I wanted to build a full metal alchemist esk character who was also an assassin so I toke the premade character sheet of Damian and replaced his feats with Alternate Form 2 and made it so he pretty much turned into a monster with Alteration 5 and I was hoping to use that for combat and alchemy and stuff but then I realized that it doesn’t really work with the rules. Would it be possible for me to use Alteration as Alchemy? and if so does that mean I could make metal spikes and stuff come out of the ground? (Modern Day Super hero campaign)
This works fine with the rules actually! You can use the Transmutation boon for alchemy when you’re not in combat, and when you’re fighting you can just use Alteration to attack with, both for banes and damage, and you can describe what that looks like in any way you want!
From the Combat chapter, under “Major actions”:
Determine Attribute Versus Defense
First, choose the most logical attribute for the type of attack you are making. Every attack is either physical or extraordinary.
and then slightly further down:
Using Attributes to Inflict Damage
Combat in Open Legend is a swirl of action rolls as blades clash, traps spring, lightning forks, and lasers fly. However, because of the free-form nature of storytelling in Open Legend, you may not always know what attributes can be used to make attacks.Always
Some attributes can pretty much always be used to deal damage. These include Might, Agility, Energy, and Entropy. These are the standards for swinging mauls, shooting guns, raining fire, draining life force, and so on.Sometimes
A few attributes can be used for damaging attacks in special circumstances in which the story dictates that the damage arises from your skill in the attribute. These include Logic, Protection, Alteration, Influence, and Movement. Though the occasions to use these attributes for damage will be rare, as long as the story makes sense, combatants should be able to damage foes with them. Examples of situations in which these attributes might be used in an action roll for a damaging attack are provided below.Logic. Springing a trap on your foes.
Protection. Shielding yourself with a wall of magical knives.
Alteration. Causing a tree branch to strangle a foe.
Influence. For illusory effects that are convincing enough, any number could mimic damage until your enemy is aware of the trick. For mental compulsion, forcing a dominated enemy to stab himself.
Movement. Using telekinesis to hurl a boulder at a foe.
Probably Never
The remaining attributes don’t really lend themselves to damage. Without a very good explanation, the following cannot be used for damaging attacks: fortitude, learning, perception, will, deception, persuasion, presence, creation, prescience.
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My problem was more that is said sometimes and that a player more experienced then me said it didn’t work.
“Sometimes” in this system means “if the GM of your campaign thinks it’s okay”. Have a talk with the GM and see what they think, they can allow or disallow anything they want in their game and the sometimes ones are ones that they probably should unless they have a good reason not to.
If the more experienced player still disagrees, point them in this direction and tell them one of the developers has explained it for you. 
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