ChullRider Posted November 28, 2014 Report Share Posted November 28, 2014 What ability from The Stormlight Archive would you choose? Windrunning? Soulcasting? Shardblade? Shardplate? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Tavash Shar Posted November 28, 2014 Report Share Posted November 28, 2014 Division and Abrasion. Because Releasers apparently: “Smoke curled from the occasional patches of growth or heaps of burning corpses. Even some sections of rock smoldered. The Dustbringers had done their work well.” I'm confident based on this fragment that the Releasers Break the bonds in materials and then ignite the base componets released Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moogle Posted November 28, 2014 Report Share Posted November 28, 2014 Depends if you mean the order or just having one Surge, and how limited you're making Stormlight. Soulcasting is easily the most appealing power on Roshar to me, even if Gravity would be fun. So, Elsecallers I guess, as I think Transportation has a bit more utility than Illumination, even though illusions are neat as heck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mckeedee123 Posted November 28, 2014 Report Share Posted November 28, 2014 Gravitation would definitely be the coolest (no power could ever be better than the ability to fly, for Storms' sake). Adhesion is just lame though. So the decision between being a Windrunner (Cool spren but lame power) and a Skybreaker (Nale breathing down by back but cool power) is a tough call. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Young Bard Posted November 29, 2014 Report Share Posted November 29, 2014 Gravitation would definitely be the coolest (no power could ever be better than the ability to fly, for Storms' sake). Adhesion is just lame though. So the decision between being a Windrunner (Cool spren but lame power) and a Skybreaker (Nale breathing down by back but cool power) is a tough call. You're not so much flying as free-falling in a direction other than down. My poor stomach... Adhesion isn't as bad as you seem to be making out. If I could either have the surge of Adhesion or be one of the Hoed, I would choose to have the Surge, thank you very much! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mckeedee123 Posted November 29, 2014 Report Share Posted November 29, 2014 Well, most of the surges are pretty awesome (Transportation, Transformation, Division sound the best, other than Gravitation), but they are not equal. Tension, for one, sounds almost useless. "What's that? you can increase the Stiffness of an object? I can kill people by brushing my fingers against them." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oudeis Posted November 29, 2014 Report Share Posted November 29, 2014 As ever this question demands context. Are we on Roshar? Are we in our world? If we're in our world, am I the only Surgebinder, or is Surgebinding common? What's the availability of Stormlight? Since it's left open-ended, I'm going to answer assuming that I'm in the real world, I'm either the only or one of very few Surgebinders, and that, like Roshar, there's a once-a-week(ish) event which blankets the land with Stormlight, which can be saved up throughout the week, but if I use it up, that's it, it's gone. From what little I know (and from my additional speculation) I assume that my personality type would be most likely to attract the spren to make me a Willshaper. I don't see a lot of utility in Cohesion, though Transportation would likely be fun, and I'm eager to meet the personality of the type of spren that would make a Willshaper. If I actually get to pick the power I want, instead of having to earn it as a real Surgebinder does, I think I'd go Edgedancer. Possibly Truthwatcher; I basically want Progression. I would volunteer several hours a day at the emergency room healing trauma patients. It would prolly be a very good, very quick way to build up a ton of goodwill, also people would be more likely to collect Stormlight and let me use it if I'm saving lives on the regular. A few possible downsides. I would be run absolutely ragged; I imagine I could start a kickstarter or a paypal or something, or get a government grant, allowing me to quit my job and spend even more time at the hospital. If it's just me, I personally would get called in, any time of day or night, for a case that literally will not survive without magical healing. It would be difficult to have a social life; literally any time I decide to go on vacation or just hit up a party more than five miles from the hospital, I'd not only be blamed by the families of anyone who died because I wasn't there to save them, I'd also feel personally responsible. On the other hand, my healing would be limited by Stormlight. Once it runs out, there's literally nothing else I can do that week, so I'd have several days where I could prolly assuage my own guilt enough to spend a few days on a beach somewhere. Wyndle bugs me, and presumably, being a spren rather than a human, we're allowed to assume that other spren of his type