Is now live. Fill it with things.
If you’re interested in submitting a pokemonized version of a character you didn’t originally create, just credit the original writer and story.
(Anyone want to take a shot at Harry Dresden?)
Is now live. Fill it with things.
If you’re interested in submitting a pokemonized version of a character you didn’t originally create, just credit the original writer and story.
(Anyone want to take a shot at Harry Dresden?)
So, in retrospect adapting Taylor Hebert to Pokemon world doesn’t really work as the ability to just walk away and go on a journey solves most of her problems with an unfortunate side effect of not producing her canon personality that makes her interesting.
Still, I kinda want to see a Worm character in Pokemon, so I am thinking about adapting Rachel Lindt. However, I need a help of someone who actually knows Pokemon lore to help me out.
First, quick description of canon character.
Rachel is an orphan with anti-social tendencies who was going from one foster care home to another, never staying for long due to causing troubles by resolving to violence as her first solution.
Eventually she was sent to a “very strict” (read: borderline batshit) matron in hopes she will set Rachel straight.
That didn’t quite work and resulted in an incident that gave Rachel powers to understand dogs’ body language and instincts as well as enhance dogs into huge monstrosities. The matron was accidentally killed and Rachel ran away.
Now, for the Pokemon conversion, there would be some adjustments:
– The enhancing power is ditched as unnecessary.
– Instead of the incident, Rachel was just given a starter and told to go on a journey at the age of ten since it was easier for the authorities than actually dealing with her and getting her help she needed.
– I imagine she doesn’t care about badges or battles in general and focuses on taking care of her pokemon and going after people who she thinks abuse theirs. Not sure if she should see the whole battle system as abusive and want to bring it down, though.
Now, there are two things I need help with:
– Some in-universe reason for her to understand the body language and instincts of canine pokemon. Right now I am tempted to take a cop-out and say she was just born with that ability.
– Her team, as I don’t know that much about pokemon themselves. The theme should be canine, naturally. The team doesn’t need to be efficient as she would have pokemon she liberated or found in the wild and adopted in cases when she could provide them with a better environment than they were in.
Any other input is welcome as well.
Easiest fix I can see is that it happened when Rachel was younger than ten, someone still tries to kill her stray pet (poochyena?) and they still end up killed, and she runs away before they can kill the pokemon for it. So she ends up a “pokemon trainer” at like six, and also she has no actual license or anything so she can’t get access to the free food or shelter. She’d end up pretty feral and we really don’t need a magic explanation for knowing dog body language rather than human because if she’s almost entirely around dogs from a young age it’d inevitably happen. The only issue is that she wouldn’t be totally unable to adjust to humans.
For more dogness, we could just go with the idea she was raised by dogs. Maybe her parents or foster parents ran a daycare and kept her locked in the kennel until she broke out with one of the pokemon, and now she’s messed up in the same way kids in our world are after that. As long as she got the basic rudiments of human speech before being locked up, that plus the interaction with pokemon would be enough to keep language capacity, but she wouldn’t be able to actually relate to humans.
Hm, I think I like the first version better.
So, she managed to befriend a wild pokemon on the edge of town, brought it to the foster home one day. Her foster parents didn’t like it and got into a shouting match, the pokemon reacted purely and death happened.
She ran away and lived in the wild for some years among pokemon, slowly learning to understand them and how to take care of them without the access to free medicine and food.
While she can potentially go back to humans and learn how to interact with them, she isn’t inclined to do so by now. The option is open for those who want to work with it, however.
Sounds good, I think.
So, she is less a trainer and more a part of some pack, it seems, benefiting it by virtue of having opposite thumbs.
She feels more as an encounter-type character: the protagonist walk through the forest, meets a canine pokemon he or she wants to catch, enters battle, then suddenly canines everywhere, with Rachel in the lead.
Any specific pokemon species that would be good for such a scenario?
Well, poochyena fill the rattata niche in that region, so there’s lots of them around for her to form a pack with and they’re probably viewed as vermin, plus they’re dark types. In this case it probably wouldn’t even be people trying to catch them that’d trigger A WILD RACHEL APPEARED but someone trying to train their pokemon by beating up the wild poochyena.
Growlithe are the most doggy of pokemon, so that’d be the closest match to her powers. Plus they shoot fire, so it’s easy to see how one could’ve killed her foster mom. These guys are also more popular, so trainers would be “preying” on them to add to their teams.
For a dark version, houndour is more doggy than poochyena and still shoots fire, although less doggy than growlithe.
Lillipup is much more puppyish than poochyena while being similarly at vermin levels of common. Also, it evolves into stoutland. If you gave her the ability to evolve pokemon, going from tiny baby to MASSIVE DOG MONSTER would be a good match for her canon superpower.
Actually, yeah, that one seems like the best fit.
I feel way out of my depths here.
Anyway, I wrote the first version of character profile, would like to read your thoughts on that and if there is anything I should change.
Not sure about the details of her first encounter and if the species are the best fit.
As far as team goes: Mightyena, Arcanine, Houndoom, Ninetales, Lucario, Herdier
There’s also Delphox and the eeveelutions, plus the legendary dogs if you really want to make things fun.
Thanks. I’ll look them up to see which ones fit.
Alright, so I made a stab at Taylor. What do you think? I just gave up on trying to really match her backstory because it’d mean she could only be used in a story willing to adopt a good chunk of unusual worldbuilding, which isn’t a good idea for a side character.
Hm, well, I guess it’s the closest character to Taylor that is possible in Pokemon without changing the setting too much.
I disagree on some parts of characterization, however. For example, she isn’t so much desperate to be taken seriously by the authority figures as she doesn’t trust them since they failed her so many times before. As a result, she really doesn’t want to place herself under their power and wants to be treated as an equal, even if she doesn’t quite know it herself or refuses to acknowledge it.
In general, the main conflict of her character is the desire for control. At first it manifests as the desire to control her life, which resulted in her going out as a hero and refusing joining the Wards, which is done in order to craft a persona she can fully define.
Later it evolved into her never putting herself in a position where she would depend on other people. When she needs something from someone, she orchestrates a situation where she can intimidate them into cooperation or approaches them at a time where they can’t or won’t refuse due to various factors.
I would also describe her appearance in more detail as there is a good potential for body horror.
Hm. She doesn’t trust them, but she does want legitimacy and approval from them, doesn’t she? She just wants to get it without following their orders, and she still tries to work with the first adult hero she runs into, to the point she lets him take credit for her first success. She really hates that they think she’s evil and doesn’t shake that until I think the post-Leviathan period where she realizes just how many ways they fucked her over while being worse villains.
Yeah, she wants to be taken seriously and respected by heroes, she just wants it to be on her terms so she won’t be accountable to anyone but herself.
Later her issues with authorities grow to the point where she doesn’t trust anyone but herself to do a good job running things.
So, I think I am going with this unless someone wants to correct me about anything.
Character Name: Rachel Lindt
Species: human
Brief background of character:
Rachel is an orphan with anti-social tendencies who was going from one foster care home to another, never staying for long due to causing troubles.
During one such state she met a mightyena who strayed away from the pack and was scavenging for food at the edge of town. Rachel liked the pokemon and brought it food everyday, eventually managing to earn her trust. It was easier to deal with animals than with humans for her, and it gave her something to do other than wandering around the town before she had to return home.
Eventually she brought her friend with her. Her foster parents didn’t like it and got into argument with Rachel, quickly escalating to shouting. The mightyena reacted poorly, agitated by the noise and perceived threat to the human with food, and attacked.
One of the foster parents died, and Rachel ran away with mightyena.
They managed to find the mightyena pack, and Rachel lived among them since then, adapting to a new way of life, learning to understand and take care of mightyenas and becoming more feral as a result.
What are their strengths/skills? What are their flaws and weaknesses?:
Rachel knows a lot about mightyenas from personal experience. She understands them and knows how to care for them. She is also smarter than she appears, capable of making good tactical decisions quickly.
The downside here is that she doesn’t get humans, her anti-social tendencies amplified by her living among pokemon, and doesn’t really care to understand them. She adopted body language and behavior patterns of mightyenas, and so liable to perceive innocent gestures as a threat. An attempt to reason with her logically would end poorly.
She is prone to use violence as her first solution even when it isn’t the best choice. She is also illiterate.
What are their goals? What are they focusing on?:
Rachel is content to take care of her pack and guard her territory from anyone who ventures there. Sometimes she travels to the nearby towns to steal food, medicine and clothes.
She hates people abusing pokemon and is likely to attack anyone who does it in her presence, including kids who don’t know that pulling pokemon’s tail unnerves them.
How might they deal with meeting or being a pokemorph?:
If she were turned into a mightyena hybrid, she would welcome it. With other pokemon, the reaction would most likely be poor.
Should she meet a pokemorph, she is likely to treat them like mightyenas normally treat pokemon of those species, but with more caution.
Appearance and distinctive features, if any:
She is short but bulky. She cuts her dirty brown hair short to not get in the way. She wears warm practical clothes and likes fur jackets.
How does your character get on with those around him/her?:
She doesn’t speak much. She prefers to spend her time entirely among mightyenas. She mistrust humans in general and especially those who smile or talk too much.
Violence is the likely outcome of a conflict with her,
What’s something unusual or unique about this character? Anything a writer should keep in mind?:
She imitates mightyenas’ body language and behavior. Also swears a lot when she actually says anything.
Do you have any opinions or restrictions on romance?:
Probably not going to work without a lot of character development first.
Is it okay to change things to make them fit into a new story?:
Yes.
Do they feature in any stories already?:
Rachel is from Worm, a superhero web-novel. Some changes were made to fit her into Pokemon world.
Hm. I think the bit this is missing is human culpability. Changing it from Rachel’s foster-mom deciding to murder a dog in front of her to the foster family being upset when she brings a giant wild animal in and it grossly overreacts makes it really Rachel’s fault, and doesn’t explain her hair trigger for people abusing pokemon.
I’d say give her temporary evolution powers (we’ve even got a model of that now with mega evolution) and have her bring home a tiny harmless pokemon they try to kill because they’re just assholes. I think that her last experience with people was an act of impossible to misinterpret malice is the main reason why she can’t get along with people now – it’s not just that she can’t understand them, it’s that she assumes they’re going to hurt her or her dogs unless it’s clear otherwise, and it’s almost never clear due to her not understanding people.
