Random Twinborn Combos: Go!

[Walter The Moral]

Seeing as Steelsight is based on your connection to the metals, could you store that connection somehow? The ability to see the lines can be store in Tin, but could you store the lines themselves in Duralumin?

[alder24]

56 minutes ago, Walter The Moral said:

Seeing as Steelsight is based on your connection to the metals, could you store that connection somehow? The ability to see the lines can be store in Tin, but could you store the lines themselves in Duralumin?

Unlikely, connection doesn't change your steelsight. 

Spoiler

Oversleep

Could you write [sign] the Alcatraz like Alcatraz?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes. He signs upside down.

Oversleep

Would tapping Connection increase the steelsight?

Brandon Sanderson

No, probably not, there are arrangements that could make that happen but just tapping it, no.

Kraków signing (March 21, 2017)

This doesn't explain if those lines can be stored, but because tapping them won't increase the steelsight, I doubt you could store them at all.

[Koloss17 She/They]

Random Twinborn Combo Day 39:

A-Brass and F-Bendalloy

So as far as I’m aware, these two have zero synergy together. It’s kind of crazy how unsynergistic this is. The only thing I could envision is participating feasts on the regular would become a lot easier. 
 

You know what? No. I will find a synergy. With the two, you could stay in shape really efficiently, being both physically attractive and charismatic, in your own way. There ya go.

Also, Breeze would kill for this combo.

Resonance: Eh, thought I had something, and it turns out I have nothing. If you have resonance suggestions, they would be much appreciated.

Name: Gourmand? Fancy and food related.

Rating: 5.5/10. The synergy is honestly super niche, and is only relevant when you’re breeze. I suppose it allows for an interesting wrinkle in character design!

Edited June 12, 2023 by Koloss17

[SomePog]

5 hours ago, Koloss17 said:

Random Twinborn Combo Day 39:

A-Brass and F-Bendalloy

So as far as I’m aware, these two have zero synergy together. It’s kind of crazy how unsynergistic this is. The only thing I could envision is participating feasts on the regular would become a lot easier. 
 

You know what? No. I will find a synergy. With the two, you could stay in shape really efficiently, being both physically attractive and charismatic, in your own way. There ya go.

Also, Breeze would kill for this combo.

Resonance: Eh, thought I had something, and it turns out I have nothing. If you have resonance suggestions, they would be much appreciated.

Name: Gourmand? Fancy and food related.

Rating: 5.5/10. The synergy is honestly super niche, and is only relevant when you’re breeze. I suppose it allows for an interesting wrinkle in character design!

I always liked F-Bendalloy just for its general versatility and tbh there isn't a clear resonance that i can think of

Imagine this a subsumer can not only store calories but nutrition which is extremely useful for ambassadors they can eat large amounts while using emotional allomancy to make everyone think "Oh they love my food so much!" but beyond that the two while not useful together i still think are useful individually.

[Underwater_Worldhopper he/him]

6 hours ago, Koloss17 said:

Random Twinborn Combo Day 39:

A-Brass and F-Bendalloy

So as far as I’m aware, these two have zero synergy together. It’s kind of crazy how unsynergistic this is. The only thing I could envision is participating feasts on the regular would become a lot easier. 
 

You know what? No. I will find a synergy. With the two, you could stay in shape really efficiently, being both physically attractive and charismatic, in your own way. There ya go.

Also, Breeze would kill for this combo.

Resonance: Eh, thought I had something, and it turns out I have nothing. If you have resonance suggestions, they would be much appreciated.

Name: Gourmand? Fancy and food related.

Rating: 5.5/10. The synergy is honestly super niche, and is only relevant when you’re breeze. I suppose it allows for an interesting wrinkle in character design!

Food critic?

[cometaryorbit]

Would anyone mind if I started posting these combos instead?

[Koloss17 She/They]

17 hours ago, cometaryorbit said:

Would anyone mind if I started posting these combos instead?

If you’re up for it, go for it! I said in my first post that I’ll go until I can’t go no more, and at this point I’ve burned out. If you wish to carry the torch, feel free! I’ll probably still linger about, and offer name/resonance suggestions when needed, but it’ll be more like I’m part of the crowd.

