Nice list Gazz

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?

Since I would like to see certain heroes dedicated to city government, and I believe that the AI leaders would do best staying inside their cities, I believe that certain skills should encourage such style of playing. Maybe they should even improve as the sovreign gains levels (tax bonus, food bonus, army training bonus etc...) 

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.

I'd say that general traits like "Gold per turn % or additional % increase per improvement" are suboptimal.

Need more limited skills like...

Treasurer:  Increases the income bonus from mints.

Mine Foreman: increases the number of specialists that can work in a mine. (that increases output but also costs another specialist or two)

Smaller scale skills allow more traits to be introduced or existing traits spread across more leaders - even new leaders.

It's easy to give a leader 3 smaller skills if desired but once you go with general skills, how many leaders will have the exact same skill set?

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.

All spell costs?  Wouldn't that just be the next "Organised", where you would be stupid to ever not take it?

That would buff too many areas of the game at once because spells do more than one thing.

Forcing the player to pre-select an element such as "cheap fire spells" is problematic because you might end up with a map without a fire shard.
It would be bad gameplay to allow a feature to become completely useless just as it would be equally bad to allow one feature (like mana cost reduction) to be helpful with every aspect of the game.

If "mana conservation" should stay reasonable, there needs to be a more in-depth approach. More ways to differentiate spells or situations.

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.

I said tactical or strategic depending on the flavor of the ruler.. not ALL Spells.

I agree that i would like to see spells split into more indepth groups, however as of now as far as I can tell there is no discernible difference in spells other than element and strategic/tactical as far as the game engine is concerned (i try to keep my ideas from implementing a whole new system since the larger and more complicated something is to add to the design the less likely we are to see it).  As it is we can either see large swaths (tactical or strategic) , single spells or elements which depend heavily on the map. Given those 3 choices I suggest the larger swaths. I disagree that it would be game breaking.. saving 1 or 2 mana on only strategic or tactical spells is hardly going to be OP on a ruler since your children ALREADY gain mana back after each combat turn which is similar to what tactical saving would be but stronger since they can actually regain from 0. Perhaps we should have a choosable ability that allows our main Sov to gain that?

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.

Part of me thinks that these unique abilities- they should be hero based not necessarrily sovereign based.

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

So what spell types / tags should there be to be used in conjunction with abilities?

I just hate working without a base. The changes to the magic system are practically unknown so we don't even know which spells will be there and therefore which spell type tags would be logical.

What I would guess:  (I'm sure I'm missing some...)

• Spell Book can already be used. Just listing it.
• Tactical / Strategical already exists because only the appropriate spells are available in either mode so that's automatic.
• Target / scope like:    single enemy unit,   single friendly unit,   self,   area,   global,   city,   friendly / hostile army,   terrain
• Movement / Transportation.   water walking, flying, teleport...
• Direct Damage
• Damage over time
• Healing / curing.   
• Dispelling as it's own category?  The line between a disease and a curse is rather blurry and might not be interesting enough.
• Ability buffs or just buffs in general
• Debuffs like slow or weaken
• Resistance buffs / debuffs.   Depending on how well integrated such a thing is in the magic system, they might be tossed onto the generic buff / debuff pile.
• Trap spell that is placed on a tile on the strategic / tactical map
• Summoning / banish summoned spells - could also summon things other than creatures, like a phantasmal blade...,  specific buffs for summoned creatures...

With properties like that, a "sovereign magic ability / trait" could be a a bonus to spells on himself for an adept type of magic user
There could be a bonus to debuffs and damage over time spells for a classic MMO necromancer type.
A summoner type, mainly acting through powerful summoned creatures...

Having a way to "classify" spells by more than just the book is the base for all that.
There won't be much of a connection between magic and abilities without a way to design more selective abilities.
Sure, without that you can have a 5 % mana reduction for all earth or all tactical spells. Yay (and with that I mean boring)

I'm sure I could come up with a magic-related ability or three but with an indiscriminate system like now it's not worth the effort. It just won't be interesting...

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.

"What would Sauron do?" -Frogboy

Lordship: Sovereign gains additional +1 global maximum mana per level but cannot imbue heroes.  This is to make solo Sovereigns a viable option again.

