Timewaster's Guide Archive
Local Authors => Brandon Sanderson => Topic started by: Technomancer on August 01, 2009, 08:38:31 PM
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With the ultimate Brandon Sanderson thread going on, I thought maybe something a little more abstract was in order. Brandon has currently touched on five or six different magic systems in his published works. These systems would be:
Aon Dor
The Fjordell version of Aon Dor (It had different efects and used Fjordell symbols in place of Aonic ones) This was used by the Dakhor monks.
Allomancy
Ferchemy
Hemalugy
Awakening
The goal of this thread is to compare and contrast the workings of each system, discern each systems pros and cons, and speculate on what would happen if the systems of different worlds ineracted.
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Aon Dor in any version is hard to assess because we have so little information on its full capabilities. It can trivialize military logistics, teleport, heal, and create long lasting illusions and light sources. In combat, it can blast and create barriers but we know virtually nothing else except that it is severely handicapped by the time required to draw precise and complex shapes in the air. Its direct in combat power depends very much on how much drawing speed can be improved without sacrificing correctness and power, and on how powerful and varied advance preparations can be.
Any serious comparison between combat potential of Aon Dor in the hands of a truly knowledgeable and practiced user and someone using any of the other magic systems is not possible at this point due to insufficient information.
Allomancy is powerful and directly applicable to combat, is simple, and is fueled by an external source that is easy to acquire large quantities of (excepting the god metals). Its simplicity is also a drawback, however, as the variety and power of the effects possible is strictly limited.
Feruchemy is, ultimately, more powerful than allomancy with respect to combat. The reliance on long periods of down time to build up storage in your metalminds is a huge handicap, though, and while it lacks allomancy's limits on the amount of power used at any given moment, it shares allomancy's limited number of effects.
Hemalurgy's power varies a great deal depending on the user's knowledge, ethics, and available victims. Given someone with Ruin's full knowledge, a complete lack of morals, and a large supply of metals, allomancers, feruchemists, and normal people, a hemalurgist could easily trump anyone in any of these magic systems with the sole exception of a natural mistborn/feruchemist like the Lord Ruler. Even there, it depends on relative strength and experience in the two magic systems, and stealing more mundane traits as well as magical powers might tip the balance to the hemalurgist. Depending on the factors listed, hemalurgists cover the whole range from that all the way down to normal humans.
Awakening is all about advance preparation, the ability to acquire large quantities of a particular scarce resource, and knowledge of the Commands. A sufficiently knowledgeable Awakener with the 10th heightening and lots of time might be able to beat a top end hemalurgist. Maybe. If he knows what's coming or is exceptionally paranoid. He could probably beat anything else the other magic systems can produce, though, through sheer numbers of Lifeless if nothing else. Like hemalurgy, the power range extends from this all the way down to normal humans. It has a lot more out of combat utility than any of the Metallic Arts, though, but I think Aon Dor is better there.
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First of all I want to thank Douglas for getting this discussion rolling. Now I will add my own thoughts into this
Aon Dor in any version is hard to assess because we have so little information on its full capabilities. It can trivialize military logistics, teleport, heal, and create long lasting illusions and light sources. In combat, it can blast and create barriers but we know virtually nothing else except that it is severely handicapped by the time required to draw precise and complex shapes in the air. Its direct in combat power depends very much on how much drawing speed can be improved without sacrificing correctness and power, and on how powerful and varied advance preparations can be.
Any serious comparison between combat potential of Aon Dor in the hands of a truly knowledgeable and practiced user and someone using any of the other magic systems is not possible at this point due to insufficient information.
True, we have very little information on Aon Dor but I believe it's safe to assume that Elantrian Aon Dor is by far the most versatile magic system to date. However it has several key drawbacks. The biggest one being the need for perfection in drawing Aons. A mistake stops the drawing process completely. I'm willing to bet Aons would be had to draw while dodging or moving so if manage to get an Elantrian on the defensive to the point where they have to move they're going to be in trouble.
The Fjordell Aon Dor thing used by the Dakhor monks was as a recall more combat savy but I can't recall the details at the moment.
Allomancy is powerful and directly applicable to combat, is simple, and is fueled by an external source that is easy to acquire large quantities of (excepting the god metals). Its simplicity is also a drawback, however, as the variety and power of the effects possible is strictly limited.
On this I agree whole-heartedly.
