Alternate Realm Boon

Protagonists in Isekai fiction frequently receive some manner of overwhelming advantage over the inhabitants of the world in which they find themselves. Often this is key to their intended role during their sojourn in that world. This could be (but certainly isn't limited to) one of the following:


 * A specialized skill or class in a world that operates by RPG rules
 * The unexpected ability to use the setting's Functional Magic. When such characters are not simply more powerful than the locals, they will frequently have more than a rudimentary grasp of the scientific method, math, and physics, and can combine them all into some manner of Post-Modern Magik or Magitek that surpasses (or bypasses) what the setting's greatest practitioners are capable of.
 * A legendary weapon or artifact limited to and/or destined for the use of The Chosen One.
 * Rebirth or reincarnation into some stronger form -- often a "monster" or other non-human creature -- upon (or shortly after) arrival.
 * One subvariety has only the traveler's soul or mind sent on to the new world, where it is given an entirely new body complete with special powers or abilities.
 * A flat-out super power like Super Strength or Invisibility.
 * Being assigned to or assisted by a supernatural entity (usually called a "System") that works under RPG rules and that can dispense boons at the command of the character, including, but not limited to, any of the above. Note that this option often comes with the limitation that if the character falls short of the system's expectations it will "terminate the experience of the customer".

How this happens varies wildly by setting -- it may be anything from an "entry requirement" automatically imposed upon visitors to the setting by its natural laws or environmental conditions to a deliberate alteration or augmentation by a deity who likes to mess with travelers coming upon its personal demesne. Regardless, it is likely to be permanent barring extraordinary circumstances, and it is virtually certain to make its recipient(s) stand out in the eyes of the local inhabitants.

While this trope is more common in Eastern works than Western ones (and is frequently seen as an Eastern trope), it is far from rare in the West, as the examples below will demonstrate.

