ASW – Alternative hero leveling.

Then a fair question arises: why create different types of "dumb brutes" if the player will still develop everything they want from such simpletons? What's the point of these 100-500 generic units that can be developed in any way, and the difference (within each faction) will only be in the special ability? A very small difference; the special ability will never account for even 10% of the character's development (unless it's overpowered).

The very essence of NHF loses its meaning: we've added new heroes and special abilities, but the difference between them is actually becoming smaller (more repetition in starting perks, identical stats and their distribution, identical chances for development).

Regarding "chess," that's not the point. The fact is that underdeveloped heroes don't have enough differences between them, and therefore there's no point in creating more and more of them. We're not talking about giving heroes level 21 or 20-30 perks at the start (full development). We're talking about making the starting data significantly more distinct by adding a couple of additional starting perks.

Extended starting perks can be seen as an extended (enhanced N times) comprehensive special ability. If there's a desire, a corresponding point of view can always be found.

Well, okay, in NHF, adding new heroes is only for quantity, that's clear enough.

Now let's return to ASW in particular, separate from NHF.

Regarding the classes themselves - if there's a desire, an excuse can always be found. You can find 6 combinations of magic, you can find 12, or you can find 15 or 30. Everything (the search for ideas) depends only on the desire. You can not even base it on magic, but find dozens of other fundamental differences.

Added 15 minutes ago

The point of dividing into classes is specialization and stronger development in one direction or another, depending on the class. If versatility and a large available range of development are required, classes are not needed. If a effective range of development is required, then classes are very desirable (even if some of the versatility is lost in the question of development and replaced by the question of choosing between classes).