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Holy Light (Green Orb+Cross subweapon)

And now let’s rewind the clock to the 11th century, to Castlevania: Lament of Innocence, which is currently the first game in the core timeline of the Castlevania series (I say currently not just because there is the possibility of games taking place before this in the future, but also because LoI actually reconned certain other games into fringe timelines, and Leon Belmont wasn’t always the first vampire-hunting Belmont).

But that’s a story for another day. For now, let’s talk about Leon, because while he wasn’t a mage in any capacity, he was gifted many magical and alchemical items by Rinaldo Gandolfi to aid in his quest to rescue is fiancé from a vampire. These included the Whip of Alchemy, and a gauntlet capable of converting violent attacks into magical energy, and the orbs that could be set in it to empower subweapons.

While the whip would become much more relevant to the series metaplot overall, it is the gauntlet we’ll be focusing on here, as the various ways it can enchant and alter the attacks of various classic castlevania subweapons can definitely be said to resemble spells.

Which is where we get the combination of the green orb and the cross! This combo creates the holy light attack, which conjures a cross-shaped projection of energy that hovers in front of Leon for a second before flying out, damaging all enemies in it’s path, perfect for clearing out the hordes before him.

Smiting Torrent

School evocation ; Level adept 4, antipaladin 4, cleric/oracle 4, inquisitor 4, paladin 4

Casting

Casting Time 1 standard action

Components V, S, M (fur and a glass rod)

Effect

Range 120 ft.

Area 120-ft. line

Duration instantaneous

Saving Throw Reflex half; Spell Resistance yes

Description

You project an image of your holy symbol composed of raw divine essence into the air in front of you, then send it forth at high speed, passing through creatures and passing along the raw divine essence of the power you serve in the area of effect. This spell gains alignment subtypes based on your alignment.

Creatures that have at least one opposing alignment component take 1d8 damage per two caster levels (maximum 5d8). Outsiders that possess a subtype that opposes your alignment take 1d6 damage per caster level (max 10d6) instead. If you are True Neutral, then Lawful Good, Lawful Evil, Chaotic Good, and Chaotic Evil count as opposite to your alignment.

Suzaku/Cardinal Item Crash

Moving on from Juste’s arsenal, let’s take a look at another iconic character from the franchise, one that is playable in the games she appears in, but only as a side mode.

I speak of course of Maria Renard, who first appears as a young girl in Rondo of Blood, and as a young woman in Symphony of the Night. While we’ve previously covered her energy ball spell from the Saturn version of SotN, today we’re going to focus on something a bit more iconic to her arsenal, the item crash of one of her four sacred animal subweapons!

You see, Maria is a talented young mage, far surpassing many adults, and she focuses her magic by invoking the four sacred Chinese beasts of the cardinal directions. These include the tortoise, the tiger, the dragon, and the phoenix.

Normally these conjured animals are small, weaker versions of the animal in question (a cat for the tiger, or a smaller wyrm for the dragon and so on), but by performing an item crash with the subweapon, Marie summons forth the full true form of the guardian beast to unleash havoc on foes.

In the case of Suzaku, sometimes known as Cardinal or Red Bird, the base version of the attack conjures two red birds that fly up at diagonal angles to her left and right before returning, making the weapon useful for taking out foes approaching from high ground. Other versions would have her conjuring attack owls or projecting a pair of wings of flame that fill the same attack area as the standard Suzaku.

The item crash, however, typically conjures up a full-blown phoenix, which either picks up Maria or looms behind her, and unleashes a torrent of burning feathers or fiery projectiles that cover a wide area. It is this that we will be focusing on.

Phoenix Wrath

School evocation [fear, fire]; Level magus 6, occultist 6, shaman 7, sorcerer/wizard 6, witch 7

Casting

Casting Time 1 standard action

Components V, S, M (a pinch of fluff from a phoenix feather)

Effect

Range 60 ft.

Area cone-shaped burst

Duration instantaneous

Saving Throw Will save negates, Reflex half, see text; Spell Resistance yes

Description

Grand Bolt

We’re doing another Spell Fusion of Juste’s today, and this time it is the fusion of the tome of bolts and holy water!

