New hero abilities - suggest them all!
 

Power Cast: Gives a damage multiplier to the hero's raw damage spells. Starts at +25% damage (before protection is applied).

The Gift: Reduces spell-casting fatigue by a variable percent, starting at 25%. This includes fatigue caused by armor.

Chameleon: Gives a unit stealth, and decreases chances of being spotted. Starts at +50% (where chance of being spotted is 1/(base*(1+bonus))).

Squirreltongue: Adds abilty to scout all adjacent provinces, by talking to small, cute woodland creatures. Higher heroic level increases accuracy. In addition, the hero will be accompanied at all times by a squirrel bodyguard (low stats, but awe+6 because it's so darn cute).

Divine Faith: Unit becomes sacred, and gains bonus strength, attack, and morale when blessed - initially +2 to each - in addition to magic-pick-based bonuses.

Charisma: Militia flock to this hero for free. Initially he gains +2 militia (spear, cap, shield) per turn, increasing gradually.

Heart of Stone: Increases pillaging and patrolling ability. Initially +50% for all units serving under the hero.

Lord of Blood: Incredible taste and smell sensitivity, along with a insatiable desire to drink human blood, allow this hero to harvest blood slaves as though his blood magic level was (initially) 2 higher than actual. So, a non-blood-mage Lord of Blood could also equip a SDR.

Treasure Hunter: The hero randomly finds gems and magic items, which are transported to the lab. The chance of this happening each turn is initially 25%, and initially only trinkets and handfuls of gems are found.

Super Luck: Any province containing this commander has its luck scale tip toward +3 luck, at +1 per turn. Also, the hero causes (initially) 50% more events than normal in his province. Also, of course, he gets permanent Luck.

-Cherry

P.S. Suggest some more!

[ October 16, 2003, 19:23: Message edited by: Saber Cherry ]

Re: New hero abilities - suggest them all!
 

Hmmmmmm, lets see...
Few are overpowered(unless there is a very small chance to get the heroic ability), few need renaming and few are OK.

Oh wait, this was about suggesting your ideas...

Re: New hero abilities - suggest them all!
 

Originally posted by Saber Cherry:
<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">precentual increase will be either very big or very small, but static increase would give problems other ways. Hard to balance.

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">What should be remembered is that some spells are balanced by their fatique cost. This might be too powerful because of this, and on the other way it might not do much more than reinvigoration.

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Just being stealthy might be big bonus. Imagine ulmish commander, as an assasin... or just a mage, conquering a province and building a lab for Gateway. Maybe this would make stealthy commanders capable to assasinate, though that would be quite powerful depending from the unit.

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">I am starting to think this would be a good ability for all scouts and spies generally. This shouldn't give very much information though, maybe just about the richness (population) of the neighbouring provinces provinces. So no information about armies, and maybe not even resources.

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Baing sacred would be good enough, and being always blessed would be quite good for already sacred units.

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Maybe few free bodyguards, 24/7. Maybe militia, but maybe something more powerful would fir too.

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">What kind of a hero does something to get an ability like this?

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">25 % possibility to find a random gem, and maybe 1 % or less for trinkets. Trinkets can be quite useful, even if they wouldn't be worth the cost later in the game. This is just a quess though, I don't know about the usefulness of this.

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Just giving more luck is enough. Remember, these are not meant to be powerful, but to add favour to the game.

I have some of my own, too:

A familiar for a mage, acting as a free communicant. Black hawk would be fine. This might be too powerful though.

A monster as a bodyguard, or as a unit that can't be removed. If it dies new one might be gotten. Nothing too powerful would be fine, but I can't think of anything suitable right now. Maybe an imp? A spider (riderless)? something like that

Re: New hero abilities - suggest them all!
 

I would post ideas, but I am almost sure that IW don't need ideas like this.

Re: New hero abilities - suggest them all!
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">That's OK, post them anyway. Even if IW doesn't read them, I will http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

Re: New hero abilities - suggest them all!
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">That's OK, post them anyway. Even if IW doesn't read them, I will http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">That's the additude, SHARE YOUR...ideas with us.

