This is awesome, love the printable game sheets! I did not actually print them tho lol just put them in tabletop simulator. Very fun to play!
There is actually an extra 2-value card in there though lmao, the rules state that deck has 7 of them, but the printable sheet has 8.
I think it would be better if skill reference sheet would state how much power is deducted for multi-targeted attacks, cause I forgot about this several times, then had to re-calculate it later. There is no need for the formula in the rules because every skill already states the amount of targets, just writing "do [power - 2] damage to all enemies" for striker merged skill for example would be better.
Rules in general are not hard to understand for someone who played the digital prototype, but when reading I couldn't help but notice that they are actually kinda confusing. I think better organizing chapters would be nice, like moving player skills up into the player turn chapter and moving enemy skills (and explanation on targeting with a d4) up into enemy turn chapter.
Speaking of enemy turn chapter, what does "starting from left-right" mean? I just went top-bottom lmao. Next line is even more tuff: "If you reach the last enemy before all dice are assigned, return to the first enemy and continue the cycle" took me straight 10 minutes to realize that the dead enemy actions go to the next alive enemy, just like the player can utilize several actions on a single ally. I think writing "roll the dice three times, then assign to each enemy one by one, dead enemies give their dice to the next alive one" or something similar would be better.
Enemies can reduce value of 2 random cards, but its not specified how to choose random cards :D, I just rolled for it haha. Speaking of which, when this effect reduces the card value below 1, does it still gain the blue cube? Like I got a card with value of 2, then enemies rolled a 6 and a 10, does it gain 2 cubes (and if merged afterwards, potentially reduce value by 2, becoming useless) or does it not gain a cube and enemy effect is nullified because it cannot go below 1?
"When all enemies in the current wave are defeated, advance to the next wave" is crazy lack of details lmao. I think this should specify if it happens instantly after the last enemy dies or only after the player spent all 3 actions, and if it resets turn state, removing shields and everything. Actually, does it reset enemy turn dice back to d6?
I really enjoyed ally skills, they are excellent and very cool! Actually exciting to use and makes you think which one to use with a given card. Allowing striker to fall below half hp and then shielding with healer is very cool strategy, for example. Although, because on later turns enemies have higher chance of bypassing shields, I think the meta is to spam striker until he is dead for explosive damage, then spamming buffer to go around enemy shields or healer to heal buffer.
I like double merging, it is as cool as it is busted, interesting that if done on same turn it will usually result in an even final card, so its not always the best choice to do.
Does buffer draw cards above hand limit? If not, it would be a bit of a hard skill to utilize cause you lose action economy. If it did go above limit, it could be a cool first action choice but the deck should maybe be a bit bigger to accommodate so its not as consistent to win instantly.
Speaking of winning instantly, as I understand right now, two 5-value merged will give 8 damage to all enemies from striker, then two 2-value merged will deal 2 damage to all enemies, which ends first wave instantly. IDK if this is intended, but just a lucky draw (or drawing with buffer if it goes above hand limit) will destroy the first wave always.
I think this might be balanced by the boss killing everyone by rolling 8+ several times in a row on my ass. I think it is actually better to focus the boss specifically because of how much more damage it deals compared to normal enemies! BTW, would the boss still use its "even" merged ability and deal damage to itself even if it dies by doing so? Seems a bit counter-intuitive but funny haha.
Does multi-striking still reduce damage if only a single target is alive? I think pointing this out in the rules would be good.
I think this is all my notes so far, another long read as always. I hope this was at least somewhat constructive. It was definitely fun for me to try out this system as a boardgame prototype :D