Ideally, the grammar should be such as to provide totally free placement of sentence parts -- within reason.That is, none of those formulae with S, O and V, or A and N need be followed, though total separation of related components might seem to be a dirty trick, at least a defiance of Gricean conventions. That means that nouns (a term of convenience to be defined later) and adjectives (ditto) need a fairly elaborate case structure (ditto, again). Similarly, but for different reasons, verbs (ditto) will need fairly elaborate conjugational structures (ditto).
So, nouns (and adjectives agree) have an ergative base (this just fascinates me) but add the motion system of "to(ward), from, at" (maybe for time as well?) and maybe a few more. Vocative is the barest form. Singular, dual, trial, and plural. Separate declensions for masculine, feminine, inanimate? Or some other system, e.g. like Swahili (and related languages)? Definite and indefinite forms (usual rules with usual exceptions)
Verbs have the usual three persons, but first doubled in dual, trial and plural for inclusive and exclusive forms. Maybe also reflect the "gender" of the subject or the object. Many explicitly at least trivalent, subject, object other object, though this is covered by noun cases?
Tenses: standard Bull set, with the retros being just the current one with a -na- infix, vectors the same at all bases, with 0-vector different from bare base. Retrofuture used for contrary-to-fact cases. Work out differences between vector and displacement and tensors for both. Sequence of tenses? Imperative is barest form (retrofuture imperative for value judgments, others not much used in recta, but simple future for hortative?). Full set of aspects: inchoative, initiative, continuative, pausative, completive, perfective, superfective. Different verb classes? Active, passive, reflexive-mutual (maybe case change here? i.e. both nominative)
More prefixes (and, maybe, infixes)
Adverbs barest form, adjectives agree with head (generally follow when together, but ...) Both positive and negative degrees.
Postpositions (some with several meanings depending on the case of the noun)
Both relative clauses, different pronouns, and both different from interrogatives.
Pronouns for all persons in verb conjugations, though some similarities across a given person number.
Free word order for prosody, rhetoric, etc. but tend to favor VSO
There, I think that has enough of my favorite quirks from linguistics to make a good first conlang.
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