Pokémon Personalities

[Phoenixsong]

I recently bought that gigantonormous "National Pokédex" thing. Yeah, I know, almost any online dex is more useful and free, but I draw a lot and the real reason I wanted it was for a quick reference to the official art of all Pokémon (not counting Darkrai, Shaymin and Arceus, annoyingly) that I could take anywhere or whatever. So yeah. Anyway, I was reading it and saw something interesting. You know how when you check your Pokémon's stats screen, at the very bottom, by the nature, it says something like "Loves to run" or "Silly and impetuous" or whatever? I thought that it was just interesting little flavor text that further defined your Pokémon's personality, but according to my book those "Characteristics" actually affect stat growth to a degree. Apparently, they're like natures, only they only affect one stat, not two or none (and only positively, never negatively), and they can affect HP in addition to the other five stats. I've never seen anything at all about this online, so I'm wondering if anyone understands this new feature. What I want to know is this:

1. By how much do characteristics affect stat growth? I know that natures affect by 1.1 and 0.9 for non-neutral and 1 for neutral (or, rather, 1.1 for one stat and 0.9 for the same stat, which pans out to 1 anyway), but what about these?

2. Let's assume that I have a Pokémon with an IV of 31 in a stat, and the proper stat-boosting nature. Oh, let's take my Rayquaza, Atlas. He has 31 SA and he's Modest. Assume that I Pal Park him into my Diamond and see that he is "thoroughly cunning", one of the five characteristics that benefits SA. Rayquaza's maximum SA is 438 assuming 31 IVs, proper nature and 252 EVs in that stat, and every Pokédex online does indeed list 438 as the top value. But while only the nature and the IV affected the top value in RSE, do characteristics affect it now? In other words, if we assume that my Rayquaza is NOT level 100 yet (which he is, which means it sucks if this is true because I can't train him anymore), and I train him, will the characteristic affect the top value of his SA and potentially raise it over 438 by level 100? If there were a higher maximum value, I'm sure that the hackers who found the raw code of the game would have noticed and the online 'dexes would have made note of it, and since they haven't I assume that characteristics do NOT affect the maximum stat value. Still, then, what DO they do? Do they just increase stat gain? I really have no idea.

3. It doesn't appear that there's any way to breed for a specific characteristic the way you can breed for specific natures. So--and I suppose this is more of a personal opinion question than anything--would you consider it worth it to look for a Pokémon of a specific characteristic? And, depending on the role of your Pokémon in your team, which one would you look for? Would you look for one that benefits one of the stats you're already training in (for example, "thoroughly cunning" for a Modest special sweeper), or would you try and give a little boost to another stat? After all, since characteristics don't detract from the growth of a stat, there's no harm in using them to boost another stat.

So, for example, let's say I have a Rampardos. That thing's Attack is obscenely high. So high, in fact, that the Jolly one I have has a pretty low Attack IV and yet he's still worth using because even if I didn't EV train him his Attack would cap at well over 350, which most Pokémon have to struggle to achieve. In this case, it probably actually wouldn't be necessary to find an attack-boosting characteristic, because his Attack can certainly get away without the help. So, I could use it to boost his Speed, then, because Rampardos is pretty slow... or I could boost one of his defenses, because it might just save him (doubtful, but this is just an example).

So, yeah. Any thoughts? Any explanations?

[RattataGuy]

1. By how much do characteristics affect stat growth?

They don't. The characteristic flavor text points out the highest IV the pokemon possesses.

And that pretty much answers your other questions, I'd assume. ^^;

For example, your Rayquaza with 31 SA would be "Mischievous." That is, 31/5 = 6 r1, which is listed as such in the table.

To me, it seems like Nintendo keeps adding mechanics that make previously "hidden" stats more and more visible.

[Jeff]

Man, I would hope it didn't work like that, the last thing I need is to try and breed hundreds of eggs to get something that has the right nature and characteristic, then in the end not bother with the characteristic and have someone tell me "Ha ha, you pokemon is "thoroughly cunning", it should be "likes to run" n00b".

Well, from what I heard all it is is flavor text, it does affect stats to a degree in that it's linked to IVs. So if your pokemon's highest IV is in speed for example, it's characteristic would be "likes to run" or one of the other characteristics that indicate a higher speed.

[Phoenixsong]

Ah, I see. That makes sense... so, in other words, it's a slightly more interesting and reliable version of that Battle Frontier guy. Thanks for clearing that up.

[Negrek]

Noo, noo, characteristics are much worse and less reliable than Battle Frontier dude. Firstly, he'll tell you the average of all your stats, letting you get an idea of how your pokémon stacks up overall. Second, he'll actually tell you if you have any 31 IV's; even though you have a "Mischievous", say, Articuno, that doesn't mean that it has a 31 IV in special attack--it just means that its highest stat is special attack, and that IV could be any of 1, 6, 11, 16, 21, 26, or 31. Chances are actually fairly good that it doesn't have a perfect IV after all. Plus, the BF guy will tell you of multiple 31's, whereas your characteristic can only ever indicated one at most.

I would use characteristics only when you're estimating a hatched pokémon's IV's; in many cases, you can tell based on its stats at lv. 5 that it has either a 30 or a 31 in a stat. Based on its characteristic, it might be possible to tell if the stat is in fact perfect or is instead slightly under par.

[Houndoom_Lover]

(not counting Darkrai, Shaymin and Arceus, annoyingly)

I bought it for the same reason you did, and when I found out they weren't in there I wrote an angry nerdy letter to the publishers and sent it ^________________________^

[Jeff]

Well considering Darkrai, Shaymin, and Arceus have not yet officially been revealed (except for Darkrai in Japan), it would make sense that they aren't in there. What I find weird is that the cover says "482 + 8 pokemon". So who are the "+8"? Mew, Celebi, Jirachi, Deoxys, Manaphy, Phione, and who else?