Feruchemy is, ultimately, more powerful than allomancy with respect to combat. The reliance on long periods of down time to build up storage in your metalminds is a huge handicap, though, and while it lacks allomancy's limits on the amount of power used at any given moment, it shares allomancy's limited number of effects.
True but remember some attributes, such as speed are harder to store.
Hemalurgy's power varies a great deal depending on the user's knowledge, ethics, and available victims. Given someone with Ruin's full knowledge, a complete lack of morals, and a large supply of metals, allomancers, feruchemists, and normal people, a hemalurgist could easily trump anyone in any of these magic systems with the sole exception of a natural mistborn/feruchemist like the Lord Ruler. Even there, it depends on relative strength and experience in the two magic systems, and stealing more mundane traits as well as magical powers might tip the balance to the hemalurgist. Depending on the factors listed, hemalurgists cover the whole range from that all the way down to normal humans.
Yes having access to Allomantic and Feruchemical power is a plus but these powers are weakened through the Law of Hemalurgic decay. To say it's out and out better than Allomancy and Ferchemy is a strech skill Mistborn and Ferchemists have bot fought Inquistors evenly.
Awakening is all about advance preparation, the ability to acquire large quantities of a particular scarce resource, and knowledge of the Commands. A sufficiently knowledgeable Awakener with the 10th heightening and lots of time might be able to beat a top end hemalurgist. Maybe. If he knows what's coming or is exceptionally paranoid. He could probably beat anything else the other magic systems can produce, though, through sheer numbers of Lifeless if nothing else. Like hemalurgy, the power range extends from this all the way down to normal humans. It has a lot more out of combat utility than any of the Metallic Arts, though, but I think Aon Dor is better there.
Breath itself is not a scarce resource, every human has it. Unlike Allomancy and Ferchemy the resource used can be called back (Unless used in a Lifeless.) and it can do more abstract things. At the Sixth heightening they can Awaken things in the sound of their voice like say, a mistcloak, wit the right amount of strength however this can be countered. At the Eighth Heightining they can awakenn metal and stone provided they know the commands, this screw over Feruchemists and Steel Inquistors. Although, awakening metal and stone takes a lot of Breath. As for winning through number of Lifeless, it appers you've forgotten the koloss.
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True but remember some attributes, such as speed are harder to store.
Maybe, but once the storing is done, the potential for combat power is very high.
Yes having access to Allomantic and Feruchemical power is a plus but these powers are weakened through the Law of Hemalurgic decay. To say it's out and out better than Allomancy and Ferchemy is a strech skill Mistborn and Ferchemists have bot fought Inquistors evenly.
Inquisitors yes, but Inquisitors are rather far short of the top end of hemalurgic power. They had all the allomantic powers, yes, but I don't think they're ever shown using any of the feruchemical powers except gold for health until Hero of Ages. Even in HoA, they never use the true potential of combining allomancy and feruchemy in the way Rashek did. Storing a feruchemical attribute in a metal and then burning that metal with allomancy multiplies the stored power by a HUGE factor, enough that the Lord Ruler was able to turn the normal 1-to-1 storage and return ratio into a positive gain big enough to reduce his age by about 1000 years nonstop indefinitely, and fully expected to be able to keep that up for a great deal longer. Yes, the individual allomantic and feruchemical powers would be substantially weaker, but nowhere near enough to counter the increase for having the combination and using it to its full potential.
Hemalurgic Thug = half strength natural Thug
Hemalurgic pewter feruchemist = half strength natural pewter feruchemist
Hemalurgist burning his own pewtermind = quintuple strength Thug and feruchemist put together
The Lord Ruler burning his own pewtermind = 10 times normal Thug and feruchemist put together
Yes, I'm just making up the numbers here, but you get the idea, and I actually think all of those numbers are rather low.
And then you get things like this (again, actual numbers drawn from thin air):
1) Hemalurgist's normal strength is 1.
2) Hemalurgist burns normal pewter, increasing strength to 2.
3) Hemalurgist stores strength in pewtermind, decreasing strength back to 1 and storing strength at 1. I remember EUOL stating that storing more than about 20% of your strength normally was hazardous because of how much you need just to stay alive, keep your heart pumping, etc. This is already 5 times that, and can be drawn back at that rate without spending any on compounding it.
4) Hemalurgist burns pewtermind, increasing strength by 5, to 6.
5) Hemalurgist stores strength in new pewtermind, decreasing strength back to 1 and storing strength at 5.
6) Hemalurgist burns pewtermind, increasing strength by 25, to 26.
7) etc.
