First of all, yeah, this time it is 'REALLY' the final post. Yeah... (Sorry for contradicting myself, awkward)
Anyways, I have decided against going for the "Special monster".
Reasons:
- While the special transformation monster sounds like an epic idea(seriously), it will force the protag to rape. A lot. Yeah, if this was Japan, it would be a maybe, but this is scribble-hub, and explicitly describing rape isn't their cup of tea, even if the female enjoys it physically or develops a Stockholm Syndrom.
- It is too cheat-like and hard to implement. I think that this idea would have worked well if this was, say, a video game where the protagonist in the real-life somehow got stock in a digitalized game world, and he would be a BUG. But, I don't wanna create a digitalized world, so I need to be a tad bit more realistic.
- My lack of imagination: Sorry, I am just but one guy, and starting to search up hundreds of monster skills is, well, kind of hard.
However, I also noticed that more than half of you wanted to pick it as well, so I decided on a middle ground.
Getting blown up, and turning into a lust-type weak-ass demon lesser-imp. (Yes, it has a ding dong. Hurray. (monotone))
He will now need to climb up and re-evolve into a lesser incubus.
Now, about the so-called "cheats", the thing that makes the mc unique. Or rather, an accidental self-given cheat. I have 3 ideas in total.
- Race + class. I trust you know what I am talking about here. That means the mc enjoys the unique perks of both monster and enlightened race, with other monsters illogically not being able to enjoy it. You can also freely walk in the material plane without being rejected. It is a mixture of all three options.
- Potential unrestrained: This one is more original. In this scenario, the demons of hell follow a strict hierarchy, where their skill trees are forcefully restrained from birth by higher-up demons on the ladder, with the princes of hell(as you may call them) at the top of the food chain. Our protag, being a self-created demon due to a freak accident, isn't restrained by any power or means, threatening a delicate balance that lasted thousands of years. He is also unrestrained in the material plane, unlike his fellow demons who need special means to stay there.
- Unrejected: Due to your soul originally belonging to the material plane, even in your demonic form, the plane does not reject you, and you are left unrestrained to walk among mortals. This gives you a very huge advantage, as demons feed on mortal desires, and you do not need to fear for your life in the dangerous and hellish plane of the demons. Though, do watch out for those crazy zealots of the church and demon cultists who want to destroy or enslave you.
Important Notes:
As you can imagine, "race + class" unique only to the mc is generic, cheat, and, rather BORING. Although it is a logical and non-heaven-defying cheat, it is still a cheat. And I trust some of you are tired of that trope. That is why I WON'T do this one.
Now, for "potential unrestrained". In this case, all the humanoid demons have the potential to pick a class of their own like humans but are blocked by the higher-up demons to prevent Regicide. This makes it super hard for them to evolve into the high-born races, forcing most of them to begrudgingly evolve into less powerful and more common races. Demon nobility, on the other hand, possesses the ability to have a class and is barely restrained in their evolutionary pattern, only blocked from certain key evolutions and classes. The more noble a demon is, the more unrestrained he is. Our protag isn't restrained by this or by any power, however, which will cause a series of events that would shake the world, and hell itself.
Finally, for "Unrejected", all demons have unrestrained potential, but because of the competitive nature of hell, and because many of the lesser ones are dumbnuts, few of them manage to rise through the ladder of power. That is why many of them drool over the prospect of entering the material world through contracts and the such, to obtain a safer environment to grow stronger and wiser on an instinctive level. Our protag, however, doesn't need such things, as he already belongs to the plane. Still, he needs to be careful, as a demon on the loose isn't exactly a welcome sight, especially for the "good-aligned" churches.
Well, you are free to pick as you want.
To be completely honest, I don't think any of those options are a "cheat." Going by your earlier pages the biggest cheat you have mentioned so far would be having access to a "shop" where the mc can use points to buy skills and things.
Option 1 makes sense cause he is a hybrid and already had a class previously. Plus the class would have synergy with what he would become. Going from a warlock to a demon, some spells would naturally carry over and he would still have access to mana. Mana wouldn't change. The spell structures wouldn't change.
