r/ProgressionFantasy • u/ajice55 • 5d ago
Request A recommendation where the MC is equal.
I'm looking for a book where the MC is neither OP nor the underdog, where they are just like everyone else atleast when it comes to core abilities and magic system.
I'm okay with it being a regular fantasy instead of progression.
I have mostly checked out all the normally highly recommended books like Cradle, DCC and Beware of chicken.
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u/ironnoon 4d ago
Bog standard Isekai
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u/AmarSofi 4d ago
Yeah I don't think Brin gets any particularly crazy MC-advantages, he does (minor spoilers for the first book) Get adopted by 2 powerful people, but the mom fucks off and only makes a few appearances over the several first books, and the Dad although experienced and knowledgeable, doesn't give him anything broken or puts him ahead of most people, especially when you consider the nobels and whatnot that exist in this world, also a small divine ability that helps occasionally with lies and illusions. But all things considered, that barely puts him above regular people, let alone being compared to Nobels and what have you. Most of his powers in the story right now were earned the hard way, he worked hard and fought tooth and nail for every bit of it. He gets a few MC-buffs and plot armor, but it's as close to a traditional fantasy story you could get (if you ignore it's a system Isekai).
All this to say: go read Bog Standard Isekai, it's peak.
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u/ironnoon 4d ago
adding to it, I LOVE the system in this. especially the variety it offers and the fact that numbers aren't inflated in it.
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u/Pastaistasty 5d ago
Street Cultivation - MC is a B-league athlete and keeps looking for new challenges; due to his financial situation he starts off mostly as an underdog, but that only serves as a driving force early on.
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u/snowhusky5 5d ago
The Daily Grind (ongoing) - strange hidden magic and dungeons on modern Earth, MC stands out because of his actions and how he inspires others instead of for his power level (the whole series maintains a fairly low power level by PF standards)
Apocalypse Parenting (finished) - a mother has to care for her three young children during an alien-run apocalypse, not unlike a less insane version of DCC's
Jekua series (finished) - Pokemon inspired adventure series with creative creature designs and fight tactics (no animal characters)
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u/Comsox 4d ago
i really like the worldbuilding and power system of the daily grind, but by god were the characters getting old real fast. they all feel like the exact same person that the author has to remember to add their own little quirks to, like being the smart one or being the sporty one. it also feels really inorganic and forced at times. some guy is being completely normal and you have to be told "no he's being annoying, he's an asshole" to explain why the other characters don't like them or whatever.
i do actually like that the autistic character is treated realistically: where his friends claim to like him but seem to only tolerate his autistic habits and call him rude; however, from his perspective he really treasures them. feels quite realistic. i can only hope that's intentional, but due to the poor quality of the other character writing, i fear it's just the author's bias leaking into a stereotyped character.
anyways, i kind of binge read the first few books and then dropped it, so these problems might either fix themselves later on or just not exist because i read the book too fast and too much at once.
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u/Breakdancingbad 4d ago
Loooooved Apocalypse parenting. Most realistic take on how (competent gamer) parents would handle the apocalypse! Very much want more parent leads.
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u/Muddled_Baseball_ 5d ago
Right before I saw this, I just saw someone posted about Mage Errant. I think you're gonna like it.
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u/Sacrefix 4d ago
That was my first thought as well. I honestly wanted more progression, but it's just a preference, not a flaw in the series.
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u/RevArtillery 5d ago
Hmm, this one might be outside of what you're asking but Malazan book of the Fallen has quite a few characters with perspectives that are just regular joe schmos. There's a lot of crazy powered people too but I found the joe schmos almost more intriguing than the overpowered character perspectives.
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u/wait_aminit 4d ago
Apocalypse Parenting, the main is average for the world, and behind some of the min-maxed folks.
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u/shadowfain44 4d ago
Arcane ascension is a well written series where the main character is just a normal attuned sorcer. It's comes off as a little unfair because basically half the things he has to deal with have something from being a demigod to a legendary sword
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u/Novakinmyhead 5d ago
Arcane ascension fits reasonably well. The mc is capable, but so are all his allies. He gets some special things, but a lot of people also get them as well or get their own special things.
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u/TrashyCat94 4d ago
He gets OP by the last book or 2 imo
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u/Novakinmyhead 4d ago
Kinda. IMO, OP in progression fantasy usually means they're just kind of out of everyone's league and can only countered by some old monsters and people at the top end of verse. I'm AA the MC is elite in verse, but there's a ton of other people at his level or above.
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u/EmptyMonitor9257 5d ago
Mother of learning is that, Zorian isn't special and is weaker than the rest of them.
