Ranger Questline

The Pokémon Ranger is the primary alternative to a Pokémon Trainer, with an entirely different mentality on the handling and interacting with Pokémon. Some parts of the world even near-exclusively employ Pokémon Rangers instead of Pokémon Trainers into their cultural zeitgeist, while others may have a more balanced approach to the Trainers vs. Rangers false dichotomy. And it’s important to understand that it is a false dichotomy—the best Pokémon Handlers in the world are often both Trainer and Ranger, incorporating the benefits and philosophies of both classes into their approaches with Pokémon and nature.

Like with many things in Pokémon, there are 100 levels to being a Ranger (which is obviously more of a meta-thing than say, a literal in-universe number). To learn this trade, you must either attend a Ranger School or apprentice as a Ranger to someone else in the field. Unlike being a Pokémon Trainer, which is extremely “figure it out as you go” if you wanted to go that route, the Guild of Pokémon Ranger (or “The Guild”) requires years of specialized training to be included in their ranks—and employers seldom employ Rangers who are not in the Guild or its regional equivalent.

Philosophy of Pokémon Rangers (in no particular order):

Pokémon are just as important as people, and people are just as important as Pokémon.

Pokémon Rangers believe in stewardship of the land. Take care of the land and the land will take care of you.

Be kind to all

Be courageous

Be generous

Pokémon Rangers are the middle ground between the Pokémon World and the human. Rangers use the power of their hearts and minds to partake and problem-solve in calamity aid, prevention, & mitigation; environmental protections; community projects, ecological maintenance, and sustainability.

Pokémon Rangers can come from any background, and are one of the few fields that regularly enroll and employ ex-felons into their ranks because everyone deserves a chance at redemption and everyone deserves to feel responsible for the well-being of their community.

Requirements to Attend Ranger School:

You must be at least 16 years old—some municipalities require you to be a full legal adult. The situations that Rangers get into are often very dangerous and require a greater maturity from its students than the younger ages that being a Trainer allows for.

You need a Pokémon companion of your own. One will not be provided for you. Most Rangers use their government-issued starter Pokémon for this purpose, and it is often the only Pokémon that they “own.” Even in Ranger-dominant societies, there is still the practice of government-issued starter Pokémon since it’s important that in a Pokémon world everyone is given the opportunity to have their own Pokémon companion.

Ranger School

Level 20 Ranger is “graduation.”

New Students are given the most basic of all stylers, the Starter Styler. It lacks the finess, hardiness, strength, and durability of the more advanced stylers, but this is on purpose because students need to learn to hone their styler skills on something more rudimentary and simple before they can learn to wield the more advanced technology.

Students must spend at least two years learning to be a Pokémon Ranger. That is the fastest fast track that anyone is permitted to do before they may graduate. This is because Rangering isn’t just about learning to use a styler, it is about experience and understanding the natural world at an emotional and ecological level. You cannot reasonably gain the experience necessary to graduate and be accepted into the Guild in less than 2 years of schooling or apprenticeship. Many students study for five, six, or even eight years before they’re ready. There is nothing wrong with this and is exceptionally normal.

Expectations: Students and apprentices are expected to help around town and in the wilderness, both gaining experience and improving the community. The job bulletin is a great place to find harder quests, and students/apprentices are strongly encouraged to learn team-building skills by working together to accomplish harder tasks. These experiences are meant to set them up for success as Rangers when they graduate and go out into the world.

As part of their schooling, Pokémon Rangers are expected to take many classes in ecology and environmental studies.

Rangers Post-Graduation

Pokémon Rangers are generally expected to join the Guild upon graduation, but there are other Ranger Guilds in the world than just the big one. This Guild is both a source of community amongst Rangers, it is also a way for Rangers to decide rules to govern themselves, and (perhaps most importantly of all) it is one of the most powerful labor unions in the world. Pokémon Ranger specific careers are near-guaranteed to be good stable jobs with good wages/salaries and excellent benefits no matter what country you live in.

