So, as you could guess I'm referring to the Horns of The Hunt, which is the Relic based around Brands, and my Favorite in terms of design, along with the Eye, the Heart, the Orb and the Crown.
The reason I think a rework of it would be nice is because I find its main mechanic very unreliable: You see, making brands sounds powerful until you realize that all brands crafted are completely random within a frame, it could be fixed by having at least a small control over the positive properties of the brand while having either random disadvantages or requirements. Because otherwise it's like going into The Tower with just a dice of more bad faces then good ones, and a weak Demon! Perhaps I have yet to discover which material Demon Modifiers provide the Brands I need at the right moment, but a lil' control would'nt hurt! Perhaps it can even come as a new form of Relic Upgrade? It starts by just letting you have control over the requirements, then the requirements and disadvantages, then advantages, disadvantages and requirements, at the cost of Credits, or maybe MaxHP for controlling the result! And maybe, It would still be from a pool of properties chosen at random, for you to choose which ones you want and which ones you don't.
I ask that, maybe out of lack of experience, or maybe because it's supposed to be like that. But even playing with that Relic, I have found way better brands than the ones I craft, just lying around that make me insanely more powerful. That's the buff I'd give them in order to make its mechanic viable.
But I thought of something! (Inspiration directly from Digital Devil Saga, Heh!)
Which is a Relic that could allow you to start with an Upgrade that allows you to Transform into Demons!
So, what I thought before coming with the fix of the Brand mechanic, is that this Relic would focus on transforming you into one of the Demons you have in your Stock, allowing you to Keep your Ability Set as is Post-Transform Or Inherit the Ability Set of the Demon you Transformed into, whichever of both you see fit, and will have Your Stats fused with the Demon you used to Transform into, not as in "Your Stats + The Target Demon Stats" way, but more like the "(Target Demon Stats ÷ 2 or 3) + Your Stats = New You Stats" way, of course you can use whatever formula but something among those lines is easier no? ^.^
It might be kind of powerful, so it may be an Upgrade with multiple levels that grants a bit more stats each time, while you're a Demon you can't Summon one Demon and the Demon you transformed into won't be up for Summoning, rendering you to just Two Demons in active party, or the slots progress with Upgrades, starting with one to two at max. And I thought that since you're a Demon in its peak form, you'd also have the instincts of one? I thought of a Hunger Mechanic or something that slowly runs out while in Demon Form, and even slower in Human Form (If you're still considered Human after that, that is), that would keep you moving and fighting, refilling each time you heal, use healing items or eat? Whatever you'd like. But it makes you weaker the more it's empty, until it reaches 0 and you go back to a mere Human, requiring your two demons to defend and feed you back to health and be able to transform once again when it's filled up. Also, to link with Demons you may add if you wish the Requirement of Human Form during the whole duration of the Link to give reasons to revert back to Human, leaving behind the resistances, weaknessess and such of the Demon Form, you can add a cost to Transformation too in the form of HP, SP, or "Hunger" to avoid nonstop reckless Transformation if you'd like. Finally, if it's possible, since the Relic transforms you, maybe the appearance of the Human in game could look like having "Demonic" Traits? As in monstrous hands, affected skin, you know those things that would cause the Relic. Or what I personally would like, a monstrous left arm and monstrous right leg, The player could be balancing on the monster leg!
Personally I think that fits more the theme of accepting no limits, and the Title "of The Hunt", to trascend your human limits and become something more, or less than Human, which of both? That would be for the chosen to determine through the Demons it changes to. It would definitely be one of the more controversial types of Summoner since they may lost their Humanity after being chosen by the Relic, or may have been overtaken completely by their new Forms, of course, the Lore is yours to write, but they may or may not be atleast fully Human if they can transform into Demons wether willingly chosen or not, so if there would be unique Summoners chosen by this Relic, they may have different "Human" forms some more demonic than others. You get the point. Of course, Summoners of this type might be the sort of person that doesn't wants to be or doesn't feels like a Human anymore for whatever reason, they could also be people that wanted to ascend to a "higher plane". Or persons that want more "Freedom" as in "I don't want to be held back anymore by my mortal restraint of a body!", really things I would keep in mind for the Lore of Summoners chosen by this Relic.
And I think that's it for now, I have been looking forward to sharing at least one of my Ideas, mainly this one! I have more, but I'd have to make a more elaborate integration in the game for each one, so I'll keep the rest in my mental box and rest my head for now. Hope you have an awesome day! This project has a lot of potential, and I hope to have added to that potential with the small feedback and suggestion I gave you!
![Mr. Green :mrgreen:](./images/smilies/icon_mrgreen.gif)