Yes, I see what you mean.
So, changing mightyena to poochyena (do they live together or form separate packs?), foster parents try to kill it considering it a vermin, it evolves (not sure it should be Rachel’s doing as I don’t like giving people powers alien to the setting. Maybe leave the event unexplained), kills one of the foster parents, Rachel escapes with now mightyena, finds its pack and sticks with it.
Sounds good?
Alternatively, I can rewrite it so she doesn’t go to a pack and just live in the wilderness, sticking close to towns for the sake of supplies and gathering pokemon she liberates from people abusing them.
Doesn’t have quite the same flavor, but gives more variety to her team and more potential for conflict.
We’re writing for fics where half the time the characters are a nonexistent hybrid form, and it’s canon that some humans have weird abilities and trainer-induced temp evolution exists. (Mostly, though, she’s not as much of a threat without it – she can bring in ten when one is attacked, but trainers engaging mightyena have probably judged they could handle it if several more show up, but ones seeing poochyena won’t expect the evolved forms swarming them.) It’s easier for people to remove the power themselves if they want her to be more canon compliant.
Canon is super unclear about how pokemon interact with their evolutions, so you can make a mixed pack with no problem.
Given canon Rachel doesn’t go live on a mountain, you could have pokeverse Rachel living in a feral pack in a city instead – maybe set up in the giant pokemon-filled sewers they somehow have. That’d let her pack be a mix of doglike pokemon and give her a lot of chances to antagonize trainers.
She actually did go to an isolated world at some point and was happier there, but yeah, more conflict is good.
So, a rewrite. Added that she liberates all abused pokemon, though she doesn’t keep non-dog-like as she doesn’t know that much about them and just releases them. Not sure about it. It seems like something she would do, but on the other hand she mostly cares about dogs only in canon…
Character Name: Rachel Lindt
Species: human
If a trainer, what pokemon do they have? What personalities?:
Technically not a trainer, but Rachel has a variety of dog-like pokemon with her.
Most of them were abused or mistreated by their previous owners and as such have various behavioral problems.
Brief background of character:
Rachel is an orphan with anti-social tendencies who was going from one foster care home to another, never staying for long due to causing troubles.
During one such state she met a poochyena who strayed away from the pack and was scavenging for food at the edge of town. Rachel liked the pokemon and brought it food everyday, eventually managing to earn her trust. It was easier to deal with animals than with humans for her, and it gave her something to do other than wandering around the town before she had to return home.
Eventually she brought the pokemon home. Her foster parents didn’t like it, considering poochyenas to be vermin.
In order to teach Rachel a lesson, they decided to drown it in a pool nearby and make her watch.
Once the poochyena was put into water, however, it evolved into mightyena and attacked its tormentors, killing one of them.
Rachel and mightyena escaped.
She lived on the run ever since, staying close to people for easy access to supplies but avoiding interacting with them if she could.
Currently she lives in sewers where she managed to clear up enough space for a semi-comfortable lair for her and her pokemon.
What are their strengths/skills? What are their flaws and weaknesses?:
Rachel knows a lot about dog-like pokemon from her personal experience. She understands their body language and behavioral patterns, and have an easy time leading her pack.
She is smarter than she looks, being able to make quick tactical decisions and being very adept in dodging pursuit and setting up ambushes.
The downside of it is that she doesn’t get humans and doesn’t particularly care to understand them. She behaves like a mightyena and perceives the world as one. She is likely to take innocent gestures like smiles as a threat. Any attempt to reason with her logically will likely end in disaster.
She is prone to use violence as her first solution even when it isn’t the best choice. She is also illiterate.
What are their goals? What are they focusing on?:
Rachel is content to take care of her pack and guard her territory from anyone who ventures there. Sometimes she ventures into town to steal various supplies.
She hates people abusing pokemon and is likely to attack anyone who does it in her presence, including kids who don’t know that pulling pokemon’s tail unnerves them.
She then takes those abused pokemon with her. She doesn’t care much for non-dog-like pokemon as she doesn’t have an affinity for them, but she does treat their wounds if any before releasing them.
How might they deal with meeting or being a pokemorph?:
If she were turned into a dog-like pokemon hybrid, she would welcome it. With other pokemon, the reaction would most likely be poor.
Should she meet a pokemorph, she is likely to treat them like mightyenas normally treat pokemon of those species, but with more caution.
Appearance and distinctive features, if any:
She is short but bulky. She cuts her dirty brown hair short to not get in the way. She wears warm practical clothes and likes fur jackets.
Connections to canon characters (if any):
None.
How does your character get on with those around him/her?:
She doesn’t speak much. She prefers to spend her time entirely among her pack. She mistrust humans in general and especially those who smile or talk too much.
Violence is the likely outcome of a conflict with her,
What’s something unusual or unique about this character? Anything a writer should keep in mind?:
She has the power to temporarily evolve dog-like pokemon into its next form. The effect wears out after a half an hour or so.
She imitates mightyenas’ body language and behavior. Also swears a lot when she actually says anything.
Do you have any opinions or restrictions on romance?:
Probably not going to work without a lot of character development first.
Is it okay to change things to make them fit into a new story?:
Yes.
Do they feature in any stories already?:
Rachel is from Worm, a superhero web-novel. Some changes were made to fit her into Pokemon world.
I can see this working out well with the outlined Harry Dresden on Farla’s forum post. Dresden Book 2 is about werewolves, and he spends the book happily calling any and all wolf-associated-women bitches. Since there’s established behavior for Dresden in this context, it’s ripe for fic with the two of them at odds.
Rachel would actually be OK with being called bitch since Bitch is her villain name (heroes call her Hellhound to avoid swearing. She’s annoyed by it). She doesn’t quite get that it’s an insult.
That might actually work very, very well, where Dresden is treating her like shit but it takes her a while to realize, and then she does in a gloriously explosive way.
And Dresden only realizes it when she explodes at him, yes. Well, whatever’s left of him to realize anything.
For a spitefic I would probably put Harry in Pact-verse and see how long it’ll take Karma to catch up with him.
It’s more likely that he’d forswear himself with all of the faux chivalry, ending up powerless right before the big conflict.
Foreswearing is actually specifically when you make a formal oath and then break it. General lies don’t make you foresworn, though they still cost power.
I am not sure the spirits would punish Harry much for his sexism, they are pretty bad at judging such matters.
But his actions do contradict his words fairly often, he releases Bob, which is ungood in Pact and he generally takes from the world more than he gives back, which is going to do fun things to his karmic balance.
Also, people like Victor von OneWizardIndustrialRevolution (an old and proud name, you understand) are likely to go full diabolism.
It’s not going to be that frog-demon to come after Harry, it’s going to be Oblivion-chan from the factory.
Oblivion-chan <333
But yeah, I forgot about the lies vs. forswearing distinction. Harry has forsworn himself at least once that I'm aware of, because it's not as dangerous in his universe. It had some bad consequences, though. This was early, like book 3-5 or thereabouts. He broke a promise to his godmother (who is the best character).
No familiarity with this, but, is it something where oathswearing powers you up? Because in that case, Harry would be more motivated to do it, and as he actually believes the lies coming out of his mouth, it’d be really easy for him to swear something assuming it was something he’d never break and then break it seconds later.
Kinda, yes. When you swear an oath, spirits really want to see it fulfilled because lies erode the fabric of reality just a bit. So they help you in small ways, give you just a little push in the right direction, make your spells just a bit more powerful.
There are practitioners who specialize in gaming Karma system by developing their own systems of oaths they are sure to follow. And if you do that for long enough, the universe start bending in more obvious ways to help you.
So yeah, swearing an oath is helpful, and I can see Harry then breaking it.
S
Spoilers.
And not just any spoilers, but the most important event is revealed in this post.
That is an amusing image.
Added that she liberates all abused pokemon, though she doesn’t keep non-dog-like as she doesn’t know that much about them and just releases them. Not sure about it. It seems like something she would do, but on the other hand she mostly cares about dogs only in canon…
I think that actually works well with the idea she’s distinctly negative toward humans. Basically, she likes and understands dogs, so she’s positive toward them. She’s neutral to other pokemon, who haven’t done anything to her, and people generally don’t like neutral things to suffer. It’s only humans she actually hates and assumes the worst of, so she treats them worse than regular pokemon.
Conversely, you could stick to how Rachel doesn’t seem to care about other animals with her pack being predatory so she just views non-dogs as food. In that case, she’d only go after trainers who are mean to dog pokemon, which might help her keep a little more off the radar when she’s in a lower-powered world.
Hm, choices, choices…
The decision, I think, mostly depends on where the emphasis is put: on her personal experiences and grievances with humans causing her to bond with pokemon and abandon society, or on her thinking like pokemon and how it’s different from human behavior.
I’ll think which one I prefer.
Any other corrections or thoughts? If not, I’ll post it once I settle on Rachel’s attitude towards non-doggy pokemon (I don’t need an ffn account to post on the forum, right?).
You totally need an account, I’m afraid.
Damn. OK, I’ll do the final version of the character sheet later today and leave it to you to post if you don’t mind.
The Harry Dresden one you made is hilarious and perfect.
Hmm, looking at your Harry, should he not also have Mister? A useless purgugly who almost never fight, is often in the way, and mostly just spends its time demanding steak? Or perhaps it is actually morbidly obese, not a battler yet aggressive and no one gets why Harry keeps it around?
Added!
No, no, Mister is actually a herdier, Harry just thinks he’s a purgugly because he knows next to nothing about pokemon.
Yes, that’s perfect.
OK, should be the final version.
Character Name: Rachel Lindt
Species: human
If a trainer, what pokemon do they have? What personalities?:
Technically not a trainer, but Rachel has a variety of dog-like pokemon with her.
Most of them were abused or mistreated by their previous owners and as such have various behavioral problems.
Brief background of character:
Rachel is an orphan with anti-social tendencies who was going from one foster care home to another, never staying for long due to causing troubles.
During one such state she met a poochyena who strayed away from the pack and was scavenging for food at the edge of town. Rachel liked the pokemon and brought it food everyday, eventually managing to earn her trust. It was easier to deal with animals than with humans for her, and it gave her something to do other than wandering around the town before she had to return home.
Eventually she brought the pokemon home. Her foster parents didn’t like it, considering poochyenas to be vermin.
