Mistings

[Ilidsor]

I can't decide if I would pick steel or zinc. Zinc is much more useful in everyday life, but flying through the sky like that just seems so awesome .

[ReaderAt2046]

I'd pick pewter.

[nikomis]

Thug. Nobody expects a skinny thug.

Or the Spanish Thugquisition.

[Thought]

I see what you all mean about Rioting/Soothing, but I still feel such abilities are morally questionable at best.

Might I play the devil's advocate? (or should I said, Ruin's advocate?)

But pewter isn't morally questionable? I fully expect that if there were public sporting events in the Mistborn universe, pewter would be a banned substance, just like steroids. A pewterarm fighting against normal soldiers is like an adult beating up some little kids.

As for tin, that would be my choice after zinc/brass.

[Exile]

My first instinct is a Coinshot or Lurcher, coupled with a little BASE Jumping. Which one is the bigger question - Batman shows me that, in a city, being a Lurcher is actually far more useful and versatile than being a Coinshot due to greater control, but on the other hand, it couldn't help you, say, careen around the Grand Canyon without serious prep work, which a Coinshot could. Tricky.

I'd say coinshot for sure for these reasons. Yeah maybe spirderman and batman can grapel through skyscrapers with ease, but a coinshot with coins can do most of the same things. Not to mention I'd be seriously parinoid about falling and as long as you have something metal on you then a coinshot should not be afraid of falling. A lurcher on the other hand... you don't always have a tall metal building around to ease your fall. If you push a lurcher and a coinshot out of a plane and only one is going to survive.

Having said all that... tin would be pretty cool. More helpful in all the day to day stuff as well as anything dangerious.

[Deus Ex Biotica]

If you push a lurcher and a coinshot out of a plane and only one is going to survive.

Unless you have an aluminum plane, I think the Lurcher will be fine.

Still, I would ultimately go with Coinshot, on the basis that while you're practicing, if something goes wrong, you're less likely to get impaled.

-- Deus Ex Biotica

[Lance Alvein]

Unless you have an aluminum plane, I think the Lurcher will be fine.

Still, I would ultimately go with Coinshot, on the basis that while you're practicing, if something goes wrong, you're less likely to get impaled.

I think that this all depends on how far off the ground the plane is... Since there is an upper limit to the distance that the Lurcher would be able to pull from, he couldn't use the pull to slow his descent, and I'm pretty sure that it'd be difficult to pull yourself to the side of the plane to get back in the door... so I imagine that the Lurcher wouldn't immediately die, but they would likely run out of Iron before the plane got close enough to the ground for them to safely land.

[ReaderAt2046]

Might I play the devil's advocate? (or should I said, Ruin's advocate?)

But pewter isn't morally questionable? I fully expect that if there were public sporting events in the Mistborn universe, pewter would be a banned substance, just like steroids. A pewterarm fighting against normal soldiers is like an adult beating up some little kids.

As for tin, that would be my choice after zinc/brass.

Your first point is perfectly true, but unless you're going in for professional sports, i don't think that matters. As regards your second example, that's sort of the point. If you have to fight, you want to have the biggest Honorable advantage you can get, so as to make the fighting shorter and less generally destructive.

[Exile]

Unless you have an aluminum plane, I think the Lurcher will be fine.

Still, I would ultimately go with Coinshot, on the basis that while you're practicing, if something goes wrong, you're less likely to get impaled.

-- Deus Ex Biotica

Now you're just taking my example to literal.

[Thought]

I think people are overlooking a coinshot's limitations: range. But since this is a little long winded, allow me to hide it for those who don't care:

We aren't given a firm limit as to how far away a coinshot can affect metal, but from the books it seems like a few hundred feet is pretty standard. But let's be generous and say 1000 feet (about 3 football fields). A coinshot will have already reached terminal velocity (120ish mph) by the time they get in range. Or, in other words, they'll be traveling at around 180 feet per second. That gives them about 6 seconds to slow themselves down to a non-splat speed. That's not much time.