are at least a little similar. Ym's spren, whom I assume is the Truthwatcher spren, annoys me much less. However, if I'm an Edgedancer, Abrasion sounds like a more-useful ability if I were to join firefighters or EMTs or something than Illumination. For personal use, the simple capacity Stormlight grants you for holding it strikes me as pretty much all the power any reasonable person could ask for. The Surges are cherries on top. Hrm. Scadrian magic is pretty unique, isn't it? Holding Breath, holding Stormlight, or being an Elantrian all grant passive bonuses just for existing. Not so for allomancy of feruchemy. Hemalurgy does for the human traits, but not when you copy powers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxal Posted November 30, 2014 Report Share Posted November 30, 2014 Transportation and Abrasion sound like the more interesting surges, to me. Transportation for the ease of travel and the ability to go wherever one desires to go and abrasion to glide over obstacles or to set things on fire. I believe I would be the most happy with these two. Sad they are not found into one specific order. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moogle Posted November 30, 2014 Report Share Posted November 30, 2014 Transportation and Abrasion sound like the more interesting surges, to me. Transportation for the ease of travel and the ability to go wherever one desires to go and abrasion to glide over obstacles or to set things on fire. I believe I would be the most happy with these two. Sad they are not found into one specific order. Transportation sounds very fun, but I'm not sure how great it is in practice. Elsecalling is apparently "imprecise", which is really unfortunate. Maybe it's the sort of thing you get better at with practice? And if you can teleport yourself, can you teleport other things? If so, teleporting the enemy a mile up into the sky seems pretty powerful. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oudeis Posted November 30, 2014 Report Share Posted November 30, 2014 It's interesting how many people are answering that the best powers are the most violent, deadly ones. Are we assuming then that the powers are taking place during a desolation? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dvoraen Posted November 30, 2014 Report Share Posted November 30, 2014 (edited) If I had to choose Surges based on order: Progression and Illumination (ie - Truthwatcher). If I could choose Surges based on preference: also Progression and Illumination, though sometimes I sure would want Abrasion. The reasons for overlap are different in each case, though. In the first case, it's based on speculation of which spren I was likely to attract (I suspect Cryptics would be curious too). In the second case, it would have to do with how I suspect Illumination can be used (think Seeker Mistings) plus I'd want the ability to heal. Illumination strikes me as a very, VERY versatile Surge when someone really knows how to use it to its full extent. Edited November 30, 2014 by dvoraen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Voidus Posted November 30, 2014 Report Share Posted November 30, 2014 I would be an Artifabrian, making useful things for other people to use, failing that I'd likely go with Windrunning because it is just awesome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxal Posted November 30, 2014 Report Share Posted November 30, 2014 Transportation sounds very fun, but I'm not sure how great it is in practice. Elsecalling is apparently "imprecise", which is really unfortunate. Maybe it's the sort of thing you get better at with practice? And if you can teleport yourself, can you teleport other things? If so, teleporting the enemy a mile up into the sky seems pretty powerful. In the context of real life, I was thinking I could Elsecall myself to work back and forth and avoid transit I was also thinking I may be able to Elsecall my kids, by holding their hands, from the daycare to home Would make my life so much easier In the context of SA, being able to easily travel from one place to another, even if imprecise, still is a highly practical ability. I was always interested with the concept of teleportation. I am thinking Elsecaller may not be able to move entire armies, but they are probably able to move some material and a small group of people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick Star Posted November 30, 2014 Report Share Posted November 30, 2014 Probably Immortality. Then, I'd finally be able to dedicate the time necessary to get past the first level of Dark Souls. Yes, I'm terrible at that game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oudeis Posted November 30, 2014 Report Share Posted November 30, 2014 Dvoraen : Hrm? How is illumination like bronze allomancy? