Allomantic Power Gradient *Magic Spoilers*

[Silus - Shard of Flame he/him]

So I've been thinking a bit about Mistings and Mistborn.  And the "all or one" mentality of this magic system seems weird to me.  I like the idea of a gradient of abilities better, but that doesn't exist.  That's fine with me, but it does provide a nice space for hypothetical thinking, which is what I like!

So my thought is, what if you could have less powers than a Mistborn, but more than a Misting?  What would you call this?  What sort of form would it take?  Here's what I've thought up.

I think that the amount of power would scale up by powers of two.  The next level up from a Misting would have two, then up from that would have 4, than 8 and finally a full powered Mistborn with 16 (plus the 2 God Metals, but those never counted anyway)

Here's what I think these would be called:

Two powers=Mistcoin (two sides of a coin for two powers)

Four powers=Mistsand (one fourth of the total metals is a quarter.  Quarter, quart, quarts, quartz, sand.  Dumb pun, I know)

Eight powers=Misteye (half the powers is one of two, one of two eyes, yeah, another dumb one)

I'll post the list of names for specific examples of these later.  If you want to come up with better names, do so!

[Curious Anamaximder he/him]

Nice!

[Guest]

Remember that Mistborn aren't all the same power. Compare TLR's Allomancy to Vin's and to Elend's.

 

I personally have looked at Mistings vs Mistborn this way.

 

There's a maximum amount of Allomantic power a living being can possess, call that 100.

TLR was at 100, Elend is 40, Vin was at 30, and Kelsier was 28. Ham, Breeze, Spook are all 6-15. Mistborn can't form if they've got less than about 15, and 15-20 gives either low-power Mistborn of high-power Mistings

(I'm making these numbers up as I go, so if you disagree about the specific numbers themselves it's irrelevant)

 

They also have 16 Spiritual "Doors" that are all barred closed and side-by-side. These need to be broken down by the Pressure being exerted by the power, and is called Snapping

 

If you have enough Pressure when you Snap to force open 1 door, the Power flows through that door and the Pressure on the other doors decreases. You get a Misting.

But if the Pressure is so high that all the doors are straining, Snapping causes the first door to be ripped right out of it's frame, resulting in a structural failure and giving a Mistborn.

[skaa he/him]

While there are no natural "Mistcoins", etc., these power combinations can be granted via Hemalurgy, so I think this is a valid topic for discussion. Of course, Hemalurgy can give any number of Allomantic abilities, not just in powers of 2, but I guess we can limit ourselves to that to make things interesting. In addition, let's not include Atium in any of the possible sets.

Two Powers

Spook became a Tin-Pewter "Mistcoin" for a while in HoA, and a pretty awesome one at that. Pewter and Tin are both Internal Physical and complement each other pretty well.

In fact, since Push-Pull pairs in the same Quadrant are naturally complementary, these would be obvious choices when picking a "Mistcoin" power combo. We've seen what a Tin-Pewter can do in HoA. There were also many Iron-Steel combo scenes in the original Mistborn trilogy, where the Mistborn characters combined the two External Physical metals to perform awesome feats that normal Coinshots and Lurchers aren't able to do. Zinc-Brass "Mistcoins" would be master manipulators. Nicrosil-Chromium "Mistcoins" could sow chaos in an Allomantic battlefield.

Of course, just because the "natural" pairings of metals are complementary doesn't mean they are the best pairs. Duralumin is only practical when paired with an Allomantic power outside of its Quadrant (Enhancement), while Aluminum is not a good pair for any power. Gold is similarly useless for pairing, though at least Gold won't deplete your metal reserves!

Chromium is probably best paired with Bronze (the perfect Allomancy hunter!) and Nicrosil with Copper (Allomancy support combo).

Pewter is a good pair for any metal except Aluminum. The best non-Atium Pewter combinations in my opinion are Tin-Pewter (of course ), Pewter-Duralumin, Pewter-Chromium, and Pewter-Bendalloy. In fact, I think a Pewter-Bendalloy user is almost as terrifying as an Atium user.

