COWARD: melee unit that flee when attacked (even when manage to parry)

RIDER: unit can jump on another unit even if enemy

Potential: inreased bonuses with each medal.

Number of medals/possible level ups could go up from 2 to 3-4.

I hope their include many abilities for the whole party for heroes, so heroes would be more leader-like and not just homicidal commandos.

Quoted from Leonaru:

I hope their include many abilities for the whole party for heroes, so heroes would be more leader-like and not just homicidal commandos.

Fantastic idea!!!

How about ALL Heroes have leadership abilities by class?

Name of the ability: Warrior Hero
Explanation: Units in the Hero stack gain bonuses to Melee combat and Melee Abilities, and gain some Special Abilities as the Hero levels up.
Note:Increases Units ATT and DAM, gives bonuses to Strangle, Round Attack and similar melee physical Abilities, and at higher levels Fear Immunity, Extra Strike to Units in the stack.

Name of the ability: Ranger Hero
Explanation: Units in the hero stack gain bonuses to ranged combat and ranged Abilities, and gain some Special Abilities as the Hero levels up.
Note:Marksmanship bonuses, Archery and Hurl Boulder with increased range, Forestry to Units in stack, at higher levels drastically increases Movement Points for the entire stack.


Name of the ability: Divine/Arcane Hero
Explanation: Units in the hero stack gain bonuses to Divine/Arcane combat and Divine/Arcane Abilities, and gain some Special Abilities as the Hero levels up.
Note: Magical/Divine abilities bonuses: magic/holy bolts, Magic/Holy Protection - maybe Immunity at higher levels, Dominate, Steal Enchantment, Turn Undead, etc. For this I'd also suggest a WIZARD hero class; Shaman = Priest gameplay wise, imo and is redundant


Name of the ability: Rogue Hero
Explanation: Units in the hero stack gain bonuses to roguish combat and Abilities, and gain some Special Abilities as the Hero levels up.
Note:Tactical abilities/ roguish stuff (Sabotage, Wall Climbing, Poison strike/darts. Hero can conceal/turn invisible his entire stack, allowing deadly surprise attacks.

A Paladin hero would mix Warrior hero stuff (fear Immunity) with Divine Hero stuff (Holy Protection) with a focus on protection and defense. Perhaps with some Smite Evil/Good ability as similar to D&D.

I think it would be a lot of fun to have heroes play this leadership role rather then just being 'another unit'.

Actually regular Units could have this too, then named 'Warrior Leader' etc, but I think maybe a generic leadership for 'leader' Units, and the specialized role for Heroes only.

If is sounds over specialized, as in: a Priest hero would have only or mostly priest units with him, the bonuses could be more generic, with just a small specific bonus.

Then again it makes more sense for a Rogue hero to launch a quick, unseen assault with roguish Units, rather then with heavy siege machinery or full plate Cavalry Picture a halfling rogue attack, climbing over walls and firing poison darts!

Also I have no idea if this conflicts with the Leader classes and if so, by how much. But I think it would work well.

[This message has been edited by Merkraad (edited 03-09-2013 @ 11:52 AM).]

Agree with said above: in general I suppose it's the heroes aspect of AOW that is of the highest potential to develop. And the leadership (along with collective movement / concealment bonuses suggested here) is one of evident directions for this. We do need leaders of different types: defensive, resistant, ranger type and so on.

Flying should become floating when underground. If you differentiate passageways then there they become floaters, while in an open cavern they could fly normally.

On a related note all type 4's should have some missile weapon, no matter how cheesy, this would eliminate the ridiculous occurence of a single dragon destroying entire armies. Of course weaker units without missile would still be out of luck.

Regeneration should be only partial, of course the unit could still be healed, and there could be different levels/strengths of regeneration.

Machines should all be built at a builders guild, and the ability to make the top machines should rely on whether either the skill master builder, or the upgraded building itself, allows for the production of the best machines.
Machines cannot enter dungeons. I mean come on really?

