Improving (Deadeye) Shardplate

[Trusk'our he/him]

Shardplate is awesome. It enhances your speed and greatly expands your strength and durability. However, this is basically even across all Deadeye Plate as far as I can tell, with no unique abilities or improved functions.

So, if you were on Alethkar and were tasked by your Highprince to improve their Shardplate, what could you do to empower it more greatly?

First, I think it's a good idea to start simple. Deadeye Plate uses Stormlight infused gemstones to fuel its abilities, so what if you took perfect gemstones repeatedly filled by Highstormes to supercharge them? Would the extra Stormlight increase the enhancements you get? At the very least, I imagine it would make the Plate more durable, as it can repair itself more before draining completely.

Moving to something more complex, could you weld Hemalurgic spikes to your Plate to empower the Spren composing it? You probably can't spike the metal due to its physical properties, but if fusing it to the Plate works I wonder if you could have the Plate grant you the spikes' power like it does its own?

Or, could you perhaps merge the plate with a Hemalurgic spike granting it access to Feruchemy, then allowing the Plate to feed off its bearer? Maybe fuse on a large Metalmind you could further Invest the Plate, allowing it to resist an extra hit or two from a Shardblade in placed. Or, since Plate can fuel its abilities via Stormlight, maybe you could use this as a roundabout method to convert Stormlight into Feruchemical Investiture? Attach a Bloodmaker's power to a Plate gauntlet, or some other smaller part, allowing whoever wears it to heal via Stormlight (maybe do this with a Deadeye Blade too)?

If we're going along the concept of Hemalurgic spikes enhancing Plate, could slotting Fabrial Spren into Plate enhance it beyond just giving it more Stormlight to run off? I don't know how the two would interact, but it would be interesting if the Plate acted as an intermediary between the bearer and the added Spren, maybe allowing an easier and more universal way to bond Lesser Spren.

[NovaOmen Any/All(Get creative!!!)]

Ah someone has mentioned hemalurgy and as such, I am here!!!

I don't know if a high storm could "supercharge" plate, though it would certainly recharge the armor. You could probably modify the crystal cages (or the plate itself) with metal to slightly alter the effects of plate and the rate of which it converts investiture into energy. 

Now, charged spikes and metalminds are where things get interesting! If you wanted to fuse a metalmind to the plate (to perhaps convert Rosharan Investiture into Feruchemical charges) you'd probably need a Bondsmith or an Excisor and some Medallions to key the metal to the deadplate.

With hemalurgy perhaps you can pull an ishar and spike the spren with crystal spikes, you'd likely need to intentionally regrow the plate around the spikes to let them stick. This method could also stick metal hemalurgic spikes, though I am unsure if those work on type 1s

[Jult]

Fabrials would be a great way to go. It'd be an extra drain on Stormlight, but you could theoretically use them to imitate any of the Surges.

As technology increases, I'm also curious about the role that synthetic gems will play in powering Shardplate and fabrials. Brandon has said before that synthetic gems would be as effective as real ones. Right now, perfect gems are a scarce resource, but that may change. Smaller, more efficient batteries are always a huge benefit.

If you want a "greener" solution that sucks up less Investiture, I'd look to Sprouter tech. Zephyr and Crimson spores have some great offensive potential. Or you could use Roseite spores as temporary patches for damaged plate.

[Nitpicking]

3 hours ago, Jult said:

Fabrials would be a great way to go. It'd be an extra drain on Stormlight, but you could theoretically use them to imitate any of the Surges.

You triggered a scary thought.

Use them to imitate the ability of Bondsmiths to open a Perpendicularity. Infinite Investiture!

[Jult]

1 hour ago, Nitpicking said:

You triggered a scary thought.

Use them to imitate the ability of Bondsmiths to open a Perpendicularity. Infinite Investiture!

I thought of that too. Brandon once said a Bondsmith fabrial doesn't exist.

Spoiler

Quote

kvancleeff21

What was the fabrial used by Nale to completely revive Szeth at the end of Words of Radiance? That seems like an immensely powerful fabrial, and I don’t think it has been mentioned since.

Brandon Sanderson

During the last days of the heights of the Knights Radiant, they were figuring out how to replicate most Radiant abilities with fabrials. This is where... the Oathgates as a guide for that sort of thing. So you're just seeing a fabrial that can replicate what an Edgedancer does, or a Truthwatcher. There were fabrials created that could do this for all ten Surges. Okay, nine of the ten Surges. Bondsmithing is its own weird thing, as usual. So yes, it's a very valuable fabrial to have, and that is why you haven't seen much more of it because it is in the hands of the Skybreakers, and we aren't spending a lot of time with the Skybreakers. But yeah, it is a thing they have. And there are fabrials that can replicate the other eight as well. You've seen several of them in the books already.

YouTube Spoiler Stream 3 (Dec. 16, 2021)

But I don't think he has said that one couldn't exist. However, it would probably involve shoving the Sibling, Nightwatcher, or Syl into a gem. Or getting them to transform into some kind of fabrial (Soulcaster style).

