Chunky Salsa Rule: Difference between revisions

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13+ : As 12 above with additional torso or leg hit (50% chance of each) }}
13+ : As 12 above with additional torso or leg hit (50% chance of each) }}
** Certain editions have the Plane of Positive Energy. First, it heals you to full HP. Then, next round, double HP. Finally, triple HP, when your body blows itself into chunky bits.
** Certain editions have the Plane of Positive Energy. First, it heals you to full HP. Then, next round, double HP. Finally, triple HP, when your body blows itself into chunky bits.
** In d20 Modern, which uses many rules from D&D, the Massive Damage Threshold is much lower, equal to the character's Constitution, though it can be increased by the feat Improved Damage Threshold. A failed save, however, only drops a creature to -1 hit points. This rule is there to make gunshot wounds dangerous regardless of level.
** In d20 Modern, which uses many rules from D&D, the Massive Damage Threshold is much lower, equal to the character's Constitution, though it can be increased by the feat Improved Damage Threshold. A failed save, however, only drops a creature to -1 hit points. This rule is there to make gunshot wounds dangerous regardless of level.
** They also have Vorpal Blades. Regardless of how many hit points you have, removing your head will kill you (Unless you're a zombie or golem or something else that isn't strictly speaking alive to begin with or have extra heads)
** They also have Vorpal Blades. Regardless of how many hit points you have, removing your head will kill you (Unless you're a zombie or golem or something else that isn't strictly speaking alive to begin with or have extra heads)
** There are also Illithids, who can extract the brain of an enemy when grappling (assuming it has one, and actually uses it - Zombies, Golems and such are excluded again) as an instant-kill and an snack between meals.
** There are also Illithids, who can extract the brain of an enemy when grappling (assuming it has one, and actually uses it - Zombies, Golems and such are excluded again) as an instant-kill and an snack between meals.
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** Taken to ridiculous extremes with the Apocalypse Rules in 40k, where many weapons forgo the normal "to wound" and "Armor Save" rolls, because they ''atomize whatever they hit!'' Appropriately, these weapons also have a huge blast radius. This can even turn the most heavily armored vehicles and Star-Gods into (metal)chunky salsa in one blast.
** Taken to ridiculous extremes with the Apocalypse Rules in 40k, where many weapons forgo the normal "to wound" and "Armor Save" rolls, because they ''atomize whatever they hit!'' Appropriately, these weapons also have a huge blast radius. This can even turn the most heavily armored vehicles and Star-Gods into (metal)chunky salsa in one blast.
*** Even without Apocalypse rounds, some weapons like the [[Tele Frag|shokk attack gun]] can [[Critical Hit|randomly]] kill any infantry in the blast radius (though it may just as randomly have said blast radius around the shooter), or a particularly angry [[The Ogre|Ogryn]] can one-shot a Commissar who executed the wrong guy.
*** Even without Apocalypse rounds, some weapons like the [[Tele Frag|shokk attack gun]] can [[Critical Hit|randomly]] kill any infantry in the blast radius (though it may just as randomly have said blast radius around the shooter), or a particularly angry [[The Ogre|Ogryn]] can one-shot a Commissar who executed the wrong guy.
* ''[[Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay]]'' and ''[[Dark Heresy]]'' has a few instant-kill conditions (mostly involving magic or psychic powers), but they are rare: Because most characters in both settings are very fragile, there is little point to an instant-kill caveat because any attack with a reasonable strength will kill anyway. What they ''do'' have, however, are effects on massive damage on the player characters' bodies. Especially ''[[Dark Heresy]]'' (''WHFRP'''s are more random), where any attack in excess of your wounds +10 kills you in a way that ensures at least one exploding body part. A [[One Up|Fate Point]] will save you from any fate no matter how gruesome and cruelly unusual, however.
* ''[[Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay]]'' and ''[[Dark Heresy]]'' has a few instant-kill conditions (mostly involving magic or psychic powers), but they are rare: Because most characters in both settings are very fragile, there is little point to an instant-kill caveat because any attack with a reasonable strength will kill anyway. What they ''do'' have, however, are effects on massive damage on the player characters' bodies. Especially ''[[Dark Heresy]]'' (''WHFRP'''s are more random), where any attack in excess of your wounds +10 kills you in a way that ensures at least one exploding body part. A [[1-Up|Fate Point]] will save you from any fate no matter how gruesome and cruelly unusual, however.