Now I will say this would be different if he was a priest or paladin. In such cases his new demonic nature would make him lose those classes. There would also be weaknesses to this too though. Sure he gained the strength of a demon, he would also gain its weaknesses. Weakness to holy magic/light magic. Having damage done when walking on blessed ground or holy items. Losing access to holy healing magic.
Option 2 unrestrained also goes with the thing mentioned above. His human free will should be able to fight off against the control of the demon hierarchy to an extent. Now I don't think it would make sense if he was an imp defying a demon king or high noble, but it would certainly make sense for him to be able to resist low level demons and then the resistance to stronger ones grows as he grows in strength.
Option 3 I have mixed opinions on. Part of me agrees but parts do not. What I agree with is the material world would not instantly reject him. He is born of the mortal world and should be seen as its kid. However, does that mean the demon world would see him like that? I think that the demon world should be the one that is rejecting him. . . . at least at first.
The other opinion/thought I had is that at first the world should welcome him but that could change with his actions. Maybe he does something that spreads demon corruption to the land, the world would then begin to reject him. On the other hand what if he finds a corrupted land/item and absorbs it to grow his own strength or just cleanses it with hell fire? I think the world would like him even more. This idea depends completely on which side the mc goes to.
Does he retain his humanity = unrejected.
Does he embrace his demonic side and spreads corruption(more than just people to land) = rejection
Or does he find balance between the two = world indifference
Best of luck,
-Buu
Adding this on because its after the fact thought. Continuation of the thought of option 1 being viable.
So the mc is transforming into the demon right? He is not reincarnating or anything like that?
If he reincarnated into the monster I could see him losing his classes. The reincarnation is a do over. . . but he isn't restarting. He is just transforming into a different being.
Continuing with that thought is what he is transforming into. If the creature was a monster that does not usually have a class, so low intelligence/more beastly (Wolf, slime, dragon, griffin, lion, basilisk, etc etc) then I could see him losing the class because these animal/monsters do not normally possess them.
But the mc is turning into a demonkin. I would say demonkin would fit into the same category as goblins, orcs, vampires, orges, minotaurs, kobolds, oni, etc etc. These humanoid monsters usually have different classes like humans do. How advanced these classes are depend on the monsters intelligence. Would find it very strange to have an orge archmage/elementist but normal to see an orge shaman.
Oh, yeah, I already planned on him keeping his class, he just losses his human skill tree, and it is replaced with a demon skill tree.
Humanoids all have a Race skill tree, and a Class skill tree. As for "multi-classing", I will allow an "unclassed" section, that will allow the people to have choices where they can learn and/or choose different skills. Depending on the choices they made, they can pick a class, and only ONE class.
How versatile a class can get? Very. Someone who picks warrior and blacksmithing skills can become a "Trainee of the martial forge"(cringe). Someone who takes pickings from all skills can become a "Jack of all trades" literally.
Also, race and class are semi-dependent, as you noticed. A goblin can become a paladin(Though such a thing would be rather weird.) but an undead/demon might opt for something like an unholy paladin.
As for magic, all living beings have the "potential" to cast magic, but their potential varies. Like in dnd, if you are smart enough, you can cast spells. Similarly, if you have magic blood in you (Fey, demon, celestial, etc.) then you can have an easier time acquiring a magic class. However, even if you fulfill the requirements, you will also need spell knowledge outside the skill tree to unlock the classes.
Though, like I said in previous posts, if you sign a contract with a powerful being, you can become his warlock, his agent. Basically, that student who sleeps with his professor to get an A in class.
@bignt Never played DnD board games but played plenty of video games based on it.
If you want with with skills you could go with something like the system in Elder Scrolls: Oblivion. In that game you picked a class(or 7 skills) and they increase faster that the any others. So if someone picked a mage class they could still learn/increase blade skills, it would just be harder/more time consuming. Less "cheats" to learn it fast.
Like how you also put with the warlock class its a powerful being. So many people automatically think Demon but the class is really for any higher being. So it could be a Djinn for example. . . A spirit that in some fantasy is known for trying to screw over the people who make wishes/deals with them. . . Oh you want a chest full of gold, sure let me get that for you. *Either chest appears 10 feet above their head and crushes them or it is cursed gold*