The allomancer would also need a delicate touch to ease themselves into the braking process, but as Kelsier told us, that degree of control is difficult. Mistborns usually slow themselves by pushing hard, releasing, pushing hard, releasing, etc. Like a car going down a steep incline, the key is to never let yourself speed up too much.

Not only would the allomancer not have much time to break even if they had the degree of control necessary, but that needed control is unlikely. If the coinshot tried to stop themselves, chances are they kill themselves. A mistborn might be able to do it, depending on how good pewter is, but that still won’t be pleasant.

Of course, their lateral speed will be an advantage in this case: they'll probably never be pushing directly down. As soon as their anchor touches the earth, its lateral speed will break, causing it to fall behind the allomancer. The coinshot's push won’t be totally working against gravity. But the coinshots own lateral speed will probably be around 500 mph (what many planes fly at). Even if the coinshot touches the ground with a vertical speed of 1 foot per second, that lateral speed will kill them.

[Exile]

You're taking the example too literal. If anybody (lurcher, coinshot, etc) fell out of a plane they would be screwed. But if you fall from a cliff or large tree or stone wall, really anything with out metal, you would only have a chance of surviving as a coinshot. It is much easier to put an anchor below you (be it a coin or bullet casing or whatever) because there is going to be ground below you to push against. Percentage wise there won't be nearly as many chances to pull against something secure above you.

[Ironeyes]

As a hopeful coinshot, I seriously can't wait until Scadrial develops paper clips.

[Thought]

Exile, it is simply fun to take examples literally. One of the great things about allomancy is that it is explained enough that we can figure out how the interactions would really work.

Though, to note, a pewterarm would be more likely to survive falling out of a tree or off a wall than a coinshot. There just isn't enough time to react, so you better hope you can absorb the damage.

[Deus Ex Biotica]

I'm not convinced, Thought. If a Coinshot can stop bullets, they can think fast enough to catch a fall.

[Thought]

Catch a fall, yes, but presumably they aren't falling onto a metal surface. Stopping a bullet is nothing more than pushing in time, but to stop a fall from a wall, they'd need to get a bit of metal out, position it under them, and then push. Given that most walls are what, less than a storey tall, that gives us a 10 foot fall to work with, which translates into 1/3 of a second. I dare you to get something out of your pocket that fast.

As for a tree, there is more time, so perhaps I was too hasty there. However, while there is more time, there are also more distracters. Getting an anchor out, positioning it, pushing on it, all while being buffeted around by tree branches as you make your descent? Seems tricky enough. And, of course, one would hope the misting has enough sense to push against the trunk of the tree, rather than the ground, else they'll just make the problem worse by crashing into the branches they already passed. So I may have been too hasty here, but I am still dubious.

[Exile]

In either case you are still better off being a coinshot than a lurcher, which was my orgional premise. A coinshot is just all around better prepared for a fall than a lurcher is for the majority of circumstances.

Edited February 23, 2012 by Exile

[Thought]

I have two main points. The first is that lurchers are better than people give them credit for. The second is that coinshots aren't the end-all, be-all that they seem to often be treated as. Call it steel envy, if you wish.

Now, the first thing to consider is that throughout the books, the people who end up flying through the air to their doom the most often are random soldiers, and second coinshots (I believe lurchers are a third, but only because of a single scene in the first book when one falls because he's pulling on a safe that dropped). That strongly argues against Coinshots being better than lurchers are saving themselves from a fall. This is presumably for the very reasons I've mentioned: a coinshot has to be able to place an anchor, while a lurcher can take advantage of any anchor already in the environment. Given that most people live in cities and nearly all tall man-made objects contain metal, the average lurcher is more likely to have an easily accessible anchor than the average coinshot. The coinshot is a little more versatile in that they can carry their own anchors easily, but reaction times are still important.

The second thing to consider is that lurchers are primarily defensive (they're the ones to protect other allomancers): saying that coinshots are better at protecting is contrary to the roles we see them have in the books.