Attractive:  Sovereign has more children more quickly.  Opposite of the ugly trait.  Could be a bit OP diplomatically without a fair purchase cost.

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 Lord; Summons bears when fighting in forests.

Bear Goggles: 

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

Bare Bear: All bears the sovereign fights will be furless.

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...

Empowered Channeler: The Sovereign produces +1 specialist slot per level/2. Odd levels, the Sovereign produces +1 food.

Friend to All Things: When defeating a neutral monster (non-Champion, non-faction) of equal or lower level, the Sovereign has a 5% chance of converting the monster to their side after the battle. Monster requires upkeep. Alternatively, some sort of standard neutral monster based on Soveriegn level.

Corruption of the Titans: When defeating a neutral monster of level (Sovereign level / 2) + 1, the Sovereign has a 5% chance of converting the monster into a Corrupt Horror. Monster requires upkeep.

Merchant Lord: Caravan routes produce an extra +1 gildar

Slave Economy: Defeating an enemy gives the sovereign an extra 10 gildar and 10 material over 5 turns as well adding a 1% production bonus for 5 turns to the nearest city within 15 tiles or the capital. However, gilder- and material- producing buildings produce 1 less and the faction has a 1.10 base production time instead of 1.00

Merciful: Defeating an enemy (non-neutral) Champion gives the Sovereign Diplomatic Capital equal to 100 x Champion level + Sov level and locks the defeated Champion in their owner's capital for 5 turns. Defeating a neutral (non-hireable) Champion gives the Sovereign 25 x Champion level + Sov level DC and their Capital gains +1 prestige and influence for 5 turns.

Legendary General: All friendly Champions gain combat bonuses based on Sovereign, cumulating at level 10 with +2 attack, +2 defense, +2 magic resistance, +2 HP, and +2 accuracy.

Monumental Cities: All cities produce 1 diplomatic capital per turn.

Titanic Puppetry: The Sovereign has access to the spell Pure Imbue which imbues a target with an excess amount of elemental energy. It can be cast on neutral or friendly targets; cost of spell is very high and also has an upkeep. Target creature is empowered for 5 strategic turns or 1 tactical combat (which ever comes first), gaining combat bonuses based on creature level and converting the creature to the Sovereign's side if neutral. At the end of 5 turns or combat, the creature is destroyed.

Far-Reaching Empire: All units gain +0.1 overland movement per city.

League of City-States: Cities have reduced resource production (gildar, material, everything) however they have a bonus to building and unit production and have +1 specialist slot. If the city has a champion stationed in the city, the city produces 20 gildar every 4 turns in tithe and the cost of soldier upkeep is reduced.

Greed & Envy: All resources in range of a city, regardless of whose influence it is under, grant resources to the Sovereign. Those outside their influence grant 1 of their resource. Resources within their influence produce 1 less.

Collective Growth: Costs of construction and maintainance are doubled. Cities receive +1 specialist slot per city level, and produce +1 of each resource per level.

Savage Charge: Units receive a combat bonus for the first 5 turns of combat. After 15 turns, they receive a combat penalty. 

Call to Action: The Sovereign has access to a special spell, Call to Action, which is very expensive. When cast, cities have a base production time of 0.9 for 10 turns. Units  receive +1 movement, +1 attack, and +1 defense (all added after modifiers) for 10 turns.

Restoration Mastery: Forest tiles grant +1 material and horses/wargs and metal produce an extra 0.5.

Awe: The city a Sovereign is stationed has increased prestige and influence growth. The capital city receives bonus gildar based on the stationed city's prestige and influence level with an additional +1 per food resource in range of the stationed city.

War Economy: Gildar reward for defeating things is doubled.

Intrepid: All units have +1 sight and have a reduced penalty for combat outside friendly territory.

Bountiful Marketplace: Sovereign may build a special building. This building requires upkeep and a specialist to function. When active, the city receives an extra +1 food from each food node in range.

Historical Inspiration: Cities produce 0.20 tech research and 0.5 gildar per city level. Lost Libraries produce 0.5 gildar.

Ocean Lord: Each water tile within a city's influence produces 0.2 gildar per city level.

Plowshares to Swords: Each food resource bestows upon the owning city a special defender unit that scales based on city level.

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