* The ''[[Serenity]]'' role-playing game has a rule: if you take damage equal to twice your Wound Points, the character's dead without even a prayer. Also, [[Thrown Out the Airlock|getting tossed into "the Black" (outer space) without a spacesuit]] is certain death, the assumption being the victim isn't going to get picked up. The book jokes that if a player insists on damage measurement for being spaced, the GM should pick up every die on the table, roll them, and count the results as wounds.
* The ''[[Serenity]]'' role-playing game has a rule: if you take damage equal to twice your Wound Points, the character's dead without even a prayer. Also, [[Thrown Out the Airlock|getting tossed into "the Black" (outer space) without a spacesuit]] is certain death, the assumption being the victim isn't going to get picked up. The book jokes that if a player insists on damage measurement for being spaced, the GM should pick up every die on the table, roll them, and count the results as wounds.
* The ''Call of Cthulhu'' RPG:
* The ''Call of Cthulhu'' RPG:
** If Cthulhu himself appears, he eats 1D4 investigators ''per round'', with no saving throw of any kind. You get a roll to survive so long as there are 1d4+ 1 in the party. Technically, Cthulhu does have a damage roll, but he rolls more dice than humans can get hit points.
** If Cthulhu himself appears, he eats 1D4 investigators ''per round'', with no saving throw of any kind. You get a roll to survive so long as there are 1d4+ 1 in the party. Technically, Cthulhu does have a damage roll, but he rolls more dice than humans can get hit points.
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** Arguably applies to characters in cases of steamrolling, where a large vehicle just drives over a small one. Going by the rules, say an 80,000 lb semi hits a motorcycle with a roll of 3 damage. With a ram bar, that turns into 3 x 20 x 2 x 2. 240 damage. Now, evenly distribute this over all the armor and the player...which has up to 9 hit points. Yeah. Now note that this level of damage is likely to happen during say, a 15 mph crash(1d6-1). A 50 mph crash requires 5d6.
** Arguably applies to characters in cases of steamrolling, where a large vehicle just drives over a small one. Going by the rules, say an 80,000 lb semi hits a motorcycle with a roll of 3 damage. With a ram bar, that turns into 3 x 20 x 2 x 2. 240 damage. Now, evenly distribute this over all the armor and the player...which has up to 9 hit points. Yeah. Now note that this level of damage is likely to happen during say, a 15 mph crash(1d6-1). A 50 mph crash requires 5d6.
* In the classic ''Cyberpunk 2020'' taking more than 8 points of damage to any extremity would cause its loss, and losing one's head in this way was instantly fatal, no save. Another rule said that any damage to a character's head was doubled, and most weapons did about 20-30 points of damage per average hit. Suffice to say, a helmet was a smart investment.
* In the classic ''Cyberpunk 2020'' taking more than 8 points of damage to any extremity would cause its loss, and losing one's head in this way was instantly fatal, no save. Another rule said that any damage to a character's head was doubled, and most weapons did about 20-30 points of damage per average hit. Suffice to say, a helmet was a smart investment.
** Even the punches of any reasonably skilled martial artist (skill 4 or above) are enough to invoke this rule and kill you automatically on any hit to the head.
** Even the punches of any reasonably skilled martial artist (skill 4 or above) are enough to invoke this rule and kill you automatically on any hit to the head.
* No matter how much armor a 'Mech carries elsewhere in [[BattleTech]], it cannot carry more than 9 points in the head. That plus the 3 points of internal structure means that it takes only 12 damage to destroy the head. And the head is where the cockpit is. Where the pilot sits. Do the math. There are a number of weapons that are capable of delivering rather more than 12 damage to a single location. Fortunately, you only hit the head on a 2d6 roll of 12, but ''any'' attack has that 1:36 chance of hitting the head.
* No matter how much armor a 'Mech carries elsewhere in [[BattleTech]], it cannot carry more than 9 points in the head. That plus the 3 points of internal structure means that it takes only 12 damage to destroy the head. And the head is where the cockpit is. Where the pilot sits. Do the math. There are a number of weapons that are capable of delivering rather more than 12 damage to a single location. Fortunately, you only hit the head on a 2d6 roll of 12, but ''any'' attack has that 1:36 chance of hitting the head.
** Three hits to the engine is also guaranteed death: the fusion engine shuts itself down to prevent a catastrophic explosion. Standard engines take up 6 slots, but they were all in the center torso (behind the heaviest armor, unless you get hit from behind). Extra-Light engines take up half the weight of standard engines, but add an additional 6 slots (four if it's Clan-tech). And these slots are in the side torsos, which are more vulnerable.
