Thor

I thought that the Blessing of Presence didn't add or subtract from the Soothing/Rioting/Other weakness, but broke even. Abstraction for example: Say each Hemalurgic spike subtracts -1 from one's mental defense. So the Blessing of Potency would give -2 to defense, a Bronze Hemalurgic spike (ala Vin's earing) gives -1. The Blessing of Presence is -2 for being a pair of Hemalurgic spikes, but adds +2 because of its mental enhancing powers, for a net +0, or no change overall. So you can't become more resistant by adding a lot of Blessings of Presence, you just break even (on the weakness side, but you'd get progressively more twisted physically, mentally and spiritually by the Hemalurgic magic.) Also, I believe it is the pieces of someone's soul being stapled onto your soul that warp the being, not the physical aspect of the spikes. Even if the Inquisitor spikes were a lot smaller, said Inquisitor would still be changed into something that wasn't completely human. IIRC, it has also been speculated that the Human Attribute spikes warp the host more than Allomantic/Feruchemical spikes, as evidenced by Koloss (normal humans changed rather drastically with only 4 spikes, while Inquisitors have upwards of 8 and are still relatively human, especially Marsh with 20+) and Kandra (who are granted sapience with only two spikes).

Remember, it's "Pillage, then burn." For later levels, there is a spell called "Telepathic Bond," which can be made permanent, though one would have to be at least 9th level to cast it (and 13th to make it permanent, via the Permanency spell.)

Sael I also walk towards the chalk, but I skirt the eastern edge of the bright light, using my darkvision to see. Listen 7, Spot 20.

Sael I roll my eyes at Turjan's remark and walk over to the doorway as he goes through. "Here we go..." I say under my breath and walk into the darkness a few moments after the wizard.

Apologies for not posting... the past week has been MATH!!!!!!1, which I finally finished earlier today, so I should be able to actually post now.

Entrance Room Sael Breaking out of my thoughts, I realize that I had followed the rest of the group into the tunnel, coming into the room. "Oops." I mutter, realizing I had been ignoring the others in the group while mulling over the church... Back to work then... I think, walking around the room, using my darkvision to look around the edges of the room, where the light isn't the best. (Taking twenty, as Turjan will be a while, for a 22 total.)

Thanks for clarifying. Now time to start Chaos Shuffling... Kidding, of course!

Alright, more questions on character creation! Is it alright for me to grab an extra turning pool? Ala the Sacred Exorcist Prestige class combined with already having Rebuke Undead or something similar? I would use the Destroy Undead ACF anyway, as my turning check/damage will be terrible anyway, but it would be nice to know for the future. (RKV + Domain Feats + Persisted DMM burns through the Turn Undead ability pretty fast.) How will spells with XP costs be utilized, as we won't be using XP?

Discreet Room - Alleyway Sael "Far too long, indeed! It is good to see you still have Halmyr's holy symbol around your neck, though you appear to have gained quite a few others... As for your question, it is some of both. I told the head cleric of my plans yesterday night, after communing with Halmyr at dusk. At first he seemed hesitant of letting me go, but he quickly changed his mind and was soon ushering me out the door with that wagon of your's. I'm not entirely sure what changed his mind, but I am not sorry for it!" At Turjan's Paladin-Cleric remark, I fake a glare toward him for a few seconds before breaking into a smile. [OOC - That remark is even more hilarious when one considers I am eventually going to take a level of Prestige Paladin. ] "Well met," I say, shaking his hand, "It will be nice to have another cleric to speak to while entering the dungeon." "No, I did not know that," I say, feeling slightly surprised, "Do you happen to know where that map is? Nothing was found at the inn, as far as I can recall." I give another fake glare towards Turjan before emitting a soft chuckle. "Off we go then!" Jumping into the driver's seat, I start the wagon off as soon as the rest of the group is aboard.

