Well, then add to it.  Use that brain of yours. =P

I combined my suggestions into one post. Was getting confused on what I already had in there...

For strategic abilities I'm leaning more towards passive abilities because pressing the same button every few turns just isn't fun.
I won't even try to assign these to a specific sovereign. I neither know about nor care for "the lore". =P
 

1. Forced March,
   Strategic ability.
   Increases the stack's speed by 1 for 2 turns, 0.5 for the next 2 turns, and lowers it by 0.5 for the 4 turns after.
   10-15 turns cooldown, possibly decreased by level.
    
   
2. Rally Cry
   Tactical ability.  Radius of 2 around caster.
   A buff that lasts 1 turn plus 1 per 5 full levels of the soverign.
   This lets units ignore any and all effect of low morale, like cowering or stat reductions.
   Should not just be a +50 % morale spell because troops with moderate/high morale do not need to be rallied.
    
   
3. War Cry
   Tactical ability.
   All own units within 2 squares become immune to all magical and natural (own units dieing, etc) events that negatively alter morale.
   This does not raise morale or protect units from negative effect, only prevents morale from being lowered any further.
    
   
4. Inspiring Leader
   Tactical trait.
   All own units only suffer half the consequences of any negative morale modification.
    
   
5. Herbalist / Healer
   Permanent trait.  (Strategical)
   Troops in the stack heal 5 % of their max HP every turn.Did I mention that all forms of healing should at least partially be based on % values
    
   It's neither useful nor logical that a 1200 HP unit of 12 men should have to heal at a flat +6 HP per turn...
    
   
6. Adventurer
   Permanent trait.  (Strategical)
   Stack can enter notable locations of a higher level.
   I suggest a bonus level of    ( Sovereign level / 10 ) + 1
    
   
7. Alchemist
   Tactical ability, 1-2 per battle.
   Can toss a small fire bomb potion equivalent to a weak fireball.
   Short range and possibly small AOE but a way to "hurt" multiple figures in an enemy unit at once. Can't do that with a bow attack.
    
   
8. Attunement
   Strategic ability / trait.
   The sov can "attune" himself to a certain element by using this ability at a magical shard.
   He can only be attuned to one element at a time.
   "Being attuned" provides a bonus when using the corresponding type of magic. That can be casting cost or power.
   
   Pre-selecting fixed abilities like "Attunement: Fire" is a gameplay issue because you wouldn't know if you're going to find a fire shard at all.
   Possibly adds the ability to temporarily summon one minor elemental of the corresponding type every battle.
   (hard to balance against becoming useless - elemental level would have to be directly linear to sov level)
    
   
9. Eagle Eye
   When using a ranged weapon, the sovereign cannot miss (always does 1/2 of min damage guaranteed) and only uses half the opponent's armor rating.
    
   
10. The Slayer   (the slayer walks the earth = )
    Tactical trait.
    When the sovereign kills an opponent in melee, he makes a bloody mess of it.
    (killing something could put a buff on the sovereign to create the effects)
    After that, all enemy units within 2 tiles of him suffer a morale penalty (not stackable) until they move farther away than those 2 tiles. That "dispells the debuff".
    Possibly they have to make a "saving throw" against running out of this area against their will.
     
    
11. Knockback  (for a powerful melee fighter type)
    Tactical trait.
    Every melee attack of the sovereign has a decent chance to also push the target back one square.
    That doesn't have to mean a physical force but rather shakes the unit into retreating one square.
     
    
12. Riposte
    Tactical trait.
    50% chance to avoid a melee attack,  50% chance to only use half the opponent's armor rating on an own riposte.
    
    
13. Fortification
    Strategic trait.
    For every turn that the sovereign / army does not move, they automatically improve their position, gaining maybe +5 % defense from the tile.
    The maximum should be tied to the sovereign's level.
     
