Pedal Questions

Hello! I have been playing guitar for about 3 years now (took lessons for a year and I am still terrible... :? ) and one thing that has always intrigued me were FX. I have a Reggae band and figured now would be the time to experiment with this unkown territory. I've been looking at amps with effects (line 6 and such), but because I know nothing about which "thingy" does what, I decided to start off with a pedal. Can someone please give me some information on what would be a good, quality guitar pedal with multiple effects while remaining not too over the top expensive (I realize beggers cant be choosers, but this begger doesn't have alot of dough! :lol: )