In order to teach Rachel a lesson, they decided to drown it in a pool nearby and make her watch.
Once the poochyena was put into water, however, it evolved into mightyena and attacked its tormentors, killing one of them.
Rachel and mightyena escaped.
She lived on the run ever since, staying close to people for easy access to supplies but avoiding interacting with them if she could.
Due to that and her already existing anti-social tendencies, she grew more feral over time, adapting the behavior patterns of mightyenas.
Currently she lives in sewers where she managed to clear up enough space for a semi-comfortable lair for her and her pokemon.
What are their strengths/skills? What are their flaws and weaknesses?:
Rachel knows a lot about dog-like pokemon from her personal experience. She understands their body language and behavioral patterns, and have an easy time leading her pack.
She is smarter than she looks, being able to make quick tactical decisions and being very adept in dodging pursuit and setting up ambushes.
The downside of it is that she doesn’t get humans and doesn’t particularly care to understand them. She behaves like a mightyena and perceives the world as one. She is likely to take innocent gestures like smiles as a threat. Any attempt to reason with her logically will likely end in disaster.
She is prone to use violence as her first solution even when it isn’t the best choice. She is also illiterate.
What are their goals? What are they focusing on?:
Rachel is content to take care of her pack and guard her territory from anyone who ventures there. Sometimes she ventures into town to steal various supplies.
She hates people abusing canine pokemon and is likely to attack anyone who does it in her presence, including kids who don’t know that pulling pokemon’s tail unnerves them.
She then takes those abused pokemon with her.
She doesn’t care much for non-dog-like pokemon, however, due to not having an affinity to them and seeing them the way mightyena would: as food or threats.
How might they deal with meeting or being a pokemorph?:
If she were turned into a dog-like pokemon hybrid, she would welcome it. With other pokemon, the reaction would most likely be poor.
Should she meet a pokemorph, she is likely to treat them like mightyenas normally treat pokemon of those species, but with more caution.
Appearance and distinctive features, if any:
She is short but bulky. She cuts her dirty brown hair short to not get in the way. She wears warm practical clothes and likes fur jackets.
Connections to canon characters (if any):
None.
How does your character get on with those around him/her?:
She doesn’t speak much. She prefers to spend her time entirely among her pack. She mistrust humans in general and especially those who smile or talk too much.
Violence is the likely outcome of any conflict with her,
What’s something unusual or unique about this character? Anything a writer should keep in mind?:
She has the power to temporarily evolve dog-like pokemon into its next form. The effect wears out after a half an hour or so.
She imitates mightyenas’ body language and behavior. Also swears a lot when she actually says anything.
Do you have any opinions or restrictions on romance?:
Probably not going to work without a lot of character development first.
Is it okay to change things to make them fit into a new story?:
Yes.
Do they feature in any stories already?:
Rachel is from Worm, a superhero web-novel. Some changes were made to fit her into Pokemon world.
Alright, I’ve put it up!
I’ve noticed you’ve added a new section in the charsheet. So I would like to make an addition to the profile:
Any suggestions on what your character would be useful for?:
Rachel is easy to use as an antagonist. She is protective of her territory, so any people venturing there are likely to provoke a hostile encounter with her.
She steals pokemon, so your protagonists can be asked to retrieve them.
And she steals supplies, which is likely to attract attention of authorities who may involve your protagonists in it.
She can serve as an ally as well, though convincing her to help wouldn’t be easy and would most likely require some application of intimidation or generous payment.
She knows a lot about local area and how to move around unnoticed, plus she has a well hidden lair, so if your protagonists are on the run from someone, Rachel could be a great source of help.
She can also be convinced to join a fight against some threat as long as it would affect her and her pack.
Added!
I have the sudden and inexplicable urge to submit Qualstio. He’s pretty boring when you get down to it, though, and Harry probably fills that niche better.
But, ooh, maybe Havan? Could be fun to see how badly authors botch the subtlety and just turn him into a generic evil bully trainer used to show how their OT is Better Than You. And in the hands of an actually competent author, he might provoke some of the story ideas you outlined before re: abusive trainers being praised for having a strong bond.
(I also kinda want to do Tezkhra, but it would probably be way too much effort to make him fit the pokeverse for no payout. There isn’t really anywhere to go with him except generic science hero or generic science villain. Maybe tweak him to be a non-sociopath and use him as a litmus test for how much people hate science, but…effort.)
Try Havan and laugh at the people who use him.
How about this?
Character Name: Havan
Species: Human
If a trainer, what pokemon do they have? What personalities?:
[No idea for this one. I don’t see him having any especial affinity for specific types. Maybe lizard pokemon to mirror his si’shra army? Adi and Cort expies?]
Brief background of character:
[He doesn’t have one, so I’m not sure what to put here. Perhaps make him an older, more experienced trainer?]
What are their strengths/skills? What are their flaws and weaknesses?:
Havan has a larger-than-life personality and gets along exceptionally well with just about everyone. He is very good at getting people to like and trust him, as well as saving face in awkward situations. He is probably popular with adults and authority figures. He is also very driven, and takes battling extremely seriously. For this reason he is a skilled trainer.
Havan is also incredibly materialistic and short-sighted. If he has an established career, his home is filled with trophies, rare gems, fossils, or whatever other valuable objects are appropriate. If he sees something he wants, he will obsess over it and will not stop until it is his. If he does not believe he has been fairly compensated for a task or service he will become livid, possibly even murderous. Due to such a mentality, he tends to pay more attention to the immediate gains of his actions than their long-term consequences.
What are their goals? What are they focusing on?:
Power, fame, and glory. He wants all the things, and he wants everyone to sing his praises.
How might they deal with meeting or being a pokemorph?:
He would approach a pokemorph with caution and interest. He would probably recognize a pokemorph as a powerful ally, and try to get it on his side. Unless, of course, it would benefit him more to drive it off – if the local humans would consider him a hero for doing so, for instance.
If he became a pokemorph he would initially be shocked and confused, but would adapt quickly. He would enjoy having more direct power instead of having to rely on his pokemon. He would likely be distraught in a world where pokemorphs are persecuted against, but he would try to find a way to become respected by humans anyway. If that isn’t possible, he would cut his losses and try to gain notoriety among pokemorphs instead; he’s not picky about who worships him.
Appearance and distinctive features, if any:
Havan has an attractive, baby-like face and platinum blond hair.
Connections to canon characters (if any): None.
How does your character get on with those around him/her?:
As mentioned before, Havan is extremely friendly and easy to get along with. He’s quick to find out what makes people tick and how to get along with them. Unless he believes he has been wronged, he will be extremely cordial to those around him. If he *does* believe he has been wronged, however, the friendly demeanor will drop.
What’s something unusual or unique about this character? Anything a writer should keep in mind?:
He honestly wants to be and believes he is a hero. He will gladly play the role provided he gets something out of it, even if it’s something as simple as fame and appreciation. However, everything he does is purely self-motivated, and he will likely interpret other heroes’ actions as self-motivated too. He has a hard time understanding the concept of someone doing something for selfless or pointless reasons.
He also has a flair for the theatric, and probably studied poetry or theater in school. He tends to have a dramatic (at times overdramatic) way of speaking, especially when he can cast himself as a noble hero against a terrible villain.
Do you have any opinions or restrictions on romance?: Nope.
Is it okay to change things to make them fit into a new story?:
Certainly. His personality can easily be applied to a number of contexts; you can change his skill with battling to a skill with contests or science or whatever else is important to your story, for instance.
Do they feature in any stories already?: Havan is from the video game The Reconstruction.
For pokemon: Look through Bulbapedia for pokemon that suit his personality! Maybe a rapidash to go with his whole knight in shining armor presentation?
For background: Make up a background for his personality. You don’t need to spend any time on his pre-trainer days if you don’t want to or can’t think of anything.
Hm… I feel like he shouldn’t really have a permanent team, but something he switches out to suit his needs. That’s really the significance of the si’shra army, I think: he’s willing to be pragmatic, recontextualize his goals, and recruit radically different allies if needs call for it. But he would probably trend towards heroic pokemon and avoid stigmatized ones like poison types under normal circumstances.
And actually, Adi and Cort expies would be pretty easy if he needs permanent pokemon. Adi would be some humanoid psychic type (alakazam? Gardevoir?) and Cort would be some physically-oriented lizard/dragon. There aren’t a lot of reptilian fighting types though, so… croagunk? Gurdurr to maintain the polearm connection? They would have no personality other than being unerringly loyal to him, to match their Reconstruction characterization of being pieces of wood.
” I feel like he shouldn’t really have a permanent team, but something he
switches out to suit his needs. That’s really the significance of the
si’shra army, I think: he’s willing to be pragmatic, recontextualize his
goals, and recruit radically different allies if needs call for it.”
So, he is a PC.
Check out pokemon tiers on Smogon and say he has a whole bunch of those that he swaps around to win, then pick the flashy/heroic ones for him to have as his default.
You mean this? I guess the “heroic” ones would be… altaria, bisharp, breloom, charizard, clefairy, conkeldurr, dragonite, gallade, garchomp, gardevoir, skarmory, sylveon, talonflame, and maybe tyranitar? And I’d throw in rapidash and braviary too. I guess I’ll say Adi is either a kirila or a kadabra, and Cort is a croagunk.
And a thought that just occurred to me: one of his goals should probably be to capture a god pokemon, to parallel his obsession with PC-style divine favor.
Yes, exactly. I like the sylveon – no one bad could possibly have a fairy-type cuddling evolution!
Also, check out the ubers http://www.smogon.com/dex/xy/tags/uber
Most are legendaries but there’s a few normal ones in there.
Ahaha, kangaskhan’s on there! That’s perfect! My good sir, how could you possibly imply my goals are anything less than virtuous when I have the embodiment of parental love on my team? Clearly someone worthy of your trust!
Alright, how’s this? I tweaked a few other things too.
Character Name: Havan
Species: Human
If a trainer, what pokemon do they have? What personalities?:
Havan has had two pokemon from a young age: a female alakazam named Adi and a male toxicroak named Cort. They are quite powerful, and together give him decent coverage against both physical- and special-oriented foes. They are both unerringly loyal to him, but do not have much personality outside of that. However, Havan does not have a fixed team, and frequently swaps out his pokemon to suit his needs. He has some fondness toward Adi and Cort but will not hesitate to replace them if need be. His greater team is composed of powerful, useful, and flashy pokemon such as sylveon, gallade, kangaskhan, charizard, braviary, clefable, and rapidash. He takes a very pragmatic approach when composing his team, but he does prefer more “heroic” pokemon over stigmatized ones.