Re: New hero abilities - suggest them all!
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">That's OK, post them anyway. Even if IW doesn't read them, I will http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">That's the additude, SHARE YOUR...ideas with us.</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Ok I was just bragging I have no idea yet! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif
*let me think* http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/tongue.gif

Re: New hero abilities - suggest them all!
 

Godlike Endurance: Sought out by women near and far, this hero grants a +25% (initially) growth rate to whatever province he inhabits.

Olympian: Incredible athletic skills allow this hero to swim across a body of water, and move 1 additional province per turn on the strategic map. He may not bring other units (unless they are flying).

Blood of the Gods: Any hit that damages this hero will bring down a lightning bolt somewhere on the map. This could be good or bad, so be careful...

Master Architect: Reduced cost and increased speed of construction (buildings only). Initial bonus is +25%. Turns to build a fort are ceiling(base/(1+bonus)) and cost is also ceiling(base/(1+bonus)).

Weaponsmaster: Troops under this hero gain +3 additional experience per turn initially.

Re: New hero abilities - suggest them all!
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Now this is something for which they should really risk their necks in battles. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

Re: New hero abilities - suggest them all!
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Now this is something for which they should really risk their necks in battles. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">LOL!
http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

Re: New hero abilities - suggest them all!
 

1. Debugger: Has the ability to debug games at an astonishing rate.

2. Gold CD tester: Guaranteed results within 30 seconds, pass or fail. On failure will highlight whats wrong.

Not anxious or anything.... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

StarTux

Re: New hero abilities - suggest them all!
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Foraging - provides extra supplies to troops, +5 food/ability level

Berserker - 99 morale, +1 STR/ATT/PROT and -1 DEF/ability level. I'd like to see a mage gain this one http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif . IIRC the Pandemoniac hero (Pangaea) already has something like that.

Magic proficiency - reduce the target's MR by 1/ability level when resistable spells are cast. Also works when using items (eg, Bane Blade), so regular commander still have a use for it. IOW, the exact opposite to Iron Will.

Fame - the hero just gathers experience faster than before, +1 extra XP/ability level/turn. No other advantage, except the stat increases happen sooner. Dull, but at least you get a hero everyone talks about http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif .

Taunt - the hero constantly insult his foes (unless he's unconscious), who may turn berserk (50%) or enraged (50%, like the 'Rage' spell) if they fail a MR check. Each battle round, up to 1 random target/ability level within voice range can be affected. Mindless units are not affected.

Bad hygiena - the hero is famed all over the world for his utter dislike of baths, and exudes noxious fumes like an Hydra. Unless poison resistant, every being (friend or foe) staying in his vicinity may become poisoned and lose 1 HP/ability level/turn.

Re: New hero abilities - suggest them all!
 

Grotesque Gluttony: Hero gains 1 size level immediately (generally, to size 3) and trample. Encumbrance increases with size, and size increases gradually with heroic ability. At size 6, a special "earthquake" attack would be added. Ideally the commander icon would be scaled with his size.

Voice of Command: The commander gains a new primary "weapon", Voice of Command, of max weapon length and 20 damage to fatigue only. Humanoid attackers must save versus morale or fail to attack. When the commander attacks a humanoid, he first uses the Voice versus the target's morale, and if successful, the target joins the commander's side, permanently. In that case no damage is dealt. If the Voice fails, the commander attacks as normal with his other weapons. The bonus against which a save must be made increases gradually.

Warlock: This hero gains access to combat spells 1 level above the nation's current research. This level bonus increases gradually.

Elemental Mastery: Hero gains protection from fire, ice, and electricity (+50%). The bonus increases gradually.

-Cherry

Re: New hero abilities - suggest them all!
 

Raise Intelligence: +30 IQ for Saber Cherry and +50 for Nerfix. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

Re: New hero abilities - suggest them all!
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif
This is getting better and better. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

Re: New hero abilities - suggest them all!
 

