Caster of Magic II Brainstorming Megathread

[Seravy]

Definitely like the ideas.

The Hag would make a good unique champion and regeneration is very useful for chaos/death wizards. However, it's a very powerful ability and I don't think it should appear unless the champion pool has much more heroes - it becomes a problem if the hero can consistently be found every game. Same logic as Regeneration on predefined items, it should be rare.

I'm not sure what gameplay role the Snow Queen has though, it looks like a generic caster hero to me. We will need to think of a unique role/ability the current champions can't fill/have.

I would prefer if neither of them had Flight though. There already is a unique flying hero in the game and having more devalues the spell and item.

[Suppanut]

I think Chaos's fate mastery should -4 spell save from all spell wizard side casting and +2 spell save for all spell target target caster wizard's units.

I think there should be another use of nature's transmute apart from target resource on tile, it should also transmuted weapons and armour on all regular units on that tile too. Turns caster's regular units' weapons from normal to mithril, magic and mithril to adamantium, and random chance for turn armor into oriculicum. And turn enemy regular units special weapons/armour from mithril/adamantium/oriculcum to normal.

In tune with Marvel's adamantium, should there be vibranium (Captain America's shield, Black Panther's suit) ore for armour too so that it could be transmute back and forth between ore which give give physical protection and magical protection?

[JustOneMoreTurn]

For fun, how about a hero with random spells available in each combat (without access to the Wizard's spellbook)? Maybe three commons and one uncommon to start, rising with experience. Sometimes you'd get spells that just aren't all that useful in that combat, so a warrior-mage might be best.

How about a non-spellcaster hero who automatically raises one friendly (or zombifies one enemy) dead in combat per x levels?

[JustOneMoreTurn]

One thought about the Assassin: his fixed Poison damage becomes less relevant later in the game. I'd be happier with him if the Poison damage increased with level.

[Slingers]

The Hag would make a good unique champion and regeneration is very useful for chaos/death wizards. However, it's a very powerful ability and I don't think it should appear unless the champion pool has much more heroes - it becomes a problem if the hero can consistently be found every game. Same logic as Regeneration on predefined items, it should be rare.

I'm not sure what gameplay role the Snow Queen has though, it looks like a generic caster hero to me. We will need to think of a unique role/ability the current champions can't fill/have.

I would prefer if neither of them had Flight though. There already is a unique flying hero in the game and having more devalues the spell and item.

Champions cannot be found in lairs and chances of getting one with a few empty hero slots are slim. For me, the rare spell “Summon Champion” usually unlocked the availability. I just wonder if it would make sense if both the prisoners found and the heroes/champs summoned were also dependent on the fame present. This way, some champions could have higher demands on fame to be available later during the game or not at all at times.

I also think that new heroes should be made as unique characters. A hero that comes with Air Elemental spell is not bad imho. But perhaps new abilities can make a character more convincing.
Messing with the Snow Queen should feel like a snow storm. The view is impaired. Any form of movement can be hindered, temporarily stopped or even reversed. Cold damage occurs left and right.
Some ideas for a new ability:
“Bad vision”: like Blur but stronger
“Squalls”: Opponents lose 1 move or their moves are halved
“Aloofness” opponents must enter a tile next to the hero twice/ slide back once
“Frost aura” small cold damage in each turn for all or only nearby opponents

Those two could instead have the Flight spell for flavour. Otherwise, Flight in the late game is pretty plentiful and there is still no Champion who flies by default. I think the hag is overpowered anyway, so she could have Flight too.

[Slingers]

Maybe gnoll hero should be basically wolf raider (should called warg raider/wolf lord in this case due to how bigger and badder he is) with cause fear, first strike, and maybe mixed in werewolf trait?

Straightforward quick aggression, as with the unit, could be the main theme of this character.
The Warg Rider is difficult to hit with ranged attacks or spells. A high speed can only be shown indirectly in a turn-based fight - with suitable stats. I am not sure whether a new special ability (e.g. "Speed") is necessary for this, or whether existing tools are good enough (+ to def?, Agility?)

An example of a
Warg Rider
Type : Warrior, Fame : 120
Moves: 5
Abilities : Scouting 3, Pathfinding, Might*, Agility*, Cloak of Fear
Random abilities: -
Names: Golz, Gnarl, Gronz, Brex, Zonk
 
More general thoughts on new heroes:
More heroes and new hero abilities may need more combination options by adding a new type of hero. Now the types are Fighter/Warrior, Leader, Mage = 6. What else could it be? Maybe a Priest? But this would also change the system for existing hero units. Maybe not all new abilities need to belong to a type. Some new abilities could be unique to one hero.
Also, how many heroes are overall good to have? In any case, only 6 can be employed at the same time. The more there are, the harder it will be to get a particular one.

[Slingers]

While thinking about possible new fantasy heroes, I wondered a little about the hero classes that are called types in the COM Readme. The green ones are in MOM. There are many ideas about hero classes and what might be special about them, for example in MTG, Might and Magic and Wizardry.

