Rules

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BASICS

1. This may seem like common sense, but I guarantee people will break this rule at some point, so I might as well make it a rule so I can punish people for breaking it. Basically, don't be a dick. Be nice to your fellow members! If you disagree with someone about something, that's fine, of course, but be civil about it and keep in mind that if a discussion starts to get mean a staff member WILL intervene. Also, if someone is being a dick to you, don't reciprocate the negative behavior; if you do, you also will be violating this rule. Instead, end the conversation and/or inform a staff member that you feel threatened or victimized. We'll step in and punish rabblerousers if the need arises.

2. Soooooo I got a message from Proboards itself that said mature themes are NOT fine apparently? Which is stupid but whatever. So, no mature themes, keep it PG-13. If you want to play out anything that'd go above that rating you'll have to do it off-site. Sorry guys!

3. Please don't mix up IC and OOC. Chances are that the jackass character saying mean things about your character is not saying those things because the player thinks badly of you or your character, but rather because that character is an jackass and that's just what they do. Do not take it personally, since it probably is not a personal attack at you. In a similar vein, if you are making your character hold grudges because of personal biases, you need to check yourself before you wreck yourself -- by which I mean, you should refer to rule number 1. No one is forcing you to interact with or roleplay with someone you dislike, and certainly there is no need to get petty and mix that dislike into IC interactions.

4. Godmoding, powerplaying, and all that good stuff is off-limits, obviously. Use your best judgment and just don't do it, and if you need clarification on what those concepts are or you aren't sure if you've been accidentally doing this, feel free to ask a staff member for clarification. If you feel that someone is godmoding or powerplaying or something similar, and they either refuse to stop or don't believe that they are doing anything wrong, get a staff member involved to mediate.

5. You're expected to be literate when writing IC -- that is to say, proper grammar and spelling and all of that is expected. OOC, however, I don't care how you choose to write. Use nothing but 1337-2P34|< for all I care! Actually yeah, do that, that'd be hilarious.

6. If you beg your roleplay partners for replies or otherwise are obnoxious and impatient, there is an 100 percent chance that I hate you and also a pretty good chance that you're breaking this rule, so don't do it. If you are concerned that a partner may have forgotten about a thread or that your profile is being overlooked, it is fine to inquire, but be POLITE and do not PESTER, and certainly don't be hasty. Real life comes first, and your partner may simply be busy.

7. New accounts that do not make at least one post within a month of signing up will be deleted.

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RP/CHARACTER RULES

1. For now, Decona has a three character limit. In the future that limit may be raised, but until then, you may only have a max of three characters. (Raised from two, as of 12/16/13.)

2. All IC posts must be 150+ words, and write in 3rd person because 1st and 2nd person are obnoxious in RP since they make your character the sole focus instead of accommodating the collaboration that is expected in roleplay. Also, we expect literacy, so while we won't poke and prod at you for the occasional spelling error or typo or mistake, we do expect you to TRY and to be open to critique and suggestions for improvement -- and that goes for everyone, from the kid who's brand new to roleplay to the guy who's been roleplaying for 10+ years. Offering constructive critique and friendly suggestions for improvement to your fellow members IS ENCOURAGED. (However, if you feel that someone is being unnecessarily harsh or cruel and is actually targeting you with malicious intent, feel free to tell a staff member and show them what happened so they can make a judgment call.)

3. Player characters from within the region are not allowed except with explicit permission from an admin, and expect the profile to be scrutinized closely to make sure it doesn't make a mess of the region's canon or otherwise contradict anything.

4. Characters younger than 13 years old must travel with a parent or guardian (who must be at least 18 years old).

5. Your character must be original, meaning that they cannot be Ash Ketchum or Legolas or any character that did not come out of your own head, especially including a character created by another roleplayer. Also, if your character is basically Ash Ketchum but with a different name, you will probably be called out on it. Furthermore, if you have art of your character, this art must either be used with the EXPLICIT PERMISSION of the artist (as in you have to ask them and get their OK, or they must say that the picture is free to be used by anyone, and either way credit must be given), or this art must be something you have created yourself. That means no pictures of anime boys that you nabbed off of Photobucket, in other words, and no using a screenshot of Ash Ketchum. That sort of thing. Likewise, you must have the explicit permission of the photographer if you choose to use a photo, edited or otherwise, of a person IRL to represent your character. This is a personal pet peeve of mine, kids, and that means if you use a picture in your profile to represent your character, you better believe I will call you out if you don't give the artist credit.

6. Once your character is accepted and their profile moved to the appropriate board, put a link to your character's profile in your signature for ease of reference. Then, make a PC thread for your character in the "Trainer's PC" board, and link to this in your signature as well.

