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Characters with uncharacteristic powers


Red Ferring

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I was just thinking about a feeble old woman who was a pewterarm. It would be awesome to see that in the books! We've only seen Vin and Shan Elarial as women burning pewter and they were both mistborn. Imagine an aged woman, stricken with arthritis, needing to defend her grandkids from a threat and burned pewter. Suddenly not aching in the joints and no longer cold. She beats up a group of men or some other thing. That's an awesome scene.
I imagined what if my older, red-faced and stout boss were a steel ferring. Suddenly running at inhuman speeds.

What other unlikely matches of people/powers would you like to see in the stories or can imagine as awesome and unexpected?

Edited by Red Ferring
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an introverted nerd, who is also a very straightforward person, as a soother/rioter.

really, i can barely function normally in most social situations with non-nerd people, but i wouldn't be able to llearn reading others and manipulating their emotions if i had years to train and my life depended on it.

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an introverted nerd, who is also a very straightforward person, as a soother/rioter.

really, i can barely function normally in most social situations with non-nerd people, but i wouldn't be able to llearn reading others and manipulating their emotions if i had years to train and my life depended on it.

This sounds like it should work quite well, really. In any situation where there's a collection of emotions likely to be present in the people, you get to choose which of them they're actually feeling, and that should simplify things. Maybe it works better with Soothing, because you can just carefully get rid of everything that isn't part of your designated Optimum Emotion Blend, slowly enough for the gaps to fill themselves in.  :lol:

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A blind Tinmind (what would happen if he stored/tapped vision?), able to enhance his other senses so he can "see" using sound and touch.

I think I just shoved Dare Devil into the Brandonverse...

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A blind Tinmind (what would happen if he stored/tapped vision?), able to enhance his other senses so he can "see" using sound and touch.

I think I just shoved Dare Devil into the Brandonverse...

If he lacked the ability to see I don't think a storable trait would exist.

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If he lacked the ability to see I don't think a storable trait would exist.

OK, fair point. What if a blind Feruchemist was supplied with an unlocked Tinmind filled with Vision?

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OK, fair point. What if a blind Feruchemist was supplied with an unlocked Tinmind filled with Vision?

It would depend if he had eyes that worked at least a little bit. If he were born without eyes or they were removed or damaged beyond usability, then no, he couldn't use sight at all. But if he were only "blind" like very very poor eyesight, then a sight tinmind would work for him, even if tapping it only improved his sight to what's "normal" for the rest of us

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For a Mistborn RPG once I had an Obligator accountant who was a late Snapper into a Thug. There was some slight utility in staying awake and alert a bit longer than his peers, but is that really an advantage? "You have the amazing superpower, so we're gonna give you all the REALLY long and boring assignments and force you not to sleep!" ...Yay? In theory, if he ever is attacked he'll have the advantage, but even in the Final Empire with thieves, that's a relatively low concern for someone in his job.

 

A Coinshot with poor vision. Difficulty aiming her own projectiles, and if she tried to steeljump she'd prolly land maladroitly when she has trouble judging how far away the ground is or what the footing will be like, and possibly vertigo through the jump itself with difficulty seeing her surroundings and they're suddenly far away and going by quickly.

 

A germophobe with tin? Bit of a stretch.

 

Actually, now I wonder if there are specific metallic maladaptions. Could there be a "cross-eyed" Seeker who is simply incapable of determining where a bronzepulse comes from? A tineye whose hearing just doesn't enhance? A Lurcher who hallucinates phantom Ironlines?

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A Coinshot with poor vision. Difficulty aiming her own projectiles, and if she tried to steeljump she'd prolly land maladroitly when she has trouble judging how far away the ground is or what the footing will be like, and possibly vertigo through the jump itself with difficulty seeing her surroundings and they're suddenly far away and going by quickly.

How about a Coinshot with severe acrophobia? He'd probably be scared of his own powers because of the possibility of accidental vertical self-propulsion.

Edited by skaa
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For a Mistborn RPG once I had an Obligator accountant who was a late Snapper into a Thug. There was some slight utility in staying awake and alert a bit longer than his peers, but is that really an advantage? "You have the amazing superpower, so we're gonna give you all the REALLY long and boring assignments and force you not to sleep!" ...Yay? In theory, if he ever is attacked he'll have the advantage, but even in the Final Empire with thieves, that's a relatively low concern for someone in his job.

