The most devastating shard weapons

[Pathfinder]

After reading some, I had to jump to the end of this thread due to time constraints so I am unsure if this has already been addressed. Regarding those that have brought up bludgeoning weapons, or the rope portion of the rope dart as phasing through the opponent, as per the book, it would not function as such. See below:

 

Word of Radiance pg 1056 "Kaladin swung down and a hammer appeared in his hand, crashing against Szeth's shoulder, breaking bones."

 

So if it ain't made for cutting, it ain't going to cut so won't phase through. Now I am not saying the garrott won't cut, considering thin enough wire would slice open a throat. That I can't comment on. Same with spikes, they would penetrate and as shown with a spear you don't need to slice to phase. You can pierce as well. But bludgeoning and ropes would only do what their natural counterparts do. No phasing or soul slicing. 

[SmurfAquamarineBodies he/him]

 

I...I don't know?  I've never loaned it out before...

 

But anyway, here's Batman firing a chaingun, while riding a T-Rex shooting lasers out of its eyes.  

 

 

 

Marry me.

[Pathfinder]

You sure? The way I understood it, a shardblade cutting through a body will kill the soul of the selected part of a body. so a superficial cut will cause your skin to lose sensitivity, a cut through a muscle would cause it to stop working. granted, it's less serious than a regular wound, cause you won't bleed. but it still does harm.

Also, there are several instances of someone speared by a blade being killed instantly, most notably shallan's mother and tyn that I remember, but i'm sure there are others. so unless every single one of those people was hit exactly on the spine, it means that stabbing someone in the torso with a shardblade also kill him.

It is mentioned in the books that if you stab someone and hit an organ, the organ becomes "dead". Stab someone in the chest, hit the heart, heart stops, person dies, and so on with lungs, and any other vital organs that if suddenly stopped functioning would end your life. 

[garlick]

How about a shard ashendari!? No I'm thinking along the lines the rope weapon but instead make it a simple whip. With a little imagination though could turn the into a devistating cutting weapon. Think instead of leather or even a chain whip like you see castlevainia, think  linked razor blades. That would solve the not being a cutting weapon problem and give a devestaing reach and manuverability. I think its biggest downfall would be plate. We've seen plate destroyed in a few ways but also took multiple strikes to the same area, even in Andolins deuls if memory serves me right it took 3 blows with a shard blade to destroy peice of plate. Would Kaladins shardhammer used on Szeth be able to smash it in one hit? So a light weapon would take even more to destroy it. That being said I think differnt orders would have weapons more effective for them then others. I could see Lift gliding across a battle field using a whip like weapon or even on a rope above using it to reach down. If Jasnah can use her elsecalling abilties to move through a battlefield in a nightcrawler kind of way I could see a sword being more effective. Shallan with her abilties to blend in with her enemies wouldnt want an obvious weapon, so maybe daggers/assassin type weapons. But Limiting yourself to one type of weapon is giving away the best advantage of having a spren blade and thats being able to adapt to the situation. Every weapon will have strengths and weaknesses. Your up against 10 men no plate yea a sharp razor whip would make easy work of them. 3 men in shardplate and the whips worthless. HAMMER TIME. Much more effective..

 

edit: It just came to me, against plate a shift in thinking could turn it into more of a castlevainia morningstar whip to help bash away the plate but it would still be hard.

Edited May 30, 2014 by garlick

[Seloun]

I was surprised that kaladin thought to use hammerSyl on szeths shoulder, if it had been a blade it would have been much more succesful. To someone who can heal mundane wounds like broken bones with a slight thought and some stormlight this was a bad choice of attack. I was a little disappointed honestly.

 

It does seem like an odd choice. If we assume that Kaladin was supposed to be making an optimal or near-optimal decision (given his instinctive combat ability, not a huge stretch), we might conclude that repairing a Shardblade wound is easier for him than repairing broken bones (he's done both, and while both takes a lot of Stormlight, it's unclear which is more expensive). While we know Szeth can't heal Shardblade wounds, Kaladin doesn't know that (as far as he knows at that point, Szeth can do everything he can do). Against other Surgebinders with rapid healing, massive trauma might deplete Stormlight faster than a Shardblade cut.

[Pathfinder]

One more comment. Regarding the weight of a sprenhammer, yes it would be lighter than a normal hammer of equivalent size/etc but take into account three things.

 

First, it is stated when bridge four start practicing with shardblades, that they ARE heavy, just not as heavy as you would expect. So we aren't talking a broadsword that is weightless. We are talking a two handed sword feeling as heavy as maybe a one handed sword and so on. I liken it to weapon size categories in Dungeons and Dragons. A bugbear can wield a two handed sword as a one handed sword. A halfling has to wield a human sized one handed sword with two hands and so on. So a sprenhammer will still have weight and heft, just not to the degree you would expect. 

