What makes a good starter?

[OJG]

I don't have a clue on which starter to pick for my character. I definately want it to have personality, and originality, but I can't find a pokemon which is original yet versitile to have my trainer begin with. Any ideas?

 

[JohtoBlaziken]

Gligar? Seems oringinal and versatile enough to me...

 

[PDL]

anyone you want really... try a pokémon you haven't read about in fanfiction yet.

 

[Sybot]

I think anything except an Eevee, Pikachu, Legendary or shiny is fine. As long as you write it well, even cliched ones like the starters can work.

 

[Yami Ryu]

I think anything except an Eevee, Pikachu, Legendary or shiny is fine. As long as you write it well, even cliched ones like the starters can work.

Lol the starters aren't cliche, it's when they're fully evolved, shiny, and no effort to use, then it's cliche. The Starters are given to people for a reason. Fire, Water and Grass are the most versitle(sp) types, and the three given out in each region are very, very easy to train (game wise a Charizard was the first to reach lv 100 in 20 hours of training :3)

Uncommon pokemon can work if your trainer isn't starting on a normal journey, IE he/she was late into the season, and the only pokemon available were more common pokemon such as Pidgey, Rhyhorn, Caterpie and etc, I doubt 2-stagers are commonly given out as starters (Eevee was only in Yellow as plot purpose/because Gary had one), but if you want a two stager;

Poochyena/Mightyena
Houndour/Houndoom
Slowpoke/Slowbro|King
Spoink/Grumpig
Koffing/Weezing
Spinarak/Ariados
Makey/Primeape
Ponyta/Rapidash
Chinchou/Lanturn

etc and so forth. There are many pokemon to choose from, and that is what I think your real problem is. Just too many. I think what you should do is write down several random pokemon names onto pieces of paper, fold them over, stuff them into a hat/small box/container, give them a good mixing and randomly pluk one from the paper mass and whatever is on the slip, use it.

 

[Trax]

I think some Pokemon that can evolve twice but not a starter. Dratini? Abra? Machop? Oddish? Gastly?

 

[icemew]

Maybe consider how they're getting a pokemon? If they're getting one from a professor, it'd probably be one of the default starters. If they're getting a local pokemon, then it'd depend where you have them starting out. If they're getting a present from their parents, maybe a pokemon that's used as a pet.

 

[Ash_Junior]

it wouldn't necessarily have to be a default if it was from a prof....it could be a different one....

who SAYS that profs ALWAYS have to hand out the game starters, or even hand out Pokemon at all?

after all, aren't they researcehrs, not vending machines?

 

[OJG]

This is the base for my character:

Name: James ****** (not sure what Morty's 2nd name is )
Age: 12
Gender: Male
Description: 5'5, decent length blonde hair, skinny. Wears jeans with white, blue and orange t-shirt, with a white jacket.
Personality: Shy, but friendly. Quietly confident in ability. lushes when talking to pretty girls and such *Well you have to have flaws *
History: The son of Morty and Jasmine (odd mix, but hey). Lived in the quiet town of Olivine, where he watched his mother afce numerous trainers, and occasionally went to watch his dad and his battles.
Other: Journey is set in Hoenn. Morty has a new Dusclops, Misdreavus, Sableye and Banette, and has just Gengar left. Jasmine has a new Skarmory, and a new Lairon, and her Magnemite evolved.

I just thought of the idea that his dad gives him one pokemon and his mother another. So maybe a pairing of Mareep and Duskull? Or Shuppet and Magnemite? Or Aron and Misdreavus?

 

[Yami Ryu]

Blushing because he talks to pretty girls is not a flaw a flaw is something drastic in a character. Like so-and-so is brave, untill he runs across a homely mouse, for while so-and-so is brave, he has a phobia of mice. Something like that is a flaw.

I suggest you spiff up your character a bit, adding more depth to personality and description. And a bit more to the history: why is it set in Hoenn? Does it have to be set in Hoenn, etc and so forth. And two pokemon from the get go? That is a bit unfair, and only one I've ever seen have that is Gary and well yeah.

And what about just a plain ol` Gastly? :/ Gastly's are fun. Had a neat Gengar called Spook for an RP character and it was fun playing on Gengar's 'playfull' behavoir. If you call randomly disappearing/reappearing all BOO in your face fun.

