energy Recovery Action" or "Energy Recovery Item".

Status-Cleansing Move

Moves capable of removing one or more Major Status effects from the user immediately.

Aromatherapy, G-Max Sweetness, Heal Bell, Purify, Refresh, Rest

Status-Cleansing Item

Trainer items capable of removing one or more Major Conditions from a recipient immediately.

Antidote, Awakening, Burn Heal, Casteliacone, Full Heal, Heal Powder, Ice Heal, Lava Cookie, Lumiose Galette, Old Gateau, Paralyze Heal

Status-Cleansing Order

Any "Status-Cleansing Move" or "Status-Cleansing Item"

Revival Move

Moves capable of removing Fainting from a teammate.

Revival Blessing

Revival Item

Trainer items capable of removing Fainting from a recipient.

Revive, Max Revive, Revival Herb, Sacred Ash

Revival Order

Any "Revival Move" or "Revival Item".

Target-Locking Move

Moves capable of skipping the accuracy check of subsequent attacks against the defender.

Lock-On, Mind Reader, Telekinesis

Self-Sacrificing Move

Moves that typically cause the user to faint.

Explosion, Final Gambit, Healing Wish, Lunar Dance, Memento, Misty Explosion, Self-Destruct

Hazard-Creating Move

Moves that typically create an entry hazard.

Ceaseless Edge, G-Max Steelsurge, G-Max Stonesurge, Spikes, Stealth Rock, Sticky Web, Stone Axe, Toxic Spikes

Hazard-Removing Move

Moves that discard or transfer one or more entry hazards.

Court Change, Defog, G-Max Wind Rage, Mortal Spin, Rapid Spin, Tidy Up

One-Hit Knockout Attack

Attacks that have an effect to instantly knock out a defender when the specified condition is met.

Fissure, Guillotine, Horn Drill, Sheer Cold.

Ability-Disrupting Move

Moves that negate, remove, or replace one or more of their defenders' abilities.

Core Enforcer, Entrainment, Gastro Acid, Simple Beam, Skill Swap, Worry Seed

Ability-Ignoring Move

Moves that ignore one or more of the defender's abilities only while they're being performed.

Core Enforcer, G-Max Drum Solo, G-Max Fireball, G-Max Hydrosnipe, Gigaton Hammer, Light That Burns The Sky, Menacing Moonraze Maelstrom, Moongeist Beam, Photon Geyser, Searing Sunraze Smash, Sunsteel Strike

Ability-Gaining Move

Moves that replace one or more of their users' abilities, or add further abilities to their user.

Doodle, Role Play, Skill Swap

Physical-Returning Attack

Attacks that have deal damage to attackers based on physical damage received by their user, regardless of their priority or their capacity to return other forms of damage.

Bide, Comeuppance, Counter, Metal Burst

Special-Returning Attack

Attacks that have deal damage to attackers based on special damage received by their user, regardless of their priority or their capacity to return other forms of damage.

Bide, Comeuppance, Metal Burst, Mirror Coat

Screen-Breaking Move

Moves that have an effect to discard Screens when they are executed.

Brick Break, Defog, Psychic Fangs

Screen-Bypassing Attack

Attacks whose damage isn't affected by the presence of damage-reducing Screens; consisting of both attacks that discard Screens and attacks that ensure that they hit critically.

Brick Break, Flower Trick, Frost Breath, Psychic Fangs, Storm Throw, Surging Strikes, Wicked Blow

[Selected Weather]-Inducing Move

Moves capable of creating the Weather or Terrain specified.

* Commands that induce weather are not included, making it more difficult to control weather against their users.

Weather: Combines the other clauses below into a single clause.

Fog: Clear Smog (Fog), Mist (Fog), Smog (Fog), Smokescreen (Fog)

Rain: Max Geyser, Rain Dance

Sandstorm: Max Rockfall, Sandstorm

Snow: Chilly Reception, Hail, Max Hailstorm, Snowscape

Sun: Max Flare, Sunny Day

Weather-Discarding Move

Moves with an effect to discard Weather in play.

Defog, G-Max Wind Rage

Furthermore, includes all moves observed by the "Weather-Inducing Move" Action Group.

[Selected Terrain]-Inducing Move

Moves capable of creating the Terrain specified.

* Commands that induce terrain are not included, making it more difficult to control terrain against their users.

{as above, including a catchall term}

Terrain: Combines the other clauses below into a single clause.

Electric Terrain: Electric Terrain, Max Lightning

Grassy Terrain: Grassy Terrain, Max Overgrowth

Misty Terrain: Max Starfall, Misty Terrain

Psychic Terrain: Genesis Supernova, Max Mindstorm, Psychic Terrain

Terrain-Discarding Move

Moves with an effect to discard Terrain in play.

Defog, G-Max Wind Rage, Ice Spinner, Splintered Stormshards, Steel Roller

Furthermore, includes all moves observed by the "Terrain-Inducing Move" Action Group.

[Selected Status]-Inflicting Move

Moves that typically inflict the specified Status. One of the Statuses listed below may be specified per clause. (e.g. "Burn-Inflicting Move")

* The clause "Freeze-Inflicting Moves" is understood to refer to moves that place Frost markers.

Burn: Inferno, Will-o-Wisp
Confusion: Chatter, Confuse Ray, Flatter, G-Max Befuddle, G-Max Smite, Supersonic, Swagger, Sweet Kiss, Teeter Dance
Freeze: { put frost-marker moves here }
Paralysis: G-Max Befuddle, G-Max Stun Shock, G-Max Volt Crash, Glare, Nuzzle, Stoked Sparksurfer, Stun Spore, Thunder Wave, Zap Cannon
Partial Trapping: Bind, Clamp, Fire Spin, G-Max Centiferno, G-Max Sandblast, Infestation, Magma Storm, Octolock, Sand Tomb, Thunder Cage, Whirlpool, Wrap
Poison: Combines the two clauses below into a single clause.
- Regular Poison: G-Max Malodor, G-Max Stun Shock, Mortal Spin, Poison Gas, Poison Powder, Toxic Thread
- Bad Poison: Smog (Fog), Toxic
Sleep: Dark Void, Hypnosis, G-Max Befuddle, G-Max Snooze, Grass Whistle, Lovely Kiss, Sing, Sleep Powder, Spore, Yawn
Trapping: Anchor Shot, Block, Fairy Lock, G-Max Terror, Mean Look, Spider Web, Spirit Shackle, Thousand Waves

[Selected Stat]-Raising Action

Moves and commands that typically raise the user's stage of the specified stat.

Attack: Bulk Up, Clangorous Soul, Clangorous Soulblaze, Coil, Dragon Dance, Extreme Evoboost, Gear Up, Growth, Hone Claws, Howl, Max Knuckle, Meditate, No Retreat, Power-Up Punch, Rototiller, Sharpen, Shift Gear, Swords Dance, Tidy Up, Work Up
Defense: Acid Armour, Barrier, Bulk Up, Clangorous Soul, Clangorous Soulblaze, Coil, Cosmic Power, Cotton Guard, Defend Order, Defense Curl, Extreme Evoboost, Flower Shield, Harden, Iron Defense, Magnetic Flux, Max Steelspike, No Retreat, Withdraw
Special Attack: Calm Mind, Clangorous Soul, Clangorous Soulblaze, Extreme Evoboost, Gear Up, Geomancy, Growth, Max Ooze, Nasty Plot, No Retreat, Quiver Dance, Rototiller, Tail Glow, Torch Song, Work Up
Special Defense: Amnesia, Aromatic Mist, Calm Mind, Charge, Clangorous Soul, Clangorous Soulblaze, Cosmic Power, Defend Order, Extreme Evoboost, Geomancy, Magnetic Flux, Max Quake, No Retreat, Quiver Dance
Speed: Agility, Aqua Step, Autotomize, Clangorous Soul, Clangorous Soulblaze, Dragon Dance, Extreme Evoboost, Flame Charge, G-Max Foam Burst, Geomancy, Max Airstream, No Retreat, Quiver Dance, Rock Polish, Shift Gear, Tidy Up, Trailblaze
Accuracy: Aim, Coil, Hone Claws
Evasion: Double Team, Minimize

In addition to the moves listed for the specified stat stage, this action group additionally watches for orders to use Z-Moves whose Z-Effects raise the specified stat stage.

[Selected Stat]-Lowering Action

Moves and commands that typically lower the defender's stage of the specified stat.

Attack: Baby-Doll Eyes, Charm, Chilling Water, Feather Dance, Growl, Lunge, Max Wyrmwind, Memento, Noble Roar, Parting Shot, Play Nice, Venom Drench, Tickle, Strength Sap, Tearful Look, Trop Kick
Defense: Fire Lash, Leer, Max Phantasm, Screech, Spicy Extract, Tail Whip, Tickle
Special Attack: Captivate, Confide, Eerie Impulse, Max Flutterby, Memento, Mystical Fire, Noble Roar, Parting Shot, Snarl, Struggle Bug, Tearful Look, Venom Drench
Special Defense: Acid Spray, Fake Tears, Lumina Crash, Max Darkness, Metal Sound
Speed: Bulldoze, Cotton Spore, Drum Beating, Electroweb, Glaciate, Icy Wind, Low Sweep, Max Strike, Mud Shot, Pounce, Rock Tomb, Scary Face, String Shot, Venom Drench
Accuracy: Flash, Kinesis, Mud-Slap, Sand Attack, Smokescreen
Evasion: G-Max Cuddle, G-Max Gravitas*, G-Max Tartness, Gravity*, Sweet Scent

* Due to the functionality of Gravity, moves that create these conditions are included in the action group "Evasion-Reducing Moves".

Standard Ball

One of the five mundane types of Ball available to explorers of the Safari Zone.

Poke Ball, Great Ball, Ultra Ball, Safari Ball, Park Ball

Nonstandard Ball

One of the types of Ball that must be carried in a backpack in the Safari Zone.

Beast Ball, Cherish Ball, Dive Ball, Dream Ball, Dusk Ball, Fast Ball, Friend Ball, Heal Ball, Heavy Ball, Level Ball, Love Ball, Lure Ball, Luxury Ball, Master Ball, Moon Ball, Nest Ball, Net Ball, Premier Ball, Quick Ball, Repeat Ball, Sport Ball, Strange Ball, Timer Ball

Ball

Any "Standard Ball" or "Nonstandard Ball".

[10.6e] State Clauses
A State Clause observes an element of the current state of the battle, other than the intent and orders of Pokemon. Broadly, State Clauses can be defined as any clause within the trigger component that isn't an Action Clause.

A State Clause observes a specific value within the game state. The way that value is observed depends on whether or not that value is numeric.

If the value being checked is numeric, the value is compared to a fixed numeric value provided by the issuing trainer, another acceptable State Clause numeric value, or a whole fraction (e.g half, two-thirds) or integer percentage (e.g. 10%, 123%) of another acceptable numeric value.

The issuing trainer must specify the comparison to be operated: find the greater, greater or equal, lesser, lesser or equal, equality, or inequality
The "fixed numeric value" from the issuing trainer must be an integer, fraction, or decimal. (no "i" or " θ ", etc. you know who you are.)

Examples: "IF you have more than 25 HP"

"IF your Speed is higher than Weavile's"

"IF Garchomp's Evasion stage is higher than your own Accuracy stage"

If the value being checked is not numeric, the value is checked for either presence or for absence, as specified by the issuing trainer.

Examples: "IF Weavile is not Burned"

"IF Weavile's team has Reflect"

"IF your field has Stealth Rock"

Below is a list of values that can be observed by a State Clause:

One of the following parameters of any single specified Pokemon (including inactive Pokemon):
- Their Maximum or Remaining HP, Energy, Recovery Allotment, Chill Allotment, EP.
- Their current or default value in a core stat or secondary stat (Attack, Defense, Special Attack, Special Defense, Speed, Size, or Weight).
- Their current, default, maximum, or minimum stat stage in a single specified stat or in critical hit stage.
- Their current Level, accounting for Level Sync.
- Their current or default species and/or Forme.
- The presence or the absence of a single specified ability.
- The equality or inequality of their abilities to their own default abilities, or to the default abilities of a specific Pokemon species and Forme.
- The quantity of items held by the Pokemon.
- The presence or the absence of a single specified item among the Pokemon's held items.
- The presence or the absence of a single specified condition, or of any Major Status. (whether or not they are "under the effects of" or "subject to" that condition or group.)
  - The scope of the clause may be reduced to instances of that specified condition containing a specified parameter. (Example: "IF your Earthquake is Sealed" checks for the Sealed condition with the parameter "Earthquake".)
- The presence or absence of any of a list of specified types within the Pokemon's typing.
- The equality or inequality of their typing to their own default typing, or to the default typing of a specific Pokemon species and Forme.
- The presence or absence of a single specified move or command within the Pokemon's current movepool, or within their default movepool for their current Level.
- Their Capture Tracker length, the Tracker's degree of fullness, and the presence or absence of a given type of Ball within the Tracker.
One of the following parameters of a single specified Trainer:
- The presence or absence of a single specified item in their Backpack.
  - (Items that have been equipped or consumed from their Backpack are no longer in their Backpack.)
- The quantity of their Pokemon in play.
One of the following parameters of a single specified Team:
- The presence or the absence of a single specified field condition, or of any Screen, or of any Hazard.
- The quantity of remaining Trainers on that Team.
One of the following parameters of the entire battle:
- The presence or the absence of a single specified battle condition, or of any Weather, or of any Terrain.
- The presence or the absence of a single specified dropped item.
- The quantity of remaining Teams in contention.

[10.6f] Special Substitution Triggers
A substitution can be created with an empty Trigger Component; that is to say, without any Action Clauses or State Clauses at all. This is sometimes called a "True Clause" or an "If-Able Clause". Such a substitution will trigger every time its timing component is met, if its result component is fully possible.

To write a substitution with no trigger component, you must indicate that the trigger component is empty. Phrasings such as "IF you are able" or "IF possible" are acceptable ways to issue such a substitution. Unlike with the timing component, simply writing no trigger component at all renders the substitution illegal.

Example: A substitution using a True Clause may read, "At the start of your turn, if possible, use Phantom Force." The same substitution may also be written, "At the start of your turn, if you are able, use Phantom Force."

It may not legally be written, "At the start of your turn, use Phantom Force."

A State Clause that checks a single specified Pokemon, who was not Fainted at the start of the round, for the Fainting condition is said to be a "KO Clause". A substitution that contains only a KO Clause in its trigger component, and that has no specified timing clauses (therefore having the default), is said to be a "KO Substitution". The first KO Substitution ordered for each Pokemon in an order post does not count towards that Pokemon's substitution count.

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[10.7]

The Result Component

The Result Component of a substitution is an instruction to be followed when the substitution activates. It modifies the intent or orders of the recipient Pokemon. The result component should be written as the last part of a substitution.

In all cases, a result clause that would give a Pokemon either current intent to use an action that they cannot attempt, or give them later orders to do so, is illegal.

The Result Component may have no more than three Result Clauses, which are resolved in the sequence they are listed by their issuing trainer. Each such Clause may have up to one affix. Result Clauses should be clearly separated from one another with a delimiter (such as ";") or phrase (such as "and then").

Example Result Components:

"THEN use Stealth Rock on first instance, and then use Spikes on other instances."

"THEN use Overheat on Ferrothorn, and replace all Close Combats with U-turns targeting Wo-Chien."

"THEN ignore your third substitution for the rest of the round, and then begin to use Mimic (Sacred Fire), Sacred Fire, Sacred Fire."

[10.7a] Result Clauses
Result clauses are the only clause that can be used in a substitution's result. These clauses all modify the Pokemon's own intent, orders, or substitutions in some way. The acceptable clauses are as follows:

Use a new action.

Give the Pokemon new intent in the current step, overwriting their current one.

("Use Brick Break on Weavile")

Use a new action on the next step or on a specified step number.

Give the Pokemon a new order, overwriting a later order or orders in the round. Either a step number to be replaced, or "the next step", must be specified.

If the step is the current step, overwrites the Pokemon's intent instead.

("Use Protect next step" or "Use U-turn on step 3")

Begin a sequence of new actions.

Give the Pokemon a sequence of new orders, each overwriting an old order. The current step's new order also becomes the Pokemon's new intent.

("Begin using Swords Dance, Drain Punch, Drain Punch.")

Replace all of one action with another.

Replaces all of the Pokemon's intent and orders, that match the first specified action, with a new second specified action.

("Replace all Solar Beams with Energy Ball.")

Ignore one or more other substitutions.

Ignore one or more of the receiving Pokemon's other substitutions for a specified duration or for the rest of the round, whichever is shorter.

("Ignore your third sub until Arcanine's next turn ends.")

Delay ("push down", "push right") the user's orders.

"Pushes" the Pokemon's pending orders, moving them one or more steps later in the round. Any gaps in the Pokemon's orders that are created as a result of pulling will contain Struggle by default.

The Pokemon's intent becomes their new order in the current step.

("Push down orders.")

Intend a new action and then push down orders.

As above, except that the Pokemon is given intent to use a new specified action.

("Use Protect and push down.")

Expedite ("pull back", "pull left") the user's orders.

"Pulls" the Pokemon's pending orders, moving them one or more steps earlier in the round. Any gaps in the Pokemon's orders that are created as a result of pulling will contain Struggle by default.

The Pokemon's intent becomes their new order in the current step.

[10.7b] Result Affixes
Each Result Clause may have up to one of the following affixes appended to it, if desired.

...on Nth instance

The affixed Result Clause will be ignored, except for the Nth time the substitution triggers.

...on other instances

The affixed Result Clause will be ignored during instances mentioned on another Result Clause's affix in the same substitution.

(Writings similar to "on later instances" are understood to be this affix.)

...if it is step N

The affixed Result Clause will be ignored, except during the specified step.

...in other steps

The affixed Result Clause will be ignored during steps mentioned on another Result Clause's affix in the same substitution.

(Writings similar to "on later/prior steps" are understood to be this affix.)

...otherwise

The affixed Result Clause will be ignored during instances mentioned on a clause affixed "on Nth instance", and it will also be ignored during steps mentioned on a clause affixed with "if it is step N".

Substitutions, whose Result Clauses would all be ignored in the current timing, are ignored during that timing. (They aren't checked, and cannot trigger.)

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[10.8]

Resolving Substitution Conflicts

In many cases, substitutions will resolve cleanly as written, without affecting other substitutions. However, it can sometimes be unclear what happens when two substitutions reference each other or attempt to give a dubiously-possible instruction.