8) Hemalurgist fights someone, taps or burns pewtermind to gain strength over 9000, and sends his opponent into orbit with a light tap from one pinky.
Rashek did stuff like this. It's how he stayed young for 1000 years, and how he killed entire armies of rebels all by himself. No one else even had the ability to do so until Hero of Ages when Ruin took over the Inquisitors and killed the Keepers, and even if Ruin had them try it, they didn't have the time to get much experience at it or build up truly impressive reserves. Yes, Rashek's allomancy and feruchemy was natural and therefore stronger, but that's why he's the one thing I said actually could beat a top end hemalurgist besides a top end Awakener who knows what's coming and is prepared for it. Yes, Rashek himself got beaten by a mere mistborn, but only because Vin was Preservation's chosen successor and therefore could draw on the mists for power. Without that quite unique advantage, which itself is not really part of the magic system in my opinion, she would have had no chance at all.
Breath itself is not a scarce resource, every human has it.
Every human has exactly one Breath. You need hundreds to do anything really significant, and tens of thousands to reach the system's potential. That is most definitely scarce.
Unlike Allomancy and Ferchemy the resource used can be called back (Unless used in a Lifeless.) and it can do more abstract things. At the Sixth heightening they can Awaken things in the sound of their voice like say, a mistcloak, wit the right amount of strength however this can be countered.
That power comes at the ninth heightening.
At the Eighth Heightining they can awakenn metal and stone provided they know the commands, this screw over Feruchemists and Steel Inquistors. Although, awakening metal and stone takes a lot of Breath.
This is also a ninth heightening power. You need to convince 20000 people to willingly give you their Breath in order to get to that point, and that's not easy no matter how you look at it. Sure, you can reduce that number by getting people who have multiple Breaths themselves to give theirs to you, but anyone who's gathered a significant number of Breaths is going to be a LOT harder to convince.
As for winning through number of Lifeless, it appers you've forgotten the koloss.
True, though that's another point in favor of top end hemalurgists beating everyone.
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On the Lifeless vs Koloss, Lifeless needs one corpse and one person with breath and you get two fighters, Koloss needs three live humans and you end with one superhuman fighter.
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I thought Koloss had five spikes, which would require six people (5 killed for the spikes, 1 to put the spikes in). My memory on where this was mentioned is vague enough that I don't want to look it up, though.
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True but remember some attributes, such as speed are harder to store.
Maybe, but once the storing is done, the potential for combat power is very high.
Yes having access to Allomantic and Feruchemical power is a plus but these powers are weakened through the Law of Hemalurgic decay. To say it's out and out better than Allomancy and Ferchemy is a strech skill Mistborn and Ferchemists have bot fought Inquistors evenly.
Inquisitors yes, but Inquisitors are rather far short of the top end of hemalurgic power. They had all the allomantic powers, yes, but I don't think they're ever shown using any of the feruchemical powers except gold for health until Hero of Ages. Even in HoA, they never use the true potential of combining allomancy and feruchemy in the way Rashek did. Storing a feruchemical attribute in a metal and then burning that metal with allomancy multiplies the stored power by a HUGE factor, enough that the Lord Ruler was able to turn the normal 1-to-1 storage and return ratio into a positive gain big enough to reduce his age by about 1000 years nonstop indefinitely, and fully expected to be able to keep that up for a great deal longer. Yes, the individual allomantic and feruchemical powers would be substantially weaker, but nowhere near enough to counter the increase for having the combination and using it to its full potential.
Hemalurgic Thug = half strength natural Thug
Hemalurgic pewter feruchemist = half strength natural pewter feruchemist
Hemalurgist burning his own pewtermind = quintuple strength Thug and feruchemist put together
The Lord Ruler burning his own pewtermind = 10 times normal Thug and feruchemist put together
Yes, I'm just making up the numbers here, but you get the idea, and I actually think all of those numbers are rather low.
And then you get things like this (again, actual numbers drawn from thin air):
1) Hemalurgist's normal strength is 1.
2) Hemalurgist burns normal pewter, increasing strength to 2.
3) Hemalurgist stores strength in pewtermind, decreasing strength back to 1 and storing strength at 1. I remember EUOL stating that storing more than about 20% of your strength normally was hazardous because of how much you need just to stay alive, keep your heart pumping, etc. This is already 5 times that, and can be drawn back at that rate without spending any on compounding it.
4) Hemalurgist burns pewtermind, increasing strength by 5, to 6.
