Ok, here we are simply trying to sort abilities and spells into categories.  The terminology exists in countless games, roleplaying, video, or otherwise, and enough weird words and names have been brought into the mix for Alatha so far, so there is no need to re-invent the wheel on this one.  Dang that was a long sentence.  For those of you unfamiliar with terms, the following should suffice for an explanation of terms used.

Buff - something that positively affects a friendly target, self or other, lasts 1D+2 rounds

Debuff - something that negatively affects a hostile target, lasts 1D+2 rounds

Passive -  a buff of sorts that constantly affects a character once it is learned

AOE - stands for Area of Effect, targets an area rather than an individual, those in target area have dodge reduced by half

Stance - the manner in which a melee character stands gives some benefits but also sometimes a weakness.  A character may only be in one stance at a time.