    
14. Hold the Line
    Tactical ability, 1-2 per battle.
    Buff another melee unit's defense but lower it's movement
     
    
15. Lover, not a Fighter
    Strategic ability.  Maybe 15 turns cooldown.
    Can bribe a neutral army (can this be limited to "intelligent" creatures?) to temporarily join the empire.
    They don't cost upkeep beyond the initial (high?) payment but have an increasing chance to defect every turn afterwards.
    Obviously they also keep the spoils of any battle they win and do not gain the sovereign any XP like an own unit would.
     
    
16. Purify
    Tactical ability, 1-2 per battle.
    Remove all detrimental magical / poison effects on self or an adjacent unit.
     
    
17. Sense Life
    Strategic / tactical trait.
    The sovereign does not have increased sight range but "senses" that units are somewhere 2-3 tiles beyond visual range.
    Can not see the actual units but only a token or counter for "unknown unit".
     
    Could similiarly sense hidden units in tactical if such a feature were ever put in.
     
    
18. Poisoned Weapons
    Tactical trait.
    Every ranged / melee attack of the sovereign has a decent chance to poison the target with a small DoT,
      doing  (sovereign level) +1 damage  for  SQR(sovereign level) turns.
    The damage must scale or the ability will become useless very quickly.
    The duration can increase but only at a far lower scale so you don't get a  (sovereign level)^2 effect.
     
    
19. Possession
    Tactical ability, 1 per battle.
    Soverign can possess an adjacent enemy unit, controlling it.
    The unit has an increasing chance to break the spell every turn.
    The sovereign cannot move / attack / cast while possessing another unit.
     
    
20. Poison Wells
    Strategic ability.
    Disable the food production of an adjacent tile for a duration that is tied to the sovereign level.
    If near a city: kills a little population during the first 1-3 turns of this spell duration (until they find out)
     
    
21. Set Traps
    Strategic ability.
    Can set traps to hurt / slow a pursueing army.
    They last for maybe  (sovereign level) / 2  turns  and slow/stun the enemy army if it steps onto the strategic tile.
     
    
22. Seafarer
    Strategic Trait.
    Nautical expertise adds 1-2 speed to a ship if being transported at sea.
    Could start with the tech to build simple boats / harbour.
     
    
23. Giant Slayer
    Tactical trait.
    Does 150 % damage to all "large" creatures with melee and ranged attacks.  50% chance to do 200 % damage instead.
     
    
24. Diminutive Stature
    Tactical trait.
    Large creatures and mechanical units find it hard to hit the sovereign, meaning a 30-50 % (not points) innate dodge rating when attacked by those.
    Mutually exclusive with Giant Slayer.   (no giant slaying hobbits, please)
25. Sneaky
    Strategic trait.
    Reduces the distance at which this army can be seen by
        ( (sovereign level) / 10 + 1 ) -  (number of units in the army) / 5
     
    
26. Interrogate
    Tactical ability, 1 per battle.
    Can be used on an adjacent cowering unit.
    If successful, reveals the location of a random enemy city or a small amount of points towards military research.
     
    
27. Rout
    Tactical ability, ? per battle.
    Can be used on an adjacent cowering unit.
    Instantly destroys the unit - possibly with some sort of saving throw.
     
    
28. Artillerist
    Tactical trait.
    Gives a to-hit bonus to mechanical units in the battle by "directing their fire".
     
    
29. Leap
    Tactical Ability. ? per battle or per turn.
    Can teleport 2 squares, crossing over any terrain or unit.
     
    
30. Lingering Presence
    Strategical trait.
    Whereever the soverign moves, he automatically draws a line of scrying spells so he can watch the area where he has been for x turns after.
    Could last  (sovereign level) +2 turns,  maybe as many as  (sovereign level) *2  since it doesn't directly do anything.
     
    
31. Motivation
    Tactical ability, ? per battle / 1 per turn.
    Can be used on an adjacent own  unit.
    Kills one unit figure but the unit gains 1 extra movement point for this turn.
     
