(Pokemon conversion mechanics) I put it in conversions, but I really could use some advice.

[rungok]

Pokemon Conversion

I would appreciate some advice from people about this. I posted it in the conversions forum but it doesn't really come across as an advice forum so that's why I'm here. If I did that wrong I apologize, in that case please disregard this post. :p

[Charon's Little Helper]

You'd be doing so much houseruling to make it work that it seems easier to simply use one of the many systems already designed for this.

[rungok]

Within Pathfinder?

[Charon's Little Helper]

No - but there was an Anime d20 game which had a class which did basically what you're looking for. It'd be pretty easy to tweak into Pathfinder. (I never played it - just read it - so I can't really comment on balance etc.)

[rungok]

Okay I'll try to find it.

I realize I need to clarify that I'm not intending on converting over the pokemon, just the themes from the game (pokeball, training, etc.)

[Bob Bob Bob]

So first of all, you want houserules, not conversions. Conversions would imply you have something you're changing to use the Pathfinder rule system and you're just making this up whole cloth.

Second, familiars are not the right setup to use. Improved familiars have some abilities that make them like pokemon, regular familiars are just animals and that would basically make this a dogfighting ring. "Claw" is a lot less acceptable when it's your cat clawing bloody gashes in someone's frog.

Personally? I'd roll with Eidolons or Astral Constructs. They give you a nice menu of do-it-yourself monster abilities and an easy way to add on magical powers (through spell-like abilities). This also gives you a limit for some special moves, presumably the pokemon center casts "recharge innate magic" as part of the healing process. You can tweak the base eidolon forms to whatever size and power level you want and then anything built off of that would (in theory) be balanced with each other.

[rungok]

Bob Bob Bob wrote:

So first of all, you want houserules, not conversions. Conversions would imply you have something you're changing to use the Pathfinder rule system and you're just making this up whole cloth.

Second, familiars are not the right setup to use. Improved familiars have some abilities that make them like pokemon, regular familiars are just animals and that would basically make this a dogfighting ring. "Claw" is a lot less acceptable when it's your cat clawing bloody gashes in someone's frog.

Personally? I'd roll with Eidolons or Astral Constructs. They give you a nice menu of do-it-yourself monster abilities and an easy way to add on magical powers (through spell-like abilities). This also gives you a limit for some special moves, presumably the pokemon center casts "recharge innate magic" as part of the healing process. You can tweak the base eidolon forms to whatever size and power level you want and then anything built off of that would (in theory) be balanced with each other.

Ah! Yes, thank you. This is kinda what I was looking for. I had the wrong forum. That's a good idea, I'll see if I can spin it that way. You have a very valid point about familiars not being the proper setup. Very good idea on using eidolons or astral constructs. I'll have to cut down the power level of them, but yeah, that should work.

[rungok]

Okay so I was looking at Unfettered Eidolons. The construction rules for that would work perfectly, since they start at 1HD and you build them to order. I could just increase their HD if they 'level up'.

The only downside is that those kinds don't get SLA's.

[Bob Bob Bob]

Well, a quick overview seems to indicate that everything the unfettered eidolon can get is the exact same price as for the summoner's eidolon. So... use the full eidolon list instead? That will get you SLAs, energy attacks, and the full pokemon moveset.