I'm itching to see what Saber Posts next...
http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

Re: New hero abilities - suggest them all!
 

Hardcore Vegan: Hero gains Fear+6, double damage, and lifesteal against vine ogres and vinemen only. His strict dietary regime makes troops under him tire faster due to a lack of protein (+2 encumbrance).

Lord of Chaos: Increases unrest and bad luck scales in commander's resident province. On the battlefield, any enemy failing a morale check for any reason has a chance of berserking and attacking the closest units, friend or foe, and aftward being rendered permanently feebleminded.

Ninja Master: (Stealthy commanders only.) With blinding speed, the hero gains the ability to move like the wind, unseen and untouched. Instead of running from point A to point B on the battlefield, he seems to simply appear and then reappear. Initially he gets +0% movement (only advantage being "phasing"), but this increases with time. This ability is useful for escaping when surrounded, or charging through a meat-shield. I realize it is similar to flying, but it sounds way cooler.

Lord of Pain: This antihero has become infamous for procuring rare substances with which to coat his weapons. Unconcerned with lethality, he does not use poison, but seeks to maximize the agony inflicted with the slightest scratch. Any non-mindless unit will take 40 points of fatigue damage from a hit that draws blood - this includes arrows and repel attempts. The 40-point fatigue damage increases gradually with heroic ability.

-Cherry

Re: New hero abilities - suggest them all!
 

Devs and betas,

Originally, Dominions II was going to have a variable-length Hero list, so that instead of a maximum 10 heroes (like in DomI, where it was always dominated by Pretenders and mercs) you could have 15 or 20 heroes at a time. Is this still in?

Thanks!

-Cherry

Re: New hero abilities - suggest them all!
 

Siege commander. Counts as extra troops when besieging castles or defending against sieges.

Bard's Gift. Troops which fought and won when this commander was present may gain a one-time morale bonus for their next battle. Probability based on size, strength of defeated enemy. Does not stack.

Alternate Bard's Gift: Combat result reports are enhanced with greater intelligence summary, e.g. unit breakdowns. Accuracy/detail depends on level of ability.

Ranger. Slight bonus to patrolling or evading patrols (if stealthy) in woods, mountains. Slight reduction in troops' chance of contracting disease due to magical sites, venom charms, and other land-present non-battle phenomena. Does nothing to reduce the chance of disease due to, say, leprosy spells, mummies, or wounds.

Achilles's Bane. *Small* chance for a melee attack to be armor-piercing. Chance is larger when victim is routing.

Blind-fighting. ATT/DEF/PREC merely halved instead of zeroed when blind. Perhaps half+level up to original.

Diviner. Slight accuracy bonus when using scrying magic.

Re: New hero abilities - suggest them all!
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Now this is something for which they should really risk their necks in battles. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Being known as "Squirreltongue" might bring on a few female admirers too . . . http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

Re: New hero abilities - suggest them all!
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Do you mean the Hall of Fame list? If so, then, yes, it can be set to different lengths in Dom II. Pretenders still appear on it regularly, and mercenaries tend to dominate it during the early game, but the commanders eventually pass up the mercs. Those mercenary company leaders aren't really all that and a bag of chips when it comes to life expectancy.

(It's a hard life being a freelancer.)

Re: New hero abilities - suggest them all!
 

Critical strike: The hero gains a % chance to deal triple damage with each attack.

Reflect missiles: The hero can reflect missiles back to their origin. Higher levels affect a larger area, so a poweful hero could be able to protect a sizeable portion of his army.

Magical bonus: The hero recieves a bonus in an area of magic they are already proficient in.

Mirror image: The hero has several mirror images. They have full defensive abilities, but limited attacking skills.

Re: New hero abilities - suggest them all!
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Yeah, that's what I meant. Great! I love having tons of heroes; I'll always set it to maximum.

-Cherry

Re: New hero abilities - suggest them all!
 

