Abilities
An ability is a named effect that recurs across games: a fireball, a blink, a heal. Each entry describes one archetype by its behaviour rather than its name, lists the games that have it, and records for every game what limits its use there, whether a cooldown, a mana cost, a spell slot, or an ultimate meter. The same archetype is often gated differently from game to game, which is why gating is coded per example.
58 abilities, 495 examples. Abilities link to the mechanics they exercise; they carry no design properties or effect tags, and they are not part of the patterns figures. Data: JSON, CSV, examples CSV.
Gating
At will
Usable whenever the user can act, at no cost beyond taking the action.
Cooldown
Unavailable for a fixed interval of time or turns after each use.
Ultimate charge
A meter filled by time, damage dealt or taken, or objectives; the ability is usable only when the meter is full.
Mana
Each use spends points from a pool shared by several abilities (mana, MP, FP, energy, or mana produced by lands in card games).
Spell slots
Each use expends a slot of a given level from an allotment restored by rest.
Per rest
A fixed number of uses restored by a rest or another narrative interval, without slots.
Charges
A small stock of uses that refill one at a time, or a finite stock held on an item.
Consumable
Each use spends an item or card: a scroll, a potion, a power-up, a card discarded on play.
Action cost
Each use takes a share of a per-turn action budget.
Proc chance
Fires on its own, without being activated, when a trigger such as a hit, an attack roll, or a card draw succeeds on a stated chance.
Damage
Reduces an opponent’s health or equivalent measure.
Backstab
An attack that deals greatly increased damage, or kills outright, when the attacker strikes from behind, from stealth, or against a target that is unaware, flanked or otherwise unable to defend itself.
Chain Lightning
A damaging bolt that strikes one chosen target and then leaps from target to nearby target in sequence, up to a cap on jumps, usually losing damage at each jump; the path follows proximity rather than a line or an area.
Charge
An attack that carries the user in a rapid rush along the ground to a chosen target and strikes or disables it on arrival, often with a bonus from the run-up, speed, or distance covered; rush and blow resolve as one action
Cleave
A melee blow against one chosen target that also strikes foes beside or behind it, as a spill of reduced damage or as an extra attack the first blow triggers, rather than hitting all around the user or hopping in sequence
Corpse Explosion
The user picks a corpse on the battlefield and makes it burst, damaging every enemy within a radius, often for a share of the dead creature's life, so that each kill supplies the next blast
Execute
An attack or effect that kills outright, or deals sharply increased damage to, a target whose remaining health is below a threshold or already reduced, so it finishes foes that other damage has worn down
Fireball
A ranged attack that launches a ball of fire to a chosen point or target, where it bursts and damages every figure within a fixed radius, often allowing a save or resistance that reduces the effect
Life Drain
An ability or attack that damages a target and returns some or all of the damage dealt to the user as healing, whether by spell, touch, curse, or a property of a weapon or character.
Lightning Bolt
A ranged attack that projects a bolt or beam in a straight line from the user and damages every figure along its length, rather than one target, a burst at a point, or a chain of jumps, often allowing a save for half damage.
Magic Missile
A cheap, low-damage ranged bolt or small volley whose hit is guaranteed, because the rules skip the hit roll or the projectile aims at or tracks its target by itself, trading damage for reliability.
Poison
An ability that leaves damage on a target to be dealt in instalments over later turns or seconds, as poison, bleeding, burning or acid, without the user acting again, until it runs its course or is cured
Totem
A stationary object, ward or bound spirit that the user sets at a spot, which then attacks, heals or buffs on its own, again and again, until its duration, shots or health run out
Whirlwind
A melee attack centred on the user that strikes every enemy within weapon reach on all sides in one action, usually as a spin, instead of hitting a chosen target, bursting at range, or carrying a swing over to a second foe
Control
Removes or restricts an opponent’s ability to act or move.
Anchor
The user stops a target from teleporting, blinking, warping, or escaping the encounter for a time, without necessarily stopping its ordinary movement, attacks, or casting
Blind
An ability that impairs a chosen target's sight for a time, so that its attacks miss or lose accuracy, it cannot pick targets, or its view shrinks; the effect stays on the blinded figure rather than filling an area
Charm
An ability that turns an existing enemy into an ally or puppet of the user, acting for the user's side for a set time, until a save or dispel breaks it, or permanently; often resisted by a save or barred for strong or unique targets.
