Tamriel Wolfsbaine

D&D is a great game. There is a reason it has been so successful. The MAG is definately a learning curve. I think diceborn by 17th shard on YouTube was a great showing of the game. The way they handled damage and nudges was a bit homebrewy but I think it was a lot more fluid game play their way than how the rules are written. Some MAG games are 50% counting up and bargaining for dice which sucks. I just love having a ruleset for the metallic arts. There are some homebrewed rules I found for awakening and shards as well which work so well.

I love the MAG. (Mostly just having 3 separate health pools so you get to roll combat for rp portions of the session and less combat focused). The dice pool is a bit of a pain (and probably the least enjoyed part of the system). I think it works really well for what it does and there is no such thing in this system as a sure thing! You build your pool up to 10 dice (nothing after that counts). Then you roll and hope for doubles. 6s do not count as doubles and are instead considered "nudges" which sort of become your crits. Your nudges can be used to lessen a failed roll or boost your successful rolls through extra damage or giving a disadvantage. The largest complaint about the game is that you could roll 10 6s in a single roll and because you didn't get a pair it doesn't mean success. What I really like about the system is that there are real consequences to taking those points of damage as they lead to "burdens" which end up adding good flavor to the character development.

I really like that thought. I miss the chatty Nightblood of Warbreaker but I can definately see a different dynamic between the two relationships. Vasher didn't want to use Nightblood ever and doesn't enjoy what Nightblood is. Szeth is a bit different. Not trying to hold Nightblood back but making him wait his turn. I am sure Nightblood can feel the difference.

TLR wasn't really immortal. Atium works well but his spiritual self was still far too old for that body. Could he have kept going? Sure, but immortality wears on a person who isn't made for that. I personally believe when Vin breathed in the mists and killed him it was a relief. He has watched everyone he ever knew and cared about die. He is surrounded by people who don't like him and instead live in constant fear of him and his ministry minions. TLR might have known what he had to do but who is saying he would have had the will to do it again when the time came?

It is in the How did Vin control the Koloss thread. Much the same recommendations that I have there.

I left my suggestions for other cosmere books in your other thread (Warbreaker is my favorite). Era 2 of mistborn starting with Alloy of Law is a lot more toned down on the magic. That said Brandon created these books as stories from worlds in a universe called "The Cosmere". The Cosmere includes multiple planets in multiple star systems with multiple gods (called shards) that all have a related beginning. Scadrial, the planet mistborn takes place on, has 4 entire eras planned for it (1 and 2 are now completed) which will span from a more Renaissance feel through an industrial revolution Era into a modern Era and then finally into a sci-fi future Era. Each of the cosmere books are worlds on a crash course towards finding out about eachother and learning how to cope with not being the only things in the universe. As for Elend becoming a mistborn. Its not just a piece of a metal that he ate. That is the first piece that points to a much larger puzzle. The Cosmere is a huge undertaking. I don't think it is for everyone. If you want a fun ride through multiple planets and multiple magic systems that all look totally different but all originate from the same place then I would encourage you to press forward.

The way you speak I wonder if you have read book 3 yet. What I loved about Mistborn was that it was a complete story and each book felt like a good ending point. However each ending is a new beginning. Vin's demonstration at that battle brought with it the same shock and awe for those other armies than dropping the nukes in WW2 brought to the world. Japan didn't keep fighting cause the story would be cool. They were clearly outmatched and Vin's duralumin fueled powers showed that she was beyond any other mistborn alive. When each mistborn a house has is like its little arsenal of small bombs and then the enemy shows up with something far far more powerful you quickly fall into line for self preservations sake. I would encourage you to continue through book 3. If your issue is powercreep at all instead of just a lack of flavor I would have a few things to say: Era 2 of that series starting with Alloy of Law is a lot more toned down power levels and I personally enjoyed the more steam punk / western / victorian era feel of it. Reading Era 1 is not a prerequisite for it but it does tie things together. If you want to get more into The Cosmere I would strongly suggest reading Warbreaker. It is my personal favorite and I never felt like the characters were as bloated with power as even Mistborn. If you don't like powercreep Stormlight series can be tough to get through. It is a large time commitment but if you want to explore the cosmere this seems to be where everything is building towards. If you enjoy large scale battles and a more high fantasy setting while not worrying to much about really strong magic presence then Stormlight is probably more your style anyways. I am not always a huge fan of some of Brandon's choices and style either, but I LOVE world building and hard magic systems. The Cosmere offers me those things in abundance and I love those settings that he has thought up and put on paper. Even if a story feels like it has jumped the shark or the power creep is just too high, I still really enjoy seeing the worlds evolve and grow... and worldhopper I Spy is always a ton of fun too.

