Actions & Skills

Taking Action

Most of a game session in Pokémon Odyssey should be a conversation, with no dice involved. The GM sets a scene, the players narrate how they and their Pokémon act, and the GM narrates how the world and non-player characters (NPCs) respond to the player characters’ (PCs) actions.

For many actions, no resolution method beyond a judgment call is necessary—a character can obviously open any door that isn’t obstructed or locked, a Staraptor can fly up to retrieve something stuck in tree branches, a Machamp can lift a heavy barrel out of the way. On the other hand, other actions may be simply absurd—a Pikachu isn't lifting a car. The GM has the final say as to what actions are reasonable—is this jump feasible?, can this person be persuaded?, can this device be fixed with the resources at hand?—as well as whether or not a Skill Check needs to be invoked to resolve a situation or whether a simple judgment call can be made.

Players are always in charge of narrating their Trainer’s actions, and we recommend that players narrate their Pokémon’s simple actions as well but leave it up to the GM to add character to their Pokémon. Generally, if a player is actively doing something with their Pokémon, they are in control, but a GM may take over to have their Pokémon act in a situation where they’re otherwise idle or to have the Pokémon react to a situation. While a GM is in their rights to have Pokémon refuse to undertake a dangerous action, become afraid and unable to act in a situation, or otherwise compromise a player’s control over their Pokémon, this should be done very carefully and only with an eye to enhancing the roleplaying portrayal of the Pokémon. Pokémon Odyssey was created with the idea that Pokémon act as a reliable toolkit for their Trainers, and the non-combat capabilities of both Trainers and Pokémon were calibrated under this expectation. In combat, players are considered to have absolute control over their Pokémon.

Skill Checks

When the outcome is less certain AND failure can continue to drive the story forward in an interesting way, use Skill Checks. Even if an action is uncertain and difficult, such as picking a lock, a GM shouldn't call for a Skill Check if there's no interesting consequence for failure (ex: no one's around to catch the PCs picking the lock, and they have ample time) or if an adventure would stall out if the action failed.

To make a Skill Check, you and the GM discuss which Skill is most suitable for the challenge, then you roll 2d6 (two 6-sided dice) and add your Trainer or Pokémon's Skill Modifier (whoever is undertaking the challenge) for that given Skill.

Skill Modifiers range from –1 to +3.

Results

• On a 6 or lower, you generally fail and there is a complication that still drives the game forward.
• On a 7-9, you succeed at a cost or gain only a partial success.
• On a 10 or higher, you succeed cleanly.

Sometimes, you may roll with Advantage on a Skill Check or with Disadvantage because the GM decides the circumstances are especially favorable or unfavorable to you, or because you have a Calling that makes you very good at a particular type of task. To roll with Advantage, roll 3 dice and keep the highest 2. To roll with Disadvantage, roll 3 dice and keep the lowest 2. You cannot stack multiple instances of Advantage or Disadvantage, but the two cancel each other out. So gaining Advantage once on a roll is no different from gaining Advantage on that roll from two different sources. But if you were to also have Disadvantage from a source on that roll, you would still have Advantage because one of the instances of Advantage cancels that out.

On a result of 7-9, a GM must make a judgment call as to how harsh the cost for success is or how far a partial success gets the player. While this is a place where a GM can express nuance in a challenge, in general, a 7+ means they achieve what they set out to do without paying such a steep cost that the action becomes a net negative.

The charts below show your chances of getting each result tier and of getting at least a limited success for each of the possible modifier values.

Standard Roll	-1	0	+1	+2	+3
Failure (-6)	58.33%	41.67%	27.78%	16.67%	8.33%
Limited Success (7-9)	33.33%	41.67%	44.45%	41.67%	33.33%
Clean Success (10+)	8.33%	16.67%	27.78%	41.67%	58.33%
At Least 7	41.67%	58.33%	72.22%	83.33%	91.67%

With Advantage	-1	0	+1	+2	+3
Failure (-6)	31.94%	19.44%	10.65%	5.09%	1.85%
Limited Success (7-9)	48.15%	44.91%	37.04%	26.86%	17.6%
Clean Success (10+)	19.91%	35.65%	52.31%	68.06%	80.56%
At Least 7	68.06%	80.56%	89.35%	94.91%	98.15%

With Disadvantage	-1	0	+1	+2	+3
Failure (-6)	80.56%	68.06%	52.31%	35.65%	19.95%
Limited Success (7-9)	17.6%	26.86%	37.04%	44.91%	48.15%
Clean Success (10+)	1.85%	5.09%	10.65%	19.44%	31.94%
At Least 7	19.44%	31.94%	47.69%	64.35%	80.09%

The Skill List

There are 9 Skills separated into 3 categories as follows.

Action Skills

• Force
  • Wreck or move an obstacle
  • Hold someone down or take something from them
  • Quickly construct a barricade or other structure
• Traversal
  • Move quickly to a location without subtlety
  • Cross dangerous terrain
  • Chase someone or something
• Survival
  • Endure harsh environments and find the means to survive
  • Resist toxins and shrug off fatigue
  • Navigate new or confusing territories

Clever Skills

• Finesse
  • Perform a delicate physical action, like picking someone's pocket
  • Craft something that requires technique and dexterity
  • Perform first aid or surgery
• Focus
  • Skillfully use technology or apply other professional knowledge
  • Wield elemental powers in a precise and measured way
  • Act under pressure and stay in control
• Covertness
  • Move somewhere silently and without being seen
  • Pretend to be someone else

Social Skills

• Presence
  • Command the attention of a crowd and lead them
  • Intimidate someone or rouse them to anger
  • Win friends with charm and style
• Insight
  • Sense when someone is hiding something or lying
  • Understand the subtext or atmosphere of a social interaction
  • Know who to ask for information or where to go
• Sway
  • Persuade someone with leverage or logic
  • Lie convincingly

Skill Checks are not done in a vacuum and must look to the fiction of the situation. No matter how high your Force modifier, a human Trainer won't be able to lift a boulder twice their size—but a Steelix, even with a lesser Force modifier, may attempt that. A character who is a surgeon may perform a Finesse Skill Check for an operation, but other characters without that training cannot attempt that at all.

You may also notice a lack of certain skills, like Knowledge or Perception, here if you're familiar with other TRPGs. We believe questions of whether a character has heard a certain piece of information before or knows a certain fact are better resolved without the dice, by deciding if it makes sense and is interesting for a character to know. And we believe perception and search checks are way overdone and belong in the trash. Resolve the scene based on how the players are describing their investigatory efforts, and don't use the dice to determine whether they find a clue that is crucial for them to continue the plot.