Heroic Tentacles: Upon slaying a foul kraken, the commander's open wounds are exposed to dying gouts of mollusk blood. Soon after, he sprouts tentacles from his body. Initially 3 tentacles of length 2 and 8 damage (does not add wielder's strength), the tentacles increase in number, length, and damage with heroic ability. These tentacles are autonomous, and not controlled by the commander - so each can strike any adjacent square, regardless of what the commander is doing, even if he is rendered unconscious.

-Cherry

[ October 17, 2003, 07:33: Message edited by: Saber Cherry ]

Re: New hero abilities - suggest them all!
 

Legendary Compassion: For sparing the lives of wounded enemies left strewn on the battleground - bandaging them that they might return safely home, to fight no more - this hero's name has spread in whispers across the land, as being the general who could conquer without cruelty. Any province captured by an army including this hero has initial unrest decreased by 50%, an amount that increases with heroic ability.

-Cherry

Re: New hero abilities - suggest them all!
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">too realistic. we are in a heroic fantasy game, remember.

Re: New hero abilities - suggest them all!
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">LOL!
http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

[ October 17, 2003, 15:32: Message edited by: Nerfix ]

Re: New hero abilities - suggest them all!
 

Infernal Power: The hero will gain +4 str, also there will be a 25% chance that the hero will kill any holy troop at first hit.

[ October 17, 2003, 15:35: Message edited by: Mortifer ]

Re: New hero abilities - suggest them all!
 

Some amusing ideas here. Most seem more like ideas for specific super-creatures rather than heroic abilities of normal units, and many of the proposed values seem a lot higher than comparabele Doms I values.

How about a Charisma and/or Orator ability that increases leadership slightly, and reduces unrest in a province slightly without patrolling.

PvK

Re: New hero abilities - suggest them all!
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Huh, so you're saying... you think 2 tentacles of length 1 would be more appropriate? I don't know if you could even call them "tentacles" then http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

Sure, most of my suggestions were more for amusement than utility, but unless you get a heroic ability on a supercombattant, I find that they don't affect strategic power balance much, since individual units are so expendable. Whereas in Greek mythology, there were thousands of soldiers slaughtered... nameless... while the heroes waded through, unaffected by mere humans. No battle was decided by soldiers - it was the clash of two heroes that caused a victory or defeat. Even if Dom II heroes had 2x the power of Dom I heroes, I don't see Dominions wars becoming remotely like mythological wars.

By the way, have you read the descriptions of the Artifact-level magic items? Those things make heroic abilities (except maybe Grotesque Gluttony) look like black-belt Karate skill compared to nuclear weapons. It's a fun read, if you haven't!

So, you need to modify your suggestions and make them stronger! MORE POWER!!! Orator should DEAFEN ENTIRE ENEMY ARMIES!!! Charisma should WIN THE GAME INSTANTLY BY MAKING ALL THE WORLD'S POPULATION JOIN THE HERO'S ARMY!!! HEROIC STRENGTH SHOULD LET THE HERO HOLD THE WORLD ON HIS SHOULDERS, LIKE HERACLES, AND RIP IT IN TWAIN ON A WHIM!!!

-Cherry

Re: New hero abilities - suggest them all!
 

Herc never held the world on his shoulders did he? I thought that task belonged to Atlas...

Or was it the great turtle?

Oh and what was Atlas standing on anyway? The turtle I suppose...

Herc did shovel out all the horse crap from some stables though... seems an appropriate task for this thread perhaps? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

Re: New hero abilities - suggest them all!
 

Yes, it was Atlas.

Or the great turtle, which way you prefer.

I'm sure this thread would figure out that he should use water to clean the stables.
http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/tongue.gif

Re: New hero abilities - suggest them all!
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">He did held it for Atlas while Atlas went to get the golden apples from the gardens of the Hesperides (engl. sp. ?).

The crap in the stables was from cows.

http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

[ October 17, 2003, 20:09: Message edited by: HJ ]

Re: New hero abilities - suggest them all!
 

