Trainer Skills

**PTU Quick Navigation**

## Overview

Skills represent a character’s conscious interests and training. They’re used when taking most basic actions in Pokémon Tabletop United as well as acting as the main prerequisites for Features in the system.

Skills are organized into three Categories: Body, Mind, or Spirit. While there isn’t much of a mechanical impact here outside of the Categoric Inclination Edge, it’s an easy way to think about the Skills as groups when making your character.

»» The Body Skills are Acrobatics, Athletics, Combat, Intimidate, Stealth, and Survival.

»» The Mind Skills are General Education, Medicine Education, Occult Education, Pokémon Education, Technology Eduction, Guile, and Perception.

»» The Spirit Skills are Charm, Command, Focus, and Intuition.

Look to the following pages for a more detailed writeup of each Skill, including their various uses, common situations where each Skill is tested, and the Edges that are associated with each Skill.

### Skill Ranks

There are 6 Ranks of Skills. Each Rank causes you to roll a different number of dice when using Skills. When you “Rank Up” a Skill, it simply increases from one rank to the next. Skills begin at Untrained unless modified by a Background.

 2
 3
 4
 5
 6

There are Level prerequisites for progressing Skill Ranks beyond Novice. Adept Rank requires Level 2. Expert Rank requires Level 6, and Master Rank requires Level 12.

Both the Rank number and the Dice Roll are important when it comes to Skills. The Skill Rank is often referred to by Edges and Features which use its numerical value. For example, Group Trainer allows a Trainer to train a number of Pokémon equal to their Command Rank. A Trainer with Adept Command could train four Pokémon at once with the Edge.

The Dice Roll is used in making Skill Checks. Simply roll the the appropriate Dice Roll value for your Skill Rank and add any modifiers associated with that Skill coming from Equipment, Edges, and other effects.

For example, a Trainer with an Expert Athletics Skill would roll 5d6. That same Trainer with a Skill Enhancement Edge applied to Athletics would roll 5d6+2.

When making general Skill Checks (that is, Skill Checks caused by a situation rather than directly called for by a Feature), your GM is the one who determines the Difficulty Check (or DC for short) for the check. A Skill Check must match or exceed its Difficulty Check to succeed the challenge.

An easy DC for most Untrained or better Trainers would be 5. 10 is a challenging DC. 15 is a hard DC that requires some Skill investment to pass. A DC of 25 would be nigh-impossible for all but masters of their craft. See the Running the Game chapter for more details on setting Skill DCs (page 465).

# Skill Descriptions

Acrobatics is a Body Skill that represents how well a character can jump, keep their balance, and in general conduct themselves physically with swiftness and grace. Characters with a high Acrobatics Rank tend to be highly agile and well-coordinated, and it reflects in their activities. Gymnasts, parkour practitioners, circus performers, and dancers would all have a high Acrobatics Rank.
The Acrobatics Skill is used to make skill checks when your character has to perform physical tasks requiring a great deal of precision and finesse, usually, but not always, tied to jumping and moving about. Some situations where you might roll Acrobatics include keeping your balance as you shimmy across a perilous ledge, jumping across slippery stones in a river, and dodging out of the way of falling debris from a cave-in or an earthquake.
Outside of jumping and moving around, Acrobatics has uses when hand-eye coordination is required. Accurate throwing and juggling both rely on Acrobatics, and you will want a high Acrobatics Rank for exact tasks like switching a golden statue on a booby-trapped pedestal with a bag of sand.
Opposed Acrobatics Checks are used for races through obstacle courses or difficult terrain and for determining who recovers their footing first after being thrown off balance by unstable ground.
Acrobatics can be used to mitigate damage taken from falling from great heights, as found in the Combat chapter. Acrobatics is also used to mount a Pokémon in the middle of battle and keep mounted
 **Edges**

 Kip Up
 Mounted Prowess
or Athletics
 Nimble Movement
or Stealth
 Throwing Mastery
 Wallrunner

have physically strenuous occupations.
The Athletics Skill is used to make general skill checks whenever your character’s physical endurance is tested, such as when running, climbing, or jumping. Some situations where you might make use of the Athletics Skill are when climbing a tree or the side of a cliff in the wilds and when trying to keep yourself afloat in the ocean during
a storm. A GM may also call for Athletics Checks during a day of long travel, especially over treacherous terrain, to determine how fatigued your characters become from the long and continuous exertion.
Opposed Athletics Checks can be called for determining who tires out first during an extended chase or for someone holding a door closed against someone trying to push it open.
When in doubt, if characters are taking actions that involve strenuous physical activity but not necessarily anything that requires precision and finesse, Athletics is the go-to skill. A GM may also simply look at a character’s Athletics Rank and make a judgment call about whether or not that character is able to perform a certain task without becoming fatigued. If a GM assigns penalties for exhaustion, Athletics may be consulted in that case as well.
 **Edges**

