I realize that this has been the rule for quite some time, but I was wondering if we could reconsider. Being able to increase your opponent's stats to help you gain initiative, or weaken their use of Judge's Seat, could be a lot of fun. The biggest issue would be that the old set-asides had no time limit, so you could keep them out for the rest of the game. This could be solved with a game-rule limit, i.e. "No character may be set aside for more than __ turns." This would also get those Disciples moving more frequently.
Just a thought. I have not really looked into peripheral effects. It would just be nice to make all those old cards useful again.