 

[icemew]

it wouldn't necessarily have to be a default if it was from a prof....it could be a different one....

who SAYS that profs ALWAYS have to hand out the game starters, or even hand out Pokemon at all?

after all, aren't they researcehrs, not vending machines?

Um...that's why I said they'd PROBABLY give one out, rather than that it ALWAYS happened like that.

 

[OJG]

I don't like Gastly, he's a bit....blah Duskull are barely ever used, I think Anyway I plan him to get a Wooper.

As for the character desctription, I only had a few minutes. I had dinner, so I kinda rushed it.

Will add more tommorow, gotta go to bed.

 

[Psychic]

*shrugs* Professors generally give out Pokémon to new up and coming Trainers. I suppose that the Pokémon they give out might be the offspring of the Pokémon they are studying, or maybe they have a supplier.

But a Trainer doesn't really have to get a Starter from a professor, though you would probably have to go to one to get a PokéDex and maybe register to be an official trainer.


And as mentioned, most Pokémon are good. The only ones you should really avoid are:
-Pikachu
-Eevee
-Legendaries
-Anything Shiny
-Dratini, Larvitar and Bagon/Beldum (the Uber lines)


If both the kid's characters are Gym Leaders, they could give him a hatchling of ONE of their Pokémon. Not one from each of them, because then he gets an unfair advantage over other beginning trainers.
Hell, the fact that both his parents are highly skilled trainers who probably passed a lot of battling knowledge down to him is already a huge advantage.


Anyway, if you want to hear more ipinions on starters, check out this thread. I made it awhile ago, and it might come in handy for anyone having trouble choosing what starter to give a trainer.

~Psychic

 

[PDL]

If both the kid's characters are Gym Leaders, they could give him a hatchling of ONE of their Pokémon. Not one from each of them, because then he gets an unfair advantage over other beginning trainers.
Hell, the fact that both his parents are highly skilled trainers who probably passed a lot of battling knowledge down to him is already a huge advantage.

there's also the fact that as a Gym Leader's child, he might be expected to take part and eventually take over the gym. (The very fact that *both* his parents are gym leaders of different gyms is highly improbable) Thus ending his career as a standard pokémon trainer.

 

[Psychic]

there's also the fact that as a Gym Leader's child, he might be expected to take part and eventually take over the gym. (The very fact that *both* his parents are gym leaders of different gyms is highly improbable) Thus ending his career as a standard pokémon trainer.

Indeed, that's the truth, but it seems that our dear friend kaka has his mind set on writing a Journey fic where the main character is the son of two Gym Leaders who have never even shown signs of knowing each other, forget about liking each other enough to get married and have a child, adding on to all their previous responsibilities.


*shrugs* But one would think that both his parents want him to take over one of the Gyms, but maybe he only wants to be a Trainer, not a sedentary leader of one fixed building, so he has to break free of the "we want you to be a Gym Leader" constraints, even if his parents don't like it.

Or they want him to go out into the world and learn more about training on his own before being a Gym Leader. Real life experience helps sometimes.



Meh, somehow I don't get the feeling that any of those things are going to happen, though. It will probably just be a normal parental goodbye like in every other trainer fic, and james won't be forced to face such emotional conflicts.
I'd be delighted if I was proven wrong, by the way. :3

~Psychic

 

[Dragonfree]

*shrugs* Wooper does sound fine.

About the character, don't worry about "flaws" too much. I'm sure if you take 100 random real people and examine their personalities, less than half of them would have the kind of glaring "flaws" people whine about how fanfic characters must have. As long as you write him realistically, it doesn't matter whether he has "flaws" or not.

 

[Orange_Flaaffy]

*shrugs* Wooper does sound fine.

About the character, don't worry about "flaws" too much. I'm sure if you take 100 random real people and examine their personalities, less than half of them would have the kind of glaring "flaws" people whine about how fanfic characters must have. As long as you write him realistically, it doesn't matter whether he has "flaws" or not.

I agree, if you write your characters as if they are real people normal flaws will soon grow from their actions naturally .

As far as starters go I for one would love to see more one stage pokemon take the spotlight. It would be a great change of pace to see how an author handles a pokemon who's growth is not highlighted by evolution.