7. Pokemorph player characters will be allowed on the site, although since characters who are native to Decona are not allowed for the most part, there should be VERY few of these unless you can think up a great reason for your character to be one. (This rule is restated in the profile skeleton thread.) Furthermore, I will warn that though the Pokemorph injection is rather trendy, it is still... experimental. Who knows what the potential risks might be...?

8. At the beginning of each thread, make a list (OOC) of every Pokemon your character has on hand, as well as their level at this point in the thread. Whenever the levels of your Pokemon or the contents of your party change within the thread, include an updated list in your next post. If you have the same Pokemon battling in multiple threads, you may want to keep track of gained levels in the format of "level 5 + 3" so that you don't confuse how many levels have been gained between the two threads. It may also be helpful to keep track of which attacks each Pokemon knows in addition to its level. That's up to you; it's for your reference! The staff member modding your thread just needs to know the levels of each Pokemon on hand at the current point. If your character acquires a new Pokemon after the creation of the thread, that Pokemon may not be used within the thread unless it is acquired within that thread.

9. Non-Pokemorph characters are not able to understand Pokemon speech by default. There is one way for them to acquire this ability... but it's a little risky. An inability to understand Pokespeech does not mean some trainers cannot become well-attuned to their Pokemon's body language and "understand" them in this way, however! Pokemorph characters are able to understand Pokemon speech.

10. Your character will earn money over the course of their travels, and to keep track of all their money gains and losses, you are expected to maintain a log within your character's PC thread. This way, a mod glancing over your character's current money balance can see exactly how they acquired the amount they have, and can be sure that no dishonesty is occurring. An example of the expected format is shown in the PC board.

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BATTLE STUFF

1. On Decona, we follow the three-dodge rule. This means that your character/their Pokemon are allowed to dodge an incoming attack three times in a row, at which point they MUST be hit by the next attack. Don't abuse this by constantly dodging three in a row and only getting hit every fourth time; that isn't fair, and isn't why this rule is in place! Just keep in mind how feasible it actually is for your character/Pokemon to be able to dodge often, i.e. if your Pokemon has been using a ton of evasion-increasing moves, or has had their speed/evasion/mobility reduced, etc. If someone is abusing this rule and it's getting frustrating, tell a staff member and we can tell them to knock it off. NOTE: Status-inflicting moves and damage-dealing moves will have different dodge counts. So, if I dodge Leer three times in a row, I am still in violation of the three-dodge rule even if I was hit by Tackle three times in a row.

2. In a battle, Pokemon are able to use one damaging move (Tackle, Flamethrower, etc.) and one status move (Growl, Stun Spore, etc.) per "turn." Alternatively, they are able to use two status moves and no damaging moves in one turn. Using an item in battle, unless it is a held item such as a berry, will take up a full turn.

3. Try not to drag out battles for too long. It is expected that the average battle should last maybe 5 posts max from each of the participants in the battle -- 5 posts from the mod playing the wild Pokemon and 5 posts from the trainer, for example. Battles can go on longer, and may well be shorter if it's an uneven match, but after a point long battles can become excessive and ain't nobody got time for that.

4. Again, because it's important enough to say twice: no powerplaying. In other words, you are not the one that decides if your attack hits. Your opponent is. This applies even if your Pokemon is using a move that cannot be dodged; you should still always leave your opponent's reaction to be decided and described by your opponent. You should say "Pikachu used Thunderbolt, and the crackling bolts of electricity shot towards the enemy Magikarp!" instead of "Pikachu used Thunderbolt and fried the enemy Magikarp!" If you see someone who is not following this rule, first explain to them what they're doing wrong, and then if they refuse to change their behavior you may get a staff member involved.

5. We use abilities here. Deal with it! None of this "well you can DECIDE if you use them..." nonsense. Nope! Abilities have been in every game since gen 3 so if you have a problem with it you need to get hip with the times yo.

6. Using a Pokeball on a fainted Pokemon guarantees a successful capture. If you are attempting to catch a conscious Pokemon, the type of Pokeball will effect the rate of capture. A Pokemon that is between levels 1-25 can be caught with a regular Pokeball. A Pokemon between levels 26-50 requires a Great Ball unless they are fainted. A Pokemon between levels 51-100 requires an Ultra Ball or a ball which would be especially effective against them (i.e. a Net Ball on a bug-type Pokemon) to be successfully captured unless they are fainted. A Master Ball will guarantee capture of any Pokemon regardless of whether they are fainted or what level they are. A status affliction will lower these requirements by five levels, so for example if a level 51 Pokemon is poisoned or put to sleep, their capture requirement is lowered to 46 and thus a Great Ball could be successfully used instead of an Ultra Ball. Note that even if you are using the appropriate ball on a wild Pokemon, there is still a chance that the capture will fail unless you are using a Master Ball. This is up to the mod's discretion, and is based primarily on how weakened the wild Pokemon is.

