Sinful Saint
Ghosts still suck in early game because more or less all of the Com Mons are Normal-type, which are immune to Ghost-type attacks and most Ghosts don't start (or even get) Normal-type attacks.
The only good Ghost starter is Litwick, since it's also got that Fire Typing and learns some Fire-type moves early.
There's actually a page somewhere in Chapter 11 of good ideas for Starter Mons. It's what I used, with the exception of giving my one Contest Trainer an Eevee, since she had no intention of using it to battle.
If you meet me have some courtesy, have some sympathy, have some taste. Use all your well-learned politesse or I'll lay your soul to waste.
Yeah, that starter pokemon chart is what I'm gonna use.
And I'll be following your advice on Ghost Pokemon.
My gaming group is planning on doing a PTA campaign (using Gen V rules with the exception of Fairy type still being included.) My character is going to be a Farm Girl who eventually becomes the Pokemon equivalent of a Magical Girl. What would be the best way to go about this? My first thought was to use the Psychic class as the equivalent of magic powers, but Mystic might also work. Aside from that, I'm thinking of giving her Breeder class (for the farm aspect) and Coordinator (for cuteness).
PTA or PTU?
Honestly pretty rusty on PTA, unfortunately. Its multiclassing system makes it very difficult to make jumps like that, though. You really need to plan a build out meticulously ahead of time.
Last things to keep in mind:
Try not to let players start with fossil mons, dragons, or other really rare or powerful creatures - kind of makes their first few catches anticlimatic when they've already got Dratini or Gabite.
Ghosts either. Ghosts suck in the early game unless you prep for them and give everything Bite and Astonish, and trainers generally can't touch them at all.
The splatbook Game of Throhs might be worth looking at if you're going fantasy - it's got all the elemental classes the core book lacks and some other fluff stuff that's useful for those kind of settings.