    
32. Armed Rabble
    Strategical trait.
    When defending an own city (anywhere) the player gets a choice to summon Armed Rabble depending in strength/number on the sovereign's level.
    Should these unit(s) survive the fight, there will be looting and pillaging in the town afterwards. So choose wisely. =P
    These units disband afterwards.
     
    
33. Master of Spirits
    Tactical ability, 1 per battle.
    All adjacent units receive a generous ration of rum.
    When moving, there is a 10% chance that the ahh... spirited unit moves to an adjacent square, not the intended one.
    Chance to hit is slightly lowered.
    Unit's morale never drops below 25 % for any reason.
     
    
34. Leading from the Front
    Tactical trait.
    Any own unit pays half movement costs when the move reduces the distance to both the sovereign and an enemy unit.
     
    
35. Bad Breath   (not Brad Breath, mind you)
    Tactical trait.
    Any unit that the sovereign attacks has a chance to suffer from a debuff, getting violently sick and losing half their moves / actions for 2 turns.
    The chance slightly (not by much) increases with sovereign levels.  It's a uhh... developed ability!
     
    
36. Evil Eye
    Tactical trait.
    Enemy units adjacent to the sovereign have a -10% chance to hit.
     
    
37. Premature Castulation
    Tactical ability.
    The sovereign can force an enemy unit to cast a random innate ability / spell, provided it still has uses / mana left for it.
    A random target (which can still be one of the sovereign's units...) will be chosen but the likelyhood for a nearby target is greater.
     
    
38. Hot Dog
    Tactical Ability.
    Sets wolves on fire.
     
    
39. Chaotic Incantations
    Tactical ability / trait.
    Trait:  Enemy units near the sov have a chance to use their abilities on wrong targets when they use abilities.
    Ability:  This is trickier because the enemy unit (which can be player owned) should not see the debuff placed on it.
                Then again, getting the enemy to hesitate when using abilities might be desireable, too...
     
    
40. Vengeance of the Dead
    Tactical ability.
    For every own unit that the enemy unit has killed in this battle, it is hit for X damage when this ability is used.
    Alternatively for every attack it has initiated against own units.
     
    
41. Lay on Hands
    Tactical ability.
    It's a classic. Do I really have to explain that one? =P
     
    
42. Mark of Revival
    Tactical ability.
    Places a mark on the target that slightly heals every melee attacker on every swing.
    Obviously that is more useful on targets that take many swings to kill.
     
    
43. Vow of Vanquishing    (may name is Inigo Montoya...)
    Tactical ability.
    The sovereign concentrates on one target. This ability cannot be turned off until the target dies.
    Sovereign Attack / Defense boosted by maybe 15-20 % against this target only.
    Sovereign Attack / Defense lowered by the same amount against every other target.
     
    
44. Appease  (same as VoV above - only reversed for a more "peaceful" sovereign)
    Tactical ability.
    The sovereign concentrates on one target. This ability cannot be turned off until the target dies.
    Sovereign Defense boosted by maybe 15-20 % against this target only.
     
    
45. Twisted Cognizance
    Tactical ability.
    The sovereign is invisible to one particular unit until he attacks that exact unit.
     
    
46. Fateful Attraction
    Tactical ability.
    Confuses an enemy unit.
    Whenever this unit moves a step, there is a 30% chance that it takes one step towards the nearest unit of any type or allegiance.
     
    
47. Berserker Rage
    Tactical ability / buff.   Targets one unit of any allegiance.
    Halves Defense and boosts Attack by 50 %.
     
    
48. Mana Shield
    Tactical trait.
    Reduces damage taken by 30-50% but costs mana everytime the sov gets hit.
    This could have a minimum amount so that a minimum of  (sovereign level)  damage is always soaked, requiring a "serious" attack to get through the shield.
     
    
49. Blood Rage
    Tactical trait.
    Whenever the sovereign takes damage, there is a chance of  1/2 to 1/3 of (max - current HP) that he enters a blood rage, increasing Attack.
     