7. You can "catch" Pokemon without the use of a Pokeball, if you are willing to take the time to persuade a Pokemon to accompany you, but these Pokemon CANNOT be stored in a PC without being put into a Pokeball first. This may or may not fly with the Pokemon in question, and since these Pokemon are technically not considered "caught," they can run away from their "trainer" if they feel the urge, though this is up to the player's discretion.

8. Your character can carry more than 6 filled Pokeballs with you without issue, and as such may have any number of Pokemon with them at any given time! However, using more than six in one battle is highly taboo according to League rules and doing so in an official battle would result in immediate disqualification. In a non-official battle, alternate rules may be established at the discretion of the participants, meaning that a 10v10 battle could feasibly occur if both parties involved agreed upon it. Alternatively, if your character is the type to bend the rules and use any advantage they can take, they could send out 10 Pokemon against 1, although both roleplayers must agree to these unfair circumstances and chances are this action will not be thought highly of IC.

9. Your Pokemon do not have a limit to how many attacks they can know! That means that whenever your Pokemon levels up and can learn a new attack, they don't need to forget an old one to learn it; that attack is simply added to their roster along with any others they knew previously.

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TRAVELING/LEVELING/EVOLUTION/LEAGUE RULES

1. Because your characters are able to travel around Decona in any given order, gym badges can also be acquired in any given order, with the exception of the Marit Bay gym badge; this badge must always be the last one acquired, though you may visit Marit Bay at any point.

2. There are six gyms in the Decona Region. These gyms may be challenged in any order with the exception of Marit Bay, as stated in rule 1. Gym leaders' teams are not set in stone, and their teams' will match levels with the Pokemon used to challenge them. However, because we do not want challengers to be able to breeze through all 6 gyms without any training or time in between, each badge acquired will raise the MINIMUM level of the gym leaders' teams, the number of Pokemon they will use, and the cash reward for defeating a gym leader, like so:

0 badges: minimum level is 15; two Pokemon, $2000 reward
1 badge: minimum level is 25; three Pokemon, $3500 reward
2 badges: minimum level is 35; three Pokemon, $5000 reward
3 badges: minimum level is 45; four Pokemon, $6500 reward
4 badges: minimum level is 55; five Pokemon, $8000 reward
5 badges: minimum level is 60; six Pokemon, $9500 reward
6 badges (Pokemon League): minimum level is 65; six Pokemon, $5000 reward for each league member defeated

In other words, if you are entering your first gym challenge with no badges yet, the gym leader's Pokemon will never be lower in level than 15. However, if your Pokemon are higher than level 15, the gym leader's Pokemon will match your challenging Pokemon's level. Likewise, if you were to challenge a gym with one badge already acquired, the gym leader's Pokemon will never be lower in level than 25, and so on. You may still challenge a gym with Pokemon of a lower level than the minimum for your number of badges, in which case the gym leader's Pokemon will by default be at the minimum level, but remember that victory is unlikely in these circumstances. Also note that in a gym battle, you may never use more Pokemon within the battle than the gym leader uses. If you are challenging your first gym with no badges, you may use a maximum of two Pokemon to match the gym leader's two.

3. Though you are able to make a thread almost anywhere in Decona without making traveling threads to show the transition from one area to the next, it is encouraged to at least state in-thread how your character got to their current location, whether they traveled by boat across Umbil Lake or walked on land. In the latter case, it is especially encouraged to make traveling threads, since Decona is a very eventful place and it is unlikely that traveling on land would not lead to at least one or two encounters along the way. However, if your character is traveling to or from Lunita Island or The Colosseum, it is required to make a traveling thread either in the S.S. Angeli board for Lunita or in the Roiling Seas board for The Colosseum. In both cases the journey is meant to be as important as the destination, and so no characters are allowed to glaze over those experiences. If a character has made a trip to and from Lunita Island before, this rule is nullified for all successive trips, although it is certainly allowed and encouraged to make a thread even still.

4. A Pokemon will level up after defeating another Pokemon in battle, as long as the victorious Pokemon is within five levels of the Pokemon they have defeated. If they have won a battle but are 6-10 levels stronger than the Pokemon they have defeated, they will only gain half a level; if they are more than ten levels stronger than the defeated Pokemon, they will not gain any experience at all. Similarly, if a Pokemon is 6-10 levels weaker than the Pokemon they have somehow defeated, they will gain two levels instead of the standard one level. It is frankly not expected that a Pokemon more than 10 levels below another Pokemon will be able to win against that Pokemon in battle.

