The Colors of Magic

What color would you say is the most appropriate for each of the schools of magic?

Abjuration
Conjuration
Divination
Enchantment
Evocation
Illusion
Necromancy
Transmutation
(Universal)

Basically I'm trying to create a council of mages, with each dressed in a different color robe. I put Universal in as well to stand for those mages that don't specialize in a school.

Any thoughts?

Abjuration – blue
Conjuration – white
Divination – silver
Enchantment – purple
Evocation – red
Illusion – (dunno)
Necromancy – grey
Transmutation - green (I'm not really satisfied with this answer)

Abjuration: Blue (always imagine wards as glowing blue for whatever reason)
Conjuration: Green (color of life)
Divination: Yellow (color of warning)
Enchantment: Red (color of seduction)
Evocation: Orange (color of flame)
Illusion: Grey (color of fog, represents concealment)
Necromancy: Black (feels obvious given western cultural biases)
Transmutation: White (color of possibility)

To go against the stereotype I'm tempted to go with Necromancers in white as it fits the Eastern traditions, the western Pale Horseman, and could portray the color of bones.

In that circumstance I'd change transmutation to brown.

Octarine? No? (Small reference for Discworld readers there)

I always imaged them as this

Abjuration: White
Conjuration: Red
Divination: Silver
Enchantment: Dark blue
Evocation: Orange/Yellow
Illusion: Purple
Necromancy: Black, White, Grey, it varies alot
Tramsutation: Green

Here are my suggestions:

Abjuration: White
Conjuration: Yellow
Divination: Blue
Enchantment: Red
Evocation: Orange
Illusion: Grey
Necromancy: Black
Transmutation: Green
Universal: Purple

I've avoided metallic "colours", as they are not that practical for clothing purposes.

And, personally, I would hate to be doomed to wear brown during my entire professional life, so I didn't use that colour.

well, depending on the shading, patterns, and variation of tone brown outfits could look both beautiful and original.

well, depending on the shading, patterns, and variation of tone brown outfits could look both beautiful and original.

MacGuyver always wore khaki!

And the Browncoats often wore coats that looked kind of brown.

And, personally, I would hate to be doomed to wear brown during my entire professional life, so I didn't use that colour.

No working for UPS for you then!

Abjuration: Purple
Conjuration: Yellow
Divination: Pale Blue
Enchantment: Red
Evocation: Orange
Illusion: Rainbow (they are illusionists after all!)
Necromancy: White
Transmutation: Green
Universal: Black

Instead of colors, why not let each member wear whatever color they like, but each one of their robes displays particular patterns, symbols, or glyphs based on the type of magic they specialize in.

Instead of colors, why not let each member wear whatever color they like, but each one of their robes displays particular patterns, symbols, or glyphs based on the type of magic they specialize in.

Because painting miniatures with different colors is easier to painting different patterns. :P

Seriously though, there is a history of colors and magic being related, from Gandalf the Grey and Sauron the White to the Red Wizards of Thay to the White and Black mages of Final Fantasy.

Necromancy: Black (feels obvious given western cultural biases)

Those biases are certainly there, Rhavin. Absolutely no argument from me. But I think the fact that we trip and get eaten by critters in the dark due to our poor night vision probably has more to do with black's representation of bad things than our fear of Puffy Daddy. (Rappers names are even more fun if you introduce them, with a twist, in Lawrence Welk's Polish accent... "Next for you, we have the Snoopy Dog with his streetwise brand of hippity hop!")

You do have me curious about white now, though. Pale rider and all that.

On a seperate note, I found an interesting bit about certain universalities in color symbolism in a book by my foot:

"Jolan de Jacobi, in her study of Jungian psychology, says in so many words:'The correspondence of the colours to the respective functions varies with different cultures and groups, and even among individuals; as a general rule, however, ... blue, the colour of the rarefied atmostphere, of the clear sky, stands for thinking; yellow, the colour of the far-seeing sun, which appears bringing light out of an inscrutable darkness only to disappear again into the darkness, for intuition, the function which grasps as in a flash of illumination the origins and tendencies of happenings; red, the colour of the pusling blood and of fire, for the surging and tearing emotions; while green, the colour of earthly, tangible, immediately perceptible growing things, represents the function of sensation'."

Abjuration: Purple
Conjuration: Blue
Divination: Yellow
Enchantment: Magenta
Evocation: Orange
Illusion: Pink
Necromancy: White/Black/Gray
Transmutation: Green
Universal: Rainbow

I put white/black/gray for necromancy but white and black should also be used to illustrate [Good] and [Evil] descriptors on spells.

So a spell that is good aligned, such as Detect Evil, would have would, if it had a visual effect, have the effect of yellow and white together. (Though I don't think that spell actually has a visual effect.) Unholy Aura, which is an Evil abjuration, would then have a black & purple visual effect as it was cast.

I left red off on purpose because I kind of wanted to use it for necromancy, but I really just wanted it for things like Vampiric Touch and other things that steal health. So I'd say red could appear in the visual effect of any spell that steals health from one source and gives it to another.

Abjuration: Yellow (stereotypical energy color)and Blue
Conjuration: Depends on creature or energy
Divination: Silver and White
Enchantment: Light Blue and Gold
Evocation: Red and Orange
Illusion: Many shades of Blue, Purple, and Green (I've always thought of illusions as like looking at the Northern Lights)
Necromancy: Purple and Black
Transmutation: Green and Brown (Very primal colors)

Here is the colors I got from my wife when I asked her. It should be noted, I didn't use the name of the school but a descriptor (word in parenthesis) that was related to the school, generally.

