Hello there!
So, as indicative of the title, I've begun work on a Legend of Zelda conversion for 4th Edition Dungeons and Dragons. The idea has been on my mind for a while, and I only just now found my notes on the matter.
While it did merely start as a series of bonus races for a standard DnD campaign, the world of LoZ is actually quite expansive. There's more than just races, but Enemies, Artefacts, Marks, potential classes, it's actually quite staggering.
Considering the popularity of both Zelda and DnD, chances are, this has been attempted before (probably still is) but, i have a few things in mind.
Reading through Fireclave's guide, I realise that races such as the Gorons and the Zoras will need a bit of work, and the Hylians, while basically synonymous with Humans, actually have a few powers that need to be considered (I only just remembered Hylians could telepathically talk to other Hylians somehow, which was odd)
Thus far, I have the Kokiri and the Gerudo as potential races, with the Gerudo just having recieved a Paragon Path known as the Iron Knuckle. I've also been working a lot on the Lizalfos, simply because they're awesome (turns out, they make good Rangers and Rogues)
Here's what I have for the various races:
Kokiri
Vision: Normal
Movement: 5 spaces
Size: Small
Abilities:
+2 Dexterity, +2 Wisdom
Skills;
+2 Stealth, +2 Nature
Forest Child: Treat difficult terrain within heavily wooded areas as normal.
Child-like spirit: gain a +2 bonus to insight when speaking with children
Fairy Friend: You automatically gain a Fairy as your Familiar. The fairy is immortal, reconstituting itself next to you if slain in battle. It cannot attack, and has one hit point, but does not take damage from missed attacks. It cannot flank, and has the same defences as you do. It may or may not say ‘Hey Listen!’ all the time.
Fairy Familiar
This small, winged ball of light has been granted to you by the Great Deku Tree
Passive Bonus:
Your fairy grants a +2 to Perception
Active Bonus:
When adjacent to an enemy, you can make a knowledge check (Each one is based on the creature itself) as a free action to find out more about the entity. Your fairy provides a +5 bonus to the check, which becomes +7 at level 11 and +10 at level 21.
Playing a Kokiri
Despite their appearance and attitude, Kokiri are very long lived. Immortal, they stop aging when they reach a certain physical age. While they do move on into a second form called a Korok, which is considered the ‘Adult’ Kokiri phase, they remain in their child-like physical state until they begin the process of becoming a Korok.
However, the forest dwellers do retain some childlike mentality. With wisdom passed down through the ages, and enough knowledge to make their own homes and run a stable community, they can certainly function on the level of an adult; despite this, they are highly friendly and emotionally proactive, akin to children, occasionally even sporting the naivety that could be their downfall.
Being out in the open world, beyond their homes in the Kokiri Forest or the Lost Woods is a daunting experience for a Kokiri. Many believe leaving the forest would be fatal, but this is merely a rumour.
Lizalfos
Vision: Low Light, Movement: 6 Squares, Size: Medium
Abilities:
+2 Strength, +2 Dexterity
Skills:
+2 Acrobatics, +2 Intimidate
Double Tactics: When flanking an enemy, you grant yourself and your ally +1 to attack (this is not cumulative.)
Tail Weapon: you can attach specialised weapons to your tail, and attack with it as if you were using your hands.
Tail Strike: You gain the Tail Strike power
Born of War: You are proficient with the Longsword
Tail Strike Lizalfos Racial Power
After striking your foe, you see an opening, allowing your tail to lash out at the enemy
Enounter
Minor Melee Weapon
Prerequisite: You must hit the target with a melee attack in the same turn
Special: This can only be used once per turn
Effect: You make a basic melee attack with your tail.
Playing Lizalfos
Lizalfos are a society bred on war, but not in the way many would believe. While Lizalfos Mercenaries are common place in some armies, they don’t fight out of hatred or malice, but out of respect. To show your neighbour you respect them, you spar with them. Of course, this hasn’t been received well within the non-violent societies and thus, something that should have ended with sparring resulted in bloodshed.
To you, combat is an unavoidable way of life, so you should revel in it. Fighting is usually the go-to response, and you naturally work well in a group.
Lizalfos Notes:
The Tail Strike power is something a little unique, but can be potentiall broken if magic tail implements were to be added. Regardless, the weapons could range from a short sword blade, axe blade or mace head, generally weapons that would deal 1d6-1d8 of damage. Originally, it would have been an atwill immediate reaction, but that was a little overpowered for a racial ability.
