Elemental magic

[Anomylous]

Went and got those files. Here's the spell categories I came up with:

Spoiler:  

Earth:
- Slow Mvt
- Ward
- Trailtwister
- Create Wall
- Freeze
- Stone Flesh
- Stop
- Sticky Floor
- Slippery Floor
- Pentagram

Air:
- Blur (?)
- Detect Life
- Detect Enemies
- Speed Mvmt
- Silent Mvmt
- Flight
- Fresh Air
- Telepathy
- Calling
- Telekinesis

Water:
- Blur (?)
- Clumsiness
- Confusion
- Avert
- Aid (?)
- Sleep
- Reverse Missiles
- Persuasiveness
- Unnoticeability
- Magic Rainstorm
- Drain ST (?)
- Control Person

Fire:
- Magic Fist
- Fire
- Shock Shield
- Fireball
- Lightning?
- Explosive Gem?
- Cleansing
- Blast Trap
- Wizard's Wrath

Light:
- Blur (?)
- Light
- Darkness
- Dark Vision
- Dazzle
- Shadow
- Lightning (?)
- Far Vision
- Reveal/Conceal
- Invisibility
- Mage Sight
- Eyes Behind


Chaos:
- Blur (?)
- Drop Wpn
- Trip
- Aid (?)
- Clumsiness
- Confusion
- Break Wpn
- Repair
- Drain ST (?)
- Curse
- Healing
- Remove Thr Spell
- Dissolve Enchantment


Void:
(all summoning spells)
- Image
- Illusion
- Destroy Creation
- Teleport
- Glamor
- Gate & Control Gate
- Insubstantiality

Word of explanation on these categories:

The four elemental categories are based on the classical metaphysical associations with those elements. Light spells also deal with sight and electromagnetic anything. Void deals with form, formlessness, and interdimensionality. Chaos deals with entropy and probability manipulation. Some spells seem to fit in more than one category, some resist easy categorization. Ideally I'd like to have a system that doesn't require every spell to be in exactly one category.

I've thought of adding Life and Metamagic categories, but I kind of like the number and size of categories I've got.

I haven't yet come up with a good and balanced way of encouraging characters to specialize in one of them. Ideas I've considered include:

- setting the base cost to learn any spell to 2 IQ points (for all figures), unless you have the Talent for that category - so Fire costs 2 IQ slots to learn, or 1 if you have the "Fire College" talent (probably a 2-point talent itself). Removes distinction between wizard/non-wizard characters. Not playtested.

- granting DX bonuses, ST discounts, and special abilities to characters who learn a bunch of spells in one category. Playtested - can easily lead to very overpowered wizards.

- allowing the purchase of Feats with XP, that give you a bonus of some kind to all the spells you know in a single category. Not playtested - might be too complex.