This is something that is being done by a plugin we developed internally (and currently is broken due to a recent update in discourse 
).
In our opinion, moderators should have full access to all the tools to moderate content in their own category, which includes things like Set Slow for replies, add Staff Notices, Staff Colour, Change Ownership, etc etc.
The only function we understand would require more work is the ban/silence as currently bans/silences are site-wide and could be seen as a good deterrent compared to a section ban.
However, a way to raise a ban request to the forum moderators would be welcome as it would save having to ping moderators (via pm or chat) every time there is an issue that requires a ban/silence… This can be a further iteration however, so not much point in pushing this now.
To give a clear indication, from this list:
- Moderation History
- Add Staff Color
- Add Staff Notice
- Change Ownership
- Grant Badge
- Lock Post
- Make Wiki
From the above actions, the possibility to multiselect topics and perform some actions in bulk:
From the above list:
- Set Category (move multiple topics that are in the wrong place)
- Close Topics
- Archive Topics
- Notifications
- Unlist Topics
- Reset Bump Dates
- Replace Tags
- Append Tags
- Remove all Tags
Thank you