[Valerius]

If you go with those changes please make the forge bonus 15%. It may seem like a small thing but being able to forge shields for 8 gems rather than the 9 gems of a 10% bonus will help.

A 15% forge bonus would let you equip a thug with weapon and shield for 12 gems vs. 10 with hammers. Not too bad of an increase. More fully equipped thugs, such as I prefer, don't fare as well since fire/astral gear won't be forged at a discount, but it's worth giving these proposed changes a try.

Thugging takes a hit with the elimination of hammers. As I mentioned above, I'd be happy to give back any boosts TNN/Eriu have received in exchange for a 25% forge bonus but I realize that I'm probably in the minority and that isn't likely to happen. But thanks for trying to keep thugs a viable option. Removing awe from Ris/Tuatha and replacing it with a non-thug focused buff would have been depressing.

So I think it's a reasonable compromise. And I can't imagine anyone will think it's OP.

Btw, since Eriu doesn't have both Ris and Tuatha Sorceresses but just Tuatha (as well as making Bean Sidhe cap only) will the forge bonus and chance of an extra earth pick all go on the Tuatha or will you move the forge bonus to Bean Sidhe (making a new unit since EA and MA use the same one)?