Physical attributes and physical characteristics mean the same thing, but they refer to mostly permanent traits, such as height, eye color, hair color. Physical appearance can include physical attributes, but also includes things like clothing, makeup, hair style, etc, as well as more Eg: "If you want to get a date with that pretty girl, you should improve your physical appearance. Get a haircut, buy nicer clothes, and shine your shoes."

Appearance refers to what somebody looks like. For example, pretty/ugly/tall/short etc. Characteristics and attributes are more or less synonyms: features or qualities which belong to a person(/thing). For example, kind/patient/curious etc. Hope this clears your question up for you!