[cometaryorbit]

OK then.

We know basically nothing about Twinborn Resonances so I'll just be posting what sounds cool or vaguely relevant, rather than any sensible theorizing.

Day 40: A-Chromium / F-Electrum

Leeching plus storing/tapping "determination" (nominally ... but it sounds more like a controllable bipolar state).

Eh. It's a very cool but pretty niche Allomantic power, a really weak Feruchemical one, and not much synergy... a fairly weak combo, though there's worse out there.

Resonance: determination plus destruction of metals/Investiture drain equals ???. The best I can come up with is increased ability to Leech through interference (either Leeching really highly Invested beings, or things like being able to win a Leeching duel with another Leecher, or more resistance to aluminum primer cube fields, or something).

Name: A-Chromium is Leecher, F-Electrum is Pinnacle ... hmm. Nothing comes to mind. Suggestions?

Rating: 2.5/10. Not the worst combo, but not good in either individual powers or synergy.

Role: Maybe decent in a military team or special SWAT-style police squad against other Metalborn?

[alder24]

25 minutes ago, cometaryorbit said:

OK then.

We know basically nothing about Twinborn Resonances so I'll just be posting what sounds cool or vaguely relevant, rather than any sensible theorizing.

Day 40: A-Chromium / F-Electrum

Leeching plus storing/tapping "determination" (nominally ... but it sounds more like a controllable bipolar state).

Eh. It's a very cool but pretty niche Allomantic power, a really weak Feruchemical one, and not much synergy... a fairly weak combo, though there's worse out there.

Resonance: determination plus destruction of metals/Investiture drain equals ???. The best I can come up with is increased ability to Leech through interference (either Leeching really highly Invested beings, or things like being able to win a Leeching duel with another Leecher, or more resistance to aluminum primer cube fields, or something).

Name: A-Chromium is Leecher, F-Electrum is Pinnacle ... hmm. Nothing comes to mind. Suggestions?

Rating: 2.5/10. Not the worst combo, but not good in either individual powers or synergy.

Role: Maybe decent in a military team or special SWAT-style police squad against other Metalborn?

Tough combo to start with. F-electrum always causes problems. At best it can help you go through a literal hell just to leech one guy. Not that cool.

[cometaryorbit]

Day 41: A-Steel and F-Bendalloy

(Push on metals + store/tap calories and hydration.)

Hmm. A top tier Allomantic power plus a niche but useful Feruchemical one; no great synergy between them. I don't think you can really use Bendalloy to change weight the way it works in the MAG, but maybe?

Resonance: maybe something about more precisely controlling the energy of Pushes, or more precisely detecting the weight of Pushed objects?

Name: Hungershot?

Rating: 3 / 10. Unimpressive as a Twinborn, but not among the worst due to having one of the better Allomantic powers. 4/10 if using Bendalloy to change weight really works.

[cometaryorbit]

In the interest of getting this going again, since the first random combo was unimpressive, there's two today...

Day 42a: A-Nicrosil and F-Bronze

(Super-burst others' Allomancy + store/tap wakefulness)

An interesting but not awesome combo; two potentially useful, but somewhat niche, powers.

Resonance:  More efficient tapping of large amounts of wakefulness (burst-style)? Seems pretty useless, wakefulness is something you'd want to use over time not in one big sudden burst.

More symbolically, faster reaction time? (Alertness from f-bronze + sudden action from a-nicrosil).

Name: Depending on the Resonance, maybe Fastburst?

Rating: 3/10 ish ... maybe up or down a little depending on whether the Resonance is useful. Neither power is the *best*, and there's no great synergy, but they're also not among the most useless in either Metallic Art (A-Aluminum/Duralumin/Gold, F-Electrum and maybe Aluminum?).

Role: perhaps military support?

[cometaryorbit]

Day 42b: A-Pewter and F-Pewter (Double Pewter) 

(Increase strength, balance, toughness, etc + store/tap muscle strength) 

A powerful Compounding combo, and including a top tier Allomantic power as well.