Abjuration (Protection) = yellow or blue
Conjuration (travel) = brown
Divination (knowledge) = blue
Enchantment (persuasion) = pink
Evocation (attack) = red
Illusion (deception) = purple
Necromancy (death) = black
Transmutation (change) = orange

Hmmm I am just imagining a bunch of wizards sitting in a cafe debating their schools colors and nobody wants to be Mr Brown cuz it sounds too much like Mr S.....well if you've seen "Reservoir Dogs" you get the idea. :)

Hmmm I am just imagining a bunch of wizards sitting in a cafe debating their schools colors and nobody wants to be Mr Brown cuz it sounds too much like Mr S.....well if you've seen "Reservoir Dogs" you get the idea. :)

Nice!

Hmmm I am just imagining a bunch of wizards sitting in a cafe debating their schools colors and nobody wants to be Mr Brown cuz it sounds too much like Mr S.....well if you've seen "Reservoir Dogs" you get the idea. :)

"So why do I get stuck with the pink robe?"

I've always had a mental association between the schools of magic and colors. Maybe I'm just more synesthetic (no clue on the spelling) than others. I think of Illusion and Enchantment as being very similar, so I also associate them with the same color. That probably won't help you much.

Abjuration = White
Conjuration = Red
Divination = Silver/White
Enchantment = Green
Evocation = Red (duh)
Illusion = Green
Necromancy = Black (duh again)
Transmutation = Yellow
Generalism = Gray

What color would you say is the most appropriate for each of the schools of magic?

I would not 'tie' any colour into a school of magic, but have the colours as symbols of status that go like this (in ascending order)

Thus the changing colours would be a constent indicator of shifting powers within the council.

It just so happens that I have a chromatic-based alternative magic system. The system was strongly influenced by Andre Norton's novels set in the Witch World and Dales.

DmRrostarr wrote:

Hmmm I am just imagining a bunch of wizards sitting in a cafe debating their schools colors and nobody wants to be Mr Brown cuz it sounds too much like Mr S.....well if you've seen "Reservoir Dogs" you get the idea. :)

"So why do I get stuck with the pink robe?"

Because you're you, Cato, because you're you...

Cato Novus wrote:

DmRrostarr wrote:

Hmmm I am just imagining a bunch of wizards sitting in a cafe debating their schools colors and nobody wants to be Mr Brown cuz it sounds too much like Mr S.....well if you've seen "Reservoir Dogs" you get the idea. :)

"So why do I get stuck with the pink robe?"

Because you're you, Cato, because you're you...

And there goes a great Reservoir Dogs reference down the drain...

Here is a quick summary of the picks so far. The number of votes is indicated by the number of (X)'s by the color.

This is kind of an off-the-wall suggestion, but if this is for a homebrew, you could roll randomly and then come up with in-world reasons as to why magic in your world is associated with X colour. This would differentiate things from the classic associated colours. I know that as a player, I'd be a lot more interested in the necromancer who dresses in yellow robes than the one who wears the stereotypical black ones.

Just a thought,

CR

This is kind of an off-the-wall suggestion, but if this is for a homebrew, you could roll randomly and then come up with in-world reasons as to why magic in your world is associated with X colour. This would differentiate things from the classic associated colours. I know that as a player, I'd be a lot more interested in the necromancer who dresses in yellow robes than the one who wears the stereotypical black ones.

Just a thought,

CR

Actually, that could be quite interesting!

Just had a thought though ... who will explain to the necromancers that they have to wear pink? ;)

Some guys invented an system they called the Colours of Magic and it is for sale on RPGNow. They took the 3.5 system spells (both arcane and divine) and re-organized the schools and domains by color. They also have three sub-schools for each color. As an example Red (energy) had the spheres of Dynamics (force & electicity) , Photonics (light & colour) and Pryomancy (fire). I only bought one color (they are $2 each) and never read it so I can not comment on quality. This is what they got for color and opposition:

Red (energy) vs. Indigo (thought)
Blue (pattern) vs. Orange (disorder)
White (divine) vs. Black (mundane)
Yellow (life) vs. Purple (death)
Green (nature) vs. Brown (artifice)
Grey (form) vs. Chrome (function)

Colored robes can be expensive to maintain. I always thought wizards should wear the pointy hat with a different color band for the different schools all the time; maybe with a sash. They would only wear the colored robes with full academic regalia to formal affairs. Unless they were particularily pompous, which is maybe what you are after.

DmRrostarr wrote:

Hmmm I am just imagining a bunch of wizards sitting in a cafe debating their schools colors and nobody wants to be Mr Brown cuz it sounds too much like Mr S.....well if you've seen "Reservoir Dogs" you get the idea. :)

"So why do I get stuck with the pink robe?"

Because you're an Evoker. May as well be hitting the enemy with cupcakes...

Cato Novus wrote:

DmRrostarr wrote:

Hmmm I am just imagining a bunch of wizards sitting in a cafe debating their schools colors and nobody wants to be Mr Brown cuz it sounds too much like Mr S.....well if you've seen "Reservoir Dogs" you get the idea. :)

"So why do I get stuck with the pink robe?"

Because you're an Evoker. May as well be hitting the enemy with cupcakes...

"How about a purple robe? That's better than a pink robe. Yeah, I can wear a purple robe!"