Variant Rules
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Contents
Advanced Character Creation
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This option offers guidance for creating a player character at a level higher than 1st.
Craft During Rest
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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.
Group Initiative
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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, it 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.
Still, haggling 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 it regardless, so these rules offer a streamlined option that can be used sparingly without bogging down the game with economical jargon. Use it sparingly. If a player asks to haggle over something trivial or does so too often, feel free to have the shopkeeper decline. "Just buy somethin' will ya!"
These rules function the same whether the players are buying or selling.
- Offer. The NPC offers a fair market price based on the guidance found in this material. 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.
- 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 swindled into accepting or making a payment you regret.
- Arbitrate. Depending on the strength of the players' approach, you decide whether to give them advantage or disadvantage on their check. If it's particularly impactful, you could also decide to give the shopkeeper a disadvantage or advantage as appropriate. The shopkeeper may also be affected by spells or other game effects which affect its ability check.
- Ability Check. The players make an ability check as appropriate, usually Charisma (Persuasion), and the shopkeeper makes their opposed ability check. If you don't have a sheet for the shopkeeper 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 magic items and estates might have a +5 or higher. Use the normal rule for group ability checks if needed.
- Result. If the players win, the price is adjust by about a quarter (feel free to go for a third or a fifth) in the players' favor. If the players succeed by 5 or more, the price is adjusts in their favor by 50% (2d4 × 10%). If the NOC wins, the price adjusts in their favor by 50% (2d4 × 10%). If the shopkeeper wins by 5 or more, the player-characters are swindled into paying this price if able regardless of whether or not the players still want to pay.
- Pay Up. At this point the players can either take the price (if not already forced to do so) or give up on buying it. The shopkeeper will not change their price.
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 could certainly fit, drawing on knowledge of market values and an astute appraisal of the item. For certain personalities, the players might even be able to wager the outcome of something like a sumo wrestling match—thus making it a Strength (Athletics) check in this case.
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.
Random Character Creation
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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.
Tool Expertise
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