Copper is an interesting pair for either Zinc or Brass because such a combination gives a person both access to and immunity from Emotional Allomancy, in addition to protection from Seeking. Remember that within a Coppercloud (an anti-Seeking region), only the Copper user himself is protected from Rioting and Soothing, so a Zinc-Copper/Brass-Copper user can simultaneously manipulate other people's emotions while protecting his own.

Here's an interesting idea for a support member in a team: A Copper-Cadmium "Mistcoin". The idea is for such a member to isolate himself in a hidden room, create a Coppercloud to protect everyone in the house from Seeking, then create a Cadmium bubble inside the room so he could stay awake for days (merely hours in his frame of reference), basically keeping the Coppercloud running for a very long period of time. Assuming this would even work (I am not at all sure that the Coppercloud will extend beyond the bubble), this is also a good way to protect the support member even when he is discovered because as we've seen in AoL, a Cadmium bubble gives reinforcements more time to arrive and save the day.

Four Powers

As for "Mistsands" (how about calling them "Mistetra" instead?), here are my favorite combinations so far (I'll need more time to think of better ideas):

• Pewter-Copper-Duralumin-Bendalloy - Awesome short-range offense and awesome defense; one metal per Quadrant.
• Steel-Pewter-Duralumin-Chromium - Great long range and short range offense; decent defense.
• Brass-Copper-Chromium-Bendalloy - Mostly non-offensive. Great for people who want to be left alone.
• Copper-Nicrosil-Cadmium-Bendalloy - A very versatile support set.
• Tin-Pewter-Bronze/Brass-Bendalloy - A great survival set. Create a time bubble the moment you sense possible danger (e.g. unexpected Allomantic pulses), analyze the situation with enhanced senses, then choose the best course of action. Choose Brass instead of Bronze if you're the only Allomancer around since Soothing people is a great way to keep safe.
• Iron-Tin-Pewter-Zinc - Crash into things! Make everyone angry! Have fistfights in dark alleys! Long range attacks and bubbles are for wimps! (This is just a joke, of course. I don't like this combination at all.)

 

Why yes, I do like Bendalloy. How can you tell?

 

Oh, and thinking of good sets of four powers reminds me a lot of Pokemon.

 

 

Eight Powers

I guess choosing a set of "Misteye" powers (alternative name suggestion: "Mistoct") is just a matter of removing your 8 least favorite powers from the list. I don't think I'd ever use Iron, Zinc, Bronze, Aluminum, Nicrosil, Gold, Electrum, and Cadmium, so here would be my ideal Misteye/Mistoct powers: Steel, Tin, Pewter, Brass, Copper, Duralumin, Chromium, and Bendalloy.

Edited May 16, 2015 by skaa

[Guest]

Here's an interesting idea for a support member in a team: A Copper-Cadmium "Mistcoin". The idea is for such a member to isolate himself in a hidden room, create a Coppercloud to protect everyone in the house from Seeking, then create a Cadmium bubble inside the room so he could stay awake for days (merely hours in his frame of reference), basically keeping the Coppercloud running for a very long period of time. Assuming this would even work (I am not at all sure that the Coppercloud will extend beyond the bubble), this is also a good way to protect the support member even when he is discovered because as we've seen in AoL, a Cadmium bubble gives reinforcements more time to arrive and save the day.

 

 

Love the concept, but Bendalloy bubbles are WoB confirmed to mess with cross-barrier investiture so I see no reason the same wouldn't be true for Cadmium. (The specific example he was asked about was Push/Pull from inside a Bubble on metal outside the Bubble)

 

As for Mistcoin ideas:

Zinc plus:

Pewter. Riot the opponents sense of fear, or even just their need to pee, during a fight.

Nicrosil: good way to find mistings. Offer a simple handshake, and while you're touching them riot their terror for just a second. They'll burn any metals instinctively, and their reserves will flare out of control. They're left exposed, without metals, and disoriented.

