Cast from Hit Points: Difference between revisions

The effects of this on the magic itself vary as well. A spell cast from HP may work normally, but more often than not [[Theory of Narrative Causality|the plot demands]] that the use of life itself must amplify the effect dramatically. If done well, this may represent the caster's [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]].

 

 

Not every [[Taking You With Me]] spell involves casting from HP. A parting shot may hurt the caster, but unless it is the act of casting that damages the caster, it doesn't qualify as casting from HP. When there is no way to recover at all from the loss, it is then [[Cast From Lifespan]]. You can usually be healed after you [[Cast From Hit Points]] (and thus get the hitpoints restored). If the sacrifice is of mental rather than physical health, see [[With Great Power Comes Great Insanity]].

 

Compare [[Living Battery]]. Polar opposite of [[Mana Shield]].

 

== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==

** ''Dragon Ball Z: Hyper Dimension'' differs from other DBZ fighting games in that instead of having a Ki meter, special attacks drain the player's health. Conversely, charging up can heal you.

* Somewhat related: in the manga version of ''[[Prétear]]'' the Leafe Knights' [[Elemental Powers]] are connected to their own Leafe ([[Life Energy]]); overusing these powers drains their Leafe, regardless whether the attacks are performed by the Knights themselves or by Himeno when she [[Fusion Dance|merges with them]]. {{spoiler|In the backstory, three of them died from overusing their powers in order to seal Takako, and were reborn; Shin, the youngest of them, dies for the ''second'' time after Himeno merges with him.}}

* In the game of Monster World (a made up tabletop RPG) in ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh]]'', Bakura (a white magician) converted his hit points to magic points to keep up a magic barrier when Zorc was blasting them.

** This is also the main rule in the Ancient Egyptian precursor to the Duel Monsters game; monsters are summoned by sacrificing Ka (life force) instead of the modern life points system. Damage is also taken by decreasing the life force of the duelist, implying that a defeated duelist dies. See the "Card Games" section below for use of this tactic during the card game duels.

* ''[[Magic the Gathering]]'' has plenty of cards and effects that have a cost in health.

** [http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?&id=3865 Necropotence] is the card that truly emphasizes the usefulness of this trope; when it was released, its use dominated tournament play. Remember, tropers: the only truly important hit point you have is [[Critical Existence Failure|the last one]].

** The ''New Phyrexia'' set introduces "Phyrexian mana" (the symbol for which looks a bit like phi ɸ), which can be paid with either one mana of the appropriate colour or 2 life.

* For the most part, whenever a card effect in the ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh Card Game]]'' requires a cost to activate, it's generally one of two things: a discard from your hand or deck or a payment of life points. Considering that the loss of either resource in their entirety means game over for you, this is very much a [[Cast From Hit Points]] scenario.

 

== [[Comics]] ==

{{quote| '''{{smallcaps| Malphast:}}''' I can't explain it in words you could understand, but rest assured your soul will recover in time.<br />

'''{{smallcaps| Tyler:}}''' My what? }}

* How the [[Physical God|Returned]] work in ''[[Warbreaker]]''. Most people in that world have an energy called Breath that can be used to fuel magic, but if it's completely drained they just lose magical ability (and a certain degree of keenness of the senses) until they can aquire more from someone else. The Returned, however, are kept alive by one immensely powerful Breath- this allows them to perform miracles beyond the capacity of ordinary magic, for the cost of their life. {{spoiler|The sword Nightblood, resident [[Artifact of Doom]], also functions like this, drawing on the Breaths of its wielder to fuel its powers. If the wielder runs out of Breaths while still using the sword, the results... aren't pretty}}.

* Whiteouts in ''[[Stationery Voyagers]]'' may learn Mikloche, which gives them incredible powers no other Stationery race has. Downside: the more they use it, the more [[Power Incontinence|unstable]] it becomes. And the more it [[Power Degeneration|wears on their well-being]], until it [[Superpower Meltdown|turns them into bombs]]. Granted, they have to abuse the power an ''awful lot'' before they become a [[Walking Wasteland]]; but traveling to Mantith and being physically/magickally abused tends to accelerate the side effects.

** Most Whiteouts [[Dangerous Forbidden Technique|never bother to learn Mikloche]]. They fear they'll end up like Syuthan, becoming a [[Action Bomb|Glowmatti]].

