[Meta thread] Lord Windos' PokeRole Adventure : Celadon City Vandels

[Dragonstrike]

Spoiler

A little question about Shadow Pokemon: They receive neutral damage against all types of pokemon correct? Do they also receive neutral damage against Nuclear types?

I don't know.  There are no precedents that are legitimately available in Uranium that demonstrate Nuclear's interaction with 'typeless' types.  Thus, that interaction will be dependent on Windos's interpetation of it.

Shadow itself is 'typeless', as none of the damage it deals is dependant on the opponent's type.

In Colosseum, the moves are truly typeless, dealing neutral damage to all types.  As such, Shadow Rush (the sole Shadow move in that game) is more powerful to make up for its lack of other advantages and has a Recoil effect to balance out its universal usability.

In XD, Shadow is semi-typeless.  The moves can do SE and NVE damage, but it's determined by whether the target isn't (SE) or is (NVE) a Shadow pokemon, not by the target's type.  Shadow moves are less powerful overall in this game, and the most powerful ones typically have heavy drawbacks to compensate for how easily they can shred most everything that isn't a Shadow Pokemon.

In both games, Shadow Pokemon's types are unaltered, unlike with Nuclear pokemon.  It is impossible to receive STAB on Shadow moves, and Shadow Pokemon are still weak and resistant to all the same types as their normal variety.

In addition, Shadow Pokemon are impossible to tell apart from the standard variants by appearance alone unless a) you have a moderate amount of psychic/aura related ability or b) you have technology that can act as a substitute for 'a'.

There are two tells for when you're facing a Shadow Pokemon:
 - Their aura is very dark and shadowy
 - They show little restraint due to their lack of emotion.  They have no problem with atacking anything, even humans, particularly when they go out of control.

That's the brief primer on Shadow Pokemon mechanics.

There are a few other precedents in the main series games for typeless interactions as well.

??? Type: In Gen 4 only, there is a ??? Plate (which can only be obtained through cheating) that can turn Arceus and Judgement into ??? Type.  It is truly typeless, receiving and dealing neutral damage to everything.  In addition, Weather Ball becomes ??? Type when the move Shadow Sky is in effect in XD.  If a pure flying type had existed in Gen 4 had used Roost, they would become ??? Type for the duration of the move's effect.  ??? Type was removed entirely in Gen 5.

Typeless: If a pure Fire type such as Arcanine or Typhlosion uses Burn Up in Gen 7, they become the Typeless type until they switch out.  It is mechanically the same as ??? Type despite being called something else.

There also two more examples in side games I can think of off the top of my head.

- The final boss of Pokemon Rumble Blast is mechanically typeless, though no name for the 'type' existed in Gen 5.

- In Pokemon Conquest, Arceus's Omnipotent Ability gives it several effects, including being able to hit all types for neutral damage.  Its Judgement is still officially Normal type, though, and it is the only move Arceus can use in that game.  Arceus is also always Normal type, and is thus weak to Fighting type moves and immune to Ghost as normal.

I think the only "pure" shadow Pokemon I can think could be Shadow Lugia. But I dont recall if he has STAB boost with Shadow Moves.

They do not.  They are still Psychic/Flying as normal.

They are also an exception to the above general identifications for Shadow Pokemon since their appearance is drastically altered, unlike with other Shadow Pokemon.