[StevenH]

For the list of parameters, I am mostly with EricTheRed, with the exception that I would like the alchemist to be available as a tradesman. It's likely the only "reliable" magic we will have access to, given the realities of spell-learning and spell-casting.

The spells available to us will be the interesting bit. Even if every single spell in Magic 4e was theoretically available, realistically most won't be. Either not enough Magery, or not enough time, or not enough IQ to effectively learn it.

And then there is the concept of "The lord of the manor will only let me learn spells he thinks are cost effective". A lot of the spells in the list are...interesting...but not of any real economic value. When you are losing out of weeks of labor from someone, you want it to be worth it. So the spells that the mages will be "aiming" for have to have some kind of economic return. There just isn't enough of a surplus population that isn't busy trying to enable the survival of the manor and its surroundings.

So one thing I think we will need to do is go through the lists and find out what the "real world value" of the spell would be. Would it increase harvests? Decrease insect damage to crops? Make things grow faster? Make sheep grow more wool or cotton grow more boles (or whatever the fluffs of cotton are called)? If there is a chance of external enemies, that would open up the damaging spells, making them potentially "useful". Making and Breaking spells are likely "useful". As would the spell "Extinguish Fire", if only because thatch roofs can be flammable.