    
50. Jeer
    Tactical ability.
    The sovereign taunts an enemy unit to attack him, preferrably in melee if that is possible, causing the unit to move towards the sovereign if necessary.
     
    
51. Deflect
    Tactical trait.
    There is a chance that an enemy unit's melee attack will be deflected to another adjacent unit - uncluding other enemy units.
     
    
52. Field Armorer
    Tactical trait.
    All units in the sovereign's stack gain 1 Defense.
     
    
53. Blessing of Life
    Tactical / Strategical trait.
    All heal spells that the sovereign casts heal x % more HP.
     
    
54. Elixir of Life
    Tactical trait.   (would have to be a flat / instant bonus if applied strategically)
    All heal spells that the sovereign casts automatically add a buff to the target that heals a small % of it's HP for the next 3 turns.
     
    
55. Holy Fervor
    Tactical trait.
    Sovereign and own units adjacent to him may suffer negative morale effects but never cower in fear.
     
    
56. Defy Death
    Tactical trait.
    There is a chance that any damage that brings the sovereign below 1 HP leaves him with 1 HP instead.
     
    
57. Impenetrable
    Tactical ability.
    Doubles the sovereign's Defense for  (sovereign level / 10) +1  turns.
     
    
58. Glorious Absolution
    Tactical trait.
    For every point of damage that the sovereign takes, all adjacent enemy units suffer half that damage.
     
    
59. Hunger for Blood
    Tactical trait.
    The sovereign starts a battle at -20% attack.
    For every melee attack he executes, he gains +10% attack. Stacks. No maximum.
     
    
60. Harmshield
    Tactical ability.
    The sovereign is unable to cast, attack, or being attacked by any means whatsoever.
    Cannot be disabled before it has run it's course naturally.
     
    
61. Mob Mentality
    Tactical trait.
    Own units adjacent to the sovereign gain 1 Attack.
    They all gain 2 Attack if more than 2 own units are adjacent to the sovereign. Availability of this bonus could also be tied to sovereign level.
     
    
62. Piercing Arrow
    Tactical trait.
    On ranged attacks on 4+ figure units there is a chance that the projectile will pierce the first opponent
    and perform a second, half-strength attack on another in the same unit.
     
    
63. Leg shot  (requires a ranged weapon, of course)
    Tactical ability.
    A lower damage ranged attack that lowers the target's movement for the rest of the battle.
     
    
64. Boots of Re
    Tactical trait.
    Whenever the sovereign is attacked, the entire attack is computed twice. The more favourable outcome is used.
    I suggest a chance of this happening of maybe  50 + (sovereign level *2) %
     
    
65. Battle Hymn
    Tactical ability. 1 / battle.
    The sovereign breaks out that e-guitar and starts singing. This "spell" lasts until the sov moves / casts / attacks.
    Own units gain 5 % morale every turn.
     
    
66. Fata Morgana
    Tactical ability. 1 / battle.
    The enemy player sees random terrain for all passable tiles. A clear tile might look like woods or swamp or vice versa.
    This is randomised every turn until the ability runs out.
    This makes planning moves somewhat... tricky.
     
    
67. Sapper
    Tactical trait.
    This reduces the defensive bonus that all enemy units get from terrain or "Fortify" abilities.
     
    
68. Duck
    Tactical trait.
    Sovereign gets an innate 20%  dodge rating. (not 20 points)
    There is a 20 % chance that the confirmation sound in tactical battles will say "quack".
    
    
69. Throw Net
    Tactical ability.
    Short ranged spell to entangle an enemy unit, reducing it's movement / defense by increasing amounts every turn until it breaks free.
     
    
70. Summoner
    Strategical (possibly tactical) trait.
    Summoning cost, upkeep, or casting time are the obvious dials to play with so I'll just mention them.
     