Gerudo
Vision: normal
Movement: 6 squares
Size: Medium
Abilities:
+2 Dexterity, +2 Charisma
Skills:
+2 Thievery, +2 Acrobatics
Desert Dweller: You treat deserts and other sandy areas as normal terrain.
Natural Acrobat: You can use the Rogue ‘Great Leap’ utility power as an encounter power.
Master of the Desert Storm: You have lived among sandstorms nearly all your life, and learnt to use them to your advantage. When in concealment, you gain a +2 to stealth and thievery checks.
Playing a Gerudo
Gerudo are a primarily female race, and hold a long and blatant distain towards Hylians, disagreeing with the different roles and impact of the genders. As a Gerudo, you believe that both women and men are capable of any role that is presented before them. Gerudos, of course, still require a male in order to breed, therefore, despite their disdain towards Hylians, they will occasionally consort with Hylian Males in order to gain offspring.
Once every hundred years, a male is born, and they are made king of the race. At GM discretion, you can play a male, but you must deal with the impact of being royalty. If this is the case, no other player can be a Male Gerudo. GMs should be very careful when allowing a player to be a male Gerudo, as it puts them in the seat of being King by default.
Iron Knuckle
Prerequisite: Gerudo, Plate Mail Proficiency
Gerudos are known for their speed and stealth, but they can potentially be the heaviest and most durable of enemies fought, bar the ancient and military focussed Darknut. Iron Knuckles are the guardians of temples and are the tough, durable extremes in Gerudo society. They are particularly rare, with the hot, arid desert and ludicrously heavy armour combined with the unforgiving training that had been adapted from Darknut teachings make the entire process very demanding; in some cases, participants to become Iron Knuckles aren’t willing at all. In any case, the supreme strength and stamina of an Iron Knuckle make them a terrifying foe.
Features:
(11th level) Major Armour boost: When you acquire a set of plate mail, you can modify it, changing it so it grants an additional +2 AC. This can be done with any form of plate armour. However, the armour you wear is much bigger and heavier than standard plate, reducing your maximum movement speed to 3 while in the armour, and doubling the standard skill penalty of Plate Armour.
(11th level) Swiftness of the Free: When not in full armour, you gain a speed boost of +1
(16th level) Sound mind and body: When you spend an action point to gain another action, you gain +1 to Fortitude, Reflex and Will until the end of your next turn.
Powers:
Iron Sweep Iron Knuckle attack level 11
You use your might to swing your weapon in front of you, battering enemies senseless
Encounter*Weapon
Standard Action Melee
Target: One, two or three creatures adjacent to you
Attack: Strength vs. AC
Hit: 1[w] + Strength modifier damage and the target is pushed 2 squares
Ablative Invincibility Iron Knuckle Utility level 12
You know how to use your armour as a shield, letting it break away with each hit.
Daily
Standard Action Personal
Prerequisite: Must be used as the first action at the start of the encounter, must be wearing Iron Knuckle Plate Mail.
Effect: Gain temporary hit points equal to your AC. These hit points cannot be replaced by any other power until depleted. When these hit points are depleted, your plate mail is broken, and the bonus it grants is +2. Any magic properties are lost while it is broken. Repairing the armour takes one day’s solid work, and requires the appropriate tools.
Soaring Iron Pillar Iron Knuckle Attack level 20
With one vital sweep, you launch an enemy into the air with a devastating uppercut.
Daily*Weapon
Standard Action Melee
Attack: Strength vs AC
Hit: 3[w] + Strength Modifier damage and the target is thrown 3 squares away from you, in an arc 1 square high.
Gerudo Notes:
Gerudos are a little tougher than I thought, mainly because I'm not sure if there's anything I should add, or if there's anything I should take away.
The Iron Knuckles are a little complicated too. It was hard to find a way to properly display how they work, since their armour is abaltive and reduces their movement speed greatly until it breaks. It wasn't an option to make it a passive ability that is always on, since doing so would mean a player would have to stop and repair their armour after every encounter. However, running the character through creation, it wasn't as broken as I expected, if at all. The AC of such a character in a magical set of Iron Knuckle plate, at level 11, with a heavy shield, resuled in an AC of 29, 1 more than a Pit Fighter with Dwarven Plate and a Heavy Shield, and with the inherent Risk of using Ablative Immunity, especially at level 11, 29 temporary hitpoints can go pretty quickly if hit by something big.
Author's Notes
At this point in time, I was hoping to get one or two paragon paths per race, and getting the stats for Zora, Goron and Hylian sorted. While this post will constantly change as developments are made, any feedback or ideas will be appreciated. Hopefully, when all is said and done, I can give this a play test and set it all in stone at some point.