Would Kaladin play it defensively with his oaths of protecting others? Wouldn't he view his refusal to join the fray as the reason some of his men die? And then in that moment of realization wouldnt his bond begin to break down thus his squires further suffering? I can't claim to know what Kaladin is ever thinking... but I do remember him being really hard on himself and taking most deaths that happen to anyone he has a relationship with personally. At the 3rd oath even he still thinks like the world is squarely on his shoulders (or at least the point I am at in the story). I feel like Kaladin would be more likely to go after Elend in an attempt to save his own men than to stand back and watch them potentially get killed.

Can I just take a half of a moment and note the use of the word "fortune" in vins description of the men on atium. Not sure if it is cosmere fortune or if it is just a happy coincidence in how Brandon wrote the line.

I don't know that it can be said there would have been no black death without this event of throwing the bodies. However it did kill 25million people in 4 years following that event. I think it fits a biological weapon of mass destruction. That is what is so spooky about bio weapons. Once released you can't really control them... as we have figured out recently. Whether a person believes covid was made as a weapon (a poor one at that). Less than 7million people have died from covid out of nearly 8billion. The black death from the years 1347-1351 killed 30-50% of Europe's population. Though there is a very real argument that they had plague infected bodies already thus you can't say definitively it started from that battle. The times line up and people fleeing that city who may have been infected via some of those bodies certainly accelerated the spread to other portions of the continent. Edit: This of course has nothing to do with seers and surgebinders. It is hard to specify an amount of investirure usable when the books don't specify it and every fight scene in the cosmere usually has the line, "Then his stormlight ran out." Which is promptly followed by the solution and he escapes death via plot armor anyway.

I really appreciate this. I only know enough physics to understand my job... breathing for people whose bodies have quit breathing for themselves and all that goes with it. This was really enlightening. My brain thinks far to linearly I think. Anyways. I remember speed bubbles being usable on trains (I think). I don't know if it would be considered true FTL travel but I imagine if you had a ship traveling 99% the speed of light and your crew all stayed inside of a cadmium bubble you could get a similar effect to the space travel from Ender's Game / Speaker for the Dead and so forth. Time standing nearly still for those in the bubble while time passes for everyone else like normal. You could potentially make trips around the cosmere but everyone else would be aging and dying around you while you are doing it. I don't know how practical that would be for Cosmere story telling however.

I can't state how unimpressed I am with the fused so far. You have Kaladin who fought multiple at the oathgate so far. Then I have seen Szeth talk about how skilled they are at flying. Then this happened. I both decided Jasna was pretty busted and that the Fused are completely lame and inconsistent in the same 30 second clip. Navani calls out to her and she soulcasts the pitch and lights one fused on fire. Super cool but stupidly op. Effortless. Then she sees the spren move in the cognitive realm and turns ivory into a sword and cuts the head of the next fused as it flew right into her blade... what happened to the super long spears of aluminum? Why on earth would it fly close enough and recklessly enough to get 1 shot by her melee weapon? The fused are probably the single worst enemy or character type I have read from Brandon thus far. I don't think they pose a threat to Vin. The thunderclast maybe but you still have other shards out there to deal with that. Nightblood is in play. Vin could fall into the enemy army and duralumin shove with pewter out in all directions and cause absolute hellacious consequences to Amaran's army. But that is SA. The thousands and thousands of dead humans mean nothing to the reader because noone cares about anything other than the gods waving their hands and using surges to vaporize and slaughter entire armies at a time.

