New item powers brainstorming.

[Suppanut]

Inspire (life), Dread (death), Berserk (chaos), rampage (nature), wind slash (sorcery)

Inspire +X, grant holy bonus by X level (prayer)

Dread -X, -X enemy units' stat (opposite to inspire) (black prayer)

Berserk +X, hero get +2X melee and first strike but -X defend (chaos channels)

Rampage, +melee and defend per figure which enemy have more than user side but not less than figure left in unit which attack/retaliate at that time (land linking)

Wind slash +X, give hero throwing X times at half strength of melee attack (focus magic)

[Cruel100]

Why swords can't have teleportation?

[JustOneMoreTurn]

Here's a minor power: disguises the hero as an engineer, meaning that it can wander around a rival's territory and clear lairs, spy, or position for a surprise attack. A more powerful version would mask the entire stack. Sorcery realm? Nature is another possibility with its transformation talent.

[Seravy]

Updated the first post adding the ideas that seem most usable so far.

[Slingers]

I was just remembering a supergood sword in Might and Magic VI that had negative regeneration. It was dripping acid or something. This, in combination with strong positive effects, could be a new item power for death.
 
The most powerful artifacts in this game were called relics. I think they should only appear once? The most popular unique artifact – the One Ring – might look like this in COM:
The only way to get the One Ring is to hire the Hero “Ring Bearer”. I wonder if heroes should continue to have many copies of themselves to be available to other wizards. In theory, it should be possible to only have unique heroes. One hero, one ring, or possibly copies of the hero and only one with the One Ring. Heroes can sometimes use spell abilities in combat. In this way the ring can be switched on or off during one turn. A bearer cannot unequip this item while being alive.

Here is an example of how the One Ring might look like in COM: can be switched on/off during combat, X negative regeneration, invisibility, X+to hit/attack, X+to def/defence.

[Seravy]

Time to start working on this while Slitherine finishes setting up the beta test.

I will add :

Exp Bonus (Death) - gain 2x EXP in combat
Amplifier (Chaos) - All spells cast in battle (not only by the hero) deal 1 more total damage or healing. (very rare on found items)
Dark Pact (Death) - Heal to max at the start of battle, gain a buff, but take damage per turn. (Does not appear on random items. AI will never create items with this ability. AI will always destroy these items for MP and won't equip them.)
Capacity (Chaos) - Gain +3 Ammo. Probably should use a better name, as this is already in use for the Hero ability. Any suggestions?

Unsure about :

Stealth (Death? Nature might fit better? But Nature has good hero support already?) - Can scout lair contents accurately. Hero does not trigger wizard's pacts. Problem : This is useless for AI wizards. 

Shockwave (Chaos) - Attacks deal damage to all enemy figures instead of only one.
This one might be too powerful against Death Knights and Gorgons? Don't think there are any other powerful endgame units that should be able to threaten heroes other than these so maybe it's safe to add. Definitely super powerful against normal units though, basically the hero is guaranteed to kill a unit on each of their attacks. Maybe that is too powerful as well? The hero would win either way but this might allow them to win too quickly, denying spellcasting chance from the opponent. Basically this makes using solo heroes much safer than it otherwise would be. I'm leaning towards not adding it.

Power stealing is probably better left out, I have no good idea how to make it balanced. It's either useless if the way to create mana is limited, or way too overpowered, if not. Death already benefits more than normal from combat because it gets free undead units. Adding free MP to sounds like a recipe for disaster.

[Slingers]

Stealth (Death? Nature might fit better? But Nature has good hero support already?) - Can scout lair contents accurately. Hero does not trigger wizard's pacts. Problem : This is useless for AI wizards. 

Well, Earth Lore is also useless for the AI. One would expect that units with Wraith Form could stealthily peek through walls.  That might be too much of a good thing for the spell though. Maybe you could expand the item power Wraith Form with it? As an individual Death power, Stealth could otherwise be limited to the player's artifact production.

[Slingers]

Defense equipment is usually heavier, the better it is. I wonder if it would make sense to combine some particularly good items with -1 movement.

[roarmalf]

Making plate give a base +3 armor -1 move would be interesting, but since melee usually needs high movement I think this will end up just making plate less appealing as a random item, especially early in the game.


Perhaps allowing chain +1 movement as an option for enchantment could convey this.


Alternatively a new class of armor: leather or robes that gives +1 movement base but no inherent armor bonus.