Editing Legend of Zelda RPG/1e (section)

==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.

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.

Though a skill may generally be better suited to either combat or noncombat use, most can be applied either way depending on circumstances, particularly when you account for puzzles and techniques. For example, |Ranged| seems like it would naturally be considered a "combat" skill, and indeed that is a major role for it, but there are also a number of puzzles in the Zelda video games that involve shooting a distant target or throwing a bomb just right to blast away an obstacle, and these noncombat actions would also use the |Ranged| skill. Likewise, |Stealth| and |Perception| seem at first glance like they're primarily noncombat skills, but with the right techniques they could be a great benefit in combat.

With the system still a work-in-progress, the skill list is open to expansion if something important is missing, but the goal is to keep the skill list as small as possible. Each skill should cover a fairly broad range of actions so that you'll always have plenty to do with your skills no matter which ones you take, and things that aren't explicitly covered by a specific skill are simply handled by rolling the relevant Virtue/Attribute combination. Things that are too narrow to justify having their own skill but still are things you might want to improve can instead be handled via general techniques that give a bonus to the particular task -- the Lore technique is an example of this. Likewise, specialization in a particular facet of a skill (for instance, the intimidation aspect of the |Sway| skill) would also be better handled through passive techniques. Simplicity is the main focus here, not simulationism.

'''A note on crafting:''' The idea of a crafting skill for the creation of items by PCs has been proposed several times during the development of this system, and has been consistently rejected. The conclusion is that, since the premise of the system relies upon strict control of player capabilities with regard to the items available to them, a crafting skill would by necessity be too limited to justify investing XP into. A player who wishes to roleplay a craftsman sort of character would do better to work out with the GM ways to incorporate this into the flow of the campaign -- for instance, instead of going on a sidequest to obtain a completed item, the quest can be in search of materials the PC needs to craft the item. Essentially, rather than a mechanical element giving players more options (which risks unbalancing the game and ruining the GM's ability to challenge the players via traditional Zelda-style item based puzzles), it's best handled as a narrative element altering how items are obtained in-game. Thus, no skill or technique is needed for it.

=== Skill List ===

* |Shield| (Physical Courage) - Exactly what the name suggests. Eg: Mirror Shield, Hylian Shield, Kokiri Shield, etc.
* |Heavy| (Physical Power) - Extremely large and powerful melee weapons. Eg: Ball and Chain, Biggoron Sword, Skull Hammer, etc.
* |Melee| (Physical Power/Wisdom/Courage) - Melee weapons that don't fall under |heavy|. Eg: Sword, Club, Axe etc.
* |Ranged| (Physical Power/Wisdom/Courage) - Bows, Crossbows, and thrown weapons (including bombs and bombchu). 
* |Instrument| (Spiritual Power{?}/Wisdom/Courage) - Used for all those handy reality-warping songs. Eg: Ocarina, flute, drums, etc. Each song is treated as in inventory item, and must be obtained in-game just like a sword, bow, hookshot, etc.
* |Magic| (Mental Power/Wisdom/Courage) -  "Proper" magic. Eg: 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. Each spell is treated the same as an inventory item, and must be obtained in-game just like a sword, bow, hookshot, etc.
* |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.
* |Perception| (Spiritual Wisdom) - Used to notice hidden details and individuals.
* |Stealth| (Physical Wisdom) - This should be pretty self-explanatory. Hiding, sneaking, all that jazz.
:To be able to make a stealth roll to become hidden You need to have cover (i.e. behind a big rock) or concealment (i.e. in a dense fog or totally dark place) from whomever you're trying to hide from. This is ultimately up to GM discretion -- you may only become hidden when the GM deems it feasible to do so.
:If you have met the prerequisites, you may attempt an opposed |stealth| roll as a free action against a |perception| roll, if you get more successes than your enemy, you become hidden against it, but if both of you tie in number of successes you can't become hidden.
:If you managed to become hidden, it means that the enemy is unable to see or hear you, and is unaware of your specific location (though it may have a vague idea of your general location if it observed you moving toward your hiding place).
:In order to remain hidden, you must make additional |stealth| checks every time you take an action. If you tie you will remain hidden but your enemies will be alerted. Not every action may allow you to remain hidden -- for example, moving out into the open will obviously give you away, as will shouting, setting off a bomb, and so forth.
:When you are hidden from an enemy, it cannot apply active defense bonuses against you, and it takes a -2k2 penalty to defense. To be considered hidden while attacking an enemy, you must either be able to attack from a hidden position directly, or make a single move action after beginning your turn hidden to get into range while remaining out of the enemy's line of sight. This movement requires a successful |stealth| check to avoid giving yourself away. Moving into range of one enemy may give you away to other enemies, but you are still considered hidden from the enemy you're approaching. Even if other enemies shout a warning to your target, since it all happens in one round it can be assumed that the target doesn't have enough time to react, and you still gain the benefits of being hidden.
:Being hidden is a prerequisite for certain [[Legend_of_Zelda_RPG#Techniques|techniques]], such as Sneak Attack.
* |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. As noted in the introduction to this section, this includes all kinds of interactions, including (but not limited to) bullying others into submission, bluffing a superior foe into standing down, making a well-reasoned argument in a debate, telling a convincing lie, or just softening up a particularly standoffish person. The virtue depends on what you're trying to do -- for instance, the above examples would be Power, Courage, Wisdom, Wisdom, and Courage, respectively. Refer to the [[Legend_of_Zelda_RPG#Stats|Stats]] section if you're not sure what virtue best fits a situation.