Water artifacts are also a plus; they reduce the imbalance of Utopias, where one player gets 2 artifacts, and another gets 5. Besides, Utopias are often chosen for money, not for artifacts, and they always give money for them.
I don't quite understand why you want to change the SOD (Shades of Darkness) when there's WOT (World of Xeen) under SOD, where all this stuff like 3 stacks, 2 levels, the absence of obelisks and cartographers, etc., is implemented. Play it and enjoy.