5) Hemalurgist stores strength in new pewtermind, decreasing strength back to 1 and storing strength at 5.
6) Hemalurgist burns pewtermind, increasing strength by 25, to 26.
7) etc.
8) Hemalurgist fights someone, taps or burns pewtermind to gain strength over 9000, and sends his opponent into orbit with a light tap from one pinky.
Rashek did stuff like this. It's how he stayed young for 1000 years, and how he killed entire armies of rebels all by himself. No one else even had the ability to do so until Hero of Ages when Ruin took over the Inquisitors and killed the Keepers, and even if Ruin had them try it, they didn't have the time to get much experience at it or build up truly impressive reserves. Yes, Rashek's allomancy and feruchemy was natural and therefore stronger, but that's why he's the one thing I said actually could beat a top end hemalurgist besides a top end Awakener who knows what's coming and is prepared for it. Yes, Rashek himself got beaten by a mere mistborn, but only because Vin was Preservation's chosen successor and therefore could draw on the mists for power. Without that quite unique advantage, which itself is not really part of the magic system in my opinion, she would have had no chance at all.
Breath itself is not a scarce resource, every human has it.
Every human has exactly one Breath. You need hundreds to do anything really significant, and tens of thousands to reach the system's potential. That is most definitely scarce.
Unlike Allomancy and Ferchemy the resource used can be called back (Unless used in a Lifeless.) and it can do more abstract things. At the Sixth heightening they can Awaken things in the sound of their voice like say, a mistcloak, wit the right amount of strength however this can be countered.
That power comes at the ninth heightening.
At the Eighth Heightining they can awakenn metal and stone provided they know the commands, this screw over Feruchemists and Steel Inquistors. Although, awakening metal and stone takes a lot of Breath.
This is also a ninth heightening power. You need to convince 20000 people to willingly give you their Breath in order to get to that point, and that's not easy no matter how you look at it. Sure, you can reduce that number by getting people who have multiple Breaths themselves to give theirs to you, but anyone who's gathered a significant number of Breaths is going to be a LOT harder to convince.
As for winning through number of Lifeless, it appers you've forgotten the koloss.
True, though that's another point in favor of top end hemalurgists beating everyone.
It only takes 10,00 breathes to reach the Tenth heighteng. There are Billions of people in the worlds. I'm sorry, you're rigth I got my heightenings wrong they are ninth heightning power but regardless Steel Inquistors are the best manifestation of Hemalurgy to date, so that's what I'm going off of.
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I thought Koloss had five spikes, which would require six people (5 killed for the spikes, 1 to put the spikes in). My memory on where this was mentioned is vague enough that I don't want to look it up, though.
I remember two spikes.
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It only takes 10,00 breathes to reach the Tenth heighteng. There are Billions of people in the worlds. I'm sorry, you're rigth I got my heightenings wrong they are ninth heightning power but regardless Steel Inquistors are the best manifestation of Hemalurgy to date, so that's what I'm going off of.
According to the table in the back of my hardcover copy of Warbreaker, which I just now checked, the tenth heightening requires 50,000 breaths.
The thing with Hemalurgists is that they can do anything someone who is both a mistborn and a feruchemist can do, just with somewhat reduced strength. The one and only example we have of that is the Lord Ruler. That should be your baseline for high end capability, in principle if not in absolute strength, and the power multiplication trick the Lord Ruler used is explicitly laid out by Sazed at the end of Mistborn 1 to explain how he stayed alive for 1000 years despite being an otherwise normal human.
I thought Koloss had five spikes, which would require six people (5 killed for the spikes, 1 to put the spikes in). My memory on where this was mentioned is vague enough that I don't want to look it up, though.
I remember two spikes.
You may be thinking of Kandra, their "blessings" are two spikes each.
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It only takes 10,00 breathes to reach the Tenth heighteng. There are Billions of people in the worlds. I'm sorry, you're rigth I got my heightenings wrong they are ninth heightning power but regardless Steel Inquistors are the best manifestation of Hemalurgy to date, so that's what I'm going off of.
According to the table in the back of my hardcover copy of Warbreaker, which I just now checked, the tenth heightening requires 50,000 breaths.
The thing with Hemalurgists is that they can do anything someone who is both a mistborn and a feruchemist can do, just with somewhat reduced strength. The one and only example we have of that is the Lord Ruler. That should be your baseline for high end capability, in principle if not in absolute strength, and the power multiplication trick the Lord Ruler used is explicitly laid out by Sazed at the end of Mistborn 1 to explain how he stayed alive for 1000 years despite being an otherwise normal human.
