Heroes 5.5 WarGame Edition - Tactical Edition.

I would also like to note what details were emphasized, in addition to the basic idea – to develop 24 unique classes, conceptually cohesive, and with good distinctions from each other.

1) Each class has only 3 core skills (20%), and the faces of different classes differ in at least 1 skill out of 3, and the faces of different classes within the same race differ in at least 2 skills out of 3. Core skills are very important because they can always be easily upgraded (20%), and they are also the starting skills for heroes of this class (3 skills - 3 heroes).

2) Each class has 6 profile skills (3 core skills at 20% and 3 secondary skills at 10%), and the profiles of different classes differ in at least 2 skills out of 6, regardless of race. In the previous version, the differences were even greater (at least 3 out of 6), in this regard, the version was ideal, but it did not meet the requirements of conceptual integrity (there were many controversial decisions). Profile skills are important because they are readily available for the class (especially 20%).

3) The remaining skills are considered rare (1-2%) and drop only if you're lucky. Their purpose is to provide surprises, but nothing more. The class cannot rely on these skills, unlike the profile skills. However, with each level up, there is a total chance of 10% that one of the rare skills will drop. That is, with a 10% chance, you can get any specific secondary skill, and with a 10% chance, you can get a random skill from the rare ones (1 out of 6). The numbers are chosen in such a way as to be as convenient as possible for the player.

4) The conceptual integrity of the race is also important, so all classes within the same race have 3 common racial profile skills (in addition to the racial skill itself).

Also, I abandoned those classes that had access to only 1 or 3 schools. Since access to only 1 school provides little variety in terms of magic. And access to 3 schools imposes many requirements on the class to support them. A combat class should not have 3 magical schools, this is the domain of a magical class. But a magical class needs spellcasting, and preferably – education (to gain access to 2-3 schools simultaneously, with bonuses). As a result, it turns out to be almost an archmage, add a 4th school = archmage. This class is unique. Also, mages have support for non-racial schools at the level of a library (other races do not have such support). Therefore, other races do not have classes that play with 3 schools.

The question is, why 6 profile skills, and not 8? Answer: A - archmage. This class is self-sufficient with its 6 skills, neither to add nor to subtract. The more skills, the more overlaps there will be with other classes, and the less the uniqueness of the class, its character, will be expressed. This is especially important when there are many classes. With 8 classes (as in the original), the optimal number of profile skills is about 8, because there is only 1 class per race, and it is necessary to provide it with many roles at once (flexibility). But it is impossible to make 24 classes unique with 8 profile skills, greater specialization is needed (and greater ideological integrity). The example of MMH5.5 shows that many classes are similar to each other, but this is not due to poor implementation, but to the system itself (8 profiles).

Are 6 profile skills enough for variety? Considering that the upgrade most often consists of 3-4 skills, in addition to the racial one, I think so. This means that the build will include approximately 50% of the profile skills (3 out of 6) and, possibly, some rare skill that was randomly obtained. But if you focus on a super-long game, with filling all 5 non-racial skills (up to level 34), then 6 profiles will no longer be enough for variability.

In summary:
1) profile skills of 6 instead of 8 are necessary to ensure the uniqueness of 24 classes (for 8 classes, 8 skills are the best option)
2) profile skills of 6 instead of 8 are not suitable for a long game of 30+ levels, but it is not designed for this (already starting from level 16, the education skill becomes too strong)

Despite the fact that the total number of level-ups is planned to be lower than in the original (where, at a normal pace, there were about 15-25 levels), however, each level-up gives significantly more. Both in terms of parameters (+1 to attack due to a 10% step plays: similarly +2 with a 5% step in the original, or similarly +3 with a 3.33% step in MMH5.5), and in terms of skills. Being one of the most ardent haters of millimeter skills, I make sure that each skill or level of skill gives a significant bonus, at least +10% (for narrowly specialized things, at least +25%).

Added 5 minutes ago

Okay. Knight => general. Is that better?
Besides, knights already exist in humans. Paladin is a special case of a knight.

I fundamentally disagree. Knight is one of the iconic names that cannot be changed. It's like removing the archmage or warlock.
And names like "general" somehow seem out of place in a fantasy setting.

Even if we ignore this, there is also the general focus of the race on protection and initiative (leadership). Protection implies that at least 2 out of 3 classes should have "Protection" in their profile. And why protection is not suitable for templars, I already wrote. In general, the character of a templar is to deliver the most powerful spells and quickly kill (while mana hasn't run out). Protection is not relevant here, even in terms of gameplay. Although, perhaps I am wrong, and the templar will have tolerable builds through darkness.

Added 10 minutes ago

I doubt such a scheme. Of course, the dynamics of the battle are different with you, but still. It looks like the hero will cast buffs/debuffs seven times in a battle, and then only go with chaos )

Well, not all at once, but something from the list. But if the opponent has nothing to remove these spells, he simply won't be able to break through the archmage, even if he has 200% damage. Since the spells are very powerful, and thanks to the extreme spellcasting, they last a long time.

There are such in the fifth. Agrail, at least. Godric's brother, Aidan, almost became corrupted. Perhaps, Jezebeth used to be an elf. In fact, I think infernals are good recruiters, and a lot of people switched to Urgash. In fact, this is a version, but it does not contradict the lore.

They already have a demonic appearance, and as demons, they think quite "orthodoxly," a heretic is not associated with this.
Although, I may be wrong here - I need to take another look at the hero icons from part 3, perhaps there are also heretics in a demonic appearance.

So, what about the heroes? There are many living creatures in the game, there are crowds of living creatures in the game. Do you want to take them from NHF or come up with/remember them? Or will it stay the same?

I don't care about the living and the dead, if the hero is good, we will take him, if not, he is not needed. The charisma of the heroes is more important than the plot (the fact of his death). Perhaps because there are clearly no fans of the Heroes 5 plot among the developers :)
When suggesting new options, remember that we have only 3 places for each class, only the best heroes.