A-Pewter does a lot, not just strength - balance/agility/grace, physical toughness and health (harder to break bones etc, enduring wounds, probably better healing though it's "medical recovery" not "combat-time healing" like f-Gold, etc), resistance to heat/cold, resistance to intoxication and probably poison, etc.

 In modern era, the biggest weakness of A-Pewter (lack of ranged capacity) can be made up for with guns, and A-Pewter's increased balance/grace probably can improve accuracy.

Resonance:  By storing the physical strength from A-Pewter in F-Pewter, a double Pewter Twinborn can probably tap strength without the increased muscle size of normal F-Pewter. But I don't think that really counts as a Resonance. So I'm not sure.

Name: Mistborn Adventure Game suggests "Hefter".  That seems insufficiently cool for this combo, which is basically a superhero, though. Musclemaster?

Rating: 9/10. One of the most powerful Twinborn, though not the absolute best.

Edited June 25, 2023 by cometaryorbit

[Underwater_Worldhopper he/him]

2 hours ago, cometaryorbit said:

In the interest of getting this going again, since the first random combo was unimpressive, there's two today...

Day 42a: A-Nicrosil and F-Bronze

(Super-burst others' Allomancy + store/tap wakefulness)

An interesting but not awesome combo; two potentially useful, but somewhat niche, powers.

Resonance:  More efficient tapping of large amounts of wakefulness (burst-style)? Seems pretty useless, wakefulness is something you'd want to use over time not in one big sudden burst.

More symbolically, faster reaction time? (Alertness from f-bronze + sudden action from a-nicrosil).

Name: Depending on the Resonance, maybe Fastburst?

Rating: 3/10 ish ... maybe up or down a little depending on whether the Resonance is useful. Neither power is the *best*, and there's no great synergy, but they're also not among the most useless in either Metallic Art (A-Aluminum/Duralumin/Gold, F-Electrum and maybe Aluminum?).

Role: perhaps military support?

Reaction time increase seems like a perfect resonance for this one. This one could make a great Night shift Allomancy SWAT team member. Name could possibly be Nightburst, or Shadeburster. Something along those lines.

2 hours ago, cometaryorbit said:

Day 42b: A-Pewter and F-Pewter (Double Pewter) 

(Increase strength, balance, toughness, etc + store/tap muscle strength) 

A powerful Compounding combo, and including a top tier Allomantic power as well.

A-Pewter does a lot, not just strength - balance/agility/grace, physical toughness and health (harder to break bones etc, enduring wounds, probably better healing though it's "medical recovery" not "combat-time healing" like f-Gold, etc), resistance to heat/cold, resistance to intoxication and probably poison, etc.

 In modern era, the biggest weakness of A-Pewter (lack of ranged capacity) can be made up for with guns, and A-Pewter's increased balance/grace probably can improve accuracy.

Resonance:  By storing the physical strength from A-Pewter in F-Pewter, a double Pewter Twinborn can probably tap strength without the increased muscle size of normal F-Pewter. But I don't think that really counts as a Resonance. So I'm not sure.

Name: Mistborn Adventure Game suggests "Hefter".  That seems insufficiently cool for this combo, which is basically a superhero, though. Musclemaster?

Rating: 9/10. One of the most powerful Twinborn, though not the absolute best.

This is one of the most dangerous Twinborn Combos simply because they could reverse compound that strength and become insanely powerful without ever needing to slow down or have to deal with extra heft. It isn't obvious that you're tapping at all, you could walk up to someone, tap a bunch from your Pewtermind without them knowing, and punch their head off in under a second.

Not only that, burning Pewter doubles your strength while burning, and triples it while flaring. What about when you burn Pewter while you're taping strength? Does all that muscle mass' strength get doubled? Tripled? If you did this while tapping all your stored strength (remember this Twinborn can Compound strentgh too, so that's a LOT of attribute) at once, could you become so powerful you could punch through several meters of concrete with a single blow?

