I would know if I was thinking it had a point to mod a game in beta, it does nothing to help the devs improve the game, and the work will be undone after a few updates... ..

To the original post, yes there are a couple of those around, faction creation can pick uneducated and scholars for a free starter tech.

you can pick hardy and scarred (but mostly due to scarred being bugged), for a +1 hp per level and 50% resistance to poison.

Stuff like that, But I would much rather just pick some "proper" trait instead of natural leader, since that is useless imo money is easily gained

Sincerely
~ Kongdej

Depending on how it is calculated this could be a better exploit than you originally posted. For example, take a hero that costs 100 gildar to recruit.

With cruel it now would cost you 150 gildar, but with natural leader it now costs you half of this new amount, or 75 gildar. It is not clear if they mean 50% more of the base cost and 50% less of the base cost. If it is not the base costs that they consider, then the exploit gives you,

+1 attack with a -25% off the cost of recruiting champions.

But if it is calculated off of the base cost, then you are completely correct at +1 attack for free.

As for the comment:

you gain a point when taking cruel, and use a point taking natural leader.

Possible modification to Natural leader:

Natural leader could give maybe a -25% off recruitment of champions and maybe a -25% to upkeep costs of units, as people naturally want to fight for this person.

I was focused on the getting the extra attack and didn't consider the monetary implications.   If we want to talk about level 5 and on up champions, this is way more huge.  Possibly making natural leader by itself one of the most overpowered choices compared to what other choices do for you.

I stand corrected.