Good to know that I wasn't completely crazy about the Lord Ruler's Allomantic strength; it is indeed much larger than Elend's. When he tried to end the Final Empire, do think the Lord Ruler tried to turn himself into a black hole? I actually computed some figures that may help to illustrate why TLR will eventually run out. Warning: Much computational math ahead. Discrete mathematicians stay out! "x" is the Lord Ruler's actual age. "x-y" is the age that the Lord Ruler appears to be. (So x-y = 25ish during TFE.) "y" is the amount of age that Atium has to compensate for. Lets say that TLR discovered compounding on his 25th birthday, and he decided to stay continuously 25 for as long as possible with Atium. To determine how much Age he used up over the first year requires some math, specifically calculus. (His body is continuously aging so he has to continuously increase the amount of Age he is tapping, therefore integral calculus is desirable.) x-y=25, in this case. As "x" is the Lord Ruler's actual age, we will let it be the variable of integration. The two dates we are interested in are "x1", his 25th birthday, and "x2", his 26th birthday. So, x1 = 25 and x2 = 26. To determine the amount of age used we will integrate over the amount of age that Atium is compensating for with those times. Mathematically: int(y,x,x1,x2) is the form of the desired integral. (Reads: "the integral of y, with respect to x, from x1 to x2" in case one isn't familiar with that notation.) However, we need to have "y" be a function of x, so we solve x-y=25 for y: y=x-25. With this substitution, and substituting actual values of x1 and x2, we get the following integral: int(x-25,x,25,26) = .5 years (rather obviously) While this amount of time is not that much (especially with compounding) things start to change when larger timescales are used. Suppose that x1 = 25 and x2=1025 (somewhere between 10 and 15 years before the events of the Final Empire.) Then the integral becomes: int(x-25,x,25,1025) = 500000 years So TLR would have used 500,000 years of Age to be 25 years old throughout the existence of the Final Empire. In just the 1024-1025 year he used up int(x-25,x,1024,1025) = 999.5 years of Age! Again, this doesn't seem too bad for a compounder of TLRs strength, but one can definitely see that a problem will happen soon. Let's try TLR living to his one millionth birthday: int(x-25,x,25,1*10^6) = 4.99975...*10^11 years! And that year it took int(x-25,x,999999,1000000) = 999,974.5 years of Age to just live another year! Even with compounding, there is only so much Age you can create. At some point TLR wouldn't be able to keep up because he couldn't compound Atium fast enough, even if he was eating shovelfuls of Atium every second and storing the excess in a humongous pile of Atium to eat later. Even if he used the shoveling technique for the entire time since he started compounding, (and never stored Age after the first time) the increase in required age would eventually outstrip his Age production through compounding. And this is a conservative estimate! If Age gives diminishing returns (to remove 20 years from your body takes more than 2 times as much Age as removing 10 years does) then the "x-y" term would need to be adjusted, as another term "z" would be needed, where "z" is the amount of Age required to grant remove "y" years from the body. Something like sqrt(z)=y, so every time one doubles the Age to be tapped, you must quadruple the amount of Age that needs to be stored. In this specific case, reducing your apparent age by 10 years would require 100 years of Age.

Good to know. To the question: yes, it would probably work best.

I've given this a bit of thought, and I would like to add another part: If Preservation's Mind (Leras) wasn't broken/damaged, would the mist spirit have been more corporeal? Is the mist spirit a Physical manifestation of Perservation's Mind? Is it possible for said Mind to survive its Shard's shattering, similar to a Shard surviving its Mind's death (Leras dying but Preservation is still there)? Ironmind Filling/Storing and Lashings: The two are fundamentally different but can yield similar results. With an Ironmind you are actually changing your mass. If one was in a vacuum on Earth/Roshar/wherever there is gravity (physics joke away!!) and stored/tapped the Ironmind, the acceleration due to gravity is still the same, so you continue falling as if you hadn't tapped/stored the Ironmind. (Even if this requires handwavium to not break Conservation of Momentum.) The Basic Lashing, as mentioned in the Ars Arcanum, actually changes the gravitational effects on an object and only that object. A Reverse Lashing increases the gravitational pull of an object above what its mass would indicate and this gravitational change doesn't affect the object that is targeted (otherwise a Windrunner could create black holes with enough Stormlight.) However, what Cuaiir asked was about Steelpushing, Ironpulling, and Lashings, not Skimmer shenanigans. I'm not quite sure how that got muddled... As for that: these two may also be fundamentally different things but have similar results. A Steelpush/Ironpull creates a straight line force on an object that project from the Allomancer's position. The Lashings may create a new force or manipulate an existing force; we don't know specifically, though the Ars Arcanum seems to suggest that they just manipulate gravity. If the Lashings create a new force, then they are quite similar to Steelpushing/Ironpulling, but have different restrictions: S/I are radial line only forces, at a distance, stops pushing/pulling instantly after "effort" is not being put into it, with a limit to the strength of the push/pull relative to the Allomaner's strength and probably mass. Lashings, oth, are not limited in direction, require touch (one is always in contact with oneself for this definition) to create the new force at an object (though the force works at a distance after it has been created), lose strength over time if left alone, and the strength is based on the number of Lashings one adds (the maximum would be based on the amount of Stormlight the Windrunner could hold and how fast they could add Lashings.) However, if the Lashings are just manipulating gravity, they are quite different from Steelpushes and Ironpulls, which create a new force.