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unhinged Posted November 30, 2014 Report Share Posted November 30, 2014 Well, most of the surges are pretty awesome (Transportation, Transformation, Division sound the best, other than Gravitation), but they are not equal. Tension, for one, sounds almost useless. "What's that? you can increase the Stiffness of an object? I can kill people by brushing my fingers against them." Tension does have it's appeal if it's as effective as mckeedee123 suggests I could just walk past someone tap them, infuse a little stormlight and stiffen their heart, they drop dead and no one can prove it was me. I suppose gravity would also be pretty cool, flying and all that, and friction sounds awesome as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redbird Posted December 1, 2014 Report Share Posted December 1, 2014 It's interesting how many people are answering that the best powers are the most violent, deadly ones. Are we assuming then that the powers are taking place during a desolation? The dustbringers have obvious combat ability, but friction can be used for movement, although since im not entirely sure what the surge of destruction does, I might choose edgedancer then. Either way I want the surge of abrasion, so on earth i'd have to choose progression, but destruction would be nice for Roshar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sanderfan Posted December 2, 2014 Report Share Posted December 2, 2014 If I totally ignore orders and just pick two surges, I would definitely pick Gravitation and Abrasion. Flying (more like falling with style) would be awesome as well as sliding around everywhere, as if it were always hardwood floors while wearing socks. If I had to pick an order though, probably Releaser, but we're not sure what their other surge is yet. So I guess Windrunner would be my other choice if I decide I don't like the Releaser surge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redbird Posted December 2, 2014 Report Share Posted December 2, 2014 I like how the best analogy for surge of abrasion is sliding on hardwood floors with socks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dvoraen Posted December 3, 2014 Report Share Posted December 3, 2014 (edited) Dvoraen : Hrm? How is illumination like bronze allomancy? Two reasons: 1) Per WoR Ars Arcanum -- Illumination: The Surge of Light, Sound and Various Waveforms. 2) Per WoB, detection via Bronze Mistings is done by sensing differences in various waveforms. What I'm getting at, is that I think Illumination can be used in a similar manner, much as sonar is a usage of waveforms (sound) for the purposes of detection. I don't recall if Brandon explicitly gave details of how a Seeker can do this, but it's what led me to think an Illumination Surge user could do the same. It's one of the questions I want to ask him, because it's unclear whether Illumination strictly manipulates waveforms, or if it can observe them as well, like a Seeker Misting can. Hypothetically, I don't see how an Illumination Surgebinder can't discover a waveform that for all intents and purposes is an Investiture detector (and also capable of sending out deceptive waveforms that make people looking for Investiture use think it's something that it isn't). Edited December 3, 2014 by dvoraen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Secret Ardent Man Posted December 8, 2014 Report Share Posted December 8, 2014 If I was stuck on Roshar, I'd have to pick a Shardblade. Then at least I would be a lighteyes and fairly high ranked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soulcastJam Posted December 8, 2014 Report Share Posted December 8, 2014 I'd go with the transportation surge. I want to travel more, but there is never enough time, and planning takes so much effort. It would happen much more if I could just pop over to Italy for lunch and some gelato and then come back to work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick Star Posted December 9, 2014 Report Share Posted December 9, 2014 I would definitely have soulcasting. I would soulcast a pile of gold, then sell it in order to afford college and a Tesla. Or maybe I'd just soulcast the Tesla. Maybe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hoidhunter Posted December 12, 2014 Report Share Posted December 12, 2014 I have to agree that soulcasting would be the most useful surge for every day life. Need some money?...make some gold. Run out of booze at your house party...fill the bathtub and turn it into whiskey. Neighbor is bugging you?...fill his swimming pool with blood. Have trash that won't fit in the dumpster?...turn it into smoke. Worried that the creepy girl at the party put something in your drink?...soulcast it back into beer. Wanna know what someone looks like naked?...turn their clothes into water. (I know that last one was a little weird...but you know you would totally do it if you couldn't get caught.) Got pulled over for driving drunk?...soulcast your blood. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redbird Posted December 12, 2014 Report Share Posted December 12, 2014 The main issue there though is the lack of stormlight on earth, since soulcasting uses large amounts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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