Anime and Manga

 * In Arifureta: From Commonplace to World's Strongest, the students and their teacher got a job and magic when they transported to another world. Hajime, the main protagonist, gets stuck with the rare job of Synergist, a non-combat one with the power of transmutation that can act as a craftsman or blacksmith.
 * The Rising of the Shield Hero has four people from a different world summoned with Four Legendary Weapons. The four Legendary Weapon comes in the form of a sword, spear, bow, and shield. The weapons grant their users different abilities while also having different forms under certain conditions or absorbing materials. The protagonist’s Legendary Shield gives him a high amount of defense but lacks offensive capabilities like the others.
 * Re:Monster has the main character Tomokui Kanata reincarnate into a goblin named Rou. He kept his memories and his Esper ability called Absorption. The ability allows him to eat anything from a living creature to material no matter how hard or toxic. The strength of the ability gained depends on the condition of what's eaten.
 * Wise Man's Grandson's main character, Shin Wolford, gets reincarnated with vague memories of his previous life. He learned to control his magic power and chantless magic from the Wise Man Merlin and Guru Melinda. Shin combines magic with the knowledge of modern science for powerful effects and new forms of magic; for example, he uses Enhancement magic to modify clothes and accessories better than Guru Melinda. The application is made by using Kanji instead of the alphabet used in the world, which can give more options for customization.
 * The protagonist of Knight’s and Magic, Ernesti Kurata, was a genius programmer and mecha otaku who reincarnated into a world where magic and mecha called Silhouette Knights exist. He realizes that magic is like computer programming. Ernersti applies this to use high-level magic at an early age by reprogramming his own internal Magic Circuit with subroutines. He also uses this same knowledge to reprogram and improve the Magius Engine of a Silhouette Knight. There are also other inventions he has developed, such as a wand that can be used for close combat and improvments to the magical mecha.
 * Parodied in Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku o!, where a shut-in NEET, Kazuma Sato, dies from shock after mistaking a tractor for a truck while trying to save a girl. He is offered by the goddess Aqua the opportunity to reincarnate into a world that’s like an RPG under siege by the Demon Lord. Along with reincarnating, he then is offered an advantage to use in the new world. Kazuma then chooses Aqua, who has spent the whole time mocking him, as his bonus, and since another goddess recognizes it as official, then they both get teleported to this new world.
 * Konjiki no Word Master has five teenagers summoned, but only four of them are titled as the heroes who are there to save the kingdom. Each hero has their own advantages, like affinities for all elements of magic or talent with physical actions. The fifth is the main character with the title, Innocent Bystander, but can use the unique Word Magic. The magic has him draw Kanji and apply the meaning of it as an effect.
 * World Strongest Rearguard: Labyrinth Country and Dungeon Seekers have a man named Arihito Atobe is reborn as a Seeker in the world called Labyrinth Country. After getting his Seeker's License, he chooses the Rearguard job that allows him to act as a tank. It was written in some alien language and is different compared to the other jobs.
 * Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody has Suzuki Ichiro, a 30-year-old programmer that died from exhaustion and ended up reincarnated into a younger body. After seeing a game screen, he realizes that he was given the name Satou along with the three use power "Meteor Shower". He then gets attacked by an army of lizardmen and then uses up Meteor Shower against the battalion and levels up to 310.
 * Downplayed in So I'm a Spider, So What?, where people who reincarnate into the world gets the skill n%I=W.
 * Deconstructed in Re: Zero, where the protagonist Subaru Natsuki has the ability he calls Return from Death when he is transported to a fantasy world. He can return to a previous time or a ‘save point’ after death. Other than that, he is an average human with no other supernatural abilities.
 * That Time I Got Reincarnated as A Slime has Satoru Minami reincarnate after getting killed by defending his subordinate from getting stabbed. Due to how he died a virgin, he gained the Unique Skill of Great Sage along with other skills such as immunity from pain, resistance from electricity and heat. There are also other people like Satoru (called World Travelers, Transmigrator, Otherworlder or Foreigner) that are people who come from another world. Those that come by coincidence are called Strays, those who come through reincarnation are called Reincarnated, and those through summoning are called Summoned. Otherworlders tend to have at least one Unique Skill based on the mind themselves and those with weaker ones gain none.
 * In Another World with My Smartphone: the main character, Touya Mochizuki, is accidentally killed by God and reincarnated into another world. He is granted a body with superhuman abilities and affinities for all seven magical elements. Also, now his smartphone can be charged with magic power and can access the internet from Earth.
 * Overlord has the protagonist, Suzuki Satoru, being transported to the New World as his Yggdrasil max leveled character, Momonga, along with the guild headquarters and all the NPC subordinates. The New World acts much like the game, along with how his character has been leveled up to 100 before being teleported.
 * Isekai Cheat Magician has the two protagonists, Taichi and Rin, who are summoned to the new world and gain new powers. Taichi is gifted with a massive amount of magic power, which can be used to gain superhuman physical abilities. Rin gains her own reservoir of magic power while also showing affinities for earth, wind, fire, and water magic. She does show a lower capability than Taichi but uses her knowledge of physics to enhance her magic.
 * Reincarnated as a Sword has a 30-year old salaryman who was killed by a driver who was texting while driving and then reincarnated into a living sword. He can gain new skills by slicing the magic crystals of monsters. These skills can be used by anyone who wields him along with the stats he carries adds to the wielder. One unique feature from other weapons is his Mana Conductivity ranked at A, which means that his weapon sharpness and power can be increased by 200% when coated with mana.
 * Fushigi Yūgi: Every girl who is summoned into the world inside the book The Universe of the Four Gods is given three wishes -- but they are required to be Selfless Wishes.
