Legend of Zelda RPG

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A homebrew produced by the collective efforts of the /tg/ community, aiming to put the characteristic elements of the Legend of Zelda video games into a pen-and-paper RPG format and hopefully do it better than the existing d20 Zelda ruleset.

As a work-in-progress, expect the contents of this page to change fairly frequently until the game nears a more finalized form.


The System So Far

Your stats are divided into three main categories:

  1. The Virtues of the Triforce (Power, Wisdom, and Courage),
  2. Your character's basic Attributes (Physical, Mental, and Spiritual),
  3. Your various skills (most of which are related to item classes -- bows, tools, heavy weapons, etc.).

Conflict is resolved with a d6 roll & keep system, using linear comparison for opposed checks. This means that you roll X six-sided dice (with X = your ranks in the relevant Attribute + 1/2 your ranks in the relevant skill, rounded up) and only use the Y highest rolls (with Y = your ranks in the relevant Virtue + 1/2 your ranks in the relevant skill, rounded down). Linear comparison means that in the case of a contested roll (such as in combat) you compare your highest roll to your opponent's highest, your second highest to their second highest, and so forth. If one party in the contest has more kept dice than the opponent, the extra dice are treated as unopposed, with a success threshold of 4. If the kept dice total for a roll would ever be greater than the number of dice rolled, move points from keep to roll until this is no longer the case. For example, if your pool for a check would be 2k3, you roll 3k2 instead. A pool of 2k4 becomes 3k3, 2k5 becomes 4k3, and so on.

Unopposed rolls are compared to a fixed success threshold, with a certain number of successes required to accomplish the intended task. For example, if pushing a heavy block had a difficulty rating of 4(2), two rolls greater than or equal to 4 would be required. One would roll one's Physical and keep one's Power for this case.

Character advancement is free-form, with XP investment improving skills and attributes. Virtues are extremely difficult to improve, and shouldn't change much over the course of a typical game. There are a number of special techniques available to choose from, each classified under a relevant skill. Higher skill ranks are prerequisites for more advanced techniques. Every even skill level gives you a free technique you meet the prerequisites for, but you can pay XP for more at any time.

Core races consist of Deku Scrub, Gerudo, Goron, Hylian, Kokiri, Rito, Sheikah and Zora, with more under discussion (Koroks, Moblins, Subrosians, Tokay, Twili...). Races receive no bonuses to Virtues, save Hylians, who receive +1 to a virtue of their choice. Races other than Hylians receive various special abilities, but take one more increment of damage from certain sources, as detailed in the Races section.

Each character has a Mass attribute, determined by race and armour, and influenced by other items. Mass affects movement speed, sinking/swimming, use of hookshot, resistance to knockback, and so on.
(Mass 0 is a light as a feather, while Mass 6+ sinks like a stone.)

Each weapon has a specific increment of damage - i.e. a typical sword might deal 2/4 heart per increment, while an Iron Knuckle's axe would deal 2 hearts per increment. When attacking, the number of successes you achieve over your opponent determines how many increments of damage you deal to them. Each point in Power adds 1/4 heart to the total damage dealt by your attacks. Shields add to one's dice while defending, and Armour reduces the base damage increment of an enemy's attack.

A character's maximum starting heart meter is 2 + Physical, and their starting magic points are 6 x Mental.

Character Generation

Choose a Race: Deku Scrub, Gerudo, Goron, Hylian, Kokiri, Rito, Sheikah or Zora. You can also choose to move one point of Mass to Movement or vice versa.

Set your Virtues: "Courage," "Power," and "Wisdom." Each starts at 1, and players may allocate an additional 4 virtue points among them. No virtue may be higher than 4 at character creation, but may go beyond that later with character advancement.

Set your Attributes: "Mental," "Physical" and "Spirtual." Each starts at 1, and players may allocate an additional 4 attribute points among them. No attribute may be higher than 4 at character creation, but may go beyond that later with character advancement.

