In my game, if a player manages to successfully attack (the mechanics of how this occurs is irrelevant) that player may choose to target the opposing player's hero or a minion that player controls (to win, you must reduce your opponent's hero to 0 HP). If a player chooses to target the hero with an attack, the opposing player may choose to defend the attack with a minion they control. I have three potential systems for defending with minions that each have their pros and cons, but none of them seem to be a proper fit. Here are the three options:
1) A defending minion recieves all damage from the attack
This makes the minion take all damage from the attack. What I don't like is that it doesn't move the game forward, as no damage is done to the opposing hero. I should test to see if rollover damage should be applied to the opposing hero, as that would help progress the game.
2) A defending minion has a DEF value, and if it defends, it reduces the damage the opposing hero recieves by the defending minion's DEF value. That minion recieves no damage.
This system progresses the game forward, which I like, but makes minions more resilient, which could lead to clogged boards. Naturally, a higher DEF value is always better, but it's wonky when a minion has 0 DEF. Can it defend? If it can, does it recieve all damage?
3) A defending minion has a DEF value, and if it defends, it recieves damage equal to its DEF value, and the remaining damage is dealt to the opposing hero.
This system works well mechanically, as it moves the game forward and slowly kills minions, leading to less potential for clogged boards. However, it has the same issues as #2 in regards to 0DEF values, but it also has weirder implications. Generally, you're evaluating its DEF value in relation to its HP. If a minion has 5HP and 3DEF, that minion will be able to defend two attacks of 3 damage or more twice. If that minion has a DEF value of 2, it could defend three attacks that deal 2 or more damage. Therefore evaluating a minion's defensive capabilities becomes unintuitive - a larger number sometimes isn't ideal.
Those are the three systems I have been able to devise. If any of you guys are able to think of something that I haven't, that'd be absolutely terrific.
I like where your head is at, but I don't think that would work. And maybe I wasn't totally clear on something: only one minion is allowed to defend an attack, so all of the damage can't be totally soaked up.
There's also an opportunity cost while defending - it taps the minion, preventing it from contributing its dominance value. At the of the each turn, each player sums their untapped minions' dominance values. The player with the higher dominance increases their dominance meter by 1. Each hero has 3 dominance abilities, each of which cost 1, 3, or 5 points from the dominance meter. These are intended to get stronger in effect the more points they require.
Therefore, the defending player has to decide if they want to defend, which could put them in a position where they don't win dominance that turn. Or they let the hero take all the damage to keep minion(s) untapped.
It might be important to note that attacking a minion also taps it..which reminds me why I don't like #1 from my three ideas: let's say you successfully attack and choose to target the opposing hero. That player then chooses to defend with a minion. That minion takes full damage and taps...which is absolutely no different from if you decided to target that minion with the attack in the first place. By targeting the hero, you actually give your opponent more control to mitigate the negative effects of an attack. That's not good.
Having the defending player divide the damage gives them too much wiggle room for choice, especially if there's a lot of minions on board. There are also attacks that allow for multiple targets, at the choice of the attacker.