Then we are going to need something that has more grades than boon/bane. Because it is just not cutting it.
GM:"A boulder comes rolling down the slope and pin your character against a tree", "Make a STR check with a bane"
Player: *rolls 2 D20 and keep highest of 16 (14 second one) compare to his STR* "No problem, I throw the boulder aside."
That is of course a silly and extreme case. But every game I have played so far over the years that lack a good opposed roll mechanic tends to end up fairly broken in that the player characters can get away with pretty much everything. And if you read through page 105, NPCs are divided into "minions" and "bosses" (please change that to adversary, in order to avoid it sounding like a video game), Bosses should be fully fleshed out same as player characters. Which mean they will have attributes etc. Minions are just a weapon with a hit number and a hit point buffer.
And suddenly I have a deja-vu from running FFG Star Wars system where players mow down minions by the dozens, and regular adversaries are at best a marginal challenge. I can see that it is this way they are going with it. The highly dramatic heroic journey where you cut through the hordes of orcs only to get to the sorcerer that commands them.
I would still prefer if minions had two attributes in case they are needed though: Body and Mind. Showing their strength with either. Body would be a collection of STR, CON, AGL, and Mind is a collection of INT, WIL, CHA. Am I sounding like a crazy person now?