The number of filters available and what enhancements you can do with them is relatively finite. As an example, a red filter will increase contrast to an extreme and darken the sky, underexpose a stop or two and Viola! You have something which looks like a nighttime image. Okay, that nice, but how many times do you want that? Yellow, orange and red will give you varying degrees of contrast, but you can get that all in post. In fact most things you would use a colored filter for you can do in post, especially if you start out with a RAW file. (I said most because there probably an exception out there.)
If you want to see what color filters do to a B&W, get some color filters and shoot B&W in-camera. (I really don't know the results, but worth a try. You could probably Google the answer and find examples.)
Gary