A Coinshot with poor vision. Difficulty aiming her own projectiles, and if she tried to steeljump she'd prolly land maladroitly when she has trouble judging how far away the ground is or what the footing will be like, and possibly vertigo through the jump itself with difficulty seeing her surroundings and they're suddenly far away and going by quickly.

Those are exactly what I'm talking about. I especially love your RPG Obligator. An accountant with super strength is an apparent waste and uses the secondary effects of the metal to further his career. I felt like it was a great play on the powers in the books to have the characters match their powers. A soldier thug of Ham. A master manipulator soother of Breeze. A nervous lookout tineye of Spook. But there weren't many characters who didn't seem perfectly matched to their metal. I hope we see more of them in the books.
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Those are exactly what I'm talking about. I especially love your RPG Obligator. An accountant with super strength is an apparent waste and uses the secondary effects of the metal to further his career. I felt like it was a great play on the powers in the books to have the characters match their powers. A soldier thug of Ham. A master manipulator soother of Breeze. A nervous lookout tineye of Spook. But there weren't many characters who didn't seem perfectly matched to their metal. I hope we see more of them in the books.

 

Of course, since your metal affinity is written into your Spiritweb (which is basically your soul), I find it quite likely that it is very difficult to come across a person who is ill-matched to their metal.

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If nothing else, the very high pay an allomancer can get for using their abilities would tend to shove people into jobs related to that ability, even if they SUCK at using their ability.

For example, a Soother/Rioter with a very heavy touch could be hired to sabotage a negotiation. All they have to do is join the retinue of (side) and then do a very obvious job of messing with the emotions of either side (assuming there's a Copper Cloud). Instant diplomatic breakdown.

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If nothing else, the very high pay an allomancer can get for using their abilities would tend to shove people into jobs related to that ability, even if they SUCK at using their ability.

For example, a Soother/Rioter with a very heavy touch could be hired to sabotage a negotiation. All they have to do is join the retinue of (side) and then do a very obvious job of messing with the emotions of either side (assuming there's a Copper Cloud). Instant diplomatic breakdown.

That's a really good point. It's possible due to Ham's good nature, he may have chosen a very different career path than soldier/hired muscle had he not been born a Thug. Same could go for Breeze and not having gotten so good at smooth talking if he didn't know he had such an advantage.

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Late in book 1/early in book 2 Ham tells Vin that the main reason he does things like do jobs for Kelsier is because the income provides a much better life for his wife & kids than they could otherwise hope for.

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Late in book 1/early in book 2 Ham tells Vin that the main reason he does things like do jobs for Kelsier is because the income provides a much better life for his wife & kids than they could otherwise hope for.

You're right. I guess I didn't give Brandon enough credit for having thought through his characters' motivations and life choices. Man, I respect and admire the heck out of that man's thoroughness and planning.

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Wanna see an autophobic Steel or Iron misting. There are so many things wrong with that.

 

I thought that was the fear of lonliness? What would that have to do with external physical allomancy?

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I was just thinking about a feeble old woman who was a pewterarm. It would be awesome to see that in the books! We've only seen Vin and Elend's old fiancé as woman burning pewter and they were both mistborn. Imagine an aged woman, stricken with arthritis, needing to defend her grandkids from a threat and burned pewter. Suddenly not aching in the joints and no longer cold. She beats up a group of men or some other thing. That's an awesome scene.

I imagined what if my older, red-faced and stout boss were a steel ferring. Suddenly running at inhuman speeds.

What other unlikely matches of people/powers would you like to see in the stories or can imagine as awesome and unexpected?

 

I actually play one of these in the Mistborn: The Inquisition RP.  She's a 100+ retired obligator, who is basically using pewter to help her get up every morning, protect from the injuries that come with being really old, and to stay alive.  She's very fun.  

 

I think we also have someone playing a Soother who is too socially anxious to soothe normally, but when cross dressing he adopts a totally different personality, and his female persona is an excellent soother.  

 

We also have a Smoker who always wants to be the center of attention, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but kind of runs contrary to the job description.  Oh, and I also play a Mistborn who only studies the use of his metals academically (he's an obligator too), and has little to no combat ability.  

 

There's also a tineye who is pretty much the most honest person in the RP and she would definitely make a terrible spy.

 

I haven't thought of some of our characters this way before, so it's kind of fun.  I'll keep trying to think of more.  

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Agoraphobic Tineye who purposely Savanted himself and now refuses to burn his metals as a way of further blocking out the outside world.

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