 * Played with in Saga of Tanya the Evil: an HR manager dies and encounters a god-like being known as Being X. After a conversation on faith in deities that goes south due to the protagonist's staunch atheism, Being X reincarnates him into another world currently going through a war. He is reborn as a girl named Tanya in an imperialistic country surrounded by hostile neighbors; the difference is that magic is involved with warfare. After taking a magical aptitude test, she then becomes a candidate for the Empire's Imperial Armed Forces. She is also the only one who can use the Elenium Type-95 which is an unstable magic core and the only one that can use it without exploding as a 'blessing' from Being X.
 * In The New Gate, Shin managed to defeat the final boss of a VRMMO, The New Gate, that was a game that trapped people in such a way that if they die in the game, they die in real life. Before he could log out, he is sent through a gate and finds himself in an actual fantasy world similar to the game. He then learns the titles he gained after finishing the final boss can break restriction on all stats, doubles his current ones, and grant immunity from controlling effects.
 * The Ends from Drifters are historical figures from various points in Earth history that are brought to the fantasy world. They are people who suffered trauma from events in their life and have become twisted. They have supernatural abilities such as mind control, necromancy, cyrokinesis, and biokinesis. Averted for the Drifters, who are normal humans but share the trait of acting on their ideals and goals.
 * Tagami Yuseki from World Customize Creator is summoned to another world by the Evil God and granted a Divine Art, a power a person can be blessed with from a god. His power allows him to customize any objects' attributes where he can even grant powers to them.
 * The Familiar of Zero: when Saito is summoned as a familiar into Louise's world, he gains the ability to use any weapon with great skill, from a simple broadsword to a fighter aircraft.
 * Played with in Magic Knight Rayearth: All three of the girls summoned to Cephiro have their magic unlocked and magical armor, but that was done almost as soon as they arrived by a powerful mage, not as a side-effect of the summoning.
 * Tensei Shitara Dragon no Tamago Datta - Saikyou Igai Mezasa Nee has the main protagonist reincarnated as a barely unhatched dragon egg with certain skills. One of those is "God's Voice" that allows him to speak to a god, and the other is "Walking Egg" that gives more experience points from any monster he kills.
 * Parodied in Didn't I Say to Make My Abilities Average in the Next Life?!: the main character, Misato Kurihara, was a prodigy girl who was isolated due to her talent. After saying a girl from a truck, she meets with a deity who gives her a chance to be reborn into a fantasy world with any power she desires. Misato then asks to be given average abilities. She is then reincarnated as a noble girl, but the god made her 6,800 times physically and magically more than the average human. Turns out that the god took into account the power of all the creatures of that world, from the strongest to weakest, when he calculated the average that resulted in her potency.
 * How NOT to Summon a Demon Lord has Takuma Sakamoto, the top player in the MMO, Cross Reverie until he is transported into another world and turned into his in-game character Diablo. He was summoned by magic from the two girls who summoned him as their slave, but the slavery part gets reflected onto them instead. His character was level 150, magic from different elements, and even some of his equipment such as The Distorted Crown that automatically restores HP and The Demon Lord's Ring that can reflect all kinds of magic.
 * Misumi Makoto from Tsuki ga Michibiku Isekai Douchuu is summoned to another world by Tsukiyomi because his parents came from another world and had a contract they signed in order to be on Earth. He is granted powers by the Moon Kami, and the goddess of the other world gives him the ability to understand the language. There is also how the other world has light gravity than Earth's which gives him another advantage.
 * In the manhwa, Dorothy of Oz, Mara Shin came to Oz when she was a child and came home with a glove with a Z in an O emblemed in it. After a few years, she returns to Oz as a teen with her dog, Toto. She seems to have this ability to see the Yellow Brick Road and can even traverse it even through obstacles like walls or trees. The glove turns out to be the magic staff, Thyrsos, which is the same weapon used by Wizard of Oz (who was an actual wizard that dominated through his magic). The staff can be summoned easily due to Mara Shin having magic power which is rare for people in Oz.
 * Monster no Goshujin-sama has an entire class somehow transported to another world with their own 'cheat abilities'. The main protagonist, Takahiro, didn't seem to have one until an encounter with a slime revealed that his ability is taming monsters.
 * The Chinese comic, Soul Land, has the protagonist Tang San was an assassin trained in poison and hidden weaponry in the Tang Sect. After learning about the sect's secret knowledge and knowing he committed a crime, he commits suicide by falling off a cliff. He is then reincarnated into a world called Soul Land. In this other world, he kept the knowledge of his past life's training and techniques but faces trouble using them past level 1. On the day of the Spirit Awakening Ceremony, he learns that he not only carries one but two Spirits. The first is a River Grass Spirit that comes in the form of a blade of grass. The other is the Clear Sky Hammer which is one of the legendary Tool Spirits. It was also revealed that he is a Spirit Master capable of cultivating soul power which can be used to make a Spirit stronger. There is also how soul power is the same energy used by the Tang Sect's techniques and training towards a higher level.
 * All the inhabitants of Earth who are transported to the land of El-Hazard in El-Hazard: The Magnificent World gain a special ability: Mr. Fujisawa gains Super Strength in proportion to how little alcohol and nicotine is in his system, Jinnai can communicate with (and is incredibly charismatic to) the Bugrom, his sister Nanami effortlessly pierces the illusion powers of the Phantom Tribe, and Makoto can activate the Lost Technology of ancient El-Hazard with a touch.
 * Isekai de Saikyou no Tsue ni Tensei shita Ore ga Iyagaru Shoujo wo Muriyari Mahou Shoujo ni P suru!: Niimi Neiji is reincarnated into a magic staff and granted 'omnipotence'. But... he doesn't know how to use it due to not being taught how to; even so, he manages to do marvelous actions despite it.

