What colours are the spell schools?

[Caedwyr]

I am currently in the process of making some spell cards for the various abilities. Aside from some difficulties in finding appropriate pictures for the various spells I have a design issues I'd appreciate some insight into. I have some ideas of my own, but I'd like to hear others responses first.

What colours come to mind when you think of the traditional spell schools (abjuration, conjuration, divination, enchantment, evocation, illusion, necromancy, transmutation)?

Also, would anyone else be interested in these type of cards? I am still trying to set up a print template (.pdf), but the final cards will be full colour with artwork background and be roughly 4x6" in size. A sample can be found below of the sleep spell

Sleep

The original template was found on LackyCCG and modified for my use.

The C in the bottom left corner refers to the spell's rarity (which I will need to go through and assign once I've worked out exactly how I want rarity to work).

[Kvantum]

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

Those would just be my guesses, using your assignment of Enchantment = Blue. I would kind of figure it would be Green for Enchantment, as Enchantment is associated with Envy by the Runelords in the first Pathfinder cycle.

[Caedwyr]

Kvantum wrote:

Abjuration - White

Conjuration - Orange
Divination - Yellow
Enchantment - Blue
Evocation - Red
Illusion - Grey
Necromancy - Black
Transmutation - Green
Universal - Violet

Those would just be my guesses, using your assignment of Enchantment = Blue. I would kind of figure it would be Green for Enchantment, as Enchantment is associated with Envy by the Runelords in the first Pathfinder cycle.

Blue is just what I started with by default so it can be changed easily. Did you just choose what felt right or was there any system to your method of assigning colours?

[Kvantum]

A little of both. Evocation = energy unleashed = fire = Red
Necromancy = mostly unlife/negative energy/undead control, along with a few anti-undead spells, but mostly classic evil bad guy stuff, so Black. Abjuration = Protection, so White. Thinking back on it, maybe it should be Divination = Grey, not Illusion. Divination = Knowledge, thus not moral nor immoral, not Good or Evil, neither White nor Black, so Grey.

The others were mostly just guesses. I'd still think Enchantment = Green and Transmutation = Blue, blue being associated with water, and water being a fluid, ever-changing substance alluding to the changing nature of Transmutation magics. Illusion... maybe Yellow as an absurd irony type of thing, a bright, flashy color for a fake, pure appearance without real form kind of school.

[Calixymenthillian]

Kvantum wrote:

Abjuration - White

Conjuration - Orange
Divination - Yellow
Enchantment - Blue
Evocation - Red
Illusion - Grey
Necromancy - Black
Transmutation - Green
Universal - Violet

Those would just be my guesses, using your assignment of Enchantment = Blue. I would kind of figure it would be Green for Enchantment, as Enchantment is associated with Envy by the Runelords in the first Pathfinder cycle.

I'd agree with your assessment of Abjuration, Conjuration, Enchantment(Green - for your reasoning and its association with the fey), Evocation and Necromancy.

I'd switch grey to Universal and use lilac for Illusion myself, mainly because I see grey as a neutral color, and lilac seems like a good fit for an ephemeral effect.

Transmutaion I'd go for Brown, but Divination's a tricky one... I can't think of any colour that really fits.

I think that this is probably going to be one of those questions where you'll get as many different answers as people you ask.

[Alice Margatroid]

It's surprising how often this question comes up with me... well, that's probably because I tend to describe the detect magic auras with colour. Weak auras get very pale colours (pink, sky blue, etc) while strong auras get extremely vibrant colours. :)

I use the following, tied mostly to sin magic (which I love!):

Red: Enchantment (Lust) - red of passion and love
Orange: Evocation (Wrath) - orange of flames
Yellow: Transmutation (Greed) - yellow of gold
Green: Abjuration (Envy) - green-eyed jealousy :)
Blue: Conjuration (Sloth) - blue to me evokes a sense of patience and slowness, from water and the like, which ties into sloth
Indigo: Illusion (Pride) - purple of royalty
Violet: Necromancy (Gluttony) - violet is the darkest colour in the spectrum, it's also neither purple nor blue, somewhere in between... seems to suit necromancy!