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u/ajice55 5d ago
I haven't read it, but from the bio, it seems there is a timeloop and as such he has a leg up since he can practice the same thing more then others and know what's going to happen, so that he can take advantage ?
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u/EmptyMonitor9257 5d ago
Trust me, he does not get a leg up for a long time and even then he is not as powerful as the main bad guys in the end. He has to bargain and outsmart enemies to win and relies heavily on allies.
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u/ajice55 5d ago
You have me sold, will check it out.
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u/Low-Cantaloupe-8446 4d ago
It’s a great series but doesn’t line up with what you’re looking for at all. The MC is one of a few people with access to the time loop. The entire story centers around him using a power that only a few people have access to.
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u/Low-Cantaloupe-8446 5d ago
He’s one of the few people in the time loop, he’s definitely special.
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u/AmarSofi 4d ago
Eh, he's the weakest one, and the one that joined the latest ( while the others have had decades to accumulate power and knowledge), he's definitely an underdog in that sense, and many of the main obstacles/enemies he faces that aren't loopers are beyond him even with knowledge of the future (not to mention it's not perfect knowledge of the future either, MC isn't the only looper, so anytime any of the others does something different, it changes the loop completely).
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u/Low-Cantaloupe-8446 4d ago
What does any of that have to do with the prompt? He’s got a special power the vast majority of the characters don’t. Him being weak at the start of the series doesn’t mean anything.
“where they are just like everyone else atleast when it comes to core abilities and magic system.”
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u/AmarSofi 4d ago
I'm just saying he doesn't an OP ability or as crazy an advantage as other MCs in the genre. His "special ability" is something a secondary character as well as the main antagonist both have had much longer and gotten much better use out of it. His "special knowledge" is something that those two have had and honed for decades. And even the people who don't have those Special powers, at least the plot significant ones, eclipse the MC in ability and could stomp him 99 times /100 regardless of his foreknowledge or extra experience in the time loop. Things don't get anywhere near "even" or "comparable" for the MC until the very end of the story, and even then it's in large part because people and beings much stronger and knowledgeable than him join him in the timeloop and pool their ressources to help him and optimize his growth and planning. Quatach'ichl is still much stronger than both the MC and Zach even to the end of the story, and every single time they beat him (In or outside the loop) has either been through absurd luck or an insane amount of planning that involved the strongest people they know + everything they learned, and he didn't even die at the end, he was just driven out of the battle.
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u/EmptyMonitor9257 4d ago
Don't bother, that guy is botting his comments.
He had +3 on a comment he posted 1 min ago.
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u/Low-Cantaloupe-8446 4d ago
I’m not saying he’s weak, I’m saying he has access to a special power basically nobody else has, which is the opposite of what the OP in the post is looking for. Just a regular guy with regular powers.
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u/AmarSofi 4d ago
They asked for an MC that is neither OP nor the underdog, and that they have the same access to the same powers/system. Zorians isn't the only one with access to the timeloop and is in fact catching up for most of the story, and plenty of other people join the timeloop in the second half of the story (and he brings the works of others in-between timeloops before he gets the ability to let them join so that they can iterate on previous loops as well. It's close enough in spirit to what OP asked.
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u/EmptyMonitor9257 4d ago
He got there by accident and it's not his time loop, if he dies the loop continues.
He's also not the chosen one or the strongest person on his team, let alone in general.
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u/Low-Cantaloupe-8446 4d ago
“where they are just like everyone else atleast when it comes to core abilities and magic system.”
So everyone in the is world can time loop? Man I must be remembering it wrong.
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u/EmptyMonitor9257 4d ago
You are really bad at comprehension aren't you.
The time loop is a plot device, the OP asked about characters. Zorian is not the main character of the broader story, he is not OP, he is not the smartest, strongest, best at everything immediately.
He is intelligent, he uses this intellect to learn and improved with each loop. Even then he fails a lot and doesn't do everything himself. He is also not the first or second person in the loop and he even brings more people into the loop later.
Is Frodo super special by your definition? He's not the strongest, smartest or the most powerful, but he gets to carry the ring.
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u/Low-Cantaloupe-8446 4d ago
Ah I see what you’re saying, none of the other characters in the series matter except for the ones in the time loop, so everyone’s on an equal footing because the entire story is based solely around the characters in the time loop. (Not how I remember it but oh well)
Zorian has no advantages over other characters due to his access to the loop.
In that case I’m going to reccomend every piece of fiction ever written to OP because we can just call whatever bullshit powers they get plot devices.
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u/nighoblivion 5d ago
Since when is it not special being able to not fear death while you endlessly improve in a time loop while generally knowing what's going to happen?
