Abilities are passive effects that are either active all the time, or are triggered under certain conditions.
- Pokèmon are born with single Basic Ability, chosen by the GM.
- Upon reaching Tier 2, Pokèmon gain a Basic or Advanced Ability.
- Upon reaching Tier 3 and 4, Pokèmon may gain any Ability.
- Trainers learn abilities through Class Features, typically receiving 1 per class.
Pokèmon gain 4 Abilities through leveling, but there is no limit to the maximum number of Abilities they or a Trainer can have.
Many Features and other effects can add, remove, or exchange a creature’s Abilities. For example, a Ditto’s Transform Move allows it to add one of its target’s Abilities to itself during the transformation, and the Move Gastro Acid removes one of the target’s Abilities for a duration.
- Abilities scale harder than Moves do, and are more powerful than Moves of the equivalent Tier.
- Like Moves, Abilities are not distributed evenly across Pokèmon. What is a Basic Ability for one evolutionary line may be an Advanced Ability for another.
Example Ability 1:
| Stance Change Frequency: At-Will – Interrupt Action Trigger: When this creature makes a single-target attack or is the singular target of an attack. Effect: You may swap your ATK/SPATK stats with your DEF/SPDEF stats, without swapping Combat Stages. Bonus: This Ability may be also triggered as a Full Action. At Tier 2: The Trigger changes to “When this creature makes an attack or is the target of an attack.” At Tier 3: The Bonus changes to “This Ability may be also triggered as a Free Action.” At Tier 4: During the Effect, you can now choose to swap your ATK/SPATK and DEF/SPDEF Combat Stages. |
Example signature Ability (Drifblim line):
| Flare Boost Frequency: Static Trigger: This creature has any Burn status. Effect: You gain +X ATK/SPATK Combat Stages, where X is (Your Tier). Bonus: You Resist Fire-type damage one step further. At Tier 3: The Bonus changes to “You Resist Fire-type damage two steps further”. At Tier 4: You are immune to the effects of all Burn statuses, but may still suffer the status. |
Example Ability 3:
| Sheer Force Frequency: Static Effect: Attacks with an Effect Range gain a +10 Bonus to Damage, but Effect Ranges can never be triggered. Bonus: You can Take X on Athletics checks to break objects, where X is (2 + Your Tier). |