Agreed, it would also more clearly define the boundary between combat oriented heroes (Dumb but Strong) and magic oriented heroes (Brainy but Puny). Also I agree that only the Sovereign should have access to every learned spell at any one time.

after thinking abit about this idea.  it dawned on me that it would create alot of scenarios in which you would have multiple hero units in the same army.  so that you would have the spells you need, almost a sort of party of heroes and an army to contend with.  i like this idea the more i think about it.

This would be great. I don't like that all heroes can cast any spell your sovereign knows, it feels cheesy and makes heroes feel generic. 

If something like this is done, an interesting idea for a spell is one that lets a hero call on your sovereign, wherever he/she might be, to cast a particular spell that the hero doesn't know (but the effect should use the intelligence of the hero not the sovereign). The drawback would be that the hero would use mana casting that spell, and your sovereign would use mana casting whatever spell is requested (not to mention it'd require researching a spell that is useless for your sovereign, and using up a spell slot for your hero). It'd allow a hero that you give the spell to the versatility of your channeler's full range of spells for an extra premium in mana.

Although this would be moot if magic in combat will be like in AoW:SM, where your wizard can use magic in any combat within your territory, or even outside so long as you have a hero in the battle.

I see your point John. One way or the other though, heroes are going to be able to gain access to spells so long as the Sovereign imbues them with essence, this has been known for awhile now.

The only difference between what we currently know and the proposal here is that currently heroes may have access to every spell (Saying may because I don't know how combat spells will work), this proposal would limit them to a smaller selection.

The scenario you described, and I agree is deeply troubling... Could be used either way, and fixing such cheap tactical exploitations should be tackled with certainty, but I don't see how the proposal here in anyway adds to the problems of such tactical exploitations. If anything it is one of several additional steps that need to be taken to address such.

Using your own example, would the three heroes you mentioned be any less imposing if they had access to every spell that you've researched? Perhaps such possible spell related tactical exploitations is why Frogboy proposed a Winner takes all approach in the first place. To prevent cheap skirmishing tactics using A-bomb lobbing heroes.

Another possibility would be when separating certain magical potential in heroes, allow only the most powerful spells to be used by "Genius" level heroes.

Maybe make heroes rely on their own spell abilities early on but allow the manufacture of items that allow the sovereign to channel through them. Also maybe heroes could operate on a different spellbook than the sovereign. Unique spells based on background and specialty. For example a priest of set hero could have different spells than a pyromancer. Quests could be used to either recruit specially skilled heroes or give abilities to existing ones.

i think that it would go a long way towards making the champions more unique. as it stands sometimes i can't tell one from the other, that is other than looking at a pic.

i think that the champions should be able to change their spells or spellbooks out at anytime when they visit a settlement with some sort of magic school.  actually it would be neat if every city had random spells.  maybe the more arcane type stuff you built there they would have more random spells, but never all spells.  these would be based on the spells you know.  this way you would have to send your champion around to different places to learn what they needed to.  however the sovereign could directly give any spell he wanted to a champion.

maybe even create a building specifically for holding spells, arcane repository perhaps.

I really like that idea.  These could be either manufacture items or quest-related items, and without these heros and family members just don't have some of the uber-capabilities of the sovereign.  You could even limit some of the items to a certain area of magic (e.g. can only cast all sovereign "Life" spells) for you.

I also Like Raven X's Magical Concuit idea.  This should be a very powerful spell and I think it would be a neat game mechanic to limit it such that the Sovereign would have to be in some previously built "Casting Chamber" (blatant rip from AoW) and couldn't just cast the spell while travelling or eating dinner....

yeah i hear what your saying, and while i do want spells of mass destruction(SMD's ha!), i can see where i would be mighty pissed if i had an army of thousands that took me a couple hundred turns to get only to be wiped out by a volcano popping up under them. has to be some kinda check or something.

Well while I like the idea of protecting our armies from SMD's (Actually I really don't but it is good for balance lol). If we want to have real specialization mattering then a player that specializes in Magic with strong magic but weak armies should be equal to a player that specializes in Warfare with a huge army but weak magic.

So yeah agree that we need some form of army protection but I am not sure a weak caster should be able to defend against a strong caster just like you wouldn't expect a weak army to defeat a strong one.

So I guess first chance we get, we will need to see how the early Magic system, will stack up against the early armor protection system, or the combination of the two.

What I loath the see is armies marching in formations while under little magic umbrellas that act as "Anti Magic" Shielding...

(shudders)

The current Beta says so.

Hero's can be imbued with Essence and thus gain their own personal Mana Pool and when they do they get access to ALL available researched spells.

That may indeed change. But we have to go on what info we are privy to now. Not unknown info coming from someones imaginary Crystal Ball.

If the Hero's Mana pool size is to be restricted, then where do we ask to have that Bar set? Tough call. A Hero with a 20 Mana Pool had best have some really fine Armor...

And if not my Hero's, then my Offspring. They come with their own Essence Pool, it can be increased with Level and if they don't get access to top Tier Magic's then who?.

Do we keep everyone but the SOV out of the top tier Magic Pool?

Sounds a tad bland really.

Yes. But if someone came at me with an army that they spent the whole game building, then I should not be able to obliterate it with my carefully cultivated magic in one turn with an ultra powerful spell or two, at least not without serious, serious, consequences. After all, the player whose army I just obliterated would probably require dozens and dozens of turns to rebuild their army (factoring in training time, gold and resource costs, and population costs required to train troops in this game), not to mention any fantastical creatures which might be even harder to replace. The one who destroyed that army should take just as long to recover as the one who lost the army, in some way or another.