I suppose it's another reason why it'd be good to have complete modding tools. Then you could make a Weird & Wondrous Super-Hero mod (or whatever).

Personally, I like abilities that just add some flavor. The existing Doms I heroic abilities vary in strength, but even the best I've seen don't do more than a single moderately-powerful magic item does.

What I meant by the proposed levels was for instance a +6 fright effect from "Vegan"... compared to what it takes to get even a +0 fright effect from other creatures already in the game, such as visibly supernatural creatures, I wouldn't think Vegan would cause anything but a very weak fear effect.

PvK

Re: New hero abilities - suggest them all!
 

But it only gives fear versus vine-creatures... Vegan would be useless in 99% of situations http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

Re: New hero abilities - suggest them all!
 

In Dom I, I did occasionally get heroes to Last long enough that their abilities were significant. An Ice Devil of mine once got intrinsic quickness; those AP came in handy since it doesn't fly. Built-in reinvigoration also is spiffy for mages. And precision... can get unreal if the game Lasts long enough.

Being able to save an item slot significantly increases the range of item combos that work well, too.

Re: New hero abilities - suggest them all!
 

Precision can be annoying on an Earth mage, though. One time I empowered an Ulm smith just for Blade Wind, he got Heroic Precision, and combined with experience bonuses, ended up landing all the blades on 2-3 squares http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Re: New hero abilities - suggest them all!
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">just right. This is the kind of things I like, sometime an advantage is detrimental.

make him shoot farther, it helps spread the blades.

Re: New hero abilities - suggest them all!
 

Ceptomaniac - Gains An special action like assasination but called Steal Goods. Steals Random items from enemy commanders or Labs.

Re: New hero abilities - suggest them all!
 

A steal ability would awesome, especially when dealing with pesky SC's. Sounds like a good combat command for Villains, actually.

Re: New hero abilities - suggest them all!
 

Mountaineer: gives all units under his command a temporary mountain survival skill.

Hmm, seems like I did not capture the heroic idea of this thread... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif But hey, maybe the survival skills will become incredibly useful in DomIII, who knows? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif Otherwise the Mountaineer might also reduce supply/upkeep costs when located in mountain provinces...

Re: New hero abilities - suggest them all!
 

I suggested something like this as a new stealth commander orders in the Wishlist thread:
Taking an item equipped from someones hand or head is pretty hard if you want to remain stealthy, but misc slot seems like good "pickpocket"-able items.

Sill

Re: New hero abilities - suggest them all!
 

I would like a pathfinding ability, where the leader can move himself and his army a longer and longer distance over more and more hostile terrain on the world map.

Or an ability that made you good with armor and reduced your encumberance (eliminating the doubled casting encumberance at the normal rate). That would be really good on a warrior mage.

An Oratory ability that made you count as some level of Preacing each turn. It could start off as a 1 point preaching every turn (regardless of what you were doing), and eventually it would become some sort of massive temple check if you stayed on the hall of fame long enough.

A resistance skill, that gives you resistance to Shock, Fire, Cold, and Poison would be nice. It might even give you Acid Resistance just for added hilarity.

A Necromancy skill, where you get some Undead Leadership and every other level you get a point of unholy pristing could be cool. You should make sure that it never spawns on people who already are unholy priests (because the last thing we need is an Unholy Priest 10 making Lictors).

-Frank

Re: New hero abilities - suggest them all!
 

Necromancy like in HOMM would be awesome! X% of units killed in battle return as undead (soulless warriors). It should probably only be an ability for units that already have undead leadership... you don't want Cardinal Carmont automatically resurrecting the dead, unable to control himself. Ideally, Dominions III will allow "Undeadness" to be an ability (like mindlessness or amphibiousness) that can just be assigned to any unit, giving it a purple/green pallete shift, -4 MR, -4 ATT, -6 DEF, +2 STR, +50% HP, -60% AP, 50 morale, 3 strat moves, neverheals, resist cold, resist poison, vulnerability to spells that target undead. Then you could have a huge variety of undead troops!

