Pewter allomancy and healing.

[DoctaDajman]

So I believe that pewter allomancy speeds up the healing process for the user. This isn't said to be by a great amount but Vin made pretty great use of it a few times going from nearly dead to able to fight again a scene later.  (I know it could be days weeks or months) 

But what I want to explore is the potential for pewter healing when it is not used as a background slow burning unconscious usage. 

What of someone with access to duralumin and pewter?  

Could an allomancer gets stabbed in the gut and duralumin burn lbs of pewter in a matter of moments and the body naturally move through the healing process for them. 

[Trusk'our he/him]

2 hours ago, DoctaDajman said:

So I believe that pewter allomancy speeds up the healing process for the user. This isn't said to be by a great amount but Vin made pretty great use of it a few times going from nearly dead to able to fight again a scene later.  (I know it could be days weeks or months) 

But what I want to explore is the potential for pewter healing when it is not used as a background slow burning unconscious usage. 

What of someone with access to duralumin and pewter?  

Could an allomancer gets stabbed in the gut and duralumin burn lbs of pewter in a matter of moments and the body naturally move through the healing process for them. 

Maybe. Vin hasn't regenerated from injures while duralumin-flaring pewter to my knowledge, nor purged her system of a knock out drug in HoA.

It could certainly be a matter of numbers though, and Allomancers don't typically ingest a lot of metal at once.

Also, a Nicroburst may prove useful over needing a Hemalurgic spike for duralumin if you want to help a Thug recover quickly using this method.

[Treamayne]

2 hours ago, DoctaDajman said:

What of someone with access to duralumin and pewter?  

The problem is, Pewter "healing" is not F-Gold nor is it Stormlight healing. Pewter healing works like everything else Pewter does, slightly faster and slightly more efficient physical process. In Vin's case, her wounds from fighting the Inquisitor took two weeks before she even woke up (TFE Ch 15-16), and months more of limited mobility. Pewter healing seems to be less about "healing" what is hurting - and more about (like tin) everything physical is improved and accelerated (even if you only want one aspect to be boosted), including the natural healing processes. Pewter is likely to help keep you alive, but Duralumin-Pewter seems more effective at avoiding injury than healing it (as Pewter does far more to increase resiliancy, as seen in Vin's various Duralumin+Steel and Pewter stunts, or her Duralumin+Pewter Headbutt in WoA)

Annotation to TFE Ch 15:

Spoiler

Instinctive Healing

Burning metals by instinct, by the way, is something I had to add to the book for scenes like this. I had to be able to have characters be able to heal quickly–in a relative sort of way–so that I could keep the pacing where I wanted it. That meant long term, quick healing, if that makes any sense. I made it possible for an Allomancer’s body to use metals–particularly pewter and tin–when they needed them.

Spoilers

Those of you who have read to the end might wonder where the Lord Ruler got his fantastic healing powers. Well, it has to do with Feruchemy. See, the ability to heal one’s body is one of the things a Feruchemist can store up. And, the Lord Ruler’s power–by being both Allomancer and Feruchemist–is to draw near-infinite power from his Feruchemical storages by burning them. He can be any age he wants. He can live as long as he wants. And, he can heal as quickly and much as he wants. More on this in book two.

Hope that helps

[DoctaDajman]

2 hours ago, Trusk'our said:

Maybe. Vin hasn't regenerated from injures while duralumin-flaring pewter to my knowledge, nor purged her system of a knock out drug in HoA.

It could certainly be a matter of numbers though, and Allomancers don't typically ingest a lot of metal at once.

Also, a Nicroburst may prove useful over needing a Hemalurgic spike for duralumin if you want to help a Thug recover quickly using this method.

Oh it would take copious amounts. If as @Treamayne said, it took Vin months to recover and that was with a slow burn of pewter then it would probably take at least that much pewter to get her back on her feet in a shorter amount of time. 

My thought was, how much pewter in volume could you feasibly burn in a day?  If you were burning say a quarter of a pound of pewter shavings in a normal day and it took you 2 months worth to recover that would still be like 15lbs worth of pewter to get results equivalent to the pewter. 

Even if pewter did double normal healing factor that 2 months worth of pewter would still leave you needing 2 months of typical healing time to to catch up. 

So, say you had some money to spend on duralumin and pewter and you just go to town duralumin burning 30lbs of pewter in a half hour. I dont see why your body wouldn't start to knit itself up better. 

For massive wounds this would be an issue. For smaller wounds this could be a legitimate option to getting back to work faster. 

