Interesting items needed for Legend of Zelda type dungeons

[pibby]

Right now I'm making a hunt the McGuffins campaign and I'll need some homebrewed or existing magic or non-magic items that essentially help the PCs traverse the dungeons LoZ style. Aside from replicating the existing items from that universe, what do you guys think would be the most fun items to find in the dungeons that will help them reach the end of it and defeat the BBEG?

[CrusaderJoe]

Right now I'm making a hunt the McGuffins campaign and I'll need some homebrewed or existing magic or non-magic items that essentially help the PCs traverse the dungeons LoZ style. Aside from replicating the existing items from that universe, what do you guys think would be the most fun items to find in the dungeons?

I would think silly small things would do quite well.

A spoon of prestidigitation (flavor)

Stuff like that could be fun.

[JNAProductions]

The Orb of Mostly Truthfulness

This orb will, when asked a question, answer as fully and honestly as it can. It has vast amounts of knowledge relating to one or more particular area(s) (the Dungeon of Amraginally, weather in the mid-Atlantic, spoons) but thinks it has that level of knowledge in all areas and answers as such.

Woe to any adventurer who believes everything it hears.

[Ninjadeadbeard]

Right now I'm making a hunt the McGuffins campaign and I'll need some homebrewed or existing magic or non-magic items that essentially help the PCs traverse the dungeons LoZ style. Aside from replicating the existing items from that universe, what do you guys think would be the most fun items to find in the dungeons?

It is dangerous to go alone. Take this! (https://www.dropbox.com/s/9mru2aqtdhfj01e/Zelda%205E%20Master%27s%20Guide.pdf?dl=0)

I compiled a bunch of 5E Homebrew stuff like this and made a cool setting for my players. The Equipment List is somewhere in the middle, and has a lot of cool things I helped make/took from some other playgrounders. Give them (and me) a heads up if you like them!

[LucianoAr]

It is dangerous to go alone. Take this! (https://www.dropbox.com/s/9mru2aqtdhfj01e/Zelda%205E%20Master%27s%20Guide.pdf?dl=0)

I compiled a bunch of 5E Homebrew stuff like this and made a cool setting for my players. The Equipment List is somewhere in the middle, and has a lot of cool things I helped make/took from some other playgrounders. Give them (and me) a heads up if you like them!

dude the quality of this document is amazing! theres paid stuff that looks worse and has worse content than this.

congrats, ill see if i can put some of that into my campaign.

[Person_Man]

After a conversation about how awesome Legend of Zelda was, I recently replayed the original game without consulting any guides/maps/hints. I hadn't touched the game since college, and thus had forgotten the location of 99% of the hidden stuff. (And I have a terrible spatial memory anyways). I was struck by how completely awful/frustrating the game is.

So my main piece of advice is to actually avoid the tropes of the game, and just rob the fluff. As it pertains to magic items, I would avoid making the dungeon BBEG immune to all weapons except for the hidden McGuffin hidden in his dungeon. I hate that.

[Joe the Rat]

What do they need to find?

- A folding boat. or pocket raft, if you prefer.
- An extending ladder. Like a rod of lordly might, but with all the other functions and sophomoric jokes removed.
- A variety of magic shields. spell reflectors, spell absorbers, missile snaring, glowing, surfing... give people a reason to carry extras so they aren't totally hosed when the like-likes show up.
- More trick arrows. Actually, more upgrades to fit the players' preferred styles. Four sword-and-board... whatever the hell Link is... can be done, but I think having a proper mixed party would be more interesting. Have power gems that allow you to enhance any weapon with a given feature.
- Musical instruments. It's a recurring theme. Bonus points for a variety of instruments that are stronger, or different effects when played together.
- Spider repellant.

Person_Man's point on the all-but-Macguffin / Achilles Heel monsters is a good one. But I'd still play with this. You can attack them normally, but particular attacks are more effective. Making your called shot to a specified weak point (maybe use cover rules? maybe disadvantage if you don't want to make Sharpshooter the go-to feat) is an auto-critical for damage. Hmm, for a relevant monster, you could have a "normal" critical (Natural 20-or-whatever, the assassin's surprise crit) just happen to catch the monster in the designated soft spot. Or for others, certain attack types (say, fire or acid) stop it from regenerating, or stun the monster. But if you do that, they should still be beatable the "normal" way. And give them hints. Obvious carvings depicting exploding orbs. arrows pointed at the central eye. Make each one different, but something the party would have, or consider trying anyway.