Skill 0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Cost 0 1 1 2 2 3 3
Total 0 1 2 4 6 9 12

Acquire Skills: Characters normally start with no skills (that is, all skills at rank 0). Players have 6 skill-points to purchase skills. A new skill costs 1 for rank 1, with the cost increasing by 1 at every odd-numbered rank. See the chart at right for the cost to advance a skill from the previous rank, and the total cost from rank 0. Skills may not be higher than rank 3 at character creation, and all skills have a maximum rank of 6.

Buy Abilities and Techniques: Characters start with a base pool of points for learning techniques. The exact number of points available has not yet been determined, as techniques are as yet still only in the early brainstorming stages.


Races

Deku Scrub: Deku Scrubs can fire any item they can comfortably fit in their mouths as a range 5 attack. Deku Scrubs can spend an action to produce a deku seed with a 1/4 Damage increment when fired. Deku Scrubs take +1 Damage from all Fire-based sources.
2 Mass, 8 Movement.

Gerudo: Gerudo can treat weapons as shields for the purposes of Shield Defence and |Shield| techniques. Gerudo benefit from an additional kept die on acrobatic and athletic rolls (so while a Zora PC might roll 4k2, a Gerudo PC with identical stats would roll 4k3). Gerudo take +1 Damage from Heavy-class weapons (such as the Megaton Hammer or Ball and Chain).
4 Mass, 6 Movement.

Goron: Gorons can spend a turn to assume a rolled-up form. In this form, the Goron gets a shield bonus and may move his Mass + 5 (typically 11) in a fairly straight line OR jump in the air, hitting any creatures or objects they come in contact with like a hammer. Gorons take +1 Damage from Water-based sources.
6 Mass, 4 Movement.

Hylian: Hylians get +1 to a Virtue of their choice (cannot exceed the character creation maximum).
4 Mass, 6 Movement.

Kokiri: Kokiri are able to suss out enemy weak spots and obtain hints about how to solve puzzles with an appropriate roll via their Faerie Guide. Kokiri take +1 Damage from all non-Magic sources.
3 Mass, 7 Movement.

Rito: Rito can fly without using magic. Flight mechanics under development. Rito take +1 Damage from ??? sources?
3 Mass, 7 Movement.

Sheikah: Sheikah can use |Brawl| techniques with thrown weapons. (In melee range, of course, hidden weapons and such) Gain an extra keep with Stealth and Acrobatics rolls. Sheikah take +1 Damage from Light-based sources (If there are such).
4 Mass, 6 Movement

Zora: Zora can breathe and speak underwater, and can move freely in water without needing to make any checks provided there aren't any particularly strong currents or turbulence. Zora forearm fins can count as natural Blade weapons with a 2/4 damage increment or shields. Zora take +1 Damage from Ice-based sources.
4 Mass, 6 Movement.

Stats

While certain Virtue/Attribute combinations go better together than others, there's at least some application for each Virtue in the Physical, Mental, and Spiritual arenas.

Physical Power

Physical Power controls feats requiring great bodily strength. Examples: |Heavy| weapons, wrestling a Goron, moving heavy boulders.

Mental Power

Mental Power is used for solving conundrums, and controls the use of offensive magic, damaging or debilitating. Examples: doing complex math in one's head, Fire Rod, Bombos Medallion, Thunder Spell, Din's Fire.

Spiritual Power

A high Spiritual Power means an imposing presence, and an aptitude for the more forceful forms of social influence. Examples: intimidation, silencing fools, being a Commissar, "fear me! but follow"

Physical Wisdom

Physical Wisdon governs the domain of finesse, stealth, control, and that sort of tricky stuff. Examples: the Sheikah, |Ranged|, balance, grappling.

Mental Wisdom

Mental Wisdom governs knowledge and understanding of lore, as well as defensive and healing magic. Examples: useful information about an unfamiliar item or village, recalling details about something seen only once, Nayru's Love, Reflect Spell.

