Basic Attacks
The basic attack for an enemy (no weapons, magic, interesting techniques, or the like) is typically equal to their PWR times half their level, further halved if it's a Lesser monster.
Building Attacks
We take that attack we already made and turn it into a variety of secondary attacks; by having the attack require a weapon, reducing the accuracy or damage, or even having your poor beastie hurt themself in the process, you can create something much more fun – a gout of flame, a trampling charge, or whatever else you can dream up!
Building Secondary Attacks is easy – simply take your primary attack or a known spell and add a handful of bonus effects from the list below. Each additional effect has a ‘point’ cost, and a monster can spend up to 5 points per pool per tier on each secondary attack. The total amount of points a monster has to spend is based on both their Force and Finesse, with each having a separate pool of effects to choose from (though both can be applied to a single secondary attack). Notorious Monsters and Bosses have twice as many points to spend while Superbosses have three times as much. Lesser Monsters also generally only have a single secondary attack (if any).
Some effects also allow for refunds - if a refund effect is applied the points it grants have to be used on that specific attack.
Building Secondary Attacks is easy – simply take your primary attack or a known spell and add a handful of bonus effects from the list below. Each additional effect has a ‘point’ cost, and a monster can spend up to 5 points per pool per tier on each secondary attack. The total amount of points a monster has to spend is based on both their Force and Finesse, with each having a separate pool of effects to choose from (though both can be applied to a single secondary attack). Notorious Monsters and Bosses have twice as many points to spend while Superbosses have three times as much. Lesser Monsters also generally only have a single secondary attack (if any).
Some effects also allow for refunds - if a refund effect is applied the points it grants have to be used on that specific attack.
Force Effects
Cost |
Description |
1 Point |
The attribute used for this attack's damage is treated as though it's 2 points higher than normal. |
2 Points |
The damage step is increased by one. |
2 Points |
The user gains a +1 bonus on an opposed roll or forces you to suffer a -1 penalty. |
2 Points |
With a successful opposed roll, the attack can cause a short range knockback. |
3 Points |
Heal an amount of HP equal to the amount of damage dealt by this attack. |
3 Points |
With a successful opposed roll, may cause Stun for a single round. |
4 Points |
The attack creates difficult terrain and/or changes the type of Terrain that exists in the battle – mostly used for a Geomancer’s Geotrance ability or the favored terrain feature. |
5 Points |
With a successful opposed roll, the target is inflicted with Armor Break, Power Break, Magic Break, or Speed Break. |
5 Points |
The attack also creates a Fire, Ice, Wind, Water, Earth, or Lightning Elemental Field. |
6 Points |
With a successful opposed roll, may cause Stun. |
6 Points |
With a successful opposed roll, the attack may destroy the target’s equipped weapon, armor, or accessory, causing it to gain the Broken property. |
7 Points |
The attack also creates a Holy or Shadow Elemental Field. |
8 Points |
With a successful attack roll, the user or one chosen ally gains a point of Destiny. This Destiny disappears at the end of the current combat if not used. |
9 Points |
The attack instantly reduces its targets to 0 hit points with a successful opposed roll. |
Finesse Effects
Cost |
Description |
1 Point |
The accuracy of the attack is increased by +1. |
2 Points |
The user gains a +1 bonus on an opposed roll or forces the target to suffer a -1 penalty. |
3 Points |
With a successful opposed roll, may cause Zombie, Blind, Poison, or Seal. |
3 Points |
The attack also attempts to use a maneuver on the target with a successful opposed roll. |
3 Points |
The target automatically suffers a -2 penalty to ACC or AVD for one round, or a +2 bonus to either score for an ally instead. |
3 Points |
The status effect inflicted by the attack does not fade in several rounds as normal and must be removed through other means. |
4 Points |
The attack uses MND instead of PWR and restores health to the user or an ally instead of dealing damage to a target. |
