Attributes
Most attributes function just as described in the OL rules. You can flavor your character’s abilities as you like within the general guidelines of what the various attributes are capable of doing, and can constrain yourself if you feel it’s appropriate to your character’s flavor (i.e. a frost mage never using the Persistent Damage bane because they don’t feel like it’s appropriate for their toolkit). However, I find the base rules’ ideas for what’s possible with some attributes to be… limited. I’ve outlined some ideas below for you to use or twist to your liking.
Movement - This is an “always” attack stat, not a “sometimes” one. Movement allows you to throw things with magic; as long as you have something within reach to force-throw at an enemy, you can attack with it. Any Movement user who doesn’t have a bag of sling bullets on their belt at all times is like an archer who goes out adventuring without a quiver. Choose your ammunition as you please, and don’t forget you can use stuff in the environment as well.
Alteration - Like it says in the combat chapter, Alteration is a “sometimes” attack stat. However, they only give one example of how to use it - a tree branch strangling a nearby enemy. There are many more possibilities, though, and most are dependent on the specific situation. Creativity is crucial for an Alteration user, because the environment is almost always your best weapon, even moreso than Movement. Examples: razor-sharp shards of stone being spat out by a cave wall; transmuting a seedpod into an unstable explosive cocktail and throwing it at a target; weakening the stone holding a stalactite up so that it falls onto an enemy’s head; a touch attack that causes the target’s muscles to tear or makes it bleed internally for a short time. Use your imagination, and don’t be afraid to ask the DM for more details of what’s around you that you can use to fight with.
Influence - Illusions require the power-level 6 Phantasm bane to be reliably effective in terms of convincing your opponent they’ve been injured, or even scaring the crap out of them with a “near miss” (which can still inflict hit point damage, as it lowers their morale and willingness to fight). Lower-power-level illusions can still be plenty effective at confusing creatures and getting them to waste their turns reacting to something that isn’t there, though.
Mental control is perfectly capable of causing an enemy to harm themselves, though the effectiveness of that technique depends heavily on the enemy. Undead, oozes, plants, and constructs are mostly immune to such manipulation; animals, humanoids, and fey are perfect targets; vermin, dragons, elementals, and outsiders are going to have different reactions depending on the specific situation and creature.
Protection - Using Protection as an offensive attribute is tricky; depending on your flavor, you’re using walls of force, protective spirits, holy light, or something entirely different to cause the attribute’s effects, so specific examples are hard to give. Still, I can picture someone using walls of force to body-slam an enemy to cause damage or knock them off their feet; protective spirits being cast forth to claw at an enemy; holy light being formed into a spinning galaxy of glowing shards and sawing at an enemy; and many more possibilities.
There are plenty of offensive moves you can do with a mundane shield, so I don’t see a reason why you can’t do similar things with a magical one. You won’t have the fine control possible with Movement, the versatility of Alteration, or the sheer destructive potential of Entropy or Energy, but within the limitations of your character’s flavor and backstory, be creative and see what you and the DM can agree on.
Creation - Creation can be used as an attack stat against undead and some evil outsiders - targeting Guard, mostly, though depending on how you describe it I might allow Toughness or Resolve as the target defense. Otherwise it acts like it’s described in the rules.
Movement - This is an “always” attack stat, not a “sometimes” one. Movement allows you to throw things with magic; as long as you have something within reach to force-throw at an enemy, you can attack with it. Any Movement user who doesn’t have a bag of sling bullets on their belt at all times is like an archer who goes out adventuring without a quiver. Choose your ammunition as you please, and don’t forget you can use stuff in the environment as well.
Alteration - Like it says in the combat chapter, Alteration is a “sometimes” attack stat. However, they only give one example of how to use it - a tree branch strangling a nearby enemy. There are many more possibilities, though, and most are dependent on the specific situation. Creativity is crucial for an Alteration user, because the environment is almost always your best weapon, even moreso than Movement. Examples: razor-sharp shards of stone being spat out by a cave wall; transmuting a seedpod into an unstable explosive cocktail and throwing it at a target; weakening the stone holding a stalactite up so that it falls onto an enemy’s head; a touch attack that causes the target’s muscles to tear or makes it bleed internally for a short time. Use your imagination, and don’t be afraid to ask the DM for more details of what’s around you that you can use to fight with.
Influence - Illusions require the power-level 6 Phantasm bane to be reliably effective in terms of convincing your opponent they’ve been injured, or even scaring the crap out of them with a “near miss” (which can still inflict hit point damage, as it lowers their morale and willingness to fight). Lower-power-level illusions can still be plenty effective at confusing creatures and getting them to waste their turns reacting to something that isn’t there, though.
Mental control is perfectly capable of causing an enemy to harm themselves, though the effectiveness of that technique depends heavily on the enemy. Undead, oozes, plants, and constructs are mostly immune to such manipulation; animals, humanoids, and fey are perfect targets; vermin, dragons, elementals, and outsiders are going to have different reactions depending on the specific situation and creature.
Protection - Using Protection as an offensive attribute is tricky; depending on your flavor, you’re using walls of force, protective spirits, holy light, or something entirely different to cause the attribute’s effects, so specific examples are hard to give. Still, I can picture someone using walls of force to body-slam an enemy to cause damage or knock them off their feet; protective spirits being cast forth to claw at an enemy; holy light being formed into a spinning galaxy of glowing shards and sawing at an enemy; and many more possibilities.
There are plenty of offensive moves you can do with a mundane shield, so I don’t see a reason why you can’t do similar things with a magical one. You won’t have the fine control possible with Movement, the versatility of Alteration, or the sheer destructive potential of Entropy or Energy, but within the limitations of your character’s flavor and backstory, be creative and see what you and the DM can agree on.
Creation - Creation can be used as an attack stat against undead and some evil outsiders - targeting Guard, mostly, though depending on how you describe it I might allow Toughness or Resolve as the target defense. Otherwise it acts like it’s described in the rules.
Attributes & the Defend action
Many attributes can be used to Defend, not just Agility, Might, or Protection as the rules describe. Be creative, and odds are that you can find a way that will do the job.- Energy can throw a firebolt in the attacker’s face to make them miss their shot
- Movement can teleport an ally out of harm’s way or yank at a weapon so it doesn’t strike true
- Creation can cause a flash of light to momentarily dazzle the attacker
- Influence can distract an enemy in the middle of an attack
- Alteration can momentarily grease a blade’s hilt so that it turns and strikes with the flat, or cause a rootlet to yank at the attacker’s leg to throw off their balance
- Entropy can cause the attacker’s muscles to weaken tremendously for a split second, or throw a short-lived glob of darkness in front of their eyes to throw off their aim
- Prescience can give you a glimpse of the future just a moment ahead, allowing you to dodge the attack
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