    Summoners would summon units at a starting level above 1. (flat bonus or caster / ability level based?)
    This would tie into creature abilites being level based so the "expert" summoner's
    creatures would have more HP / stats from the start and could use their special attacks sooner.
    That would add considerable value (and gameplay!) to the somewhat bland summoned creatures... if you have the sovereign trait.

That's not even touching the "old" traits from MoM because I'd assume that you already have a list of those. =P

I could go on but as I said, without knowing more about how the magic system will look like,
coming up with "magical effects" that are not excessively vague is not possible.

Same with all the production / population / specialist changes. Effectively the entire economy is changing.
How should we suggest "non-combat" features that are based on... unknown?

Definitely take another look at MoM retorts/traits, i.e. Famous, Warlord, etc.

You could also dip into D&D, as Gazz_ has a little bit in his large list above that strangely stops at suggestion 69. 

I would recommend that there be at least the following types of effects:

Mana per turn increase. Could be a general %, or a % based on improvements, whereby that Sovereign gains more than the usual amount.

If mana usage is going to have a per turn limit irrespective of how much the Sovereigns have stored in their pools, then there should be a trait like Arcane Mastery to increase the amount of mana the Sovereign can draw upon per turn.

Something that gives a bonus to immigration or birth rates, i.e. population boost.

Gold per turn % or additional % increase per improvement.

Percentage bonus on rare resources.

Bonus to unit experience rates.

Bonus to tech research.

Bonus to spell research.

General gold cost reduction.

General mana cost reduction.

The list can go on a lot but you get the idea.

Lots of good ideas here. SO ill add the only idea I had that I didn't see already here and edit as i come up with new ones.

Reduces tactical or strategic spell costs depending on the flavor of the ruler. Either by a set number or a % based on level.

I think we need more abilities where you are "stupid not to take it". Enough of these, where a person can use a couple per game, and people may actually have to make real, game-changing choices in character creation. Hopefully these choices would result in radically different types of game experiences. As it is, in character creation, currently I couldn't care less about most of the options.

Gazz brings up an interesting point in talking about how a trait or special ability can become completely useless due to factors outside of the player's control. I'd like to expand on that a little and ask Derek how auto-resolve and traits that boost spells within tactical battles will be reconciled. Although enabling auto-resolve is a player choice, having it enabled will completely invalidate all special abilities that affect tactical battles. Do you guys see anything wrong with that picture? From a game designer's perspective, auto-resolve and tactical battle traits would impinge on each other and render themselves mutually exclusive.

Essentially what I am arguing is that one or the other must go. If you balance the game with the existence of tactical traits in mind then giving the player an option to bypass this mechanic through auto-resolve destroys this balance. On the flip side I can't imagine not having auto-resolve simply for the sake of convenience and the time-saving factor. You guys placed yourselves in an awkward position where either balance or gameplay will suffer because of auto-resolve.

I honestly think that auto-resolve and tactical battles will never work with each other and forcing Elemental to make them work together will either give the game that dreaded "map editor feel" or seriously distort game balance. I'll say it now that this is not the first nor the last time an issue about balance and auto-resolve will be brought up and I hope you guys can figure out a way to make it work in the long run.

What this game has desperately needed since beta is direction and focus. Cutting away at mechanics that invalidate chunks of gameplay will be a huge step towards putting the game on the right track.

Well, once an ability is coded, it can be attached to any unit.

Just keep suggesting more abilities / traits so that there is a surplus of ideas that can leak over to the heroes.
An who's to say that a hero can't have one powerful trait where a sovereign can have 5 or 6? This thread is not exclusively about sovereign abilities...

Right now the heroes are rather bland. Either they are vessels for mana regenerating / spell casting or they are useless baggage. If one had a really cool ability, you might want him - caster or not.

Well, but that means having not a single overpowered ability, which is all I was getting at. With Organised you could always afford the one all-game-breaking trait.
If there are several powerful traits and you couldn't afford all of them at once, you have to make choices.