The resonance would probably be extra strength drawn from burning Pewter, maybe even visibly increasing muscle mass a bit, which has something of a compound effect since you would now have a little bit of extra muscle that can be enhanced through burning Pewter, so just a tiny amount of added muscle could make you a lot stronger, comparatively.  I doubt this ability will stack too much, but it would be pretty nice, and give you an edge over other Pewterarms.

What would the name be? Musclemaster seems a bit cheesy, but I can't think of anything better. 

[Koloss17 She/They]

On 6/25/2023 at 1:48 PM, cometaryorbit said:

In the interest of getting this going again, since the first random combo was unimpressive, there's two today...

Day 42a: A-Nicrosil and F-Bronze

(Super-burst others' Allomancy + store/tap wakefulness)

An interesting but not awesome combo; two potentially useful, but somewhat niche, powers.

Resonance:  More efficient tapping of large amounts of wakefulness (burst-style)? Seems pretty useless, wakefulness is something you'd want to use over time not in one big sudden burst.

More symbolically, faster reaction time? (Alertness from f-bronze + sudden action from a-nicrosil).

Name: Depending on the Resonance, maybe Fastburst?

Rating: 3/10 ish ... maybe up or down a little depending on whether the Resonance is useful. Neither power is the *best*, and there's no great synergy, but they're also not among the most useless in either Metallic Art (A-Aluminum/Duralumin/Gold, F-Electrum and maybe Aluminum?).

Role: perhaps military support?

Imo, the rating of this should be higher. While the two don’t do too much on its own, Nicrosil can be downright deadly to wield. That, paired with bronze, to act as a sort of scout, this could be a really solid member of a duo. There’s a reason why the Elendel military is so keen on finding Nicrobursts.

[cometaryorbit]

Sorry for the delay, a lot has been happening for me in RL.

Day 43: A-Tin and F-Pewter

(Increase all five senses + store/tap muscular strength)

An interesting combination. Two powers which I'd say are each good but not top tier for their Metallic Art (like A-Pewter/A-Steel or F-Gold/F-Steel are). Some synergy (they're both Physical powers), but not a *really* good synergy like Wax's.

Resonance: Hmmm... better resistance to sensory shock when burning tin, like the "soundsticks" used against Tin Allomancy in Era 1? Or maybe more precise proprioception (perception of body parts' position)?

Name: Muscle-eye? Anyone have a better idea?

Rating: 6/10, slightly above median. Two decent powers, with some synergy but not great synergy.

Edited June 30, 2023 by cometaryorbit

[Koloss17 She/They]

9 hours ago, cometaryorbit said:

Sorry for the delay, a lot has been happening for me in RL.

Day 43: A-Tin and F-Pewter

(Increase all five senses + store/tap muscular strength)

An interesting combination. Two powers which I'd say are each good but not top tier for their Metallic Art (like A-Pewter/A-Steel or F-Gold/F-Steel are). Some synergy (they're both Physical powers), but not a *really* good synergy like Wax's.

Resonance: Hmmm... better resistance to sensory shock when burning tin, like the "soundsticks" used against Tin Allomancy in Era 1? Or maybe more precise proprioception (perception of body parts' position)?

Name: Muscle-eye? Anyone have a better idea?

Rating: 6/10, slightly above median. Two decent powers, with some synergy but not great synergy.

Hmmmm. This one is interesting! The thing that I’m wondering is how is this power set different than A-Tin and A-Pewter, like what Spook had?

 

And yeah, proprioception would be a really important sense to master, and would doubtlessly enable the Twinborn to fight in hulk-mode with a whole lot more skill than most brutes could. It would be really cool to see them in action!

 

For the name, I would think Bouncer is a pretty okay name!

[cometaryorbit]

2 hours ago, Koloss17 said:

Hmmmm. This one is interesting! The thing that I’m wondering is how is this power set different than A-Tin and A-Pewter, like what Spook had?

F-Pewter is a lot different in detail from A-Pewter. On the positive side, it allows bursts of much greater strength; pewter burn/flare is equivalent to about an x2/x3 tap.