The local Ranger Guild is a place where the community can seek help. Often there is a literal community-center type building the Rangers will frequent to find job postings and talk to locals who have come to seek their aid. Payment varies widely depending on how they’re employed—this is GM/narrative discretion. It’s common for locals to come to their Guild with small issues (cats stuck in trees, garden pests, etc.), but it’s honest work.

Pokémon Rangers are employed in all levels of government: from community work to state Fish & Wildlife departments to environmental legislation to the Department of Agriculture to the Task Force to firefighting, and so so much more. The possibilities are endless!

The Capture Stylers and Mechanics:

There are many strengths of capture stylers that will be earned as you develop your Rangering skills. A capture styler uses the power of the heart to tame wild Pokémon and calm them to a state where you may even ask them to perform a helping hand for whatever you may need their assistance for. This is an extremely powerful intersection between technology and magic.

Ranger Stats

Ranger Level: This is your collective experience compiled into a cute little number. Goes from 0 to 100. 

Earning Experience: In order to gain experience you must successfully tame Pokémon and perform Ranger duties and jobs. To calculate how many EXP you need to level-up, take your current level then multiple by 15. That is how many Ranger EXP you need to reach the next level. And in order to go from level 0 to level 1, you simply must successfully tame 1 Pokémon (usually under the context of learning).

Calculating EXP: Simply find the number of successful loops it takes to tame the Pokémon, then halve that number. That’s how many EXP you get from taming it. Please understand that this formula assumes that the “day to day” type things are glossed over in your game or narrative, but should this not be the case then perhaps consider a harsher formula. Remember, you spend at least 2 years in Ranger School.

Tamer/Taming Skill: This is an improvable stat that starts at 0 and caps at 10. It is a boost to capture styler success. This is improved primarily through narration, but also the graduation to Level 20 Ranger grants you a +1 unless you have already maxed out. It is possible to lose stats in this.

Ranger Rank: Level 1-20 is an Apprentice Ranger, level 21-40 is a Junior Ranger, level 41-60 is a Senior Ranger, level 61-81 is a Top Ranger, and level 81-100 is a Master Ranger.

Capture Styler

There are 3 types of capture stylers:

Starter Styler: Given to student Rangers (level 0-19), can take 3 collisions before the magic breaks. It can handle 2 breaks before needing repairs.

Fine Styler: Given to Pokémon Rangers who have graduated (level 20-60), can take 8 collisions. It can handle 4 breaks before needing repairs.

Top Styler: Given to Pokémon Rangers who have mastered their craft (level 61-100), can take 15 collisions. It can handle 7 breaks before needing repairs.

In order to tame a Pokémon, you must perform a number of successful loops with the capture styler. This is the mechanism in which your friendship, compassion, and determination is forced upon the Pokémon in order to calm them/tame them/communicate friendship/etc. Weaker Pokémon have weaker willpowers and do not need as many loops, while stronger Pokémon have stronger willpowers and need more loops. While you are looping, the Pokémon will attempt to break free of your friendship magic by damaging the looping process. This is called a “collision” and your capture styler can only handle so many collisions before you lose your progress or it breaks and needs repairs.

When it’s time to tame a Pokémon, get out the dice! The core of the success/failure mechanic is this: figure out how many successful loops you need to make, and then keep rolling until you either max out on collisions or tame the beast.

Calculating Number of Loops Needed to Tame: Take the level of the Pokémon in question and multiply it by a factor based on what evolutionary stage it is at. All final calculations are to be rounded up to the nearest whole number. Should there ever be an instance where more than 1 category applies to a Pokémon, always use the category with the greatest multiplier.

Baby Pokémon (as in, it is literally in the Baby Pokémon group): x1 multiplier [this is equivalent to no multiplier and you can just base it on the Pokémon’s level].

