Variant Rules

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Abundant Animals

This page or section is incomplete, and will eventually be expanded with more information.

This option allows characters to buy any number of animals as part of normal trade, from mules to loftwings. This can end up being a lot to manage if all players end up buying animals, especially considering there is no inherent rule stopping a high-level player from buying hundreds of goats.
     While any suitable animal can be used as a mount, it's assumed any animal forced into combat will not normally fight on behalf of a player. The beastmaster subclass and spells like control beast can be used to get animals to fight on behalf of a player.

Character Creation

Advanced Advanced Character Creation

This page or section is incomplete, and will eventually be expanded with more information.

See Character Creation (variant rule).

This option offers guidance for creating a player character at a level higher than 1st.

Random Character Creation

This page or section is incomplete, and will eventually be expanded with more information.

See Random Character Creation (variant rule).

This option provides the means to decide every statistic of a player character by rolling dice, replacing the normal process character creation. All options herein are possible with normal character creation.

Craft During Rest

This page or section is incomplete, and will eventually be expanded with more information.

This option grants more opportunity for artisans to craft, and is best suited for campaigns which lack much downtime for this activity.

You must be proficient with an artisan's tool to craft during rest.

Death Saves

This page or section is incomplete, and will eventually be expanded with more information.

• 3d6

Death

This page or section is incomplete, and will eventually be expanded with more information.

In The Legend of Zelda, death means you lose a couple minutes of progress. In Dungeons & Dragons, death varies from one gaming table to another but can an abrupt end to months of game session.

Initiative

This page or section is incomplete, and will eventually be expanded with more information.

Moxie Dice

This rule adds an incentive to take your turn quickly. There can either be a dedicated timekeeper or there can be a stopwatch to pass around. If a player completes their turn in under a minute, they gain a Moxie Die (d6) which they can add to any d20 roll they make before the combat is over. Spellcasters can instead subtract it from the saving throw of one creature they cast a spell on. Multiple Moxie Dice can be horded, but only one Moxie Die be added to any individual roll, and the Moxie Die can only be added before the d20 is rolled.

Narrative Transitions

This page or section is incomplete, and will eventually be expanded with more information.

Often the most effective way to make initiative feel better isn't a rule change but a style change. Many of the best narrators improvise story-telling flair to flow players' turns together naturally. Compare the following two examples.

• "Link deals a fatal blow to the aeralfos and it goes down. Sheik, it's your turn."
• "Link's fatal blow sends the aeralfos flying across the room before its now-motionless body skids to a halt at your feet, Sheik. But there's still two lizalfos left; what's your move?"

(Not the best example but gets the point across!)

Round-Table Initiative

Even deciding and tracking the order of initiative in the first case can be a bit tedious. Under this rule, whoever rolls the highest for initiative (or is selected to go first by the narrator) takes their turn as normal. After that, turns go around the table clockwise (or counter-clockwise) just like a simpler board game. For online games it could be instead alphabetically by username, or top-to-bottom in user list.

The narrator acts as all the monsters. If there are many monsters or a lot of players, the spot of the table directly opposite of the narrator on the table can be used for half of the monsters and the narrator's own spot can be the other half.

A bonus benefit to this variant rule is that it can help players more intuitively track who's going next, so they can more effectively plan out their turn.

Inspiration

A narrator often has an abundance of things to keep track of during a game, and among those easiest to forget is awarding inspiration. Either of these options shift that responsibility to the players. The narrator can still choose to award inspiration as normal.

Attendance

At the start of each game session, every player gets inspiration.

Player-Claimed Inspiration

Each player writes down traits, ideals, bonds, and flaws as part of their character sheet. Whenever you role-play succumb to one of these in a way that moves the plot forward or is detrimental to functional benefit (like forgoing a reward), you claim inspiration. The narrator isn't involved (unless they want to be). A majority vote from other players can reject your claim at inspiration, which may happen if you make too many claims or make a claim in bad faith.

