Everyone seems to know just a bit more than me, and between all the helpful people like you, heavenfall, sean and parrottmouth, I think any project, even painful ones, can be completed by amateurs.
I enjoy putting my ideas together and sharing them because my own idea might help someone else finish their project as well.
Currently, my project has a design goal to work as a scenario more than a mod. The world would start with no monsters spawned. Then, events and other things would trigger them to spawn. The idea is to simulate a true RPG. For Example. The game starts and you get a quest to enter town and talk to the Mayor. Mayor tells you blacksmith has been kidnapped. Go save her. 5 bandits spawn, and the Bandit Base appears. Once you defeat the base spawn, you rescue the blacksmith. Rescuing the blacksmith causes leather items and basic melee weapons to appear at the shop.
I am still struggling to make an enemy faction for this mod (with a Dragon Sovereign and trainable monster units). The plan for balancing monster units with minimum work is to have a series of buildings pre-placed in each town. Those buildings will then unlock the unit designs and provide resources to build them (in spite of what is or isn't on the map).
Once I get the enemy faction finished, I can begin the quest editing (I am also hoping for any and all patch goodies for quest improvements to be released if one is to be). It seems like I am bouncing around all over, however I am working in 5 stages. Stage 1 (Improvements, Spells) is 80% Done. Stage 2 (Sovereign/Units) hasn't been started because I am struggling with the art. Art is my worst enemy. Stage 3 (Items/Weapons/Armor) is about 20% Done, I am creating new items which are mostly done. If I can go the route of hidden resources, Stage 3 hasn't even been started. Stage 4 (Making the Map) is in crude form, and I will wait to finish it until I have finished QuestLine1. Then, I can finish the map, add the rest of the quest lines, finalize the world and release.
I am in no hurry at all, the art alone could take me months. However I can say that working with FE/LH has taught me a lot I didn't already know, and given me a renewed confidence. I don't need perfection, and anything I do is likely to be done better by someone else which I look forward to seeing and playing. Every patch I have a little bit more to learn, however I am learning it. My biggest setback is...
Tags. I am still figuring out the limitations of what I can give to Player, Self, Unit, Army. I have noticed for instance, it is all but impossible to create a spell like Destinies Insight that gives Experience Per Turn - it is also all but impossible to give a hard number of experience points to a whole army. I am also learning how to make my enemy more intimidating. So far, I have re-created Eerog's Token and made him a token that will spawn a Lich every time he is attacked in melee. (I might have a bunch of nastiness occur when he is attacked, i don't know how to make him respond to taking spell damage yet).
I suppose my next step is to ignore what I can't do, and find a workaround while doing what I can and struggling with the Art to make my Monster Sovereigns work. I am less concerned about their "abilities" and more concerned about the first step of "making it".
Thanks for your interest, and if you ever want to use any of my work (already existing or upcoming) then I am glad my ideas could contribute to your game.