On the negative side, it doesn't give all the other benefits of A-Pewter (balance/agility, endurance/speed, general toughness - resistance to wounds, cold/heat, alcohol/toxins, etc.), and at the higher end the hugely enlarged muscles can get in your way mobility-wise.

So F-Pewter is a less broad power (since it's just muscular strength; you can't use it to endure cold or heat or walk a narrow balance beam) but stronger at the top end.

So this Twinborn couldn't really do the "jump from a second story and land with cat-like perfection" that Spook could (that used A-Pewter balance/grace), but they could lift cars and such (which Spook's Pewter strength wouldn't have been enough for).

2 hours ago, Koloss17 said:

For the name, I would think Bouncer is a pretty okay name!

Sounds good.

[cometaryorbit]

 Day 44: A-Electrum and F-Cadmium

 

(See one's own future shadows + store/tap oxygen/breath)

 

One potentially very useful but really hard to use power, one quite niche power. And I can't see any synergy.

 

Resonance: precise control of breathing (biofeedback type stuff)? I don't know, this is a hard one since the powers don't remotely match.

 

Name: I don't know, Timebreath?

 

Rating: Ones with Electrum are hard to rate because it's potentially very powerful, but difficult to get there. Maybe 3/10?

Edited July 1, 2023 by cometaryorbit

[cometaryorbit]

Day 45: A-Electrum and F-Iron

(See one's own future shadows + store/tap weight)

Another A-Electrum combo. That's a tricky metal, because it's potentially quite powerful but really hard to use.

Resonance: no idea. Suggestions, please?

Name: Mistborn Adventure Game says "Whimflitter". I could also suggest Fateweight?

Rating: Again, hard to rate because of A-Electrum, but F-Iron strikes me as more broadly usable than F-Cadmium, so if th e last one was 3/10, maybe 4/10?

[Underwater_Worldhopper he/him]

2 hours ago, cometaryorbit said:

Day 45: A-Electrum and F-Iron

(See one's own future shadows + store/tap weight)

Another A-Electrum combo. That's a tricky metal, because it's potentially quite powerful but really hard to use.

Resonance: no idea. Suggestions, please?

Name: Mistborn Adventure Game says "Whimflitter". I could also suggest Fateweight?

Rating: Again, hard to rate because of A-Electrum, but F-Iron strikes me as more broadly usable than F-Cadmium, so if th e last one was 3/10, maybe 4/10?

 

19 hours ago, cometaryorbit said:

 Day 44: A-Electrum and F-Cadmium

 

(See one's own future shadows + store/tap oxygen/breath)

 

One potentially very useful but really hard to use power, one quite niche power. And I can't see any synergy.

 

Resonance: precise control of breathing (biofeedback type stuff)? I don't know, this is a hard one since the powers don't remotely match.

 

Name: I don't know, Timebreath?

 

Rating: Ones with Electrum are hard to rate because it's potentially very powerful, but difficult to get there. Maybe 3/10?

Fateweight is an amazing name. And A-Electrum can be extremely useful for a Twinborn, since you can train yourself to use it extremely effectively in combat. Augmented by Cadmium or Iron, this would make an extremely good mercenary or martial artist. Large stores of breath can be used to achieve oxygen doping, which will basically give you A-Petwer-esque unlimited stamina (until your breath runs out, that is), which is a huge advantage in a fight. You essentially get a tireless, unhittable opponent, which is gonna be a nightmare to beat, if you even can. Replace F-Cadmium with F-Iron, and you get more martial artist than you do mercenary. With the proper training in certain martial arts, you can learn to use momentum and the force of your body falling rather than just exerted force to deal damage. Any Skimmer can do this and become effective in hand-to-hand combat. But pair that with an accomplished Electrum Misting, and you're once again left with a formidable opponent.

[cometaryorbit]

49 minutes ago, Underwater_Worldhopper said:

And A-Electrum can be extremely useful for a Twinborn, since you can train yourself to use it extremely effectively in combat.