I'm working through it at the pace I can with life. Its just for fun. In my mind it is a large army but I am sure I have missed some specifics that make it trivial for most. While reading through the cosmere books I have always felt like systems and cultures are built so well against themselves that the opposite systems actually pose a much better threat towards them than fighting within themselves. I can't help but picture Vin dropping in to save the day instead of Kaladin and Shallan stepping through a portal. I can't help thinking what wreckage a few shardbearers could have stacked at the end of HoA or a single Jasna at 4th ideal... I just can't help myself while preoccupied in a position where I can't read/ listen but I can ponder.

I am genuinely curious about steel lines being cut. What does that mean? If mistborn is burning steel actively and the shardblade passes through a steel line then that mistborn can't see that steel anymore? Can't the mistborn simply pulse the use of the steel? Are the lines a new connection as the steel user first burns their metal or is the shardblade cutting connections that are there already but unseen until the mistborn burns the metal? I feel like shards could just be waved around Garen spin to win style and suddenly the mistborn has 2 useless abilities if it worked that way. I do think that shards likely interupt the steel lines of anything that is directly behind the shardblade... almost a line of sight type of deal more than effectively neutering 2 whole metals. Even if they sever that current connection pulsing the metal should be enough to remake those connections in real time and can be performed on a second by second basis as all metals are toggleable. I am not sure about atium burn time. In my mind metals are toggleable which makes them the better choice in a fight vs stormlight which leaks more. I know that stormlight can be returned to spheres but is that beyond what squires can do? I think the balance comes down to the idea that they have to meet eachother in close quarters combat eventually. Hovering around out of range would be a poor option because elend would likely cut them all down eventually. I think the question is... how much stormlight will be wasted per attack needed to heal through before they run out and can't heal anymore. I imagine there is a magical ratio that says one side wins vs the other. An hour of each probably would go to the atium side. But could toggleable 10 minutes of atium each allow them to land the needed hits to win the battle vs squires with an hour worth of full lashings or would the stormlight get used up too fast healing through future sight attacks? What about Vasher and his 100 phantoms vs Amaran and his army as seen in OB? Marsh and his 1000 koloss vs Amaran and his army? Elend and 200 seers with an hour of constant atium vs Amaran and his army? How many seers would be needed at the least do make it happen? Basically I am reading the battle for Thaylen fields and am curious what other armies from other books would have needed in that moment. What if a portal opened and 40,000 lifeless army from warbreaker came through with their 4 Returned with passcodes each with 3 or 4 priests at the 4th heightening? I would say Vashers Nightblood tactic would work in all situations. In fact I think if Vasher has held Nightblood in the battle for Thaylen fields he may have been able to plant it in front of Amarans army and allowed them to destroy themselves solo... good tactic and potentially the winner of all of these... Nightblood alone.

I have had a theory for a bit now that it is the intent of the weapon that actually matters. I believe I saw a WoB that said that even honorblades have a cognitive aspect to themselves past a normal sword or a normal invested item. I think even deadeyes work because their last action was to become weapons of war before becoming dead eyes. This leads to a separate question I will have to post in general as well though. Back to the topic, I think that swords cut across realms and destroy the way nightblood dose when and only when the weapon itself has the intent to do so. The high investiture is simply a preliminary state to them being able to become sentient and developing their own intent.

I don't want to pile on or take away from the koloss army vs 3 radiants thread but I really liked the idea of more numbers in the vs battles. I want to propose another squad level battle or two. #1: Elend and 50 of his atium users vs 3rd ideal Kal with 50 squires. #2: Marsh in HoA and 1000 koloss vs Vasher w/nightblood and 100 kalads phantoms. As far as resources go I would say that each side will have sufficient to fight for about an hour.