** Three hits to the engine is also guaranteed death: the fusion engine shuts itself down to prevent a catastrophic explosion. Standard engines take up 6 slots, but they were all in the center torso (behind the heaviest armor, unless you get hit from behind). Extra-Light engines take up half the weight of standard engines, but add an additional 6 slots (four if it's Clan-tech). And these slots are in the side torsos, which are more vulnerable.
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* In the ''[[Baldur's Gate]]'' series, characters who take amount of damage significantly higher than their current hit point total, or suffer a one-hit kill due to obscene damage or a vorpal weapon, will often be "chunked" (i.e., explode messily). While this is simply a cooler death animation for your enemies, allied characters who get chunked on harder difficulty levels can't be resurrected and force a reload - and better tactics the next time around - if you want to keep them in your party.
* In the ''[[Baldur's Gate]]'' series, characters who take amount of damage significantly higher than their current hit point total, or suffer a one-hit kill due to obscene damage or a vorpal weapon, will often be "chunked" (i.e., explode messily). While this is simply a cooler death animation for your enemies, allied characters who get chunked on harder difficulty levels can't be resurrected and force a reload - and better tactics the next time around - if you want to keep them in your party.
** Ditto for characters who fail their saving throw against the spell 'Disintegrate'; no matter how much health you had left, if you blow that roll, you ([[Disadvantageous Disintegration|and your equipment]]) are dust in the wind.
** Ditto for characters who fail their saving throw against the spell 'Disintegrate'; no matter how much health you had left, if you blow that roll, you ([[Disadvantageous Disintegration|and your equipment]]) are dust in the wind.
* In ''Wasteland'', a [[After the End|post-apocalyptic]] [[Role Playing Game|RPG]] from the 8-bit era, doing much more damage to an enemy than is required to kill it produces flavor text about the enemy 'explod[ing] like a blood sausage' or similarly dying horribly.
* In ''Wasteland'', a [[After the End|post-apocalyptic]] [[Role Playing Game|RPG]] from the 8-bit era, doing much more damage to an enemy than is required to kill it produces flavor text about the enemy 'explod[ing] like a blood sausage' or similarly dying horribly.
** [[Spiritual Successor]] ''[[Fallout]]'' continues the tradition; [[Critical Hit|Critical Hits]] regularly produce [[Ludicrous Gibs]] - every now and then an enemy with 50 HP will take 5 damage and instantly die. It also introduces a perk that should at least be a ''reference'' to [[Bloody Hilarious]] -- '''Bloody Mess'''; Every time something dies, even by [[Cherry Tapping]], it produces a specialized "critical" death animation; bullets blow fist-sized holes, [[Frickin' Laser Beams]] slice the target in half, plasma weapons melt them to goo, pulse weapons burn them to ash.
** [[Spiritual Successor]] ''[[Fallout]]'' continues the tradition; [[Critical Hit|Critical Hits]] regularly produce [[Ludicrous Gibs]] - every now and then an enemy with 50 HP will take 5 damage and instantly die. It also introduces a perk that should at least be a ''reference'' to [[Bloody Hilarious]] -- '''Bloody Mess'''; Every time something dies, even by [[Cherry Tapping]], it produces a specialized "critical" death animation; bullets blow fist-sized holes, [[Frickin' Laser Beams]] slice the target in half, plasma weapons melt them to goo, pulse weapons burn them to ash.
*** Instant death critical hits, which are the highest result from the critical hit table, can also happen if you do 0 damage in ''[[Fallout]]'' and ''[[Fallout 2]]''. This can lead to a [[Game Breaking Bug]] since the game engine will consider the character dead, meaning that you can no longer interact with him/her, but scripting which depends on the death of the said character will not fire. Examples include the boxing ring in Fallout 2 where the fight will never end if you kill your opponent with a 0 damage instant death critical.
*** Instant death critical hits, which are the highest result from the critical hit table, can also happen if you do 0 damage in ''[[Fallout]]'' and ''[[Fallout 2]]''. This can lead to a [[Game Breaking Bug]] since the game engine will consider the character dead, meaning that you can no longer interact with him/her, but scripting which depends on the death of the said character will not fire. Examples include the boxing ring in Fallout 2 where the fight will never end if you kill your opponent with a 0 damage instant death critical.
