Weakest magic system?

[Trusk'our he/him]

Is there anything that special about Sand Masters compared to other magic users? What are they even good at doing, aside from making sand ribbons? They honestly seem to have the least potential of any magic system I can think of. 

But then again, maybe I'm wrong. any objections?

[Honorless he/him]

Yeah, it's not very impressive compared to other Invested Arts, is it? And now Slatrification has officially been retconned, which was the most interesting thing about it. Turning sand into water sounds beautiful and mystical, I liked it, and it fit as an ability of a desert dwelling people whose magic cost the moisture from their bodies. It being a high tier ability gated it enough, narratively speaking, there was no reason to retcon it, imo, smh. But anyway!

Sand Mastery looks unimpressive compared to the other Invested Arts but it's actually pretty versatile. You can use tendrils of sand to fly, to swat enemies, use them to create makeshift constructs like projectiles, blind enemies with sand, good defensive and battlefield control utility by making protecting yourself from projectiles with tendrils of sand, grabbing opponents with sand tentacles. Kenton could manipulate granules of sand within an opponent's body to shred their internals.

So it's still useful. It's just... Radiants can regenerate very fast, are covered in Shardplate, some of them can touch you and turn you into stone, and can also turn your sand to water (which they could once have done, before that got retconned *throws shade*) or to fire. Two Orders have way better mobility with flight and good luck catching two other Orders who're way to slippery.

Speaking of throwing Shade, we see in the Bands of Mourning broadsheet that there's something like a Shade gun. If that's future Threnody magitech, then they've got a potent weapon. I don't think there's much a Sand Master can do against Shades though it's still useful: they can run away without running away, assuming that's a trick that works. I think they just attack moving people.

On Scadrial, the Metallic Arts are going to get mechanized too, and spoilers from a certain sample

Spoiler

and from what we've seen from the Sixth of the Dusk sequel sample,

Spoiler

they'd have the ability to burn things on contact too, flight via steel and iron on a much bigger scale, metal armour of some kind which is presumably also Invested

 

Sel has AonDor. Nuff said. That thing can do almost anything. Forgery isn't directly combat oriented, but there's so much you can do with it. Much higher munchkinry potential than Sand Mastery so I'm hesitant to predict how future development with magic might go. We don't know enough about ChayShan, Bloodsealing, Dakhor monks, Hrovell potions, possibly some kind of "exacting art" of warding mentioned in Secret History though that might've been AonDor unbounded, something more fundamental to how magics work in the Cosmere, it's hard to tell. Bloodsealing, potions and warding don't seem direct combat oriented so Sand Masters have a good chance against them in direct confrontations. Dakhor and ChayShan are direct combat oriented but seem mostly physical enhancements from what we've seen, Forgery can also be used for physical enhancements, and let's count Bloodsealing's Skeletals here as well, they're strong but not super strong. Sand Masters can defeat them in direct confrontations. 

Nalthis has a much more costly magic but they've just begun to see the potential of the magic. Awakening can do a lot, *looks at Nightblood and Vivenna's blade* But at least they're vulnerable to Sand Masters to some degree. Oh wait, they have zombie armies and a stone zombie army too, because of course they do.

Well, here's a match for the Sand Masters: the Aviar. Their closest rivals in fair combat looks to be birds. That's just sad.

 

Sand Masters do have one great advantage. They're very Investiture efficient. We see in Oathbringer in the Kholinar and Shadesmar sequence that Kaladin's Windrunner powers took more Stormlight than Shallan's Lightweaving. There we also see Shallan meeting Hoid after her disastrous attempt to help the starving that even the passive presence of Shallan's Lightweaving was enough to charge Hoid's white sand within seconds to a minute. A process that normally takes four hours on Taldain's Dayside, iirc.

So, Sand Masters could become ninjas, they seem to use very little Investiture. There are Invested Arts that can build things but aren't great in direct combat, and if Sand Masters can get the drop on them, they would hold a great advantage over them.

But eh, I'm sure they can all find a way to munchkin through.

And besides, I think it's Darkside magic we should be looking at, it's the way to go for Taldain if even half of what we've heard about Skathan are true.

Edited December 16, 2021 by Honorless

[StanLemon]

Depends on how you define weakest. Put a Sand Master against a Forger and even the weakest Sand Master would win most fights, but a Forger could do more overall with their abilities. I feel that a Mastrel would beat Dakhor monks in a fight as well, at least from what we saw of them in Elantris. Though Dakhor like Forgery can do larger feats, at a high cost though. 

As to special abilities, it allows effective if limited flight, create constructs out of sand, and can be useful for a number of utility uses as well. 

[Trusk'our he/him]

20 hours ago, StanLemon said:

Depends on how you define weakest. Put a Sand Master against a Forger and even the weakest Sand Master would win most fights, but a Forger could do more overall with their abilities. I feel that a Mastrel would beat Dakhor monks in a fight as well, at least from what we saw of them in Elantris. Though Dakhor like Forgery can do larger feats, at a high cost though. 

As to special abilities, it allows effective if limited flight, create constructs out of sand, and can be useful for a number of utility uses as well. 

Sorry, I really should slow down and explain my thoughts better.

When I say the weakest, I don't meant that they aren't dangerous; heck, Kenton absolutely destroyed what was basically the Taldain equivalent of a chasmfiend with his sand mastery. But that's all he can do. Telekinetically moving ribbons of sand can be very useful to a creative person, but so too is the ability to animate objects, see the future, actually fly, the ability to transform nearly any substance into almost any other substance, regenerating your lost limbs, or rewriting your own soul. Sand mastery can't do any of that. Other magics all have far more than one ability available to them, allowing for much more versatility and potential for creative individuals.

That's what I meant when I say they are the weakest.