Say each hero gains one action point per level (including level 1.)
A Cleric could "use an action point to remove up to 3 strikes from any hero."
A Wizard could "use an action point to add 2 to one skill for one hero for this encounter."
A Bodyguard "may take a strike made against another hero by an attack. (No action point required.)"
nice ideas. A suggestion: Thief special power: roll the stealth skill, and if you get higher then the encounter you can just steal the treasure, whitout needing to attack (but you don't get the xp)
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One big hole in both of our ideas: Which hero does each opponent attack? We need some rule-based AI, even if it's printed differently on each card.
Maybe they all attack who needs the most strikes to kill. (so actually the one with the most health left. that is what would i would do, take out the toughest one first, then go to the second strongest when the first one is defeated.)
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When I first had the idea for this game, I was reading a lot of d20 Modern (Dungeons & Dragons in the modern age) where there was more than death to deter you from your goal, hence "Will" and "Strikes". There's nothing to hold us to that idea.
If the game is mostly combat based, we can change "Will" and "Strikes" to "Health" and "Damage" to simplify things. Would we bother with a Persuade skill? Is only two tackle options enough variety? With special skills, I think it could be.
never played the dungeon and dragons games so...
The decision of Will/Health and Strikes/Damage is up to you.
Persuade, well i don't know. But I prefer outsmarting more, so persuade could be more of an option i think.