Rockets are assigned one Pokémon during character creation. Your Pokémon has a number of abilities that are useful for the types of crimes you will do, which are all covered in the Character Creation section. But having a Pokémon, keeping a relationship with it, and battling with it are things everyone should know about:

YOUR POKEMON, YOUR PARTNER

Because your Pokémon is standard issue, you’ll probably have a fraught relationship with them at first. They were probably stolen or hastily caught. They will listen to you, but they may not like you very much.

You can treat your relationship with your Pokémon like a clock with 6 spaces. When the clock is empty, your Pokémon hates you. When the clock is full, it loves you. You can increase or decrease your Pokémon’s affection with you in the following ways:

INCREASE

• Winning a Pokémon battle with it (see Battle Roll)
• It participates in a score without fainting
• Protecting it or making a sacrifice for it

DECREASE

• Letting it faint
• Feeding it something bitter-tasting
• Harming it yourself

Your Pokémon’s affection can increase or decrease their success on Action Rolls and Battle Rolls (see below).

BATTLE ROLL

You’re Team Rocket Grunts. You’re not that great at battling, and neither are your Pokémon. When you call your Pokemon out to engage someone who has actually honed their battling craft, you expect it will not end well for you. The best you can do is stall a Trainer while the rest of your gang moves forward.

Using your Pokemon to fight another Pokemon is what is known as a Battle Roll. You roll a d6 pool and succeed only if you’ve rolled at least one 6. If you roll anything else, your Pokémon faints, and you lose. By default, the number of dice in your pool is 1. There are very few instances where you can modify this pool:

• Add another Pokémon to your side of the fight to add 1d6 to your pool. If you win, one of the Pokémon on your side (determined by the GM) faints.
• When your Pokémon has a type advantage over your opponent, add 1d6 to your pool.
• If you have maximum affection with your Pokémon, add 1d6. If you have minimum affection, subtract 1d6. If this would cause you to roll with a pool lower than 1, roll 2d6 and take the lower number.