** Liquidon [[Lampshade Hanging|realizes]] this is happening to him in "Night of the Whiteout." [[Love Martyr|It doesn't stop Cindy from being romantically attracted to him]].

** The supplemental advantage "Word of Power" drains so much fatigue that it's guaranteed to drain life from a normal person. It will keep speaking itself even if the caster dies in mid sentence.

* [[Pokémon Tabletop Adventures]] has the Psychic class, capable of using certain pokemon attacks, similar to the Martial Artist class. The martial artist's attacks can only be used a certain number of times per day, whereas the psychic's attacks can be used at will, but require this trope. (Thankfully, the nature of the psychic's key stats means they usually will have a large amount of HP to cast from.)

* As mentioned above, casting or controlling a spell in ''[[Slayers]] d20'' is based on stamina (a Fortitude saving throw modified by caster level), and deals subdual damage to the caster based on the spell's difficulty and your margin of success. You get a hefty bonus to your control checks by voluntarily taking lethal damage, or it might happen anyway if you botch horribly enough.

* [[Champions]] characters who run out of Endurance can continue to use their powers by taking Stun damage, at a rate of 1d6 Stun per 2 Endurance required. This only works for powers that draw on the user's own Endurance pool, as opposed to the Endurance Reserve power. A character can literally knock himself out from overexertion.

* In the ''[[Lost Kingdom]]'' games, you'll start using health for the cost of cards instead of [[Green Rocks|magic stones]]. In the second game, you could cast yourself to death if you use too much health since the first game left you with some mercy health if you overcasted (and it fixed possible [[Game Breaker|Game Breaking]] too).

* In the Free-to-Play MMO [[Dungeons and Dragons|Dungeons & Dragons Online: ]] [[Eberron|Eberron Unlimited]], one of the abilities gained by Paladin's, 'Divine Sacrifice', allows the paladin to sacrifice 5 HP to make an attack with a large damage boost. The HP are lost even if the attack misses, but in a setting where mid-level characters can have over a thousand HP, it's an insignificant price.

** They also have the spells Hellfire (which burns them as well as everything around them) and health funnel (transfers health from the caster to his demon), the only spells in the game that damage the user. Thus making them the only class (aside from Paladins, see below;) which could suicide themselves on demand, an ability with more practical uses than you'd think.

*** Sadly (?) these abilities were later changed so that you could no longer damage yourself below a certain level.

** A Blood Mage can get around this by draining blood from his or her ''own allies'' to restore HP. Ranger summoned pets will also do in a pinch.

** Reavers are also warriors that have similar abilities.

* In ''[[Archon (Video Game)|Archon]]'', the Wizard and the Sorceress units have pools of magic that they can use to hinder their enemies. Actually using them, however, cuts into their maximum HP when they enter combat. This can be dangerous toward the end-game, when your spellcaster may be one of the few pieces left on the board and they'll need all of the health they can muster.

* ''[[Descent]]'' has the Fusion Cannon, a [[Wave Motion Gun]] which drains your shield energy if you charge it too long (and it does less damage if you do so).

** Additionally, if the item combined with a Pastamancer spell known as "Cannelloni Cocoon," which heals the user's full hit points for 20 MP, it wouldn't really matter how hard hitting death was. Full hit points for a fraction of the magic you just regained.

* In ''[[Megaman Battle Network]] 4'' and ''5'', the use of a Dark Chip will allow Mega Man to perform a very powerful attack, at the cost of losing 1 hitpoint permanently for each Dark Chip he uses.

* In ''[[Arcanum]]: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura,'' magic is kind of funny. There's no mana meter, per se, instead there's a blue "fatigue" meter which gets used up if you overdo physical actions, take blunt weapon hits, ''and'' is used up when you cast magic. An unwise spellcaster can cast themselves into unconsciousness rather quickly. So magic, in this game, doesn't kill you by casting it, but it does take a physical toll on you and if you overdo it you will wind up getting killed anyway by all the enemies piling onto your unconscious body.

* Top-down MMO space shooter Subspace is all about this. Firing bullets, launching bombs, leaving mines, and using your afterburner all drain your shield energy, which [[Good Thing You Can Heal|regenerates slowly]].