As stated above: In each step, no more than one of each Pokemon's substitutions may trigger. Once one of that Pokemon's substitutions has triggered, none of that Pokemon's substitutions are evaluated for the rest of that step.

[10.8a] Observed Action Rule
If one substitution with an Action Clause has been evaluated as having observed an action, and another substitution posted later would trigger with a result clause that would change that observed action, in a way that would cause the first substitution's Action Clauses to either become true or to become false; instead, then that later substitution is illegal.

If the truth or falsehood of each of that first substitution's Action Clauses would not change, then this rule isn't relevant to the interaction.

Because most (but not all) interactions involving this rule would be infinite loops otherwise, this is also called the "Sub-Loop Rule". This rule prevents players posting orders later from using their substitutions to "cancel out" their earlier-posting opponents' substitutions.

[10.8b] Time Travel Rule
If a substitution would trigger, with a Result Clause that would give its recipient Pokemon an intended action, whose priority is greater than the current priority in the step; instead, that substitution is illegal.

f a substitution would trigger, with a Result Clause that would instruct to use a trainer item, and the timing for trainer item use in the current step has already passed; instead, that substitution is illegal.

This rule prevents players from having their Pokemon "go back" in the step to use a higher-priority move or to use a trainer item, after opposing Pokemon have taken their turns and missed their opportunities to respond.

LouisCyphre · Dec 23, 2022

11. Techniques

[11.1]

Techniques

Techniques are special game actions that tax a trainer's concentration and their team's endurance to perform. This stamina is represented using a numeric value called Technique Control ("Tech", not "TC"). This value represents the synergy and concentration shared between a trainer and their Pokemon.

Advanced Techniques are unlocked as a reward that can be earned by Level 4 Pokemon. Each Pokemon may use only one (1) advanced Technique per round. (Combos and Fusion are just Techniques.)

Combinations are usable by any Pokemon that are Level 1 or higher, and do not need to be earned.

Techniques include the following:

Difficult Combination Moves used by Pokemon.
Sending out certain difficult-to-control Pokemon at all.
Performing certain venue-specific feats, such as displaying defiance in the Battle Pike.

A specific subset of Techniques are referred to as "Advanced". The Advanced Techniques are:

Mega Evolution, allowing specific species of Pokemon to hold Mega Stones and thereby temporarily evolve mid-battle.
Z-Moves, allowing holders of special Z-Crystals to elevate their moves with a number of powerful modifiers.
Dynamax, allowing Pokemon ordering first to grow to immense proportion and access powerful Max Moves.
Terastal, allowing Pokemon to change their type entirely in the Switching Phase, turning the tables on the opponent.

Each core Leveling venue has an Advanced Technique as a reward. Only certain ventures within the facility may offer the technique.

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[11.2]

Combinations

:sv/metang:

Combinations (or "Combos") are an action performed by spending Technique Control to fuse two standard moves.

Season 2 Stopgap (Until 2025-Jan-01 UTC)
Combinations ordered after any opponents have ordered (that is, when ordering second, typically) cost two (2) Technique Control, rather than one.

Larger changes to combinations are planned for the Season 3 Major Update, scheduled for next January. Until those changes are feasible, this rule is acting as a stopgap measure.

Combinations are ordered by listing the two component moves in sequence, separated by a " + " (plus sign).

Combinations are legal if:

The user is Level 2 or higher.
The user hasn't attempted any Combinations this round.
All of their components share a legal target in play.
- For legality, scopes that target a team target that team's Pokemon.
- For legality, "The Battlefield" targets all Pokemon.
All of their components have a Combo Level.
All of their components share one or more Combo Classes, and one or more Combo Subclasses.
None of the components are Max Moves, G-Max Moves, or Z-Moves.

Combinations can only be attempted by a Pokemon who can attempt each component, and can only be executed by a Pokemon who can execute each component.

Pokemon can't receive intent to use an illegal combination.

[11.2a] Combination Properties
The component listed first in a Combination is the "primary" component; the others are "supporting" components.

The properties of a Combination are determined based on the components as follows:

Name: All of the names of the components.
Restriction Text: Each component's restriction text in sequence.
Effect Text: Each component's effect text in sequence.
- Unique conditions created by a combination, that aren't created with any names, are named after the component providing the creating effect.
Type: The type of the primary component.
Category: The category of the first-listed attack component.
- "Other" if no components are attacks.
Target Scope: The scope that targets the greatest number of Pokemon, from among the component moves' scopes.
- For combination properties, scopes that target a team target that team's Pokemon.
- For combination properties, "The Battlefield" targets no Pokemon.
- If no component targets any Pokemon, the scope if the Pokemon that targets the most teams is used.
Hit Count: The highest hit count from among the component moves.
- If a combination has multiple effects that modify its hit count, apply them all. The combination has the highest resulting hit count.
Base Attack Power: The BAP of the component with the highest possible hit count.
- Otherwise, combinations have the highest BAP among the component moves against each target.
Accuracy: The highest numeric Accuracy from among components.
- ("--" is not a numeric Accuracy.)
Energy Cost: The sum of the component's Energy Costs, multiplied as follows:
- x1 if all components are attacks,
- x2 if none of the components are attacks,
- x3 otherwise.
Effect Chance: Special.
- While resolving an effect of the combination, the combination has the Effect Chance of the effect's source component.
- At other times, the combination has the highest Effect Chance among the components.
Priority: Lowest non-zero priority among components.
- Zero, if all components have zero priority.
Contact: The combination makes contact if any component makes contact.
Snatch: Combinations can't be Snatched.
Reflect: The combination is reflectable if any component is reflectable.
Tags: The combination has all tags from among the components.

Combinations can't be elevated into Z-Moves or into Max Moves.

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[11.3]

Pokemon Fusion

:bw/kyurem-black:

Certain Pokemon are unobtainable entirely outside of battle. Instead, they can be fielded by combining two or more specified component Pokemon into a new battler entirely.

Pokemon that require Fusion will have a trait specifying this in the Data Audit, as well as detailing the required component Pokemon and fusion key item. Fusing Pokemon may or may not cost 1 Technique Control, as specified by the text of the relevant fused key item.

[11.3a] Ordering a Fused Sendout
A trainer can send out a Fused Pokemon whenever they would send out one of that Pokemon's non-fused Formes, while at least one of each other Pokemon mentioned in that Fused Pokemon's trait is on that team's bench or in their reserve. The Pokemon being Fused upon sendout becomes the Fusion host, and all other Pokemon becomes the Fusion components.

Example: Kyurem-White has a trait which may say, "Fusion of Kyurem and Reshiram, using the Light Stone." When a trainer who owns a Light Stone in their profile sends out Kyurem, while they have an inactive Reshiram, they may elect to send that Kyurem out as Kyurem-White.

[11.3b] Properties of Fused Pokemon
A Fused Pokemon has the majority of their properties replaced by their new species, like other Forme changes. Their stats, typing, abilities, traits, movepool, and signature moves are those of their new species and Forme; replacing the properties of the host and component Pokemon entirely.

The Fused Pokemon will have the sum of all stages, markers, and held items that the host and components had when they were fused. They will also have the most recently created condition of each name, from among the host and component Pokemon. (The other, older instances of those conditions are discarded. Also, typically, the Fused Pokemon will then begin to discard items until they can legally hold what remains, during Post-Event Checks.)

Though unlikely, it is possible for a Fused Pokemon to inherit the Fainting condition from their host or components, causing the Fused Pokemon to immediately leave play again in Post-Event Checks.

The Fused Pokemon will have the average of the remaining HP of each of the host and component Pokemon; and it will have the average of their remaining Energy as well. This can legally cause the newly Fused Pokemon to have HP or Energy in excess of their new maximums. (Rather than following usual rules for when maximum HP or Energy changes.)

Example: Ghetsis has a Kyurem on his bench with 40 remaining HP, that is Asleep for their next 2 turns, and that is holding a Life Orb. Ghetsis also has a Reshiram on his bench with 95 remaining HP, that was put to sleep before Kyurem for their next turn, that is Paralyzed with one paralysis counter, and that was equipped with a Dragon Gem before Kyurem. Upon fusing these two Pokemon using the Light Stone, Ghetsis will have a Kyurem-White in play with 68 HP (rounded normally from 67.5), the newer of the two instances of the Sleep condition, the Paralysis condition and marker from Reshiram, and that is holding a Life Orb and a Dragon Gem. Kyurem-White will immediately have to drop held items in excess of their limit, unless an effect elsewhere in play allows them to hold both items.

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[11.4]

Mega Evolution

:sv/venusaur-mega:

This technique allows a Pokemon to assume a more powerful Mega Forme by holding a special item called a Mega Stone.

Only certain species of Pokemon are eligable to unlock Mega Evolution:

Venusaur,

Charizard, :blastoise:

Blastoise, :beedrill:

Beedrill,

Pidgeot,

Alakazam,

Slowbro,

Gengar,

Kangaskhan, :pinsir:

Pinsir,

Gyarados,

Aerodactyl,

Mewtwo,

Ampharos,

Steelix,

Scizor,

Heracross, :houndoom:

Houndoom,

Tyranitar, :sceptile:

Sceptile,

Blaziken,

Swampert,

Gardevoir, :sableye:

Sableye,

Mawile,

Aggron,

Medicham,

Manectric, :camerupt:

Camerupt,

Sharpedo,

Altaria,

Banette,

Absol,

Glalie,

Salamence, :metagross:

Metagross,

Latias,

Latios,

Kyogre,

Groudon,

Rayquaza,

Lopunny,

Garchomp,

Lucario,

Abomasnow, :gallade:

Gallade,

Audino,

Diancie,

Necrozma,

Crucibelle

Other species of Pokemon cannot have or unlock Mega Evolution. However, effects (such as the move Transform) can transform non-Mega-eligable Pokemon into a Mega Forme by using Mega-Evolved Pokemon as reference.

A Pokemon is eligable to Mega Evolve in battle if:

They have unlocked Mega Evolution.
Their current species has a Mega Forme.
They are holding their current species' associated Mega Stone. (Example: Scizor holding Scizorite.)
- Kyogre must instead hold a Blue Orb.
- Groudon must instead hold a Red Orb.
- Rayquaza does not require a specific held item.
- Necrozma must hold instead hold Ultranecrozium Z; additionally, Necrozma must have undergone Pokemon Fusion (See 11.3 "Pokemon Fusion") and transformed to either their Dawn-Wings or Dusk-Mane Forme.

As you issue orders to a Pokemon that meets the criteria for Mega Evolution, you can start those orders with an order to Mega Evolve. Doing so isn't part of the main orders or substitutions, and isn't an action. Mega Evolution occurs at the start of the Battling Phase. (See 2.7 "The Battling Phase". )

Mega Evolution changes a Pokemon's Forme, which can change their typing, abilities, and stats; just as any other Forme change might. (See 5.9 "Species and Formes".)

Mega Evolution lasts until the Pokemon faints or the battle ends.

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[11.5]

Z-Moves

:sv/kommo-o:

This technique allows a trainer to elevate their Pokemon's moves into powerful and adaptable Z-Moves, so long as they are holding the appropriate Z-Crystal.

[11.5a] Earning Z-Moves
Any Level 4 Pokemon can earn the ability to perform Z-Moves by fully completing an appropriate Level 4 Realgam Simulation in the Realgam Tower, or by defeating Pike Queen Lucy in Silver Rank of the Battle Pike and selecting Z-Moves as their reward.

To elevate a move into a Z-Move, a Pokemon must have Z-Moves unlocked, they must hold an appropriately-typed Z-Crystal, and they must spend 1 Technique Control.

A Pokemon that has earned the ability to perform Z-Moves may perform any signature Z-Moves available to their species if they are holding their species' associated Z-Crystal. Only certain Pokemon have signature Z-Moves, listed in the "TECHS" page of the Data Audit.

Any Pokemon can hold a Z-Crystal regardless of Z-Move access, if their immunity to item removal is desirable.

[11.5b] Ordering Z-Moves:
A trainer can include generic Z-Moves in the ordersets they issue to their Pokemon by prefixing a standard move of the appropriate type with a desired Z-Power. (e.g. "Z-Force Hydro Pump", "Z-Wide Conversion", etc.) The base move is said to be "elevated" by that Z-Power into a Z-Move.

The equipped Z-Crystal determines which Z-Powers are available for elevating the holder's moves.

Some crystals provide specific Pokemon with a signature base Move, intended to be used with Z-Powers. The "base move" provided by these crystals can't be attempted or executed, except as a Z-Move.

[11.5c] Z-Move Details:
The properties of the Z-Move attempted by the Pokemon depend on the move being elevated and the Z-Power elevating it. The five available Z-Powers are as follows:

Z-Force: Modifies attacking moves only. The move's effect text is ignored, but its BAP increases greatly, and its Accuracy increases.
Z-Harm: Modifies non-attack moves only. The move becomes a single-target 12 BAP attack, that retains its effect.
Z-Pierce: The move ignores effects, other than its own.
Z-Twin: The move creates duplicate conditions, and changes stat stages by twice as much.
Z-Wide: The move's target scope is widened, based on its original target scope.

Each Z-Power modifies the base move in a different way. Find details on each Z-Power below.

Z-Force
(Example: Z-Force Overheat, Z-Force Sheer Cold)
This prefix transforms attacks into powerful nukes, removing their other text. This closely resembles the prior version of Z-Attacks.

This prefix only modifies moves that already have a BAP.
The Z-Move's restriction text, effect text, and tags are ignored.
The Z-Move no longer belongs to any of the base move's Action Groups.
The Z-Move's base BAP is increased by 14, to a maximum of 24. (This can result in certain moves becoming weaker when elevated with Z-Force.)
The Z-Move's base Accuracy (if any) is increased by 50, to a maximum of 100.
The base move's target scope becomes "Any One Target".

Z-Harm
(Example: Z-Harm Moonlight, Z-Harm Sunny Day)
This prefix transforms non-attacks into respectably powerful attacks.

This prefix only modifies moves with no BAP.
The Z-Move's BAP becomes 12.
The Z-Move is Physical if the user's Attack rank is higher than their Special Attack; otherwise, the Z-Move is Special.
The base move's target scope becomes "Any One Target".

Z-Pierce
(Example: Z-Pierce Taunt, Z-Pierce Dragon Tail)
The move is performed with no regard for any other effects, for better or worse.

While the Z-Move is being performed; the effects of abilities, held items, conditions, markers, and other moves are all ignored.
The effects of arenas are not ignored.

Z-Twin
(Example: Z-Twin Leech Seed, Z-Twin Cotton Guard)
The created conditions and stage changes of the move are duplicated.

If the move would create a condition; instead, it creates two of that condition, and the second copy of that condition is also named "Duplicate".
If the move would change a stage by an amount; instead, it changes that stage by twice that amount.

Z-Wide
(Example: Z-Wide Moonlight, Z-Wide Detect)
The move is widened to target more Pokemon than it normally would.

If the base move's target scope is "Any One Target"; the Z-Move's target scope is "All Opponents".
If the base move's target scope is "Any One Ally", "Any Other Ally", or "User"; the Z-Move's target scope is "All Allies".
If the base move's target scope isn't any of the above, elevating it with this prefix changes nothing.
If the base move's target scope is "User", any conditions it would grant to the user are instead granted to the user and each ally in play.

Standard Z-Crystals
For each type, there will be a standard Z-Crystal that offers the holder a specific suite of Z-Powers. Z-Crystals associated with types that have fewer moves will offer stronger and more varied Z-Powers.

Signature Z-Moves
Some Pokemon have special Z-Crystals intended for their particular species. These crystals unlock their potential only when held by the appropriate holder.

These are unique "base moves" specific to certain Pokemon, that may be used only as Z-Moves. Signature Z-Crystals provide these unique moves when held by their associated Pokemon, and allow their associated holders to use any of the five Z-Powers with that base move specifically.

Additionally, these provided moves typically have restriction text that prevents attempting them, if a specific other named move can't be attempted.

Example: Malicious Moonsault might have the text "[...] if the user isn't Incineroar, or if the user can't attempt Darkest Lariat; this move can't be attempted." This mirrors the source material, where Malicious Moonsault is an elevated form of Darkest Lariat.

[11.5d] Z-Move Restrictions
Pokemon can't attempt Z-Moves if any member of their team has attempted a Z-Move in the same round.

Combinations, Max Moves, and G-Max Moves can't be elevated into Z-Moves.

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[11.6]

Dynamax

:sv/flapple-gmax:

This technique allows a trainer to truly make their pocket monster grow, growing them to immense size and allowing access to a powerful moveset of Max Moves.

[11.6a] Earning Dynamax:
Any Level 4 Pokemon can earn the ability to Dynamax by fully completing a Level 4 Raid Boss Battle in the Raid Zone, or by defeating Pike Queen Lucy in Silver Rank of the Battle Pike and selecting Dynamax as their reward.

A Pokemon's Gigantimax forme, if any, is automatically included when that Pokemon earns the ability to Dynamax.

[11.6b] Ordering Dynamax:
A trainer may order their Pokemon to Dynamax before their main orders for that Pokemon, so long as no opponents have posted orders in that round. (e.g. Only while ordering first, for most intents and purposes.)

See x.x "Issuing Orders" for details on ordering Dynamax, and x.x "The Battle Phase" for details on the timing of Dynamax once ordered.

[11.6c] Dynamax Details:
A Pokemon who Dynamaxes undergoes the following changes until the end of the round:

Max Moves: Moves in the Pokemon's orders (including result clauses), that are prefixed with the word "Max" (e.g. Max Flamethrower), are replaced by that move's corresponding Max Move.
- Because damaging Max Moves require a source move, they can't be ordered directly.
  (e.g. you can't order "Max Wyrmwind" instead of "Max Draco Meteor".)
- Non-Max Physical moves become the corresponding damaging Max Move for that type, which become Physical.
- Non-Max Special moves become the corresponding damaging Max Move for that type, which become Special.
- Non-Max Status moves become Max Guard.
- None of the properties of the move being replaced are inherited by the Max Move, except for its category.
Max Guard:All Pokemon learn Max Guard while they are Dynamaxed.
- Max Guard can be ordered directly, if desired.
G-Max Moves: A Pokemon whose species has a signature G-Max Move can receive orders to use that move while they are Dynamaxed.
- G-Max Moves are Max Moves.
Size Increase: A Pokemon's Size Class is increased by 10 while it is Dynamaxed.
Weight: A Pokemon's Weight Class is unchanged while they are Dynamaxed.