1 hour ago, Treamayne said:

The problem is, Pewter "healing" is not F-Gold nor is it Stormlight healing. Pewter healing works like everything else Pewter does, slightly faster and slightly more efficient physical process. In Vin's case, her wounds from fighting the Inquisitor took two weeks before she even woke up (TFE Ch 15-16), and months more of limited mobility. Pewter healing seems to be less about "healing" what is hurting - and more about (like tin) everything physical is improved and accelerated (even if you only want one aspect to be boosted), including the natural healing processes. Pewter is likely to help keep you alive, but Duralumin-Pewter seems more effective at avoiding injury than healing it (as Pewter does far more to increase resiliancy, as seen in Vin's various Duralumin+Steel and Pewter stunts, or her Duralumin+Pewter Headbutt in WoA)

Annotation to TFE Ch 15:

  Reveal hidden contents

Instinctive Healing

Burning metals by instinct, by the way, is something I had to add to the book for scenes like this. I had to be able to have characters be able to heal quickly–in a relative sort of way–so that I could keep the pacing where I wanted it. That meant long term, quick healing, if that makes any sense. I made it possible for an Allomancer’s body to use metals–particularly pewter and tin–when they needed them.

Spoilers

Those of you who have read to the end might wonder where the Lord Ruler got his fantastic healing powers. Well, it has to do with Feruchemy. See, the ability to heal one’s body is one of the things a Feruchemist can store up. And, the Lord Ruler’s power–by being both Allomancer and Feruchemist–is to draw near-infinite power from his Feruchemical storages by burning them. He can be any age he wants. He can live as long as he wants. And, he can heal as quickly and much as he wants. More on this in book two.

Hope that helps

I absolutely agree. 1 oz of pewter being instantly used up with a duralumin burn bracing for impact and or avoiding the damage all together is probably the oz of prevention that is worth hundreds of pounds of the cure. 

[Nitpicking]

You've implied the interesting question: what is a pewter savant like?

[Treamayne]

4 hours ago, Nitpicking said:

You've implied the interesting question: what is a pewter savant like?

Tarson was a Pewter Savant, but as we know from Sazed - many Thugs rarely live through the process of becoming a Savant. Epigraph to HoA Ch 16:

Spoiler

In most cases, with most metals, the effects of this are very slight. Bronze burners, for instance, often become bronze savants without knowing it. Their range is expanded from burning the metal so long. Becoming a pewter savant is dangerous, as it requires pushing the body so hard in a state where one cannot feel exhaustion or pain. Most accidentally kill themselves before the process is complete, and in my opinion, the benefit isn't worth the effort.

Hope that helps

[JustQuestin2004 he/him]

5 hours ago, Nitpicking said:

You've implied the interesting question: what is a pewter savant like?

 

52 minutes ago, Treamayne said:

Tarson was a Pewter Savant, but as we know from Sazed - many Thugs rarely live through the process of becoming a Savant. Epigraph to HoA Ch 16:

  Hide contents

In most cases, with most metals, the effects of this are very slight. Bronze burners, for instance, often become bronze savants without knowing it. Their range is expanded from burning the metal so long. Becoming a pewter savant is dangerous, as it requires pushing the body so hard in a state where one cannot feel exhaustion or pain. Most accidentally kill themselves before the process is complete, and in my opinion, the benefit isn't worth the effort.

Hope that helps

Tarson was a Koloss-Blooded, so he was already stronger and healed faster than an average human, but combined with Pewter Savantism, he got shot in his arm, had it in a sling and within a few days at most, had mostly healed back to normal.

A pewter savant, so longas they have plenty of pewter to burn, can likely sleep off any minor wounds in a single night, while major wounds could heal within a few weeks so long as they aren't completely fatal like a headshot.

A bigger advantage is that other wounds, like an axe to the stomach that would be lethal to a normal person, can be survived by a pewterarm, allowing them the chance to heal and recover with enough medical attention, like Vin in the first book. For a pewterarm, lethal wounds for them would need to be 'instantly dead' for a regular person to bring them down for sure.

[DoctaDajman]

On 8/11/2025 at 7:58 PM, JustQuestin2004 said:

Tarson was a Koloss-Blooded, so he was already stronger and healed faster than an average human, but combined with Pewter Savantism, he got shot in his arm, had it in a sling and within a few days at most, had mostly healed back to normal.

This is largely what I was getting at. If you gave Tarson a spike with duralumin do you think he could duralumin burn 3-4 days worth of consistent pewter burn in a under a minute and have healed his arm that quickly?  Heck find yourself a buddy like Wayne who can toss up a speed bubble and you might be able to make the healing look near instant as if there was gold feruchemy working.