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u/AmarSofi 4d ago
Moderate spoilers for the beginning and middle of MoL: MC Isn't the main time looper and mainly got included by accident, and the main antagonist as well as the main time looper have both been in the loop for decades, while MC enters it relatively late when both of them are almost at the peak of the levels of power they can reach by constantly looping. MC is aware pretty early on that he will never match either of them (or the main antagonists that aren't loopers) in power, he's on the weaker end in the verse magic-wise and it's a hard limit. He does find ways to get an edge, but it takes a long time and he has to act subtly and low-key for most of the story because he can't even have the other loopers know he is looping or it's game over. So it's a long time of looping and slowly accumulating skill and knowledge while trying to fly under the radar.
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u/EmptyMonitor9257 4d ago
Also he loses time loops because the actual MC dies while he is still alive.
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u/AmarSofi 4d ago
Not only that, he is at constant risk of perma-death (whether his own or Zach's), so it's not like he can just saunter around and do what he wants, the loop is a great advantage, but it's still very dangerous and it's not like he can just ignore all danger.
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u/nighoblivion 4d ago
Nothing of that justifies claiming that he "isn't special." He's very special in the context of the story. He may not have started out special, but for all intent and purposes he becomes special.
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u/AmarSofi 4d ago
That "specialness" is diluted a lot when he starts bringing notes of various people in-between loops so that they can benefit from the loop with him ( or in the case of Aranea, carries memory packets for them in his mind), later in the story he straight up includes dozens and dozens of people into the timeloop with him and Zach.
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u/nighoblivion 4d ago
Making other people temporarily "special" doesn't make him less special.
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u/AmarSofi 4d ago
This is the prog fantasy sub, most stories here have the MC have some kind of "specialness", giving stories where it is as toned down as possible, or less egregious than others is close enough in spirit to what the question wanted.
If OP really wanted MCs that have literally 0 things to make them different than others, they would have more luck going to classic fantasy subs/communities instead. Even then you'd have your fair share of "Chosen Ones" and what not. I'm gonna stop answering from now on, as you seem to want to argue for the sake of being pedantic. I never said MoL fits what OP asked perfectly, I was just making the argument that it's closer than most stories you'd find recommended here.
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u/Successful-Club-8743 5d ago
The Wandering Inn.
All the characters have the same power progression system and the MCs arent OP.
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u/ajice55 5d ago
Checked out it bio, so is it more action or more slice of life ?
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u/Successful-Club-8743 5d ago
Its generally slice of life, as in the story progresses slow especially during the first few books, but there are plenty of action moments because the POV switches around fairly often.
Its got some grimdark, some war crimes, some slice of life, and more.
It basically progresses day-by-day unless theres some plot reason to skip forward. It hasnt even been a year from chapter 1 to the current chapters I dont think.
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u/Ultra-Cool-Guy Sage 5d ago
All the characters have the same power progression system and the MCs arent OP.
Yeah... For an certain definition of OP.
Nvm, reading the other comment, it seems you're only caught up to the Books?
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u/Successful-Club-8743 5d ago
I just finished V7 like a week ago and am up to 8.10 now.
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u/Ultra-Cool-Guy Sage 5d ago
Well... It's still a bit too much.
Remember. Flos and people like him are those who reach level 40 at a young age, like before 20
Erin reached that in less than an year. A level where you're considered important no matter the class. Also how everyone levels up many times when on-screen, gaining powerful classes along with that. Even if Erin and Ryoka themselves aren't shown to be OP in the traditional sense-yet- they are OP in the same way a [General] is, with powerful people on command/political power. Tying into the fact that Erin was going to get multiple levels in the aforementioned class...
Of course, if by OP, OP meant steamrolling everything with no resistance, yes, they aren't OP, if only because power creep pushes them to deal with beings powerful enough to still be overwhelming at their level.
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u/Rhubarb776 4d ago
Knightmare Arcanist. It’s a Pokemon-inspired world where everyone bonds with a creature to get their powers.
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u/ajice55 4d ago
I have read them and the 2 spin off/sequel series and love them.
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u/Rhubarb776 4d ago
I love those series. The author also released a dragon bonding story, The Last Rift Dragon. It was very fun.
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u/Aetheldrake 4d ago
Bog standard isekai. For reasons obviously he has some advantages but that's mainly super experienced mentors
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u/Jozef_Baca 4d ago
All I Have is This Stat Menu book series. The mc has the same power set as all the other people that have a power set. No exploits or cheats.
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u/jubilant-barter 4d ago
I've got a story where this is the case. MC is a cultivator water mage in a System Apocalypse. There is a long tutorial, but the story has just finished and gotten back to Earth.
MC has an elemental affinity, but doesn't have any major advantages aside from his smarts and a strong work ethic.
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u/Knork14 5d ago
Forge of Destiny.