Example: Madeleine orders her Inteleon to Dynamax this round. She issues the main orders Max Snipe Shot, Max Soak, Max Liquidation; and the substitution "IF Cinderace is Fighting-type THEN use Air Slash."

Since Inteleon will be Dynamaxed this round, the Max-prefixed Snipe Shot and Liquidation will each be replaced with Max Geyser, and the Max-prefixed Soak will be replaced with Max Guard. The first Max Geyser will be a Special attack and the second Max Geyser will be a Physical attack.

If Cinderace is a Fighting-type when Inteleon's substitution is checked, Inteleon will perform Air Slash. It won't be replaced with Max Airstream because Inteleon's substitution doesn't prefix Air Slash with "Max". Lastly, because non-Max Moves are replaced with only generic Max Moves, Inteleon won't attempt G-Max Hydrosnipe because it wasn't ordered directly.

[11.6d] Dynamax Restrictions:
Zacian, Zamazenta, and Eternatus may not Dynamax due to their shared trait. Instead, these Pokemon have powerful signature moves that have doubled power against Pokemon that are Dynamaxed.

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[11.7]

Terastal

:sv/terapagos-terastal:

This technique allows a trainer to crown their Pokemon with a capstone of purest crystal, altering their typing entirely and allowing the Pokemon to access the exclusive adaptively-typed attack move Tera Blast.

[11.7a] Earning Terastal:
Any Level 4 Pokemon can earn the ability to Terastallize by fully completing a Level 4 Expedition in the Safari Zone, or by defeating Pike Queen Lucy in Silver Rank of the Battle Pike and selecting Terastal as their reward.

When claiming the ability for a Pokemon to Terastallize, select a Tera Type out of the 18 available types, plus "Stellar" as a 19th option. (Non-Stellar Terastal is said to be "typed Terastal".) A Pokemon's Tera Type can only be changed by paying a currency cost, listed in the Prize Claiming Thread.

[11.7b] Ordering Terastal:
A trainer may order their Pokemon to Terastallize in the Switch Phase, with the same timing as manual switching. A Pokemon can't ordered to Terastallize and also be switched out in the same Switch Phase.

Initiating a Switch Phase by Terastallizing a Pokemon presents opponents with an opportunity to counterswitch. Furthermore, initiating a Switch Phase by manually switching Pokemon presents opponents with an opportunity to Terastallize.

Whether or not a Pokemon may switch out (For example, whether or not the Pokemon is Trapped) has no bearing on their ability to Terastallize.

See x.x "Ordering a Switch Phase" for specific details on ordering Terastallization.

Effects may instruct a Pokemon to Terastallize into a specified type. That type is treated as that Pokemon's Tera Type for the duration of that Terastallization.

[11.7c] Terastal Details:
A Pokemon who Terastallizes undergoes the following changes for the remainder of the match, even if the Pokemon leaves play:

Type Change: A Terastallized Pokemon's typing is always equal to their Tera Type, unless that type is Stellar; either way, effects can't change a Terastallized Pokemon's types.
- A Terastallized Pokemon can still gain conditions that would change their type, though such conditions will fail to do so.
STAB Enhancement: Attacks performed by Terastallized Pokemon have altered rules for determining the STAB modifier:
- Such attacks have their power raised by three (3) if they share a type with either their user's original typing or with their user's Tera Type.
- If such an attack shares a type with both their user's original typing and with their user's Tera Type, the attack's power is instead raised by five (5).
- If the Pokemon is Stellar Terastallized, the attacks of the Pokemon are raised by three (3) regardless of their typing.
- Either way, this procedure replaces the usual procedure for the STAB step of damage calculation.
Tera Blast: When a Pokemon that does not know Tera Blast becomes Terastallized, they learn Tera Blast as a borrowed move for the rest of the battle.
- If the user's Tera Type is Stellar, Tera Blast has a special typing interaction with opponents' Advanced Techniques. See 5.3a "Types".

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LouisCyphre · Jan 29, 2023

12. Profiles and Progression
Sections 1 through 11 focus on the rules for battles themselves. This section instead concerns the rules around those battles, such as their rewards, how to handle tardiness, and how players start and finish these battles.

[12.1]

Trainer Profiles

Trainer profiles are the main way for a player to track their progression and their resources. As such, they must contain a certain set of elements:

A tally of the Trainer's currencies
- This must include Training Counters (TC), Rental Counters (RC), Judge Counters (JC), Star Pieces (SP), and Comet Shards (CS)
- It is also advised, though not mandatory, to keep track of EXP records, Vouchers, and Stardust in the profile
A compendium of the Trainer's owned items
- This includes Key Items
A list of the Trainer's unlocked Vocations
All of a Trainer's owned Pokemon's complete profiles

As long as those elements are clearly visible and identifiable, a Trainer is free to customize their profile however they want, by adding flavor, pictures, or other details for their own or others' benefit.

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[12.2]

Battles and Battle Venues

A variety of terms are used to describe a game of BBP, and the places a game can be started.

A battle is a single instance of gameplay between two or more teams, that resolves in some number of losing teams and, typically, some number of winning teams.
- A match is a set of battles; where overall winners or losers are found using an aggregate of battle results. (Example: A best 2-out-of-3 match.)
A battle venue (or just a "venue") is a thread that hosts battles of a particular type. The Circuit thread, each Facility thread, the Battle Tower, and so on are all battle venues.
- A ventureis one of the potential battles or chains of battles provided by a battle venue.
  - A player's attempt to defeat a venture is called a challenge.

Example: The Safari Zone is a battle venue. The habitat "Cavern of the Scar Artist", provided by the Safari Zone, is a venture. Madeleine's attempt to clear Cavern of the Scar Artist is said to be her challenge, and she is said to be challenging that [word above].

[12.2a] Queues
Venues and other threads (such as Prize Claims) use queues to ensure all challengers eventually get to play.

The correct sort order for challengers in a PvE venue's queue is as follows:

First-time challengers (new to the venue) above repeat challengers.
Challengers seeking subreffing above challengers seeking a first referee.
Older challenges above newer challenges.

When players are delinquent in their challenge, they may be re-queued to the bottom of the appropriate venue's queue. The re-queued challenge is considered to be issued anew, at the time of re-queuing.

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[12.3]

Battle Progress

Users' rewards from a completed or discontinued challenge are determined by a fractional "Progress" value when that challenge concludes.

Each venture in BBP states its progress value and progress quota, for players and for referees.

For players, progress is used to measure how much of a venture they completed. This matters if they are defeated, or their challenge otherwise ends early.
For referees, progress is used to measure how much of the reffing work each referee performed. This matters when paying rewards to multiple referees.

Example: A venture may state "Player Progress: Boss remaining HP / Boss maximum HP". The more the player can lower the Boss' HP, the greater their reward.

Example: A venture may state "Referee Progress: Rounds reffed / Total rounds". If multiple referees are needed, each will be paid based on the number of rounds they reffed.

The progress fraction in a venture can't exceed 1/1, unless stated otherwise.

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[12.4]

Rewards

Battles pay various rewards, depending on the amount of progress attained:

Progress Rewards: These rewards are paid regardless of victory or defeat. The amount paid is multiplied by the battle's Progress Fraction, and then rounded down at the end.

Unless otherwise stated, progress rewards are rounded up for completing referees, and rounded down for other referees and for players.

Example: A venture may award "Progress: 10 EXP for each player Pokemon" or "Progress: 6 TC".

Milestone Rewards: These rewards are paid in full if a certain amount of progress is made, and not paid at all otherwise. Milestone Rewards may be available to only some teams in a battle.

Example: A venture may award "Milestone 2/3: 1 Academy Credit".

Victory Rewards: These rewards are paid to teams of winning players. These rewards are typically specific to challengers, or to participants in PvP. A venture may further specify rewards for a first-time victory.

Example: A venture may award "Victory: Necrozma Lv1" or "First-time Victory: Promote to Silver Rank".

Completion Rewards: These rewards are paid if a challenge is completed, regardless of outcome. These rewards are typically specific to referees, and are intended to encourage avoiding ref-DQ. A venture may further specify rewards for "timely completion", for players or referees who avoid using any Battle Hours.

[12.4a] Rewards for Delinquent Players
When a player loses to disqualification, they should be any rewards they have earned so far, based on the battle's current Progress, in the next referee post in the battle. This may result in the player being paid early for an ongoing battle, which then goes on without them.

The disqualified player isn't eligible for further rewards for that battle. (Their rewards are "locked in" at the moment of their loss.) This differs from other players that lose battles (such as by running out of Pokemon): Those players can still win further rewards if their team fights on without them.

[12.4b] Claiming Rewards
-how 2 claim

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[12.5]

Hours and Delinquency

Being asynchronous, BBP uses a system called "Hours" to help players and referees fit battles into their real-life schedules, but still encourage punctuality.

Each battle's format specifies an amount of "Round Hours" and "Battle Hours" for players and referees. (Example: A battle may offer players 48 Round Hours and 72 Battle Hours.)

For each whole hour that passes while it's a user's turn to post, one hour is deducted from their clock. (So, they technically have 59 minutes of grace, if they're precise.)

Round Hours are spent first, and refresh at the end of each round.
If no Round Hours remain, that user's Battle Hours deplete instead. In multi-battle challenges, these refresh after each battle.

[12.5a] Hours and Edits
A user's Hours are deducted until they create a legal post. (Example: An order post with legal orders, a send-out post with a legal send-out, etc.)

Once a user has posted, a poster may always legally edit their post so long as it is the most recent post in the thread. Editing in this way doesn't affect the post's time of creation.

If a post is made while you're editing or posting, the forum typically will show you this helpful notice:

If a legal post is made while you're editing your own post, discard your changes. You may wish to copy your changes to Notepad or similar before discarding them.

If you save your edits, and find that a legal post was made before your edits were saved, reach out to them moderators for help reverting your edits.

Editing the relevant contents (e.g. orders, send-outs, etc.) of a post, other than the latest post of a round, may constitute cheating. Likewise, attempts to deny players the chance to edit by posting a "dummy post" (a technically-legal post with orders, send-outs, etc. intended to be replaced with "real" contents later) may constitute angle-shootng. See 12.9 "Penalties".

[12.5b] Delinquency
A user who has no remaining Hours is considered delinquent, and is subject to action as follows:

If a player runs out of Battle Hours in a PvE challenge, the referee is to "re-queue" that player by returning the player's challenge to the bottom of the relevant facility's queue.

When the player's challenge is taken by a new (or the same) referee later, the player is given 48 Battle Hours.
If a player runs out of Battle Hours a second time in the same challenge, the referee is to disqualify ("DQ") that player. Their continued delinquency is to be taken as a motion to forfeit the challenge.
The referee who issued the DQ may reclaim the challenge once it becomes available in the queue, if so desired.

If a player runs out of Battle Hours in a PvP match, that player should simply be DQ'd.

If a referee runs out of Battle Hours, the referee is referee-disqualified ("ref-DQ'd") from the challenge. The player is to priority-requeue their own challenge, returning it to the top of the relevant venue's queue.

Subsequent referees to take that takes that challenge will have a full stock of Battle Hours.
The challenge can't be taken by the last referee to be DQ'd in that challenge. (That referee would have to take the next challenge after in the queue.)
Referees are encouraged to keep their workload within their abilities.

In battles with multiple non-referee players; such as casual battles or cooperative events, players should be disqualified when they first become delinquent, and control of their Pokemon should be given over to their remaining team members, if any. The delinquent player can't return to their team or the battle, even if they return to activity in BBP.

Pokemon whose trainers have been removed from the match for delinquency are said to be "stranded".
The remaining teammates will decide which reserve each stranded Pokemon will be moved to.
The delinquent Trainer's backpack is inaccessible (even by Pickpockets), as are any items that get returned to that backpack. The stranded Pokemon are equipped, if necessary, from the remaining Trainers' backpacks.
- However, stranded Pokemon retain their held items when their trainer becomes delinquent.

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[12.6]

Substitute Referees

In some cases, it may be necessary to replace a delinquent or requesting referee. In this case, a volunteer substitute referee (called a "subref") must be found.

While a referee is delinquent, any of their players may move to request a substitute referee, or "subref", by posting their motion in the battle's venue with a link to the battle to be subreffed. Additionally, they should add their subref request to the appropriate position in the venue's queue. (See 12.2 "Queues")

Once a subreffing request is posted, the previous referee is relieved from reffing that battle, even if they return to activity elsewhere.

When a new referee takes a match from a queue, they will have a full stock of Battle Hours, as determined by the venue. The new referee should post the current battle status (Pokemon, HP, status conditions, special arena effects, and so on) for all players to inspect for accuracy. When the battle completes, the completing referee will pay each prior referee based on the amount of progress they presided over.

It's possible for a scenario to exist where a battle is subreffed multiple times, with each referee being paid for a segment of their battle that they reffed.

Example: A battle is put up for subreffing at 2/7 Progress. The first referee is paid 2/7 of the progress rewards for referees, rounded down.

The second referee becomes tardy at 5/7 Progress, and is put up for subreffing again.

The third referee completes the reffing, pays the first referee 2/7 of the rewards, rounded down; and pays the second referee 3/7 of the referee rewards, also rounded down. The third referee will pay themselves 2/7 of the progress rewards for referees, rounded up.

[12.7]

Iceboxing and Referee Assist

Players who know they are going to be late for a coming post, and who know when they'll be available again, may use iceboxing put a match on hold, or "Icebox" that match. Likewise, referees who know they will be late may call for a Referee Assist.

[12.7a] Iceboxing
Staked PvP matches can't be iceboxed, but all other match types can be.

Players may start a motion to icebox a match by posting in the thread when it's their turn to post, indicating a motion to icebox and their expected date (and optionally, time and/or time zone) of return, called the "thawing time". Other players may post out of sequence to accept or decline the motion. Players may also post to negotiate a different thawing time.

If more than half of players accept a single thawing time, the match becomes iceboxed until that specified time, at which point it "thaws". While a motion is being proposed, players still spend Hours.

(This may result in gameplay posts and motion posts being interwoven, as players battle and negotiate iceboxing at the same time.)

If a motion to icebox is declined by enough players, the match does not freeze. Members of the same team (including the moving player) may not start another motion to icebox consecutively. They will be expected to play within their Hours to the best of their ability. Once another team's motion to icebox is accepted (and the specified time arrives) or rejected, then that first moving team may start motions again if they would like.

If a motion to icebox is accepted by enough players, the match freezes, resulting in the following:

No players or referees spend any Hours until the specified thawing time.
Additionally, players and referees other than the moving player spend no Hours for a grace period after the thawing period; lasting equal to the battle's Round Hours for them.
The referee is relieved from refereeing the match until the specified thawing time. If they like, they may put the match up for subreffing, or seek a "Referee Assist" below, if they expect to be unavailable when the match thaws.

The moving player may find themselves disqualified if they planned to post right after the match thaws—the grace period applies to non-moving players only. Moving players should specify a thawing time that arrives after they expect to be available.

Referees can't start a motion to freeze a match, even if they're also playing a team in the battle. Referees who know they're going to be absent during or after the specified time should use "Referee Assist" below, instead.

Players aren't obligated to accept a motion to icebox the match. (Especially if their position is advantageous.)

[12.7b] Referee Assist
Similar to iceboxing, referees have a tool at their disposal called "Referee Assist", for seeking coverage from a subreferee on their own terms.

To seek a Referee Assist, the referee should post in the match's venue (wherever the match was originally arranged), just like how a player would seek a subref; except that the referee should include their expected return time in both their post, and in their queue entry. The Assist request should be inserted into the queue below new players and above non-subreffed challenges. (Just like other subref requests.)

Referees are encouraged to seek subrefs in the Leaves of Absence thread, in addition to the battle's venue.

The seeking referee is agreeing to resume control of the match at that specified time. The referee should also post in the match that they are seeking an Assist, and their expected return time.

Don't seek Assists from specific referees without their permission.

A request for an Assist should look much like this:

I'll be out of town until the 29th. Coverage would be appreciated!
<example link to match>

Queue
Example Match (returning on the 29th)

While waiting for another referee to accept the assist, the match continues, and the seeking referee is expected to work within their Hours to the best of their ability.

Once a new referee accepts the Assist request, that assisting referee will post in the match just like subreffing any other match. The seeking referee is relieved by the assisting referee, and the assisting referee controls the match until they either choose to return control or until the specified time. The seeking referee is not entitled to control of the match until the specified time.

Just like other instances of subreffing, referees are paid for the amount of progress they presided over, in the order that they presided over the match.

Referee Assist need not be used only for periods of absence. A referee at a critical juncture in a battle might seek an Assist from an experienced referee for gameplay reasons, to decipher a very complicated round, or simply to better challenge the player. However, just like any other subreffing, the assisting referee will take a cut of the referee pay.

Experienced referees assisting newer referees are encouraged, but not required, to explain the rules interaction or battle situation they're called to help with. This helps the newer referee know what they should do in later reffings!

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[12.8]

Errors and Corrections

BBP is an analog game, and much of its labor is performed by hand. It's natural for errors to arise in battles, claims, profiles, and data.

Generally, an error is said to either be trivial (it hasn't impacted any battles) or impactful (it has). Also, an error is said to either be in benign intent or malicious intent—the former, in the vast majority of cases. Malicious errors are to be handled with Penalties, described in 12.9 "Penalties" below.

Use the following metric to determine if an error is trivial or impactful:

Has a player posted orders based on the erroneous information?
[ other metrics pending ]

placeholder / old rule (use it for now):
{ "If an error in the reffing is pointed out before a player from each team has made a post in the switching or ordering phase for the next round, that error should be corrected and any player who has posted should be given a reorder. Otherwise, that error is locked in and should not be fixed." }

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[12.9]

Penalties

We pride ourselves on BBP's relatively well-behaved community. However, as the game grows in player count, we will eventually find unsporting or bad actors among our number. These penalties exist to help us deter those behaviors and encourage welcoming behavior.

The BBP Discord has its own, separate rules governing appropriate tone and content for the server, found in the rules channel (opens Discord).

Moderators reserve final arbitration as to what counts as each behavior outlined below. We can issue penalties at our discretion, even for behaviors not mentioned below, especially when we feel a behavior is harmful to other players or the game.