Spiritual Wisdom

Spiritual Wisdom gives an understanding of subtle forces, including the ebb and flow of social exchanges. It governs social graces and logical rhetoric; a character with high Spiritual Wisdom is not only capable of making well-reasoned arguments, but also of noticing and working with the subtle cues indicating a person's disposition. Examples: sense motive, spot hidden, haggling for prices, diplomacy checks.

Physical Courage

Physical Courage represents the use of most |melee|, as well as other feats of adventurous derring-do. Examples: taming a wild stallion, swimming in rough waters, climbing a cliff.

Mental Courage

Mental Courage represents tenacity, resolve, and... well, courage. It also governs the use of magic for travel, utility, and offensive buffs. Examples: resisting a ReDead's cry, going without rest for long periods of time, "I shall not fear; fear is the mind-killer," not getting lost in the wilderness, Farore's Wind.

Spiritual Courage

Spiritual Courage primarily represents your ability to inspire, so people will trust and like you. Spiritual Courage has a big impact on first impressions, and tends to have an attractive influence -- not just with people, but with flighty magical beings like fairies. Examples: leadership, improving the general disposition of NPCs, performing with |Instruments|.

Skills

Here's what we have for skills so far. As you can see, most are related to item use, in keeping with the theme of the video games. The list is currently open to expansion as needed.

Every odd-numbered rank in a skill adds one die to your rolled pool for checks related to the skill, and every even-numbered rank adds one to your kept total. Skill ranks are the main factor in technique prerequisites.

The goal is to keep the skill list as small as possible, with things such as riding that aren't explicitly covered by a specific skill simply falling under the relevant Virtue/Attribute combination. Each skill always ties to a specific attribute, which generally won't vary between uses of the skill, but the Virtue used depends on what you're trying to do. For instance, the |Sway| skill uses Power if you're trying to intimidate, Wisdom if you're attempting rational diplomacy, and Courage if you're trying to inspire someone.

Item Skills

  • |Shield| (Physical Courage) - Mirror Shield, Hylian Shield, Kokiri Shield, etc.
  • |Heavy| (Physical Power) - Ball and Chain, Biggoron Sword, Skull Hammer, etc.
  • |Melee| (Physical Power/Wisdom/Courage) - Sword, Club, Ace etc.
  • |Ranged| (Physical Power/Wisdom/Courage) - Bows, Crossbows, and thrown weapons.
  • |Tool| (Physical Power/Wisdom/Courage) - Hookshot, Boomerang, Grappling Hook, Spinner, etc.
  • |Instrument| (Spirtual Power{?}/Wisdom/Courage) - Ocarina, Flute, Pipes, Drums, etc.
  • |Magic| (Mental Power/Wisdom/Courage) - The spells from Ocarina of Time, the medallions from A Link to the Past, the magical functions of Cane of Somaria, Fire Rod, Cane of Byrna, etc. (remember: each spell is treated the same as an inventory item, and must be obtained in-game just like a sword, bow, hookshot, etc.)

Creation Skills

  • |Alchemy| (Mental Wisdom) - Combining various liquids and powders to concoct and administer medicines and explosives [Potion Brewing, Bomb Crafting, etc.]

Non-Item Skills

  • |Acrobatics| (Physical Wisdom/Courage) - Can be used instead of |Shield| for defence and also covers wall-running, back-flipping, long-jumping, etc. For the more nimble, Sheik-like among us.
  • |Stealth| (Physical Wisdom) - This should be pretty self-explanatory. Hiding, sneaking, all that jazz.
  • |Sway| (Spiritual Power/Wisdom/Courage) - How much influence your character has in social situations and how much he's able to sway others' emotions or ideas.

Techniques

Techniques are purchased with XP. Most will have a prerequisite of a certain number of ranks in a relevant skill, and some may have Attribute and/or Virtue requirements as well.

Active techniques take resources (actions, MP, etc.), while Passive techniques are always in effect.

Racial Techniques

Deku Bubble (Active)

  • Requirements: Deku Scrub
  • XP Cost: ?
  • Actions: X
  • MP Cost: X

This Deku may spend X actions to fire one bubble with the Stun property from his "nose" at a single target. For each action spent, the Deku spends 1 magic point and adds 1/4 heart to the damage increment and 10 metres to the range (I'd probably cap this at its Power, but uncapped is funnier).