Brief background of character:
Havan had a normal childhood and went on a pokemon journey at the normal age. He picked up battling quickly and soon became a skilled tactician. He also became a skilled manipulator. Throughout the course of his journey, with everyone praising him and his pokemon to the high heavens, he learned the value of maintaining a good public image. He kept careful track of how to make people give him what he wanted, and landed himself a rather comfortable position in society as a result. He is currently an established and well-respected trainer.
What are their strengths/skills? What are their flaws and weaknesses?:
Havan has a larger-than-life personality and gets along exceptionally well with just about everyone. He is very good at getting people to like and trust him, as well as saving face in awkward situations. He is probably popular with adults and authority figures. He is also very driven, and takes battling extremely seriously. In the real world he would be up there with the best of Smogon’s strategists, and exhibits similar min-maxing behavior in his team-building.
Havan is incredibly greedy and self-centered, though this extends more to intangible rewards than physical ones. He’ll do anything for fame, recognition, and good social status. Though that’s not to say he doesn’t care for tangible rewards at all; rare and unique artifacts, in particular, pique his interest.
If Havan sees something he wants, he will obsess over it and will not stop until it is his. If he does not believe he has been fairly compensated for a task or service he will become livid, possibly even murderous. If emotionally compromised in such a way, he will become childishly short-sighted and focus more on immediate benefits than long-term consequences.
What are their goals? What are they focusing on?:
Power, fame, and glory. He wants all the things, and he wants everyone to sing his praises. His highest goal is to be an all-powerful, globally-recognized hero. This makes him particularly interested in any legends or prophecies about a hero saving the world and being granted divine favor, and he will try to insert himself into those prophecies if possible. The possibility of gaining a legendary pokemon would practically make him salivate with excitement.
How might they deal with meeting or being a pokemorph?:
Havan would approach a pokemorph with caution and interest. He would probably recognize a pokemorph as a powerful ally, and try to get it on his side. Unless, of course, it would benefit him more to drive it off – if the local humans would consider him a hero for doing so, for instance.
If he became a pokemorph he would initially be shocked and confused, but would adapt quickly. He would enjoy having more direct power instead of having to rely on his pokemon. He would likely be distraught in a world where pokemorphs are persecuted against, but he would try to find a way to become respected by humans anyway. If that isn’t possible, he would cut his losses and try to gain notoriety among pokemorphs instead; he’s not picky about who worships him.
Appearance and distinctive features, if any:
Havan has an attractive, baby-like face and platinum blond hair. His wardrobe primarily features the colors blue and white.
Connections to canon characters (if any): None.
How does your character get on with those around him/her?:
As mentioned before, Havan is extremely friendly and easy to get along with. He’s quick to find out what makes people tick and how to get along with them. However, if he believes he has been wronged, his cordial facade will drop and he will become highly aggressive. When he really snaps he will become a snarling monster to everyone around him, but this is rare, and he will try to maintain a good image even when angry.
What’s something unusual or unique about this character? Anything a writer should keep in mind?:
He honestly wants to be and believes he is a hero. He will gladly play the role provided he gets something out of it, even if it’s something as intangible as fame and appreciation. However, everything he does is purely self-motivated, and he will likely interpret other heroes’ actions as self-motivated too. He has a hard time understanding the concept of someone doing something for selfless or pointless reasons.
It should not be easy to see through him and discern his true intentions. He is a very good actor and has dedicated a lot of time to polishing his image.
Havan has a flair for the theatric, and probably studied poetry or theater in school. He tends to have a dramatic (at times overdramatic) way of speaking, especially when he can cast himself as a noble hero against a terrible villain.
Do you have any opinions or restrictions on romance?: Nope, though I would pity the object of his affections.
Any suggestions on what your character would be useful for?:
Havan is pretty versatile, and can easily be an ally or enemy (or both!) for whatever your main character is trying to do. He can also serve as a foil for heroic characters.
Is it okay to change things to make them fit into a new story?:
Certainly. His personality can easily be applied to a number of contexts; you can change his skill with battling to a skill with contests or science or whatever else is important to your story, for instance. His level of experience can also be changed, if you want him as a newbie trainer instead of an established one.
Do they feature in any stories already?: Havan is from the video game The Reconstruction.
Looks good.
For background, he sounds like someone whose perspective was skewed by his upbringing.
Like he was raised by people who praised the ideals of heroism and helping people in need and all that, but also were self-serving assholes teaching their kids to be self-serving assholes.
So, nobility.
I more mean that he has no backstory in the source material, so I don’t have anything to draw on like you did for Rachel. I personally feel it works better if that’s just how he is, with no backstory excuse for his behavior. Maybe I can say his background isn’t important and can be altered to suit the author’s needs, but that seems like a copout.
Yeah, I get it, was just trowing the idea if you wanted to develop a background for him.
If you want to have him just be that way, you may say that he had a normal childhood, went on a trainer journey at the age of ten and then just learned through his experience that manipulating people works and gets him what he wants.
Contrast between a bland backstory and his unique personality does work, in my opinion.
So I’m assuming Priya is the necromancer, Maia is the one controlling living pokemon, and Ormarr is the one who’s actually trying to treat her pokemon properly?
Is using telekinesis to puppeteer corpses really necromancy? But yeah he’s terrorizing opponents’ pokemon by smacking dead things into them.
Damn it nothing interesting happens when you try to roll up magical girls. They’re all perfectly functional and possibly overpowered heroic types.
Well, you could just go the themed team + personality route.
Or with PC5, give them whatever pokemon best covers their blasphemous plushy relationships and then say that said pokemon means well but is actually a terrible fighter
WAIT WHAT IF MAGICAL GIRLS = POKEMON. The PC5’s obligatory cute mascots and love interests are fleeing (terrible thing) and are saved by five pokemon friends. Bunnything has psychic powers she develops over time which is why she eventually graduates from being a powerless plushy to being a fellow magical girl. The pokemon talk and make all the decisions for the humans, who sit around being useless and occasionally jumping in the way of attacks they have no real ability to stop like idiots. The shouted powerups of the show are them tossing the girls potions or other items. (Maybe it’s in PMD? And they have to hide the fact the guys are actually human.)
Kyubey, of course, has a whole team.
“Well, you could just go the themed team + personality route.”
That’s so boring, though!
PC5 is actually one of the ones I only know by osmosis oops.
I kinda wanna do the Kiryuu sisters because they’re delightful and something different. I was thinking they could be some kind of reverse Pokémorph thing (where they’re Pokémon with Pokémon powers who appear human — you know, like THAT character, but dark type and also nicer) engineered by Team Galactic (because destroying the universe for being too noisy). But does anyone even write Sinnoh stories these days?
I’ve almost finished the second season of them! It is way worse in almost all ways.
I’ll sum them up for you so you don’t need to worry about missing anything:
The pink one is Butterfly and she’s going to marry the squirrelsheep. She has a learning disability that she’s powering through to become a teacher! Her attack is punching a butterfly at someone. It’s the best attack.
The red one is Supersporty. Her favorite of the sports is ball-kicking, also her family has a flowershop, also she makes “accessories”. She will never marry because they’re out of tiny animal people, possibly because she got too many character traits so there wasn’t room for another one.
The yellow one is Idol. She sings and acts and she’s going to marry that bird asshole. HATE YOU, BIRD THING. Bird thing isn’t an asshole to her, though. Just to the other animal people and poor Butterfly. Also he has rose-themed amnesia and is generally terrible and maybe he just shouldn’t be. It’ll be better for Idol’s career if she doesn’t marry a giant birdplane anyway.
The green one is Librarian/Novelist. She’s going to marry the regular squirrel, who’s special because he actually gets a personality of his own, which is to be very critical of himself and others.
The blue one is Overachievergirl, who is good at all the things. She’s going to be a doctor and marry the bunnygirl.
I actually knew most of that already, but thanks!
But does anyone even write Sinnoh stories these days?
Yes but mostly about Ash or generally terrible. So go for it!
Character Name:
Michiru and Kaoru
Species:
Experimental dark-type Pokémon who appear to be human
If a trainer, what pokemon do they have? What personalities?:
Michiru has a Plusle named Muup, and Kaoru has a Minun named Fuup. They are not strong fighters, and basically only there so that Michiru and Kaoru can pretend to be travelling trainers. They are fearful, easily startled, and don’t enjoy fighting, but are dedicated to their trainers, who rescued them in the wild by catching a tree that was about to fall on their nest. Michiru and Kaoru do not initiate competitive battles, but will engage with challengers when it would be suspicious not to. In high-stakes battles (for example, when battling for or against Team Galactic), Michiru and Kaoru will fight themselves, letting Muup and Fuup stay in the background to use supporting moves on them.
Brief background of character:
They were created by Team Galactic as part of an experiment to produce “more perfect” humans. They were meant to be perfect voids emotionally, and they started out that way — but the thing about voids is, they tend to fill up.
What are their strengths/skills? What are their flaws and weaknesses?:
They have super strength, super speed, and are able to use dark pulse and shadow ball. They are extraordinarily fast learners who permanently absorb information just by hearing or reading it once, and can quickly pick up complicated skills by watching someone else perform them. In short, their skillset includes anything they’ve been exposed to.
On the other hand, as they were recently created, there are a lot of “common knowledge” things they have not been exposed to, and thus are completely clueless about. As such, they tend to ask a lot of questions that sound extremely odd to other people. In general, their social skills are lacking. Michiru is at least good at lying to cover for them, but Kaoru is extremely blunt and honest, and may at times even casually reveal important secrets if Michiru doesn’t stop her.
What are their goals? What are they focusing on?:
Their goal, which they were created for, is to aid Team Galactic in destroying the universe. They are infiltrators and assassins who can “befriend” troublesomely heroic young trainers and then kill them when their guard is down.
However… the longer they exist in the world, the more they start to get attached to it and question the point of destroying everything. Fake friendships can become real ones, if their marks do something to demonstrate that, unlike their employers, they genuinely care about them. They can be convinced that there are things in the world worth protecting, in which case their goal will shift to stopping Team Galactic.