Heck, you could have Scrolls of Lore as one of the dungeon finds - diagrams or instructions for how to defeat certain enemies, or clues to hidden treasures, or even manuals to make or upgrade weapons.

[pibby]

On the topic on how I'll plan the dungeons, the McGuffin found in the middle of the dungeon is supposed to help them reach the boss room. Flight and Levitation, once it becomes available, will not help them get past this point. Like one of the items I have planned is the Boots of Magnetism (one for each of the PCs) which will help them get past the tornado effect that keeps them from getting to the end of the dungeon. There will probably be very few enemies in the dungeons (in comparison to how often they appear in actual Zelda dungeons) and most rooms will be filled with lots of platforming puzzles (the PCs will have the ability to get Capes of Feather Fall before this) and obvious terrain hazards.

The BBEG at the end of each dungeon will probably be considered a deadly encounter with Legendary Resistances and Lair Abilities unless a majority of my players are inexperienced with roleplaying. However, the encounter itself will be a lot easier if the McGuffin is used properly to defeat the BBEG.

I'm also debating whether or not it will be okay to have an item like Mountain Hammer (a hammer with the ToB maneuever) that works only on select walls.

EDIT: Oh ya on an added note, I plan to let the party scavenge the BBEG Monster Hunter style IF they used the McGuffin against it to make the fight easier. Otherwise the BBEG will disintegrate upon being killed and the party will not be able to have a blacksmith make magical weapons and armors for them.

[CrusaderJoe]

After a conversation about how awesome Legend of Zelda was, I recently replayed the original game without consulting any guides/maps/hints. I hadn't touched the game since college, and thus had forgotten the location of 99% of the hidden stuff. (And I have a terrible spatial memory anyways). I was struck by how completely awful/frustrating the game is.

So my main piece of advice is to actually avoid the tropes of the game, and just rob the fluff. As it pertains to magic items, I would avoid making the dungeon BBEG immune to all weapons except for the hidden McGuffin hidden in his dungeon. I hate that.

Play Windwaker if you can, its my favorite Zelda game and the least frustrating one to boot.

Others like to turn into a wolf or have wonky Wii controls but I prefer the basics.

The WiiU updated the graphics on Windwaker and it looks beautiful.

But anyways OP, and I can't stress this enough.

Make sure your players know exactly what you will be doing and even run through a sample dungeon/boss... This can be a two room dungeon. The players may not have the exact same mindset as you and if you go in assuming... Well things might go bad.

The problem with call shots in a tabletop RPg is by explaining the monster you give it away... Perhaps have pictures of the monsters and allow the players to get subtle hints of weak spots.

[EvanescentHero]

It is dangerous to go alone. Take this! (https://www.dropbox.com/s/9mru2aqtdhfj01e/Zelda%205E%20Master%27s%20Guide.pdf?dl=0)

I compiled a bunch of 5E Homebrew stuff like this and made a cool setting for my players. The Equipment List is somewhere in the middle, and has a lot of cool things I helped make/took from some other playgrounders. Give them (and me) a heads up if you like them!

Is this a work in progress? Do you plan on adding more alternate rules? Did I miss the section on racial stats, or is there not one?

I think this is really cool and you did a good job on the items, as a huge LoZ fan, and I like the alignment option you included.

[Franswa]

It is dangerous to go alone. Take this! (https://www.dropbox.com/s/9mru2aqtdhfj01e/Zelda%205E%20Master%27s%20Guide.pdf?dl=0)

I compiled a bunch of 5E Homebrew stuff like this and made a cool setting for my players. The Equipment List is somewhere in the middle, and has a lot of cool things I helped make/took from some other playgrounders. Give them (and me) a heads up if you like them!

I love this work. Thank you for sharing it.
Did you know if public homebrew for the different races exist?