Nothing very high initially, though I will get a LOT better as we level. My build will take a few levels before it will really shine, but until then I will do my best. Low-level D&D is rocket tag anyway, so my current stats aren't much worse than a barbarian or fighter, and by 7-8th level, I will have passed them. Also, I hope my post in the HYHY thread isn't too overbearing/controlling, Eerongal. Also it may take me a bit to get used to writing in first person; I am used to roleplaying in third person. And I am usually much less wordy than in that post... Backstory update that is relevant to the HYHY thread: I moved the church/convent/temple/thing of Halmyr so that it effectively becomes the main church of the area, so my character's order is very well known in the region. It then follows that Turjan would have visited at least once, possibly more if he is a native to the area. I decided to have Sael know Turjan fairly well, in an attempt to weave myself into the story. If I overstepped, please let me know. Edit: Punctuation...

Discreet Room - Alleyway Sael I hope Turjan comes out soon. I think, standing in front of the wagon I borrowed from the order earlier in the morning. While these three took up with that fool Murl, Halmyr did nudge me towards them after the investigation yesterday and they didn't have much of a choice after their encounter with the aberration... OOC Stuff : Well, time to stop reminiscing and prepare for the day now that I have a bit of time to spare. Breathing slowly, I rest my spear on the ground in front of me and begin to cast a spell. Quietly speaking the verbal part of the spell, I go through one of the short martial katas that accompany many of Halmyr's divine blessings and end the spell with a flash of light emanating from the holy symbol tied around my neck. I breathe deeply once, reaching down and grabbing my spear, which is now glowing faintly with divine power. As I stand back up with my spear in hand, I realize that I had heard some footsteps behind me during the spell and spin around as quickly as I can, knowing that if this is a real battle I am dead. "Turjan! Good to see you!" I say, relaxing slightly as I recognize him, a smile breaking across my face as I silently berate myself for losing focus. "I have the wagon Murl rented for you. He is lucky that the head cleric is less stringent than I, or he wouldn't have gotten anything. Sometimes I worry about the clergy... Well, enough of my fears, there will be a cleric waiting at the entrance to the dungeon to take the wagon back after you are finished with it." Turning towards the other three, my smile becoming more neutral: "As for you three, I bring a message from the town guard: they will not press charges against you, but they ask that you leave town at your earliest convenience. While the creature you killed at the tavern was unholy, the people of the town are rather jumpy at the moment, as you may have noticed. As for myself, I would like to join your group to the dungeon. I have quite a lot of combat training, as Turjan can attest to, and I believe you may need the assistance in that area."

Why did you spoil their innocence Eerongal? Defiler!! I suppose it is better to get Pun Pun out of the way early, so you don't have a Paladin with Skill Focus: Knowledge (Religion) knocking on your door... Also, in the HYHY thread, I am thinking of jumping in as the wagon "driver"...and I have a good idea on how to weave myself into this.

Gogo PC port! Got to admit, looks awesome so far.

Yea, I was planning on joining very soon. Probably come in after you leave the hideout. Maybe before you leave. Time will tell if I can figure out a way to put myself in the game.

Well, I've been trying to think up an idea to jump into the IC thread with but that hasn't been going so well... And I've been thinking about rolling up a different character, as I don't want my character to be stepping on anyone's toes. Actually, I just had an idea for jumping into the IC thread, but my current character is not a trapfinder, so we would still need one...