Haggling

The Legend of Zelda infrequently has the protagonist change the prices a shopkeeper initially offers, and Dungeons & Dragons doesn't include any guidance to haggle in their core rules. This is for good reason. At the table, haggling can feel like a lot of time and effort focused on something trivial—barely changing the price of an item—which only affects one player at the table anyway. To have any real consequence, haggling also requires robbing a player of agency—if they can turn down any offer they don't like, there's no reason not to always haggle for a better price—which isn't very satisfying to many D&D players.
     Still, haggling can feel much more substantial if for example the entire party is pooling their resources together to buy one incredibly powerful magic item. Some players enjoy haggling regardless, so these steps offer a streamlined option that can be used without bogging down the game with economical jargon and trivial pursuits. Use this option sparingly. If a player asks to haggle over something petty or does so too often, feel free to have a shopkeeper decline. "Just buy somethin' will ya!"
     These steps function the same whether the players are buying or selling.

1. Offer. The NPC offers a fair market price based on the costs listed on pages like equipment, magic items, or whatever you think is a reasonable price. If you already expect the players will haggle, add a little bit to the price in the NPC's favor—maybe 10% or so. As usual, the price is halved if the players are selling instead of buying.
2. Counteroffer. The player(s) make their argument or counter offer. Make it clear to the players that: If you haggle, there is a chance your characters will be swindled into accepting or making a payment you regret.
3. Arbitrate. Depending on the strength of the players' approach, you may decide to give them advantage or disadvantage on their check. If it's particularly impactful, you could also decide to give the NPC a disadvantage or advantage too. The NPC may also be affected by spells or other game effects which affect its ability check.
4. Ability Check. The players make an ability check as appropriate, usually Charisma (Persuasion), and the NPC makes their opposed ability check. If you don't have ability scores in mind for the NPC, consider giving them at least a +2 on their check, since they are probably skilled at their profession if they're confident enough to haggle. Particularly prestigious merchants of estates and magic items might have a +5 or higher. Use the normal rule for group ability checks if multiple player-characters haggle together. Something like the Help action shouldn't afford an advantage.
5. Result. If the players win, the price is adjusted by about a quarter (25%) in their favor, though feel free to go for about a third (33.3%) or a fifth (20%) instead.
             If the players win by 5 or more, the price instead adjusts in their favor by 50% (2d4 × 10%).
             If the NPC wins, the price adjusts in their favor by 50% (2d4 × 10%)
             If the NPC wins by 5 or more, the player-characters are swindled into paying the adjusted price regardless of whether or not the players still want to pay.
6. Pay Up. At this point the players can either take the price if not already forced to do so, or give up on the transaction. The NPC will never change their price from this point onward.

When using this rule, it is best to use the default value for buying and selling magic items. Rolling to haggle and rolling for random magic item prices can result in overly extreme disparities in price.
     There's no need to stick to Charisma (Persuasion) as the ability check. Maybe the players will use Intimidation. Arguably a Wisdom (Insight) check could work, too. An Intelligence check could certainly fit, drawing on knowledge of market values and an astute appraisal of the item. For certain merchants, the players might even be able to wager the outcome of something like a sumo wrestling match—thus making it something as unconventional as a Strength (Athletics) check.

Poisons & Diseases

Although The Legend of Zelda features some effects which can arguably cause poison damage or even the poisoned condition, there is practically no canonical precedent for poison that can be administered as an agent—whether it would applied to a weapon or ingested. As such no such poisons are included in this compendium by default, not even "common poison." Similarly, there are very few instances of illness or disease with quantifiable symptoms. There is however no reason a DM could not include diseases, poisons, or both—whether from the Dungeon Master's Guide (page 256) or elsewhere.

Tool Expertise

This page or section is incomplete, and will eventually be expanded with more information.

Treasure Chests

See Treasure.

It's a bit tedious to strip every single defeated enemy of all their goods, list them all out, and sell them later. Just like in many Zelda games, the narrator can decide defeated monsters don't just lay around waiting to be looted. They blast apart into a mysterious black smoke, which dissipates into the wind. Powerful ones might drop rupees, magic items, or full-blown Treasure Chests as they poof away.

Many monsters already have Treasure Chests listed on their page just for this variant rule. For those that don't, the narrator can use the Generic Treasure Chests page. In either case, parties of 11th level or higher who primarily gain wealth from these chests should roll twice for each treasure chest they encounter.