What class is good for going from random villager to demi-god over levels 1-20?

[Rfkannen]

A friend of mine is starting an online campaign soon and I can't pick which class I want to play

The point of the campaign is starting off as random schlumps who do very minor adventurers like save a farmhouse from a flock of crows or something, and slowly build the stakes up until we are "mighty heroes" saving the world and punching great old ones in the face. The campaign is going to start at homebrew level .5 and go all the way to 20.

So yeah, starting of as a really mundane weak character and becoming a demigod.
My problem is, I want to start of boring and become cool. So if I was a fighter that would be good at low level, be a completely average joe, a town guard or something, but at high level your not that much grander, your still mostly hitting people with your weapon. Now with a sorcerer at high level you are rewriting reality and thats super cool, but backstory wise even a level 1 sorcerer has something which makes them "more" than a commoner. and im not sure which class gets the best balance of being normal at low level and epic at high level.

Oh also, we aren't starting off as adventures, just people who happen to be in the town. Either someone who lives there (like a baker or gaurdsman) or something like a wizards apprentice who's master is looking for a rare herb in the area.

What class do you think would be good for starting off mundane and winding up epic?

[DarthPenance]

Well, the feeling of starting from nothing and becoming a demigod, probably sorcerer, most magic classes achieve the
demigod status at high levels, and he could discover a secret lineage showing his powers or something. Another possibilities are Bard and Warlock, for similar reasons.

[SharkForce]

I think you could make monk work. you certainly won't be as much of a god as, say, a level 20 wizard or druid, but I would say that the kinds of things you can do definitely changes a lot more as you gain levels for a monk than for a fighter.

[Phoenix042]

Definitely go with Paladin.

At the very early levels, you're basically a fighter who knows how to patch up some injuries in a pinch and hit harder than normal when he needs to.

Your divine sense could just be a really good intuition.

But then...

By 20th level, you're a shining beacon of hope and justice, capable of briefly becoming an angelic figure with mighty power, whose sword is the bane of all things that live in the darkness.

Paladin is perfect for this.

[Arcangel4774]

Demigod aren't always magical entities. You could play Hercules out easily as a barbarian and hyppolyta would make a good fighter

[Trampaige]

Bard?

You're just a humble, homeless-if-not-for-your-girlfriend dude who practices air guitar long and hard enough to eventually permanently become a dragon, raise the dead, and re-write reality with a chord.

Roleplay not having spells at lvl1 if you have to, or spend some time only casting spells where the line between music and magic is highly blurred. Or accept that by lvl2 (300 exp), every single class that can cast spells except for eldritch knight and arcane trickster has magic.

[Lawful Good]

Definitely go with Paladin.

At the very early levels, you're basically a fighter who knows how to patch up some injuries in a pinch and hit harder than normal when he needs to.

Your divine sense could just be a really good intuition.

But then...

By 20th level, you're a shining beacon of hope and justice, capable of briefly becoming an angelic figure with mighty power, whose sword is the bane of all things that live in the darkness.

Paladin is perfect for this.

100%. I have never seen a more perfect place for a paladin. At level 1, you're a city guard with a strong sense of right and wrong. By the end, you control life and death.

[ThurlRavenscrof]

I agree with monk and paladin. Both classes have a lot of crazy passive abilities and surviability at high levels that seems very Demi-god to me

[Rfkannen]

Monk and paladin sound good! What paths would you suggest?

[Yagyujubei]

Monk and paladin sound good! What paths would you suggest?

hmm...if you're willing to work with them and tweak a couple powers/rules here or there any would work just fine. Paladin is totally fine as is with any of the standard paths becoming incredibly powerful without much help.

monk i think you would need to maybe give out a few homebrewed items or tweak some of the abilities to really make them feel like "demigods". elements monk is kinda broken but could fit the bill if you worked out some of its flaws, shadow monk could make a cool anti-hero avatar of some god of night or darkness and i think just tweaking shadow step to use basic movement instead of eating a bonus action once he gets to epic levels would be powerful but not broken...open hand im not sure what you would do since that class is like 100% physical prowess

[JellyPooga]

Thief Rogue.

You don't get much lower than "gutter rat" as a starting point. Sure, you have a knack for getting into places and creeping around (Expertise in Thieves Tools and Stealth) and you know how to kick a guy in the goolies (1d6 Sneak Attack), but you're just a survivor. Nothing special.

By level 20, you can literally move and act twice as fast as other men (Thiefs Reflexes), can wield the artefacts of any Race or profession (UMD), are beyond compare in your chosen fields (Expertise gives you +12 in 4 different skills before adding Ability Score mods...other mortals only have +11 with proficiency and a maxed out Ability Score. Reliable Talent means you can't get below a 22 in any check involving those four skills), can emerge unscathed from the center of a Wizards most mighty spells (Evasion = Meteor Swarm can go swivel) and can casually kill a man with naught but a flick of your wrist (Dagger + Sneak Attack 10d6 + Stroke of Luck).

[Thrudd]

That's literally what every class in D&D is - that's the whole premise of D&D, starting as a nobody and trying to become a hero or a legend. So pick any class that you like. Even fighters and rogues have upper level abilities that are pretty epic, and you'll also have magic items by then, certainly. Look at every class's abilities through all the levels and pick one that seems the most fun to you for the longest period of time. You likely won't be at 20 for very long before the campaign is over, if you ever even get there, so pay more attention to the stuff in the middle levels that you like.

[Legimus]

As has been said, I think Paladins and Sorcerers lend themselves best to becoming incredibly powerful, but I'm going to make a case for the Fighter. And not someone with magic like the Eldritch Knight or the Arcane Archer. No, I think you should be a Battle Master. Hear me out.

Arthur C. Clarke wrote that any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. Applying that idea to the human mind, truly brilliant and accomplished people have a way of embedding themselves in the cultural consciousness as almost superhuman. Think about people like Alexander the Great, Leonardo da Vinci, Albert Einstein, Michelangelo, or Napoleon. Yes, they're all mortal humans like the rest of us, but after a point some people cross the line between "smart" and "genius" and become legends. It just feels wrong to think of people like that as being on the same level as us normal folk.

This is what you can become as a Battle Master. War and combat are not just things that you partake in. You're not just skilled. For you, battle is an art. It is a craft that you are constantly perfecting. Maybe you start as just a town guard, but while everyone else practices their swordsmanship you're different. You're also thinking. You come up with plans and counter-plans, maneuvers and counter-maneuvers. You're always a few steps ahead. You practice with every weapon you can, just to be prepared. You start reading old books on strategy. You take up chess. It starts out as a curiosity, but eventually you realize that, hey, you're actually pretty good at this whole "tactics" thing.

Over time, you start to excel at this. You're no longer just a skilled fighter. You're a master tactician. Peoples' strengths and weaknesses are obvious to you. You take down foes that are bigger, stronger, and faster than you because you can out-think, out-fight, and out-play them. Any brute with a sword can fight. You? You're an artist. Your reputation grows until the best gladiators are awed by your martial skill. The best military minds are stunned by your strategic brilliance. Most people would gawk at the idea of slaying a dragon without an army at their back, but not you. You just need a few good men. This continues until eventually you're the Sun Tzu or the Hannibal Barca of your time. There's just nobody who can compare to your battlefield prowess, either one-on-one or with an army. You don't need reality-altering magic to win a battle. When massive, powerful threats start to appear, you'll be at the top of the list of people to call. Because trying to fight a great old one without the world's expert on combat at your side is insane. And as time passes, you'll take your place among the pantheon of the world's great warriors and thinkers, and then? Then you're a legend.