White: Universal - every colour
Black: Divination - lack of colour

[Krome]

Alice Margatroid wrote:

It's surprising how often this question comes up with me... well, that's probably because I tend to describe the detect magic auras with colour. Weak auras get very pale colours (pink, sky blue, etc) while strong auras get extremely vibrant colours. :)

I use the following, tied mostly to sin magic (which I love!):

Red: Enchantment (Lust) - red of passion and love
Orange: Evocation (Wrath) - orange of flames
Yellow: Transmutation (Greed) - yellow of gold
Green: Abjuration (Envy) - green-eyed jealousy :)
Blue: Conjuration (Sloth) - blue to me evokes a sense of patience and slowness, from water and the like, which ties into sloth
Indigo: Illusion (Pride) - purple of royalty
Violet: Necromancy (Gluttony) - violet is the darkest colour in the spectrum, it's also neither purple nor blue, somewhere in between... seems to suit necromancy!

White: Universal - every colour
Black: Divination - lack of colour

I really like this use of color. Might start using that myself. Really good idea.

Caedwyr, that card is AWESOME! Are you going to sell those? If so where do I get them?

And if so can I make a request for a set of cards when you are done with those? I'd KILL for a set of cards for feats and combat maneuvers and combat actions. I'd love to be able to make my full attack and lay down my attack card, power attack card, with XX card and YY card added in. :) Yeah turn D&D into a card game! :) But it would be so much easier sometimes. :)

[toyrobots]

Alice Margatroid wrote:

It's surprising how often this question comes up with me... well, that's probably because I tend to describe the detect magic auras with colour. Weak auras get very pale colours (pink, sky blue, etc) while strong auras get extremely vibrant colours. :)

I use the following, tied mostly to sin magic (which I love!):

Red: Enchantment (Lust) - red of passion and love
Orange: Evocation (Wrath) - orange of flames
Yellow: Transmutation (Greed) - yellow of gold
Green: Abjuration (Envy) - green-eyed jealousy :)
Blue: Conjuration (Sloth) - blue to me evokes a sense of patience and slowness, from water and the like, which ties into sloth
Indigo: Illusion (Pride) - purple of royalty
Violet: Necromancy (Gluttony) - violet is the darkest colour in the spectrum, it's also neither purple nor blue, somewhere in between... seems to suit necromancy!

White: Universal - every colour
Black: Divination - lack of colour

*steal*

[Caedwyr]

For colours, I have gone with the following, inspired by the previous posts, my own likes, and Magic.

Abjuration - White
Conjuration - Orange (This I might change)
Enchantment - Green (I like the Fey tie-in)
Evocation - Red
Illusion - Purple/Violet
Necromancy - Grey (I want necromancy to be a bit more grey as I am planning on house-ruling a number of the cure and raise dead type spells back into Necromancy like they were in 2nd edition)
Transmutation - Blue (I like the water imagery)

For Divination I am going to try for a Silver and for Universal I'll probably go for a Gold if I can manage to get the right hue/tint.

As for availability, I will submit them to several pathfinder fan creation websites when they are finished. Even if I wanted to sell them, the amount of borrowing of artwork I will probably end up doing would make that impractical.

If there is interest I can post them as I make the individual cards for proof-reading and public review. The hardest part of making the cards will be tracking down appropriate illustrations for the spells. I may ask for help in finding art for some of the harder to find the right piece spells.

As I've said, these are a work in progress. Initially I will create cards for the arcane and divine spells, but when I'm finished I want to have created cards for all the activated abilities/powers that players might use. I'm going to be DMing for some beginner players and having cards for their abilities/spells will make it a lot easier for them to keep track of their resources.

[Jal Dorak]

I went through something similar recently choosing tape colours for my dragon shaman auras.