You cannot buff machines with spells, or maybe a specific spell harden machines, raising an armor class, and that would be it. No windwalking boats...etc...

Not to be a putz, I think fixing the things that were broken or allowed for exploits are more important than adding new abilities. Though there are some fine ideas above.

Similar to cleave, "baresark" where a unit has the chance to lose itself in bloodlust and will randomly attack the units nearest to it, friendly or enemy.

But they get a massive attack and damage, and gets extra hp.

Controversial, potentially, because people won't like losing control of a unit, but this is what going berserk/ baresark originally meant.

More levels of medals would be nice, maybe 5?
Increased amount of experience gained when a unit with a lower medal slays one with a higher medal.
Wet as a status: Units receive 50% more damage from lightning and cold, movepoints are 25% less during combat. Units cannot catch fire while being wet.
I like the general benefits of leaders to the group as a whole. Increased movepoints, forestry, mountaineering...

In MoM heroes could get the Pathfinder ability which practically gave Free Movement to all units in a stack, and I think the sky mage gave flying or floating.

Maybe Elven rangers at gold could get a similar Pathfinder ability, combining some of the ones that PawelS suggested?

[edit:]
Leader ability available during wizard customization:
Chauvinist: The free starting hero on the map, Join offers, Call hero etc always prioritize unassigned heroes of the leader's starting race. If no racial heroes are unassigned/free, then priority is given to those of the same alignment, and only as a last resort those of other alignments. Could be an incentive to remain neutral, or plan your alignment shift to get the hero you want.


Some more Hero/unit abilities:
Psionic/Psychic ward: make all units in the stack have Willpower vs domination attempts. Hero spellcaster ability, perhaps.

Riposte: Retaliates once per attacker (so less danger of ganging up, but also no multiple retaliations per single attacker). Would go well with Parry as it was in AoW1-2.

High trajectory shot: Ranged units ignore obstacles using a higher trajectory, at a small range/accuracy penalty. Can be used instead of the normal low trajectory attack of archers.

Soaring: Fliers do not obstruct/interact-with ranged attacks of their allied units only. Could counter the land-between-turns for fliers that was announced for AoW3, and the floating-underground suggestion (if implemented).

Blink: Chance to teleport a short distance when wounded in melee. Similar to the suggested coward ability and retreating in Wesnoth, Warlock and some other games. Could be frustrating if you want the unit to tank, could be a lifesaver if surrounded by enemies while skirmishing. Reserved for summons/magical creatures like weak fairies etc.

Martial artist: Increased defense vs subsequent attacks from a single enemy. Useful from preventing high-defense low-attack heroes from killing the martial artist and tanking gates, compare Kensai from Shogun:TW expansion.

Living anatomy: Bonus to damage against humanoid/mounted units. Inspired by the Fallout perk.

Procrastinator: allows unit to accumulate unspent movement points up to a fixed limit, to be used during next turn.

Wail of the Banshee: an offensive version of Cause fear/paralysis, affects all adjacent enemy units like a round attack. Maybe non-death-immune friendlies as well.
Also, any other debilitating/stunning alternatives to damaging round attacks and directional breath attacks as well: Static wave, Chill blast etc.

[This message has been edited by SiaFu (edited 03-15-2013 @ 05:39 AM).]

Here's an idea for the Highelf Spy unit:

Name of the ability Disguise.

Explanation. On the battlefield the Spy can steal the clothes and mimic the appearance of a deceased humanoid unit (like Changeling ability). After the battle the unit emerges as an independent(!) scout, no longer in control of the player. It will behave as an independent unit untill slain or ... hired by another player, with one small difference: So long as it's alive it will provide Vision for the original player.

Note: The Highelf Spy is small, quick and agile. It is difficult and expensive to train one, even though it may not serve in the ranks for very long. It is risky to employ Highelf Spies because they are so true to their tasks that they will attack their allies in order to maintain incognito.