Quite possible. My big question is whether getting that level of use out of A-Electrum is something that basically any Electrum Misting or Twinborn can achieve with just training/practice, or if it is more of a theoretical possibility / takes exceptional skill not available to default Allomancers of that type (like non-center-of-mass Steelpushing). We know it's possible, but not how feasible / generally available it is.

Vin didn't know it could be used for anything except countering atium, despite truly exceptional levels of Allomantic intuition. But she did have 11 other metals to work with at that point.

Quote

Large stores of breath can be used to achieve oxygen doping, which will basically give you A-Petwer-esque unlimited stamina (until your breath runs out, that is), which is a huge advantage in a fight. You essentially get a tireless, unhittable opponent, which is gonna be a nightmare to beat, if you even can.

Hmmm. If that works, F-Cadmium would be way more useful / less niche than I thought. I had thought it was only useful for surviving underwater / buried / etc.

[Underwater_Worldhopper he/him]

Just now, cometaryorbit said:

Quite possible. My big question is whether getting that level of use out of A-Electrum is something that basically any Electrum Misting or Twinborn can achieve with just training/practice, or if it is more of a theoretical possibility / takes exceptional skill not available to default Allomancers of that type (like non-center-of-mass Steelpushing). We know it's possible, but not how feasible / generally available it is.

Vin didn't know it could be used for anything except countering atium, despite truly exceptional levels of Allomantic intuition. But she did have 11 other metals to work with at that point.

It's something anyone should be able to do with practice. It has less to do with how well you can burn Electrum and more about how well you can interpret and glean information from Electrum Shadows, which is a learned ability separate from how well you can burn it. Obviously, being able to better burn Electrum will push how far forward into the future you can see, and so being able to burn Electrum better will enable you to anticipate things further in advance, but while it boosts the ability, it isn't necessary to be able to get information from the Shadows. Non-center Ironpulling/Steelpushing is difficult because Pushing and Pulling from the center of self is a feature of the ability, you need to be very skilled (which almost certainly requires you to have your soul warped by the power) and know what to do and how to do it. For Electrum, it's something you yourself are doing separate from the ability itself, so it isn't nearly so hard, you just need to know what to do and practice. Does that make sense?

Just now, cometaryorbit said:

Hmmm. If that works, F-Cadmium would be way more useful / less niche than I thought. I had thought it was only useful for surviving underwater / buried / etc.

Depending on how it works, there are all sorts of uses. 

[cometaryorbit]

40 minutes ago, Underwater_Worldhopper said:

It's something anyone should be able to do with practice. It has less to do with how well you can burn Electrum and more about how well you can interpret and glean information from Electrum Shadows, which is a learned ability separate from how well you can burn it. Obviously, being able to better burn Electrum will push how far forward into the future you can see, and so being able to burn Electrum better will enable you to anticipate things further in advance, but while it boosts the ability, it isn't necessary to be able to get information from the Shadows. Non-center Ironpulling/Steelpushing is difficult because Pushing and Pulling from the center of self is a feature of the ability, you need to be very skilled (which almost certainly requires you to have your soul warped by the power) and know what to do and how to do it. For Electrum, it's something you yourself are doing separate from the ability itself, so it isn't nearly so hard, you just need to know what to do and practice. Does that make sense?

That does make sense.

The reason I'm not 100% convinced is the 'all Allomancy expands the mind to some degree' principle and the Spiritual nature of A-Electrum (theoretically, truly extreme strength in it could give the full Spiritual Realm vision, but this is probably not attainable in practice).

I'm not sure if interpreting a cloud of electrum shadows in real time is something that is possible for the average human mind, without help from your soul being warped & mind expanded from the power.

It totally could be! But I think both models (just practice is enough vs. it takes something special) are compatible with the extremely limited information we have (basically just the couple sentences in the AAs and a few WoBs, all we've seen it used for on-page is countering atium).

Hopefully we'll see it in Era 3.

Edited July 2, 2023 by cometaryorbit

[alder24]

8 hours ago, cometaryorbit said:

Quite possible. My big question is whether getting that level of use out of A-Electrum is something that basically any Electrum Misting or Twinborn can achieve with just training/practice, or if it is more of a theoretical possibility / takes exceptional skill not available to default Allomancers of that type (like non-center-of-mass Steelpushing). We know it's possible, but not how feasible / generally available it is.