5. In double/triple/etc. battles, if all Pokemon on the victorious side are within five levels of a fainted opposing Pokemon, all victorious Pokemon will gain one level. If one of the Pokemon on the victorious side is 6-10 levels weaker than the defeated Pokemon, they alone will gain two levels. If they are more than 10 levels below the defeated Pokemon and are somehow still in the game when an opponent is defeated, they will gain a maximum of 3 levels no matter how sizable the level difference. However, if any of the Pokemon on the victorious side are more than five levels stronger than the defeated Pokemon, all Pokemon on the victorious side will only gain as many levels as the strongest Pokemon. So, to give an example, if two level 5 Pokemon and one level 16 Pokemon are up against a level 5 Pokemon and are victorious, the winning team will earn no experience.

6. If a Pokemon is holding a Lucky Egg, they will gain one extra level when victorious in battle. So, if they would normally gain one level, they will instead gain two. If they would normally gain two levels, they will instead gain three. The exception is if the Pokemon would normally gain half a level; in this case, the Pokemon will simply gain a single level. In instances where the Pokemon would normally earn no experience, they still will not earn experience.

7. If a Pokemon is holding an Exp. Share, they are treated as if they were participating in the battle, with the same rules as in a double/triple/etc. battle. See rule 5. Note that the Exp. Share does not work the same way on Decona as it does in Gen 6 -- that is, not until after beating the Elite 4, at which point you are able to "upgrade" your champion character's Exp. Share to work as an Exp. All. So, after beating the Elite 4, every single one of the character's Pokemon on-hand (but not stored in the PC) will gain experience as if they participated in the battle, using the same rules as in a double/triple/etc. battle.

8. Friendship is a stat which all members are expected to keep track of for all of their characters' Pokemon. Most Pokemon, when newly-captured, will have their friendship stat at a neutral 5 points. This stat can be raised (to a maximum of 10) or lowered (to a minimum of 0) at any time by certain actions, as listed below:

+1 from gaining a level
+1 from being given a Pomeg, Kelpsy, Qualot, Hondew, Grepa, or Tamato Berry
-1 from being given Energy Powder, Heal Powder, Energy Root, or Revival Herb
-1 from fainting
-2 from being traded or sold
-3 from being abused by trainer (physically, emotionally, etc.)

Having a Soothe Bell equipped to the Pokemon or having captured the Pokemon in a Luxury Ball will double the friendship gains for that Pokemon. So, instead of gaining 1 friendship point when leveling up, the Pokemon will gain 2. These items do not modify point losses, so having a Soothe Bell equipped to a Pokemon and giving that Pokemon an Energy Powder will still cost 1 friendship point. Friendship evolution Pokemon will evolve when their friendship stat reaches 10. On Decona, Pokemon who evolve from trades in-game will now evolve from maxing the friendship stat. So, to Evolve a Pokemon such as a Cleffa as well as a Pokemon like a Haunter, that Pokemon's friendship stat much reach 10 points. Pokemon who would normally evolve after being traded while holding a specific item now require both maxed friendship and the item to evolve.

9. For Pokemon with unique evolution methods -- Sylveon, Glaceon/Leafeon, Magnezone, Malamar, Accelgor/Escavalier, the Hitmons, Silcoon/Cascoon, etc. -- there are different methods on Decona to make these Pokemon evolve. In the case of Sylveon, the fairy-type move is still required, but the Eevee's friendship stat must be maxed out to cue evolution. Pokemon such as Magneton and Nosepass, who would typically evolve at a specific location, will instead evolve with a maxed friendship stat. Glaceon and Leafeon, which also typically need a certain location to evolve, will now evolve with the use of items; a Leaf Stone will evolve Eevee into Leafeon, and a Nevermeltice will evolve Eevee into Glaceon. Inkay does in fact need to flip upside-down to evolve once it has reached level 30, for clarification. Because Shelmet and Karrablast must be traded for each other to evolve in-game, on Decona you must have both Pokemon in your party and must have maxed friendship for the one you'd like to evolve. In the case of Pokemon like Tyrogue and Wurmple, where in-game the result of their evolution is based on stats or hidden values, on Decona you may simply choose which result you get from this Pokemon's evolution. For Pokemon who would normally evolve with maxed friendship or a held item at a certain time of day, this still applies, though you may decide when you create a thread what time of day that thread is set at, making it a rather easy requirement. If any other evolution methods were forgotten and you have any questions, please ask in the Q&A thread and we'll let you know what you need to do to evolve that Pokemon!

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If something not specified in the rules comes to mind or occurs, and you are concerned that it might be against the rules or feel that it should be, please let a staff member know! These rules are all subject to change, so we may add or take away (but more likely add) rules at any time. Feel free to tell us if you think there's something important we forgot or overlooked!