Overall I'd say demigod is
mostly in a good place.
"No gods" is the most elegant species drawback in the game, and it's no wonder everyone wants to rework demigods in order to steal it. Combined with stats it makes for an interesting but easy to understand character concept--through your personal excellence you can be as strong as an ogre focusing strength, more intelligent than a deep elf focusing intelligence, or more dexterous than a spriggan focusing dexterity (and have better base stats on top of it).
Where it gets complicated is the aptitudes and experience modifiers. New players see the wall of -1's and interpret it as being universally bad. "Was Heracles known for being an unskilled wrestler?" In addition, demigods are the only race where the experience modifier is far enough from the average to be felt by the player.
To an experienced player the aptitude penalties mean being
focused more than being
bad and being one level behind isn't insurmountable, I have to admit it can feel like mummy-lite at times.
So I'd say that demigod is well-balanced mechanically but can feel off. While I don't think it needs extensive changes, I would recommend
1. Slight flavor buffs
Give them back stat preservation and buff their transmutations aptitude from -1 to 0. Stat preservation is a minor unique ability that aligns with the core mechanical concept (good at stats) and transmutations is flavorful but doesn't have a huge effect on balance as going deep into the school is rare. Compare it to demonspawn, where <> break up the wall of -1.
2. Flatten the experience modifier
-2 is the lowest experience modifier in the game. If we assume the XP modifier works like aptitudes (assumption: -2 -> 40% more exp required to level) and compare Dg to a 0 XP modifier species (Gr, Gh, Op...), we see demigods as 0-1 levels behind between XL 1 and 15, 1-2 levels behind between XL 16 and 20, and 2-3 levels behind between XL 21 and 25. This also gives them a weird power curve compared to the other species. Demigods gain additional power in the endgame and postgame because they hit 27 later but aren't making piety gains in the early and midgame. Increasing the modifier to -1 doesn't make them much stronger (one level higher between XL 23 and 26) but it does mean players won't notice being at a level disadvantage. This means demigods have two drawbacks (no gods, mediocre apts) instead of three (no gods, mediocre apts, low level). In the long run I'd even suggest removing experience modifiers entirely, averaging every race to -1/3, as it's a hidden modifier with little effect that's mostly carried over from D&D.
3. Aptitude buffs
Change all weapon and elemental magic apts from -1 to 0. This means players no longer feel like Heracles is bad at wrestling while still holding demigods back vs. human apts, as a spearman still needs fighting and armour and a fire elementalist still needs spellcasting and conjurations. However, this option may be too much and I'm not certain I would recommend it.
Overall I think 1 might be too little and 3 might be too much, but 2 or 1&2 would probably be about right.
Experience table
- Code:
XP -2 modifier -1 modifier 0 modifier
0 1 1 1
14 2 2 2
42 3 3 3
98 4 4 4
196 5 5 5
378 6 6 6
728 7 7 7
1414 8 8 8
2772 9 9 9
5474 10 10 10
10864 11 11 11
21630 12 12 12
40600 13 13 13
67900 14 14 14
103600 15 15 15
147700 16 16 17
200200 17 17 18
261100 18 18 19
330400 19 19 20
408100 20 20 21
494200 21 21 23
588700 22 22 24
691600 23 24 25
802900 24 25 26
922600 25 26 27
1050700 26 27 27
1187200 27 27 27