Some of them could also be mutually exclusive beyond the mere cost.
Still, a single trait shouldn't be as powerful as Organised was. Rather have 2 smaller and easier to balance abilities for the same cost.

I don't think that ideas should be limited to what's doable with the current engine / implementation.
Deciding which feature is cool enough to warrant the resources to implement it... that's the senior producer's job. =P

The magic system is getting overhauled anyway so it's not unreasonable to ask for one more tag in the spell info. Spells could not only be classified by the book but also by summoning, healing, damage spells...

It's no major coding feat to display one more tag on the spell frontend but it opens up... possibilities... without adding pointless micromanagement.
For instance, there could be quick-filters in the spell book, displaying damage spells across all realms at once. Or summoning spells...
Not of major importance but it's a potential feature that could exist if spells have more than one property.

Just adding the tags and using them for abilities should be simple enough. It's always about the interface. =P

Studious: Your sovereign gains experience whenever they begin and end a turn in a city (This would take some balancing and have to scale upward or be useless late game).

In a related vein:

Teacher: Your heroes gain experience whenever they are stationed in a city with your sovereign.

Well, I don't know how will this bonus / trait will be implemented, but here I go :

Polygamy : The sovereign can have more than one wives (polyandry for female sovereign)

Kama Sutra Master : The sovereign spouse will get bonus stats as her husband know how to make her sastified

nerd : The sovereign prefers to hide inside his / her laboratory and conduct dangerous experience rather than socialize with other people. get tech and spell research bonuses, get minus charisma and strength stats

Cripple : The hero / sovereign is crippled. Has limited strength, dexterity, and endurance, but get huge bonus on Intelligent and global essence point

Bear Goggles: 

The sovereign starts out with magical headgear that lets him spot bears on the strategical map at twice the distance.

For those of you getting excited about MoM retorts or suggesting several "you will be stupid if you don't take it" options so as to force real choices.. Forget it.

The MOM abilities are way too strong for what the developers have in mind..

Though it is stated they don't want either extreme, the example given above clearly points closer towards the "small bonus independent of what player will do" end of the spectum.

This means stuff like "Warlord" in MOM, which affects every unit is out.

Similarly stuff that gives you percentage discounts per transaction (spells whatever)  like alchemy, Channeler are out.

Bonuses should be +x (x is constant). But at least they allowing scaling this bonus somewhat with level or per kill, which makes it's slightly more impactful than the current system where what you choose is basically not important after a few turns..

I think the correct model to copy from based on what developers want is not MOM level retorts but MOM hero abilities i.e Might, Bladesmaster, Constitution.

The developers will probably chime in if I'm wrong...

Heart of the Nation/Puppet Master - sovereign gains a small % of all EXP his champions (maybe armies) earn as long as he is stationed in a city.  could have different titles for empire/kingdom for flavor.  This would take some balance testing to get right, but I think it'd open up a whole new play-style.

Death's Hand - sovereign's stats raise slightly the more units he kills in a tactical battle, resets after each tactical battle

Champion of the People - sovereign's stats raise slightly as his units die in a tactical battle, resets at the end of the battle

Seer - every so many turns, a small random portion of the map is revealed.  Sovereign gets a peek at this location for this turn.

Unyielding - sovereign cannot be moved against his will by spells/abilities and receives a small hit-point bonus per level.

Monstrous Strength - sovereign gets small chance to knockback/knockdown (is knockdown even in the game?) with his melee attacks, and gets a small strength bonus per level

Untouchable - sovereign gets a dex/elusiveness bonus per level

Commanding Presence - all units in the sovereign's stack get a small overall bonus dependent on the sovereign's level

Uncontrollable Energy - sovereign has a bonus to his magic strength, but all spells have a chance of misfiring/backfiring

Merciful Soul - sovereign has a significant boost to all buffing/healing spells and charisma, but cannot target humanoids or animals with attacks or harmful spells.  Sovereign can still target abominations/undead/things of that nature