Heroic: spells

[Groovy]

In truth, I was under the impression that each school would have one of those spells, not that they were evolving one into another, right? So, you'd have blind from - fire, for instance. So, the meta spell Curse/Bamboozle of the fire school spell Blind would evolve into Blind + Deaf (unit cannot hear and will become afraid of the outcome, losing also morale and luck - when spell effect breaks). That's what I understood.

Oh, I see. I had Curse and Bamboozle as different meta spells.

Good one, the Creative Skill. Just careful with it not to become too imba, eh?

I thought of having it trigger when the hero has reached a higher magic school level than any of the spells that he knows, and hasn’t learned a new spell in a long time.

It's because when I design my heroes ideas, Heroes that got defeated stayed defeated, unless revived by the player.

This has given me a great idea for an additional use for temple structures that I had added to my towns. I was going to use them to summon Archons (a later topic), but they could also be used to revive fallen heroes. I like it!

While you're not able to learn that spell, you'll have to carry that book around with you as being a useless item, under the imminent threat of being attacked, killed and having your book stolen.

This sounds to me like a very useful mechanic in general. Finding puzzle map pieces could be done along similar lines. As could other kinds of quests. This would add a whole new dimension to the game, one that, I think, fits its fantasy ambience beautifully!

[Groovy]

ER, i think it won't work. There are games that have the "leveling via use" system. What frequently happens is that in order to level efficiently you go to a quiet spot, put a weight on attack/cast hotkey and go away for half an hour. Once you come back, your hero is ready to proceed. If "experience via using" would be in HoMM, it would mean that using the skills as much as possible is a priority. On first day engage a battle, dodge enemy as long as possible while casting repeatedly haste on your own unit(s). Do not finish the battle until out of mana or you are waisting experience. Mana regeneration during battle or adventure map casting/wells would mean infinite experience by tedious repetive micromanagment. This system works for RPGs in virtual realism where we not only train, but also eat, sleep and do private things with our virtual self. For a strategy game i would definately not suggest this approach.

Well spotted!

Do you think that combining adventure map movement points and combat turns into a single variable, as described in my new thread on open-terrain combat, would be sufficient to deter abuse?

[Panda Tar]

@Groovy

Glad that these last posts are turning productive.