Is there a physical reason or is this simply wob says no so no? If you weight 2 tons while building speed and get within a mph of lights peed and then you stored it all cutting you weight down to just the weight of your metalminds the conservation of momentum just doesn't work? Okay. All is RAFO then? Not a hard no for FTL?

I am listening the battle and Kaladin just said "all of the stormlight in the world wouldn't save him if they just bound him and hacked at him until he stopped healing." I don't want to open the vs can of worms but I thought this was interesting that he had this thought and realization while he was surrounded by stormlight. Aluminum handcuffs? Awakened chains? Anyone who is a good grappler? Reminds me of Wayne fighting Not Wayne when he chokes her with his dueling cane and the extreme rate of healing that is required for it.

The way Wax accelerates and slows himself with F iron might come in handy. Do all the things at a high weight and once you are moving as fast as you can cut your weight down to nearly nothing. I feel like that could be what you need to break those barriers thanks to conservation of momentum. Though I am no physicist. If you have the windrunner lashed around at 99% the speed of light and you instantly cut their weight in half would that push them past it?

I am to the point where Odium is trying to choose Dalinar to be his champion. Odium is flaunting all of the times that Dalinar felt the thrill. As he describes it and explains it it seems more and more like the thrill is actually an invested art itself, or at least part of one. The description of it welling up and overtaking him seems very similar in design to the feelings others get when they are holding stormlight. Or a similar feeling to burning pewter or even lerasium. It is a similar description to how awakeners escribe being given a new sum of breaths. But it is different. They are all different and unique in their own ways, but the way the descriptions work. The way the PoV talks about them seems very familiar with how Dalinar describes The Thrill. My biggest question has to be this. Where does The Thrill come from and how do you all think it works? Is it an invested art that is perhaps an end negative or end neutral and relies on innate investiture? I don't see any description of feeding it an outside source like we see with more kinetic investiture usages. But it is described in a way that makes me think it is more than just Odium pressuring a person into using it. I feel like there should be a fuel source for it. Can investiture feed off of emotional health alone?

Thanks for the wobs. I wonder if an awakened object could be commanded to share its sight with the user. A glass eye awakened to show the future or even just to show the spiritual aspects of the world in the way that the objects see. Brandon has said that using gold allomancy as a blind person for sight would be effective. It would be extremely expensive but it would be effective form of sight for them. Wax uses his steel sight to see through walls and such as well. I bet gold level sight would be able to do the same thing. As far as I am aware, everything in the physical realm has a spiritual shadow of itself (the exception being aluminum which can be seen as the absence of everything else). Being able to awaken an item to act as a pseudo byakugan would be so rad. 360degree spiritual sight is awesome. Whether that could be granted via a cloth eyepatch at a lower heightening or would require a different item at 9th+ is up for debate. I wonder if 1000 breaths it took to make nightblood would be sufficient investiture to awaken an eye that grants atium level sight. And if that item would feed off of the investiture due to the power being a bit imba.

While it hurts me to think stormlight adds F chromium to its list... I have to say I think this is a compelling argument. I would imagine people with a large amount of breaths would have similar precog effects... we see it manifest largely in the returned with their version of future sight. I really want to reread the warbreaker fights and see if there is any indication of this. A part of me would say that awakened objects work on some sort of similar principles but how does an inanimate object have precog at all? The investiture itself caused the cloak to catch an arrow shot at vivennas back. She didn't have to put any thought into it. The cloak couldn't see the cloak couldn't know. The investiture itself allowed it all to happen. There was no feeling the wind currents change. There way no spiritual sight from a cloaks pov. But there is so much investiture there that it was able to act and do what needed to be done with no current thought from vivenna.

Ah okay.

When did that come out? I can't remember the exact spoiler quarantine guidelines.

Ah okay. That clears it up. Thanks.