Crafting weapons and cool effects

[Tamriel Wolfsbaine]

Okay... so I just saw the trailer for the new Planet of the Apes movie and his staff almost looks like a cattle prod... which made me think of games with electric powered weapons. Of course that got my mind thinking, how could I make something like that in the cosmere? 

I guess the first question is.... could you create a one shot zapping cattle prod commanded to "Destroy Evil"? Some serious touch of death vibes here? 

What about a supercharged plasma cutting sword or something?  Brass compounder with a tungsten blade funneling heat through the weapon? Feruchemy protects the ferring as they would be hot enough to heat the weapon in the first place... And Tungsten can withstand temps above 6000 degrees f before melting at 6200f. So I assume you could swing that bad boi around and pretty well melt through everything. Is this the closest to a lightsaber Scadrial can get? 

I am sure you could make just about anything with the right aons but I have yet to read that book. 

Please share any thoughts. Extra points if you can make a hammer or staff that is lightning charged. 

Edited May 4 by Tamriel Wolfsbaine

[TheSurvivorofDeath]

First of all, do not tell a cattle prod to “Destroy Evil”. Sentient cattle prods are notoriously talkative and very sarcastic. 
Second of all, aons are your best bet for any magical weapons. You can get just about any effect from that system. If you’re really interested in looking at the possibilities you’d definitely need to look at Elantris. 
Now, electricity and lightning is tricky even with AonDor. You could probably get flames with the surge of abrasion and with a little fidgeting with brass compounding. For electricity though… that’s tough. You could maybe, and I seriously stress the maybe here, create an Awakened generator that converts investiture into electricity with a complex command. Aons could maybe generate the raw power to convert into electricity, though I don’t know if it would convert easily, and you’d need the circuitry. Maybe a stormspren fabrial affixed to a blade could do it. It’s interesting how there’s no major magic system that directly produces electricity that we’ve seen onscreen. The closest we have is Stormform. 
Anyway, that’s my piece. I could maybe think of some specific methods for specific weapons but this is just a basic answer. 

[alder24]

14 hours ago, Tamriel Wolfsbaine said:

I guess the first question is.... could you create a one shot zapping cattle prod commanded to "Destroy Evil"? Some serious touch of death vibes here? 

Probably not, the shape of Nightblood was important for its Awakening. It also matters that he's made out of steel. It wouldn't have worked if he was something else. Not to mention that Endowment was involved in Nightblood's creation, he is one and only in Cosmere, something that can't be repeated without Endowment's involvement. 

Spoiler

Questioner

If Vasher and Shashara had Awakened a non-weapon in exactly the same way as Nightblood (say a shield), would the object exhibit the same properties as Nightblood?

Brandon Sanderson

So, if you said "destroy evil" to a shield... no, it wouldn't be exactly the same. The Command is the most important part of all of this, but the shape, how the weapon perceives itself, how you perceive it, is all gonna play into this. They're playing with some real dangerous stuff when they made Nightblood. And it didn't go as intended.

San Diego Comic-Con@Home 2020 (July 23, 2020)

 

Spoiler

asmodeus

If the only variable we change, during the creation of Nightblood, is to use a different Allomantically-viable metal (say, iron or bronze instead of steel), but keep everything else constant (the same Breaths, same people doing the same visualization, and whatever other factors were involved), would it have manifested different powers/capabilities?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes. Most likely.

YouTube Spoiler Stream 3 (Dec. 16, 2021)

 

Spoiler

OrangeJedi

When Nightblood created, was Endowment involved in any way more than normal?

Brandon Sanderson

Good question, you qualified that the right way! I would say yes, but maybe not to the extent you're thinking.

OrangeJedi

Normal being using Endowment's Investiture to Awaken. There's something special.

Brandon Sanderson

I would say, there is something special.

Legion Release Party (Sept. 19, 2018)

 

Spoiler

LeFlshe

At Dragonsteel this year, you confirmed that Nightblood is not a Dawnshard. However, its abilities seem to be far greater than that of Vivenna’s blade, presumably made with the same method. This disparity may be due to the person who originally Awakened the swords and leads one to believe that Nightblood, despite not being the Dawnshard, had a Dawnshard involved in its creation. Therefore, is Shashara, the person who Awakened Nightblood, a Dawnshard?

Brandon Sanderson

Excellent questions. You’ve got one faulty premise: Vivenna’s sword was intentionally designed differently to not get another Nightblood. So let’s keep that in mind. That said, I don’t know that they could make another Nightblood if they wanted to. But she definitely did not want to, and there’s a different process that they use nowadays for safer swords.

Questioner 2

Is Vivenna’s sword better or worse than Nightblood?

Brandon Sanderson

Depends on what you want from the sword. Vivenna’s sword does not automatically suck the soul and Investiture out of anything it touches, disintegrating that which it touches, which is both a plus and a minus.

YouTube Spoiler Stream 6 (Dec. 19, 2023)

 

14 hours ago, Tamriel Wolfsbaine said:

What about a supercharged plasma cutting sword or something?  Brass compounder with a tungsten blade funneling heat through the weapon? Feruchemy protects the ferring as they would be hot enough to heat the weapon in the first place... And Tungsten can withstand temps above 6000 degrees f before melting at 6200f. So I assume you could swing that bad boi around and pretty well melt through everything. Is this the closest to a lightsaber Scadrial can get? 

Brass would melt and your clothes would catch fire long before reaching 6k degrees F. Sure Feruchemy protects you from some effects of your increase in power, but not from all - a F-pewter makes you slower as massive bulky muscles restrict your movement, F-iron also slows you down, F-steel doesn't protect your from friction etc. F-brass might protect you from some effects of heat, but not from all, I expect it won't protect you from such extreme temperatures. 

You want a lightsaber on Scadrial - give some levels of self-awareness to Atium swords, make Honorblades out of them. And it just happened that medallions work by very similar mechanisms and are self-aware a little, just like Honorblades. Make an Atium-medallion and you might end up with a Shardblade - which is better than a lightsaber. 

You can make a railgun with primer cubes charged A-steel, A-iron and A-duralumin, which would be even easier to make than on Earth. 

14 hours ago, Tamriel Wolfsbaine said:

Please share any thoughts. Extra points if you can make a hammer or staff that is lightning charged. 

Pretty sure investiture alone can be made into electricity - TSM. In the future turning investiture directly into lightning won't be any problem.