 

Second, keep in mind the spren (within reason) can form into ANY weapon including size. Prime example being that Shallan's blade went from sword to dagger. So if a sword can become smaller, who is to say (again within reason), you can't make a BIGGER hammer? That way it would end up having the same weight/heft of a hammer that is made of mundane material, albeit be bigger to account for the weight. 

 

Finally, we are talking about a knight radiant wielding these weapons. As buffed up with strength and speed that a shardplate wearer is, I believe a knight radiant with stormlight could bring to bear far more force and speed, which would easily account for and exceed the momentum lost from the less weight in the sprenweapon.  

Edited May 30, 2014 by Pathfinder

[Curiosity he/him]

 

Step 1: Get 100 KR with chain whip sprenblades

Step 2: Attach them end to end

Step 3: One KR will hold on to each side of the ~600 foot long whip.  They should be Edgedancers or Windrunners

Step 4: Send these two KR, holding on to the whip, charging at high speeds around the sides and then through clumps of the enemy, effectively creating a highly mobile and devastating monofilament trip-wire.

Step 5: Cook s'mores over the fires that consume the dead bodies of your foes

 

My first thought on reading step 5:

 

"How would Parshendi blood smoke affect the flavor of the marshmallows."

 

My second thought:

 

"Ew." 

 

Meanwhile, in another part of my brain: Would Shardplate (from a living spren) be able to block the lightning from stormform Parshendi? I thought "Aha! What about a sprenshield? Oh wait… that's Shardplate. Wait what else would "living" Shardplate do?

[Shaggai]

 

 

My first thought on reading step 5:

 

"How would Parshendi blood smoke affect the flavor of the marshmallows."

 

My second thought:

 

"Ew." 

 

Meanwhile, in another part of my brain: Would Shardplate (from a living spren) be able to block the lightning from stormform Parshendi? I thought "Aha! What about a sprenshield? Oh wait… that's Shardplate. Wait what else would "living" Shardplate do?

 

Sprenshields aren't Shardplate. Shardplate cracks, but sprenshields don't. Dead Shardblades don't crack, either, so it's probably not a function of being dead.

[Terisen he/him]

Sprenshields aren't Shardplate. Shardplate cracks, but sprenshields don't. Dead Shardblades don't crack, either, so it's probably not a function of being dead.

 

I actually wonder if Shardblades COULD break given enough force.  Adolin states that they could barely bend....but that implies that they DO bend.  A little.  Definitely not in normal use, or even under duress like standing on the blade in plate, but I wonder if there's a point where it could break and what, if anything, that would do to the spren.

[Shaggai]

I actually wonder if Shardblades COULD break given enough force.  Adolin states that they could barely bend....but that implies that they DO bend.  A little.  Definitely not in normal use, or even under duress like standing on the blade in plate, but I wonder if there's a point where it could break and what, if anything, that would do to the spren.

The shape and effects of Blades are a Cognitive thing, so probably they're unbreakable by Physical means. If you did something to the spren, it might break. I wonder what sort of thing could do that. Maybe if Nightblood started feeding on the spren before it got to the person's soul.

Perhaps if you Hemalurgically removed someone's spren bond. . . Actually, you'd have to only remove part. If someone managed to do that, think of the possibilities. Since Hemalurgy works on any part of a spren bond, imagine spiking away half of the identities of two people and then switching them. Or, since memories are separate from identity, making someone think they were someone else but remembering being that person. If one of the parties wasn't human you could get even more interesting results. Kind of like Granny Weatherwax. 

[kaellok he/him]

The shape and effects of Blades are a Cognitive thing, so probably they're unbreakable by Physical means. If you did something to the spren, it might break. I wonder what sort of thing could do that. Maybe if Nightblood started feeding on the spren before it got to the person's soul.

Perhaps if you Hemalurgically removed someone's spren bond. . . Actually, you'd have to only remove part. If someone managed to do that, think of the possibilities. Since Hemalurgy works on any part of a spren bond, imagine spiking away half of the identities of two people and then switching them. Or, since memories are separate from identity, making someone think they were someone else but remembering being that person. If one of the parties wasn't human you could get even more interesting results. Kind of like Granny Weatherwax. 

Emphasis added is mine.  Completely and utterly off topic, do you think this may be what happened to "Taln"?

[Shaggai]

Emphasis added is mine.  Completely and utterly off topic, do you think this may be what happened to "Taln"?

That... is very interesting. I never thought about that. I doubt it, though. I think Brandon's just trolling us and Taln is basically a Hoed. Taln still thinks he's Taln and has all his memories. Unless they spiked both of those away from the real Taln and gave them to an impostor, possibly along with Taln's physical capabilities, but that seems a bit convoluted.

[Fatebreaker he/him]

I want a shard boomerang.

[Shaggai]

I want a shard boomerang.

I'd prefer not to have my magic unstoppable soul-slicing uberweapon come flying back at me if I miss, thank you very much.