Goron Spikes (Active)

  • Requirements: Goron
  • XP Cost: ?
  • Actions: 2
  • MP Cost: 2 Sustained

Goron may spend 1 turn in rolled-up form to generate magical Spikes with a 2/4 Damage increment; each turn this is active, the Goron spends 2 Magic Points. If the Goron leaves the ball form or comes to a stop, they must spend an additional turn to "regrow" them.

Fin Shot (Active)

  • Requirements: Zora
  • XP Cost: ?
  • Actions: 2

This technique allows the Zora to use their natural Blade weapons as Ranged-type weapons. Launched fins automatically return, but this takes up one of the Zora's actions.

Lightning Shield (Active)

  • Requirements: Zora
  • XP Cost: ?
  • Actions: 2+
  • MP Cost: 2 Sustained

This Zora may exude an aura that hits every creature within 1 meter for 2/4 heart of electrical damage. This technique requires an action to activate as well as an action to deactivate (the attack takes effect during both of these actions). This costs 2 points of magic and may be sustained for an additional 2 points of magic per turn. No other actions may be taken while this technique is being sustained. This ability may only be used underwater.

Weapon Techniques

Back Slice (Active)

  • Requirements: |Acrobatics| 3, |Melee| 1
  • XP Cost: ?
  • Actions: 1

You quickly tumble around your opponent to find a hole in his defense and strike. Make an |Acrobatics|(Wisdom) check as an Attack action with a +1k0 bonus. Using this technique to interrupt an opponents action grants an additional +1k0.

Counter Attack (Passive)

  • Requirements: |Melee| 4, |Wisdom| 3
  • XP Cost: ?
  • Actions: 0

Unopposed successes on Defense rolls now deal damage to attackers as if they were unopposed successes on an Attack roll.

Dual Wield (Passive)

  • Requirements: |Melee| 3, |Acrobatics| 1
  • XP Cost: ?
  • Actions: 0-2

Two blades are better than one. While wielding two |Melee| weapons you get +1 to your dice pool for all Defense rolls against any attacker wielding only one weapon, as well as +1 to your dice pool for Attack rolls against targets wielding one weapon who do not have a shield. You may use both actions to attack without penalty (this is where I suggest a penalty for using both of your actions to attack in one turn), but doing so causes you to lose all dice pool bonuses granted by Dual Wield until the beginning of your next turn. Gerudo may learn this technique even if they do not meet the skill requirements.

Low Blow (Active)

  • Requirements: |Brawl| 2
  • XP Cost: ?
  • Actions: 1

Deal an extra 2/4 damage to armoured targets on a |Brawl|(Wisdom) action?

Mortal Draw (Active)

  • Requirements: |Melee| 4
  • XP Cost: ?
  • Special: Cannot have weapons drawn last turn.
  • Actions: 1

Draw weapon and attack as a single action(+2k0 attack, +1/4 Damage increment, +1 Force).

Spin Attack (Active)

  • Requirements: |Melee| 1
  • XP Cost: ?
  • Actions: 2

After taking an action to prepare the Spin Attack the player may make a |Melee|(Power)[knockback] action striking all adjacent targets. Once an action has been taken to prepare the player may hold his action to perform the |Melee|(Power) portion of this technique at any time. Taking damage or performing any action other than moving at half movement interrupts this technique.

Shield Techniques

Shield Attack (Active)

  • Requirements: ?
  • XP Cost: ?
  • Actions: 1

As a single action this person is able to thrust his shield forward striking an enemy, dealing Knockback 2 and forcing them to lower their shield.

Shield Bash (Active)

  • Requirements: ?
  • XP Cost: ?
  • Actions: 1

As a single action this person may thrust his shield forward at his targets head. If the target has his shield up then he suffers Knockback 2 and is forced to lower his shield, otherwise he is Stunned.