That or you just set up a really long extension cord  from Urithiru since the tower kind of is a giant Investiture generator.

[Trusk'our he/him]

On 10/5/2025 at 8:05 PM, NovaOmen said:

Ah someone has mentioned hemalurgy and as such, I am here!!!

 

Spoiler

Ah, a fellow Hemalurgy enthusiast. Come with me, friend. We will do great works across the Cosmere together.

 

On 10/5/2025 at 8:05 PM, NovaOmen said:

I don't know if a high storm could "supercharge" plate, though it would certainly recharge the armor.

Sorry, I don't think I communicated my idea very well.

I was thinking more along the lines of supercharging the gemstones used to fuel the Plate, replacing the typical ones with perfect gemstones. Since perfect gemstones are supposed to hold much more than normal ones when repeatedly exposed to Highstorms (as per Shallan's hearings in RoW, chapter 87), my thinking is that this extra Investiture plugged in may boost their typical abilities. If not, oh well, at least there's more Investiture to hold onto when the Plate cracks, allowing it to maintain its functions longer than normal.

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You could probably modify the crystal cages (or the plate itself) with metal to slightly alter the effects of plate and the rate of which it converts investiture into energy. 

Huh. That's an interesting idea. I never considered that before.

Maybe use zinc with extra Stormlight to get empowered Plate, or pewter to exhibit some element related the the Platespren?

On 10/5/2025 at 8:05 PM, NovaOmen said:

With hemalurgy perhaps you can pull an ishar and spike the spren with crystal spikes, you'd likely need to intentionally regrow the plate around the spikes to let them stick. This method could also stick metal hemalurgic spikes, though I am unsure if those work on type 1s

Honestly, I'm not sure gem "spikes" are necessary. Moash's spikes may very well just capture Spren as normal, they just happen to pierce his Spiritweb in the right bindpoints along with the correct Intent.

Needs more evidence before it can be conclusive, obviously.

12 hours ago, Jult said:

Fabrials would be a great way to go. It'd be an extra drain on Stormlight, but you could theoretically use them to imitate any of the Surges.

You know, why don't Shardbearers just hold big bags of gems with when they go into battle? We've seen that Plate can absorb Stormlight in nearby sources (Dalinar's army providing just enough Light in WoK to keep Dalinar's and Adolin's Plate together for the confrontation with Sadeas and Kaladin's Light being absorbed by his helmet-gauntlet in WoR), and its not like the weight would be an issue for their incredible strength. Is it just not cost effective? Too easy to lose their extra spheres?

Regardless, Tomor's conjoiner flight Fabrial would be fun to pair with Plate, even without some bonding mechanism to directly improve the Plate or the wearer through the Plate's bond with them. The mechanical effects are plenty powerful in their own right.

Edited October 7, 2025 by Trusk'our

[Jult]

10 hours ago, Trusk'our said:

You know, why don't Shardbearers just hold big bags of gems with when they go into battle? We've seen that Plate can absorb Stormlight in nearby sources (Dalinar's army providing just enough Light in WoK to keep Dalinar's and Adolin's Plate together for the confrontation with Sadeas and Kaladin's Light being absorbed by his helmet-gauntlet in WoR), and its not like the weight would be an issue for their incredible strength. Is it just not cost effective? Too easy to lose their extra spheres?

It's probably just not worth it. In the WoK scene you referenced, they collected the pocket change of 2,600 men (many being lighteyed soldiers) and it was still going to take days to fully recharge the armor. Carrying thousands of gems for such a slow infusion seems impractical.

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It would take days to regrow Dalinar’s own gauntlet. Longer, if the Parshendi tried to grow a full suit from the one he had left. They would fail, so long as Dalinar’s armorers fed Stormlight to his suit. The abandoned gauntlet would degrade and crumble to dust, a new one growing for Dalinar.

For now, he wore Adolin’s. They had collected all of the infused gemstones among his twenty-six hundred men and used that Stormlight to recharge and reinforce his armor. It was still scarred with cracks. Healing as much damage as it had sustained would take days, but the Plate was in fighting shape again, if it came to that.

Plus, the infusion may not happen passively. We don't really see how it works, but it sounds like Dalinar's armorers need to actively "feed" Stormlight to his plate. If I had to guess, they're probably using something similar to the the Arnist Method to move light from their smaller gems into the 10 large gems attached to the Shardplate.

As a side note, I wonder if the Alethi can mend Shardplate faster now that they know the Vriztl Guild's method for transferring light faster using tuning forks.

 

What happened with Kaladin and the helmet-gauntlet is probably similar. Radiants seem capable of transferring Stormlight at much faster speeds than any artifabrian can manage. I'd love to see one of the more "scholarly" orders devote themselves to fabrial crafting in the future.

[Nitpicking]

On 10/6/2025 at 3:29 PM, Jult said:

That or you just set up a really long extension cord  from Urithiru since the tower kind of is a giant Investiture generator.

Easy. Use an Elsecalling fabrial so someone can just reach a hand out and have it be in the Tower.