Skeletal Defense

Skeletal Defense
Type	Defensive Technique
Fields	Stalfos, Transform, Undead
Cost	Normal Cost P5: 40 rupees P4: 50 rupees P3: 60 rupees P2: 70 rupees P1: 80 rupees Rent: 10 rupees

Skeletal Defense is a defensive technique, and a exclusive racial perk for Stalfos. As such, a Stalfos can choose to gain it as a perk upon character creation. Since this is an exclusive perk, other races normally cannot acquire it as a treasure.

At will, the Stalfos can momentarily break the magic which holds his bones together. If done so at just the right moment, this can prevent an otherwise lethal strike. If an explosive is thrown right in the Stalfos' face, for instance, he can activate this technique to allow himself to be blown apart; when a sword threatens to chop his spine in half, he can let his body drop to have the steel slice harmlessly between vertebrae. In exchange for this momentary protection, however, the Stalfos regains only control of his head for about ten seconds. Any damage which doesn't destroy bones outside of his skull is harmless, but his vulnerable skull can only hop around on its jaw until he summons enough strength to reform. The reforming process is relatively quick, and uses unseen forces to snap all the bones back into their proper slots.

As a general limitation, a Stalfos has difficulty using this technique in rapid succession. It can generally only be used about once a minute.

Trivia

The Skeletal Defense treasure canonically appears in the Zelda series, initially in A Link to the Past. It was never given an official name, however.