[timemagetim he/him]

Personally I think that tonfa with blades rather than blunt edges would be a spectacular weapon.

They are very close range and would be able to handle most any opponent unless you had no Shardplate and were up against lots of archers. It would work fantastic against shard bearers being able to block their blade with your guarded forearm like Adolin does with his plate vembraces while your other hand takes a swipe at their torso. It would be pretty effective against infantry too.

This is all assuming of course that spren blades can split otherwise just one is useless.

[Terisen he/him]

I'd prefer not to have my magic unstoppable soul-slicing uberweapon come flying back at me if I miss, thank you very much.

 

If it's a spren, just have them change to a shield the instant they come back.  That is, if it DOES come back.  I've thrown boomerangs before and, well, there's a lot of running on my part to go retrieve it because it never turns around (I know, I'm not very good at it).

[signspace13 he/him]

I'm thinking a chain whip would be of the "insanely devastating" variety, if hard to control.  The nice thing about a living spren forming the weapon is that they could *poof!* away instead of hitting yourself or an ally during a wild swing.  Even assuming that it is only approximately the same length as Shardblades (assuming that their limitation is in how long they can be, rather than how much mass they are) the advantages would be awesome.  And as I just realized that I'm basically agreeing with EMTrevor, I'll expand on my personal favorite potential (and utterly ridiculous) tactic using said weapon!

 

Step 1: Get 100 KR with chain whip sprenblades

Step 2: Attach them end to end

Step 3: One KR will hold on to each side of the ~600 foot long whip.  They should be Edgedancers or Windrunners

Step 4: Send these two KR, holding on to the whip, charging at high speeds around the sides and then through clumps of the enemy, effectively creating a highly mobile and devastating monofilament trip-wire.

Step 5: Cook s'mores over the fires that consume the dead bodies of your foes

Deadliest game of Jump-Rope ever.

 

Edit: heh 100 posts

Edited June 8, 2014 by signspace13

[Patrick Star]

We need even more ridiculous shardweapons/items, like a Shardlasso of Truth.

 

Or maybe a shardtank.  Or a shardcycle.  Or a shardhat (like Oddjob's).  

 

Also, I really like the idea of a shardarang.

[timemagetim he/him]

I would also agree that Ranged or throwing weapons would be great. Imagine a shard windmill shuriken.

[Baine he/him]

*singing* When Captain Kaladin throws his mighty Shardshieeeeeeeeeeeeld...

 

Am I the only one who knows that song?

[Crazy Mraize]

Obviously a flame spren bonded would turn into shard-napalm.  Right?

[Shaggai]

Obviously a flame spren bonded would turn into shard-napalm.  Right?

Oh Almighty. Shardnapalm. The idea that it might be possible for bonded spren to become nonsolid is extremely scary on its own (you could, for example, give someone nothing but Shardwater to drink for several days. Eventually, a significant percentage of the water in their blood would be spren. If you resummon the spren, or get killed, the person you fed the water to dies immediately), but if you can have Shardchemicals that have the properties of whatever they're mimicking, well... the applications are absolutely terrifying. Shardchlorine. ShardTNT. ShardCF₃. Rosharan wars would turn into hell.

Edited June 9, 2014 by Shaggai

[Pathfinder]

Oh Almighty. Shardnapalm. The idea that it might be possible for bonded spren to become nonsolid is extremely scary on its own (you could, for example, give someone nothing but Shardwater to drink for several days. Eventually, a significant percentage of the water in their blood would be spren. If you resummon the spren, or get killed, the person you fed the water to dies immediately), but if you can have Shardchemicals that have the properties of whatever they're mimicking, well... the applications are absolutely terrifying. Shardchlorine. ShardTNT. ShardCF₃. Rosharan wars would turn into hell.

To take it even a step further, do like in one of the Sword of Truth novels where they used magic to grind up glass to sharp grains and cast it amongst the enemy. So imagine a shardblade cloud resulting in countless tiny cuts covering your body all at once. Shardplate would be ineffectual because there are still eye slits......Of course this would not be possible, but if it could.......

[Shaggai]

To take it even a step further, do like in one of the Sword of Truth novels where they used magic to grind up glass to sharp grains and cast it amongst the enemy. So imagine a shardblade cloud resulting in countless tiny cuts covering your body all at once. Shardplate would be ineffectual because there are still eye slits......Of course this would not be possible, but if it could.......

Shardfire. No need for napalm or whatever. Just have the hot gases that compose the fire. It burns through anything and severs souls.

Sharduranium. Spren can get up to about the mass of a person when they manifest as a weapon, so you could pretty easily create a Shardnuke.

Heralds preserve us. 

[Fatebreaker he/him]

*singing* When Captain Kaladin throws his mighty Shardshieeeeeeeeeeeeld...

 

Am I the only one who knows that song?

 

*more singing* All those who oppose his shield must yieeeeeeeld!