I'd vote for:

Abjuration: Yellow
Conjuration: Green
Divination: Blue
Enchantment: Red
Evocation: Orange
Illusion: Purple
Necromancy: Gray (black a bit difficult for printed cards)
Transmutation: Brown
Universal: White

[Caedwyr]

As expected, the hard part of doing this is finding appropriate artwork. To keep interest, here is another card:

Fear

[Jal Dorak]

That's really cool. I went through something similar designing new investigator cards for Arkham Horror, so I know how much of a pain it is to get things right.

[Caedwyr]

A couple of conjuration spells. I'm still not certain about using orange as the conjuration colour.

Acid Fog
Acid Splash
Alarm

[Loztastic]

Here is what I would use, based to a degree on various "real world" occult attributations

Abjuration - "gold" (ok, orange) - magic of the sun, protection and banishment
Conjuration - Indigo. Magic of Jupiter and bindings
Enchantment - Green. magic of venus and emotions
Evocation - Red. magic of mars and war
Divination - Yellow. magic of mercury and knowledge
Necromancy - purple. magic of saturn and death
Transmutation - "spectral" (ie, mixed colours) - magic of the outer-planets and transformation
Illusion - light blue. magic of the moon and deception

Divination and Conjuration could be swapped, as could Illusion and transformation

[Frostflame]

Ok here is something I would go with.
Abjuration-Black to symbolize protections, banishments and dispeling. The absecence and absorption of magic and energies.
Conjuration-Orange the color of attraction and a mix of red and yellow, colors associated with energy and communication. Orange can represent the summoning or calling of extra-planar creatures for aid or communication thus both red and yellow, and also the creation of effects
Divination-White the color of purity and truth the perfect for the seeking of knowledge.And stands in antithesis with the black of abjuration which seeks to block it
Enchantment-Blue the color of emotions and the control of such emotions in various ways
Evocation-Red the color of sexual passion to represent energy being created in its pure forms and wreaking haoc for an instantaneous duration, much as a sexual release only lasts for short duration
Illusion-Grey the balance between light and dark the shadows that trick the mind. Strong enough to fool the white but weak enough that it cant overcome black
Necromancy-Violet/Purple the color that represents spirit and mourning as well
Transmutation-Green the color of things material and practical. Transmuters tinker with the material world on hand to bring about new qualities, Green is the midpoint in the light spectrum

Universalist-no color or every color to represent allegiance to all and yet none

[Kevin Andrew Murphy]

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

[Frostflame]

Loztastic wrote:

Here is what I would use, based to a degree on various "real world" occult attributations

Abjuration - "gold" (ok, orange) - magic of the sun, protection and banishment
Conjuration - Indigo. Magic of Jupiter and bindings
Enchantment - Green. magic of venus and emotions
Evocation - Red. magic of mars and war
Divination - Yellow. magic of mercury and knowledge
Necromancy - purple. magic of saturn and death
Transmutation - "spectral" (ie, mixed colours) - magic of the outer-planets and transformation
Illusion - light blue. magic of the moon and deception

Divination and Conjuration could be swapped, as could Illusion and transformation

Illusion Silver/Grey for magic of the moon

[Frostflame]

Instead of divination being white It can be Yellow/Gold to represent the magic of the sun and light revealin knowledge and truth
Universalist-White to represent all the colors and schools of magic being combined into one and yet being beholden to none

[Set]

Caedwyr wrote:

As expected, the hard part of doing this is finding appropriate artwork. To keep interest, here is another card:

Fear

Love that choice of image. I have The Scream on a silk tie, but people look at me funny when I wear it to work. Philistines. :)

[Loztastic]

and so they should

never

EVER

wear a tie featuring a character or famous artwork

[Matthew Morris]

Here are mine, based on the sins/virtues

Abjuration – Envy – Eager Striving – Green - Kindness
Conjuration – Sloth – Rest – Indigo - Diligence
Divination - Gold
Enchantment – Lust – Fertility – Blue - Chastity
Evocation – Wrath – Righteous Wrath – Red - Patience
Illusion – Pride – Honest Pride – Violet - Humility
Necromancy – Gluttony – Abundance – Orange - Temperance
Transmutation- Greed – Honest Wealth – Yellow - Charity
Universal – White

[Hagor]

Great suggestions so far.