 Mounted Prowess
 Power Boost
 Swimmer
 Stamina

Making people agree with and like you obviously has many uses. Charm can get you into places that would otherwise bar you entry, help you haggle down prices, and aid in cutting beneficial deals for you and your companions. Charm is the Skill of diplomacy and forging positive and constructive relationships.
This is, of course, not limited to humans. The Charm Skill is used to improve the disposition of wild Pokémon and can potentially be used to prevent conflict, seek help while traveling, or gain access to precious resources such as Berry Groves.
Remember that while Charm is a single Skill, it can cover many different approaches to the same end. Seduction, flattery, and emotional appeals are just a few of the strategies that characters might employ to Charm their targets to their side.
 Edges

 Charmer
 Flustering Charisma
 Smooth

Not surprisingly, most uses of the Combat Skill take place in battle. Specifically, Combat is tested when performing
certain Combat Maneuvers, including Pushing, Tripping, Grappling, and Disarming. Having a high Combat Skill
also improves the damage and accuracy of a character’s Struggle Attacks.
Having a high Combat Rank is also important to making the best use of Weapons. Simple and Fine Quality
Weapons grant their wielder Moves that can only be used by a Trainer with a high enough Combat Rank.
That isn’t to say Combat has no use outside of battles. Opposed Combat Checks can be used for two characters
grabbing at the same item or trying to push each other around without trying to seriously injure one another. One
 Edges

 Stamina

For example, Pokémon with Loyalty 0 or 1 require Command checks to successfully order them in battle.
Expanding on this notion, a Trainer’s Command Rank also affects their ability to train their Pokémon in downtime outside of combat. The higher their Command Rank, the more effective their training.
Outside of Pokémon-related applications, Command has a number of uses. Command is tested when trying to disperse a riot or when directing a panicking crowd to safety in the aftermath of a Team Rocket terrorist attack. For Pokémon Rangers and other members of law enforcement, Command may be necessary to keep subordinates in line, especially rebellious elements, similar to low Loyalty Pokémon.
During combat, Command also lets a Trainer help their allies Take a Breather and recover from Status Afflictions
such as Confusion and Rage.
Command doesn’t have to relate to explicitly giving orders either. It can be used to gain presence and attention in a scene or give an impression of authority without issuing directives. For example, while Charm may often be tested when giving speeches to a crowd to win them over to an idea, a character who wants to make a show of a community’s solidarity and the strength of its leadership during a time of crisis might roll their Command Skill instead when delivering a speech.
In Opposed Checks, Command may be used against a foe’s Intimidate to keep a crowd or a squad of allies from
falling to fear and panic. Command is also tested to help snap allies out of supernatural mental influences, such
as powerful Legendary Pokémon or Ghost and Psychic Types. In these cases, roll Command against the foe’s
 Edges

 Train the Reserves
 Leader
 Trainer of Champions

Characters with a high General Education Rank tend to be masters of trivia and local or regional knowledge, though they often have specializations in more narrow fields such as literature, history, and philosophy. It’s a good idea to think about a field of expertise or two to give the Skill more personal flavor.
Of course, General Education also encompasses basic training in mathematics, natural sciences, and other common fields. However, it’s safe to assume that most characters know the basics unless they have a Pathetic
Rank in General Eduction. General Education is most often tested when characters are faced with issues of politics and current events, such as knowing about the stances of local Gym Leaders or government officials on political issues or being familiar with the details of recent news stories.
Knowledge of history is also a common usage; it can be useful to know that the reason a town is wary of the party is because they have a Camerupt with them and a pack of that Pokémon was responsible for devastating the town half a decade back.
Another way to treat General Education is as a catch-all Skill for a particular setting, covering common issues that aren’t associated well with other Education Skills but are important to the setting. A campaign with a law enforcement focus might use General Education to cover police protocol and the law, while a wild west campaign might use General Education to cover dueling etiquette and other narrative standbys in frontier life.
While General Education isn’t specialized in itself, it also represents a character’s skill in conducting research. Obviously, you should use more specific Education Skills instead when the sought after information is highly advanced or it is more relevant.
 **Edges**