Shield Slam (Active)

  • Requirements: ?
  • XP Cost: ?
  • Actions: 2

As a double action this person may, from a static standing position, put all of his weight into his shield shield slamming it into an enemy dealing Knockback 2 and Knockdown.

Charge (Active)

  • Requirements: ?
  • XP Cost: ?
  • Actions: 2

As a double action this person may charge, running at full speed with his shield in straight path dealing Knockback 2 and Knockdown to everyone he hits until he has finished moving or fails to push one aside.

Shield Throw (Active)

  • Requirements: ?
  • XP Cost: ?
  • Actions: 1

This person may throw his shield as a Range 5 physical power attack.

Guard and Attack (Active)

  • Requirements: ?
  • XP Cost: ?
  • Actions: 0

As a free action this person may raise his shield as a Defense action whenever he could make another action.

Brainstorming section:

Minish Cap's Tiger Scroll techniques: Spin Attack, Sword Beam, Dash Attack, Peril Beam, Rock Breaker, Roll Attack, Down Thrust, Great Spin Attack.
Twilight Princess's Hidden Skills: Ending Blow, Shield Attack, Back Slice, Helm Splitter, Mortal Draw, Jump Strike, Great Spin.
/tg/ Ideas: Chu Chu Refiner, Magic Infuser.

Character Advancement

Virtue: 7 × Next Level XP.
Attribute: 4 × Next Level XP.
Skill: as noted above in the Character Generation section.
Technique: as dictated by the Technique.

Pieces of Heart and Heart Containers can't be bought with XP, but instead are a reward for defeating bosses, solving difficult puzzles, etc.


Combat

Combat is turn-based, with an initiative count determined at the start of the scene by an unopposed Physical Courage check with a success threshold of 4. Whoever gets the most successes goes first, with ties resolved by who has the highest Courage score. If there's still a tie, it is resolved by an opposed Physical Courage check (if a two-way tie) or another unopposed check (for a tie between 3 or more characters).

Each turn, you get 2 actions. Each action can be used to attack, defend, move, or use an item. Heavy weapons require use of an action to recover from a swing.

For each attack, the attacker rolls dice equal to their ranks in Physical plus any dice contributed by skill ranks in their chosen weapon, and keeps a number of dice equal to their relevant Virtue (plus any kept dice contributed by relevant skill ranks). The attacker compares his kept dice to those of the defender according to the linear comparison method explained above and deals one increment of damage for every success, with ties counting as a success for the defender. The damage increment is defined by the weapon -- a knife might have a damage increment of only 1/4 heart, while an Iron Knuckle's humongous axe might have an increment of 2 hearts.

The defender's roll depends on whether he or she is defending passively or actively. Passive defence is the most general case. The defender rolls Physical and keeps Wisdom. Unopposed dice in a passive defence roll have no impact on combat. Taking an action to defend lets you use active defence against a single attack from a specified opponent. This lets you use a Shield or Acrobatics skill check (your choice) in place of the normal passive defence roll. Not only does this improve your chances of beating the attacker's rolls, but it also lets you deduct one increment of damage for every unopposed success on your defensive roll.

Armour reduces the damage increment of any weapon used against the wearer by a fixed margin, but (except for the absolute best-of-the-best armours) can never reduce a weapon's damage increment to less than 1/4 heart. For instance, if you were wearing armour with an armour rating of 2, a weapon that normally deals damage increments of 1 2/4 heart would instead deal damage in 1 heart increments, and a weapon with a base damage increment of 1 heart would be reduced to 2/4 heart. Each point of armour rating reduces the damage increment by 1/4 heart. However, this same armour would only reduce a 2/4 heart damage increment to 1/4, and would have no effect on weapons with a 1/4 heart damage increment.

Equipment

While still under development and undergoing brainstorming, here is a list of some basic weaponry and what skills and virtues are probably best to go along them. The number after the dash indicates the damage increment (in hearts), and anything after a second dash denotes additional modifiers.