The following may be of some use as well: I remember having seen somewhere a classification of the different spells by colour.
With some Google-help:

Plot Device Selected Products: colours of magic.

Hagor

[Caedwyr]

A sampling of the colours:

Abjuration - White (Alarm)
Conjuration - Orange (Acid Splash)
Divination - Silver (Template - Divination)
Enchantment - Green (Sleep)
Evocation - Red (Template - Evocation)
Illusion - Purple (Dream)
Necromancy - Dark Grey/Black (Fear)
Transmutation - Blue (Owl's Wisdom)
Universal - Gold (Arcane Mark)

Please make any comments as to things that could be improved, and if the colours seem to work.

[Frostflame]

Caedwyr wrote:

A sampling of the colours:

Abjuration - White (Alarm)
Conjuration - Orange (Acid Splash)
Divination - Silver (Template - Divination)
Enchantment - Green (Sleep)
Evocation - Red (Template - Evocation)
Illusion - Purple (Dream)
Necromancy - Dark Grey/Black (Fear)
Transmutation - Blue (Owl's Wisdom)
Universal - Gold (Arcane Mark)

Please make any comments as to things that could be improved, and if the colours seem to work.

I would probably still go with black for abjuration as it represents dispelling and abosorption like powers.

[James Thomas]

I'd be interested in those cards. I like what I've seen here!

Please add me to your list of interested gamers!

[Caedwyr]

Spell Cards currently completed:

Acid Fog
Acid Splash
Alarm
Animate Dead
Arcane Mark
Bless
Chill Touch
Control Weather
Crushing Hand
Deep Slumber
Dismissal
Divine Favor
Dream
Fear
Find the Path
Fog Cloud
Ghoul Touch
Holy Sword
Insanity
Owl's Wisdom
Prayer
Righteous Might
Scintillating Pattern
Searing Light
Sleep
Wall of Fire
Wall of Ice
Wall of Thorns

The only thing slowing me down right now is finding appropriate artwork that I can use for the cards. I'd prefer to use creative commons artwork or other artwork where the artist has given permission for non-commercial reuse and finding appropriate artwork can be a little tricky. If anyone comes across a piece of artwork they think would be appropriate for one of the spells, please post it here with the artist credits if you know them.

[lastknightleft]

I have a book from the baldur's gate computer game that assigned a color to each of the eight schools, when I get home I'll look it up and post a somewhat "official" source for colors, of course, as I said this was 2nd ed and the computer game, so I understand if you feel other colors are more appropriate.

[lastknightleft]

Okay

Volo's Guide to Baldur's Gate pg 139 wrote:

Abjuration=Green

Transmutation=Blue (light)
Conjuration=Orange
Divination=White/Pearl
Enchanter=Magenta
Illusionist=Multicolored (rainbow)
Evoker=Red
Necromance=Ice/Blue (dark)

[Drillboss D]

Personal Thoughts, and my rational:

Abjuration - White - Protection
Conjuration - Orange - Summoned elementals, etc.
Divination - Blue - Color of the Heavens (astrology)
Enchantment - Green - Fey stuff
Evocation - Red - Fire
Illusion - Purple - Dreams, Shadow
Necromancy - Black - Death
Transmutation - Yellow/gold - Alchemy
Universalist would have to be a rainbow thing.

This is all coming from a synaesthete. The letter A is yellow!

Seriously though, awesome idea.

[Bjørn Røyrvik]

Abjuration - brown, solid and nurturing as earth
Conjuration - yellow, bright golden as the sun that shines on you
Divination - green as the new growth, for you know that green will come
Enchantment - Red for the fire in the mind that confuses and controls
Evocation - Black for the soot that is left behind
Illusion - blank/grey - there is nothing real to see here
Necromancy - White. The color of pallid corpses and bleached bones
Transmutation - blue as the ever-changing ocean
Universal -

[Umbral Reaver]

I can't view any of the images hosted on Imageshack. It keeps redirecting me to an ad video.

[Segovax]

The post is over 5 years old...

[Umbral Reaver]

Well, damn. I didn't look at the date.