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I have a few ideas. I never really thought of it as a token system before, but yeah this reminds me of games like Slay the Spire or Darkest Dungeon. Thinking outside of that though, what if tokens themselves got a little weird? Like:

• a heavy token that hurts you if you don’t spend it,

• fusing two tokens together into a one-off move,

• the environment spitting out special tokens (lava = fire token, swamp = sticky token),

• or even tokens that “evolve” the more you use them.

Stuff like that might keep the combat fresh without piling on too many rules.

So with generic tokens right now:

• Spend 1 token → choose Kick or Slash → deal normal damage.

With special tokens:

• Spend 1 Fire token → Kick or Slash → applies fire effect (extra burn damage).

• Spend 1 Heavy token → Kick or Slash → stronger hit, but maybe costs stamina/HP.

• Spend 1 Sticky token → Kick or Slash → move goes through, but the token lingers into next turn, eating a slot in your hand.

It’s like you’re “socketing” the token into the move. The move stays the same (Kick/Slash), but the token modifies it. That keeps the system familiar but suddenly you’ve got variety without adding more buttons.

I did some quick brainstorming with my AI tools and came up with a few lightweight ways you could wire this up in Unity without a big refactor:

• Token data as ScriptableObjects: one TokenType SO (name, cost, icon, tags like Heavy/Fire/Sticky, simple effects). Runtime Token just points to that SO and tracks uses/level.

• Hand/turn loop: a HandManager that holds the hand + tokensThisTurn, with tiny end-turn checks (no systems rewrite).

• Heavy tokens: if a Heavy token isn’t spent by end of turn, apply a small penalty or make it cost +1 next turn. Super simple flag check.

• Fusion: keep a tiny recipe table (e.g., Kick + Defend → Counter). If the player selects a valid pair, remove both, add the fused one-shot token.

• Environment tokens: a little EnvironmentZone component that, on turn start, rolls a chance to add a special token (lava → Fire, swamp → Sticky) or occasionally “eat” one.

• Evolution: when a token is played, increment uses; at thresholds swap its TokenType to an upgraded SO (e.g., Slash → Slash_Lv2 with a bit of bleed).

Basically: 1 SO type, 1 hand manager, a couple end-turn rules, and you’re off. Keeps it modular and easy to tweak in the Inspector.

What do you think?