An attempt to provide a complete list of what level each colour gets each effect in. Mechanising rather than doing it spell by spell loses some flexibility, but I hope the time it saves and memorisability it adds will be worth it.
To work out the level of a spell in a colour, add the base level to the number after the colour (if any).
I'm thinking that these costings will work for both "point-and-click" and "by blow in the next five minutes"; the consensus appears to be that those are about roughly equally good.
I'm not sure if there's a good simple way to do Mass and Wide.
Obviously, most people will disgree with many of these, but they're a starting point. I bashed them off in 30 seconds without thinking too much about balance, but as soon as people are saying "no, that level needs to be higher" the work is half done...
Freeze
- Black, Green, Brown + 1, White + 2, Red + 4, Blue + 4
- Freeze 60 might be a bit good for level 8. --Taxellor
Disarm
- Blue, Green, Brown +1, Red +2, Black +3, White +3,
Halt
- White, Green, Brown + 1, Black + 2, Blue + 4, Red + 5,
- I'm not sure Halt 300 is that much better than halt 60. -- Taxellor
- In combat, no, but I think that it may be popular for "swank value", and for "stay still in the bar while we exorcise you" uses. It's probably overpriced, but 5-min effects at level 5 worry me slightly. --Jacob
Blind
- Black, White, Green +1, Brown +2, Red +2, Blue +3,
Strikedown
- Brown, Green, Blue + 1, Black + 2, Red + 3, White + 4,
| 0 | 1 |
| 5 | 2 |
| 10 | 3 |
| 30 | 5 |
| 60 | 6 |
| 300 | 7 |
Repel
- Blue, Green + 1, Red +2, White +2, Black +3, Brown +4,
FWIW, I've had a Repel 5 in Green at level 1 this year and it seemed less useful than the Halt 5 which you seem to have set at a lower level... --Pufferfish
- Agreed, at low durations, Halt > Repel, though this changes at higher durations as Repel becomes "You are no longer part of this combat." -- Taxellor
- Right, changed. --Jacob
Damage to one target
- Red, Black + 1, Blue + 2, White + 4, Brown + 6, Green + 7
- Given that a Red Oct is generally considered one of the worst things you can do with your mana, I'm not sure I agree. The same follows to a degree with through damage. --Taxellor
Through Damage
- Blue, Red + 2, Black + 4, White +5, Brown + 6, Green + 6,
Two comments:
- The Rules Team basically concluded that 'next blow' was a generally bad idea, and 'a blow in the next 5 minutes' should be used instead, with the proviso that you can't stack such spells in any fashion.
- Yes, good thinking; I've changed that. --Jacob
- A level modifier of +2 may as well be written 'impossible', and anything higher will never be used. Even a single level difference (as we have now) is quite enough. --I
- I think you're probably right, but if we list the levels then even if no-one uses them, it will mean that the rules team probably get fewer questions of "I know it's not listed, but I want effect X in colour Y for reason Z". --Jacob
- On second thoughts, Grey probably ought to get "everything at +2", oughtn't it, so anything above that is almost useless. --Jacob
- Grey currently gets everything at +1. What it 'ought' to get is anybody's guess. My personal feeling is 'a lot less than it does; treat it as metamagic, rather than generic magic'. --I