[12.9a] Penalty Scope
We define "misbehavior" as conduct against the best interests of BBP, even if that conduct is not severe enough to warrant forum-level infraction.

Defined this way, instances of misbehavior will be judged worthy or unworthy of penalty (based on harm to BBP) separately from infraction (based on harm to Smogon). An instance of misbehavior may be worthy of neither correction, only one correction, or both corrections.

[12.9b] Common Penalizable Actions
This list is far from exhaustive. We trust that users will find new and exciting ways to misbehave, given enough time.

We define "angle shooting" as a behavior where a user, seemingly intentionally, seeks to combine legal behaviors in such a way as to unsportingly deceive or mislead opponents.
We define "negligence" as a behavior where a user, seemingly intentionally, ignores one or more rules in the interest of saving time or effort, but is not found to be unsporting.
We define "cheating" as a behavior where the user ignores one or more game rules in the interest of gaining a tangible advantage.
We define "collusion" as a behavior where the user collaborates with another user to gain strategy advice or reffing in their favor, especially in staked matches.
We define "win-trading" as a behavior where two or more users intentionally play poorly as one another's referees or opponents, in the interest of mutually gaining easy rewards.

Examples:

A player who brags about being able to fool "dumb" opponents, by writing more substitutions than they are allowed, is angle-shooting.

A referee who, instead of displaying damage calculation for an attack, states "it deals about 20", is negligent.

A player who posts to switch, while none of their on-field Pokemon are eligible to switch out, to see if others will notice, is cheating.

A player who is found to be privately sourcing their orders from another user is colluding, as is the user found providing those orders.

[12.9c] Game Penalties
These penalties are issued to players and referees for misbehavior found in ongoing matches.

Warning: An absence of a penalty. The default in matches with low stakes, for misbehavior that moderators believe will cease once indicated.
- Multiple misbehaviors in the same match may result in elevated penalties, even if the stakes are low.
Rewind / Re-Ref: A penalty in which the match is re-wound to a prior state. Used in untimed matches to correct ill-gotten or erroneous advantages.
Pokemon Loss: A penalty in which the misbehaving player has one or more of their selected Pokemon "penalized" (removed from the match), forcing them to continue at a numbers disadvantage. Used in the place of Rewinds in timed matches, or to penalize misbehavior that occurred many rounds ago.
Game Loss: A penalty in which the misbehaving player is declared to have lost the battle. Used for unsporting or malicious misbehavior that moderators find to be intentional and unrepentant.

[12.9d] Profile Penalties
These penalties are applied to a player's BBP profile, and are considered to be more severe than gameplay penalties.

Reward Revocation: A penalty in which the misbehaving player has one or more rewards earned via misbehavior taken from them.
- Some revocations, such as revocation of an earned Level, may require a player to submit a Prize Claim before they can continue using that Pokemon or other game piece.
Blacklisting: A penalty in which the misbehaving player is disallowed from participating in a specific venue (e.g. challenging Events) or activity (e.g. reffing Raids) for a period of time, or until a specified criteria is met.
- Example: A player blacklisted from reffing due to many errors may be asked to present casual reffings with fewer errors to demonstrate their corrected behavior.
Exile: A penalty in which the misbehaving player is disallowed from participating in further BBP play.
- Typically accompanied by a forum-level ban, as well as a Discord ban.

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LouisCyphre · Mar 9, 2023

This post is created to move above posts down, to make room for "10.x Substitutions". Advanced Techniques will be moved to "11.x Advanced Techniques".

Below is a transcript of the first patch, being moved down in this way.

***
***
***

This is the first set of changes big enough to justify a proper patch note, so here goes:

Major Adjustment 2023-01-29: "Status Revision"

Objective: Status as a whole needs to exist as a threatening angle of attack, for dedicated status-inflicting Pokemon to wield as an alternative to damage and as a supplement to a team's attackers. Teams of Pokemon that are unprepared to handle status should be heavily disadvantaged, just as teams unprepared for entry hazards or unprepared for matchup control would be disadvantaged.

Problem: The status conditions available to Pokemon are of wildly varying effectiveness and utility. Some conditions are simultaneously sub-optimal and annoying. While some conditions have clear purpose, they fall short of their goal; while others are generically applicable and are weakened as a result.

Solution: Manually revise each relevant status and its methods of infliction. The scope of this revision will be Burn, Confusion, Freeze, Paralysis, Poison, and Sleep. Details below.

***

Burn

Problem: Burn is in a relatively good position compared to other statuses in this revision. However, it lacks impact in what should be its primary use case, being the containment of very powerful Physical attackers.

Solution: The attack rank reduction of Burn is now dependent on the Attack of the subject.

Future Concern: If applying Burn manually is found to be a waste of time in the future, there's a possibility that we make manually-applied non-combination Burn more potent than Burn inflicted in other ways.

New text:

Burn
By default, this status lasts until the subject faints or the battle ends.

While the subject is attacking with a physical action: The subject's Attack rank is halved (x0.5).

At the end of the step: The subject takes 2 damage.

***

Confusion

Problem: Many players are confused about Confusion. It features a 25% chance to be completely ineffective, as well as a 25% chance to be strongly turn-positive for the user. In addition, its application is universal, meaning opponents have few options to order or substitute around it.

Solution: Narrow the range of actions that Confusion can affect; and then let it affect those actions both more potently and more consistently. The implementation of a Dizzy marker, which can outlast the Confusion condition, means that Pokemon capable of inflicting Confusion multiple times with little investment can force opponents to switch or otherwise adjust. Confusion should now be more easily played around the first round it is inflicted. Furthermore, Confusion's incentive to switch should synergize well with Paralysis' new penalty for switching, detailed below.

New text:

Confusion
By default, this status lasts until two (2) of the subject's turns end or until the subject leaves play.

This condition can't be inflicted on each Pokemon more than once per round.

If the subject would execute an attack while they have a Dizzy marker; instead, the subject executes Stumble.

After the subject executes an attack: Put a Dizzy marker on the subject until they leave play. (The Dizzy marker doesn't have any effect text.)

Stumble:
● 4 BAP, 3 En, typeless, --- Acc, Targets User, Physical, non-contact. CT: None.
● This action cannot critically hit.
● On hit: Discard Confusion from the target.

***

Freeze (and Frost markers)

Problem: Freeze has new life as a gameplan available to teams centered around Snow's Frost-doubling effect, but the condition as a whole is unlikely to see play in general due to being tuned over-cautiously. However, this tuning is to prevent situations where a Pokemon is Frozen multiple rounds consecutively from locking a player out of the game.

Solution: Adjust the manner in which Freeze is applied as a result of Frost markers. Now, some amount of Frost markers remain on the subject when they become Frozen, and the timing with which the subject becomes thawed is no longer based on the Round schedule. This ensures that, once Frost markers have been built up, there are always periods where the subject is Frozen and periods they can act. However, given that highly-accumulated Frost markers can inflict Freeze quite frequently, the subject is still heavily incentivized to switch, change the weather or otherwise try to counteract the situation.

New text of Frost marker:

Frost
By default, this marker lasts until the subject leaves play.

Ice-type Pokemon are unaffected by this marker.

When this marker is created, if the subject has 8 or more Frost markers and the subject isn't Frozen: Inflict Freeze on the subject.

New text of Freeze:

Freeze
By default, this status lasts until subject lasts until the subject has less than 8 Frost markers.

At the end of the subject's turn: Discard half of the subject's Frost markers, rounded down.

When the subject attempts or becomes the defender of a Fire-type attack, Scald, Scorching Sands, or Brick Break: Discard this status.

If the subject would take an amount of damage from a hit; instead, the subject takes one (1) damage.

The subject can't attempt actions, except for Fire-type attacks, Scald, Scorching Sands, and Brick Break.

***

Paralysis

Problem: Paralysis lacked clear direction and was universally applicable in all matches, making its previous tuning that could steal many actions offer guaranteed value in any match-up where it could be inflicted. After being weakened, Paralysis lost most purpose except as a weak but permanent form of speed control. Furthermore, the vast distribution of Paralysis means that it can't be tuned around a certain set of users for its effect.

Solution: Instead of tuning Paralysis around its probable users, it can instead be adjusted to target specific strategies. By inflicting Paralysis with fewer counters, and changing the ways in which counters are accumulated, it can then be made to be more potent per counter. Now, Paralysis Counters accumulate as a result of switching the subject out, causing them to lose more turns if they pivot frequently, as well as if they spend multiple rounds in play. Inflicting the opponent with this adjusted Paralysis can now incentivize them to stay in play in sub-optimal match-ups, strengthening the user's control of the match.

New text:

Paralysis
By default, this status lasts until the subject faints or the battle ends.

Effects can create this effect "with X counters."; in that case, that many Paralysis Counters are placed on the subject. Otherwise, the default number of counters is zero.

The subject's Speed is halved (x0.5).

At the end of each round, and when the subject enters play: Place a Paralysis Counter on the subject.

When the subject would attempt to execute an action, if the subject has three (3) or more Paralysis counters: The subject fails to execute that action; then, discard three (3) of the subject's Paralysis Counters.

New Paralysis Counters amount by source:

Three: Dire Claw, Tri-Attack
Two: Glare, G-Max Volt Crash, Nuzzle*, Stun Spore, Thunder Wave*, Volt Tackle
One: Bolt Strike, Effect Spore, Freeze Shock, Gulp Missile, G-Max Stun Shock, Nuzzle**, Static, Stoked Sparksurfer, Thunder Wave**, Wildbolt Storm, Zap Cannon.
Zero: All other sources.

* (if the user is Electric-type.)
** (if the user is not Electric-type.)

Paralysis 0:
- Nanab Berry
- G-Max Stun Shock (???)

Paralysis 1:
- Effect Spore
- Lick
- Secret Power
- Static
- Thunder Fang
- Thunder Punch
- Thunder Shock
- Thunderbolt
- Wildbolt Storm

Paralysis 2:
- Body Slam
- Bounce
- Combat Torque
- Discharge
- Dragon Breath
- Force Palm
- Nuzzle
- Spark
- Thunder Wave
- Volt Tackle

Paralysis 3:
- Dire Claw
- Glare
- Stun Spore
- Thunder
- Tri-Attack
- G-Max Volt Crash

Paralysis 4:
- Bolt Strike
- Freeze Shock
- Gulp Missile
- Zap Cannon
- Stoked Sparksurfer

***

Poison

Problem: Poison is currently the best-positioned of the statuses in this revision. It is both performant in its niche and applicable only in certain situations. The only issue to be had with Poison is imbalance between its sources.

Solution: Review and adjust the sources of Poison.

Newly adjusted Poison types and values:

G-Max Malodor: regular Poison with ~~four (4)~~ five (5) counters.
Poison Fang: bad Poison with ~~one (1)~~ two (2) counters.
Poison Tail: regular Poison with ~~two (2)~~ three (3) counters.
Poison Gas and Poison Powder: regular Poison with ~~three (3)~~ four (4) counters.
Smog (Fog): bad Poison with ~~two (2)~~ one (1) counter.
Twineedle: regular Poison with ~~two (2)~~ three (3) counters.

Regular Poison with 1:
- Toxic Thread

Regular Poison with 2:
- Dire Claw
- G-Max Befuddle
- Baneful Bunker
- Barb Barrage
- Cross Poison
- Gunk Shot
- Mortal Spin
- Noxious Torque
- Poison Jab
- Poison Sting
- Poison Tail
- Shell Side Arm
- Sludge Bomb
- Sludge Wave
- Twineedle

Regular Poison with 3:
- Poison Gas
- Poison Powder
- Sludge
- Smog (Regular)

Regular Poison with 4:
- G-Max Malodor

Bad Poison with 1:
- Poison Fang

Bad Poison with 2:
- Toxic

Bad Poison with "4":
- Smog (Fog)

***

Sleep

Problem: Pokemon with access to reliable sources of Sleep are currently able to chain that source indefinitely with little penalty. Furthermore, Sleep is difficult to answer at lower Levels of play.

Solution: Adjust the frequency with which Sleep can be inflicted, and reduce the reward for inflicting it. By adding passive recovery to Sleep, it is made worse at checkmating opponents in KO range, while remaining strong for stealing turns for setup. Certain Sleep-inducing moves are less widely distributed, making it easy to tune more exclusive moves to be more powerful, while leaving other sources of Sleep more tame. In addition, lower-Level moves capable of combating Sleep have been improved.

Future Concern: Uproar is an excellent candidate to be lowered in Level to combat Sleep. However, adjusting the Level of moves isn't an option available to us except when bundled in large updates, such as the transition to Generation 9, where movepools are being reapproved anyway. Forcing our approvers to audit every existent Pokemon that knows Uproar or Snore is a poor use of their time, compared to other adjustments.

New text of Sleep:

Sleep
By default, this status lasts until one (1) of the subject's turns have ended.

This condition can't be inflicted on each Pokemon more than once per round.

When the subject takes damage from an attack: Put a Restless marker on the subject.

At the end of the subject's turn: The subject heals 5 HP and 3 En; then, if the subject has a Restless marker, discard this condition.

The subject can't attempt actions, except actions that state they may be attempted while asleep.

New Sleep durations for adjusted sources:

One Turn:
Dire Claw, Effect Spore, Grass Whistle, Hypnosis, Relic Song, Secret Power
Two Turns:
Dark Void, G-Max Snooze, Lovely Kiss, Sing, Sleep Powder, Spore, Wepear Berry, Wicked Torque, Yawn.

New Text of Rest:

Rest
The user bunkers down to sleep and rest, rejuvenating themselves in the midst of battle.

(If the user's HP is full, this move fails.)

Inflict Sleep on the user for three (3) steps (not turns); then, if the user has Recoveries remaining, grant the user a unique status until their Sleep ends with the following effects:
● When this condition is created: Reduce the subject's Recovery count by one (1).
● If the subject would heal HP with the effect of Sleep; instead, they heal twice (x2) that much HP.
● At the end of the step: Remove all non-Sleep Major Status from the subject.

(If the user has no Recoveries remaining, they don't get the unique status. They can still use Rest to self-inflict Sleep.)

New text of Early Bird:

Early Bird
The Pokemon requires very little sleep, allowing them to hunt or forage nocturnally.

At the end of the step: Discard Sleep from the user; then, if the user had the Rest condition, the user heals 20 HP.

* Other "Rest-replacing" effects, such as Hydration, will adopt this phrasing.

***

This concludes our first proper patch of the Generation, I'm going to implement it in an experimental way that we've been considering:

This patch is effective in all future rounds, including those of existing battles.

This may result in old and new versions of a condition or other game piece existing in a match, momentarily. However, this also prevents old versions of these conditions from being created in later rounds, in matches that last for weeks or months after this patch.

Instances of a move performed in rounds dated after this patch post will be their updated versions as well. (As per rule 8.2, which states that each new use of a move "copies" that move fresh from the DAT each use.)

Hopefully, this method results is less total rules confusion, compared to having multiple matches running multiple rulesets at the same time. We'll be closely monitoring any feedback regarding this topic in #bbp or in the Union Room. Happy haxing!

LouisCyphre · Mar 13, 2023

As before, we'll be making these adjustments effective in all future rounds, where a round is "future" if no order posts have been made for it.

Players have seemed pleased with being on the same page rules-wise, and not having to remember multiple versions of the game at once. If you're reffing a match with a condition that is adjusted in this patch, simply mark any now-outdated conditions with the (Old) parameter if needed.

***

Move Restriction Effects

Problem: Multiple different forms of move restriction in the game, used for this patch note to mean "effects that disallow certain actions from being attempted", each demanded their own substitution from opponents. Given that it's possible to circumvent essentially any move being locked out using a substitution that basically reads "IF you can THEN do x", by using a trigger condition that is always true, it made sense to do some light work compiling similar-behaving effects together.

Solution: Various unique conditions have been rebranded as being instances of the new "Sealed" condition ( :seel:

). This condition disallows any of its declared moves from being attempted by its subject, while it persists. When inflicting Sealed, an effect should specify what move or moves are being Sealed. Sealed has a new behavior among conditions where new instances will be included in old instances.

For reference, the moves Disable and Torment, and the ability Cursed Body, now each inflict Sealed.

For details, refer to the text of Sealed ( :seel:

) below:

Sealed

By default, this condition lasts until the subject leaves play.

One or more specific moves must be specified by the effect that creates this status; otherwise, this effect isn't created.

If this condition would be created, and the subject-to-be already has Sealed; instead, the moves that would be specified for this condition are added to the moves specified by the existing Sealed.

The subject can't attempt any of the specified moves, and can't receive orders to use any of the specified moves.

***

Identifying Effects

Problem: While not a pressing issue, three moves were inflicting conditions with essentially identical effects. This effect would be useful for designing both later game support (such as items and such) as well as content-specific effects such as facility arenas.

Solution: The moves Foresight, Miracle Eye, and Odor Sleuth now inflict the new Identified condition, which has the previous stage-ignoring effects of these moves' former conditions. Furthermore, each of these moves adds their individual immunity-ignoring effect to the instance of Identified they create.

Identify

By default, this status lasts until the subject leaves play.

While the subject is being attacked: The subject's positive Defense, Special Defense, and Evasion stage is ignored.
While the subject is being attacked: The attacker's negative Attack, Special Attack, and Accuracy stage is ignored.

Foresight

The user conspicuously indicates their target.

While performing this move: Foresight bypasses Decoys.

Inflict Identified on the target for their next six (6) turns, with the following additional effect:
● While tallying type effectiveness against the subject: The immunities of the Ghost-type are ignored.

(Miracle Eye and Odor Sleuth have text much like Foresight's.)

***

Imprison

Problem: This move was both a landmine waiting for an older-generation Pokemon to abuse it, and was essentially unusable in the hands of later-generation Pokemon. And with Game Freak pruning moves from the game outright, on top of giving Pokemon more intentionally curated movepools each generation, these issues are only going to get worse over time.

Solution: Imprison no longer requires that the user knows the declared moves. The move as a whole is otherwise being reverted to behave much like it did previously, preventing the use of a few selected moves declared by the issuing trainer, for an indefinite duration while the user remains in play.

Additionally, a new restriction behavior, to make the move more thoughtful to use, is that the effect prevents all Pokemon in play from attempting more than one of the declared moves--opponents, allies, and otherwise.

Imprison

The user mentally sabotages moves that they are familiar with, causing them to fail for others.

(Declare up to three moves when ordering this move. If no moves were declared, this move fails. If more moves are declared, the fourth and later are ignored.)