Curse
An ability that lays a lasting debuff on enemies, lowering their damage, accuracy, defences, resistances or saving throws, or raising the damage they take, without stopping, slowing, silencing or blinding them
Disarm
An ability that knocks away, seizes, or locks out a target's weapon for a time, so it can still move and act but cannot make weapon attacks until the effect ends or it recovers the weapon; often resisted by a roll or save
Fear
An ability that makes its targets run from the user or cower for a short fixed or rolled duration, overriding their own movement and attacks; often resisted by a save, ended early by damage, or limited by diminishing returns.
Knockback
An ability whose main effect is to force a target away from the user or in a set direction against its will, by a blow, blast, or field, often into hazards, other figures, or off a ledge; any damage is secondary
Mana Burn
An ability that drains or destroys part or all of a target's spell resource pool, such as mana, energy, spell points or capacitor, sometimes dealing damage in proportion to the amount lost or passing it to the user
Pin
An attacker seizes or pins a target and holds it helpless, unable to move, fight back, or use items, with no timer of its own, until an ally knocks off, interrupts, or kills the attacker, or the target dies
Polymorph
An ability that transforms a target, usually an enemy, into a weaker or harmless creature, replacing its form and removing its attacks and abilities, for a duration or until dispelled; often resisted by a save or ended by damage.
Silence
An ability that stops a target, or everyone in an area, from casting spells or using abilities for a set time while it can still move and make ordinary attacks; often resisted by a save or an immunity, or cured.
Slow
An ability that lowers a target's movement speed, attack or action rate, or actions per turn for a limited time without stopping it, down to rooting it in place while it can still attack or cast; often resisted by a save.
Stun
An ability that leaves its target unable to move, attack, or use abilities for a short fixed or rolled duration, after which it acts normally again; often resisted by a save, an immunity, or diminishing returns.
Time Stop
An ability that halts time for everything around the user, or within an area, for a brief span, so that only the user (in some games also its own units) moves and acts while everything frozen cannot react
Trap
A device, glyph or mine that the user places at a spot and leaves, which acts on its own when an opponent enters, touches or reads it, usually once, holding, hindering or damaging that opponent.
Mobility
Moves the user, or another piece, faster or farther than ordinary movement allows.
Blink
The user vanishes and reappears at a point within a short, bounded range, chosen or set by the game, without crossing the space between, so it can escape attacks or restraints or reach a ledge.
Dash
A short burst of movement, faster than ordinary locomotion, that carries the user a bounded distance in a chosen or facing direction through the space between, often past hazards, gaps or attacks
Flight
A user who normally walks gains sustained, freely steered movement through the air, horizontal as well as vertical, from a spell, power-up, or item, for a duration or while a resource lasts
Grappling Hook
A fired or thrown line anchors to a surface, object, or creature and then moves the user along it by reeling in, swinging, or climbing; some forms also drag the anchored target toward the user.
Leap
A jump far beyond the user's ordinary one, from a spell, skill, or item, that carries it on an airborne arc over whatever lies between to a chosen point or target, often striking the area where it lands
Mount
An activated spell, item or command calls or creates a creature or vehicle that carries the user faster than on foot, until it is dismissed, its duration ends, or it is lost when it or its rider is attacked
Phase
The user passes through solid matter that would otherwise block it, such as a wall, floor, ceiling or gate, by becoming intangible or by opening a temporary passage through it, for a short time or a set number of crossings
Recall
An activated spell, skill or item returns the user, sometimes with a group, over any distance to a home point bound in advance or a fixed hub such as a town, usually after a delay and limited by a long cooldown or a spent item
Swap
Two figures exchange positions at once without crossing the space between, the user and a chosen ally, enemy, or object, or two figures the user picks, so that each ends where the other stood
Protection
Absorbs, blocks, or prevents incoming damage before it lands.
Barrier
An activated protective layer, either a shield on a character that absorbs or blocks incoming damage until depleted or expired, or a wall placed in space that stops attacks, projectiles, or movement.
Invulnerability
An activated state in which the user or an ally ignores all or nearly all damage, whatever its size, for a short fixed time; it is often paid for by being unable to move, attack, or act until it ends
Reflect
An ability that turns an incoming attack, projectile, or spell away from its target and sends it back at its source or on to another target, so that the attacker's own effect is used against it.
Restoration
Restores lost health or returns a defeated character to play.
Heal
A deliberate act by which a character returns lost hit points, or the game's equivalent health measure, to itself or an ally, up to that measure's maximum, as opposed to passive regeneration or rest.