Now, you might assume that such an attack would involve splashing an area and then electrifying the water, but the devs went a different route, instead having this spell unleash a continuous long-lasting bolt of electricity come down from the heavens, sweeping back and forth and devastating all in it’s path.

Now obviously with a whole other dimension of movement in your average ttrpg, this bolt is not nearly as wide-covering, but it can be quite devastating nevertheless if done right, so let’s take a crack at it.

Seething Bolt

School evocation [electricity]; Level druid 9, sorcerer/wizard 9, witch 9

Casting

Casting Time 1 standard action

Components V, S, M/DF (polished glass made from sand struck by lightning)

Effect

Range medium (100 ft. + 10 ft./level)

Effect 100 ft. lightning bolt, 5-ft.-diameter radius

Duration 1 round/level

Saving Throw Reflex negates; Spell Resistance yes

Description

Rose Thrown (Apollo/Mandragora Dual Set System Combo)

And here we have our final spell of the week, and this one comes from a character that seems to have no direct connection to the Belmont Clan at all: Nathan Graves. In Castlevania Circle of the Moon, he quested with his mentor and his best friend to stop the resurrection of Dracula, wielding the Hunter Whip to stop him.

Yes, the Hunter Whip, which is distinct from the Vampire Killer. This magical whip seems to be a lesser weapon, but has plenty of magic of it’s own, able to make use of paired sets of spell cards that a wielder carries on their person in order to create all sorts of magical effects. (and they’re all enemy drops, so the diversity of your move pool and abilities is wholly dependent on your patient grinding. Hooraaaayy…)

These card effect can range from imbuing the whip with elemental power, transforming the whip into different weapons, summoning divine spirits, and so on, but right now let’s focus on the combo of Apollo (grants a special attack based on the other card) and Mandragora (plant, healing, and growth).

This grants the Rose Thrown special attack, which launches a large flowering ball of plant matter in an arc, while also laying down a trail of damaging petals in the air for several seconds afterwards. While it’s not an overly devastating attack on it’s own, the fact the petals linger does make it useful for clocking damage on multiple mobile foes that run into the trail. So let’s take a crack at it.

Rosebloom Blast

School conjuration; Level druid 2, ranger 3, shaman 2, witch 2

Casting

Casting Time 1 standard action

Components V, S, M (a rose blossom)

Effect

Range 30 ft

Area 30-ft. line

Duration 1 round, see text

Saving Throw Reflex half; Spell Resistance yes

Description

I love the Legend of Zelda series, but for all it’s epic stories and fun characters, Nintendo remains deathly allergic to consistent throughline narratives. Even the games that actively tie into the stories of other games do so only vaguely and in ways where nothing from the pervious game really matters. Even the split Zelda timeline was an afterthought and has all but been abandoned by it’s creators what with the Breath of the Wild/Tears of the Kingdom era being so far into the future that what if any timeline it’s meant to be a continuation of being completely irrelevant, and the new games not in that era kinda just vaguely stuck somewhere in the timeline of previous games without any regard to how they fit in or the ramifications of which. (Tell me that anyone on Nintendo’s staff is going to care about the existence of “ancient primordial darkness before light and existence” that is Null in any future Zelda games, I dare you).

I tell you all this because it’s on my mind with the first of this week’s subjects, the Twili. Integral to the plot of Twilight Princess, this group of people only ever appeared in that game and a few dubiously-canon side games.

Then Tears of the Kingdom dropped it’s first trailer, we saw wear teal-colored magic and runes and we as a fanbase were all so certain that the Twili were coming back…

…And then it was revealed to be a new species called the Zonai and are linked to the founding and bloodline of the version of the Kingdom of Hyrule ten thousand years prior during the first Great Calamity, which is again an indeterminate amount of time after anything else in the timeline.

And I mean, they’re neat and all, but I wasn’t the only one disappointed.

Anyway, my lamentations aside, let’s actually talk about the Twili.

So long ago, hard to say when exactly, the ancestors of the Twili, called the Interlopers, were a group of Hylian sorcerers that sought great power, tapping into powerful shadow magic that stained and corrupted everything it touched in an effort to rule all, especially once they set their sight on the Golden Power, also known as the Triforce. The goddesses were not pleased, however, and banished the Interlopers to a shadowy dimension called the Twilight Realm, as well as altering their fundamental nature so that they could not exist fully in the material world as anything but shadows even if they found a way to return.