I have some more data to add: Marsh states that he has 11 spikes, originally (epilogue of Final Empire). As far as I can tell, he doesn't gain any new powers during WoA (he just becomes more proficient) so his number of spikes is still 11. Now, in chapter 13 of HoA Marsh states: "Of all the Inquisitors, Marsh had been given the largest number of new spikes - he had ten new ones planted at various places in his body." (emphasis added) So, if we assume that Ruin is done adding new spikes to Inquisitors as of Chapter 13, then Marsh has a total number of 21 spikes. I think the location of the spikes are mostly in between the middle and lower ribs (numbers 4-9, with number 1 being the rib at the top of the ribcage). Remember that Vin isn't a doctor, so for her, "ribs" probably just refers to the ones that are easily visible. For Marsh, I would say his spikes are located: Originally: 2 eyes, 1 upper back and 8 ribs (4 on each side) (I believe this is specifically mentioned in the epilogue of Final Empire.) After Ruin: Add 2 more in the ribs (for 10 total), then the rest distributed through the shoulders (ala Spook), chest (the Inquisitor at the beginning of HoA), and upper arms (like Quellion). Possibly some through his back, upper leg or butt. (Maybe...)

Not bad, though I disagree with the masses being additive and I don't think velocity components need to be included (the force is not dependent on velocity, just distance, imo.) Here is my shot at an equation. (Obviously based on gravity/EM force and there are no numbers, though it should be fairly easy to calculate if one desires.) Γ = Purity of Metal (based on a value of 1 being 100%, maybe not exactly correlate to the actual metal purity as purities less than some value may not give any power), unitless τ = Burn Rate (rather obvious), units are mass/time σ = Allomantic Strength (based on connection to Preservation), unit is Allomantic Power (P is symbol, new unit) µ = Metal Constant (constant based on metal, Steel has a positive value, Iron is negative), units of Allomantic Power * time * mass^2/length^3 m = Mass of Object (being pushed/pulled), units of mass M = Mass of Allomancer (duh), units of mass r = Displacement (between Object and Allomancer), units of length Formula is (units should be correct...): F = ΓτσmM/µr^2 This formula gives an attractive force for Iron (F will be negative for Iron) and repulsive for Steel, is inversely proportional to distance (power may need to be higher for the dropoff in strength we see), contains variables for burn rate, Allomantic Strength and the purity of the metal. For more fun, the Potential Energy of an Allomancer's push/pull is: U = -ΓτσmM/µr

Dragonsteel is 7 books. (Liar and its sequel are not included in that number.) And Aether of Night may or may not be a Cosmere book...

Remember that TLR designed the Koloss so that they would kill themselves off within a few years without an influx of new spikes, he just didn't account for the Koloss' re-using of old spikes. So the only problem left over would be Inquisitors (of which there are very few), which is probably why the storage plates had information on Electrum, so that Mistborn Obligators/nobles could fight Ruin controlled Inquisitors, even if they didn't have any Atium. (Totally guessing on this last part, though it does make some sense.)

Yea, those are where I got my responses from for Nalthis and Sel. (Though I had to use the ebook versions, as I am away from the actual texts at the moment, and could not cite pages.) I even checked the sample Liar chapters to see if there was mention of a moon for Yolen! (In case you are wondering, nothing is mentioned of a moon.) Additionally, it is possible to infer the lack of a moon around Scadrial from the Trell religion (which is pre-Ascension, and if there wasn't a moon then, then there won't be a moon in the "current" time): there are thousands of Trell's "eyes" (stars) and Trell's brother only has one eye (Scadrial's sun), but there is no mention of a larger "eye" for Trell that would indicate a moon. Someday I will get around to posting a list of astronomical features for each planet that I have inferred/made up.

Correct, Scadrial doesn't have a moon (and it never has had one, even before Rashek screwed up the planet's orbit.) Both Sel and Nalthis have only one.

Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn by Tad Williams (Despised this but kept going just in case the ending was good. It wasn't.) The Farseer trilogy by Robin Hobb (Interesting premise and was fairly interesting, unlike MST, but the ending was not the best.) Sword of Truth series, as mentioned. I liked the first book but I just couldn't finish the series. I'm not even sure what book I ended at...somewhere around 10 I think.