Valheim Runemons

This is a serious content mod that aims to add Pokémon style team building into every point of Valheim progression. Although this mod may seem silly on the surface, the goal is an incredibly fun, balanced, and rewarding addition to Valheim playthroughs. Catch 860+ creatures (Generations 1-9) with binding runes in real-time combat. Bring up to 3 along to aid you during fights.

Early Access: expect bugs and more content later. Playtested in singleplayer and multiplayer. Ideas and feedback are appreciated. Report problems to disr0d on Discord.

Features

• 860+ creatures, each with its types, an attacking move, a support move and its evolutions
• 170 attacking moves and 69 support moves, triggered automatically in combat
• 21 legendaries and 13 mythicals with hotkey abilities; 7 legendary boss fights
• 83 Mega Evolutions, 29 Galarian and Hisuian forms
• A new trader, The Master, selling evolution items and Mega Stones and reviving fossils
• Wild Runemon in all 8 biomes, with a map overlay of their regions
• A Runedex of every Runemon you've seen and caught
• Configurable damage, health, XP, catch rate, volume and keys

How to play

1. First steps

1. At a workbench, craft a Rune Belt (6 Deer Hide, 6 Leather Scraps, 6 Flint). Right-click it in your inventory to wear it. Your party and rune box only work while it's worn.
2. Defeat wild Runemon in the Meadows for Wild Spirit I. Each biome has its own spirit.
3. Craft Wood Runes at the workbench (10 Wild Spirit I, 10 Wood, 6 Raspberry, 6 Leather Scraps; makes 10).

2. Catching

1. Weaken a wild Runemon. Lower health means better odds. They fight like their biome's monsters: roll late in the warning glow to dodge. Area moves can only be blocked.
2. Equip a rune and left-click to throw. A miss drops the rune back as an item.
3. If it holds after up to three shakes, you get a bound rune. It goes to your inventory, or your rune box if your inventory is full.

A rune catches Runemon from its own biome or earlier ones:

The Master Rune (Black Forge) always catches. Cost: 1 each of Red, Green and Blue Gemstone and Purple, Black, Green and Orange Ancient Gemstone, 6 Ice, 6 Wild Spirit VIII.

3. Party and menu

• P opens the Runemon menu. Open your inventory (Tab) too to drag runes between them.
• Belt: 3 party sockets and 1 Warden socket. Drag a bound rune onto a socket. Right-click it for stats and moves; click its icon to send it out or call it back (or Left Alt + 1/2/3).
• Bag: a 48-slot rune box, saved with your character.
• Runedex: every Runemon you've seen and caught.
• Your party follows you and helps with damage and buffs.
• Tick Regions on the big map to see Runemon regions.

4. Levels, fainting and evolving

• Runemon gain XP when you or they defeat creatures. The level cap is 12 until you put a Warden Rune (dropped by each vanilla boss) in the Warden socket: Eikthyr 23, The Elder 34, Bonemass 45, Moder 56, Yagluth 67, The Queen 78, Fader 100.
• Fainted Runemon revive after 2 minutes at half health while you're Rested, and all revive fully when you gain Rested.
• When one can evolve, an Evolve button shows on its socket. Some need a level, an item, day or night, or a trade (another player sockets its rune). The Soothe Bell stands in for friendship.

5. Evolution items

Found in about 3 in 10 dungeon chests, or bought from The Master for 650 Coins. More unlock after The Elder and Bonemass.

6. The Master and fossils

• The Master's camp is in the Meadows, 800-3000 m from spawn, and is marked on your map once found.
• Fossils: dig with a pickaxe near a Carved stone (Meadows and Black Forest). The Fossil Map stone at his camp pins the nearest one.
• Give a fossil to The Master to Revive it into a random first-stage Runemon.

7. Mega Evolution

After Yagluth, The Master sells Mega Stones (950 Coins). Carry one and press Mega on that Runemon's socket. A party holds one Mega, one legendary and one mythical at most.

8. Legendary altars

1. In The Master's Legendary shrines tab, click an unlocked altar to pin it. Altars unlock as you beat vanilla bosses.
2. At the altar, offer 50 Wild Spirits to start a boss fight. Bring your best gear.
3. Win to get one of its legendaries at random (each once per world). Its special move fires with Left Alt + F.

9. Mythicals

A mythical is sometimes sighted near you when place, time and weather fit. The Master's Mythicals tab gives a riddle for each. In your party, it fires a buff with F.

Multiplayer

Works in co-op and on dedicated servers. Install on the server and every player.

Settings

Use shudnal's Configuration Manager or edit the file in BepInEx/config. Updates don't change your existing values.

