Interesting ideas, but off-topic here. I’d like to discuss more in a new thread. Split, please? @Rook @Coppersky
In the lingering Xmas spirit of giving, I hereby grant you my blessing to hijack this thread and offtopic in it as you please 
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So call me intrigued by this idea of playing more with stats. I’m first going to start by underscoring a need to tweak heroes so that each hero (with the same stars) has some non-trivial role where it excels. A thread asking a question, which 5* yellow should I ascend?, should not have a unanimous vote for Joon.
I also play Pokémon Go, more as an excuse to take walks than anything. In PoGo you catch monsters in the wild or at occasional raids in “gyms”. Each one you catch has a certain base set of stats (same three as E&P), but the particular example you catch has “individual values” that add 0-15 to each stat (on a base that, for better monsters, is in the 200-300 range). Like E&P there’s a non-linear damage function, so adding 15 points of attack or defense has a noticeable—but not overwhelming—effect on how well the monster battles.
Needless to say, PoGo players walk miles and miles to catch examples that are just a little better. Realistically there’s no functional difference between a Groudon with adders of 14/14/14 instead of 15/15/15, but in the game people love the bragging rights of having a perfect, or near-perfect monster.
So would E&P benefit by having some variation in stats across examples of the same hero? E.g., I draw a Joon, but he’s not quite as good an example of Joon as yours.
I don’t see a lot of value in that route. Drawing even one example is hard enough. What if you drew a poor example of Joon; should you hold off leveling him, hoping to get a better one? I don’t like where that goes.
Another track would be to allocate training points at each level up, or perhaps at each ascension, so that you could track your example in a certain way. Why should every Joon be identical? Some might be tankier but hit less hard. This mechanics matches a lot of RPG games, so there are good examples of how to balance things.
Going this route would open up the idea of allocating training points in different directions. For example, suppose there was a mana manipulation stat that increased mana regeneration if trained (instead of allocating those training points to basic offense/defense/health). Or advanced spell study that opened up a ninth or even tenth level of specials? Done right, such a mechanic could create some diversity among Joons and Thoths without making any one training route the “right” one.
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