 Instruction
using an Education Skill you have at Novice Rank or
higher, add your full Rank value as a bonus to their roll
 Scholar
Education, Medicine Education, Occult Education,
Pokémon Education, Technology Education, and
 Groomer
General Education
access to a Groomer’s Kit. You may groom up to 6
Pokémon in one hour. Grooming Pokémon may count
as an hour of Training, and you may apply Experience
Training, teach Poke-Edges, and apply any Features that
could be applied during Training. If you apply Experience
Training from Grooming, use your General Education or
Pokémon Education Rank to determine Bonus Experience
gained during Training. A Pokémon that has been Groomed
also gains a +1d6 Bonus to the Introduction Roll of a Contest for the rest of the day.

While the damage and Injuries taken in combat in Pokémon Tabletop United typically don’t exceed flesh wounds, Medicine Education can certainly be used to treat more traumatic injuries that aren’t modeled in the mechanics, such as broken bones and infected wounds.
While away from the conveniences of modern hospitals and Pokémon Centers, Medicine Education Checks may be necessary to construct a splint for a broken limb or to clean and dress a particularly nasty wound to avoid infection.
Beyond simply treating the wounds of battle, characters with training in Medicine Education are also useful when it comes to diagnosing diseases such as Pokérus or perhaps ailments stemming from malformed Evolutionary Stones and the dangerous radiation they might give off.
In some extreme cases, characters may have to not only diagnose these ailments but invent new treatments altogether to deal with them. The process of medical research and inventing new medications is of course governed by Medicine Education.
Outside of treatment and diagnosis, Medicine Education represents broader projects of biology intended to further understanding of Pokémon and human bodies and even enhance them. Although this is usually limited to higher tech settings, Medicine Education can certainly be used to conduct gene therapy or produce other biological augmentations. Other more blatantly “mad science” projects may require complex steps with Medicine Education Checks involved along the way.
 **Edges**

 Repel Crafter

of all types of supernatural lore and phenomena.
Characters with a high Occult Education Rank can have
incredibly varied interests and areas of expertise, and
this is often dependent on the specific campaign.
Much of the knowledge that falls under Occult
Education is particularly esoteric and unknown to the
public at large. This can range from passed down tales
of Legendary Pokémon and ancient places of power in
the world to the functioning of supernatural powers
such as Aura Reading and Psychic powers.
While other Skills may govern the use of those powers,
in this case Intuition and Focus respectively, Occult
Education can be thought of as the science that studies
how and why those powers function.
Some situations where Occult Education might be
tested include studying magical ancient ruins such as
the Ruins of Alph, researching lore about long-forgotten
Legendary Pokémon, or studying a strange Psychic
phenomenon or malformed Aura in a location.
These can be common occurrences in one campaign but
rare in another. Whether or not the Occult Education
Skill sees common use varies by campaign to campaign,
so it’s a good idea for the players and GM to talk about
this before characters are created.
Not only will it vary whether or not Occult Education is
widely used as a Skill, but the particular function of the
Skill will vary as well. In one campaign, occultists would
be expected to be knowledgeable about ancient ruins,
while in another, ancient ruins may be largely mundane
while Legendary Pokémon are the focus of occult studies.
Characters developed around Occult Education
tend to have widely ranging specializations, and it is a
good idea to discuss not only if the Occult Education
skill will be useful in general but whether a character’s
area of expertise is relevant to a campaign.
The Occult Education Skill is also closely associated
with Ghost Type Pokémon and their unique capabilities,
such as turning invisible and phasing through walls. As
such, Occult Education is tested when a Trainer applies
a Cleanse Tag to ward against phantasmal intruders,
and it also allows Cleanse Tags to be used to remove
several of the Status Afflictions that Ghost Types often
inflict (page 302).
Additionally, Occult Education is used in the operation
of Dowsing Rods (page 284), which Trainers use to find
energized Shards that are used for a variety of crafting
purposes.
Occult Education is such a varied Skill that it is
often difficult to nail down its
uses in Opposed Checks.
However, when two sides
are competing for control
of an arcane artifact or
enacting rituals involving
the Unown or other
mystical Pokémon,
Opposed Occult
Education Checks
 **Edges**

into a Gem of one of its associated Types. Additionally,
you can turn 4 Red Shards into a Fire Stone; 4 Blue
Shards into a Water Stone; 4 Yellow Shards into a
Thunder Stone; 4 Orange Shards into a Shiny Stone; 4
Green Shards into a Leaf Stone; or 4 Violet Shards into a
Dusk Stone. You can also destroy any of these six Stones
 Tag Scribe
You create a Cleanse Tag. This may be used a
number of times each day equal to half your Occult
Education Rank.

