Wouldn't it be interesting...

[Quickbronze]

If we were to get some FMA-esque Soulcasting fights in a future book? Changing the environment to suit yourself better, creating weapons from random materials around you, etc. I'm not sure whether Soulcasting can change the shape of an object like FMA Alchemy can, but it would be really interesting to see something like that IMO.

[SilverTiger]

I don't think Soulcasting can happen that fast, and the gems in fabrials run out of Stormlight quickly. Soulcasting requires a period of time to enter Shadesmar and then to convince the object to change.

[Quickbronze]

I'm pretty sure that Fabrials can Soulcast instantly, though I haven't read SA in a while... 

[SilverTiger]

30 minutes ago, Crimson Not Blood said:

I'm pretty sure that Fabrials can Soulcast instantly, though I haven't read SA in a while... 

Doubtful. Also, some objects can be difficult to Soulcast (see Shallan and the stick, in WoR).

[Quickbronze]

I remember the stick XD

[Smokeform]

Didn’t Jasnah soul cast five theives in an alley in Kharbranth? I’m pretty sure Shallan is just not trained enough in soul casting to really utilize it yet. 

[Fifth of Daybreak]

The biggest issue would be the cracking of gemstones anytime you performed a large Soulcasting feat, which would be basically anytime you go close to FMA style moves.

@Crimson Not Blood Soulcasting cannot change the shape of an object. Objects are carved first before they are soulcast. 

Quote

“Why forge the metal,” Vstim said, “when you can carve an object from wood in the precise shape you want, then Soulcast it?”

WoK I-4 Rysn

 

Edited November 10, 2017 by Fifth of Daybreak

[Quickbronze]

19 minutes ago, Fifth of Daybreak said:

The biggest issue would be the cracking of gemstones anytime you performed a large Soulcasting feat, which would be basically anytime you go close to FMA style moves.

@Crimson Not Blood Soulcasting cannot change the shape of an object. Objects are carved first before they are soulcast. 

 

So with durability limits, lack of shape changing, and possible time requirement 

The possibility of this is out the window 

Oh well

[Calderis]

The change is instantaneous, and expensive. That said, with three gems, Jasnah soulcast a man into fire, one into a quartz statue, and two more into smoke in a few seconds. The last two at range. And she only broke/used up all of the stormlight in one of her three (rather large) gemstones. 

Soulcasting is OP. 

[SilverTiger]

Um, @Calderis, Jasnah is an Elsecaller, which means she doesn't need a fabrial to Soulcast. She wasn't using the gems, except to supply Stormlight. Fabrials, I believe, don't work at range.

[JoyBlu]

So it would be epic to see what Jasnah could soulcast with unlimited access to investiture (such as during a highstorm) with Kaladin out there “breaking wind” @Steeldancer (he he still laughing at your joke) for her so she would be protected from the storm itself while still being surround by so much Stormlight! Maybe that is how they soulcast some of those cities. 

[Calderis]

4 hours ago, SilverTiger said:

Um, @Calderis, Jasnah is an Elsecaller, which means she doesn't need a fabrial to Soulcast. She wasn't using the gems, except to supply Stormlight. Fabrials, I believe, don't work at range.

They don't. The topic never mentioned fabrials though. It just said soulcasting. Most fabrials are already limited in the things they are able to transform to as well, so if you wanted anything remotely like what this topic was talking about, you'd have to have the surge yourself, and not rely on a device. 

[CaptainRyan]

9 hours ago, Calderis said:

The change is instantaneous, and expensive. That said, with three gems, Jasnah soulcast a man into fire, one into a quartz statue, and two more into smoke in a few seconds. The last two at range. And she only broke/used up all of the stormlight in one of her three (rather large) gemstones. 

Soulcasting is OP. 

Came here to say this but saw Calderis already did. 

Elsecallers could, as best we know, have FMA-esque (to an extent) fights with the proper amount of Stormlight. I mean, check out the cover of Oathbringer for goodness sake! Jasnah is building a friggin' wall haha

[Calderis]

23 minutes ago, CaptainRyan said:

Came here to say this but saw Calderis already did. 

Elsecallers could, as best we know, have FMA-esque (to an extent) fights with the proper amount of Stormlight. I mean, check out the cover of Oathbringer for goodness sake! Jasnah is building a friggin' wall haha

Yeah, the whole, "I can soulcast the air into a building" thing says Soulcasting is pretty versatile. 

[Fifth of Daybreak]

10 minutes ago, Calderis said:

Yeah, the whole, "I can soulcast the air into a building" thing says Soulcasting is pretty versatile. 

We don't know the cost of that though. She lost a gemstone Soulcasting the boulder in Karbranth to smoke, and it seems like that's where her talent is focused. I have to think that the she's going to shatter a number of them in order to accomplish that great feat. Versatile, but you have to weigh the benefits vs the costs.

[Quickbronze]

I was referring to Fabrial Soulcasting, not Surgbinding Soulcasting, since a Radiant has other powers at work that influence the fight, though that doesn't necessarily rule out the usefulness of combat transmutation, I suppose

[SilverTiger]

Heh, anyway, Soulcasting Surgebinders have a Shardblade to fight with. But Fabrial Soulcasting isn't likely to be much use in melee.

[Yata]

Soulcasting could change shape. We saw them with the air turned in building.

Usually the item is carved in wood and them soulcasted because It's easier and you don't Need a Ardent Soulcaster with multiple skills.

Anyway the FMA-style would be probably proibitive without a large reserve of infused gemstones avaliable

[AbsentKeeper]

28 minutes ago, Yata said:

Soulcasting could change shape. We saw them with the air turned in building.