Winner: unit will strike / throw arrows again when manage to hit, even if that mean 100 attacks, will cease when it miss even if that mean a total of only 1 attack.

Fake death: unit will appear as dead after being hit. Enemy can't attack at all until removes the fake death status.

Donate blood: unit will transfer 1/4 hp loss to whoever wounded and 3/4 hp loss to nearby allied units.

... and don't forget about the Draconian Chameleon!
It is a slick unit with all conceivable kinds of concealment.
Its signature move is 'Camouflage'.

Name of the ability Camouflage.

Explanation: During combat the unit can render itself invisible.

Note: When the unit takes damage it will become visible again.

Name of the ability: Wing Attack.

Explanation: Large flyer unit plaps its wings in a cone attack that throws units, in the are of effect, backwards. Heavy units (like tanks) are immune to it. Has 3 charges and can be used in the red mps.

Note: For a dragon or other large winged units.

Heroic Ability:
Retributive Strike:
A fallen hero gets a last attack at half damage as they fall.
Cut off Retreat:
Heroes with this ability prevent units from fleeing the battlefield. Their retreat has been cut off.

Hypnotism - leads to degrees of possession of distant target at the cost of defense and/or no move/act until dispelled/hit. Lose 1 turn whether it hits or not. (Think Abe in Abe's Odyssey.)
Hypnotism Level 1 - Forces target to take one swing at random adjacent target before unit takes the rest of its turn. Lasts for x turns or until caster is hit.
Hypnotism Level 2 - Same but 2 swings first, leaving only red movement, etc. Lasts for x turns or until caster is hit.
Penultimate Hypnotism - Full control of the target for X turns or until caster is hit.
Requires line of sight, perhaps, and range might increase with level.

Transmogrification - Unit can add concealment and movement per terrain type. Costs half movement points. For example, druid-types could use transmogrification in forests to become wolf, or in desert to become snake, or on hills to become raven (to cross mountains).
* A hit might cause you to turn back and lose rest of turn.

Douse flame - removes burning.
Ground spark - removes electricity. Target's turn already lost.
Thaw - removes freeze. Target's turn already lost.
* for engineer types, not healers. Has 50% chance to transfer condition to caster for 1 turn. Lower percentage of catching condition as level increases, or adds +1 or +2 hit points at higher levels.
These might also be medium attacks against elementals, or creatures with that particular elemental affinity.

Instead healers should get buffs like:
Barriers - -10% elemental damage. Might add weakness of opposing element as percentage increases with level. These should have limited duration so when to place the barrier becomes important.
Inspiration - +dmg, or +atk, or +def for 1 maybe 2 turns; type dependent on race or archetype.
Penultimate Barriers and Inspirations could be aura-like, placed on caster to add +2 to caster and +1 to adjacent units.

Geomancy - Terrain dictates elemental attack type. Archers with geomancy could add element from terrain to arrows. Infantry might gain +atk, +dmg, or +def based on terrain type and its race/archetype. Geomancy costs -1hp.

Humbug: Unit becomes invisible for x turns and creates an "illusion" of itself that can't do dmg and vanishes as soon as it is hit.

Delay dead: Unit dies one turn after it's life has become zero.

Friendly farewell: Unit heals surrounding allies when dying.

btw: Is there already a "magic" or "spells" thread? i think the Humbug ability could just as well be a spell that could be cast :-)

[This message has been edited by Fluks (edited 06-06-2013 @ 00:36 AM).]

Friendly Farwell sounds amusing; with large armies it is easy to see having extras but with a small army - it might be more interesting. I guess maybe a last ditch effort to keep some prized troupe from dying. There was a game that used to have soemthing similar - oh yea hum interesting.

Good idea for demonic-type and summoned units:
Infernal Combustion: Upon death, the unit explodes, rendering it immune to resurrection/reanimation. Fire, physical, death, wall damage to all adjacent units, friendly or hostile. Basically the SM spell 'Corpus Furia' in ability form. Idk how this would work if a unit had the resurgence enchantment, but its an idea.