Basic-Stage Pokémon: x1.25 multiplier

Single-Stage Pokémon: x1.75 multiplier

Middle-Stage Pokémon: x1.5 multiplier

Final-Stage Pokémon (with 2 stages): x2 multiplier

Final-Stage Pokémon (with 3 stages): x2.25 multiplier

Demigod Pokémon: x2.5 multiplier

God Pokémon: x2.75 multiplier

Eldritch Beings: x3 multiplier

The Pokémon strikes back! (Collision Check) Each turn after a loop, the Pokémon has a chance at striking back! Roll a d6 to figure out what happens!

1. The Pokémon doesn’t attack.

2. It tries to hit but misses!

3. It strikes back! (Collision with Capture Styler)

4. It uses an attack! (Roll a d20 accuracy check)

5. It tries to hit but misses!

6. It uses an attack! (Roll a d20 accuracy check)

Deflection! (Countering Collisions) Quick, get out of the way! If the Pokémon strikes back, these are your main options:

Dodge! (Roll a d4. 1 and 3 are a successful dodge)

Your Partner Pokémon counters! (Roll a d20 accuracy check)—beware: if the opponent Pokémon is knocked out, then you cannot tame it!

Poke-Assists: These are the boosts that tamed Pokémon and your Partner Pokémon can provide.

These apply at the beginning of a turn.

Unless otherwise stated, Poke-Assist durations last for a set number of turns based on the following chart:

Baby Pokémon: 1 turn

Basic-Stage Pokémon: 2 turns

Single-Stage Pokémon: 5 turns

Middle-Stage Pokémon: 4 turns

Final-Stage Pokémon (with 2 stages): 6 turns

Final-Stage Pokémon (with 3 stages): 7 turns

Demigod Pokémon: 10 turns

God Pokémon: 20 turns

Eldritch Beings: 30 turns

All Poke-Assists by Type:

Bug: Creates bug goo. For each successful loop, roll a d4 and if it lands on a 1 or 3 then the opponent is slowed for 5 turns. This causes them to Strike Back every other turn. This effect does not stack with more bug goo.

Dark: Creates darkness. This halves the accuracy of all parties and is not usable at night.

Dragon: Summons draco meteor. Assisting Pokémon must actually know Draco Meteor, otherwise it will provide a different Poke-Assist. Roll a d4 twice to see how many were summoned. From here, roll any dice to find out whether each meteor either hit or stopped the Pokémon in its tracks from moving. Odd numbers mean that it hit the Pokémon, even numbers mean that it stopped it in its tracks. Calculate damage normally, and the number of meteors that stopped the Pokémon in its tracks is the number of turns you get without it trying to Strike Back.

Electricity: Inflicts paralysis (unable to Strike Back) for whatever number of turns the d6 says.

Fairy: Eliminates all debuffs on the player and temporarily nullifies enemy’s special abilities.

Fighting: Deals double (x2) loops per successful loop. Unusable against ghost types.

Fire: Inflicts the Burn status condition if and only if the opponent makes physical contact with the styler. Calculate Burn damage at the end of each turn accordingly.

Flying: Gives player an extra chance at evading collision. Every time Collision is about to happen, player may roll one extra d4, and if the number is a 2 or 4 they dodged the Collision.

Ghost: Causes ghosts to appear. Each turn roll a d4, and if the number is a 1 or 3 a ghost will startle the opponent into not reacting to the styler. This is done before the usual Collision Check.

Grass: Tall grass suddenly sprouts around the enemy wherever your styler has just been! The opponent is massively slowed, allowing the player to make two loop checks per turn instead of one. [Mechanic clarification: this does stack with the Bug-Assist because they technically do slightly different things.]

Ground: Earthquake! Both player and opponent are damaged by an Earthquake attack. The opponent’s total loops needed for taming are reduced by 10% (rounded up to the nearest whole number), but in exchange you take 1 Collision. The Pokémon using the assist must know Earthquake. If not, its assist will be something else.