How might they deal with meeting or being a pokemorph?:
They’re a sort of pokémorph themselves, so they’d hardly be prejudiced. They might not even realize there was anything weird about it at first, and if they did their reaction would be curiosity.
Appearance and distinctive features, if any:
They appear to be perfectly normal thirteen-year-old girls, though in reality they are of course much younger than that, and far from normal. Michiru has chin-length red hair and red eyes. Kaoru is tall for her apparent age, with long navy hair and blue eyes.
Connections to canon characters (if any):
They regard Cyrus as something between a god and a father, since he created them. He views them as mere tools.
How does your character get on with those around him/her?:
Michiru has a cheerful demeanor and is good at acting friendly. Kaoru is openly bored by most humans and blunt to the point of rudeness. They are comfortable and quietly friendly with each other, viewing themselves as sisters. They start out indifferent toward Muup and Fuup, but as time goes on come to love them.
What’s something unusual or unique about this character? Anything a writer should keep in mind?:
They can, under the right circumstances, be turned against Cyrus — but never against each other.
Kaoru has a soft spot for small, cute, defenseless creatures, and can be very protective of them. This may be a key to converting her.
Do you have any opinions or restrictions on romance?:
Romance with humans might or might not be something they find themselves interested in if they decide not to destroy the world. Just keep it age-appropriate for thirteen-year-olds.
Any suggestions on what your character would be useful for?:
Antagonists on the side of Team Galactic, and possibly eventual allies in fighting them.
Is it okay to change things to make them fit into a new story?: Sure
Do they feature in any stories already?: They’re characters from the magical girl anime SplashStar Pretty Cure modified to fit into Pokémon.
Excellent! I particularly love giving plusle and minun a real use. (…supporting moves, hm, do you mind if I use that for a PC5 interpretation? Currently trying to work out eeveelution Divergent, but that might be next.)
but Kaoru is extremely blunt and honest, and may at times even casually reveal important secrets if Michiru doesn’t stop her.
They’re so much fun!
Go for it! And god, they are. I love them so much and am eternally angry at how criminally underused by the franchise they are.
And another character.
Character Name:
Mara
Species:
Looks human enough.
If a trainer, what pokemon do they have? What personalities?:
She has a number of ghost pokemon which she seems to rotate constantly.
Brief background of character:
Once, a girl shed seven tears into a forest pool. A shooting star was seen that day.
What are their strengths/skills? What are their flaws and weaknesses?:
She is highly persuasive and manipulative, but isn’t attached to anything and is likely to simply leave rather than deal with any problems.
Her pokemon fight well, but she appears to be detached from fights, preferring to watch her opponents.
What are their goals? What are they focusing on?:
She goes around challenging trainers to battle.
She offers to spend a night with those who defeat her. People who take the offer are rarely seen again.
For those she defeats she sometimes offer a book titled The Broken-Winged Crane, claiming it describes a way to find and capture strong pokemon and to never be weak again. The book delivers all that is promised.
How might they deal with meeting or being a pokemorph?:
She doesn’t care one way or another.
Appearance and distinctive features, if any:
She is of the age of characters who meet her. She is of the ethnicity common to the region where the story takes place. She has blue eyes. She wears long skirt and leaves footprints as that of a doe.
Connections to canon characters (if any):
None
How does your character get on with those around him/her?:
She leaves good impression, but doesn’t get close to anyone and simply moves on in search for more opponents and lovers.
What’s something unusual or unique about this character? Anything a writer should keep in mind?:
She uses custom-made bronze pokeballs.
Her presence scares all but a few dark pokemon, with an exception of ghosts under her control and deer-like pokemon. Pokemon may refuse to fight her or even try to run away.
Do you have any opinions or restrictions on romance?:
The romance is possible only with a person destined to bring great suffering into the world. Such a person Mara would feed on souls of her past victims, granting their strength and skills to him or her.
Any suggestions on what your character would be useful for?:
An encounter that sets up future plot due to the book. A mysterious stranger hinting at disasters yet to come that the protagonists will bring through their own actions and by their own will.
Is it okay to change things to make them fit into a new story?:
Yes
Do they feature in any stories already?:
She is based on a character from Exalted RPG.
Excellent… Should I post this over there?
I was just thinking about trying to do one for Yushuv. (Ho-oh pokemorph, still debating mechanism of it.)
Sure, go ahead.
And not Ratcatcher? Come on, he already has a name you’d expect someone to give their pokemon.
Do we know if any good has come from this endeavor or is this going to be used mostly next January before any success is determined? Anyways, here’s the character that’s been on my mind:
Character Name: Alexis
Species: Pokémorph
If a trainer, what pokemon do they have? What personalities?:(not a trainer)
Brief background of character: She’s a Xatu pokémorph that defected from a council of seers so that she could subvert the future they predicted.
What are their strengths/skills? What are their flaws and weaknesses?:
She can see the future, but it’s less powerful as she tries to change events. She can always see a few seconds ahead.
She greatly overestimates her intelligence, but she is very knowledgeable on a wide range of subjects
What are their goals? What are they focusing on?:
Her goals are to change the world and smaller details are irrelevant to her. She acts as if she’s an authority on most matters and she will make sure the everyone treats her as such.
She is not an open book and she will keep secrets to achieve her goal. She assesses the value of other people’s lives compared to the greater good, all while trying to gain their trust.
How might they deal with meeting or being a pokemorph?:
She believes that psychic type pokémorphs have superior intelligence compared to “lower” types. She will like pokémorphs of other types if they give her the respect she desires.
Appearance and distinctive features, if any:
Green hair and Native American style clothing that makes her look like a Xatu. She appears to be in her thirties or late twenties.
Connections to canon characters (if any): None
How does your character get on with those around him/her?:
She will argue a lot with others who challenge her intelligence. She will be helpful when it she can show how knowledgeable she is.
What’s something unusual or unique about this character? Anything a writer should keep in mind?:
A lot of her personality and powers comes from the various pokedex entries on Xatu such as Xatu stands rooted and still in one spot all day long. People believe that this Pokémon does so out of fear of the terrible things it has foreseen in the future.
Do you have any opinions or restrictions on romance?:
She feels certain that any relationship she is in is doomed to fail and she avoids all possibility of long term relationship.
She is bisexual but she doesn’t even consider same-sex relationships to be one the same level as opposite sex relationships. It doesn’t even occur to her that it’s cheating when it’s a man’s boyfriend/man’s girlfriend/woman’s girlfriend. This is because of her culture’s views and she hasn’t thought about it objectively.
Any suggestions on what your character would be useful for?:
She’s acts very differently than an stereotypical good guy. All things being equal, she will push one person off a cliff to save two, given the proper mental prepping. She can also reveal information about the plot in a calculated manner.
Is it okay to change things to make them fit into a new story?:Yes
Do they feature in any stories already?: Moemon: Three Secrets (Warning: Explicit content)
Character Name: Jerry
Species: Pokémorph
Brief background of character: He’s a Girafarig who fights evil or whatever. He doesn’t take the initiative to destroy wrong doers, but if his friends are fighting, so is he.
What are their strengths/skills? What are their flaws and weaknesses?:
He has a undisciplined mind, so his prophetic powers are pathetic. He is very intelligent, social, and creative.
What are their goals? What are they focusing on?:
If you ask him,his goal is to meet “dragon ladies.” He is actually not very goal orientated.
How might they deal with meeting or being a pokemorph?:
He’ll be excited if he thinks they can destroy thing on a mass scale. He likes dragons a lot and will practically worship the ground walked upon by a female dragon pokémorph.
Appearance and distinctive features, if any:
Purple eyes, tall, brown hair, small horns. Not unusual for his species.
Connections to canon characters (if any): Possibly Eusine(mingled with a bit)
How does your character get on with those around him/her?:
He has a sense of humor which often plays upon the injustices of the world. He has been making constant references to breasts and dragon ladies since he was eight, but he has gotten a lot more expansive with his humor since then. He is situationally aware of his audience, but will take risks with humor. With effort, he can occasionally uses future sight to see the future for amusement’s sake.
What’s something unusual or unique about this character? Anything a writer should keep in mind?:
He should actually be funny. If you can’t actually do humor, he may not work. Self depreciation is a common tactic of his.
He also came from a stable family of Girafarig pokemorphs and has at least one sister.
Do you have any opinions or restrictions on romance?:
Although he’s not kidding about how much he likes certain type of women, much of it is just humor. He is very open about older women and not very interested with younger teenagers.
Any suggestions on what your character would be useful for?:
Humor. Killing off for dark turn. He can also might make a heroic future sight attack right before he perishes for extra grimdark.
Is it okay to change things to make them fit into a new story?:Yes
Do they feature in any stories already?: Moemon: Three Secrets (Warning: Explicit content)
There’s nothing I can think to add to these characters. Are these okay for the thread?
I think so. You can always edit them if you find you have something to add later.
So after going on a nostalgia trip and rereading the Last Scenario LP, I was suddenly struck by inspiration:
Character Name: Castor
Species: Human and/or pokemorph (see below)
If a trainer, what pokemon do they have? What personalities?:
{This will be the hardest part since I don’t have encyclopedic knowledge of pokemon. Best bet is probably to base them on his three bodyguards.
Earp: Very chill and kinda lazy, but a decent person who cares for Castor’s well-being. In battle, is a slow-as-molasses physical powerhouse who wields a longaxe. Rhydon, maybe? Or is there an infamously slow pokemon who would fit the bill?
Helio: Shady, cavalier, and evil mad scientist who is nonetheless extremely loyal and dedicated to Castor; will do pretty much anything for him. In battle, is a fragile speedster who loves status effects and bombs. Wields claw weapons. Seviper? Weezing? Or is there a pokemon particularly known for being a status effect master?
Flynn: Stoic and a little obsessed with being the strongest, but a decent person who cares for Casteor’s well-being and will disobey or subvert him if she disagrees with him or thinks he’s going down a bad path. In battle, is fast and strong, with lots of multi-hit attacks, and dual wields swords. Gallade, bisharp?