There in their dimly-lit home, the Twili were slowly changed by the shadows into what they are now, forgotten and unknown to the world of light. That is until a certain prisoner survived his execution and was banished to the Twilight Realm in a desperate maneuver to get rid of him for good, which of course kickstarted the entire plot where light and shadow collided once again.

As an aside, I still feel that the way that TP ended was really dumb. (Girl, being isolated from the rest of reality was exactly how your people were caught off guard by Ganondorf’s manipulation in the first place, and your people are peaceful now, they don’t have to live under the shadow of their ancestor’s mistakes!)

In any case, Twili appear as humanoids with pale, grayish-blue skin, and typically wear black body wrap that blur the line between toga and shawl. Their skin also tend to bear teal rune formations that glow brightly enough to shine through their clothing. They also tend to have red eyes, and red hair.

They also seem to have inherited their ancestor’s penchant for shadow magic, though only a few individuals seem to master it to a notable degree.

Twili

+2 Dexterity, +2 Intelligence, -2 Strength Twili are agile and cunning, but their reliance on magic leaves them a bit underdeveloped physically.

Medium: Twili are Medium creatures and have no bonuses or penalties due to their size.

Normal Speed: Twili have a base speed of 30 feet.

Darkvision: Twili can see in the dark up to 60 feet.

Dark Magic: Twili gain a +1 caster level bonus when casting spells with the darkness or shadow descriptors.

Shadowphase: Most Twili cannot exist fully on the Material Plane. While on the Material plane, they are partially incorporeal, lacking a natural strength score, but only having a 20% chance to ignore damage from nonmagical sources. They can still manipulate objects, but only via magical means, such as telekinesis or by infusing a part of their body with magic, such as the witch’s hair hex. Not all Twili have this ability, having been infused magically with light to stabilize themselves. Such Lightside Twili instead gain a bonus feat of their choice.

Shadow Rider: In a process that takes 1 minute, a Twili can bond with another person’s shadow, becoming one with it. Once bonded, the twili can step into the shadow as a move action, becoming invisible and effectively riding the shadow until they step out again as a move action. The twili cannot perform any actions while riding a shadow, but can still observe their environment. However, they can still be targeted by those that can sense their presence such as with see invisibility or lifesense.

Languages: Twili begin play speaking Common and Twili. Twili with high Intelligence scores can choose from the following languages: Abyssal, Celestial, Goblin, Infernal, Sylvan, and Undercommon.

And with this entry we are now caught up with the timetable! Thank goodness these are relatively short entries.

With that aside, I will confess that today’s subject is what inspired me to put this special in my pool of things to do, because I’ve seen some shockingly good fanart of the Wind Waker version of darknuts, causing me to be inspired to write them and other creatures up.

So, what is a darknut? Darknut as a word has been used to mean a few different things throughout the series, but the general throughline has been “large evil knight”. These have varied between being animated suits of armor, magically mind controlled humans, completely ambiguous due to a lack of in-game explanation and never seeing them without armor, and so on.

The subject of today’s post, however, is perhaps the only time that darknuts have ever been their own expressly different species. I speak of course of the Windwaker/cel-shaded Zelda era.

These Darknuts are imposing and muscular top-heavy figures that at first appear almost human, but as the battle progresses and their armor is stripped away, darknuts are revealed to be humanoid beast folk with pointed canine-like ears, but also blunt faces with prominent noses that blur the line between canine and feline snout, giving them a unique look.

Of course, there is no explanation given for these beastfolk darknuts, as they only appear in Wind Waker (though The Minish Cap has Darknuts with the same armor design, but we don’t see them lose their armor to my knowledge in those games, so that’s not confirmed.

My theory is that in Ocarina of Time, Ganondorf perfected the process that created the related enemies: Iron Knuckles from unwilling human subjects, transforming them into beasts that retained the martial skill of the humans transformed. However, he never got to properly implement them until he broke free in the aftermath of OoT’s adult timeline, only for the kibosh to be put on them again when the Goddesses drowned Hyrule, locking it in stasis beneath the unnatural ocean that serves as the setting of Wind Waker.

