Hi everyone, I'm new here and this is my first post. I saw many similar posts of other members posting similar topics and I'd like a bit of a discussion on my project.

First off, I'm attempting a hack and slash/ dungeon crawler and I keep hitting a roadblock. The setting I have makes the loot system a bit "out of the ordinary". In this setting there is no metal, no stone, no wood. There is only flesh and bone. The player character is a member of a dying hivemind -yadda yadda lore- and I can't decide on how to approach loot/ item advancement. If I go "Diablo-esque" how would armor be incorporated, weapons, etc.

I've come up with a few ideas, but I don't have many people to bounce the ideas off of, and the ones I do are very limited in their ability to do so.

(I am aiming for a PoE or Diablo-esque style game with loot being paramount)

1st: Killing enemies drops "genes/DNA" and is used to grow weapons or upgrade the player character.

2nd: Enemies have a random chance to drop weapons and armor (AKA Diablo).

or

3rd: Weapons and armor are locked for each class, but grow and change as player progresses.

Any feedback, constructive criticisms and advice would be greatly appreciated!