Grant the user a unique status until they leave play, with the following effect:
● Pokemon in play, that have executed one of the declared moves during this round, can't attempt the other declared moves.
(Each Pokemon can't use more than one of the declared moves each round.)

***

Metronome

Problem: Users with advantageous types offering were beginning to force opponents to devote multiple substitutions to this move alone, as their trainers found increasingly more useful qualifying moves to call. Conversely, users of Metronome with poor options to call essentially couldn't use this move.

Solution: To destroy this move's immense substitution pressure, it will be given a restriction that causes it to fail unless it was ordered first. To compensate the move slightly (for what is still an immense overall nerf) and to make the move useful to all of its users, the restriction of calling only moves of the user's types will be removed.

Metronome

The user miraculously conjures a surprising effect with a wag of their finger.

(When ordering this move, declare a move not known by the user; that has a Priority of exactly 0, that has an Energy Cost of 5 or less, and that doesn't call or borrow moves. If this move was ordered in a post other than the first order post of the round, this move fails.)

If the user hasn't called a move with Metronome during this battle (regardless of the called move's success), the user calls and attempts the declared move.

***

Entrainment

Problem: This move was rarely worth the turn spent to use it. Even for opponents gaining large damage boosts from their abilities, giving that opponent the user's full suite of abilities often made up some of the ground lost by the opponent.

Solution: This move now overwrites the defender's abilities with only one ability of the user.

Entrainment

The user befriends their target, sharing their techniques with them.

(Declare an ability of the user when ordering this move. If no ability is specified, the user's first ability is declared.)

Inflict a unique status on the target for their next six (6) turns, with the following effect:
● When this condition is created: Note the declared ability on this condition.
● The subject's abilities are replaced by the noted ability.

***

Razor Wind

Problem: The effect of Razor Wind, referring to "On hit" effects using the shorthand, didn't function as written.

Solution: Give Razor Wind new text. This slightly improves its functionality, preventing the effects of draining or recoil moves that trigger as a result of hits. The move is interesting and has room for a bit of power, so this is acceptable.

Razor Wind

The user forms a defensive whirlwind around themselves, then retaliates with cutting winds.

(The user begins charging this move at priority +1, and executes this move at priority -1.)

When the user begins to charge this move: Grant the user a unique status until they stop charging this move, with the following effect:
● If a triggered effect of an opponent's action would trigger as a result of hitting the subject; instead, put a Razor marker on the subject until the end of the step.

(An effect check is an on-hit effect. Skip the roll and place the marker.)

While performing this move: The user's critical hit stage is increased by the number of Razor markers on the user.

***

Comatose

Problem: With Sleep adjusted to recover HP and Energy each step, the ability that grants their users permanent Sleep was a bit egregious in terms of recovery.

Solution: Comatose now halves the HP and Energy recovery the user gains from Sleep. (Even then, they will still recover quite a lot passively.)

***

Marvel Scale

Problem: When Guts, Flare Boost, and Toxic Boost were adjusted to rely less on the held item; and this ability was left behind. Furthermore, the ability in a vacuum doesn't provide enough value to justify self-inflicting a HP-damaging or action-restricting Major Status.

Solution: Marvel Scale now raises the user's Defense rank by 5 while they have a Major Status.

***

Bad Dreams

Problem: This ability didn't inflict enough damage to overcome the healing granted by Sleep.

Solution: As a legendary signature, this ability has room in the budget for more spice. Bad Dreams now prevents Sleeping Pokemon in play without Bad Dreams from recovering HP or Energy.

Bad Dreams

The Pokemon's frightening presence exists in the dream realm as well as the material one.

Sleeping Pokemon without Bad Dreams can't heal HP or Energy.

At the end of a sleeping Pokemon's turn, except for the user's: That Pokemon takes five (5) damage and loses five (5) Energy.

***

Swagger

Problem: Swagger, the most common Confusion-inflicting move, was demanding a substitution in nearly every matchup in the game. This makes it an outlier compared to more intentionally-distributed Confusion-inflicting moves such as Confuse Ray.

Solution: Swagger now inflicts Confusion for only 1 of the defender's turns.

***

Order Up

Problem: This move mentions "Piloted", which has no rules meaning. This seems to be a holdover from early Generation 9 work, where terminology was still being refined.

Solution: The move has been revised to current terminology. Its functionality is now quite different.

Order Up

The user delivers a precise, elegant slap that may earn it some praise from their commander.

On hit, if an ally in play is Tatsugiri with Commander: Raise the user's Attack, Defense, and Speed by one (1) stage each for the user's next two (2) turns.

***

Take Down

Problem: This move's condition can damage the subject and their attack's defender simultaneously, which can result in theoretical match draws.

Solution: The condition now damages the attack defender first, and the subject after.

***

8.3a Action Legality Check

Problem: The implications of readying and of charging actions wasn't very well articulated in the handbook, and this rule seemed to be the best home for them.

Solution: This rule now details the implications of readying and of charging an action, and what happens when an action that requires being readied or being charged is attempted without meeting that requirement. (It fails.)

***

8.3c Target Legality Check

Problem: Moves that were given no targets, especially moves that need targeting only in some situations or formats (such as Protect), could sometimes fail unexpectedly when the intent of the order is clear. We won't be moving to intent-considerate reffing any time soon, but work can be done to insulate players against certain game-losing move failure blunders.

Solution: This rule now details behavior for finding "default" targets for certain common move targeting scopes. If this behavior is undesirable, consider specifying desired targets when issuing orders.

***

Technique Control

Problem: Rules for using multiple Advanced Technique in a single battle were murkily defined at best. Furthermore, the restriction on using more than one Technique on the same Pokemon made it unappealing to attain more than one Technique on the same Pokemon.

Solution: Rather than limiting the number of Techniques available per-Pokemon globally, it is more sensible to limit the total number of Techniques each trainer or team can use. The new "Technique Control" mechanic will be introduced to manage this limit (abbreviated to "Tech" when appropriate), and to allow for later support for the mechanic.

Details: Full details for the rule are available in rules 1.3 "Match Rules" and 11.2 "Technique Control". As a summary, the default amount of Technique Control available to each team is the half match's Team Size, rounded up; and players may use any number of Advanced Techniques up to their allotted Tech, on the same or on different Pokemon capable of using them. Advanced Techniques that require held items are still exclusive with one another, but only as a consequence of their item requirement.

***

Profile Generator

We have one. Snag a copy here.

***

On the radar:

Combinations are now in a weird place in the rulebook. I'll have to find them a new number to live under so they aren't confused for the other "real" Advanced Techniques or thought to cost Technique Control.
Events entirely relying on my own free time needs revision. This isn't an invitation to DM me half-baked battle formats; rather, it is just a notice that we have replacement in mind.
Bugs with the Profile Generator should be reported in the usual Feedback Thread.
Abilities radically change how every matchup is played but take a very small area of a profile's space. We're considering offering short summaries of Abilities (e.g. "Raises Attack by 5 while under Major Status."), and either strongly encouraging or mandating their presence. Feedback welcome in the Union Room thread.

LouisCyphre · Mar 22, 2023

/!\ new rule new rule /!\

it seems pertinent to get this on record if people are going to actually bother to win themselves legends.

Combinations will move to... 9.4, after the placeholders for Substititons. Indexes after this in 9.x will be pushed down by 1.

***

edit: hide tagging this for ctrl-f reasons

11.3 Pokemon Fusion

Certain Pokemon are unobtainable entirely outside of battle. Instead, they can be fielded by combining two or more specified component Pokemon into a new battler entirely. Fusing Pokemon costs 1 Technique Control.

Pokemon that require Fusion will have a trait specifying this in the Data Audit, as well as detailing the required component Pokemon and fusion key item.

11.3a Ordering a Fused Sendout
A trainer can send out a Fused Pokemon whenever they would send out one of that Pokemon's non-fused Formes, while at least one of each other Pokemon mentioned in that Fused Pokemon's trait is on that team's bench or in their reserve. The Pokemon being Fused upon sendout becomes the Fusion host, and all other Pokemon becomes the Fusion components.

Example: Kyurem-White has a trait which may say, "Fusion of Kyurem and Reshiram, using the Light Stone." When a trainer who owns a Light Stone in their profile sends out Kyurem, while they have an inactive Reshiram, they may elect to send that Kyurem out as Kyurem-White by spending 1 technique control.

11.3b Properties of Fused Pokemon
A Fused Pokemon has the majority of their properties replaced by their new species, like other Forme changes. Their stats, typing, abilities, traits, movepool, and signature moves are those of their new species and Forme; replacing the properties of the host and component Pokemon entirely.

The Fused Pokemon will have the sum of all stages, markers, and held items that the host and components had when they were fused. They will also have the most recently created condition of each name, from among the host and component Pokemon. (The other, older instances of those conditions are discarded. Also, typically, the Fused Pokemon will then begin to discard items until they can legally hold what remains, during Post-Event Checks.)

Though unlikely, it is possible for a Fused Pokemon to inherit the Fainting condition from their host or components, causing the Fused Pokemon to immediately leave play again in Post-Event Checks.

The Fused Pokemon will have the average of the remaining HP of each of the host and component Pokemon; and it will have the average of their remaining Energy as well. This can legally cause the newly Fused Pokemon to have HP or Energy in excess of their new maximums. (Rather than following usual rules for when maximum HP or Energy changes.)

Example: Ghetsis has a Kyurem on his bench with 40 remaining HP, that is Asleep for their next 2 turns, and that is holding a Life Orb. Ghetsis also has a Reshiram on his bench with 95 remaining HP, that was put to sleep before Kyurem for their next turn, that is Paralyzed with one paralysis counter, and that was equipped with a Dragon Gem before Kyurem. Upon fusing these two Pokemon using the Light Stone, Ghetsis will have a Kyurem-White in play with 68 HP (rounded normally from 67.5), the newer of the two instances of the Sleep condition, the Paralysis condition and marker from Reshiram, and that is holding a Life Orb and a Dragon Gem. Kyurem-White will immediately have to drop held items in excess of their limit, unless an effect elsewhere in play allows them to hold both items.

***

Small adjustments have been made (and will continue to be made) to other techniques, ahead of their eventual release as facility rewards. These will not be documented in full here. Instead, refer to their finished details at the time of their release to confirm their rules.

LouisCyphre · Apr 13, 2023

Another round-up of minor adjustments made since the last past note!

Adjustments are listed in the chronological order that they were made.

edit: hide tagging this for ctrl-f reasons

Air Lock, Cloud Nine
Added the following line to clean up interactions such as Solarbeam:

The effects of moves, of items, of and abilities that mention "Weather" in their conditions are ignored.

Endeavor
Removed all Combo Classes and Sub-Classes, as the move was already Combo Level "None".

Decoy
Now correctly specifies that it interacts only with the actions of Pokemon other than the user.

Encore
Revised the wording of the effect to clarify what happens to the subject's substitutions.

New wording, in part:

● If the subject would receive an order to use an action; instead, they receive an order to use the noted action.

Focus Blast
The effect to lower Special Defense upon a successful effect check now specifies a duration.

Fly, Bounce
Revised these moves to grant their users Hovering in the same effect that grants Evasive. This has niche ramifications for Ground-weak users of Bounce (such as Toxicroak) and for interactions with Terrain, but is otherwise mostly trinket text.

Feint
Combo Level changed to "Set (4)" from "None".

Note that Feint's effect to bypass Protection is non-inheritable by combinations. (The effect mentions Feint by name.)

5.2b "Maximum Resource Changes "
Adjusted this rule to help prevent possible infinite Energy strategies.

New text, in part:

When a Pokemon's maximum HP is raised, their remaining value is raised by the same amount that the maximum was.

When a Pokemon's maximum En is raised, their remaining value is multiplied by their new maximum, then divided by their old maximum. (And then rounded normally, after.)

3.3a Effect Shorthand Phrases
This former text of 3.3 has been partitioned into its own sub-rule.

3.3b Ongoing Existence Statements
This new, rather abstract rule handles the processing of effects that state a given object exists continuously while a condition is met. For example, such an effect may state, "Poisoned Pokemon in play are also Burned."

This rule is quite dense to read, but should help resolve many rules headaches involving such effects.

7.2 Conditions
Clarified what happens when a condition would be created on an object that is Unaffected by that condition or by its source. (The condition isn't created, instead.)

Multiscale
This ability was halving damage even while ability-ignoring effects were wielded against it. To fix this, moved the effect to halve damage from the marker, to an effect of the ability that applies while the user has the marker.

New text, in part:

At the start of the round, if the user's HP is full: Grants the user a Multiscale marker until the end of the round.

While the user has a Multiscale marker: Damage the user takes from hits is halved (x0.5).

(Dragonite will still beat you up.)

5.9a Transforming, 5.9b Formes
More rather dense rules being written out. These concern effects that change a Pokemon's Species, Forme, or both at once.

As well, rules for Transforming into a Species using another Pokemon as a reference are included.

LouisCyphre · May 20, 2023

As before, any changes below are made effective in all future rounds, unless otherwise specified. Please enjoy this mid-month update, leading up to June Circuit!

Substitution Update

Barring a major oversight, these rules look ready to use on June 1st UTC — just in time for the June Circuit. If you think there's something that can be abused within the rules, you're welcome to sign up and prove it!

The rules can be reviewed in rules 10.1 to 10.8 in the Handbook above.

Update to Toggle Abilities

Following up on our intentions outlined here, we'll be moving most toggle abilities to either new effect structures entirely, or rephrased them to use "unless ordered otherwise" wording, such as that used by Sand Stream.

Generally (but not always), the abilities are revised in the following ways:

If the ability has no functionality when toggled Off, and it's already strong or interesting (relative to its users), the toggle functionality is either replaced with order-otherwise functionality, or removed entirely.
If the ability has two different effects based on toggle, or if the ability is most commonly toggled off (as in it's detrimental to the user), it is likely to be reworked.

As a note on philosophy, many of these abilities have had toggle functionality from the very beginning of the game — way back in the ASB days. The original intent of this was to keep players from encountering matchups where these abilities could possibly backfire, such as Poison Touch against an opponent with Guts.

That sucks, frankly. Abilities both can and should alter the matchups of their users, for better and for worse. Playing around many different matchups, between both teams, is what makes them interesting. It is generally preferred by us that an ability with possible downside have a worthwhile matching reward, rather than being safer and thus having to be made weaker.

The impacted abilities are detailed within.

Normal-converting Abilities
Removed toggle functionality from these abilities.

These can just not have a toggle. Every last one of their users will be fine without Normal-type attacks.

Aerilate
The Pokemon is most at home in the sky, and can infuse their attacks with the winds.

When the user performs a Normal-type move: The move becomes Flying-type, and if it does and it has a BAP, give it a power bonus of two (2).

Battle Bond
Rephrase to use "unless ordered otherwise this round".

Simple phrasing cleanup.

Battle Bond
This Pokemon has an incredible bond with a particular trainer.

When the user attacks with Water Shuriken: Water Shuriken's BAP per hit becomes three (3).

When this Pokemon knocks out an opposing Pokemon with a Hit, unless ordered otherwise this round: Raise the user's Attack, Special Attack, and Speed stages by one (1) each for the user's next nine (9) turns.

Contrary
Now converts only stat stage reductions, allowing these users to perform their own stat-boosting moves such as Swords Dance.

For the strongest users of Contrary (Serperior and Pyroak), the line "Leaf Storm, Leaf Storm, Work Up" to extend their buffs isn't any scarier than simply ordering Leaf Storm three times. This change allows these Pokemon to play without essentially disabling a fourth of their own movepools.

And there's a very particular user who can now gain a large number of stages in an interesting way...

Contrary
The Pokemon behaves in a manner opposite of what one would expect.

If the user's stat stages would be lowered; instead, the stage is raised by the same amount.

Hustle
Reworked entirely.

This ability's previous version essentially said "You are equipping Muscle Band, and it gives you 4 Attack instead of 1." This ability was a liability in all other cases, causing all utility and priority physical attacks to become almost completely unreliable.

This new effect emphasizes the reckless spending of resources, which will hopefully be more exciting to play with and against.

Hustle
The Pokemon's method of attack is to start swinging first and ask questions never.

When the user attacks with a Physical attack: The user loses Energy equal to their own Attack rank.

The user's Attack rank is increased by two (2) for every quarter (x0.25) of their maximum Energy they are missing.
(Don't round the quarter portion when comparing it to missing Energy.)

Illuminate
Removed the Accuracy buff from opponents.

The current version of this ability can constitute self-sabotage of the user and of their allies.

Illuminate
The Pokemon is naturally luminescent, lighting up the environment for all to see.

The accuracy of actions, of the user or their allies, is increased by 10.

Liquid Voice
Reworked entirely.

This Pokemon is already very good, so this ability needs to be interesting without being too strong. Quite the hurdle!

Even with that said, the current version of this ability can be almost completely ignored, because the current sole user already has a plethera of powerful Water STABs to leverage. So instead, that Pokemon is being given a minigame mechanic for interest reasons.

Liquid Voice
The Pokemon's voice can take on the flowing feeling of water.

When the user executes an action that is not tagged #Sound: Place a Music marker on the user until they Faint.

When the user attacks with a move tagged #Sound: Give that attack a power bonus, equal to the number of Music markers on the user.

While attacking a defender with a #Sound move, while that defender is neutral or weak to Water: That #Sound attack is Water-type, instead of any other types.

Mimicry
Removed the option to retain the user's original typing.
Added defensive benefits based on the current Terrain.

This ability in its current form is almost always self-sabotage. None of the Terrain types are better, on average, than being Ground/Steel. Furthermore, Stunfisk-Galar has no way to change the Terrain itself!

This direct buff should make the ability feel like a valuable asset most, but not all, of the time.

Mimicry
The Pokemon camouflages themselves to match the terrain of their environment.

While there is Terrain: The user has the appropriate type based on that Terrain:
● Electric Terrain: Electric-type.
● Grassy Terrain: Grass-type.
● Psychic Terrain: Psychic-type.
● Misty Terrain: Fairy-type.

While the terrain is Electric Terrain or Grassy Terrain: The user's Defense is increased by three (3).

While the terrain is Misty Terrain or Psychic Terrain: The user's Special Defense is increased by three (3).

Normalize
Fully reworked.

This ability served as a toggleable maginal benefit for one of the Pokemon with the worst statlines in the game, that also robbed them of their vast coverage — one of their only strengths!