And if you were to write it just so the issue of too strong too soon/ weak later could be overcome by a trainer that has a strong enough bond and skill with their starter (or you could just use an often marked as weak pokemon to start with). Plus it would create great conflict for a underlining theme...

Pokemon that come to mind for this are Pinsir, Farfetch'd, Jynx, Tauros, Girafarig, Sableye, and Mawile...

As far as the 'too weak for a starter' debate goes I think that fanfic does not always have to hold true to the power level ideas of the game, most of all since pokemon in fic are 'real' animals rather than flat stats on paper

 

[OJG]

Ok, well it seems that 2 starters are definately too strong for a beginner trainer. And also the idea of the main characters parent's being Jasmine and Morty seems to be a bit unrealistic and suckish (is that a word?). I still kinda like the idea of having a Duskull as a starter, because of this new Dusclops evo and that it is unused in fics. And Morty could be the father, and he could give him a baby Duskull when he asks James to look after an egg, the egg hatches into a Duskull, and then Morty tells James he could have it. Then, he could have a fight with his mom and dad, and run away with Duskull. And the last they see of him, is him on the back of a boat, sailing towards Hoenn.

Just random ideas, plucked outta the sky. Not even sure it makes sense

EDIT: Just drew up a list of some pokemon I'd like him to have, they are:
Wooper
Duskull
Treecko
Chikorita
Fuwante (air balloon)
Mareep
Lileep
Surskit
Snorunt
Riishan (Chimecho pre evo)
Magby

 

[gama85]

A character that I'm thinking of creating is a junior field assistant to Prof Elm (he basically goes out and captures pokemon for Elm's research). He has a rattata, but later gets one of the default Starters. Is it wrong if I make the rattata a shiny?

 

[Seiryu]

Ok, well it seems that 2 starters are definately too strong for a beginner trainer. And also the idea of the main characters parent's being Jasmine and Morty seems to be a bit unrealistic and suckish (is that a word?). I still kinda like the idea of having a Duskull as a starter, because of this new Dusclops evo and that it is unused in fics. And Morty could be the father, and he could give him a baby Duskull when he asks James to look after an egg, the egg hatches into a Duskull, and then Morty tells James he could have it. Then, he could have a fight with his mom and dad, and run away with Duskull. And the last they see of him, is him on the back of a boat, sailing towards Hoenn.

Just random ideas, plucked outta the sky. Not even sure it makes sense

That definitely could work; maybe they could want him to take over one of the gyms and he just wants to be a regular trainer who travels around or something? Just remember, though, in case you do decide to make Jasmine and Morty into his parents, that your character is related to canon characters. This is a pitfall that turns off many readers simply because the main character is related to someone from the games/anime (though more often it's when the son/daughter of Ash and Misty/May begins a journey). Another challenge you're going to face in this event is the canon characters themselves. People will read your story and complain if these characters are, well, not in character. So, uh, yeah. Be careful about that.

EDIT: Just drew up a list of some pokemon I'd like him to have, they are:
Wooper
Duskull
Treecko
Chikorita
Fuwante (air balloon)
Mareep
Lileep
Surskit
Snorunt
Riishan (Chimecho pre evo)
Magby

I don't really see any problems with this list, especially if you're following the anime canon; in the anime, wild pokémon have frequently been sighted in regions where they aren't normally found. Just make sure that if you have him obtain a pokémon not native to Hoenn--particularly if it's wild--that it actually makes sense where he finds it (like how it may be possible to find a Magby in Mt. Chimney, even though it doesn't appear in the R/S/E versions).

A character that I'm thinking of creating is a junior field assistant to Prof Elm (he basically goes out and captures pokemon for Elm's research). He has a rattata, but later gets one of the default Starters. Is it wrong if I make the rattata a shiny?

Well, there will be some readers whose Mary-Sue Radars will go off at the thought of a trainer owning a shiny pokémon. I say to hell with that, but to be on the safe side, the Rattata probably shouldn't be, like, the first pokémon he ever sees outside of town or something. I definitely wouldn't say it's "wrong" for an original trainer to own a shiny pokémon, and it most definitely doesn't make him a Mary-Sue; it just means that he had a one-time stroke of good luck, which really doesn't amount to much of anything in the long run, if you ask me.