Other pokemon should probably have a theme of being tough, sturdy, and reliable — pokemon that make him feel safe.}
Brief background of character:
As a young boy, a violent, traumatic event destroyed his hometown and left him an orphan. (The details are malleable — war, Team Whoever, random criminals, whatever works.) This left him psychologically scarred and terrified of his own powerlessness, making him obsessed with becoming strong enough to never have to be afraid again. He grew up in a good orphanage and quickly rose to prominence in the League; he is now a famous and powerful trainer, likely a gym leader or police administrator. If the setting has a military, he is a general.
Some time before the story begins, however, he was dealt a crushing defeat that gave him flashbacks to his childhood trauma. (This was probably a more serious event that losing a typical match, possibly even life-or-death.) This has convinced him that he’s not safe as long as he relies on anyone, even his loyal pokemon, and has made him obsessed with obtaining ultimate power for himself. This has made him a lot more unhinged and volatile than usual.
What are their strengths/skills? What are their flaws and weaknesses?:
He is a very good fighter, though not unbeatable — he probably can’t beat the champion or the leader of Team Whoever, and would probably be an even match for a veteran trainer.
His rise to prominence has given him many useful connections with the authorities. He is on good terms with the leaders of the region and has a contingent of loyal underlings in whatever sphere he’s entrenched himself in (undertrainers, police, soldiers, etc.).
He is very charismatic, at least when he isn’t slipping into insanity — he is very good at turning potential opponents into allies and commanding loyalty from his underlings.
He is a perfectionist, and his ego is fragile. He can be manipulated by appeals to his pride, and is easily goaded into a fight. He tends to pick a lot of fights because he enjoys testing his strength, and may underestimate his opponents.
His backstory and motivation make him very isolated. After his defeat, he is pushing all his allies away from him in an attempt to prove he doesn’t need to rely on anyone — he may even throw his government connections and personal team under the bus if he feels he has outgrown them. He is not going to be making very rational decisions in this state.
What are their goals? What are they focusing on?:
He wants to obtain the power of pokemon for himself, so he doesn’t have to rely on his team for protection anymore. He has recovered ancient writings from various ruins that hint at how a human might do this, and is currently obsessed with fulfilling them. In sum, he is trying to transform himself into a pokemorph of godlike power.
He may claim to have high-minded, altruistic motivations for this, such as ending all conflict with his power, but while that may be somewhat true, he is above all motivated by his desire for safety and self-reliance.
How might they deal with meeting or being a pokemorph?:
Meeting: Very intrigued. He would want to know the extents of its abilities, where it came from, how it got its power, and if it knows how he could become a pokemorph too. If the pokemorph doesn’t want to help, he will probably get forceful.
Being: This is his end goal. If it’s a crappy pokemorph, he might want to become a stronger one.
Appearance and distinctive features, if any: Platinum blond hair and blue eyes.
Connections to canon characters (if any): None.
How does your character get on with those around him/her?:
He’s pretty smug and aloof, and tends to be a little belligerent towards trainers, since he likes fighting and testing them. He’s very well-spoken when he has to be, though, and is decently good at manipulating people through psychological weaknesses. His method of negotiation is typically carrot over stick.
He hates anyone related to his childhood trauma (soldiers, Team Whoever, etc.) with a burning passion and will show them no mercy. He is pretty chill and accommodating towards civilians and non-battlers.
Post-defeat, he will be significantly less composed and will start snapping at people a lot more, especially if they tread on a touchy subject. His method of negotiation may switch to stick at this point.
If anyone tries to confront him over Plan Become God, he will dig in his heels and probably become angry. He is very stubborn.
What’s something unusual or unique about this character? Anything a writer should keep in mind?:
He is not cruel.
He is not irredeemable. He can be talked down from his plan with significant effort, though it will probably take another major defeat or setback such as the plan blowing up in his face.
Do you have any opinions or restrictions on romance?:
It will probably end badly; if he has a lover, he will definitely push them away during the course of his plan.
Any suggestions on what your character would be useful for?:
A sympathetic villain. A parable on sacrificing humanity for power. A victim of whatever dark plot you have who can later come back to cause more problems. An opportunity to examine the power dynamics between humans and pokemon.
Is it okay to change things to make them fit into a new story?:
As long as his central motivation stays intact and is consistent with his backstory, sure. There is definitely a lot of baggage here that you won’t need if you’re using him as a minor character.
Do they feature in any stories already?:
Castor is from the video game Last Scenario.
—-
I could probably do more with the pokemon/trainer relationship angle, but that’s not my area of expertise. Do you see anything that could give the pokemon more agency?
Character Name: Dehl
Species: {No idea. Probably some form of bipedal lizard, would make most sense for him to be a fighting type. Shra are kinda gross and stinky so he should be some brand of offputting pokemon. I made Cort a toxicroak so maybe that. He’s supposed to be young, so croagunk might fit.}
Brief background of character:
Dehl grew up in an isolated and fairly idyllic area. His parents taught him that humans were great and he should try to be like them.
Towards the end of his adolescence, Dehl was responsible for some accident that killed a ton of people, including his family. The details are not important, just that it was very traumatic, something he wasn’t directly responsible for, and something he couldn’t have seen coming. For example, bringing a plague vector into a crowded area and causing an epidemic.
Dehl was utterly crushed by this event and blames himself for it completely. In an attempt to atone, he volunteered as a service pokemon (like those machamp helping the PC move in in Ruby/Sapphire) and has been doing small-scale good works ever since. In the process, he has seen that the idyllic image of humanity presented by his parents was at best unreliable. This makes him very uncomfortable, which he deals with by trying very hard not to think about it.
It is also possible that he was shipped off to be a starter or some such thing at some point, if you want a trainer to grab him. However, he will not return to the wilderness of his own volition, as he feels there is nothing for him there. Human cities are the only stability he has.
What are their strengths/skills? What are their flaws and weaknesses?:
As part of his training in the service industry, he has gained basic first aid knowledge, and can use Healing Pulse. {Not sure if I should include other moves here? To fit with his game moveset he should have Slash, Recover, and some kind of magical stunning attack. Maybe Astonish or Fake Out to fit with his more physical purview? Double-Edge or some other recoil move would also be very fitting for him.}
Dehl is strong, tough, and very determined. He has little regard for his own well-being and will not hesitate to rush into danger. He can keep fighting long after others would have given up. However, he has poor special defense and fares particularly badly against mental attacks like Confusion or Dark Pulse.
Dehl is a mess of neuroses. He is consumed by self-loathing and sees his own needs and opinions as irrelevant, but this just means he has no healthy way of dealing with all the stresses of life; he will stew over his problems and bottle up negative emotions instead of voicing them. He is very good at presenting an outwardly calm and composed facade, but this conceals roiling emotional turmoil that is inevitably going to explode.
Dehl has major anger issues. This only serves to terrify him and further convince him of his own awfulness. He has learned to be very good at keeping a lid on it, but he can get very snippy and aggressive when stressed or dealing with an issue he feels particularly strongly about. Battling can help vent some of this, but it’s not a good solution and one day he’s probably going to go too far and kill someone.
If he really gets ground into the dirt and is led to believe all his efforts at being a good boy were for nothing, he will completely snap and let go of all his inhibitions, becoming a snarling, violent monster. If he still has a specific goal or target he will move towards that instead of being completely indiscriminate, but good luck steering him in a different direction at that point.
What are their goals? What are they focusing on?:
Atonement.
(No, no, that’s just wishful thinking. There’s nothing he can do to make up for it. But maybe even a worthless monster like him can at least do some good.)
How might they deal with meeting or being a pokemorph?:
Being a pokemorph would probably fit him a bit better than being a pure pokemon – he works better if he’s able to communicate with humans. Otherwise, not much would change.
Meeting a pokemorph? He’ll do whatever his human superiors tell him to do. If there is a prevailing cultural narrative about them, he will follow that to a T.
Appearance and distinctive features, if any:
He has more subdued, brownish hues than is normal for his species.
Connections to canon characters (if any):
He might have some connections to authority figures, and might have fought against the local Team at some point. Otherwise, none.
How does your character get on with those around him/her?:
He is exceptionally calm, polite, and subservient. He will always go along with whatever authority figures or cultural wisdom tells him to do, even if he doesn’t like it. He will always try to help others and will ignore any abuse he has to put up with.
However, he has no mercy for criminals and will persecute them to the fullest extent of his ability. If his closest authority figure has convinced you you’re an enemy, you have no hope of reasoning with him.
This paradigm will break down more the further he’s pushed. If repeatedly forced into situations he doesn’t like, he will get progressively snippier and aggressive, and may retaliate violently if pushed to the breaking point. See the note about his anger issues, above.
What’s something unusual or unique about this character? Anything a writer should keep in mind?:
Though he will meekly go along with any order, he despises being actually forced or coerced. Attempting to enslave him will push him to the breaking point very quickly, and is one of the few things he will actually voice an objection to. He will be very unhappy if he’s under a trainer’s thumb.
He is very conflicted about the state of human/pokemon relations. If asked he will say that of course he loves working for humans and everyone else should too they are perfect and wonderful whyever would you want to leave, but the callousness and abusiveness he’s seen from humans over the years secretly makes him rather uncomfortable. He tries not to think about this too hard, but it’s going to come to a head sooner or later. He is able to compartmentalize this well enough to contribute to that abuse himself, and will not object to jobs that involve rounding up runaway pokemon or destroying habitats.
Seeing the city or organization he works for destroyed is guaranteed to make him snap, as he stakes a great deal of his self-worth on keeping it safe.
He is a genuinely good person. It is possible to calm him down after his breakdown, but it will require actually addressing his issues.
Do you have any opinions or restrictions on romance?:
He’s not interested and is definitely not emotionally equipped for it.
Any suggestions on what your character would be useful for?:
A time bomb. Something to spice up an otherwise uneventful journey.
An Uncle Tom for a story about human/pokemon inequality.
Karma.
Is it okay to change things to make them fit into a new story?:
Sure?
Do they feature in any stories already?:
Dehl is from the video game The Reconstruction.
—–
I considered adding something about his technical pacifism and how it relates to his issues, but it ended up feeling shoehorned and this is long enough already. Some bits are also kind of messy and vague, since he doesn’t translate totally well to being a pokemon and is probably better suited toward either pokemorph or pokemon-only story. Service pokemon don’t tend to be very important so I had to leave an opening for him to go to a trainer, but most of this is written assuming he’s in his default state that he doesn’t totally hate and doesn’t result in him plotting his trainer’s death 24/7. This is probably gonna need some refinement.