Resurrection
A spell, skill, or item a player uses to return a dead or incapacitated character to play, usually with reduced health, a failure chance, a time limit, or another penalty.
Enhancement
Temporarily improves an ally’s capabilities.
Bless
An activated ability that temporarily raises the user's or allies' accuracy, damage, saving throws, attributes, or morale, for a duration or within a radius, without restoring hit points, absorbing damage, or adding speed.
Haste
A timed state on the user or allies that makes them act faster than normal for its duration, with more movement, more attacks or actions per turn or second, or earlier and more frequent turns, after which normal speed returns
Rage
A self-applied state that raises the user's damage, attacks, or toughness for a duration at a price, such as lost control, lowered defence, barred spells or options, or fatigue, stress, or damage once it ends
Shapeshift
An ability by which the user changes its own body into another form, such as an animal, monster, or empowered state, gaining and losing capabilities with the form until a duration ends, a resource runs out, or it changes back.
Spell Steal
The user takes or copies an ability belonging to an opponent and can then cast or use it as its own, usually for a limited time or until it is replaced, without taking control of the opponent itself
Summoning
Brings a temporary allied entity into play.
Summon
An ability that brings a temporary allied creature or entity into play, fighting under the user's control or on its own, until a duration ends, it is destroyed or dismissed, or, in a one-shot form, it delivers one effect and leaves.
Concealment
Hides the user or an ally from opponents.
Disguise
A spell, skill or worn item makes the user or a group appear to opponents as someone or something else, without that form's capabilities, so they stay seen but unrecognised until an observer detects them or their own act exposes them.
Feign Death
The user, or an ally, drops into a convincing imitation of death, so that opponents stop attacking or targeting it and, where hostiles keep threat lists, drop it from them; acting again or the effect's end revives it.
Invisibility
An activated effect makes the user or an ally unseen by opponents for a time, so that they cannot target or attack it; it usually ends when the concealed figure attacks, and specific detectors can reveal it.
Mirror Image
An activated effect surrounds or accompanies the user with illusory copies or a decoy of itself, so opponents cannot tell which figure is real and spend attacks on copies that vanish when struck or expire.
Smoke Screen
An ability that fills an area with smoke, fog, darkness or a similar obscurant for a time, so that sight into, out of, or through the area is blocked or degraded for everyone, hiding what is inside or behind it
Detection
Reveals hidden state, units, or terrain.
Mark
An activated tag placed on one or a few chosen targets that moves with them for a time, keeping their position known through darkness, cover, stealth or distance, or making them the designated target for extra harm.
Reveal
An activated effect exposes hidden things, such as invisible or stealthed figures, traps, magic or enemies beyond sight, within an area or range for a time, so that the user and often allies can see or target them.
Scry
An activated effect lends the user sight or hearing of a distant place through a sensor, remote viewpoint or vision, or a glimpse of what is about to happen, without exposing what is hidden there.
Negation
Cancels a spell or ability as it is cast, or ends a spell, enchantment, or condition already in place, on friend or foe.
Counterspell
An ability used in response to an opponent's spell or ability while it is being cast or played, which stops it from taking effect; some forms also lock the caster out of that spell or its school for a short time.
Dispel
An ability that ends a magical or temporary effect already in place on a creature, object, or area: a harmful one on the user's side (cleanse, cure, remove curse) or a helpful one on an enemy (purge).
Function by gating
| Function | At will | Cooldown | Ultimate charge | Mana | Spell slots | Per rest | Charges | Consumable | Action cost | Proc chance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Damage | 21 | 23 | 2 | 49 | 19 | 5 | 8 | 12 | 8 | 3 |
| Control | 14 | 27 | 1 | 50 | 28 | 9 | 10 | 16 | 9 | 3 |
| Mobility | 22 | 22 | 0 | 19 | 13 | 2 | 11 | 9 | 8 | 0 |
| Protection | 4 | 12 | 2 | 11 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 0 |
| Restoration | 1 | 5 | 3 | 6 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 2 | 0 |
| Enhancement | 6 | 9 | 3 | 18 | 9 | 6 | 2 | 9 | 5 | 0 |
| Summoning | 0 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Concealment | 12 | 12 | 1 | 11 | 10 | 1 | 2 | 10 | 1 | 0 |
| Detection | 7 | 2 | 1 | 11 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 |
| Negation | 0 | 2 | 1 | 10 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 2 | 0 |