Usually the item is carved in wood and them soulcasted because It's easier and you don't Need a Ardent Soulcaster with multiple skills.

Anyway the FMA-style would be probably proibitive without a large reserve of infused gemstones avaliable

I don't think this is an example of Soulcasting changing something's shape. When they Soulcast something from air they just change the air contained within in the shape that they want and leave the rest of it as air.

I imagine it as drawing out the shapes with dotted lines in your head, then changing only the air inside that section, like filling in a selection in CAD software.

In theory though, this would allow a soulcaster to do plenty of FMA esque things, but without any of that silly 'equivalent exchange' nonsense, soulcast the air directly into the shape of a sword, for example.

As many others have said, many of the larger feats in FMA would be prohibitive just because of the amount of stormlight needed, but judging from what we've seen so far (Jasnah Soulcasts a boulder and cracks one large stone, then one more Soulcasting several human bodies, and Shallan Soulcasts the whole bottom of a ship with only the spheres she happened to have nearby) I think that stormlight costs are going to be less prohibitive than a lot of people think.

Edited November 11, 2017 by Cowmanthethird

[Yata]

54 minutes ago, Cowmanthethird said:

I don't think this is an example of Soulcasting changing something's shape. When they Soulcast something from air they just change the air contained within in the shape that they want and leave the rest of it as air.

But this is not how It works.

The air is siphoned by the sorround too (Adolin noticed this) when the Ardent soulcasts the building.

[AbsentKeeper]

2 hours ago, Yata said:

But this is not how It works.

The air is siphoned by the sorround too (Adolin noticed this) when the Ardent soulcasts the building.

I had to go back and read that passage again and you're right about there being wind, I think something else is going on there though.

Quote

Adolin thought he caught a brief glimpse of mist coalescing—like the moment a Shardblade appeared—as a massive wall sprang into existence. Wind blew inward, as if sucked by that materializing rock, making the cloth flap violently, snapping and writhing in the air. Why should the wind pull inward? Shouldn’t it have been blown outward by rock displacing it?

The way it's described, it sounds like the wall appeared from mist, like a shardblade, and then the wind appears afterward. It also seems like the wind lasts longer than one would expect if it has time to make the cloth 'snap and writhe' rather than just sucking it in instantly like a vacuum would.

I admit that your answer is probably more likely, there was some weirdness to that scene though.

Edit: You're probably right, it just goes completely against how Soulcasting works in my head. It bothers me too much that there's no other examples for Soulcasters changing the shape of something if they do it every time they Soulcast air.

Edit again: Is it possible that they just pull in nearby mass to make up the difference in density? Someone needs to ask Brandon if the volume remains the same when you Soulcast something into a denser material.

Edited November 11, 2017 by Cowmanthethird

[Yata]

@Cowmanthethird

Yeah I always considerated the "recovering mass" but actually thinking about I believe I was wrong.

Probably, the air's cognitive (very ephimeral I believe) is not "point to point" but rather a single bead rappresenting a small area of physical air. When you Soulcast that air/bead...the whole air-zone (without a Better term) is turned into the building you want.

Not 100% sure but probably Better than the mass conservation as It has no sense with the other Soulcasting's istances we saw. 

Still worthy thinking about

[Fifth of Daybreak]

4 hours ago, Cowmanthethird said:

Is it possible that they just pull in nearby mass to make up the difference in density? Someone needs to ask Brandon if the volume remains the same when you Soulcast something into a denser material.

 

2 hours ago, Yata said:

Not 100% sure but probably Better than the mass conservation as It has no sense with the other Soulcasting's istances we saw. 

This seems consistent with the first Soulcasting we see. Shallan even mentions reading about mass discrepancy.

Quote

The stone vanished. A burst of dense black smoke exploded into the hallway. Enough to blind Shallan; it seemed the output of a thousand fires, and smelled of burned wood. Shallan hastily raised the wet rag to her face, dropping to her knees. Oddly, her ears felt stopped up, as if she’d climbed down from a great height. She had to swallow to pop them.

...

Shallan had read of this, but she was still in awe. Jasnah had transformed the boulder into smoke, and since smoke was far less dense than stone, the change had pushed the smoke away in an explosive outburst.

WoK Chapter 5 Heretic

Emphasis mine.

[Yata]

1 hour ago, Fifth of Daybreak said:

 

This seems consistent with the first Soulcasting we see. Shallan even mentions reading about mass discrepancy.

Emphasis mine.

Sure but this work only for a diminishing of mass (rock to air) or with the same kind of substance (air to rock) where it legit to think other air could be used.

But image for a second the standard Lighteyes' death rite. You take a corpse (flesh) and Soulcast it into a statue (Rock), there is a relevant mass increase but I can't believe the Soulcasting will take randomical matter to make balancing the mass. Because it would mean change that matter to and therefore a chain reaction when you soulcast multiple stuffs.

As the Investiture could become matter (and also the opposite) I see the mass discrepance as not a real issue for soulcasting (we have also some Cosmere's istance on Investiture turning into matter with mortal magic...for example the Healing does this all the time)

[Fifth of Daybreak]

25 minutes ago, Yata said:

You take a corpse (flesh) and Soulcast it into a statue (Rock), there is a relevant mass increase

We don't know what kind of stone they're soulcast into so we don't necessarily know this. Some types of stone, such as Limestone, are very porous and and as such aren't very dense. We already have evidence that Brandon has created new types of material to allow for soulcasting and creating new physics to allow the universe to work on Roshar.(Wood used for Sadeas's bridges)

Edited November 11, 2017 by Fifth of Daybreak