Bronze: again good for finding mistings (do the same as Nicrosil), but far more dangerous for the handshaker

[Dunkum he/him]

Pewter Cadmium chromium and bronze would make for a very very good mistborn seeker.  bronze your way to finding someone, then use cadmium to slow time until reinforcements arrive.  presumably there would be some fighting involved, but pewter lets you take a beating pretty well, and chromium can help you deplete your opponent's metal supplies, both prolonging the fight.

another good one for that would be tin bronze brass chromium.  this is more useful for mistings, particularly ones that aren't copperclouds: bronze and tin to find them, then, similar to the above zinc/nicrosil idea use brass to soothe away anxiety/distrust/etc, and chromium to sap metal reserves.  maybe swap tin out for pewter in order to help with actual capturing.

 

I agree that the 8 power item is least interesting, since you pretty much automatically disregard gold and aluminum as worthless, its then just a matter of playing favorites.  cadmium and bronze probably aren't going to be very high on most people's lists either, and without atium around, electrum is going to be less useful too.  You could try to build a very good support person: zinc and brass to bolster allies and deflate enemies, iron and steel to deflect attacks, tin and bronze for detection, nicrosil to improve allies/surprise enemies and copper to hide/protect allies.  maybe swap the copper out for pewter to improve reaction times (unless tin already does that, that is sort of in between what those 2 do) or bendalloy to give allies a chance to get a breathe in in between enemies.  and you could swap out one each of iron/steel and zinc/brass since they do work better together, btu are alright on their own.

 

Now all of this changes some if you chose to introduce 1. atium or 2. ferruchemy into the mix.  Atium pairs well with all but a couple metals (gold, aluminum being main exceptions.  though burning atium and electrum at the same time seems like it would be weird)  and there is a whole different thread for crazy things the lord ruler could do with his ferruchemy/allomancy combinations (I think we decided he could probably launch himself into space, for instance) so adding those in would be a whole different dynamic.

[Guest]

Tin Compounder plus Duralumin.

You could get your sense of sight so good Hubble would pale in comparison.

[natc]

Tin Compounder plus Duralumin.

You could get your sense of sight so good Hubble would pale in comparison.

Get that blasted feruchemy and prime numbers out of here, this is a discussion about allomancy and powers of 2!

Also duralumin is redundant with compounding.

Edited May 17, 2015 by natc

[Guest]

Not entirely. There's a limit to how much of an attribute you can store in a chunk of metal, and then burning that metal gives you (about) 10 times as much.  That same chunk of metal Duralumin flared could give you 100 or even 1000 times as much.

[natc]

Duralumin doesn't increase total output, it compresses the full output of the burn into one moment. All you get is one burst of senses you might actually fail to store properly due to shock of sensory overload.

[Kaymyth she/her]

Get that blasted feruchemy and prime numbers out of here, this is a discussion about allomancy and powers of 2!

Also duralumin is redundant with compounding.

 

At the risk of getting punted due to pedanticism, technically 2 *is* a prime number.

[Dunkum he/him]

At the risk of getting punted due to pedanticism, technically 2 *is* a prime number.

You are technically correct.  The best kind of correct.

[natc]

At the risk of getting punted due to pedanticism, technically 2 *is* a prime number.

Odd prime numbers then

[WindrunnerRadiant he/him]

What about considering their use in teams, just like with mistings? For instance, a great pair would be two Mistetra (has a nice ring to it), one with all four physical (Steel, iron, pewter, tin) and one with all four mental (Zinc, brass, copper, bronze). 

 

So, here are some ideas for teams.

 

Mistcoins:

Team 1: Pewter/Tin, Steel/Iron, Nicrosil/Bronze

A wonderful three-man team perfect for finding and beating the crap out of other Allomancers

 

Team 2: Zinc/Brass, Tin/Bronze, Copper/Pewter

Great for infiltration/spying/scouting. Capable of sensing out and hiding from other Allomancers, twist emotions, and even a strongman to get out of a tight spot.