FAQ

What if I remove the mod? Vanilla is untouched. Your party and rune box stay saved in your character. Bound runes in inventory or chests are lost.

Other mods? Quality-of-life mods should be fine. Big content mods (Epic Loot, new biomes, overhauls) are untested and may throw off balance.

Will updates break my saves? No. Runemon, rune box, world progress and config carry over.

Does it make Valheim easier? A little. Runemon are helpers: a move does about a tenth of a player's swing, and buffs have cooldowns. In return, wild Runemon add more enemies. Tune with MoveDamage and MoveVsMonsters and world modifiers.

Do types matter? Yes, against wild Runemon and vanilla monsters, which have types too.

My Runemon keep fainting. Not a skill issue. This is by design. They dodge when you dodge roll, so dodge well and avoid big fights, as in vanilla.

How do I find a specific Runemon? The Runedex shows its biome. Each biome has several regions with different Runemon, so explore.

Who gets XP? Party Runemon that are out and within 60 m. XP past the level cap is lost.

What raises catch chance? Lower target health, a higher-tier rune, and a lower-level target. Some species are harder to catch.

Do Runemon have IVs and EVs? Yes, plus nature and gender. IVs show in the stat menu; EVs are hidden.

Can I get more box space? No, but bound runes can be stored in chests.

Portals and boats? They follow you through portals, respawns and logins, and ride on your boat.

What happens when I die? The rune box is safe. The belt drops in your tombstone; wear a belt again to use your party.

Will there be more creatures? Riding? Turn-based battles in future updates? More creatures, maybe (some are left out on purpose). Riding maybe, if it doesn't break vanilla travel. Turn-based battles, no.

Changelog

0.1.0

• First public release (Early Access).
• 860+ Runemon (Generations 1-9) to catch with binding runes, keep in a rune box and bring along as helpers.
• Evolution, Mega Stones, fossils, The Master, legendary altars and boss fights, mythicals.
• Models and cries from Cobblemon and the credited add-ons (see Credits).

Credits

• Mod by Disrod, MIT license.
• Built on BepInEx, Harmony and Jötunn (the Valheim modding community).
• Species, move and evolution data from PokeAPI (pokeapi.co).
• Pokémon models, textures and animations come from the Cobblemon team (cable-mc; github.com/cable-mc/cobblemon-assets, gitlab.com/cable-mc/cobblemon), CC BY-NC 3.0. Changes: converted to Unity models, resized, animations re-baked.
• Pokémon cries (sound effects) are Cobblemon's too (github.com/cable-mc/cobblemon-assets), CC BY-NC 3.0, unchanged apart from playback; the license text is in Cries/LICENSE-cobblemon.txt. A few forms with no cry of their own reuse their base form's cry.
• Models Cobblemon does not have come from these Cobblemon add-ons (author and license as listed on their Modrinth pages), also converted for Valheim. Credit goes to their authors:
  • Cobblemon: Mega Showdown by Yajat Kaul (modrinth.com/mod/cobblemon-mega-showdown), Mega Showdown license: the Mega forms and several legendaries.
  • Navas ZA Megas by Yajat and Navas (modrinth.com/mod/navas-zamega), Mega Showdown license.
  • Cobblemon Pokemans Pack (modrinth.com/mod/cobblemon-pokemans), CC-BY-NC-4.0.
  • GenoMons (modrinth.com/mod/genomons), CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0. Models by Bwavii, Gesteyy, Cumulo, Gigdeng, Bob12521, AGA, Deli, Pohello, Allone; donors Wither_Scout, Kizuato~Glitch, morty134.
  • MysticMons by iMystxc (modrinth.com/mod/mysticmons), MIT.
  • Kale's Cobblemon Collection (modrinth.com/mod/kales-cobblemon-collection), CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0.
  • DeCubes MoMons (modrinth.com/mod/decubes-momons-addon), All Rights Reserved.
  • Lil Guys (modrinth.com/mod/lil-guys-cobblemon), MPL-2.0. If you are an author listed here and want a model removed or the credit changed, contact disr0d on Discord.
• Valheim is made by Iron Gate Studio.

Disclaimers

Free, unofficial fan mod, not affiliated with or endorsed by Iron Gate or Nintendo/Game Freak/The Pokémon Company. Pokémon and related names are trademarks of their owners. The mod contains no Nintendo/Game Freak art or audio. Not for sale, no donations asked.

This mod was created with the help of AI development tools without which this project would never have come to life. Despite using these tools, hundreds of hours have been poured into planning, code review, debugging, and testing to create a coherent monster catching mod for the Valheim community.