Ice: Inflicts the Frozen status condition, which causes the opponent to freeze in place for the number of turns determined by the d8. This only works if the opponent made contact with the Capture Styler, and the effect does not stack onto itself. Further, if the opponent is hit by fire-type attacks while it is frozen, then it will immediately thaw. The ice-type assist is completely unusable against fire-types.

Normal: For every successful 2-loop streak, you receive a bonus +1 successful loop. This assist can be provided by any Pokémon, however actual Normal-types provide an additional benefit. For every successful 3-loop streak (in addition to the 2-loop streak) you get +2 bonus loops.  

Poison: Inflicts the Poison status condition, which causes the total number of loops needed for taming to go down by 1 each turn in addition to the usual damage at the end of each turn. Unusable against steel or poison-types.

Psychic: Improves loop accuracy by +4.

Rock: Causes a rockfall. Roll a d4.

1: Player sustains 1 Collision

2: Opponent receives 1 loop reduction

3: Opponent receives 3 loop reductions

4: Opponent receives 7 loop reductions

Steel: Shielded from 4 Collisions for the length of the assist.

Water: Each successful loop in a streak builds up a bigger and bigger water bubble. You can use this bubble at any time during the length of the assist, but the longer your streak the more bonus loops it will provide. However, a Collision will burst the bubble and the streak bonus will be lost. As an example, a 3-turn bubble will deal a bonus 3 loops in addition to the 3 already performed.

Loop Success/Failure Checks:

Each loop is a d20 roll. No matter all other boosts and advantages and debuffs, a 1 is always a success and a 20 is always a failure.

At baseline with no buffs or debuffs, a 1-5 is a successful loop, and a 6-20 is an unsuccessful loop. You could also think of it as “you must roll at or below 5 to successfully loop.”

Tamer Skill adds +1 to the sequence of successful rolls per +1 in Tamer Skill/Taming. Example: If you have a 3 in Taming, then you add 3 (your boost) to 5 (the maximum baseline successful roll) and you get 8. This is now the new number that you must roll at or below to successfully loop.

If you fail too many loops, then the Pokémon will break free and you will lose all progress and start over. If you lose too many times without rest/repairing the styler, then the styler will break and you will be unable to use it again until it is repaired (this is a multi-hour process). Learning to repair your own styler is an advanced technique, and most simply return to their guild or school to get it repaired for the day. 

A failure and a Collision are not the same thing, but are often used the same way.

Loop Failure: For purposes of taming a Pokémon, a failed loop and a Collision are the same thing. However, a failed loop just means that you failed to properly loop your capture styler around the Pokémon. This can happen for any number of reasons, including Collisions.  

Collision: This is when the Capture Styler itself is physically damaged by the opponent.

In general, Pokémon will tolerate 5 failed loops before progress is reset.

Partner Pokémon and Other Miscellaneous Mechanics & Lore

After each successful taming, there is a 1 in 20 chance of befriending the Pokémon! It does not matter what number you use to determine this, just pick a number between 1 and 20 before rolling, then roll.

Befriending a Pokémon is the Ranger equivalent to “catching” someone, except this is a purely voluntary process where the Pokémon chooses to become your companion. These befriended Pokémon can be called upon to aid you on your adventures on a more permanent basis than a standard taming. Because they are not officially “your” Pokémon, there is no limit to the number of befriended Pokémon.

The capture styler’s magic temporarily protects a Pokémon from the effects of Pokéballs, fully preventing them from being captured inside one. This does not last forever, but it lasts for about a day after being successfully tamed.

Pokémon Rangers are the only ones with an in-universe mechanic that can “capture” (tame) the gods and eldritch beings. Even Master Balls are too weak to capture an unwilling god, let alone an eldritch being. But the magic of a capture styler does not subjugate someone but rather allows the Ranger to speak directly into the Pokémon’s soul/spirit/mind and get through to them at the most fundamental level. In a sense, it’s a communication device that conveys your spirit and will directly into the spirit and willpower into another.

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They seem awfully lenient with worship mandates...

Perhaps I should talk to Head Priestess Luna to collect more information...