 

Team 3: Tin/Bronze, Tin/Duralumin, Bronze/Duralumin, Pewter/Bendalloy

This is a team completely for scouting. Able to sense extraordinarily well were people are and where Allomancy is being used, and someone quite capable of defending them if they are caught. 

 

Haven't really thought of any others yet though.

[HalfShard he/him]

There is a non-hemalurgic way to gain extra Allomantic abilities that I think must be included here. Lerasium. It gives you Mistborn powers, and, theoretically, if one were to burn an alloy of Lerasium, you would become a misting. I don't know who would waste valuable Lerasium testing this, but if confirmed, it would be exactly how something like this could occur. Personally, if I could choose two Allomantic abilities, I'd choose the two 'time bubble' metals. I'd be prepared for any emergency!

[skaa he/him]

New WoB says that Chromium can destroy pierced metalminds and possibly even Hemalurgic spikes if a person burning Chromium hangs onto the target for several seconds (this is assuming he has enough Chromium to burn for that long). Moogle suggests that giving Chromium an Allomantic burst should significantly speed up this process.

 

What this means is that a Duralumin-Chromium "Mistcoin" with enough Chromium might be able to destroy another person's internal Invested metals all at once!

 

Edit: Oh, so it might not be as awesome as I thought...

Edited May 25, 2015 by skaa

[Guest]

There is a non-hemalurgic way to gain extra Allomantic abilities that I think must be included here. Lerasium. It gives you Mistborn powers, and, theoretically, if one were to burn an alloy of Lerasium, you would become a misting. I don't know who would waste valuable Lerasium testing this, but if confirmed, it would be exactly how something like this could occur. Personally, if I could choose two Allomantic abilities, I'd choose the two 'time bubble' metals. I'd be prepared for any emergency!

It might not be a waste of Lerasium, depending on how high a concentration is needed in the alloy.

1 mistborn or 2 mistings? Take the Mistborn.

1 mistborn or 10 mistings? Probably still the Mistbor.

1 mistborn or 100 mistings? Now things are getting interesting...

[HalfShard he/him]

It might not be a waste of Lerasium, depending on how high a concentration is needed in the alloy.

1 mistborn or 2 mistings? Take the Mistborn.

1 mistborn or 10 mistings? Probably still the Mistbor.

1 mistborn or 100 mistings? Now things are getting interesting...

That makes me wonder, how much Lerasium does it take to make a mistborn?

[yurisses]

It might not be a waste of Lerasium, depending on how high a concentration is needed in the alloy.

1 mistborn or 2 mistings? Take the Mistborn.

1 mistborn or 10 mistings? Probably still the Mistbor.

1 mistborn or 100 mistings? Now things are getting interesting...

 

If you could create more than 16 Mistings from enough Lerasium to create a Mistborn, you could save Lerasium by making 16 different alloys. To prevent this kind of cheating the system I think it's likely that the Misting-creating alloys are 1/16 Lerasium and 15/16 other metal, for the same strength relative to bead-size as pure lerasium, or weaker.

 

Also, it should be noted that Lerasium has way more than 16 alloys, so we still don't know the all the effects you can get from Lerasium allomancy...

 

17th Shard

Are there a limited amount of atium and lerasium alloys for each metal?

Brandon Sanderson

Hmm, yes…I suppose there would be but there are…

17TH SHARD

More than sixteen?

BRANDON SANDERSON

Yeah, way more than sixteen.

17TH SHARD

Oh wow. Okay. That's fascinating. More than sixteen and less than infinite.

BRANDON SANDERSON

Yes.

(source)

Edited June 1, 2015 by yurisses

[Guest]

I actually wonder if Lerasium can't be alloyed with ANY metal to make a (that Metal) Misting. For the low, low price of one of the most valuable metals in existence, you can gain the ability to make yourself ill be burning Titanium!

No one would ever WANT to make those alloys, but they would be "Allomantically Active"

[natc]

I imagine god metal alloys have specific percentage compositions like allomantic alloys do. So a titanium lerasium alloy has to exist in the system to work or it just makes you ill outright or kills you.