Fallen Enchantress has made great strides on improving the role and portrayal of heroes. For example, each hero now has their own list of traits, and heroes are now recruited through quests, which are presumably customized according to their characters and backstories. But there's still more that can be done! This thread is for people who want to suggest
1: A hero creator
A very simple idea, really. In WoM, we have the Sovereign creator, and heroes can be created with it and the XML. However, it would be far easier if the Sovereign Creator turned into a Hero creator, with a button that allowed you to switch between sovereign and regular hero. Of course, extra options like recruitment level, method of recruitment, and etc. would need to be implemented, but that shouldn't be too hard to overcome.
2: Fighting in style
So you've just spent the last fifteen minutes designing your new sovereign/hero. He's got the perfect colors, and this really neat jacket/hat combo. You can't wait to conquer the world of Elemental with your new hero. And then you get four minutes into the game, research padded armor, and all of your design efforts go flying out the window. If you want to stay competitive and really play the game, you've got to equip the armor, and your character suddenly looks like every other soldier on the battlefield. And let's face it, when you think "awesome fantasy heroes," the armored heroes of WoM probably wasn't what you had in mind. My suggestion is to add a cosmetic pane for your heroes that allows you to equip armor while keeping the look of a second article of clothing. Then your heroes can all look unique while remaining competitive in the game.
3: Quests assigned to particular heroes
The idea here is that heroes, once acquired, are not simply one-man army units, but characters with stories. Quests would be generated by our heroes, specifically for our heroes to complete. Some of these quests would emerge from backstory. Say one of our heroes, Darius, lost his sister during a bandit raid. What would happen in game is, after the quest is triggered (say, Darius defeats three bandits), Darius comes to the Sovereign (that is, you) and informs you that he's learned his sister might still be alive, a slave at X bandit camp. You are then given the opportunity to take up Darius' personal quest by attacking the bandit camp and freeing his sister. Success means special equipment for Darius, while refusing the quest or failing to act after X turns may cause him to leave your kingdom. Similar quests could emerge from in-game events (like being poisoned by a plaguestalker, picking up X trait, or governing a city for X turns). This idea is adapted from an earlier discussion with Kenata, who provides some great ideas for how to practically implement this idea. You could even use this idea to add some in-game character to the default sovereigns.
That's all I've got for right now. Let me know what you think, and add your own ideas into the mix! What other things would give heroes that extra edge and make them an even more exciting and unique part of FE?