Oh whoops, I forgot something: I should probably include some analogue of his si’shra racism. Maybe against pokemorphs, or some particularly violent pokemon that’s a menace to humans?
Croagunk sounds perfect. But if you want legal Heal Pulse, you’ve very restricted: http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Heal_Pulse_(move)
Basically, either we’re talking Yet Another Goddamn Lucario or something weird like clawitzer (which would, I guess, work if your goal was to have him want to help but humans decide he can best help in a violent capacity).
You might want a more concrete setting – maybe he works in a warehouse connected to Evil Team, but is unaware of it? Like a pokemon unloading the prizes for the slot machines. That’d allow a trainer to run across him and maybe motivate them to bring him along. (Say, they stumble in injured, he helps heal and aid them.) Or maybe he’s working with pokemon rangers.
Though he will meekly go along with any order, he despises being actually forced or coerced. Attempting to enslave him will push him to the breaking point very quickly, and is one of the few things he will actually voice an objection to. He will be very unhappy if he’s under a trainer’s thumb.
It’s unclear what the difference is between being a service pokemon obeying any order given and being enslaved, especially since any pokemon is going to be going in a pokeball and considered property. The game’s distinction between free but secondclass vs slave shra is hard to mirror.
I think maybe instead of trying to figure out a way to mirror the general setup, think of a way to hit the same beats. Ie, a traumatized pokemon decides to go off to get captured and obeys their trainer without question because HUMANS ARE BESTEST, but secretly the resentment and doublethink is building up. The racism would probably be covered just by his assumption disobeying humans makes you terrible. Also, it’d be good to have a setup for the timebomb going off and the main character only getting involved at that point. What are sample jobs he could be doing at the snapping point and who would he be killing?
I figured that I didn’t have to adhere completely to game movesets and could give him a special move with enough of a handwave. Do people throw hissy fits over that?
You might want a more concrete setting – maybe he works in a warehouse connected to Evil Team, but is unaware of it?
That would provide a good opportunity for interaction, but doesn’t really fit with the game situation of him propping up the authority and opposing the criminals. But, I suppose it wouldn’t be too hard for him to be convinced Team Whoever are the good guys…
Ie, a traumatized pokemon decides to go off to get captured and obeys their trainer without question because HUMANS ARE BESTEST, but secretly the resentment and doublethink is building up.
Yes that would be good. I should definitely focus on his interactions with a trainer, since that’s what most stories are about. One disconnect I guess is that the Dehl we see in the game is one who was purposefully pushed into being more independent, while this is the pre-canon version who’s super passive, so we have to get a little creative.
Also, it’d be good to have a setup for the timebomb going off and the main character only getting involved at that point. What are sample jobs he could be doing at the snapping point and who would he be killing?
Unfortunately, this is not addressed in the text. The only things we see make him snap are harming Sikohlon (which don’t exist in this simplified version) and destroying civilization, which is a pretty apocalyptic event that would be demanding a lot for a minor character. Otherwise, hm… He only starts to break down when he starts acting on his own in chapter 5 and decides to kill Zaka. So, probably working in some capacity that affects the plot, likely a Team Whoever plot, and he’s determined to stop it but gets really frustrated and goes on a murder rampage. He also fights hardest against the si’shra in chapter 4, so hunting down renegade pokemon (or pokemon rights groups like Team Plasma, since he hates Skint) would also make sense. And he would probably kill his trainer if his trainer annoys him enough.
Okay, how’s this:
Character Name: Dehl
Species: Croagunk
Brief background of character:
Dehl grew up in an isolated and fairly idyllic area. His parents taught him that humans were great and he should try to be like them.
Towards the end of his adolescence, Dehl was responsible for some accident that killed a ton of people, including his family. The details are not important, just that it was very traumatic, something he wasn’t directly responsible for, and something he couldn’t have seen coming. For example, bringing a plague vector into a crowded area and causing an epidemic.
Dehl was utterly crushed by this event and blames himself for it completely. Feeling lost, the only thing he could think to do was get captured by a trainer and do everything he could to serve them. This trainer could be your main character, or a member of a government or organization that put him to work somewhere. If you want to make things interesting, he could get picked up by Team Whoever.
Over time, he has seen that the idyllic image of humanity presented by his parents was at best unreliable. This makes him very uncomfortable, which he deals with by trying very hard not to think about it.
What are their strengths/skills? What are their flaws and weaknesses?:
During his upbringing he was taught basic first aid knowledge, and gained the use of Heal Pulse. His other moves are Astonish, Double-Edge, and Clear Mind. He can also use Frustration to great effect, but doesn’t like to do so. He will only use it in special circumstances.
Dehl is strong, tough, and very determined. He has little regard for his own well-being and will not hesitate to rush into danger. He can keep fighting long after others would have given up. However, he has poor special defense and fares particularly badly against mental attacks like Confusion or Dark Pulse.
Dehl is a mess of neuroses. He is consumed by self-loathing and sees his own needs and opinions as irrelevant, but this just means he has no healthy way of dealing with all the stresses of life; he will stew over his problems and bottle up negative emotions instead of voicing them. He is very good at presenting an outwardly calm and composed facade, but this conceals roiling emotional turmoil that is inevitably going to explode.
Dehl has major anger issues. This only serves to terrify him and further convince him of his own awfulness. He has learned to be very good at keeping a lid on it, but he can get very snippy and aggressive when stressed or dealing with an issue he feels particularly strongly about. Battling can help vent some of this, but it’s not a good solution and one day he’s going to go too far and kill someone.
If he really gets ground into the dirt and is led to believe all his efforts at being a good boy were for nothing, he will completely snap and let go of all his inhibitions, becoming a snarling, violent monster. If he still has a specific goal or target he will move towards that instead of being completely indiscriminate, but good luck steering him in a different direction at that point.
What are their goals? What are they focusing on?:
Atonement.
(No, no, that’s just wishful thinking. There’s nothing he can do to make up for it. But maybe even a worthless monster like him can at least do some good.)
How might they deal with meeting or being a pokemorph?:
Being a pokemorph would probably fit him a bit better than being a pure pokemon – he works better if he’s able to communicate with humans. (If he can speak, he speaks very eloquently.) Otherwise, not much would change.
Meeting a pokemorph? He’ll do whatever his human superiors tell him to do. If there is a prevailing cultural narrative about them, he will follow that to a T.
Appearance and distinctive features, if any:
His skin color is duller and muddier than is normal for his species. He wears a white robe (or just a strip of cloth) in an imitation of human clothing to make himself feel more civilized.
Connections to canon characters (if any):
He might have some connections to authority figures or the local Team, but nothing specific.
How does your character get on with those around him/her?:
He is exceptionally calm, polite, and subservient. He will always go along with whatever authority figures or cultural wisdom tells him to do, regardless of his own personal objections. He will always try to help others and will ignore any abuse he has to put up with. He is particularly dedicated to healing and protecting the wounded.
However, he has no mercy for criminals and will persecute them to the fullest extent of his ability. If his closest authority figure has convinced you you’re an enemy, you have no hope of reasoning with him.
This paradigm will break down more the further he’s pushed. If repeatedly forced into situations he doesn’t like, he will get progressively snippier and aggressive, and may retaliate violently if pushed to the breaking point. See the note about his anger issues, above.
Fellow civilized pokemon love him and hold him up as a paragon of excellence. Pokemon with less favorable relationships to humanity find his slavish devotion offputting. He is callous and hostile toward any pokemon who disobey or speak ill of humanity.
What’s something unusual or unique about this character? Anything a writer should keep in mind?:
He’s a strong believer in law and order.
Though he claims he’s totally fine with this and everything’s peachy keen, he is actually pretty resentful at being kept under a trainer’s thumb. He will never overtly voice his frustration until he’s near a breaking point, but his anger may slip through in his words and actions. This resentment will progressively build over time until he snaps and goes his own way. This will happen faster if he is forced to aid criminals or hurt innocents, as those are particularly upsetting tasks for him. If he has a selfish, cruel, or callous trainer, he will kill them when he snaps.
He is very conflicted about the state of human/pokemon relations. If asked he will say that of course he loves working for humans and everyone else should too they are perfect and wonderful whyever would you want to leave, but the callousness and abusiveness he’s seen from humans over the years secretly makes him rather uncomfortable. He tries not to think about this too hard, but it’s going to come to a head sooner or later. He is able to compartmentalize this well enough to contribute to that abuse himself, and will not object to jobs that involve rounding up runaway pokemon or destroying habitats.
Seeing the city or organization he works for destroyed is guaranteed to make him snap, as he stakes a great deal of his self-worth on keeping it safe.
He is a genuinely good person. He’ll always try to help others and will generally attempt a diplomatic approach before fighting. This will still be present even after a breakdown; he will avoid hurting innocents and try to be at least somewhat productive with his rampage.
Do you have any opinions or restrictions on romance?:
He’s not interested and is definitely not emotionally equipped for it.
Any suggestions on what your character would be useful for?:
A time bomb; something to spice up an otherwise uneventful journey.
An Uncle Tom for a story about human/pokemon inequality.
Karma.
Is it okay to change things to make them fit into a new story?:
Sure?
Do they feature in any stories already?:
Dehl is from the video game The Reconstruction.
—–
It’s pretty wordy and rambling in places, I’d probably have to simplify things for an actual submission.
I would like to celebrate the debut of I Miss the Sunrise’s antagonist by turning him into a pokemon:
Character Name: Lazarus
Species: {Something pretty weak and unimposing. Normal-type? But psychic would make more sense with his abilities. Normal/psychic, giraffarig?}
If a trainer, what pokemon do they have? What personalities?: See below.
Brief background of character:
Lazarus is an engineered lifeform, created to be a boon to his creators and an ace in the hole. Unfortunately for them, his personality turned out far too vicious and ambitious to be content serving anyone else. He escaped from the lab and is now on the run. At some point, he familiarized himself with human scripture and got his name from there. His original creators are currently looking for him.
What are their strengths/skills? What are their flaws and weaknesses?:
Lazarus has a special talent: at will, he can amplify the processing power of his brain a hundredfold, effectively stopping time from his perspective. This allows him to make dozens of complex tactical decisions in the blink of an eye, making him an unparalleled battle commander. To complement this, he is an excellent telepath, allowing him to coordinate and communicate with a large group of followers at once. This also allows him to communicate with humans. However, the scientific community has learned from the Mewtwo and Genesect incidents: Lazarus is physically unimpressive, and an average combatant at best. He needs backup to be a real threat.
