Please statting the Edward Elric

[dragoonbuster]

Well, part of that at least can be explained by the Red Stones that were hidden in the State Alchemist Watches, so their energy use would be subsidized in that case. 

Oh. I never made that connection...That explains a lot. That never came up in anime to my recollection. Very interesting.

(click to show/hide)

I guess we don't have a picture of how alchemy works after Father's influence was removed, either, since apparently he was serving as an intermediary, all energy flowing through him first before getting to the alchemists.

I can't recall if Mae ever got tired or not, using lots of the (differently-powered) alkahestry,  but I don't think she did.

Oh, Right, Alkahestry...   Irrc the main functional difference was that Alkahestry could be operated at range, yes?  Users were typically granted a 6th sense for energy that let them track Homonculi, but was there any difference in the magic itself that would need to be reflected in the mechanics?

Not really, that I can see. Also, that 6th sense wasn't just for Homonculi; people from Shing, or at least those trained (including non-Alkahestry users) can sense Chi in all its forms (-1 Supernatural Sense), but the Homonculi have so many souls inside them they're like beacons and easy to home in on. Other than that, they can justify healing (Alkahestry's main purpose) where with Alchemy you really can't without a Stone.

[Quantus]

Oh. I never made that connection...That explains a lot. That never came up in anime to my recollection. Very interesting.

(click to show/hide)

I guess we don't have a picture of how alchemy works after Father's influence was removed, either, since apparently he was serving as an intermediary, all energy flowing through him first before getting to the alchemists.

I can't recall if Mae ever got tired or not, using lots of the (differently-powered) alkahestry,  but I don't think she did.

I dont think she got tired, but then I also cant recall her doing anything particularly large scale so it's hard to be sure.

Now that I think about it, I know that the State Alchemists had Red Stones hidden in all their watches in the first anime, but I dont think they were in Brotherhood (and so I assume they were not in the manga).  But absent that explanation I think you'd be stuck with simply making the mechanics scale massively with skill level, to illustrate that state alchemists are head and shoulders above other practitioners;  essentially say that they are real wizards and everyone else is just a sorcerer level.

[Sanctaphrax]

I don't recall any red stones in the watches from the manga.

IIRC...the manga's alchemy was powered by plate tectonics and geothermal energy. Except Father had some kind of massive underground working set up to seal off the real power source, forcing alchemists in Amestris to use his Philosopher's Stone instead of energy from underground. Which let him choose whether to let other alchemists transmute, until his seal was broken during the story's climax.

[dragoonbuster]

IIRC...the manga's alchemy was powered by plate tectonics and geothermal energy. Except Father had some kind of massive underground working set up to seal off the real power source, forcing alchemists in Amestris to use his Philosopher's Stone instead of energy from underground. Which let him choose whether to let other alchemists transmute, until his seal was broken during the story's climax.

That's what Brotherhood said, which I understand is pretty close to the manga. Alkahestry is powered by the "Dragonlines"--Ley Lines, as I interpreted it.

[Quantus]

That's what Brotherhood said, which I understand is pretty close to the manga. Alkahestry is powered by the "Dragonlines"--Ley Lines, as I interpreted it.

interesting.  So, absent Father's manipulation, how would the two have been different?  Ive heard Ley Lines be used as the mystical equivalent to tectonic energy often enough that I'm unclear on the distinction. 

[dragoonbuster]

interesting.  So, absent Father's manipulation, how would the two have been different?  Ive heard Ley Lines be used as the mystical equivalent to tectonic energy often enough that I'm unclear on the distinction.

No idea; they're similar enough at least. Presumably the Dragonlines' connections to the world around the user (as opposed to just being an energy source like grinding tectonic plates) is what allows Alkahestrists to do "ranged" alchemy. Probably no other real difference except the user's perspective.

[SkywardEyes]

No idea; they're similar enough at least. Presumably the Dragonlines' connections to the world around the user (as opposed to just being an energy source like grinding tectonic plates) is what allows Alkahestrists to do "ranged" alchemy. Probably no other real difference except the user's perspective.

If you think about every single State Alchemist's alchemy it looks like an avalanche of some form, whereas Mae's is like lightning (following the path of least resistance)

[Quantus]

If you think about every single State Alchemist's alchemy it looks like an avalanche of some form, whereas Mae's is like lightning (following the path of least resistance)

Im not sure I see it that way, all alchemy has lightning effects around the circle if nothing else, and the only state alchemist that had the avalanche effect that I real were those messing with specifically with solid objects (like Armstrong or the Gun guy) where more energy based attacks went to lightning (like the Flame or Crimson Alchemists).

[SkywardEyes]

Im not sure I see it that way, all alchemy has lightning effects around the circle if nothing else, and the only state alchemist that had the avalanche effect that I real were those messing with specifically with solid objects (like Armstrong or the Gun guy) where more energy based attacks went to lightning (like the Flame or Crimson Alchemists).

What I meant in my metaphor is that all of the alchemy begins at the feet/hands of the alchemist and roars out from there in a wide patter (Mustang is the only exception to this now that I think about it, but that is because he is burning Oxygen streams in the air to get to the cluster at the target). The Crimson alchemist (when he is not using a stone) has his explosions begin from where he touches the ground and then they flow outward from there. The Elric brothers, Armstrong, Scar's destruction alchemy the Iron Blood Alchemist, and the Silver Alchemist all repeat this behavior in some form. I guess I was just always reminded of avalanches and landslides whenever I saw them doing alchemy, which I like to believe is on purpose on the part of the animators since Marco says that it works off of tectonic activity.

[Quantus]

What I meant in my metaphor is that all of the alchemy begins at the feet/hands of the alchemist and roars out from there in a wide patter (Mustang is the only exception to this now that I think about it, but that is because he is burning Oxygen streams in the air to get to the cluster at the target). The Crimson alchemist (when he is not using a stone) has his explosions begin from where he touches the ground and then they flow outward from there. The Elric brothers, Armstrong, Scar's destruction alchemy the Iron Blood Alchemist, and the Silver Alchemist all repeat this behavior in some form. I guess I was just always reminded of avalanches and landslides whenever I saw them doing alchemy, which I like to believe is on purpose on the part of the animators since Marco says that it works off of tectonic activity.

Ah, gotcha, I thought you meant the physical effect, the crawling rectangle bit, that was supposed to be indicative of Alchemy use.  Still, I took that to be a purely practical matter, in that all alchemy requires a physical circle that needed to be touched to activate (barring rule-breaking elements like stones).