As Ganon broke free once again and plotted, his bestial darknut creations began to breed true, and create a society all their own, though still beholden to their master for the time being, though since Ganon is kinda sorta permanently defeated in Windwaker (until things veer back in BoW, if you subscribe to the unified timeline explanation) I could see them becoming their own people.

Like all other version of darknuts, however, these bestial warriors are formidable opponents, training in the art of combat from a young age to not just block and strike, but also improvise with multiple fighting styles, as we’ve seen them go hand to hand when deprived of their weapons, and other versions of Darknuts switch to lighter blades when stripped of their heavier armor.

I imagine that post-Ganon darknuts are a warrior society, aloof and mighty, valuing strength, mastery, and honor above all things.

+2 Strength, +2 Wisdom, -2 Intelligence Darknuts are strong and insightful, but they place little value on intellectual pursuits Medium: Darknuts are Medium creatures and have no bonuses or penalties due to their size. Normal Speed: Darknuts have a base speed of 30 feet. Darkvision: Darknuts can see in the dark up to 60 feet. Armor Training: Darknuts reduce the armor check penalty of wearing armor by 1 and the arcane spell failure chance of worn armor by 5%. These reductions stack with those granted by the masterwork quality, class features, and feats.

Martial Flexibility: Once per day, darknuts can grant themselves access to a single combat feat they meet the prerequisites for 1 minute as the brawler class feature of the same name. If the darknut takes levels in brawler, they count as one level higher for the purposes of the effects of that class feature, and treat the usage of this ability as an additional use of the class feature.

And we’ll end off this week with a bit of a weird one, not just because this species has only shown up twice in the series, but also because yetis already exist in Pathfinder, though with a very different premise defining them.

In Pathfinder, yetis are bestial but still sapient and civilized primates living in the high mountains of the world, particularly the northern lands, where they take it upon themselves to watch for existential threats due to how thin the barriers between worlds are in the high altitudes and remote places, protecting the rest of the world from threats that they will never even notice.

…But of course, yetis, while wise to the evils that sometimes leak through, are not immune to it’s corruption and mind-warping horror, so some occasionally become unstable and wicked, and are exiled from their homes, in doing so inspiring the stories that other ancestries have of monstrous yetis plaguing the icy reaches. (way to pass the buck to us, Yeti culture. I get that you don’t want to kill your own, but people are dying)

However, in The Legend of Zelda, yetis have no self or divinely-imposed mandate like that. In fact, in a world where the divine touches nearly everything, and almost everything fantastical that isn’t so blessed is a demon or monster, yetis stand out as an odd man out, living out peaceful lives in the high mountains, only briefly coming into contact with the smaller peoples. They have their own interests, thoughts, ambitions, and even sense of humor. (Try and tell me that “Are you searching for your true self/enlightenment? You look long time! Ha!” Is not funny as heck).

Yetis are many things. Kind, thoughtful, loving, somewhat unaware of their own strength, and potentially fearsome foes, but ultimately, just people. (People that can live in abandoned frozen manors filled with monsters and feel perfectly safe, but people nevertheless. Seriously, if Yeta hadn’t been fine after the Blizzeta boss fight in TP, Link may have been in serious danger from Yeto.)

Hyrulian Yeti

+4 Strength, +2 Wisdom, -2 Charisma: Yetis are powerful and insightful, but rarely have contact with most other peoples.

Large: Yetis are Large creatures and take a -1 size penalty to their AC, a -1 size penalty on attack rolls, a +1 bonus on combat maneuver checks and to their CMD, and a -4 size penalty on Stealth checks. A Green Martian takes up a space that is 10 Feet by 10 feet, and has a reach of 5 feet.

Normal Speed: Yetis have a base speed at 30 feet.

Energy Resistance: Yetis gain resistance to cold 5

Mountainkin: Yetis gain a +2 bonus to Acrobatics checks to climb and to Stealth checks to hide in snowy environments. They are also immune to altitude sickness.

Snow-Adapted: Yetis ignore difficult terrain from snow and ice.

Thick Fur: Yetis possess thick fur. They gain a +1 natural armor bonus and ignore the effects of cold and severe cold, and have a +2 bonus to Fortitude saves in extreme cold.