Film

 * In the Wizard of Oz, Dorothy Gale land in Oz when the house that she crashed on the Wicked Witch of the East and her Ruby Slippers appears on Dorothy's feet. The pair of shoes can't be taken unless by death, and cannot be touched except by the owner lest they get shocked. Later in the movie, the slippers can be used to take the wearer anywhere by clicking the heels three times and wish to where they want to go.

Literature

 * In John Carter of Mars, the titular character travels to Mars by having his soul teleport through space and gains a new body. Due to the lower gravity, he gains superhuman agility and strength.
 * Everworld where the teens can bring modern technology and knowledge to Everworld where they give them advantages such as trading a recipe for gunpowder or using conventional weaponry.
 * In The Scum Villain Self-saving System, Shen Yuan, who before his death and transmigration was an ordinary (albeit sickly) person, discovers that he has full access to the powers Shen Quinquiu (the body he is occupying right now) has, and also the knowledge on how to use those powers. He also has the help of the titular system, which measures how much he "enhances" the original plot and dispenses points that can be exchanged for certain benefits.
 * In the Chinese webnovel Release That Witch! and its web manhua adaptation, the protagonist is an civil engineer that after dying of overworking finds himself transmigrated in the body of Roland, a prince from a world that has both a medieval level of technology and the presence of "witches", women with magical abilities that are prosecuted for it. The only boon the character receives was that, before taking over him, the original Roland has a fame of being very eccentric and had an already stated admiration for witches, which serves New!Roland perfectly to create plans to uplift this world's technology and recruit witches for his plans without creating suspicions for a long while, as everything he does is written off as yet another eccentricity of the prince.
 * Similarly, in the Chinese romance webnovel Transmigrator Meets Reincarnator, the heroine transmigrates to a novel taking place in a very old dynasty that didn't know modern Chinese cooking methods or ingredients... which suits her fine, because in her previous life she was an entrepreneur and an amateur chef, so she can basically use her abilities to win people with her unique and delicious (for that era standards) dishes, and create profitable business. Her other real boon is her knowledge of most of the novel's plot, and that the character she transmigrated has just married into a powerful and influential family and her husband abandons her almost immediately, which means that she knows which characters are trouble (and so she avoids them) and has a lot of freedom to do her business at her pace.
 * In The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Dorothy Gale is sent to Oz thanks a tornado and farmhouse falling on the Wicked Wick of the East and is given the Sliver Shoes as a gift. Later, Glinda reveals that the shoes are revealed they can take the user anywhere when the heels are clicked three times. They are also implied to have other powers than magical transportation. She also briefly gains ownership of a magic cap that commands the Flying Monkeys.
 * Reborn as a Vending Machine, I Now Wander the Dungeon has the main character being reincarnated into a living vending machine in a fantasy world, which he needs assistance being moved. He can give out items as long as he is inserted with money. There is also how he can use the profit from any products sold for upgrades from a wider selection to functions not included in normal vending machines.
 * In The Sleeping Dragon, the first book of Joel Rosenberg's The Guardians of the Flame series (published 1983), a group of gamers playing a Dungeons & Dragons-like game are sent into the world on which the game's setting had been based and given their characters' classes and skills by a game master who was more than he seemed.

Video Games

 * Fantastic Boyfriends: Legends of Midearth, a young man is summoned to another world through a phone app. He is the legendary hero that is the only one that can wield the sword that is the only weapon that can defeat the Demon Lord.
 * Tokyo Afternoon Summoners takes place in an alternate Tokyo where people from 23 different worlds are summoned due to an app and are called Transients. Each Transient has a Role and is summoned with a Sacred Artifact that gives a Rule to their Transient. A Rule is a power that correlates to the Role of a Transient. An example would be a person given the Role of Fighter, and their Rule is Infinity.

Web Comics

 * I am the Sorcerer King webtoon has people called Awakened who gain a superpower and become connected to the Akasha System along with fighting monsters that come from portals. Lee Sunghoon awakens to his past memories and magic of being the reincarnation of The Great Sorcerer, Kurataurus, who is from another world. The incident happens after being attacked by a monster and becomes one of the Awakened which connects him to the system.
 * Averted in My Wife is the Demon Queen where Xiang Ye is transported due to a ring he bought as the husband of the Demon Queen, Isabella Osa. Later on, it is shown that he can't wield Boundary Force, which means he can't use magic or other arts-related to it.
 * In the webcomic Goddess Creation System, after former bullied otaku Xiaxi commits suicide because of being outed as ugly in real life unlike her goddess-like MMO identity, she awakes in a fantasy world and gets the mission of making powerful men fall in love with her. The system that assigned her this job gives her access to an alternate dimension where she can train to slim down and study the subjects she needs to know while she is sleeping; also, she can get beauty treatments to enhance her appearance in exchange for the points she earns from her missions.
 * In the web manhua Cheating Men Must Die, we discover that the protagonist Su Luxia is a normal, if shrewish, woman from a futuristic world that works as a quick reincarnator, specialized in substituting "secondary female characters" that have been wronged somehow and then get revenge on their wrongdoers and fulfill the original person's last wishes. She is assisted by a hamster-like System that can give her any object she needs for her missions, from incriminating photos to magical slimming pills. She is so good in this revenge thing and she enjoys destroying the lives of assholes bastards and bitches so much that she has millions of hours logged (and several decades worth of untaken vacation time), and in consequence, she owns a gigantic haul of accumulated boons and items that she can (and does) pull off in any world as needed.

Western Animation

 * In the opening credits of the 1980s Dungeons and Dragons cartoon series we see Dungeon Master gifting the trapped teenagers with the magic items that grant them the powers (and character classes) they need to survive.