*** In ''[[Fallout 3]]'', the aforementioned perk is the [[Rule of Cool]] taken to [[Serial Escalation]] normally, good hits will pulp limbs in ''[[Bullet Time|slow motion]]'' - with ''Bloody Mess'', a powerful hit will '''blow off the target's arms, legs and head''', and when you prove [[There Is No Kill Like Overkill]] the target will '''''[[Ludicrous Gibs|explode into blood splattering hamburger!!!]]''''' And it makes weapons more powerful to better cause those effects!
*** In ''[[Fallout 3]]'', the aforementioned perk is the [[Rule of Cool]] taken to [[Serial Escalation]] normally, good hits will pulp limbs in ''[[Bullet Time|slow motion]]'' - with ''Bloody Mess'', a powerful hit will '''blow off the target's arms, legs and head''', and when you prove [[There Is No Kill Like Overkill]] the target will '''''[[Ludicrous Gibs|explode into blood splattering hamburger!!!]]''''' And it makes weapons more powerful to better cause those effects!
**** It doesn't even have to be a powerful hit sometimes- if your enemy is at low enough health, a single shot, punch, or swing of a pool cue can turn your target into giblet fireworks.
**** It doesn't even have to be a powerful hit sometimes- if your enemy is at low enough health, a single shot, punch, or swing of a pool cue can turn your target into giblet fireworks.
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** In ''[[Cave Story]]'', instant death results from falling onto the nastier variety of [[Spikes of Doom]] or having something sufficiently heavy fall on you. (Technically, it only inflicts 127 damage, but that's more than twice as many [[Hit Points]] as you'll ever have.)
** In ''[[Cave Story]]'', instant death results from falling onto the nastier variety of [[Spikes of Doom]] or having something sufficiently heavy fall on you. (Technically, it only inflicts 127 damage, but that's more than twice as many [[Hit Points]] as you'll ever have.)
** In ''[[Iji]]'', most weapons and attacks only do armor damage, and a few attacks can bypass the armor for health damage. The only guaranteed instant death attack is General Tor's Phantom Hammer, which fills half the screen with a massive laser and is more than a mere [[One-Hit Kill]]-- it also ''reduces all of your stats to zero''. (Luckily, you ''can'' dodge it, but it's not easy.) In a logbook before the final battle, it's mentioned that the Phantom Hammer is capable of completely obliterating a nanofield, which is presumably why it's so effective.
** In ''[[Iji]]'', most weapons and attacks only do armor damage, and a few attacks can bypass the armor for health damage. The only guaranteed instant death attack is General Tor's Phantom Hammer, which fills half the screen with a massive laser and is more than a mere [[One-Hit Kill]]-- it also ''reduces all of your stats to zero''. (Luckily, you ''can'' dodge it, but it's not easy.) In a logbook before the final battle, it's mentioned that the Phantom Hammer is capable of completely obliterating a nanofield, which is presumably why it's so effective.
*** If you die normally, you scream and then collapse. If you get hit by the Phantom Hammer, your entire body instantly turns to dust and is blown away.
*** If you die normally, you scream and then collapse. If you get hit by the Phantom Hammer, your entire body instantly turns to dust and is blown away.
** In the ''[[Mega Man (video game)|Mega Man]]'' games, lightly brushing up against a spike will kill you instantly, no matter how many HPs you have left. In ''[[Mega Man 1]]'', they disregard [[Mercy Invincibility]] as well.
** In the ''[[Mega Man (video game)|Mega Man]]'' games, lightly brushing up against a spike will kill you instantly, no matter how many HPs you have left. In ''[[Mega Man 1]]'', they disregard [[Mercy Invincibility]] as well.
** In ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog 2]]'' and ''[[Sonic 3 and Knuckles]]'', where it's possible to achieve [[Super Mode]] in the normal stages, the otherwise invincible Super Sonic can still be killed by crushing or drowning (or [[Bottomless Pits]]). (Hyper Sonic in ''S3&K'' is immune to drowning at least.)
** In ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog 2]]'' and ''[[Sonic 3 and Knuckles]]'', where it's possible to achieve [[Super Mode]] in the normal stages, the otherwise invincible Super Sonic can still be killed by crushing or drowning (or [[Bottomless Pits]]). (Hyper Sonic in ''S3&K'' is immune to drowning at least.)
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*** Or crushed by closing doors.
*** Or crushed by closing doors.
** Likewise in Bungie's old title ''[[Marathon Trilogy|Marathon]]'' and its sequels. In addition to enemy sprites standard death and [[Ludicrous Gibs|explosive death]], they also had a [[Kill It with Fire|flaming]] death, occasionally with such deaths accompanied by their own special [[Video Game Cruelty Potential|death screams]].