And backup he has. During his time in the wild, his strength and charisma have gained him a formidable entourage of local pokemon. This may only be enough to put him on par with a normal trainer, or it may be a small army.
Lazarus is intelligent and quick-witted. He’s pragmatic in combat and is good at devising clever tactics, including escape plans if things go sour. He is ruthless and won’t hesitate to sacrifice his soldiers for a tactical advantage.
Though he is smart, Lazarus isn’t terribly wise. He’s brash, arrogant, and impulsive, and tends to take the direct route even when subtlety would be better. He’s also quite belligerent, and will jump at the change for a fight without considering the benefits of diplomacy.
What are their goals? What are they focusing on?:
To be the very best! He believes his ability gives him a transcendent perspective of reality and makes him a superior lifeform (“the next stage in evolution”, as he likes to say). Clearly, this means he deserves to be supreme ruler of humans and pokemon.
How might they deal with meeting or being a pokemorph?:
He’d probably try to recruit them into his army, or fight them if they’re a threat.
Being one probably wouldn’t change much, and might even make more sense given communication with humans was one of his design specs.
Appearance and distinctive features, if any:
His daring escape netted him some cool scars, but nothing disfiguring.
Connections to canon characters (if any): Nope.
How does your character get on with those around him/her?:
Smarmy and boisterous. He understands intellectually that he has to be charismatic to get followers, but isn’t always great at it. He has a pretty volatile personality and isn’t easy to get along with, so anyone willing to follow him will probably be similarly amoral. He keeps his soldiers at arm’s length.
He’ll be very excited if he sees someone he considers a worthy opponent (such as a human trainer) and will challenge them to a battle on the spot if he can.
What’s something unusual or unique about this character? Anything a writer should keep in mind?:
His initial superiors weren’t mean or abusive to him or any of those cliches; they were banking on him helping them voluntarily. This means he isn’t terribly concerned with vengeance and won’t go out of his way to take them down. They don’t know this, though, and are convinced he’s secretly plotting their destruction. This allows the original lab to provide a good quest hook for the main character if you like.
He doesn’t have mind control. If he wants someone to join his army, he or another follower has to convince them the normal way.
Though you can use him as a terrifying general poised to topple civilization, keep in mind that it’s also possible to use him as a normal trainer for some minor encounters – this can easily be justified by saying his abrasive personality didn’t win him many followers.
Do you have any opinions or restrictions on romance?:
I’m not sure what kind of person would be interested, but knock yourself out.
Any suggestions on what your character would be useful for?:
A sidequest. A different kind of trainer encounter. A brains-over-brawn villain.
Is it okay to change things to make them fit into a new story?: Sure.
Do they feature in any stories already?:
Lazarus is based on a character of the same name from the video game I Miss the Sunrise.
—–
Hm. He turned out a little lackluster, but I was trying to go for something simpler this time. The biggest problem I see is the disconnect between abrasive unstable jerkwad → has people willing to fight and die for him. IMTS didn’t have this problem because people were forced to work with him, but I can’t see how to accomplish the same setup without keeping him under the organization’s thumb, which would be boring and restrict his capacity to do things. Maybe I could just give him mind control, but that feels like a copout.
I’m also kinda waffling over how extensive his influence should be – I think it’d be really funny and interesting to have a pokemon who acts like a trainer, but maybe that’s too silly and setting-breaking. Full-blown general probably gives him too much story influence for a write-in, though.
Also I’m very proud of my Meaningful Name justification, even though it’s pretty forced and doesn’t make as much sense here unless he fakes his death or something. Should I keep it or is it just cruft? Might be better to go in the other direction and concoct a reason for why the creators would name him that in the first place.
Character Name: Chara. If they have a last name, they never give it out.
Species: Still mostly human. But it’s probably best not to say so to their face.
If a trainer, what pokemon do they have? What personalities?:
They don’t have much of a set team, as they’re continually trading up for more powerful or less worn-out pokemon. They seem to have a special fondness for grass types and anything covered in blades (e.g. scyther, bisharp) and usually have at least one pokemon on hand with some sort of restraining move (e.g. bind, constrict, paralysis-inducing moves). They may have an extremely over-leveled grass-type starter from their region, whose personality could best be summed up as “loyal” and perhaps “resigned”. None of their pokemon have nicknames.
Brief background of character:
Chara comes from a small town where they met a Pokemon Professor, received a starter, and set off to become a powerful trainer. Other people from that town are aware of their existence, but seem to have trouble recalling anything specific about their past. Their mother appears to be alive, and possibly their father if they’re from Littleroot, but occasionally they may say something that would seem to imply they are an orphan. Sometimes when they are feeling nostalgic they may speak with vague, distant fondness about having once had a best friend who would do anything for them, and who gave them the heart-shaped “Best Friends Forever” locket they wear everywhere, but it’s unclear who they could possibly be talking about. It definitely isn’t Cheren or Bianca, despite those two nominally being their best friends if they come from Nuvema.
What are their strengths/skills?:
When Chara decides to do something, they do it no matter what and against all odds. They have a high pain tolerance and no undue regard for their own body, so they don’t tend to be slowed down by fear for their own well-being or by non-debilitating injuries. They have an uncanny ability to predict what their opponents will do before they do it. In fact, they can predict all sorts of things, to the point that it sometimes seems as though they are able to see the future.
What are their flaws and weaknesses?:
They have an abrasive personality and are not good at hiding it. They talk stiltedly, with a large vocabulary for someone their age that is both impressive and a little unnerving. They smile and laugh at inappropriate times, especially when other people are suffering. They don’t like or care about any of the people around them, and are not good at pretending to. Anyone who is put off by that sort of thing will probably not want to work with, help, or even be around them.
What are their goals? What are they focusing on?:
For now, they’re just playing, exploring things and trying to get stronger. It’s really funny how the people around here don’t seem to mind if you have deadly weapons out all the time and never expect you to use them on humans even if you’ve just disabled all of their weapons and they’re completely helpless. It’s hilarious how people travel around alone except for their pokemon and aren’t really expected to be anywhere in particular by a given time, so it takes ages for anyone to notice if they go missing.
Of course, it’s also interesting that there are potentially world-ending weapons pretty much everywhere, just sitting around waiting to be wielded by anyone powerful enough to take them. So, that makes for a good long-term goal.
How might they deal with meeting or being a pokemorph?:
They would be ecstatic about becoming a pokemorph. More powerful AND less human? There is no downside here!
Meeting a pokemorph would mostly just get them excited about the possibility of becoming one themself. They might have difficulty knowing how to react to the pokemorph they encounter, since other people who are both human and pokemon don’t fit neatly into their mental categorization of the world. Is it an enemy, or a weapon? If it’s too powerful to be killed or captured, they’ll probably just avoid dealing with it.
Appearance and distinctive features, if any:
They look about ten to twelve years old. They have chin-length mahogany hair, bright red eyes, and pale skin with rosy cheeks. They are androgynous enough in appearance and dress that people who expect to be able to tell someone’s gender just by looking at them will be very confused.
Connections to canon characters (if any):
They have the standard set of PC starting relationships, depending on what region they’re from: Blue’s childhood rival, Norman’s kid, Cheren’s and Bianca’s friend. None of these connections run very deep, and Chara doesn’t seem to care much about them.
How does your character get on with those around him/her?:
If they are alone with a human or group of humans that they can hurt or kill and get away with it, they will do so.
If they are in a situation where they have to interact non-violently with other humans, they will attempt to play nice out of self-preservation. As mentioned above, they aren’t particularly good at it.
What’s something unusual or unique about this character? Anything a writer should keep in mind?:
Sometimes they may be caught speaking to someone who doesn’t appear to be there. They talk about what they want to do next, what the other person wants them to do next, how much fun they are or aren’t having. They are always facing south when they do this.
They always carry a knife. They are not from around here.
Do you have any opinions or restrictions on romance?: They are definitely not interested.
Any suggestions on what your character would be useful for?: Culling the herd, character-wise.
Is it okay to change things to make them fit into a new story?: Feel free to change their name.
Do they feature in any stories already?: Undertale.
They have the standard set of PC starting relationships, depending on what region they’re from: Blue’s childhood rival, Norman’s kid, Cheren’s and Bianca’s friend. None of these connections run very deep, and Chara doesn’t seem to care much about them.
Ooh, so is the idea that Chara possessed the normal PC like they did to Frisk?
They are always facing south when they do this.
:D
Involving the player might be weird for a non-meta story, though. I guess one could write it off as hallucinations or general weirdness.
Ooh, so is the idea that Chara possessed the normal PC like they did to Frisk?
Mm, close! I was thinking more along the lines of their relationship to Player Character-ness in general. An acquaintance of mine illustrated the idea with a suitably violent analogy:
“the whole way this started was that, aside from chara’s essence being
resurrected in frisk’s substance, chara has also been indwelt by us,
the players. by the hand and Name which we use to play JRPGs.
and by the end of the game, chara can no longer really be distinguished
from that hand; the fit was so snug, that the hand pulled away the
substance of the glove.
or, in the case of the executioner’s route, the glove pulled away the substance of the hand.” (http://dead-dove-moment.tumblr.com/post/139251680546/so-i-read-a-post-about-the-undertale-load-screen )
Involving the player might be weird for a non-meta story, though. I guess one could write it off as hallucinations or general weirdness.
Playing nice with the authors’ vision isn’t really the point of this, is it? If they wanted coherence, they shouldn’t have asked for character submissions! Like you said, they have ways of fixing it through interpretation.
What’s funny is that Chara’s… err… characterization feels rather close to how Farla characterized the Black and White MC, except less ranty and without crushing on N.
Chara: Dragon, eat douchehair!
Chara: N! Let’s wipe out humanity together!
That’s honestly really fitting, isn’t it? Chara is who you become when, for one reason or another, you don’t want to hear one more word out of the NPC’s mouth and just want the levels.
Excellent. You should post it to the thread!
Haha, all right, if you insist! =)
I added Legato, from Trigun. Once I started thinking about it I realized he fit surprisingly well with Pokemon!