Sticky: PokéSun League & Showdown! Rules

In our league, a number of rules need to be set to keep everything orderly and working fine. These rules are unspoken, a gym leader doesn’t have to repeat them in their gym thread. Certain rules can be changed by the gym leader, in which case, those modifications would be listed in their gym thread. If you’re found to be breaking rules set by either the gym leader or the league, you will be warned via a private message. Afterwards, the severity of the next action depends on which rule you end up breaking, and how badly. It could be another warning, a suspension from the league, or a permanent ban from the league.

Rules Rules marked with an asterisk are modifiable by gym leaders

Weather teams are not allowed. *

Weather teams are teams that make use of the weather conditions Sun, Rain, Hail, and Sandstorm. They are banned because they can offer a significant advantage in battling that is generally frowned upon in this league. Therefore, this makes the league a Clear Skies league. Because of this, the following moves are banned;

• Rain Dance
  
• Sunny Day
  
• Sandstorm
  
• Hail
  

In addition, the following abilities are banned;

• Snow Warning
  
• Sand Stream
  
• Drought
  
• Drizzle
  

Abilities regarding weather but don't actually start it are allowed. In addition, the moves Trick Room, Wonder Room, and Magic Room do not count as weather moves, and can be used at the gym leader's or trainer's consent.


Intentionally ending the battle in a tie is not allowed.

The moves that this rule applies to are the following;

• Explosion
  
• Selfdestruct
  
• Final Gambit
  
• Destiny Bond
  

If a battle is ended in a tie by other means (such as Toxic making both Pokemon faint simultaneously), then this rule does not apply. If this rule is broken, however, the win will go to the opposing trainer.


One Hit KO moves are banned. *

One Hit KO moves, commonly abbreviated as OHKO moves, are moves that give the trainer an unfair advantage despite it's low accuracy (it can be used in conjunction with abilities such as No Guard or moves such as Mind Reader). OHKO moves include;

• Fissure
  
• Guillotine
  
• Horn Drill
  
• Sheer Cold
  

Follow the clauses of the league. *

There are certain clauses active in this league that should be followed, else the other trainer has the ability to end the battle with no penalty. Pokemon Online typically moderates these clauses regardless, so it shouldn't be a problem.

Sleep Clause: You may not put more than one of the foe's Pokemon to sleep at the same time, outlawing Dark Void (if in doubles). If one of the foe's Pokemon has self-inflicted sleep (via Rest), you are not breaking this clause by putting another to sleep.

Species Clause: You may not have more than one Pokemon of the same species on your team.

Self-KO Clause:You may not end the battle in a draw via Self-KO moves.

OHKO Clause: You may not use one hit knockout moves.

Evasion Clause: Any items or moves that change the evasiveness stat are banned.

Soul Dew Clause: Soul Dew is banned.


You may not use Uber-tiered Pokemon. *

Uber-tiered Pokemon are banned due to the general advantage they provide in battle, unless the battle is takes place in the uber tier. The Ubers list can be found here.


Do not ask gym leaders for another battle within 24 hours. *

Do not ask gym leaders for another battle for a day since the end of your battle. This could be considered annoying to them. They can change the time frame, though, and will specify it if they do.

Pokemon Showdown! Rules Compactness is fun

In order to keep the Pokemon Showdown! server orderly, some rules should be followed. These rules will be enforced by moderators. Depending on the number of offenses and the severity, the results can range from a mute to a kick to a ban. No outline is set for this, and moderators should use proper judgement. If you believe you have been improperly or wrongly punished, feel free to dispute it on the dispute thread. Asking staff directly on the server will get you no where.

Suggestions to the rules are encouraged, just post them in this thread.

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Do not advertise.
- This includes advertising an external website or forum by putting it in chat or privately messaging a player. If a link is relevant, however, then feel free to post it.

Do not spam.
- Spamming is defined as the rapid posting of messages, relevant or not. They typically mean nothing, such as 'dfjkdghdjghdfkjd' or otherwise. This also includes spamming links.

Restrict your cursing.
- The filter on cursing is much less restrictive as it is on the forum. However, you should use it in moderation, and definitely not towards another person, such as "Go to hell, Member".

Do not mini-mod.
- If there's a problem, report it directly to online staff via a private message on Showdown! instead of taking it into your own hands. If things get out of hand, mini-modding can backfire on you.

Do not use the Showdown! server for too much general chat.
- Talking on the Showdown! server is encouraged! Socializing is a great thing to do. However, keep it related to Pokemon in general or small talk. In order to prevent forum inactivity, participants in involved discussions not relevant to Showdown! or battling will be asked to make a thread for it, or go to the Daily Chat Thread.

Use your forum name.
- To prevent confusion, stick with your forum name. If the name isn't available, get as close as possible to your forum name.

Try to keep potentially offensive thoughts to yourself.
- Self-explanatory.

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Server Staff

Administrators

@Zueq
@Pyre
@teamplasma

Moderators

@Vanquish
@ninJAS
@Crossfire
@Legacy
@Heinous Creature
@tylerg1011

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Any rules you want added? Anything to change? Post here to leave your suggestions, or ask your questions.

Having read a post on one of the league threads, I'm going to suggest a rule against counter-teaming (whether it be by having multiple SE types or by deliberately building a team to counter the Gym Leader's weather.) Dunno if it's useful to post it here due to the fact the original poster is apparently away, but I just thought this would be the right place to discuss it.

@Bordeaux @ninJAS @Crossfire

I have a small question, after reading through this and some Gym Leader's rules. Is there a reason in articular why Gym's can't change some of these rules for their Gym? For example, I believe Legacy's Gym allows the use of all unreleased DW abilities within his gym, yet there's an asterisk saying that rule cannot be modified by Gym Leaders. That seems sort of...pointlessly restrictive. As a challenger, I wouldn't care if the Gym used unreleased DW abilities and I would enjoy the chance to try some out myself. And the Gym;s can't revoke some clauses if they were so inclined, because all of the clauses are asterisk'd? I dunno. I could be totally missing something here, but it seems incredibly restrictive. Almost on a Smogon level, actually.

If this is all because this rules list is just incredibly outdated, ignore me and my ignorance. <3

To be truly honest it is due to them being outdated. I think we all just thought they were ideal as they were (mostly through not reading through them properly perhaps), which turned out to be wrong since there are issues with them. We should have them sorted by the end of tonight, so not to worry.

This thread was made quite a while ago when a lot of DW abilities were yet to be released hence why the rule is still in place. This is more or less a general rule reference as each individual may choose which rules their gyms do or do not implement (other than Sleep, Freeze, and Species Clauses which must always be active).

Wait... Are my guidelines actually still the backbone for the league? I feel honored.

EDIT: Some rules updated for clarification. Unreleased Pokemon/abilities is a loose term; at the time it meant dream world abilities, but now it means special Pokemon/abilities/items not released by an event or naturally findable.

It is indeed @Equinox You did a good job on it and the basic guidelines still work with the BW2 metagame so we didn't see any reason to create a new one.

Oh wow, I guess I'll just serve as a catalyst then and handle the infractions and league bans.

i'll just say i think this no weather rule is pretty stupid. it is legitimate strategy, i can get banning drizzle+swiftswim or drought+solorbeam but banning weather flat out just takes away half the strategy.

Weather takes away a good chunk of the actual skill of battling, I think we can all agree there. Weatherless teams have more options for choices if you know that you're going up against another weatherless team, therefore more thought must be put into countering more threats than usual. This league is supposed to be about balance and skill, weatherless playstyles lend themselves to that better than any other.