Small collection of characters - hero classes/ sometimes as common units:

Advisor, Alchemist, Amazon, Archer, Assassin, Avenger, Bard, Battle Mage, Beast Lord, Beastmaster, Beorning, Berserker, Bishop, Black Knight, Blade Dancer, Burglar, Captain, Cardinal, Chaos Warrior, Champion, Cleric, Commander, Coward, Crusader, Dark Lord, Dark Priest, Death Knight, Defender, Demoniac, Demonologist, Dervish, Deserter, Druid, Elder, Elementalist, Enchanter, Field Marshal, Fire Diviner, Fireguard, Flagbearer, Freemage, Gadgeteer, General, Guardian, Guildmaster, Healer, Heretic, Hunter, Illusionist, Knight, Kunoichi, Leader, Lich, Lord, Lore-Master, Mage, Magician, Mercenary, Minion, Minstrel, Monk, Musashi, Mystic, Ninja, Necromancer, Overlord, Paladin, Peasant, Pilot, Pirate, Phantom, Planeswalker, Praetor, Priest, Prophet, Psionic, Pyromancer, Ranger, Rebel, Rigger, Rogue, Runekeeper, Rune Priest, Reaver, Sage, Samurai, Scout, Seer, Shadow Mage, Shaman, Shogun, Skin-Changer, Slinger, Soldier, Sorcerer, Spellshaper, Summoner, Swordsman, Tactician, Thief, Valiant, Valkyrie, Warden, Warlock, Warlord, War Monk, Warrior, Warrior Mage, Wind Mage, Witch, Witch King, Wizard, Wizard King

Characters named after their MOM race:

Barbarian, Beastmen, Dark Elf, Draconian, Dwarf, Gnoll, High Elven Archer, High Men, Klackon, Lizardmen, Nomad, Orc Archer, Troll

Most Characters seem to belong to a MOM race, but it´s not determined:

Dark Elf - Ninja, Dwarf - Chaos Warrior, Halfling - Thief, High Elf - Wind Mage, Lizardmen - Unknown, Nomad - Assassin/ Beastmaster/ Dervish, High Men - many

None of the above:

Chosen One, Golden One, Unknown

[Suppanut]

I always feel strange about how bahemoth is caster among nature summons so I want to suggest this idea of changing.

Move casting skill of bahemoth to Gorgons (it look sentient and smart enough to be caster after all) and turn bahemoth concept into something Godzilla-like monster. It may not fast, but each attack should guarantee kill anything that not supernatural or no capability to escape it (big enough to stomp everything that not fly to death). Its attack should be area-attack, deal damage to 3 adjunct tile its attack facing (may have cause collateral damage to friendly unit nearby due to attack is basically area attack). Could walk through water as if it is nothing (it big enough so water depth nolonger matter and wall crushing naturally, treat all tile in combat as if pathfinding) but to cross water on overland map would still need waterwalking. It should be too big for any transport so it could not boarding ship, could not carry by windwalk. By walking pass through could deal damage to non-flying unit (much like magic vortex). It should have innate invulnerability-like ability that damage below threshold could not reduce its hitpoint but at higher damage threshold than invulnerability (something like -10 damage from each source/figure so unbuffed halberd is nothing but its toothpicks and only something big that could really damage it).

Great wyrm should also could not become target of melee attack by flyer and range attack from ground troop due to it should stay below ground during its defending phase. But it could be target of range attack from flyer and melee attack of ground troop.

Lastly, if intend to make spirit look like caster, maybe it should have charge for a fairy dust too and increase its summoning cost.

[Slingers]

The Adventurer

This hero could be Super Lucky*, but that´s probably not on the list of options. A new halfling unit was discussed here earlier. The small Halfling is easily overseen (Escape) and more difficult to hit (Dodge). Unit icons for this hero could easily be made by recycling the common units icons, only they don´t exist yet, right?

Type: Leader, Fame: 120, Moves: 2 (rides a pony)
Abilities: Lucky, Supply Commander, Armsmaster*, Ranged sling attack - cannot use bows, Legendary, extra HP?

Ideas for new abilities:
-  “Dodge”  - only X% of the attacks arrive (melee, ranged, targeted spells) Such an ability would suit the Battle Monk as well.
-  “Escape” - guaranteed fleeing, only not the first turn

Names: Tobi, Pall, Lucky, Gaulo, Piping

[Slingers]

The Engineer

This hero is way ahead of his time. He should have become a Beetle Rider, but had other interests.

Type: Warrior, Fame: 120, Moves: 4
Abilities: Fire Breath, Constitution*
Random abilities: 4

Idea for new ability:
-         “Crash” - X% chance to destroy a unit – After that, the hero cannot move for Y turns.

Names: Scotty, Zefram, Geordi, Miles , Seven Of Nine