4 Points |
The user or one ally gains gains Reflect or Flight. |
5 Points |
The user or one ally gains Regen, Protect or Shell. |
5 Points |
The attack ignores ARM or M.ARM and all similar damage-reduction effects. |
5 Points |
With a successful opposed roll, the target is inflicted with Armor Break, Power Break, Magic Break, Speed Break, Transform, Curse, Slow, or Petrify. |
5 Points |
The attack is a critical hit on a result of 11-12. |
6 Points |
With a successful opposed roll, may cause Stun or Charm. |
8 Points |
The user or one ally gains Haste, Auto-Life, or Aura. |
8 Points |
The attack does not allow for an opposed roll to inflict status effects or cause a successful maneuver. |
9 Points |
The attack is usable as an Instant action once per round. |
9 Points |
The attack is a critical hit on a result of 10-12. |
Force/Finesse Effects
Cost |
Description |
0 Points |
The attack targets M.ARM instead of ARM. This makes the attack no longer require an ACC roll to check if it hits but it is now treated as a spell, costing MP equal to half the creature’s level times the number of points used for the attack. |
0 Points |
The attack calculates damage as half of the creature’s level instead of the normal amount (useful for creating tamed creatures whose levels increase over the course of a campaign). |
1 Point |
The attack can be used at a Medium Range. |
1 Point |
The attack deals Earth, Fire, Ice, Lightning, Water, or Wind elemental damage. |
2 Points |
Add a Force point or a Finesse point to both the point cap total and that pool's total point amount. These both may only be used for the purpose of building this attack. |
3 Points |
With a successful opposed roll, may cause Sleep, Stop, or Confuse. |
3 Points |
The attack targets all enemies within a Short Range. |
5 Points |
The attack has a target range of Group (aka all targets within medium range). |
5 Points |
The attack deals Shadow or Holy elemental damage. |
6 Points |
The attack has a target range of Local (aka all targets within long range). |
9 Points |
The target gains a specific ability until the end of combat. This cannot be used to grant once per combat or chapter abilities. |
Point Refunds
Refund Amount |
Description |
5 Points |
The user is reduced to 0 hit points at the end of its turn. Effects such as Auto-Life cannot circumvent this. |
3 Points |
The target(s) must be affected by a specific status ailment for the attack to be used. (Undead and their Auto-Zombie status cannot be used to meet this criteria.) |
3 Points |
The attack reduces the user’s health by 50% of its maximum. |
2 Points |
The attack inflicts a negative status effect on the user of the attack with no opposed roll. |
2 Points |
The ‘attack’ does no damage or healing. |
2 Points |
The attack deals damage to the monster itself as well as their target. This self damage ignores resistance, absorption, and immunity. |
2 Points |
The attack is a Slow action. |
2 Points |
The user must be affected by a specific negative status ailment for the attack to be used. (Undead and their Auto-Zombie status cannot be used to meet this criteria.) |
1 Point |
The attack cannot be used without the monster’s weapon, a specific ally, or some other obscure criteria must be met. This cannot be added multiple times. |
1 Point |
The attack’s additional effects can only target yourself instead of allies or enemies. |
1 Point |
The attack or status effect can be avoided/ended with a successful Skill Check of appropriate difficulty, such as using Escape to wiggle out of Stop-inducing binds. |
1 Point |
The attack can only be used with a successful Skill Check of appropriate difficulty. |
1 Point |
The accuracy for the attack is reduced by -2. This cannot be added multiple times. |
1 Point |
The user of this attack has their avoidance reduced by 2 until the end of the next round. This cannot be added multiple times. |
1 Point |
The damage is reduced by one step. This can be taken multiple times but cannot reduce your damage step below 0. |
1 Point |
The user of the attack must have a specific positive status effect to use this attack, losing this positive status effect after the attack's use. |
1 Point |
The attack is only usable once per combat. This refund may only be taken a single time no matter how many secondary attacks a creature has and cannot been chosen by players building monster attacks. |