temps: I'm just wondering how Adela's bless specialty works in Heroes 3... because I thought it increases the power of the bless spell compared to the level of the unit, relative to the Heroe's level. However, this doesn't seem to make sense to me because I thought bless just maximizes the damage output of the stack you enchant it with. So if unit stack "A" does, say, 15-30 damage per hit, I was under the impression that enchanting them with bless will cause them to do the full 30 damage per hit on every attack they make. So this makes me wonder, how could Adela's bless increase in effect as she increases in level if bless always maximizes unit damage?
A basic casting of bless, without the Water Magic skill or with Basic Water Magic, will cause the stack to always roll maximum damage on their attacks (so it won't help Angels, who don't have any damage variation).
Advanced bless causes them to roll max damage and adds a small damage bonus on top of that (so now Angels can get some small benefit too). Expert bless makes it affect all of your creatures (that it can affect).
As far as Adela's specific specialty, I found
this online. It looks like her specialty also adds a damage bonus on top of rolling max damage.
temps: Secondly, I was just hoping for a discussion about what people think are the best Hero choices for playing the "Castle" faction in Heroes 3, and why they like those choices. I typically choose Loynis because the Prayer specialty seems powerful as he grows in levels, although Orrin's archery specialty looks like it could be quite potent as well. Thoughts on this?
If I'm picking my hero before starting the game, then I prefer to choose Caitlin for her +350 gold, make her a scout, and I take whoever I find in the tavern as my actual main fighting hero. That gold bonus is huge, but it works the same at level 1 and level 20, so just put her doing something safe and let someone else get the experience. Lord Haart (if available), is an excellent candidate for a main combat hero because his special DOES get better with levels.
With some exceptions (like Sir Mullich's speed bonus, which is HUGE), a lot of the specialties seem rather subtle to me. I don't worry about it too much, focusing more on what secondary skills the hero might bring with them and on who randomly happens to be available in the first couple of turns. Once a hero has started gaining experience through combat, they tend to stay my main hero simply because they'll always have that experience lead over most any one else I hire later, and I think even a few primary stat points will heavily outweigh any specialty bonus.
That said, I will skip certain making certain heroes my primary if possible. For example, Sylvia (navigation) is only ever a scout, and I'm not usually inclined to hire her. Caitlin (specialty) and Cuthbert (comes with Estates) are both usually instant hires if I see them, because they make money even if they aren't doing anything else.
If I'm picking between heroes that provide a bonus to creature stats, then I'd pick a hero that buffs a creature that will actually see a lot of attacks. For example, I'd take the Archer or Monk hero over the Swordsman hero because your archers and monks WILL be shooting (and being shot at), while swordsmen might never take a swing in some battles.