Re: New hero abilities - suggest them all!
 

There are a number of hero abilities from MoO2, MoM and HoMM that could be profitably put into Dominions:

Necromancy was pretty sweet (x% of enemies slain on the battlefield came back as undead troops under your control). I'd still like this to grant undead leadership, rather than requiring it.

Estates/Wealth: Character no longer requires upkeep and actually generates gold just for being around.

Instructor: All units under character's control gain bonus XP every turn.

Spy Network: (based on Galactic Lore) Character gives spying reports on a variable number of random provinces around the world each turn.

Lawmaster: (based on Telepath) Character gets a patrol bonus. The province she's in is also patrolled by a variable amount every turn, causing spies and unrest to get rounded up automatically.

Spymaster: Character becomes increasingly stealthy and gains the Spy ability. This doesn't really need anything else because there is stuff like the Black Heart that makes getting a decent hero with stealth totally the win.

Tactical Genius: Character's team gets the first turn when attacking. Also grants a variable morale bonus to troops nearby.

Medicine: Chance to heal battle afflictions in this army every turn.

Commando: Generates additional Province Defense troops every battle as the attacker or defender.

Famous Bureacrat: Counts as additional Admin rating in whatever province the character is currently in.

Master Smith: Available only to spellcasters, grants a variable Forge Bonus. Character generates a variable number of resources.

Master Ritualist: Available only to spellcasters, grants a cost reduction when casting ritual spells.

Pathfinding: Grants terrain movement abilities to troops under character's control. Also raises overland movement by a variable amount (starts at +0), at higher levels also grants seamanship.

Resurrection: Non-undead, non-lifeless beings who die in your army have a variable percentage chance to be raised from the dead at the end of the battle if you win.

Demonology: a pile of Imps of variable size shows up at the beginning of each battle to fight for you. You get a variable amount of undead leadership out of the deal.

Fairy Blood: a pile of Sprites shows up at the beginning of each battle to fight for you. You get a variable amount of magic leadership out of the deal.

Sorcery: Mages with at least one pick of sorcery magic only. Your spell penetration goes up for every sorcery spell you cast.

Elementalism: Mages with at least one pick of elemental magic only. Your elemental spells inflict a variable percentage of extra damage.

Summoning: A random elemental of variable size permanently joins your side every round. You gain magical leadership.

Charm: A percentage of independents/mercenaries who run away (and would die) permanently join your side if you win the battle.

Artillery: A variable amount of catapult attacks rain down on enemy positions over the course of every battle. The character gains a Siege bonus.

Luck: "Luck" is cast before combat a variable number of times.

Logistics: (actually based on Farming Leader) Character generates variable number of supplies.

Reverse Engineering: (based on Eagle Eye) Chance of adding a spell to your spells known if it is cast by the other side in a battle the character is in, or if it is cast overland into a province that the character is in. Also gives a chance of learning a global enchantment that is cast.

-Frank

Re: New hero abilities - suggest them all!
 

Truly interesting stuff!

I wish that the chances for heroic abilities would also depend on the class, i.e. each commander schould be assigned to a class (wizard, priest, warrior) and a wizard who gets e.g. "thoughness" will get a reroll, so that "thoughness" on wizards becomes rather rare...

Re: New hero abilities - suggest them all!
 

Certainly one relatively easy way to program that would be to have each ability have something thatads to its chances of showing up. So the more MR you have, the bigger a chance you have of getting Iron Will. The more hit points you have, the more chance you have of getting Toughness. And so on and so on.

That way Extraordinary Researcher s never going to happen on an Ulmish Commander, but has a noticeable chance of showing up on a Wizard - your number of chances to get the ability is simply your Research value.

This way, everyone has a chance of getting the basic common ones, because everyone has MR, Strength, Attack, and Defense scores, everybody has some number of hit points. Furthermore, this way the game doesn't automatically shunt a Queen of Water into not getting Toughness just because technically she is a mage.

