So I took some of your ideas and came up with a rough concept.
This would be your table. You have your 4 character cards arranged correctly. Flying characters in the higher spots. But things can switch around during the game.
-Hearts represent Hit Points and Coins represent Salary/Budget. Mario has to pay what's in his budget to his partners. This limits how many good character cards a Captain can have. Mario can afford to have Goomba, Paratroopa, and Lakitu on his team. Other characters might be able to afford better allies, but have less hearts as a result.
-Next to each character card is their deck of Hit Cards. Each card represents 1 hit point. So Goomba has 10 HP, that means he has 10 cards stacked next to him.
-For each point of damage done to Goomba, a card is flipped and discarded. So if he took 3 damage, 3 cards would be removed.
-Most cards simply represent 1 HP. But what's this? A Mushroom? Yes hidden in Goombas Hit Deck are Item Cards which have different rules.
For example, the Mushroom card has two properties.
(1) If Goomba had taken 4 damage instead of 3, the Mushroom card would prevent further damage from being taken. That means instead of discarding 4 cards, you only discard 3, stopping at the Mushroom which was the third card in that pile.
(2) If Goomba took exactly 3 damage and the Mushroom card was the last card flipped, Goomba will recover all the cards that were just discarded from that one attack! How lucky.
You decide what cards are in each characters' Hit Deck and the order they are in. Try to guess how your opponent will attack and arrange the deck accordingly.
This would be your table. You have your 4 character cards arranged correctly. Flying characters in the higher spots. But things can switch around during the game.
-Hearts represent Hit Points and Coins represent Salary/Budget. Mario has to pay what's in his budget to his partners. This limits how many good character cards a Captain can have. Mario can afford to have Goomba, Paratroopa, and Lakitu on his team. Other characters might be able to afford better allies, but have less hearts as a result.
-Next to each character card is their deck of Hit Cards. Each card represents 1 hit point. So Goomba has 10 HP, that means he has 10 cards stacked next to him.
-For each point of damage done to Goomba, a card is flipped and discarded. So if he took 3 damage, 3 cards would be removed.
-Most cards simply represent 1 HP. But what's this? A Mushroom? Yes hidden in Goombas Hit Deck are Item Cards which have different rules.
For example, the Mushroom card has two properties.
(1) If Goomba had taken 4 damage instead of 3, the Mushroom card would prevent further damage from being taken. That means instead of discarding 4 cards, you only discard 3, stopping at the Mushroom which was the third card in that pile.
(2) If Goomba took exactly 3 damage and the Mushroom card was the last card flipped, Goomba will recover all the cards that were just discarded from that one attack! How lucky.
You decide what cards are in each characters' Hit Deck and the order they are in. Try to guess how your opponent will attack and arrange the deck accordingly.