Interesting.  You propose that a casters ability to cast more spells per turn is directly related to the amount of essence they have on tap?  I would think that Intelligence would be more of a gauge toward spell casting ability; it doesn't matter how big the tank of fuel is, you'll still only get as much fuel out as the size of the nozzle permits.  OTOH, the effect of burning up your essence casting spells having a direct effect on the number of spells you can get off is also intriguing as it would neatly add in a concept of exhaustion.

Either way, I understand that your main point here is to try and add in a limiting system easily into the game so as to be something that could be implemented before release, and in that case this might work if the devs are so inclined.  I would imagine that the tactical system is going to see a lot of evolution between now and release, and probably even more so post release when the gold date 'Sword of Damocles' is no longer hanging over their heads.

Yes, intelligence and wisdom would both also work here. I used essence so that non-sovereign spellcasters would initially be limited to the one-spell-per-tactical turn goal that Frogboy wanted, while still allowing sovereigns to be magical terrors on the battlefield.

Also, the initial value I used for newly-imbued hero essence was wrong. It should be 3. Edited to reflect the correct beta 4 value.

I'm not sure that having even the meanest wizard able to cast twice per turn really gets at the core desire of making it harder to deplete your entire mana pool in a turn or two, or making the ability of the attacker to go first giving massive alpha strike capability.

I would rather have tactical spells be slightly more powerful, but only able to cast once per turn.

Another thing that needs to be factored into the calculus here is the opportunity cost of the mana.  If you spend your mana rapidly on weak tactical spells, then that eats into your ability to cast enchantments and Summonings.

Mana is slow to recover.

@Spyndel: I think the best way to limit summoning is to make the more powerful summoning spells again dependent on control of an elemental node.

@Scooter: I agree that tactical combat desperately needs to be turn-based by unit, with play order based on combat speed, rather than turn-based by player with play order decided by who attacks first. That's really an issue for tactical combat overall, rather than this specific magic issue, though.

@Archonsod: I agree and discuss that in the linked posts at the bottom of my comments. My goal here, though, was to suggest a simple and quickly implemented solution that was straightforward enough to be usable for the release version. The refinements are a good idea for post-release development.

You raise a very crucial balance point in the current Elemental.  Summons need to be much more limited (and as a consequence, less costly).  For example, in HOMM 2 and 3, summons last only the battle they are summoned in.  Elementals that are bought last until they die, but elementals summoned in battle only last one battle (or less ).  But they can still be a decent power if the mana cost is right - as even for one battle being able to summon some badass units can still be game-changing, but in a way where risk/reward is balanced.

And I think that's what all games are measured on really, is the risk/reward balanced for all the possible things one player can do to the AI or another human player?

Best regards,
Steven. 

yes i like this very much.  i just want there to be a way to use combat speed with spells.  this sounds good, making a sovs and champs that specialize in magic useful and unique.  i had originally just said that i would like them to add combat speed to all the spells, but this way would be a faster implementation.  mainly because you just have to balance the equation as opposed to each spell.  very nice!

I would keep the shards they are now, randomly scattered by type across the map, however, I would modify the sovereigns so that no one knew any elemental magic until a shard was discovered.  This way, if I happen to find a water shard, I gain access to water spells that I can learn.  Summoning then is based on number of shards owned.  If I have one water shard I can summon weak water elementals, if I have two shards I can summon a more powerful elemental, etc.  I would also limit the number of creatures that can be summoned/controlled based on the number of shards I control.  Thus if I have three water shards I can summon a "Master of Lake" or three "Lords of the pond" or six "Water sprites".  Then the level of the caster could factor into the strength of the attributes of the summoned creature.  This would make ownership of shards a critical resource as they should be, but not limit a player who chooses fire magic but then starts in a land that only has water shards.

I think this idea would also fit in with the Lore of the game.  Namely that controlling shards gave me access to elemental magic and elemental creatures.  In addition, other spell books and abilities, enchantment, summoning non-elemental creatures, buffs, protections, etc. would work as currently provided.