ASW – Alternative hero leveling.

Well, of course it matters – we need to understand which direction the mod is heading and which direction it isn't.
For example, I just found out that you call the "Attack" skill a "school."

In quotes, of course ;)

It would be especially interesting if there was an option to create new perks, not instead of the old ones, but in addition to them.

There are unused perks whose effects are disabled (e.g., increasing the range of archers), there are de facto dead perks (exploding corpses), there are those that, for aesthetic or logical reasons, are not in their appropriate skill trees, and there is also the aesthetic aspect.
In addition, each skill should belong to only one skill tree and not depend on others (exception: Ultima, as a descendant, and racial skills, as ancestors). It is also necessary to avoid leveling up "unnecessary" skills just to reach the desired one. Expand the possibility of obtaining skills and abilities not only through leveling up but also on the global map (currently, there is a mentor and a witch's hut; presumably, it could be made optional, for example, to give the blessing of Askh for excavating Tears, if possible (and correspondingly, a stronger blessing)). But one shouldn't overdo it: skills and abilities should only be given for rare and/or difficult events and always optionally (either the skill or something else).

Here are some ideas for new abilities (someone hinted at them in the NHF thread):
-A hero can find artifacts or resources in buildings on the map;
-The same Valafar portal could be given as an ability, as it would be more logical than being a special ability;
-Building dwellings directly on the map in free spaces;
-Increasing the hero's army size or their HP;
-Creating "cursed" zombies on the global map...