Instead, this ability will now bring other Pokemon (friend or foe) down to Delcatty's level, forcing them to leverage only their abilities and utility moves to gain advantage over Delcatty.

Normalize
The Pokemon is absolutely ordinary, and most events seem completely mundane in their presence.

While tallying type effectiveness: No type is resistant or immune to Normal.

The attacks of other Pokemon are Normal-type.

Other Pokemon in play always have the user's four core stat ranks instead of their own.

Poison Point
Reworked trigger to always Poison contact attackers.
Added a defensive benefit against Poisoned attackers.

Compared to the users of Flame Body and Static, the users of Poison Point lag behind quite a bit in quality. They were given alternate effects based on toggle status in the transition to Generation 9, but rather than improving their performance these changes simply left these Pokemon more confusing to use.

Instead, these effects will be replaced with a more direct buff to the ability that will better deter contact attackers, while also rewarding teams built around inflicting Poison.

Poison Point
The Pokemon's skin is covered in potent toxic spines, ready to infuse their poison into a foe.

When the user is hit with a contact attack: Inflict Poison on the attacker with two (2) counters.

When a user is attacked by a Poisoned attacker: Give that attack a power penalty, equal to the number of Poison Counters on that attacker.

Poison Touch
Reworked trigger to always create Poison with one (1) counter.
Added an offensive benefit against Poisoned defenders.

As with Poison Point, this ability's Generation 9 changes completely missed the mark. With the removal of toggle functionality, it can be made more straightforward and helpful.

Poison Touch
The Pokemon can secret a toxic ooze from their skin that lingers after their attacks.

When the user hits a defender with a contact attack: Inflict Poison on that defender with one (1) counter.

After the user executes a contact attack: Place a Poison Counter on each of that attack's Poisoned defenders.

Protean Clones
Rephrase to use "unless ordered otherwise this round".

These Pokemon need very little help, so the extra flexability of being able to order otherwise should help them combat the newer, easier-to-use substitution clauses to check their typing.

Of note: As with other such effects, you either "order otherwise" for the whole round or you do not. There's no function for ordering otherwise only on certain actions or steps. This will be found in 9.2 when it's written out.

Protean
The user has perfected a technique that can disguise their type entirely.

Before attempting an attack, unless ordered otherwise this round: Discards any Protean status on the user, then grants the user a unique status until they faint or leave play, with the following effect:
● When this condition is created, note the type or types of the user's currently ordered attack.
● The user is the noted type or types.

Sheer Force
Removed toggle functionality.
Allowed the user to resolve Effect Checks that are certain to succeed, similar to the function of Snow Cloak.

The users of this ability are all quite strong. This small buff is intended to stop the ability from turning off a large chunk of their own movepool, much like the change to Contrary.

Sheer Force
The Pokemon is bold and direct, and has no interest in subtle strategies.

When the user attacks, with an attack that has an Effect Chance: Give that attack a power bonus of two (2), and the following additional effects:
● This attack's effect checks, with less than 100% chance of success, automatically fail.
● The triggered effects of moves, items, and abilities; can't trigger as a result of Hits dealt by this attack.

Weak Armor
Reworked entirely.

Change Weak Armor from an outright liability, to a useful tool that the user can intentionally leverage.

Weak Armor
The Pokemon's armor is worn only loosely and can break off to discard their weight.

When the user is hit by an attack, while their Defense stage is positive: Reduce the user's Defense stage by one (1), then raise their Attack and Speed stages by one (1); each for the user's next three (3) turns.

When the user is hit by an attack, while their Special Defense stage is positive: Reduce the user's Special Defense stage by one (1), then raise their Special Attack and Speed stages by one (1); each for the user's next three (3) turns.

Zen Mode
Reworked entirely.

Give the Darmanitans a minigame to play, to make the Zen Formes actually relevant to matches. Just like Liquid Voice, these changes are made to be interesting, as their users are both already quite playable.

Zen Mode
In the heat of battle, the Pokemon can refocus to attain a greater state through a short bout of meditation.

At the end of the round, if the user attacked with no more than one (<=1) attack this round: The user transforms to their Zen Forme.

At the end of the round, if the user attacked with two or more (>=2) attacks this round: The user transforms to their default Forme.

When the user leaves play: The user transforms to their default Forme.

Work targeting awful Berries

Several Berries updated in Gen 9 were given either overly cute effects that never come up in practice, or were simply undertuned compared to items that players have gravitated to.

Consumables still have to compete with other items (consumable or not) for space in the backpack, so they need to be strong enough to justify bringing them over lasting items. Conversely, they shouldn't become strong enough to make phazing undesirable, or to make it a mistake to stay in for more than one round at a time.

Lastly, consumables that could possibly become stuck on the holder have been avoided by players throughout the game. This isn't to say that you should be guaranteed to clear your Pokemon of any consumable, every time you use one. But instead, that very niche consumables (such as Cheri Berry) should not also carry the risk of item-locking the holder, while very generally-applicable consumables (such as Eject Button) should probably retain that risk in exchange.

With that in mind, these Berry effects are still somewhat restrained. Hopefully, these new rank-affecting Berry effects should make both leveling and deciding natures a bit more interesting; and these adjusted Status-damage Berry effects should make building a team around a particular harmful status more appealing.

The adjusted Berries are detailed within.

Note on

Razz Berry and :pomeg berry:

Pomeg Berry:
Currently, these Berries are grouped weirdly compared to in-game. Razz Berry has an effect to grant high HP recovery to a Pokemon who is able to manually consume it somehow, while Pomeg is grouped in with the other four "Flavor Berries" as a Berry for self-inflicting a Major Status.

This was confusing to players who used in-game Berry "groups" of similar effects to remember these Berries' effects in BBP, so we'll be using those in-game groupings a bit more deliberately to help with recollection.

:cheri berry:

Revised Group 1: Status-Cleansing Berries (Cheri, Chesto, Pecha, Rawst, Aspear)
These items were too "sticky" to risk running. Any opponent could simply inflict a different Major Status in their movepool, leaving the Berry user both statused and item-locked. They're each being revised to be consumed at the start of the round.

Cheri Berry
A small but potently spicy Berry. Its flowers are magnificent.

At the start of the round: The holder consumes this item.

On consume: Remove Paralysis from the consumer. Grant the consumer a unique status until they leave play, with the following effect:
● The subject is unaffected by Paralysis.

Revised Group 2: (Razz, Bluk, Nanab, Wepear, Pinap)
Currently, these Berries have a variety of strange and poorly-costed effects (mostly to self-inflict certain statuses), that leave them mainly to be avoided. They didn't even serve their primary purpose of being flung to inflict harmful status.

These Berries have undergone different in-game utility from generation to generation; always as ingredients for any cooking-related functions in-game. That's pretty difficult to translate into BBP terms... But not impossible.

Razz Berry
A peculiar Berry whose granules make the mouth both hot and shriveled.

If a move's effect would raise the user's Attack; instead, that effect raises the user's Attack and Special Attack stages (each by the same amount, for the same duration), and the user consumes this item.

Bluk Berry: Converts Defense.
Nanab Berry: Converts Special Attack.
Wepear Berry: Converts Special Defense.
Pinap Berry: Converts Speed.

:

Revised Group 3: Stat-Overwriting Berries (Pomeg, Kelpsy, Qualot, Hondew, Grepa, Tamato)
Based on their in-game utility in Effort Training, these Berries are being given utility in helping to level up weaker Pokemon.

The thinking is that most Pokemon that would use these Berries (even those with low stats) will eventually outgrow them as they learn their high-level boosting or utility moves (such as Tail Glow or Pain Split) that they need to function alongside more popular Pokemon. Until they have their strong competitive traits, they can lean on these Berries as a sort of crutch.

Certainly, some handful of stragglers will leverage these stats well in high-level play, but not too many.

Pomeg Berry
A Berry with a thin peel and chewy flesh.

At the start of the round: The holder consumes this item.

On consume: Grant the consumer a unique status until the end of the round, with the following effect:
● The subject's maximum HP is 95.

Kelpsy Berry: "The subject's Attack rank is 8."
Qualot Berry: "The subject's Defense rank is 7."
Hondew Berry: "The subject's Special Attack rank is 8."
Grepa Berry: "The subject's Special Defense rank is 7."
Tamato Berry: "The subject's base Speed is 95."

Revised Group 4: Status-punishing Damage (Cornn, Magost, Rabuta, Nomel, Spelon, Pamtre, Watmel, Durin, Belue)
Some of these Berries target statuses that have better methods of infliction than others. Effects that are harder to inflict should have a higher payoff from their respective Berry.

All of the berries in this group are listed below, including the unchanged ones, for the sake of completeness.

Durin Berry
Incredibly bitter, this Berry is rarely eaten as food, but rather as medicine.

At the start of the round: The holder consumes this item.
On consume: Grant the consumer a unique status until the end of the round, with the following effect:
● When the subject attacks a Doomed defender: Give that attack a power bonus of five (5).

Cornn Berry (targets Poison) -> Grants +3 (still)
Magost Berry (targets Burn) -> Grants +3 (still)
Rabuta Berry (targets Paralysis) -> Grants +3 (still)
Nomel Berry (targets Sleep) -> Grants +4
Spelon Berry (targets Freeze) -> Grants +4
Pamtre Berry (targets Confusion) -> Grants +5
Watmel Berry (targets Flinching) -> Grants +5
Durin Berry (targets Doom) -> Grants +5
Belue Berry (targets Grounded) -> Grants +4

Work targeting awful Pokemon

These changes are being implemented to spotlight some Gen 9 favorites, and some others, that missed the mark.

Many of the below Pokemon have a unique move or ability we can load with changes targeting them. For each such Pokemon, we've tried to offer them a role or purpose that answers a particular type of popular threat.

These changes vary in scope, depending on the Pokemon being adjusted. To be specific about the philosophy, it's more important that a Pokemon be beatable than be interesting; and then more important that they be interesting than be strong. The motive for targeting weaker Pokemon for work is to increase the number of interesting Pokemon for play, not to shake the meta or to inject a Pokemon into competitive play.

With the bluster out of the way, the adjusted Pokemon, Abilities, or Moves can be found within.

Tinkaton
Tinkaton's movepool and stats are very severely curtailed in cartridge specifically so that Gigaton Hammer can exist. Given that every opposing Pokemon has their full suite of disruption available, the move needs to cut through many of those options to be worth what Tinkaton gives up for it. Even then, Tinkaton will have to find something to do between Hammers.

And let's be honest, making the move extremely belligerent is a flavor home-run.

( TheEver )

Gigaton Hammer
The user swings their massive hammer at the target, crushing them.

(If the user executed this move last step, this move can't be attempted.)

While attacking with this move: The effects of items, of conditions, and of abilities, except the user's, are ignored.

While the user is Tinkaton: Effects can't disallow the user from attempting this move, or from receiving an order to use this move.
(This move's restriction text isn't an effect.)

Pika-Clones
Suggestions to expand Light Ball such as this has some merit. Everyone has a favorite Pikaclone somewhere, and with Raichu tearing things up competitively, offering the weaker clones a boost similar to Raichu's (who enjoys a weaker boost than Pikachu) is probably not overboard. These Pokemon being fast overall, and almost all of them featuring pivoting moves, greatly eases any weakness to item disruption they would suffer.

Out of these, Pawmot is sketchy — but with a statline cutting very close to Raichu's own, it should prove to be similarly managable. We'll still be watching it more closely than the rest of these.

Light Ball
Lightning in a bubble. A certain Pokemon will react strongly to its latent thunder energy.

While the holder is Pikachu,: The holder's Attack and Special Attack ranks are increased by thrice (x3) the holder's Level.

While the holder is Raichu, Plusle, Minun, Pachirisu, Emolga, Dedenne, Togedemaru, Morpeko, or Pawmot: The holder's Attack and Special Attack ranks are increased by twice (x2) the holder's Level.

(Raichu-Alola is Raichu.)

Toadscruel
This Pokemon seems intended to be hard-countered by Taunt in exchange for countering many abilities. Rather than ease the issue with Taunt, it we decided it would be wiser to make the ability more appealing in the Pokemon's other matchups.

If trainers are really so worried about Taunt, there's an :mental herb:

item for that... Which will likely prove to be very strong on this Pokemon.

Mycelium Might
The Pokémon is slow to use status moves, but they are remarkably potent.

The priority of the user's non-damaging actions, that have a priority of 0 or less, is reduced by one (1).

When the user is attacked, while the user has a current order to use a non-damaging action: Give that attack a power penalty of three (3).

While the user is performing a non-damaging action: The abilities of opponents are ignored.

Spidops
This is a pretty crazy tool for a pretty miserably bad Pokemon. This would buy Spidops a (nearly) free turn in any damage race, once per match, if the opponent doesn't have any non-damaging action they can leverage in the meantime. Amusingly, this new restriction text is more severe than the restriction text that was previously deleted from this move.

Also, sorry to our Unown enjoyers. We can't offer this to you even for the cost of the highly coveted S-letter.

Silk Trap
The user weaves an elaborate shield from special sticky thread that entangles anyone coming too close.

(If the user gained Protection since they last entered play, this move can't be attempted. Furthermore, if all other Pokemon in play have acted this step, this move can't be attempted.)

Grants the user Protection from damaging actions until the end of the step, or until the end of the next step if the user is Spidops, with the additional following effect:
● After a contact attack is executed, if that attack targeted the subject: Lower the attacker's Speed stage by one (1) for their next six (6) turns.

Baxcalibur
This is an attempt to drum up interest in our newest pseudo by giving them a unique offensive support tool to leverage. This change allows Baxcalibur to patch over their own accuracy and to provide lingering accuracy and damage support to allies. The user still has to deal with the opponent exploiting the condition themselves for a turn, which is probably more interesting gameplay-wise for both players.

I thought about crazy options like making the condition last until Baxcalibur faints, wherever they are (to better support their tools like Dragon Tail), but the effect only asks that you use your best STAB a single time, so the opportunity cost isn't very high, which limits how much we can juice this move.

Glaive Rush
The user charges at the target with all their might in an insanely powerful but reckless attack that leaves them weak for a moment afterwards.

After executing this move: Inflict a unique condition on the user until their next turn, and on the defender until they leave play, with the following effects:
● While the user is being attacked: Accuracy checks for that attack automatically succeed.
● While the user is being attacked: Give that attack a power bonus of two (2).

Flamigo
This change gives Flamigo frightening singles utility. For example, Flamigo could inherit Belly Drum boosts from another ally and leverage whatever turns remain.

That said, it's maybe the most telegraphed possible strategy in teambuilding. And to ensure players in singles can do something about it, Flamigo will inherit negative stages as well.

Costar
The Pokémon always tries to sync up with any nearby ally.

When the user enters play: For each of the five core stat stages; the user copies the highest stage (whether it's positive, zero, or negative) from among other allies in play, and from among the allies the user replaced in play. (For allies replaced by the user, refer to the stages they had when they left play.)

Archeops
A simple change for a simple Pokemon. This should help drum up interest in this sad bird, especially in teams that can help protect the high half of Archeop's HP, or that can get it off the field quickly once they've been expended.

Defeatist
The Pokemon loses faith in themselves if the battle begins to turn sour.

While the user has half or more (x0.5) of their maximum HP remaining. Their Attack and Special Attack ranks are increased by two (2).

While the user has less than half (x0.5) of their maximum HP remaining: Their Attack and Special Attack ranks are reduced by two (2).

Ariados
This change is toying with creating type-specific support, outside of weather and terrain, that can help tie teams or cores within teams together.

Compared to other Pokemon's set-up moves, we wanted this effect to be fought by fighting the Poison, rather than by trivially setting up a Substitute that Ariados likely can't break with any Pokemon in the game. So, this move is getting one of the first Decoy-bypassing fanfiction effects.

Toxic Thread
The user spits a poisonous, sticky silk at their target.

While performing this move: Toxic Thread bypasses Decoys.

Inflict regular Poison with one (1) counter on the defender; then, inflict a unique status on the defender until they Faint, with the following effect:
● While the subject is Poisoned and is attacking a Bug- or Poison-type defender: That attack's damage is halved.

Lower the target's Speed stage, by the number of Poison Counters on the defender, for the subject's next three (3) turns.

Last Respects
This simple numbers change brings this move online faster in larger matches, and also sharpens its window of strength in a singles match.

Last Respects
[ New BAP: ?? ]
The user calls upon the spirits of the fallen to exact their revenge on the target.

Last Respect's BAP is 10 times the number of Fainted allies on the user's team, to a maximum of 20.

Speed Boost
This ability doesn't really do much for any of the Pokemon it's on. It should represent the same sort of snowballing, urgent threat that it does in the source games.

With all of the new utility and support effects in the game, we decided it would be good to introduce threats that can be fought by simply hitting them as hard as you can, as soon as you can.

Speed Boost
The Pokemon's muscles get more and more warmed up as battle goes on.

At the end of the step: Raise the user's Speed stage by one (1) for their next two (2) turns.

The user's Attack rank and Special Attack rank are each increased by the user's positive Speed stage.

Lightning Rod
In hindsight, there's no real reason to limit this to Electric-types the way there was for Justified. The users of that ability are in a class beyond that of Lightning Rod, and Lightning Rod still only boosts Special Attack. Giving the Rhy-line and Marowak more reason to leverage their special movepool is a fun upside.

We can almost certainly give this to Voodoom safely, right? Of course. Of course.

Lightning Rod
The user acts as a grounding for any errant lightning striking the area.

The user has an additional immunity to Electric.

When an order to perform an Electric-type action is received by a Pokemon: That order is redirected to the user.

When the user enters play: Raise the user's Special Attack stage by one (1) for their next three (3) turns, or for their next six (6) turns if they are Electric-type.

After another Pokemon's Electric-type action is executed, if the user was a target of that action: Raise the user's Special Attack stage by one (1) for their next six (6) turns.

Leaf Guard
Tangrowth really complicated work on this ability, just by existing.

This change offers a small army of prospective support Pokemon bonus stats that can be disrupted by any Major Status. These Pokemon slot better into teams built around the weather that activates the ability (

) now, but faster users can set their own Sun to protect against Major Status more easily.

This change still helps Tangrowth with its Special Defense, but 50 Speed will mean that it's easier to inflict Status, and the stacking mechanic (intentionally) conflicts with Tangrowth's Regenerator as well. That said, more bulky Grass presence will be welcome overall even if it's Tangrowth.