knowledge such as the diets and caretaking needs of various species to more specialized scientific topics such as
Pokémon Evolution and the biology of unusual Pokémon species.
In a world where many institutions are entirely built around the use of Pokémon, it makes sense that they are the
focus of much academic research. Pokémon Education is immensely useful in the field when encountering wild
Pokémon, of course, and it can be used to understand their behavior patterns, needs, and their means of attack and
weaknesses. Being well-versed in Pokémon Education can mean the difference between recognizing the signs of
an Ursaring’s marked territory and stumbling into the cave of an angry bear.
Dedicated Pokémon battlers also obviously have uses for Pokémon Education. While Type Effectiveness, a
Pokémon’s Types, and basic information about how their Stats lean or what kinds of Moves they prefer is considered
to be common knowledge for anyone without Pathetic Rank Pokémon Education, more detailed information
that one would find in the Pokédex such as when specific Moves are learned will generally require
higher Ranks in Pokémon Education to recall from memory.
When new Pokémon species are discovered, or variants of existing species come to
light, Pokémon Education can be tested to learn about their traits or at least
make educated guesses. In more everyday situations, it can be used to identify
which Pokémon species are involved in a situation, such as discerning from
claw marks left on a shed door what kinds of Pokémon have been breaking into
a village’s food supply.
Breeders also make use of Pokémon Education to keep track of their work, as the
 **Edges**

compatible for breeding at least 4 hours of time alone,
you may make a Pokémon Education Check with a DC
of 12. If you succeed, the Pokémon are guaranteed to
 Paleontologist
Survival
Education or Survival Check. You know how to operate
Reanimation Machines and can use them to revive
Fossils. See the “Pokémon Fossils” section (page 216)
 Groomer
General Education
with access to a Groomer’s Kit. You may groom up to 6
Pokémon in one hour. Grooming Pokémon may count
as an hour of Training, and you may apply Experience
Training, teach Poke-Edges, and apply any Features
that could be applied during Training. If you apply
Experience Training from Grooming, use your General
Education or Pokémon Education Rank to determine
Bonus Experience gained during Training. A Pokémon
that has been Groomed also gains a +1d6 Bonus to the
 PokéPsychologist
instead of Charm, Guile, Intimidate, or Intuition when
making general Skill checks to interact with Pokémon
or to raise or lower disposition.

the ubiquitous Poké Ball to computers and vehicles. Characters with a high Technology Education Rank tend to
have many gadgets and can easily find their way around a factory, engineering workshop, or chemistry lab.
Mechanical, chemical, and electrical engineering are the main fields covered by Technology Education, but
materials science and computer science also fall under its purview. However, important to note is that Technology
Education largely deals with the inorganic. Biology, organic chemistry, and similar fields are better
suited to the Medicine Education Skill. Even if gene therapy treatments might require advanced
technology, they don’t primarily concern themselves with machines or chemicals and don’t fall
under Technology Education.
Some situations that call for Technology Education include repairing a vehicle
or piece of machinery, cracking electronic locks or hacking into computer
databases, and building a custom piece of equipment such as an octopus arm
backpack. The world of Pokémon also includes specialty pieces of
technology such as Snag Machines and Dream Machines which
would require Technology Education to maintain.
Criminal Teams often make a habit of creating technological
superweapons, and the Technology Education Skill helps in understanding
and shutting down those systems.
In addition, many modern traps are technological in nature. Laser tripwires, proximity sensors,
IR cameras, and mines are all part of a modern security arsenal. Dealing with or deploying such
security measures is the source of most Opposed Checks using the Technology Education
Skill.
What exactly the Technology Education Skill covers will also vary depending on the
time period of the campaign. While driving a car and operating basic computers and
electronics are common knowledge in modern times, these activities may be limited to those with the appropriate
Technology Education Rank in historical settings.
On a final note, most Trainer options using Technology Education are found in our sci-fi sourcebook, Do Porygon
 **Edges**

into their corresponding Poké Ball. Use of this Feature
 Basic Balls
 Poké Ball Repair
has failed to capture a Pokémon and broke. Make a
Technology Check with a DC of 15. If you succeed, the
Poké Ball is fixed and is treated as if it had not broken. If
you fail, the ball is permanently broken. Requires access
 Repel Crafter
$150. Requires access to a Chemistry Set.