Melee/Courage

  • Sword (Hero's Sword, Scimitar, Rapier, etc)----1/2
  • Claws----1/2
  • Brawl----1/4----Attack +0k1
  • Pike----1/2----Two-Handed, Reach
  • Lance----3/4----Mounted only; charging bonus


Melee/Wisdom

  • Improvised (Rods & Tomes, Deku sticks)----1/4
  • Dagger----1/4----Attack +1k0
  • Staff----1/2----Two-Handed


Melee/Power

  • Axe----3/4
  • Mace (hammer, pick)----3/4
  • Halberd----3/4----Two-Handed, Reach


Heavy/Power

  • Great Sword (Biggoron's Sword)----1----Heavy
  • Great Axe----1+1/4----Heavy, Two Handed
  • Great Mace (Megaton Hammer)---1----Heavy
  • Ball and Chain----1----Heavy, Two-Handed Reach


Ranged/Courage

  • Slingshot----1/4----Range 10
  • Boomerang----1/4----Range 10, Returning, Stun


Ranged/Wisdom

  • Bow----1/2----Range 20
  • Crossbow---1/2----Range 20
  • Seed Shooter----1/4----Range 10
  • Needle----1/4----Thrown 5
  • Deku Nut----0----Thrown 5, Area 1, Stun


Ranged/Power

  • Bomb----1+1/2----Thrown 5, Explosive, Area 1
  • Bombchu----1+1/2----Move 10, Explosive, Area 1
  • Thrown Item (rock, jar, skull)----3/4----Range 5




Also still under development and undergoing brainstorming, here is a list of some basic armor and shields. In the current incarnation skills and virtues are probably best to NOT be used with armor, though shields will use them normally. The number after the dash indicates the damage increment (in hearts) by which the armor reduces damage taken, and anything after a second dash denotes additional modifiers. For shields, their values are counted for active defense only.


Light Armor

  • Woven Cloth Tunic----0 heart----wind resist, enchantable
  • Tanned Leather----0 heart----electric resist
  • Padded Leather----1/4 heart----electric resist
  • Deku Vestment----1/4 heart----fire weak, water/ice resist


Medium Armor (+1 Mass, -1 Acrobatics)

  • Coiled Chain Armor----1/4 heart----results from stored ball and chain, penalties stack with other armor
  • Darknut Half Plate----1/4 heart----can be converted
  • Iron Chest Plate----1/2 heart
  • Stalfos Regalia----1/2 heart
  • Chain Mail----1/2 heart
  • Blue Mail----1/2 heart----ice resist
  • Red Mail----3/4 heart----fire resist, additional +1 mass


Heavy Armor (+2 Mass, -2 Acrobatics, No Special Maneuvers while Equipped without Special Training)

  • Goron Steel Raiment----1/2 heart----allows rolling
  • Hylian Warded Mail----1/2 heart----spell resist
  • Darknut Full Plate----3/4 heart----can be converted
  • Gerudo Black Armor----3/4 heart
  • Iron Knuckle Full Suit----1 heart----additional +1 mass


Shield/Courage

  • Deku Shield----1/4 heart----+1k0 with active defense, fire weak, water/ice resist
  • Armos Shield----1/4 heart----+1k0 with active defense, fire resist
  • Iron Shield----1/4 heart----+1k0 with active defense
  • Gauntlet----1/4 heart----occupies shield slot
  • Great Shield----1/2 heart----+2k0 with active defense
  • Mirror Shield----1/2 heart----+1k0 with active defense, reflective
  • Biggoron Shield----1 heart----+3k0 with active defense, two actions to use

Character Sheets

  • The landscape format is reminiscent of the video games' menu screens and HUD.

    The landscape format is reminiscent of the video games' menu screens and HUD.

  • A prettied-up version of the landscape format.

    A prettied-up version of the landscape format.

  • A portrait-layout version, for those who'd prefer a more traditional character sheet.

    A portrait-layout version, for those who'd prefer a more traditional character sheet.

GM Resources

Moved here.

External Links

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