** Likewise in Bungie's old title ''[[Marathon Trilogy|Marathon]]'' and its sequels. In addition to enemy sprites standard death and [[Ludicrous Gibs|explosive death]], they also had a [[Kill It with Fire|flaming]] death, occasionally with such deaths accompanied by their own special [[Video Game Cruelty Potential|death screams]].
*** And a crushing death, with the same scream as death by fire.
*** And a crushing death, with the same scream as death by fire.
*** The Invincibility shield can be penetrated by the fusion pistol. If a player gets blasted by a fusion overcharge shot and their health is low enough, they will gib.
*** The Invincibility shield can be penetrated by the fusion pistol. If a player gets blasted by a fusion overcharge shot and their health is low enough, they will gib.
* In ''[[Starsiege]]'', the Cybrids get a weapon that does no damage to HERCs; the weapon shoots radiation that can kill a human pilot if the HERC doesn't have the right upgrade installed. As Cybrids are AIs, the weapons doesn't affect them (at least, not in single-player; the manual clearly states that for gameplay reasons, Cybrid players are just as vulnerable to that weapon as humans in multiplayer matches, assuming that the target doesn't equip that upgrade).
* In ''[[Starsiege]]'', the Cybrids get a weapon that does no damage to HERCs; the weapon shoots radiation that can kill a human pilot if the HERC doesn't have the right upgrade installed. As Cybrids are AIs, the weapons doesn't affect them (at least, not in single-player; the manual clearly states that for gameplay reasons, Cybrid players are just as vulnerable to that weapon as humans in multiplayer matches, assuming that the target doesn't equip that upgrade).
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** Additionally, drawbridges can be used to obliterate almost '''''anything'''''; if it's opened on top of something that isn't too large, it will erase every trace of whatever got crushed by it from existence.
** Additionally, drawbridges can be used to obliterate almost '''''anything'''''; if it's opened on top of something that isn't too large, it will erase every trace of whatever got crushed by it from existence.
* While it is quite possible and legitimate to win in PVP through traditional [[Hit Point]] depletion, in the [[Iron Realms]] MUD game Aetolia: The Midnight Age, it is far more fun and effective to use one of the various [[Chunky Salsa Rule|Chunky Salsa-esque]] attacks, of which each character class has at least one. The more visceral examples include Incineration, Disembowelment, Backbreaking, Vivisection, Beheading, and Quartering (in which a pack of werewolves gang up to literally tear the enemy limb from limb). However, for the sake of [[Competitive Balance]], all of these instakill techniques require the opponent to be incapacitated in some way, either by direct game mechanics or simply to keep the foe from taking the (usually quite simple) steps necessary to prevent their impending doom.
* While it is quite possible and legitimate to win in PVP through traditional [[Hit Point]] depletion, in the [[Iron Realms]] MUD game Aetolia: The Midnight Age, it is far more fun and effective to use one of the various [[Chunky Salsa Rule|Chunky Salsa-esque]] attacks, of which each character class has at least one. The more visceral examples include Incineration, Disembowelment, Backbreaking, Vivisection, Beheading, and Quartering (in which a pack of werewolves gang up to literally tear the enemy limb from limb). However, for the sake of [[Competitive Balance]], all of these instakill techniques require the opponent to be incapacitated in some way, either by direct game mechanics or simply to keep the foe from taking the (usually quite simple) steps necessary to prevent their impending doom.
* In ''[[Syphon Filter]]'', enemies can take headshots at you too, resulting in [[One-Hit Kill]], needless to say.
* In ''[[Syphon Filter]]'', enemies can take headshots at you too, resulting in [[One-Hit Kill]], needless to say.
** Being anywhere in a grenade's blast radius or [[Man On Fire|touching fire]] is always lethal, no matter how much health you have.
** Being anywhere in a grenade's blast radius or [[Man On Fire|touching fire]] is always lethal, no matter how much health you have.
* All AT weapons in the ''[[Battlefield (series)|Battlefield]]'' series is considered to be a Chunky Salsa Type weapon, which means getting hit by it causes you to be "killed" rather than critically wounded.
* All AT weapons in the ''[[Battlefield (series)|Battlefield]]'' series is considered to be a Chunky Salsa Type weapon, which means getting hit by it causes you to be "killed" rather than critically wounded.
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