And finally, there is just so much more in life that pulling is useful for than pushing. Going rock climbing? The coinshot's powers aren't going to be of much use if he falls, while the lurcher only really needs the nuts to pull on and, indeed, could go ropeless. Want to spelunk into the great unknown? There's no guarantee that there will be a suitable surface for the coinshot to drop an anchor to, while the lurcher can hammer some metal into the rocks, jump down a bit, hammer more metal in, jump down, etc. Feel like going bungee jumping? Lurchers don't need bungee cords. Waters skiing or parasailing? Again, the lurcher is just that good. Want a beer but don't want to get up? Just pull it (assuming, of course, that the can is made from one of the allomantically active alloys of aluminum)! Want to use allomantic pickup lines? "Hey, are you made of metal? 'Cause baby, I feel like we're pulled together."

[nikomis]

"Hey, are you made of metal? 'Cause baby, I feel like we're pulled together."

Freakin' upvoted.

[Aiken Frost]

Bah. Pewter is just better than both. You can survive the fall, keep going despite any damage that get past your absurd toughness and then smack the face of the guy that threw you from the plane/window/tree.

IF the motherThis post has been reported for attempting to skirt the ruleser can push you without losing his chin to begin with.

[Exile]

Snip (for post length)

All very true. I'm writing a fanfic right now with a lurcher and it's hella fun, but there are serious limitations that any serious coinshot would not have and the lurcher is doing some things that a coinshot wouldn't dream of doing. A competent coinshot in the first Mistborn trilogy should not have died in the few situations I saw them plument to their death. In today's society a lurcher would have the serious advantage due total monopoly of steel and other metals used in modern buildings. But it would still be more fun to be a coinshot, imo. Not only can you sore around on pennies but your basicly a walking gun. I good coinshot wouldn't need to fear a pewterarm. With any skill he could play keep away and down him from afar.

So as for the two physical external metals, I would choose to push.

Edited February 24, 2012 by Exile

[Aiken Frost]

I good coinshot wouldn't need to fear a pewterarm. With any skill he could play keep away and down him from afar.

Remember that a Thug is not only strong as hell, but tough, quick and balanced too. A Coinshot can jump pretty high, but a thrown spear to the face with the force of a siege engine can still kill him very efficiently. Meanwhile, coins or other types of projectiles used by Coinshots would have a hard time causing enough trauma to give pause to the Thug.

[RJWB0mb]

im late entering this forum but by burning pewter you gain a number of atributes other then strength. does the aplly to when you tap a pewter mind?

[Thought]

Alas, no. Pewter in allomancy increases speed, but a steelmind controls speed in feruchemy.

[Zas678]

Sort of. When you tap Pewter, the primary effect is increased strength, but the secondary effects are increased muscle size (and thus increase in mass), and also (presumably) a slight increase in the stretchability of skin (to allow for increased muscle size). These, per the Law of Feruchemic Storage, are also attributes stored when you're storing pewter.

But it doesn't have all the abilities than allomantic pewter has. Allomantic pewter increases strength, agility, speed, endurance, and healing. It's like a big adrenaline burst. Feruchemists have to store all of these things separately. Pewter only stores strength, Gold stores health, Steel stores speed, and bronze stores wakefulness. I bet that Gold would probably help a lot with your endurance.

[Odium's_Shard]

(walks into counselling group room)

Bob: Hi, everybody, my name's Bob, and I'm a Feruchemical psychopath.

Everybody: Hiiiiii, Bo-o-o-ob.

Bob: I am here to get help with my issues using Duralumin storage in public...

Counselor: Ok Bob, but first, we are going to have to take your stores away.

Bob: WHAT, NO?! I didn't sign up for this!

Counselor: Get h-- Wait, where did he go? I am suddenly unaware of him...

/uncomicalsketch

I am the sort of guy who likes to pop people's bubbles for no apparent reason. This includes Allomantic bubbles. Therefore, I am a Leecher. Chromium is my gift, and no Allomancer is my bane. Save for another Allomancer, if another Leecher can destroy my supply of Chromium.