Using A-electrum effectively can be learned, but it's hard:

Spoiler

Questioner

How does electrum work?

Brandon Sanderson

Electrum can see future shadows only as far in the future as is done with atium in the books. They use it to counter atium in that they see their own future shadow fighting, and if they see their shadow get hit by an attack, they know to avoid that attack, and they change their own future. This compounds the future shadows they see, which makes it practically as effective at countering atium as atium itself.

While the scope of an electrum shadow is very limited, it could be useful in many situations. Like if you were playing tennis, you’d be able to look at your shadow and tell if you managed to hit the ball or not, and adjust accordingly. That would still take a lot of practice to master, but it could be very effective.

Miscellaneous 2016 (July 15, 2016)

 

But with those 2 Twinborns I can't see much synergy with their powers. Yes, separately those are nice, but I can't think of what they can do together which is special. Better at fighting and running, climbing and diving and that's it.

[Underwater_Worldhopper he/him]

16 hours ago, cometaryorbit said:

That does make sense.

The reason I'm not 100% convinced is the 'all Allomancy expands the mind to some degree' principle and the Spiritual nature of A-Electrum (theoretically, truly extreme strength in it could give the full Spiritual Realm vision, but this is probably not attainable in practice).

I believe it doesnt necessary expand the mind, just enhances it in some way, although expanding was what Atium-Electrum (and theoretically Electrum) do. Expanding vs Enhancing is mostly a semantic difference, but enhancing is much more broad in its implications than expanding, which is specifically about increasing your quality/speed/breadth of thought.

Quote

Brandon Sanderson

Allomancy's Mental Effects

An interesting side note is to watch how Allomancy—all of its forms—enhances the mind in some way. Though the original concept for the magic system focused on different powers—some physical, some mental—the final product always had a mental component. Notice how, when burning tin, Spook is more able to focus on solitary conversations in the room. Or how his mind can filter out the mist or the cloth he wears. Burning pewter or tin will also make the mind more alert and awake. Burning atium not only lets one see a little bit into the future, but also lets one process that information in a useful way.

The mind is such a big part of what makes us who we are. I wanted Allomancy to impact the characters—to have an effect you could see on the minds of those using it. As I've stated, one of the places where books can outshine television or movies is in the ability to see exactly what is happening inside a character's thoughts and emotions. By adding a mental component to each of the Allomantic powers, my hope was to play off of this strength of the written form.

https://wob.coppermind.net/events/270/#e7551

 

Also, Electrum can indeed grant you a vision of the SR. You'll never mange it through burning or Savantism alone though, you'll need to have ingested obscene amounts of it and then have a Nicroburst to Hyper-Flare it.

16 hours ago, cometaryorbit said:

Hopefully we'll see it in Era 3.

Fingers crossed!

9 hours ago, alder24 said:

Using A-electrum effectively can be learned, but it's hard:

  Hide contents

Questioner

How does electrum work?

Brandon Sanderson

Electrum can see future shadows only as far in the future as is done with atium in the books. They use it to counter atium in that they see their own future shadow fighting, and if they see their shadow get hit by an attack, they know to avoid that attack, and they change their own future. This compounds the future shadows they see, which makes it practically as effective at countering atium as atium itself.

While the scope of an electrum shadow is very limited, it could be useful in many situations. Like if you were playing tennis, you’d be able to look at your shadow and tell if you managed to hit the ball or not, and adjust accordingly. That would still take a lot of practice to master, but it could be very effective.

Miscellaneous 2016 (July 15, 2016)

But with those 2 Twinborns I can't see much synergy with their powers. Yes, separately those are nice, but I can't think of what they can do together which is special. Better at fighting and running, climbing and diving and that's it.

They don't have much magical synergy, but A-Electrum is pretty combat-oriented, and augmenting it with F-Cadmium or F-Iron could make for as potent a Twinborn at melee as you can get without Pewter