to concentrate on difficult or complex tasks or to work
under pain and stress. It can be thought of as analogous
to willpower, and characters with a high Focus Rank
are often intensely driven and ambitious, or at the least
unshakable once they’ve dedicated themselves to a task.
The most common uses of Focus come into play
when it’s rolled alongside a use of another Skill to test
how well you can concentrate on the other task. For
example, it may be a Stealth Check to pick a lock, but
if a character was suffering from the painful venomous
bite of a Seviper on their hand, they might also need
to test Focus to keep steady and concentrated on the
task. A complicated maneuver such as jumping into
the air, throwing a knife to hit a specific target, then
teleporting to a platform mid-air and pulling a lever
at an exact timing when landing would also call for a
Focus Check in addition to the Acrobatics Check that
would be invoked.
Some tasks might require Focus Checks by their very
nature, even if they’re not excessively complicated.
Disarming a bomb, for example, would almost always
call for a Focus Check due to the stress of the situation.
Another example is when performing delicate actions
under the stress of being attacked in combat (page 245).
These actions always require a Focus Check.
Focus is also closely associated with a number of
supernatural abilities. The Telepathy and Telekinetic
Capabilities run off of the user’s Focus Rank, for
example (page 308). In general, Focus is used for
resisting supernatural mental influence as well, such
as possession by powerful Ghosts. This is usually an
Opposed Check against the foe’s Focus Skill.
Even outside of supernatural influences, emotions can
disrupt someone’s ability to act in tip-top condition.
Focus is tested to keep self-control in the face of very
strong fear, anger, or other volatile emotions. Focus is
often used in an Opposed Check against Intimidate in
 **Edges**

 Iron Mind
mind with Telepathy, whether the attempt is successful
 Work Up
 Smooth
Social keyword, and gain a +2 Bonus on Save Checks
against Rage and Infatuation.

and general deception and subterfuge. Characters with
a high Guile Rank think quickly on their feet and are
usually clever and witty in conversation.
The most common use of Guile is to lie convincingly.
Lying with confidence and spinning believable yarns has
many applications, of course, ranging from convincing
a guard you have the right security clearance but left
your ID at home to fooling a cop into thinking they saw
someone else breaking into that house.
Aside from the obvious application, Guile also covers
a range of acting skills, from faking emotions to
pretending to be someone else entirely. Someone armed
with a high Guile Rank and a spare Team Rocket uniform
could probably bluff their way into a secret hideout
or learn the secrets of the criminal organization. This
application of Guile goes beyond blunt deception into
subtle manipulation as well, allowing a smooth talker to
use carefully worded half-truths and targeted prods at a
victim’s beliefs and passions to get what they want.
Whereas Stealth would be used to hide from someone’s
vision or hearing, Guile is often used to “hide in plain
sight”, such as when blending into a crowd to tail
someone through a busy city. Even when there’s no
hiding place around, someone with high Guile might
be able to pose as an innocuous passerby or fast-talk
their way out of suspicion.
Guile can also be thought of as a streetwise Skill,
representing how well a character can read into situations
on the street, gather information, and cut deals. Guile
can help someone haggle on the black market, tell
the difference between an undercover cop and a real
seller or buyer of illicit goods, and realize when they’ve
stepped somewhere they really don’t belong.
Uses of Guile aren’t limited to just human interactions
either. Faced with a hostile wild Pokémon that won’t
be scared away, a Trainer with a high Guile Rank may
attempt to trick it into a trap or distract it long enough
to mount an escape.
Opposed checks pitting Guile against Guile might be
used in a duel of wits, but far more common is when
Guile is rolled against Intuition to decide whether or
not someone sees through another’s
lies. Perception may also be rolled
against Guile when attempting to see
 **Edges**

