New Designer Needs Help, Badly (Pirate Treasure Pit)

Hello, friendly BGDF-ers. First time post-er here. Had an idea for a boardgame that actually seemed to be something, the more that I thought about it.

I've spend some time writing out as much as I could think of and am moving toward creating a playable version, but thought I'd throw what I have up here and see if there was any helpful feedback I could get before doing that.

Any thoughts are welcome.

Thanks.

...Dave

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PIRATE TREASURE PIT
(Inspired by the Oak Island Money Pit)

IDEA: At the bottom a deep deep pit on a small, deserted island a pirate buried his treasure chest. To protect his treasure, he separated the pit into 7 levels, each of which is guarded by traps.
Players are rival treasure hunters, racing to reach the bottom of the pit, grab the treasure, and bring it back to the surface. But they had better be quick about it. The pit is prone to flooding.
Getting past the traps will be tricky -- the treasure hunters will need to convince their rivals to help, sometimes as the end of a knife.
The hunter who is alive and has the most valuable treasures at the end of the game, wins.

Number of Players: 2-4

Time to play: ~30-45 mins

Components: Board, Level "cards" (non-standard card size), Item cards, Action cards, Treasure cards, Character cards, tokens to track flood level, tokens to track character health

Set-up:
Shuffle the various card decks and place them near the board.
Take the top card from the Treasure deck and place it faced own on the board on the level 7 space.
Place seven levels on the board in the spaces provided and return the rest of the levels (also face down) to the box.
Deal out a Character card to each player as well as the number of life tokens indicated on their Character card.
Each player gets on Item card and one Action card, unless differently noted on their Character card.
Place the flood tracking token on the 0 space of the flood track on the board.
Determine who goes first. Play!

A TURN:
1. A player can (if the current level's challenge has been dealt with, or he has a card allowing him to skip the current challenge) draw and place the next level of the pit and place himself on that level. The player then responds to the challenge text of the new level card -- playing cards from his hand, asking for or forcing help from other players, retreating back to the previous level. A dice roll will determine success or failure.
OR
The player can draw two cards total from the item and action decks, and play any number of cards from his hand.

2. Adjust the flood level track (If it reaches X, the pit is flooded and everyone loses.)

CARDS:
Character Cards:
consist of image of your pirate and brief bio, your LUCK, STRENGTH, and AGILITY ability scores (Used to determine the number of dice to roll vs. challenges and in combat. These numbers will vary from character to character.) and room to track LIFE POINTS.

Level Cards:
consist of challenges such as "Snakes!", "Abandoned Camp", "Poisonous Gas", "No Way Out", "Ghost!", etc. Each has an image and brief description of the challenge, which ability is used and how many successful rolls needed to pass the challenge, and the results of failing, succeeding or retreating. There are more cards than will be used, making each game different.
Each Level Card has a number of spaces (circles) that show how many players may occupy that level at one time. Highlighted spaces show how many players can roll or assist with the Challenge. In some levels only one person is allowed on the level at one time, creating a bottleneck.
Some Level Cards are split into two areas. In this case the player can choose to take on either area's challenge. It is only necessary to pass one challenge per level.

Treasure Cards:
consist of an image and text description for both Major and Minor treasures. When a Treasure is found on levels 1-6, it is a Minor treasure. When the treasure on level 7 is revealed, the Major treasure is used. Each card also shows a number which is the value, in gold, for the treasure. This number is used to determine the winner at the end of the game.

Item Cards:
consist of an image and text description, and the use/effect of the item (positive or negative). Examples: First Aid Kit (+1 to health), Map (do not trigger challenge when arriving at next level), Gun/Knife (for use in threatening/attacking other players), Heavy Boots (+X vs snakes or wooden spikes), skull hat (+X vs rock fall), etc. [Possibly create cards that have items which give you long-term benefits -- +1 to Strength rolls, etc. Or cursed items that do the opposite.] An item card is drawn when a Challenge is successfully beaten, or when a Search action is taken.

Searching: is done by either playing a Search Action card, or when a player discards two cards from their hand. The player then rolls a number of dice based on their Luck/Mind ability. (1 = nothing, 2-5 = item, 6 = treasure) Only one card is taken, regardless of the number of successes.

Action Cards:
consist of image and description of the action, the dice roll requirements (when necessary), result of success or failure. Examples: "Thief!" (take one treasure or item card from another player), "Sneak Preview" (look at next level card), "Enlist" (force another player to join you on the current level), "I Found Something!" (take last played item card from discard pile), etc.

WEAPONS:
weapons (gun, knife) can be used to Threaten or Attack other players. Threatened players have the option to either Retreat up one level, or enter into Combat. Attacked players immediately enter into Combat.

COMBAT:
consists of opposed Agility or Strength rolls (whichever number is higher). The player with the most "hits" (5+?) wins the combat. Damage is assessed. (Based on weapon used.) [Gunshots cause +1 to flood track? Have to find bullet to use gun? (creates bluff possibility)] [Alternate combat: threatened players may either Retreat (no damage taken), stay and Assist, if asked (no damage taken) or stay and not Assist (damage taken). No dice rolled. More strategic?]

DEATH AND GHOSTS:
Players die if they lose their last life point. When a player dies he returns as a Ghost and can Assist/Sabotage a player once per round, buy adding or subtracting one die from a single roll. This includes during the retrieval of the treasure.

BRINGING TREASURE TO THE SURFACE:
Not sure how exactly to play out. Thinking that grabbing the treasure causes the flood track to increase double every turn, or they have X number of turns to escape before the entire pit is flooded (# of turns based on current flood level). Players can move 2 levels up each turn, unless another player threatens them. Some treasures will have to be carried by two players.

ROLLS:
to succeed in a Challenge the player rolls a number of dice determined by their score in the ability listed (Luck/Mind, Strength, Agility) plus any adjustments due to Items, Actions, or Assists/Sabotages by other players.

ASSIST/SABOTAGE:
A player may choose to Assist or Sabotage another player's roll as long as they are on the same level as the other player. Assisted players recieve more dice to roll (1/2 of the assisting player's ability score, rounded down). Sabotaged player use less dice to roll (1/2 of the sabotaging player's ability score, rounded down). [Consequence for failed sabotage?]

FLOOD LEVEL TRACK: At the beginning of every turn except the first, the flood level track increases by one. When it reaches X (12?) the walls of the pit have broken down and the entire pit is flooded, and everyone loses. On every even level (2, 4, 6) the first player in the round rolls to adjust the flood level (1 = doesn't increase at all, 2-5 = +1, 6 = +2).

TURN ORDER: rotates? changes, based on something else?