First of all, I´m absolutely
in favor of this concept.
The refusal of the Ring fit´s perfect for the old Dain and the rebirth system is a much closer to the lore, than before. And I definitly can see you reconsidered most of the abbilities and changed them slightly.
Maybe it´s also worth to think about changing the ring-concepts of Ered Luin and Iron Hills a bit, to make them more sinister to show the corruption of the ring on Thorin and young Dain:
- Thorins ring-concept could be build around greed and ruthnessless, therefore generating a lot of money for the player, but without support for the own troops maybe even weakening them somehow.
- Young Dains ring-concept could be build around revenge or blood lust, therfore supporting the atack and speed of your own troops, but with some Mali in defense.
In contrast to those two, I don´t think, that there should be a choice for Erebor.
If Dain get´s the ring,
Hannar/Durin should be summoned instantly without another option, as it is with Elrond.
The choice system should stay unique for Galadriel. The player already made a choice by choosing Erebor as your faction, and I suppose everybody would anyway go for Durin.
One other point we have to think about is balance:
The other factions just increase the power of a hero, while Erebor get´s one for free.
To balance this i have an idea:
The hero should be
named Hannar in the beginning, because at this point his
true nature as Durin VII isn´t revealed yet.
In this form he could be a lot weaker, than in his final form, because of balance and his young age. The first design is perfect, a very fitting simplistic, but noble dwarf. The picture you posted is also very good and should be used as his palantir-picture.
One could think about changing his abbilities in this form and make him more "normal".
The passive abbility should be changed, maybe to
Mastersmith, which strengthens all the Upgrades of Units or something else.
His final slot would be the
Reconquest of Khazad Dum, which isn´t linked to his level, but costs some ressources (maybe 1000?).
This is good for balance and also very fitting, because such a conquest is very cost-intense.
After that is done his true nature is revealed and he gets the exact set of abbilities you proposed. I would change the name of the last abbility to
Fire of Mahals forge, because that´s, as you have correctly written, the dwarvish name for Aule and therefore a lot more fitting, than the elvish name.
The design could be a bit brighter and more mythical in my oppinion, but your design is a good starting point. Also I find the old palantir-picture of Dain fits very good for his grandson and Durins last appearance.
I hope my ideas helped the discussion and we will end up with such a good concept to "make Durin great again", that the team can´t refuse and we will see him soon in action
May I translate this concept, after we discussed my suggestions and came to an agreement, into German?
Yours sincerely
Isildurs Bane