I thought Koloss had five spikes, which would require six people (5 killed for the spikes, 1 to put the spikes in). My memory on where this was mentioned is vague enough that I don't want to look it up, though.
I remember two spikes.
You may be thinking of Kandra, their "blessings" are two spikes each.
Man, I'm tired it is 50,000. Haven't slept well lately I'm sloppy.
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I thought Koloss had five spikes, which would require six people (5 killed for the spikes, 1 to put the spikes in). My memory on where this was mentioned is vague enough that I don't want to look it up, though.
I remember two spikes.
You may be thinking of Kandra, their "blessings" are two spikes each.
Perhaps, I thought that both were two spikes though. I'll have to check.
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Perhaps, I thought that both were two spikes though. I'll have to check.
Just checked, it's in the pre-chapter blurb for chapter 40 of Hero of Ages. Koloss have four spikes, so making one requires five people.
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Right, yeah, so I'd say lifeless win that in terms of cost effectiveness.
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I think I'm going to have to throw in my vote with an Aon Dor Master.
And lets keep in mind, Raoden was far from a master. He'd studied Aon Dor for what, a year? There were probably Elantrians that had studied and practiced it for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. And look at what he could do with it after just a little study, without a real teacher.
Teleportation, Fireballs, Force shields, flight, those are probably all possible with Aon Dor.
And this is all assuming that an Elantrian can even die. A sword through the chest wouldn't do it. And they can turn garbage into corn, I'm betting they can make some nice armor if they need it.
I really don't think any of the others would have much of a chance.
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while it does indeed take more men to create koloss than lifeless, one could argue that the "superhuman factor" makes it worth it. koloss are powerhouses that have incredible strength and resistance to pain or injury. i say the lifeless remain even with koloss
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I think I'm going to have to throw in my vote with an Aon Dor Master.
And lets keep in mind, Raoden was far from a master. He'd studied Aon Dor for what, a year? There were probably Elantrians that had studied and practiced it for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. And look at what he could do with it after just a little study, without a real teacher.
Teleportation, Fireballs, Force shields, flight, those are probably all possible with Aon Dor.
And this is all assuming that an Elantrian can even die. A sword through the chest wouldn't do it. And they can turn garbage into corn, I'm betting they can make some nice armor if they need it.
I really don't think any of the others would have much of a chance.
Beheading would probably do it. Or something foreign taking up space inside their skull.
And where were Force Shields or flight in Elantris (the book)?
Re: Koloss vs Lifeless, I'm not sure I agree.
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I think I'm going to have to throw in my vote with an Aon Dor Master.
And lets keep in mind, Raoden was far from a master. He'd studied Aon Dor for what, a year? There were probably Elantrians that had studied and practiced it for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. And look at what he could do with it after just a little study, without a real teacher.
Teleportation, Fireballs, Force shields, flight, those are probably all possible with Aon Dor.
And this is all assuming that an Elantrian can even die. A sword through the chest wouldn't do it. And they can turn garbage into corn, I'm betting they can make some nice armor if they need it.
I really don't think any of the others would have much of a chance.
Yes but that's a little too speculative.
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Well, it's nice to see this picking up. The Koloss/Lifeless debate is an interesting one. Here's an interesting thought: each lifeless carries the Breath used to make it and linger somewhere between life and death. If you were to make a koloos out of Lifeless would it inherit those breaths? Would a hemalugic spike used to steal abilities carry an Awakener's Breath with it?
Also it wouldn't do us much good to speculate on what Elantrians could do it seemed to me Raoden had the majority of the knowledge form the way it sounded in the books. The poor Dakhor monks and Ferchemists aren't getting any attention. Not to mention you've all forgotten a powerful Allomancer can possess Hemalurgic creatures.
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lifeless koloss... now that is a tide turner. assuming killing the koloss didn't damage the body to the point where it could no longer fuction, turning the enemy's dead into your own soldiers is strategic genius.
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lifeless koloss... now that is a tide turner. assuming killing the koloss didn't damage the body to the point where it could no longer fuction, turning the enemy's dead into your own soldiers is strategic genius.
It could work both ways too...
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true true true. although the process of creating koloss would require live captures. again i think they are even. with both sides, harvesting the enemy requires killing in a specific way.
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Ok, So I did some rereading of Elantris. Here's a few interesting facts.
1. Elantrians can die. They heal very fast, and can survive many wounds due to this, but if you stop their heart they will die (according to Raoden at the end othe book). They were also supernaturally strong and fast.