Leaf Guard
The Pokemon's photosynthesis keeps it pure and healthy while in bright sunlight.

While the Weather is Sun: Major Status can't be inflicted on the user, and they have an additional resistance to Fire.

When the user deals damage with a "Leaf" or "Petal" move: Put a Guard marker on the user until they leave play, with the following effect:
● While the subject has no Major Status: The subject's Defense and Special Defense ranks are increased by one (1).

Keen Eye
This change is intended to add a pre-emptive answer (often called a "release valve") for Pokemon extremely high defenses. If such Pokemon should become very prevelent, players will be able to reach for one of these Pokemon to deal with them.

Seeing that Lucky Egg hasn't snapped the game in half, the way now seems clear to allow some Pokemon to bypass stat rank differences in certain situations. This should position them well as targeted counters to very beefy Pokemon.

The affected Pokemon don't gain a defensive benefit, but between Furret's Coil and vast coverage, Skarmory or Pelipper's bulk, or Sableye being what it is, they all have their own unique ways to even the field.

The ability has some users with quite high Attack or Special Attack. This effect still offers them some utility in helping them push through would-be walls, but it's okay to have some users in this role that are also good attackers into "typical" matchups.

Lastly, the effect to ignore the defender's positive Evasion stage has been removed for interactivity reasons.

Keen Eye
The Pokemon's sharp vision allows them to see right through concealment and bluffs.

The user's Accuracy stage can't be lowered, and the user's negative Accuracy stage is ignored.

While the user is attacking with an attack that currently has no chance to miss, and that hasn't been given any power bonuses: The user's relevant Attack rank is at least the defender's relevant Defense rank.

Quick Feet
This change acts as a sort of opposite release value to the Keen Eye changes. We're positioning these Pokemon as situational answers to Pokemon with excessive offense ranks.

The ability mitigates more damage the lower the user's own offenses are, but lowering the user's own offense with nature is double-edged — this causes both the user and their opponents to deal less damage to each other. Finding ways to break this symmetry with items or external support will be crucial to getting mileage out of this new effect.

Adversity inspires paranoia and vigilance in this Pokemon.

While the user has one or more Major Status: The user's Speed is increased by half (x1.5).

While the user is being attacked by an attacker whose Speed is less than the user's: The attacker's Attack and Special Attack ranks are each, at most, the higher of the user's Attack or Special Attack ranks. (The attacker's rank is limited to no more than the user's higher Attack rank.)

What's Next

With these out of the workshop, we can finally direct our efforts more fully to facilities. Expect to see many of the above Pokemon as potential opponents!

~~and sorry to mowtom in particular, who probably now has to review several sim teams~~

LouisCyphre · Jun 12, 2023

Should I be versioning these? Should this be "CAP BBP v9.04" or some such?

This patch will be effective in all future rounds, except for in Competitive matches.

This is what I hope is the last intermediary patch before we get some facilities out. There's some pressing mechanical concerns that we'd like to smooth out, that should also make getting out these facilities less difficult (because we won't have to plan to rework certain opponents or game pieces after a buff or nerf).

There's a few elements that are on our radar that aren't making it in this time, mainly because any high-effort work is being reserved for facilities. This includes:

Unown: Theory around this Pokemon is largely undeveloped in terms of how to best fight or play it, but there's an unwillingness to contend with it purely because of the number of options it has. Any work on this Pokemon would focus on making it less all-or-nothing: Less useless while Taunted, and less likely to leverage OHKO moves profitably.
Barometer: This is making it pretty difficult to design weather support! As it turns out, un-interactively turning on abilities mentioning weather means they have to be tuned down as if they are always active, rather than being large payoffs for weather support or committal weather-changing actions.
Time Rules: We're still weighing our feelings on the traditional per-post DQ rules in the current environment. Lots of players have jobs, periods of schooling, or just vacations that make them go over DQ in the middle of a long match when they are otherwise prompt. Rules in this space would require us to sit down and do extensive work to tabulate data on just how prompt players are in typical matches, and what those absences look like, but know that it's on our mind.

With that out of the way, please enjoy this patch's contents below:

Same-Move Combinations

Yeah, these shouldn't have come back. Thanks Quiver Dance, Disable, and soon Double Team: 9.4 will specify that the combination's components can't contain more than one of the same action.

Accuracy Work

Move accuracy is currently:
(move acc * (3 + positive acc) / (3 + |negative acc|) * (3 + |negative eva|) / (3 + positive eva)) + flat acc

This sucks overall, for a few reasons outlined here in this radar post. Not just the slim section on accuracy itself — in the segment on Numbers overall, there's a problem outlined that undermines a lot of how accuracy works in this game.

Unlike a lot of the math in BBP, accuracy currently works in a multiplicative fashion lifted directly from in-game. This results in some fair number of oddities. Increasing your own accuracy is less helpful the worse the accuracy of your move is: Sleep Powder currently becomes fully accurate at +1 accuracy, but your Inferno or Zap Cannon requires 3 accuracy boosts to lose its chance to miss.

There's a mess of "flat", "final", and "base" Accuracy modifiers throughout the game that are the main catalyst behind the numbers work

This is also an overall revision to evasion, as a matter of course. The worst cases of evasion in the game are, believe it or not, not evasion abilities like Snow Cloak: These convert the sacky, last-ditch behavior of moves like Double Team into a tug-off war that their users rope their opponents into participating in, and they'll continue to do so.

The real issues underpinning the ecosystem around accuracy are kind of two-fold, and feed in to each other:

Evasion and tools involving it are harshly beaten by exactly Attract, and we rely on it to always beat them, or players get locked out of the game.
Attract is no longer universal as of Generation 9, and items interacting with evasion just weren't making it into backpacks. And many, such as Smoke Ball, are just terribly awful anyway.

Details on the new accuracy mechanics, and on game pieces that interacted with accuracy, are within.

Accuracy and Evasion Stage Mechanics
To start, Accuracy and Evasion will now have a maximum stage of +2 or and a minimum stage of -2.

This means the difference can range from +4 to -4 in normal conditions. To find out an action's Accuracy Stage Modifier, you subtract the defender's Evasion stage from the user's Accuracy stage, and reference the result against the following table:

Acc Diff	-4 or less*	-3	-2	-1	0	+1	+2	+3	+4 or more*
Modifier	Auto Miss	-75%	-50%	---	---	+25%	+50%	+75%	Auto Hit

* "or more/less" is in case an effect changes the maximums or minimums of stages.

The field for -1 Accuracy difference is intentionally left empty. If the defender has only one more stage of Evasion than the user has Accuracy, the action's Accuracy will be unchanged, just like a difference of 0. This means that a single Accuracy boost is sufficient to beat the maximum amount of Evasion boosts — to evade your attacks, the Evasion user will have to also fight your Accuracy stage in some way.

This has a few ramifications. It means that yolo Mud-Slapping your opponent to weasel out of a bad matchup requires more commitment, sure; and it means that Pokemon need two sources of evasion (or two actions spent on Double Team) to bring Snow Cloak or Sand Veil online. (This positions Pokemon that set their own weather a little better than Pokemon simply strapping on a Barometer.)

This does mean that a Pokemon with a +Speed nature and +1 Accuracy stage has, for example, a 105% accurate Hurricane or Thunder. Rather than worrying about the 5% "wasted" chance to hit, be thankful that your nature cleans up the 5% chance to miss that the Accuracy stage would leave you with.

Scenarios where Pokemon in play have both +2 Accuracy and -2 Evasion, or the opposite, are so rare as to deserve a payoff. Enjoy cutting through such things as Dig simply by Coiling and Sweet Scenting enough!

New Universal Command: Aim
Hopefully, with a name that won't become an official Game Freak-provided move for many Generations to come.

This is stepping in to pick up Attract's mantle as the universal evasion answer for every Pokemon. Alternatives like Hone Claws and Coil have their own distribution, upsides, and downsides compared to this command, such as giving real stats as well.

We decided we like it better if the universal option is selfish, and incentivizes staying in. This contrasts current Attract's play pattern of dropping it on an Evasion user and pivoting to whoever beats them the hardest: If we're asking an evasion user to spend actions setting up, then their attacker should have to spend actions or other resources to catch them.

Accuracy Ecosystem Changes
A variety of abilities, items, and other effects interacted with accuracy throughout the game.

Some particular items, like Zoom Lens and Smoke Ball, are holdovers from past eras of BBP. Zoom Lens is essentially a direct import of its in-game version, and has spent several generations overshadowed by Lagging Tail's fanfiction function of imitating No Guard. Smoke Ball hails from an age where Evasive attacks were the best thing any Pokemon could be doing, and when those attacks could be suspended for several turns; and an item was thought to be a reasonable way to answer these moves.

Whether they're outclassed or outmoded, neither of these items as a real place of their own in current BBP. So, each of these items will be fully reworked.

Zoom Lens
An optical device that allows the wearer to see more precisely. It takes some time to adjust.

At the end of each Pokemon's turn: Put a Zoom marker on this item until the end of the step.

The holder's Accuracy stage and critical hit stage are each increased by the number of Zoom markers on this item.

When the holder attacks: Give that attack a power bonus, equal to the number of Zoom markers on this item.

Zoom Lens gets a new take on life as an offensive item for slow Pokemon.

Smoke Ball
This glass orb contains an obscuring mist that, when released, greatly worsens visibility in the area.

Accuracy checks against the user, with less than 80% chance of success, automatically fail.

After this item is thrown by Fling: Destroy this item; then discard any Weather in play; then create Fog for the next three (3) rounds.

notes on smoke ball
- great with Fog support!

The slew of minor changes are listed in rapid-fire fashion below:

Evasion-Raising moves and Accuracy-Lowering moves

These can all now safely extend their stage duration, since the cap is so low.

Muscle Band

Old: "The base accuracy of the holder's Physical attacks is increased by 20."

New: "While the holder is performing a Physical attack: The holder's Accuracy stage is increased by one (1)."

Wise Glasses

Old: "The base accuracy of the holder's Special attacks is increased by 20."

New: "While the holder is performing a Special attack: The holder's Accuracy stage is increased by one (1)."

Compound Eyes

Old: "While the user is executing an action: That action's accuracy is increased by thirty percent (x1.3)."

New: "While the user is executing an action: The user's Accuracy stage is increased by one (1)."

* This is a buff when using an action with 76.92~% Accuracy or less!

Illuminate

Old: "The accuracy of actions, of the user or their allies, is increased by 10."

New: "The Evasion stage of each opponent is reduced by one (1)."

Victory Star

Old: "While the user or an ally is acting: Raise the accuracy of that action by 10."

New: "The Accuracy stage of each ally is increased by one (1)."

Own Tempo

Old: "While the user is Confused and has the ability Tangled Feet: The user's Accuracy stage is increased by one (1)."

New: "While the user has the ability Tangled Feet: The user is Confused."

Tangled Feet

Old: "While the user is Confused: The user's Evasion stage is increased by one (1)."

New: "While the user is Confused: The user's Evasion stage is increased by two (2)."

* When you fight Spinda, have a plan to get some Accuracy!

Lagging Tail

Unchanged, but listed for completeness' sake.

Micle Berry

Unchanged, but not because it's any good. Pinch berries as a whole need looking at.

Infatuation Work

As a result of Accuracy work, Infatuation is left out of a job. So, where is there to go, but a rework?

There's a few spaces that a hypothetical new status effect could act in. Blanket answers for broad and hard-to-interact-with move "archetypes" like disruptive moves, any form of survival aid against powerful attackers, or something that lets players think less or not at all about the Pokemon their opponent sent, are all items from the average BBP player's Christmas wishlist. Nothing like that will be appearing on an Infatuation condition near you any time soon, however. The distribution of Attract is far too broad — instead, the effect will have to be something that targets a niche situation, and that doesn't fundamentally alter the kinds of orders players make most of the time.

When Game Freak decided Attract would no longer be a universal TM, it created yet another strange generational divide between older Pokemon who would get to wield whatever the new effect would be, and newer Pokemon who would simply have to endure it. But, we thought, what if those newer Pokemon didn't have to deal with it?

Details on this implementation are within.

To start, Infatuation has been given a wholly new effect:

Infatuation
By default, this status lasts until two of the subject's turns have ended.

Pokemon who don't know Attract are unaffected by this condition.

When this condition is created: The subject becomes Infatuated with the creator.

After the subject executes a non-damaging, non-called action, that targeted only themselves or only the creator: The creator calls and attempts that action without paying its costs.

Infatuated Pokemon are now compelled, by the power of love, to share their utility moves with the objects of their affection!

This gives Infatuation a new role as a broad, short-term countermeasure to a long list of disruption, status, boosting, phazing, or recovery moves, with some upside and downside compared to other answers. For starters, this version of Infatuation doesn't disrupt the subject. Nothing they do is directly affected by this status. Instead, you're using Infatuation as a way to "catch up" and maintain action parity, such as Tormenting an opponent back. Second, it's dangerous to use this status carelessly. The creator performs all qualifying actions, such as those that self-inflict a status, which can lead to some embarrassing punishes from savvy opponents. Love makes fools of each of us.

The upside is the breadth of applicability: This gains ground against many different kinds of action, and it's not limited to just opponents! In Doubles, Attract now becomes a valid way to share moves ranging from stat-ups all the way to utilities such as Teleport, so long as you can keep pesky opponents from prying into your pairing.

The caveat of requiring the subject to know Attract themselves does important work. It ensures that Attract is only mostly applicable, rather than universally in all matchups. It turns what would have been another generational movepool disadvantage into an immunity for newer Pokemon. And crucially, it helps create more distinctions between similar Pokemon — as an example, Walrein and Arctovish are similar in many ways, but now Walrein can threaten to share setup or disruptive moves, while Arctovish is immune to having their own such moves shared. Differences like this help ensure every Pokemon has their own unique spread of matchups that isn't overshadowed too completely by other Pokemon. (Shoutout to Infernape and Carnivine for being seemingly beyond our help, for now.)

Yes, this change means that you can now viably sub "IF Attract THEN Rest". Behave yourselves.

Cute Charm
To best leverage the revised Infatuation, Cute Charm is receiving possibly the funniest line of effect text in the game:

Cute Charm
The Pokemon has a natural charisma that draws others to them, even their enemies.

Opponents are Infatuated with the user.

An effect with phrasing as elegant as its users! I could weep.

When deciding to rework Infatuation, we decided we would concentrate on the condition itself first, and then adjust Cute Charm as needed afterwards. After all, Attract is widely distributed to hundreds of Pokemon; so making sure that it has an effect that's desirable but not overcentralizing in a majority of matches was the main priority.

The best Pokemon featuring this ability — Milotic in particular, but also loveable favorites such as Sylveon, Cinccino, and Clefable — weren't particularly bad already! Milotic may be "just" a bulky water in a format filled to the brim with options like Dondozo, Wishiwashi, or Palafin, but it has a few extra moves up its metaphorical sleeve to stand out with. Clefable is renowed for its large movepool, outstanding abilities, and middling stats. Both Sylveon and Cinccino leverage their abilities to linearly race damage against opponents. That is to say, all of the mentioned Pokemon exist as sort of average, unremarkable examples of their respective archetypes, with no particular quirk that would make them the best go-to Pokemon for a particular job or niche.

This version of Infatuation, and by extension this version of Cute Charm, introduces quite a bit of complexity to the Pokemon sporting this ability, with huge upsides and not-insignificant downside. As mentioned above, the Pokemon will repeat all of the moves that others share with them, opening them up to lines involving sharing Rest to self-inflict Sleep, or sharing Roar or Teleport to switch both Pokemon.

The *upside*, however, is equally impactful. Almost all boosting done in front of a Cute Charm user is self-sabotage, as well as almost all instant recovery. This effect basically completely insulates their users against Trick, since the items will simply be swapped back afterwards. And very crucially, these Pokemon complicate any attempt to use Protective moves profitably in a Doubles setting. And that's the very tip of what is sure to be a very, very large iceberg of possible applications of this ability.

Attract
Since it's no longer needed as a universal answer to all Evasion strategies, it's simple enough to prepare Attract for its new role.

After this patch, Attract won't bypass Protection or Decoys anymore.

Destiny Knot
This item's place as a "payoff" for Attract and Cute Charm is torn in two opposing directions: Attract is universal but temporary, requiring constant re-use of the move in order to maintain Infatuation. Cute Charm is constant and difficult to "switch off"; opponents primarily interact with Cute Charm with their move choices rather than by disrupting the ability directly. Finding an effect for Destiny Knot, that's a strong enough reward for repeatedly using Attract manually, but tame enough to be applied perpetually applied by Cute Charm, without becoming the sole mandatory held item for Cute Charm users, would be a Herculean task.

Thankfully, we don't have to do that. There's an unfilled niche available that's ripe for Destiny Knot to fill!

Destiny Knot
A lovely red twine of yarn that symbolizes attraction and devotion.

Opponents, that haven't attacked during this round, are Infatuated with the holder.

Continuing the theme of "items that are copies of an ability, but worse", we have the pocket-size version of Cute Charm. Opponents are free to break themselves free of the holder's bewitching at any time, simply by attacking... If they can afford to do so. When the opponent is facing pressure to create a decoy or set up a screen, or to phaze a dangerous opponent, this item can greatly complicate the battle situation. In Doubles especially, it isn't always so easy to go on the offensive!

Numbers Work

That's right. We're finally adding numbers to the game.

This work will be brief, but will help delineate some terms for use when writing effects that manipulate parameters, such as the ranks of Pokemon or the power of attacks. This is another change aimed at content authors, to help make sure their effects work the way they want them to.

We're defining "base" modifiers as simply meaning "before non-base modifiers", and "final" modifiers as meaning "after non-final modifiers". Within each of these groups, modifiers are ordered in typical mathematical order of operations. It's a bit of an oversight that these weren't defined sooner — we didn't anticipate how ambiguous these terms could become.

Relatedly, we're defining "original" as meaning "as it was legally sent to the referee" for both numeric values ("original Attack rank") and non-numeric values ("original species"). There's one effect in particular (on a pair of matching abilities) that will have to be updated out of referring to original values:

Huge Power
The Pokemon's body is surging with strength, far beyond their size would suggest.

The user's Attack rank is increased by an amount equal to the default Attack rank of their species if this ability is one of the user's original abilities; or by three (3) otherwise.

(If Huge Power and Pure Power also doubled Attack from nature, every Pokemon with the ability would be obligate Adamant without thought, which we don't want.)