Intimidate, or Intuition
2 more Poffins each. If this Pokémon is traded to a
Trainer without the Grace feature, these extra dice from
additional Poffins are not lost, but a Trainer without
Grace may not benefit from more than 6 Dice gained
from Poffins. You may always use any of the Skills that
are prerequisites for Grace in the Introduction Stage of
 Flustering Charisma
keyword, the target takes a -2 penalty to Save Checks
 Dynamism
 Expert Manipulator
Manipulate Maneuvers. The “Once per Scene per
Foe” Limitation of each Manipulate Maneuver is
expended only upon succesfully affecting a foe with that
 Confidence Artist

coercion to force others to act in one’s favor. It is a Skill that is
lacking in subtlety compared to the other socially oriented Skills,
but it can often compel results from otherwise unwilling parties
where the others would fail. Expect to burn bridges and make no
friends this way, however.
Characters with a high Intimidate Rank tend to be physically
imposing even when they’re silent and not acting. They
often find work as club bouncers and bodyguards. Gang
leaders and ranking members of criminal organizations also tend to
have high Intimidate Ranks.
Common uses of Intimidate include scaring off wild Pokémon, bullying a guard
into letting you through, and warding off potential muggers and pickpockets
when walking through the shadier parts of town. Despite the often
unsavory uses of the Skill, Intimidate is also often used to avoid violence
and getting into a fight when it would be disadvantageous.
Intimidate is not typically rolled as an Opposed Check. However,
special circumstances may exist, such as a group of Trainers facing
off against a criminal Team, with both of them trying to scare a
pack of wild Pokémon into fighting on their side against the other.
Intimidate may also be used in an Opposed Check against Focus to
 **Edges**

make Pokemon at 0 or 1 Loyalty obey your commands.
You may also use Intimidate instead of Command
to determine the limits and Bonus Experience from
 Intimidating Presence
 Bad Mood
are suffering from a Persistent Status Affliction. Your
Critical Hit Range is increased by +1 if you are suffering
from a Volatile Status Affliction. These stack with each
other, giving a total of +2 to Critical Hit Range if you
are suffering from both a Persistant and a Volatile Status
 Grace
Intimidate, or Intuition
2 more Poffins each. If this Pokémon is traded to a
Trainer without the Grace feature, these extra dice from
additional Poffins are not lost, but a Trainer without
Grace may not benefit from more than 6 Dice gained
from Poffins. You may always use any of the Skills that
are prerequisites for Grace in the Introduction Stage of
 Demoralize
foe becomes Vulnerable. Status-Class Moves with an
Accuracy Roll can “Crit” for the purposes of activating
this effect on a natural roll of 19 or higher, and any effects
that expand your Critical-Hit Range also expand
this range.

when making decisions from the gut or gaining insights
into a situation through instinct. Intuition can often
be thought of as encompassing common sense, and
characters with a high Intuition Rank will often find
themselves making the right decision on a hunch
without necessarily understanding why.
In addition, Intuition governs empathy and reading
emotions, the interpretation of body language, and
other unspoken social cues. Intuition is tested when
attempting to discern someone’s emotional state or tell
whether or not they are lying or being deceitful. This
makes Intuition crucial for Trainers with aspirations of
joining law enforcement or getting involved in politics.
When presented with many clues and small bits of
information about a situation, a Trainer can call on their
Intuition Skill to try to discern connections between
the clues and filter out relevant data from the irrelevant.
Investigative characters such as detectives and spies
would do well to train their Intuition for this reason.
Finally, a number of artistic endeavors and practical
skills fall under Intuition, such as cooking. While
recipes can usually guarantee a good result, the true test
of a chef is in how well they can intuitively assemble
dishes from a variety of ingredients. Painting and other
non-performance arts are covered by Intuition, and the
interpretation of those arts and reading into an artist’s
intent are as well.
In Opposed Checks, Intuition is most often rolled
against Guile to test if a character can see past another’s
 **Edges**

with cooking ingredients costing 50. You may fluff the
 Mystic Senses
improve the disposition of Wild Pokémon. You may not
take Mystic Senses if you have the Elemental Connection
Edge, and you may not take Elemental Connection if
 Grace
Intimidate, or Intuition
2 more Poffins each. If this Pokémon is traded to a
Trainer without the Grace feature, these extra dice from
additional Poffins are not lost, but a Trainer without
Grace may not benefit from more than 6 Dice gained
from Poffins. You may always use any of the Skills that
are prerequisites for Grace in the Introduction Stage of
 Instinctive Aptitude
an Accuracy Roll or Skill Check, you get a +2 bonus
instead of +1. This cannot be used on Rolls made by
your Pokémon.