Some of the weirder abilities can have one chance of showing up basically and then add some obscure amount. So every 25 full points of undead leadership gets you one more chance to get Necromancy. Every path of blood you have gets you an additional chance to get Demonology. But these skills would show up occassionally on other characters as well.

So your chance of getting any particular ability would be:

(Number of Chances to get that ability)
-------------------------
(Total Number of Chances for all possible abilities)

And everyone is walking in there with a bunch of chances for the standards: Toughness (hit points), Heroic Strength (strength), Extraordinary Precision (Presicion), Lightning Reflexes (Defense)...

And some people are walking in there with chances for weird powers: Sorcery (total paths in Sorcery), Great Wealth (total upkeep cost, rounded down), Battle Bellow (total kills), Extraordinary Researcher (total Research), etc. etc.

-Frank

Re: New hero abilities - suggest them all!
 

Wheeeeee, more suggestions, ripped off from assorted similar games, or just made up by me:

Enchanter, Conjurer, Thaumaturg, etc: Casts the corresponding spell school with improved effect.

Armourer, Offense, Archery, etc: Shamelessly ripped from HOMM3, or Warcraft 3. Leaders with these skills give their units a hefty bonus. This would be a nice way to beef up the mundane units and commanders versus magical stuff.

Chosen: The hero is rendered immune to curse, horror mark and certain afflictions.

Creature Specialist: Creatures of a certain type get a boost when commanded by this commander.

Spell Specialist: Spell X has an improved effect when cast by this commander. This is already in the game for the Vine Men/Ogre spells, and a few others.

Crusader: The hero gains sailing, siege skills, supplies and perma-blessing.

Conquistador: The hero gains sailing, supplies, pillaging and patrolling. And spreads disease among the natives.

Raider: This ability allows ground commanders to initiate an attack from two or more squares away, like flying units.

Weaponsmaster: The commander can replace the weapons wielded by troops under their command with weapons from the province the army is currently occupying. This process costs resources.

Pilgrim: This hero gains increased experience and skills for each temple or holy site visited at least once.

Explorer: As above, but for each previously unentered (by your forces) province.

Wanderer: As above, but instead of stats, this hero gains research skills for each lab visited. Might need to be capped at some point. Same for all the 'traveller' skills.

Scavenger: The ability allows a modest % of gold and gems to be recovered from destroyed units in the aftermath of a battle. Enemy items are very likely to be recovered.

Freelancer: This hero can summon a mercenary camp and freely trade units for gold, gems or other creatures.

Forge Scrying: A unit using this skill can detect any magical items forged anywhere in the world (but not items gained in other ways). At high levels, the forging nation can be determined, rather than guessed at. At divine levels, enemy item stocks can be observed.

Incorruptible Essence: Anyone trying to use lifedrain techniques on this hero will take enormous damage, or, in certain cases, be mind-enslaved to the 'victim'.

Slayer: Grants substantial bonuses when fighting against certain classes of enemy; skeletons, devils, trolls etc.

Guerilla: Allows the hero and/or commanded troops to join the battle from the side or even behind. Some measure of stealthyness should be needed to use this skill.

Partisan: This hero can recruit troops from enemy-held provinces. The troops must be stealthy, of course. Maybe not high-level national stuff.

Terminator: If this assassin manages to kill his target quickly enough, the enemy will not even get to view a battle (and thus be unaware of the assassin's nationality or equipment). They just get a message saying that their unit has vanished without a trace.

Pioneer: This unit can perform the command 'colonise' which greatly boosts the growth rate of under-populated provinces.

Initiative: This commander attacks so quickly that the enemy doesn't have enough time to form up properly. All enemy units are slightly displaced from their intended positions.

Smuggler: Grants sailing, stealth and the ability to steal gold from enemy provinces that are adjacent to yours or one sea province away. It's twice as effective in coastal and river provinces.

Re: New hero abilities - suggest them all!
 

Some of these would make really good spells or normal abilities, too.