If an effect refers to an original parameter and that parameter is found to have been sent in error (such as listing the wrong type or movepool), correct that error and then refer to the now-corrected parameter. Obviously.

Item Terminology Work

Compelled by some number of changes later below, we'll be more strictly defining the different terms used when moving Items throughout a battle.

These changes are made for two main reasons. First, many effects in the game that refer to items (especially those that restore them) are unclear what exactly happens to those interacted items, and even which items are being interacted in the worst cases. Outlining these named item behaviors gives those items somewhere to go in all cases, whether the interacting effect specifies or not. Secondly, this list will help content authors write effects interacting with items with more confidence that it will work the way they intend.

Many various effects throughout the game interact with items, and they'll all have to be manually updated to the new terms. C'est la vie.

The revisions to item-interacting effects can be found within.

The codified terms for moving items will be as follows:

Destroy (Incinerate): Remove the item from its holder and from the battle.
- Consume (Pluck): Destroy, but triggers certain effects.
Drop (Fling): Move the item from its holder to the dropped pile.
Equip (the regular equip function): Move an item from the backpack (but not anywhere else) to the Pokemon.
Claim (Pickup): Move an item from the dropped pile (but not anywhere else) to the Pokemon.
Transfer (Bestow): Move the item to the designated Pokemon and give it to them.
- Steal (Thief): Transfer the item to the thief.
Return (Silvally Memory): Move the item to its owner's backpack.
- Restore (Recycle): Return the item to its previous holder if possible, or to its owner otherwise; even if it was destroyed.

This list is not exhaustive. Rather, it's intended to encompass the most commonly used item interactions, for the ease of using and writing such effects. When a content author is writing an effect that manipulates an item in one of the ways not listed above, they'll just have to more specifically spell out what that effect is doing.

-below, a list of item-interacting effects and the name of the operation from the list they should be using, if any.

Everyone thank TMan87 for putting together this entire painstaking list!

Codified Effect Item Interactions

Moves that interact with items in a relevant way:

Bestow - Transfer
Corrosive Gas - Destroy
Covet - Steal
Fling - Drop
Knock Off - Drop
Recycle - Revised, see below.
Switcheroo - Transfer (to each other)
Thief - Steal
Trick - Transfer (to each other)

Moves that interact with specifically berries:

Bug Bite - Consume
Incinerate - Destroy
Pluck - Consume
Stuff Cheeks - Consume
Teatime - Consume
G-Max Replenish - Revised, see below.

Abilities that interact with items in a relevant way:

Ball Fetch - Claim
Magician - Steal
Pickpocket - Steal
Pickup - Claim
Sticky Hold - Works as written.
Symbiosis - Transfer
Unburden - Revised, see below.

Abilities that interact with specifically berries:

Harvest - Restore
Ripen - Revised, see below.

Certain effects that interacted with items (especially by restoring them) were previously unclear about what happens to those interacted items, and which items were to be interacted with. These effects have been lightly reworked to better use the new terms.

These small reworks are mostly power-neutral, but not entirely. This revision is as good a chance as any to touch up certain underwhelming effects, particularly Recycle and Unburden. Furthermore, clarifying some of these effects has broadened their applicability as a matter of course.

Recycle
The user mindfully picks up or repairs any held items that are littering the arena.

Restore each dropped item and each destroyed item.

G-Max Replenish
An overwhelming feasting attack used by G-Max Snorlax.

(If the user isn't Snorlax or isn't Dynamaxed, this move can't be attempted.)

After executing this move: Restore each Berry that has been consumed by an ally during this battle.

Unburden
The Pokemon uses any item they're given as a training weight, and becomes more agile once it's removed.

When the user drops or consumes an item: Grant the user a unique condition until they leave play, with the following effect:
● The subject's Speed is doubled (x2).

Ripen
The user has perfected a technique for fermenting Berries into a more portable form.

When the user drops or consumes a Berry for the first time each round: Restore that Berry.

Unown-targeted Adjustments
We knew this was coming. The best version of Unown is one that leverages the breadth of its fanfiction-broadened movepool to take up support and disruption roles that no other Pokemon can do.

These changes are made to trim around the edges of Unown's capabilities, while we watch and decide if it really needs any further changes itself.

Adjustments are found within.

We'll be adding a clause to Unown for now, where the moves they use can't be in excess of the battle's Level. Unown won't be required to reach that Level itself, but this should help prevent Shauna from seeing any more Geomancy setups for the foreseeable future.

In addition, two moves will be adjusted to trim down Unown's options and to ease substitutions against it for the time being.

Final Gambit
Combo Level: None (—)

The user forms all of their remaining lifeforce into a ball of energy and launches it at their target.

(This move costs HP, equal to the user's current HP.)

This move deals fixed damage.

Final Gambit's BAP is equal to the HP spent to attempt this move, to a maximum of 40.

Damage dealt is capped, and then some of the phrasing is moved around to work more correctly in combos.

40 was chosen for the cap to be high enough to realistically order, but not so high as to be worthwhile on sendout. This number could certainly change in the future.

No Retreat
The user's fighting spirit swells to a point where they will not abandon the fight until they are taken out, come hell or high water.

(If the user has executed No Retreat since they last entered play, this move can't be attempted.)

Inflict Trapped on the user.

Raise the user's five core stat stages by one (1), or by two (2) each if the user is Falinks, until they leave play.

(The self-Trapping effect is reworded, but isn't changed.)

Anti-poaching clause for No Retreat. We don't typically do these, but a Heart Swap OHKO is funny enough to enshrine in the patch notes.

Easy Pokemon Improvements

This patch isn't largely focused on buffing underused Pokemon, but there are still some easy wins to be made here or there. Think of these Pokemon changes as low-hanging fruit.

The changes are diverse in goal, so it may be better to find them without preamble, within.

Pickpocket
This ability rounds up a bunch of fan-favorite Pokemon who have underperformed in general, with no strongly-performing outlier to oppose them, making this ability an easy target for improvement.

It would be easy to give the user stats for each stolen item, or some other form of linear payoff. Frankly though, the various fanfiction power bonuses and rank increases that exist on abilities have begun to blend together. It's not uncommon that we see players forgetting a +1 or -1 somewhere, due to an effect that doesn't exist in cart.

That is to say, we're trying to make sure we're giving Pokeon fanfiction effects when possible, for memory reasons if nothing else. It's also just more interesting, as the Dex increases and each role becomes more crowded, if each Pokemon has more distinguishing traits compared to their immediate competitors.

All of that is to say, we're going to let these Pokemon blatantly steal from you!

Pickpocket
The Pokemon's cunning and sleight of hand allows them to easily steal a foe's item.

The user can hold any number of items not owned by trainers in the user's team, in addition to their other held items.

When equipping items to the user in a send-out post, you may also equip them with one item from an opponent's backpack. Note those items as the user's "Contraband". (And un-note any prior Contraband.)

Opponents can't equip copies of the user's Contraband item to their Pokemon.

When the user leaves play: Restore all of the user's destroyed Contraband, then return all of the user's Contraband to their owners' backpacks.

These Pokemon now exist as threats to your Backpack, until you can force them out of play. By nabbing a certain opponent's critical item, they can greatly complicate the opponent's send-out, deny the opponent a particular synergy, or gain some additional stats or effects.

Each of the users leverages this ability differently. Grimmsnarl and Tinkaton can use their good defensive typing and surprising longevity to keep an opponent's item for quite a few rounds, throwing a wrench into the opponent's battle plans. Conversely, Weavile and Barbaracle are less able to hold opponents' items for long periods — instead, they can simply grab an offensive item and push their already threatening damage output to frightening new heights.

What the ability doesn't do, is allow the user to consume an opponent's consumable from their backpack for good. Notice the effect that "restores" the stolen item before returning it. We were finally pushed to update item terminology so that we could template this ability properly.

Likewise, this doesn't make the Pokemon into the total item counterpicks that they may seem to be at first glance. Because the Pickpocket user can only deny their opponents the stolen item by remaining in play, the ability's power ends up being mostly selfish, instead of acting as a form of team support.

The minigame of interacting with a Pickpocket user and win back your stolen item; being to phaze them out of play, steal the item back manually, or simply threaten them out with a counterpick, should make these Pokemon each meaningfully distinct from other Pokemon in their role space!

Damp
This work targets a motley crew of Pokemon who share a particularly underwhelming ability. Some of whom are quite fine without it, and some who are desperate for any edge they could get.

The best users of this ability are strong in spite of having middling abilities, being Cyclohm and Swampert. This new design is based on that thinking, emphasizing the unique abilities of each Damp user, to give some extra juice where it's needed!

Damp
The Pokemon exudes a moisture into the air that inhibits explosive reactions.

Opposing Pokemon can't execute self-sacrificing moves that have a BAP.
Opposing Pokemon can't execute Mind Blown.

While the Weather is Rain or is Cloudy: Damp also has the effect text of each of the user's other Abilities.

This essentially reads, "You have your abilities twice while it is Raining". For Cyclohm this only means extra Static rolls, which comes up rarely but not never. For Swampert, this means more Water-type damage in a pinch from Torrent, and more Speed for Mega Swampert in Rain. Nothing that will break the bank.

The other users of Damp have more relevant abilities that they can better leverage. Politoed sets its own rain and enjoys more healing when spamming its rain-boosted STABs. Jellicent enjoys more rolls for Cursed Body, and Bellibolt enjoys extra charge from their Electromorphosis ability in rain. Kingdra sports a very threatening +12 critical modifier with this change during rain, though it has to either combine Barometer with Focus Energy, or a crit-boosting item with actual rain support in order to access it.

:ss/golduck:

The mention of Cloudy may seem like a mistaken reference to Fog; but instead, it's support for our second-most-forgotten duck. Out of all of our Damp users, Golduck is the only one that learns Role Play, allowing it to steal and double the abilities of opponents. Between this unique strength, a baseline-functional 90/6/6/7/6/85 statline, and the capacity to leverage Exp. Share, Golduck finally has something to offer prospective trainers that it can call its own.

And yes, we'll be fixing Cloud Nine so that Golduck doesn't blank its own abilities.

Cloud Nine
We'll be fixing Cloud Nine so that it doesn't blank the user's own abilities, items, or moves.

Cloud Nine
The Pokemon has an affinity for soft and fluffy clouds, and such weather seems to follow in their wake somehow.

Weather in play is named "Cloudy", and the effects of that Weather are ignored.

The effects of moves, of items, of and abilities that mention "Weather" in their conditions, except for those of the user, are ignored.

This ability is otherwise already a powerful anti-Weather floodgate, that beats even Barometer strategies, so it doesn't need much further help.

Keen Eye
This is a small change to better help the lesser users of this ability better perform their new job of breaking down tanks.

Keen Eye
The Pokemon's sharp vision allows them to see right through concealment and bluffs.

The user's Accuracy stage can't be lowered, and the user's negative Accuracy stage is ignored.

While the user is attacking with an attack that currently has no chance to miss, and that doesn't share a type with the user: The user's relevant Attack rank is at least the defender's relevant Defense rank.

This ability's fanfiction effect is intended to make these Pokemon threatening to opponents with a majority of their statline in their Defenses — Probopass, Dusknoir, and the like. But the ability's strongest user, the biggest bird, always threatens to leverage the ability to pretty belligerently jam unresistable Sky Attacks into any opponent in front of them.

The prior version of this ability already excludes attacks "that have received a power bonus", to pick on Braviary-Hisui's Sheer Force ability. This had known-but-undesirable consequences for each other user of the ability — Bombirdier's Rocky Payload, Hitmonchan's Iron Fist, and the like. It severely curtailed their item choices and sometimes punished them for simply having other desirable abilities.

This change will refocus the ability on its most in-need users, tasking them with typing non-STAB Flamethrower and Low Kick into the weaknesses of their tanky, somewhat passive prey, and leveraging their best abilities and items while doing so.

Iron Fist
This beloved monkey has seemed impossible to help. With uncomfortably cut-off stats and a crowded typing, it finds itself mostly left in the dust by its competitors. However, every part of itself is shared with excellent Pokemon that really shouldn't receive the help. Other work has targeted Infernape in the past, trying to improve the recoil moves, or to make using boosting moves and hazards more effective. These rising tides have lifted Infernape's metaphorical ship no more or less than those of their competitors, leaving the starter in their dust much like before.

This left the Ape out to dry for quite a while, until one particular quirk stood out: No Pokemon with Iron Fist gets large amounts of instant healing, except Infernape with Slack Off (and in technicality, Pawmot with Revival Blessing and Wish). So, to give people a chance to monkey around, that's the angle we'll be going with.

Iron Fist
The Pokemon has trained their fists with patience, concentration, and discipline.

When the user attacks with an action that has the #Punch tag: Give that attack a power bonus, equal to a third (x1/3) of the HP the user has healed during this round, to a minimum of two (2) and a maximum of 20.

Pawmot has a much more specific circumstance where they can take advantage of this, requiring Fainted allies (via Revival Blessing) or requiring an entire round of delay (via Wish). We figure it's safe enough to let them ride along on this change. As for the rest of the users, it's an interesting gain in niche situations for powerful users like Conkeldurr using Drain Punch (where the damage increases on the third consecutive Drain Punch in a round), or for any of them leveraging Enigma Berry or other recovery items. There's further synergy with support like Wish, Grassy Terrain, and more, opening exciting doors for all of the users of this ability.

You could, in theory, max out this ability via Healing Wish, but you would have to receive a 60 HP heal (sacrificing an 80 HP user) to do so. If you have a plan for Protect and other stall tactics, feel free to try to get this cap lowered!

LouisCyphre · Jun 20, 2023

We don't really have a good structure in place for small patches between the big patch posts, do we?

This'll at least have to be its own post (and not an edit), so that it has its own timestamp.

Unown Follow-Up
As promised above, we'll be following up on Unown work above with what we expect will be our long-term solution.

Details within.

5.10a "Unown" will now state the following:

[5.10a] Unown:
Unown completely lacks a movepool, and does not have Energy. However, Unown may use any traditional move in the entire game... Conditionally.

Instead of Energy, Unown stocks Letters and spends these Letters to execute moves. Unown starts with the Letters "U", "N", "O", "W" and "N" stocked.

Actions each cost Unown the stocked Letter that their name or names start with, in the place of Energy. As a result, Unown can only ever pay for combinations between different-Letter component moves... Or for combos made of two moves that start with "N".

When a move is attempted by any non-Unown Pokemon in the battle, note the first letter of the names of that action. Each Unown that isn't in play and doesn't have that Letter stocked will stock that noted Letter, until the battle ends or the Letter is spent. (Combinations stock a Letter for each of their component moves.)

Unown can receive orders to perform any standard move, whose Level is at most the Level of the match, whether they know those moves or not.

When an Unown spends their last Letter, they also Faint.

Though it sports truly atrocious stats, this strange quirk may allow Unown to perform strategies that no other Pokemon can, provided the right team support.

The absence of Energy will come up in the upcoming Raid Zone as well, so I'll have to more rigorously define what to do with missing parameters in 5.x "Pokemon". For the time being, let it suffice to say that attempts to modify or compare a missing parameter (e.g. trying to use Spite on Unown) simply don't do that. Eerie Spell would deal damage, but there's no Energy to change with its effect. Also, the absence of Energy as a parameter is distinct from "having 0 Energy", for all of my favorite pedants. <3

These changes entirely focus on the pain point people have implied when complaining about Unown — the scenario ordering first, with no time to prepare except for in your teambuilding, into a fully stocked Unown. By making Unown a threat that uniquely grows as rounds pass, it should maintain a useful place in matches while being less immediately overbearing.

It's worth noting that there was no real consensus as to whether the mon was strong, or even if it was particularly good. Instead, all feedback was simply that it was annoying or tedious. I would advise opponents of Unown to not focus overmuch on trying to "deny" Letters. Players who are using Unown will have plans in place to stock powerful letters such as C, P, T, and S on their own terms anyway. Instead, focus your efforts on setting up a favorable matchup (especially a fast Taunt user), or securing second order when Unown must eventually come in.

Please enjoy contending with yet another of our signature mid-battle minigames!

Start Here! Battle-By-Post Player Handbook - Generation 9

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Table of Contents​

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[1.1]​

[1.2]​

[1.3]​

[1.4]​

[1.5]​

[1.6]​

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[2.1]​

[2.2]​

[2.3]​

[2.4]​

[2.5]​

[2.6]​

[2.7]​

[2.8]​

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[2.9]​

[2.10]​

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[3.1] ​

[3.2]​

[3.3]​

[3.4]​

[3.5]​

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[4.1]​

[4.2]​

[4.3]​

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[5.1]​

[5.2]​

[5.3]​

[5.4]​

[5.5]​

[5.6]​

[5.7]​

[5.8] ​

[5.9]​

[5.10]​

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[6.1]​

[6.2]​

[6.3]​

[6.4]​

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[7.1]​

[7.2]​

[7.3]​

[7.4]​

[7.5]​

[7.6]​

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[8.1]​

[8.2]​

[8.3]​

[8.4]​

[8.5]​

[8.6]​

[8.7]​

[8.8]​

[8.9]​

[8.10]​

[8.11]​

[8.12]​

heralds disaster.

[9.1]​

[9.2]​

[9.3]​

[9.4]​

[9.5]​

[9.6]​

[9.7]​

Table of Contents

[1.1]

[1.2]

[1.3]

[1.4]

[1.5]

[1.6]

[2.1]

[2.2]

[2.3]

[2.4]

[2.5]

[2.6]

[2.7]

[2.8]

[2.9]

[2.10]

[3.1]

[3.2]

[3.3]

[3.4]

[3.5]

[4.1]

[4.2]

[4.3]

[5.1]

[5.2]

[5.3]

[5.4]

[5.5]

[5.6]

[5.7]

[5.8]

[5.9]

[5.10]

[6.1]

[6.2]

[6.3]

[6.4]

[7.1]

[7.2]

[7.3]

[7.4]

[7.5]

[7.6]

[8.1]

[8.2]

[8.3]

[8.4]

[8.5]

[8.6]

[8.7]

[8.8]

[8.9]

[8.10]

[8.11]

[8.12]

[9.1]

[9.2]

[9.3]

[9.4]

[9.5]

[9.6]

[9.7]

[9.8]

[10.1]

[10.2]

[10.3]

[10.4]

[10.5]

[10.6]

[10.7]

[10.8]

[11.1]

[11.2]

[11.3]

[11.4]

[11.5]

[11.6]

[11.7]