Languages: Yetis begin play speaking Yeti. Yetis with high Intelligence scores can choose any languages from the following list. Aklo, Common, Elven, Sylvan

Moving away from monsters, let’s talk about Koroks. If you’re my age your first memories of them were probably Wind Waker and learning that they were the new forms that the Kokiri took in the Great Sea timeline when Forest Haven and the Lost Woods became further isolated by becoming islands. If you’re younger, you probably instead remember “YAHAHA, YOU FOUND ME!” every time you completed a suspicious looking puzzle involving targets, rocks, or stone blocks in the overworld.

Much like the Rito, the presence of Koroks is a bit of a continuity snarl in the far future of the timeline, but one more easily explained away. While the mystery of how there are both Rito and Zora in BotW and TotK is harder to explain, one can assume that even without the Great Flood the Kokiri just… Decided to become little wood sprites rather than resemble human children anymore for some reason.

On the other side of things, it would be remiss to not mention the bird and fruit-like Kikwi in Skyward Sword. Are they a previous form taken by the Kokiri? If so, does that make Parella ancestors of the Zora (and how does that work, going from being invertebrate jellyfish/cephalopods to vertebrate fish people?)

As always, the sad answer remains “Don’t think about it too hard. The developers sure aren’t”.

But anyway, let’s go over what we DO know about Koroks.

Long before there were koroks, the Kokiri, sometimes known as the Forest Children, dwelled in the Deku Forest (or Faron Woods, depending on the era) after humans left the forest at the end of Skyward Sword. (The humans not living in Skyloft used the forest as cover to hide from Demise’s forces and monsters), seemingly moving into the places where they once lived. It’s possible during this time they took on childlike forms to put humans at ease during this time.

Most of the time, the Kokiri were content to hide from mortals, only rarely appearing to them. During the era of the Hero of Time, the Kokiri were apparently unable to leave the forest without aging and dying, which seems to have been because their guardian, the Great Deku Tree, was getting old and later infested by evil monsters, weakening his divine protection, which was later renewed by the sprouting of the next Great Deku Tree, allowing them to leave as they chose.

However, after the Great Flood in the Adult Timeline, the Kokiri shed their human-like forms, becoming oddly shaped wooden fey-like creatures akin to ambulatory stumps or oddly-shaped tree trunks, with faces formed by various different leaves with holes resembling eyes and mouths. Additionally, these Koroks make distinctive rattling noises as they move, as if they were a hollow wooden rattle or maraca-like instrument.

This new form could never be mistaken for human, but it seems to lack the same weakness the Kokiri had to the proximity to the Great Deku Tree, allowing them to travel far and wide on the wind to tend to the trees and foliage of the islands, which was their new role.

In the far future, the koroks still seem to work to spread healthy plant life far and wide, though they also seem to just enjoy setting up games of hide and seek with special conditions for revealing themselves.

All of this makes for a playful, childlike but still quite responsible people.

+2 Constitution, +2 Wisdom, -2 Dexterity. Koroks are tough and insightful, but their wooden bodies are a bit stiff

Type: Koroks are of the Fey type with the Korok subtype

Size: Koroks are Small creatures and thus gain a +1 size bonus to their AC, a +1 size bonus on attack rolls, a –1 penalty to their Combat Maneuver Bonus and Combat Maneuver Defense, and a +4 size bonus on Stealth checks.

Base Speed: Koroks have a base speed of 20 feet.

Low-Light Vision: Koroks can see twice as far as humans in conditions of dim light.

Deku Familiarity: Koroks are used to using the forest’s bounty to their advantage. They gain a +1 bonus on attack rolls with wooden weapons, as well as on attack rolls to throw splash weapons and magic items primarily made of plant matter, such as certain magical plants and alchemical weapons.

Korok Magic: Koroks can cast invisibility once per day, using their character level as their caster level.

Korok Seeds Koroks can magically charge a seed with vital energies. Once per day, a korok can replicate the effects of using a tree feather token, conjuring a tree.

Leaf Flight: Koroks know how to get around in the air with magically grown plants. They gain the ability to glide using a giant conjured leaf as the glide spell as an at will ability. At 7th level they can instead use the leaf to fly as the fly spell 1/day. At 14th level, they can instead use it as overland flight 1/day. A korok must have one hand free to use any version of this ability.