Merchants
These heroes give extra resources to their ruler each day. Rissa the alchemist, for example, produces +1 mercury per day for you. Caitlin the cleric produces 350 extra gold a day. In a week, that's 6 extra mercury for you to build that naga dwelling, or 2000 extra gold for buying more troops. For scenarios or games where you are playing a resource heavy town, the merchant is a must.

Recommended starting merchants: All

Talents
The talent begins with a 5 percent bonus to any one secondary skill, and gains a 5 percent bonus to that skill for each subsequent level. There are heroes with a 5 percent bonus to ballistics or necromancy, or to first aid and eagle eye. Some talents are useless because they specialize in useless skills (Voy the witch doesn't benefit from her navigation bonus if there's no water to be found). But some, such as Tazar the Beastmaster, complement their troops wonderfully. He has an armorer bonus and makes his already tough fortress creatures even tougher. In most cases, though, despite a specialization in a good secondary skill, you should start with a powerful spell genius or a merchant - that's because those effects are immediately noticeable, while talents only become useful after the hero is high level.

Recommended starting talents: Mephala (armorer), Gunnar (logistics), Lord Haart (estates)