2. Their spells really don't take any time to cast. In any RPG out there it would be the standard one spell a turn, maybe ever more. At one point Raoden casts two spells at one, writing an Aon with each hand and killing two separate soldiers. Also, this is after he'd only had a few months practice. I still think a real master might do some really impressive stuff.
3. One spell can vaporize a man, they do lots of damage.
4. They can heal other people very fast. Poof you're healed fast.
5. Their biggest limitation is that Aon Dor really only works near Elantris. The farther you get from Elantris, the weaker it gets.
6. They CAN create Force Fields. Even when weakened by being away from Elantris, Raoden was able to create a force field strong enough to stop the swing of a man with supernatural strength completely.
7. There is no evidence that they can fly (although I though maybe it mentioned it somewhere) but they can teleport.
So, all in all . . . dang. I just don't see the other hanging with them. There is a reason they were called Gods, not mages. I think that unless you took them by surprise they are probably going to come out on top of any of Sanderson's other creations. I think their force shields are probably strong enough to stop a blow from the Lord Ruler, and their attacks are more then enough to kill a Kloss in one strike.
This is also based on what we see of them, minutes after regaining their powers. Who knows what items of magic, etc they can create.
As to the Lifeless vs. Kloss debate.
Kloss, hands down. One Kloss is probably worth 10 lifeless.
But, don't forget about Kalad's Phantoms. I doubt Mistborn, Kloss, or Ferchemists could give them much of a challenge, and they also only take one breath to create.
Of course, the Elantrians would still kick their trash . . . :D
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Just to add onto what Erik is saying (I completely agree with him, by the way), I think to say Raoden knows pretty much everything about the AonDor by the end of the book is underestimating the magic system. As we can see with all the other magic systems, they're very intricate. Much more complicated than what they seem on first glance--every single one of them. I don't think Elantris is an exception.
We may not know what else an Elantrian can do, but I think as long as the speculation has founding in an Aon, it's okay. I think there's enough evidence in the book to show that the few Aons we see in detail working in the book are more complicated than their basic descriptions, and to say probably all the Aons are like that wouldn't be too far off-base. It's a much more complicated and versatile system than a lot of people are giving it credit for.
But...moving past Elantris (since we know even less about the monks than we do about the Elantrians by far).
Awakening. Breath is everything. That and the Commands. Those are the biggest limits to it. I'm going to use Vasher as an example, simply because as a Scholar, he theoretically knows more Commands than any other Awakener alive (excluding Yesteel). If he had even 1,000 Breaths, he could do quite a bit of damage. Well, assuming he's wearing all sorts of colorful clothing (an image that is rather hard to conjure up, considering...). With that much Breath, and the knowledge that he has with Commands, he could get a lot of objects working with him. And none of them would be trying to break away--like Koloss do when they're controlled. Give a cloak the Command 'Protect Me' and it will go and catch all those coins the Mistborn sends flying, just like it caught the arrows for Viv. Granted, a cloak with that command wouldn't be much use against an Energy Aon, but oh well. Dodge it fast enough and you'll be fine.
Allomancy. Very versatile. It can do so much. That's one of the major pros of it. Biggest drawback is the amount of metals the Allomancer has available to them. If they're running low, they need to start saving it up. Pewter, useful though it is, burns fast and if an Allomancer runs out of that in a fight with any of these other magic systems, they're going down.
Feruchemy. Nice in a fight. Having all that power all at once is useful. Biggest drawback is the storing. Don't have enough health or speed or whatever, and that'll come back to bite you. Major. But if you have a decent-sized store and you use it wisely enough, you could theoretically take down any of the other systems if you're quick about it. Would be hard against the Allomancer. And the Elantrian. But far from impossible (but like I said, you'd have to be smart about it, and quick. If you're just a little too slow, you'd lose the advantage that such a major power flow gives you).
Hemalurgy....Well. Limited by how many spikes you've got, plus how much you've stored (assuming you've stolen some Feruchemical ablities), plus how much metal you've got with you. But, if you're loaded up pretty well on all of those....That's some major power. Enough to beat pretty much all of the others.
I'd go into more detail about these--and how they'd work separately in battle or whatever--but it's past 2 and I need sleep. Even if I'm not tired. I need to kick myself back onto a normal sleeping schedule....
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Okay, let's say we throw Atium in ths debate, that would give Allomancy and Henalurgy a leg up, would it not?