A great ability for the untis that are actually NAMED Enchanter, Conjurer, Thaumaturg, and etc http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Sounds good - hard to say how it could improve over time, though.

This would also make a good special abiilty for leaders of barbarians, tribal cavalry, and BK Tien Chi.

I'm not sure this would work very well... Giving all troops under the commander a a gradual increase in weapon damage (+1, +2, ... after a long, long time, +3) might be possible, but replacing weapons would wreak havok with 2-handed weapons, mixed troop types, unit icons, and so forth.

Especially for "visiting" enemy temples http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif I like this one. Wierd to say "I'm a heroic pilgrim, world-reknowned for my pligrimage," though. Perhaps certain sacred units (like flagellants) could get a special "Pilgrim" ability, gaining +3xp per turn while at a holy site and another +1 xp per turn while at a temple, and +10xp for desecrating and burning an enemy temple... much easier to implement.

Great ability for huge battles, though not very heroic-sounding http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif Treasure Hunter sounds much nicer!

This would make a great magical spell: "Soul Poison: renders the life-force of friendly units in the affected area toxic to creatures that feed on souls. Any lifedrain attacks will do equal damage to both victim and attacker." Or a special ability to certain fodder troops, like Ghouls and Crossbreeds. If it could be deployed en mass rather than be a heroic ability, it would be a great defense against Lifesteal supercombattants.

A holy spell "Sanctify Blood" could similarly give a holy essence to the blood of sacred units, that damages undead and demonic life-draining attackers. Sounds overly specific, but it would be extremely useful in practice.

Quite a killer ability! How about this: the commander can position stealthy units under his command over a larger positioning map (the green thing you position troops on) than normal commanders. The higher the ability grows, the bigger the positioning map, such that at a very high level the troop-positioning map encompasses the entire real battlefield.

Cool... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif The gold/resource budget could grow with the skill.

My favorite so far!

Just like Heroic Stamina, but not quite as dirty... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

This is pretty cool too! Sounds like a good ability for indy Smugglers, recruitable commanders from a level 0 coastal water site, "Smuggler's Cove."

Re: New hero abilities - suggest them all!
 

Yeah, I'm just brainstorming.

That's true, Chosen is a nice ability, but not a Hall of Fame one. If I had to choose, I'd probably give it as a reward to human heroes who defeat mighty monsters.

Absolutely. The Raider ability would make hordes of horsemen something to be feared. It should probably be given to BK, and any Arabic or Ottoman themed nations that turn up.

True enough, I just wish there was a way to upgrade national troops. Another idea I had (for Ulm) was upgrading their armour as they advance in Construction. At Con-10, their armour would be super-strong, almost weightless and ultra-flexible.

The way I imagined it was that the guerilla troops would not be placed on the map at all; they'd just be shunted to a kind of nether-zone of upper flank, lower flank or rear. When the battle begins, they're not in a coherent formation, just in a line like wolves summoned with howl. If you give them 'hold' orders, they won't appear on the battlefield until they're ordered to attack or fire or whatever. Their irregular formation creates a realistic limitation for this ability.

It is a cool ability. I like the idea that the gold/resource budget grows. Whilst the troops recruitable (woodsmen, villains, vaetti, satyrs, other rare units) would be limited although still potentially useful, being able to recruit scouts in enemy territory would be very handy. And with spies and assassins you could create an ever-growing, self-sufficient insurgency...although you may have the strange situation of avoiding taking an enemy fort so your partisan can continue to recruit their stealthy units.

I'd like to see it as part of a revamped CotS Marignon, or a full-on sailing nation in Dom3. It should probably cause a wee bit of unrest. Oh, and spells which prevent sailing would prevent overseas smuggling from working as well.

You could really rake in the cash if you were well set up to exploit this ability. By taking control of an island, you could set it up as a smuggling base, sending smugglers to a dozen or more overseas provinces, with all the loot being siphoned through the island. Such islands would be very valuable... worth fighting over, either to deactivate the smuggling rings permanently, or set up your own. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/evil.gif