Perception is tested whenever your character is faced with a situation where they could miss a crucial detail in their surroundings. Some examples of this include finding a carefully laid trap in Team Rocket’s hideout, spotting a Stunfisk buried in the mud, and turning up bloody Pokémon fur and feathers in the corner of a crime scene.
Oftentimes, Perception is a reactive Skill, one that the GM calls a Skill Check for rather than being initiated by a player’s actions. Naturally, if only the GM knows about the ambush lying in wait for the PCs, then they have to tell the players to make the Skill Checks to discover it. Active investigation often uses the Perception Skill as well, such as when a detective is rifling through someone’s drawers looking for evidence of a crime or when characters
scouring an ancient ruin check a room meticulously for traps.
Perception is by far one of the most often used Skills in Pokémon Tabletop United, and nearly every type of character can benefit from an improved awareness of the world around them. However, just Perception alone can’t
solve all problems; it often takes other specialized knowledge Skills to make sense of the details that a hawk-eyed character spots.
For example, a character with high Perception might easily spot the Unown-like inscriptions on the bottom of a dusty clay goblet’s rim, but they might need to consult someone trained in Occult Education to make sense of them. Traps and hidden locks might stand out with high Perception but be otherwise impossible to deal with without investment in the Stealth Skill.
The most common Opposed Check using Perception is against Stealth, when one character tries to hide from another. Perception is also often tested alongside Acrobatics as an option for situations where it’s important to determine which character reacts faster to a surprising or sudden event.

Stealth is often associated with less than legal occupations, such as thieves and assassins, but characters with high Stealth Ranks could also easily act on the side of law enforcement or as field researchers studying reclusive
or violent Pokémon.
While the most common usage of Stealth is to move around unseen and unheard, the Skill also covers sleight of hand tricks and larceny, meaning it is tested when a character attempts to pickpocket someone or pick a
lock. Acts of escape artistry and sleight of hand tricks also fall under the purview of Stealth; for example, characters may make use of the Skill to free themselves from bindings or slip out of a trap.
Stealth can be a lifesaver in dangerous situations, allowing a Trainer to ambush their foes or even sneak by them altogether. Even when these options are impossible, Stealth may be used to covertly perform reconaissance and gather information.
 **Edges**

 Sneak’s Tricks
 Nimble Movement
 Slippery
in Opposed Grapple, Push, or Trip checks. When Grappling,
if you win an Opposed Check when using Stealth,
you must choose to end the Grapple (you cannot choose
 Expert Trickster
Trick Maneuvers. The “Once per Scene per Foe”
Limitation of each Dirty Trick Maneuver is expended
only upon successfully affecting a foe with that Dirty
Trick Maneuver.

Survival can be used in almost any situation in the outdoors, whether it be navigating a snowstorm, foraging for food, or simply setting up camp for the night. It can be used to identify Mushrooms (page 281) that can be picked in the wild as well.
A common use of Survival is to take half an hour or an hour to scout out an area and learn basic information about it – the common Pokémon of the area and what Apricorns or Berries are commonly found in it.
For light density wilderness areas such as a savanna or small forest, the DC should be easy for anyone who’s invested in Survival – about a 12. Moderately complex ecosystems such as a foggy wetland may require a check of 16 or so. Denser or harsher areas of wilderness such as tropical rainforests or frigid arctic ecosystems may require a check of 20+.
Succeeding by a margin of success of at least 4 should usually result in additional info, such as identifying signs of rare Pokémon or plants.
More than just finding the means to live in the wilds, Survival also covers geology and geography and enables a Trainer to search for useful items, such as Elemental Stones and Fossils (page 216). Spelunking also falls under the purview of Survival.
Survival can also be used to track someone through the wilderness. This is usually an Opposed Check between a Trainer’s Survival and their target’s Stealth. However, certain environments may make tracking easier or more difficult. Impose a circumstantial penalty to a target being tracked through a desert or to the tracker trying to find signs of movement through a dark gloomy cave.
 **Edges**

into their corresponding Poké Ball. Use of this Feature
 Green Thumb
Survival
 Traveler
Acrobatics to determine your Power Capability, High
Jump, and Long Jump values. Determine your Overland
Movement by substituting your Survival Rank for the
 Paleontologist
Survival
Education or Survival Check. You know how to operate
Reanimation Machines and can use them to revive
Fossils. See the “Pokémon Fossils” section (page 216)
 Survival Drive