Give "the master of chaos" level one in everything. And 'sacred'-status. He has achieved *everything*. Besides, I'm not sure if heroes can have random picks.
The "arch theurg" shouldn't have priestly magic. Atleast not at level three. Sermon of Courage from someone everyone is afraid of...
For the Last hero, he seems thematic. However, you might consider giving him half of the powers of all other, instead of their full powers. After that he would have stats of the gifted, reinvigoration 2, poor amphibion, aim cast at the start of battle but poor precision, ambidexterity 2 and dual-wielded longsword and a flaming dagger. Notice how his powers in fire are only enough to affect the second weapon.
About Chaos Masters: 5 full picks is much. The idea has been thrown around a few times, but it is still very powerful. 120 gp is not much, research is on par with any 3-pick mage and the afflictions could be bad but they are so cheap that it doesn't affect much... Even if 25% of them were feeble-minded when bought the price to get a useful one would be about 160 gp (120*4/3) in the long run. And much less than 25% of them are useless! I would up the cost to that 160 gp's, at least. In the very end I compare the research values of their three mages, and I put my suggestion in there too.
This nation would have access to all magics at atleast 3, and with all the different paths they can easily make all boosters. Including Rings of Wizardy! One S2E2 mage can do Starshine Skullcap, Crystal Coin, Ring of Sorcery, Ring of Wizardry... All forged with Dwarven Hammers, of course. And in the end of endgame they would have Chaos Masters equipped with Staff of Elemental Mastery, Robe of the Magi and Ring of Wizardry/ Sorcery for total magic bonus of 3 (2 true plus plus both sorc. & elem. bonuses), reinvigoration 5, immunity to fire and cold or lightning and prot. 15 depending on the type of the staff used, and penetration bonus of two.
All this for 5+5 gems for Staff, 10 gems + 10 slaves for robe, 10 + 20 pearls for rings for total of 60 gems/pearls/slaves. Earth 2 will be good enough to cast Forge of the Ancients after they get the booster-mill going, they will find all the sites so have gems to keep it up and have access to all magics atleast at 5 without any boosters spesific to that magic. They also have easy access to Hammer of the Forge Lord, and exteremely lucky Masters could even be able to cast Wish... They also have cheap communicants in sacred Theurgs.
AND to the top of it all, their best researcher is their best mage. As seen under, 24 gp/rp for CM, 40gp/rp and cheaper upkeep for others. However, CM researchs more than twice the amount of Savant and almost twice the amount of theurg, being much more useful than either of them... In very long run and/or with magic scale one could consider theurg, but SHH versus ????? seems rather weak.
research point (rp) formula used: 2 + (# of picks) +- bonus
Savant: 80gp / 2 = 40 gp/rp, upkeep of 5,3 gp
Chaos Master: 120 gp / 5 = 24gp/rp, upkeep of 8 gp
Theurg: 120 gp / 3 rp = 40 gp/rp, upkeep of 4 gp
my Chaos Master: 160 gp / 5 = 32 gp/rp, upkeep of 10,7 gp
This is more balanced, as it is no longer the best researcher for 20+ or whatever turns. I'm not going to calculate how many turns it takes for upkeep to make this cost more than the others, but it will happen much faster than in your original case.
Your idea is somewhat raw, it could use some more consideration, tweaking and balancing, maybe some more units (supply guys seem nice) but it could work. Do you have a name for it? It would be nice to know what I am waiting for... :P
Re: Idea for a mod
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