Theoretical studies are presented on discontinuous changes produced in homogeneous deformations under the competing influences of an electric fieldEapplied parallel to the sample planes and a magnetic fieldHapplied at different angles in the plane containingEandn0the initial director orientation. Orientational bistability can be affected by the tilt ofn0at the boundaries, the relative magnitudes ofHandE, the tilt angle ofHand even the order in whichEandHare applied to the sample. In particular, the bend transition can be made continuous by applyingHparallel toEin materials with positive diamagnetic susceptibility anisotropy (Xa> 0). Depending upon the tilt ofHand the relative strengths ofHandEit may be possible to change (continuously or otherwise) the nature of distortion in domains.Ab initiocalculations show that theEinduced twist transition should be continuous in samples having lateral dimensions large compared with thickness. In such a sample one can envisage the possibility of removing the discontinuity at the Freedericksz transition by tiltingn0sufficiently away from the homeotropic in a plane normal toE. A more complete theoretical analysis may be necessary to understand the discontinuous twist Freedericksz transition observed experimentally when the electrode gap is not large compared to the sample thickness. The possibility that the hysteresis width of a discontinuous Freedericksz transition might depend on domain formation above threshold cannot be ruled out. In the bend geometry non-rigid anchoring of the director at the boundaries is briefly dealt with to indicate that flexoelectricity might play a role in the initial build up of low level deformation prior to the transition whenEis static. The flexoelectric contribution may become negligible in the presence of a sufficiently strong stabilizingHwhen the anchoring is strong enough andEis time varying. On the basis of the present results and previous work it may be concluded that variation of tilt ofHmay have considerable influence on the formation of the modulated phase above the bend transition.