Shardblade or Shardplate?

[Elsecaller_17.5 he/him]

I think it’s pretty cut and dry in favor of Plate. Half of me wants to see who agrees and the other half wants convincing arguments for the Blade.

As for my arguments, Blade provides you with the ultimate offense and Plate with the ultimate defense. But plate also gives you super-strength which allows you to wield massive bows (attack at a range) or massive hammers (which are just as good as a Blade in a warfare situation). 

Edited August 9, 2019 by Truthwatcher_17.5

[Rushu42 she/her]

Well, I think it depends on whether or not the Plate/Blade is living. Now, we haven't really seen any living Plate yet, so I don't know how that changes things, but a living Blade is extremely versatile (for example, Lift's Shardfork). Plus, Plate (the dead kind) must be put on piece by piece over several minutes, while Blade can be summoned in a few seconds. Not to mention that a living Shardblade is required to operate Oathgates. So I'm going to have to cast my vote in favor of Shardblades; although there are many times when Plate is more useful, I feel like Blades can be used for a wider variety of things. Unless they're dead.

[+Invocation]

I'm here for the Plate.

I crave the physical enhancement.

[Solant he/him]

I'm with @Rushu42 on this one. They both would be awesome, but the plate sounds pretty high maintenance. You have to keep full germs in all the pieces or they quit working... half the time we see our characters needing help putting it on... if it fails, they need a horse drawn cart to lug it around. I'm far too lazy for all of that hassle (plus, I'm all out of horse carts )

The blade only needs a few heart beats to summon, and disappears when you are done with it. That is more my speed. You'll find me out there somewhere  slaying rocks.

Edited August 9, 2019 by Solant
Typo

[Elsecaller_17.5 he/him]

35 minutes ago, Rushu42 said:

Well, I think it depends on whether or not the Plate/Blade is living. Now, we haven't really seen any living Plate yet, so I don't know how that changes things, but a living Blade is extremely versatile (for example, Lift's Shardfork). Plus, Plate (the dead kind) must be put on piece by piece over several minutes, while Blade can be summoned in a few seconds. Not to mention that a living Shardblade is required to operate Oathgates. So I'm going to have to cast my vote in favor of Shardblades; although there are many times when Plate is more useful, I feel like Blades can be used for a wider variety of things. Unless they're dead.

I had been thinking a dead blade, but that’s definitely a valid point. The versatility and immediate summon would count for a lot.

[Weltall]

The thing is, if you have a living Blade then that means you get Surgebinding and healing powers (and, y'know, a cool spren companion) which kind of destroys the balance inherent in the choice. And if you have a living Blade that means you can theoretically progress to the point you get Plate, making it a pretty obvious choice.

Anyhow, I'd go for the Plate over a dead Blade any day. As mentioned it gives you super-strength without being nearly as exhausting to wear as you'd expect a full-body suit of armor to be, it also gives you excellent traction and enhanced jumping powers and you're immune to lightning so no need to worry about getting zapped by lightning. You're also more or less invulnerable to conventional Rosharan weapons (barring a lucky hit through the eyeslit) and can carry weapons that are almost as deadly to unaugmented opponents as a Shardblade would be. Needing to keep gemstones supplied with Stormlight isn't a huge burden since the latter is a renewing resource and the former won't be too hard to come by since simply having a set of Plate makes you important enough to be counted among the upper echelons of society in most places we've seen so far.

A Deadeye Shardblade is much easier to hide if you're trying to do that and it's horrifyingly good at killing people (and rocks) but it's not really very useful for anything else, while Plate offers all sorts of advantages... and also looks storming awesome.

[cometaryorbit]

Dalinar in his younger years (OB interludes) says Plate over Blade, since a Plate user can survive being hit by a Blade, but can wield huge heavy hammers and such that are just as much an one-hit kill as a Shardblade.

The accessibility argument does seem to favor the Blade though.

[Karger he/him]

Radiants can summon and dismiss plate.  I personally think that normal people will find a way to do that once we know what plate is.  Even if we don't plate is more useful in out of combat situations.

[RShara she/her]

I feel like most people getting a Shardblade would end up like these guys

 

[ScavellTane]

Shardplate would be too bulky. A shardsuit perhaps.

[Nymeros]

Living shards or dead ones?

If living: shardblade

If dead: shardplate

 

[Truthless of Shinovar he/him]

I think shardblade.... I mean, even though shardplate is pretty much better in every way, wouldn’t it just be so cool to scare the living daylights out of people by summoning a massive sword out of thin air? And then there’s the fact that I get to cut through anything I want in one swing

[Quantus he/him]

Definitely Plate, I like the fact that it comes with a lot of non-offense enhancements like the strength and mobility enhancements.  A shardblade is a lot less useful when there isnt also an ecosystem of blades and plate and duels in the world, but Plate has non-soldier applications.  

[Halyo_Alex he/him]

I prefer shardblade (living, if possible, because of the versatility in form) because of the convenience. You don't have to worry about carrying around a big set of plate (though it would seem Living plate can do the whole summoning thing too), you can just summon it to your hand (even if it's dead, though it takes a moment and also you don't get the shapeshifting perks). I mean, yeah, Lift proves that a living blade can be used for pretty much anything at this point. I'd probably use a living blade IRL for cooking tbh. I don't really encounter people that need to be stabbed.

The problem with a shardknife for cooking is that all of my cutting boards and plates and stuff need to be solid Aluminum... Oh well, it's fine! Aluminum IRL isn't as ungodly expensive as it is in the cosmere (though if shardblades were real then Aluminum WOULD have a big advantage for defensive purposes... drat).

[Mailnaise she/her]

I chose plate because I'm so clumsy I'd be scared for myself and others if I held a six foot blade that can instantly deaden my limbs or myself without armor...