Water Tree Analysis (3/5/2016)

Water Tree found here: https://titanpad.com/uwOfwmuXve

OFFENSIVE:
Water Bolt: Your most basic attack spell.  This is fine as is.

Steam Cloud: Not quite sure how I feel about this one, mainly because of the "ignores soak" bit.  Maybe it should ignore one point of soak, but I can't justify it as being more effective than fire is.

Ice Lance: A Ranged type AP attack rolled with STR, huh?  Mechanically this is really strange, but I guess it's maybe fine?

Octopus Stance: This is poorly worded, so I'll assume it lets you use a Mystic Attack on any enemies Close to you which are targeting things other than you.  It's basically a position-based omni-Parry/Cover in one that doesn't care what the enemy is using so much as who they are using it against.  It certainly provides an interesting way to tank (or suicide), but it doesn't mesh with very much here.  I'd cut this one from the tree.

Crushing Waves: A damaging (to a limited degree) Pin Down with free multitarget?  Probably nerf it.

Water Slice: This is basically a Shred that deals a little damage as a bonus.  Much like Shred, it simply shouldn't be.

Frosty Blade: This is... actually reasonable in its current form.  It was hands down, the most Bbrokenly powerful spell a while back, but its come a long way since then.

Frost Bolt: A potentially powerful 1 turn effect, but wow that Mana cost.  I think it's okay, for the most part.  It says "disabling any movement and Dashing" but maybe it should specifically include Disengage too, so it isn't just an anti-melee spell.

Water Jet: This is Water Slice, but fair.  Keep this and purge the other.

Ice Barrage: Basically an Armor Piercing shot with a better Rapid Fire, but rolled with MAG.  That on its own wouldn't be an issue if the mana cost were a bit higher, but wait, it also deals a mass Pin Down?  Purge it.

Frozen Chains: A Pin Down that may or may not need actions to maintain.  If it does, the spell is fine, but it otherwise needs changing.

Ice Breath: I feel as if this is okay, actually.  Maybe needs a little more in the Mana cost department, but it's not exactly a reliable spell on the whole.  The two turn long Pin Down is honestly better than the frozen effect, assuming they don't stack.

Desiccate: 4-5 Mana Cost may be a bit better for this effect.  It does not pierce Soak, so it's already far more balanced than those similar or higher damaging attacks which do.

Flash Freeze: I assume this follows the same rules as Ice Breath on the effects of being Frozen.  The cost is hefty, but it plainly favors

MAG for defense against it and could potentially prove nigh unbeatable on a good enough roll against an opponent with low VIT and MAG.

Drown: This is an execution spell.  Scaling it higher against the lower thresholds is cruel.  As is, it will likely either kill the target outright within two turns or not prove terribly relevant overall.  If you roll to defend against it every turn, then it may otherwise be fine, though.

Frigid Armor: Causes a total lock down on targets who did not build for Strength.  Even if "Ignores Soak" effects were not such an epidemic, no amount of undepletable soak can excuse depriving an opponent of their turn(s).

Greater Water Jet: Fold this into Water Jet as the higher tier version.  Otherwise fine.

Tsunami: In effect, this is a Barrage Killing Blow with no setup effort.  Either you get screwed on your roll and blow all your mana or, and this is much more likely, you nearly 1 round everything present.  I'm not sure whether this (and naturally its cost) should be nerfed into the ground or just outright purged.  The one thing I can say for sure is that it's too powerful to be allowed in its current form.

DEFENSIVE:
Cushion: A powerful offenseive debuff to the enemy for a fairly modest price.  Provides a serious offensive lockdown in groups.  My understanding is that it seems to affect all non MAG-based attacks, but does the opponent get to roll against this?  They certainly should.

Frozen Armor: The first tier of this spell is fine.  The second tier is harder to judge, but may be a bit too good for its cost.  Finally, the third tier effect is definitely too powerful for its cost.  Perhaps 2/4/6 for the Mana costs and remove the debuff halving from the third tier?  At least it's depletable now.

Wall of Water: The wording on this one is clunky and the size specifics are unnecessary.  Almost everyone can probably find some way to

bypass this without bothering to attack it, so it is likely only good for a short-lived defense.  I am naturally assuming here that the wall does not get a defense roll.

Wall of Ice: Basically a better Wall of Water for the same price, but it's no longer as easy to bypass.  Maybe they should swap HP and soak values with each other?  I don't know, but it's hard to determine their value as is and I would probably combine them into one if I even kept either of them at all.

UTILITY:
Slippery: I can't picture terribly many situations where this would be worth wasting a turn on casting.  It's just plain bad unless you're trying to kite a pursuing melee character.

Water Dome: This spell is for noncombat situations and is just fine in that regard.

Platform of Water: Why bother with the specifics of size math here?  They don't matter.  It doesn't seem like it allows for a sort of watery magic carpet flight, or at least it shouldn't.  The HP values are perhaps situationally nice for GMs to have, but the scaling could quickly get out of control.

Platform of Ice: I'm finding a recurring tendency of these Water/Ice spells being basically the same thing.  9/10ths of the time, it would be much easier to simply merge them and only differentiate by personal fluff.

Water Jets: Seemingly a free action which boosts AGI defense and Dashes.  Perhaps 2 Mana would be fairer, but the 2 AGI defense (or disengage) is potentially somewhat worrying.

Healing Waters: A fairly low tier healing spell with a high MAG Req and when used on allies, a respectable Mana cost.  This spell fulfills the obligatory healing requirement quite nicely and without overshadowing others.

Water Construct: Functionally summons a water elemental of variable stat values dependant on tier.  There does not appear to be a limit on how many can be made and commanded, though it is at most one being made per turn.  Their attack options are unlisted as well.  Probably nerf or purge this and absolutely purge tier IV.

Puddle: A minion spell that lets the user spam triple attacks, attack three targets, or inflict stacking minor grapples after a turn of setup.  The half scaling with 3 other stats is nonsensical and the effects are a headache, both to manage and to fight against.  Purge.

OTHER:
Hydrokinesis: Basic Water Manipulation. Fine as is.

High Tide/Low Tide: I'd probably rename this one to Turning Tides myself.  I'm not sure whether it's acceptable or not, but I'm inclined  toward not.  I suspect it's abusable through Cover mechanics and gives a free Aid-level bonus to attack and defense for the round you activate it, most likely when you might get a killshot.

Breathe Underwater: Too high MAG Req, maybe?  I can't really say for sure, as I'm partially biased on this matter.

Water Sense: I don't really care beyond the first level of this, but really, 12 MAG for salt water?  You have got to be kidding me.

Vinification: Water to Wine.  Huh, I guess the MAG Req jumped from 3 to 10 at some point.  I feel that maybe it's kind of out of place, but I can't think of anywhere better to put this than Oddball: Jesus.

Polar Flare: Dunno why Water should have this, honestly.  It's like a terrible light spell that can also freeze things.  That it has no cost but shatters every fifteen seconds makes it the world's slowest strobe light

Water Purification: Ultra convenient.  This is thematically an easy explaination for how a Water spec draws out much of their water for use.

Walk on Water: This one is pretty reasonable.  Also fitting for Oddball: Jesus.