Combat Pragmatist/Web Original

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• In Girl Genius the end of Agatha and Othar's little talk she pushes him over the side of an airship.
  • DuPree. The best example is her fight with Zulenna.
  • Agatha vs. her cousin:

Zola Anya Talinka Venia Zeblinkya Malfeazium: Bringing a knife to a gun fight doesn't seem very smart, now does it? Agatha Heterodyne: Well, I suppose it isn't that much worse than bringing a gun to a clank fight.

• • A four-pages long demonstration, by the Jäger Generals. With comments like

General Zog: Killink hyu enemies alvays counts. General Zog: hmf. Iz still cheating. But in der goot vay!

• In Order of the Stick, Haley has no problem fighting very dirty. For example, she ambushed Crystal as she was in the shower, catching her without her weapons, armor, and protective jewelry, and killed her while she was stunned on the floor. It might be argued that this is dishonorable, but aside from that being the whole point, Haley is Chaotic Good, not Chaotic Stupid.
  • Who could forget her approach to the test of the mind? Or, for that matter, the return trip?
  • Considering Haley's class and the above commentary on D&D rogues, this is justified.
  • Belkar also fits into this category, being quite willing to fight sneakily with a paladin and either taking potshots or using traps against her.
    • When he knocked said paladin unconscious, however, he actually waited until she woke up again instead of simply killing her. He even let her believe that she had merely become dizzy for a few seconds. He did steal and drink her healing potions while he had the chance, however. Of coure, for Belkar, this was less about being honorable and more about pissing her off. Obviously, he can't annoy her if she's out cold. Not to mention that his plan had been to let her kill him so that she lost her Paladin powers, while he could get resurrected later.
    • In addition, when Belkar was confronted with the son of a Kobold he had killed, who was in full revenge mode, he was unable to kill him due to his Mark of Justice. So does he accept his fate? Hell no! He simply hires mercenaries mid-fight to slay him.

Belkar: "50 gp bonus to whoever makes him scream the loudest!"

• • • Miko herself surpisingly pulled this off while appearing to be more of the Honor Before Reason type. When facing a group of enemies, she rouses them all to wake up, allows them to pick up their weapons and even lets them eat first, allegedly so it'll be a fair fight. In truth, this was all a ploy to get them into one group so they could all be hit with the same attack.
  • Belkar is an even better example in the prequel book On The Origin of PCs:

Guard: You knifed seventeen people in a tavern brawl. Belkar: Hey, its not my fault they brought fists to a knife fight. Guard: It wasn't a knife fight until you started stabbing people!

• • Vaarsuvius shows shades of this, particularly in his/her fight with Zz'dtri.

Zz'dtri: Cheater. Vaarsuvius: Oh heavens! I cannot believe I violated the detailed rules and regulations we agreed upon before starting this contest! We must consult the referee for an appropriate penalty regarding my heinous transgression!

• • During the siege of Azure City, Redcloak averts this when he accepts the duel with the human cleric while he still has an overpowering army. Later however, he plays it strange when he is proposed to a fair fight by Thanh, who is held by an elemental summoned by Redcloak.

Redcloak: Stupid risks are just that: stupid. Redcloak: Crush him.

• • • It should be noted that Redcloak has always been pragmatic, with examples such as using Titanium Elementals instead of Earth because they are lighter yet stronger (if distasteful, not being a "classic" element); walking his hobgoblin army into certain death because he only needs them as a distraction (prior to gaining a change of heart regarding racism); creating decoys of Xykon to make the heroes guess which one's real, but then having the real one take an entirely different method of approach; etc. The reason Redcloak accepted the duel is specifically stated by himself as being because even though he could crush the cleric with his army, he does not want to waste any more hobgoblin lives when he can take him out himself. In the later case with Thanh at the elemental's mercy, Redcloak has already won the would-be duel anyways, and so orders him killed without further delay.
  • Xykon is also this. For example, in his fight with Fyron, he couldn't best the wizard with magic. So he pretends to surrender, then beats him to death with his own Wizzy Award
  • During his gladiator match against Thog, Roy uses discarded crossbow bolts as improvised shivs, smashes an empty potion bottle into Thog's face, throws sand in his eyes, and eventually wins by goading Thog into destroying the pillars holding up a section of the stands.
• Schlock Mercenary have a lot of this. The Seventy Maxims of Maximally Effective Mercenaries deals heavily in this trope, including Maxim 31: "Only cheaters prosper".
  • Tagon's first pugil-stick practice with Schlock involved slicing Schlock, and his pugil stick, in half with a concealed Razor Floss hidden in his shoes. Of course, Schlock can survive that sort of thing. He also used flight functionality of his low-profile armor for a corrected jump, but it's not clear whether that's cheating. His second, against an uplifted elephant, involved lobbing the pugil stick into his opponent's eye from across the ring.

Chisulo: I'm pretty sure that's cheating. Tagon: I'm sorry, did you just say, "Thank you sir, may I have another?" Chisulo: Thank you sir! Point...um...taken.

• Bun-Bun from Sluggy Freelance just plain loves this trope. Some examples:
  • Setting up bombs to kill the Ghost of Christmas Past.
  • Smashing a demon's glasses then tricking it into climbing into a meat grinder.
  • Offering to settle things peacefully before attacking with an Aerosol Flamethrower.
  • Pulling out a surprise bazooka.
  • Putting his "friends" in rabbit costumes to act as decoys.
  • Using a robot's programming to make it jump into molten steel.
  • Shoving a gun up someone's nose, then, when they try to dig it out, hit them with a barstool setting the gun off and driving their arm elbow deep into their own head, simultaneously.
  • Throwing someone out the airlock.
  • Using a spaceship's artificial gravity to knock people out.
  • Using knockout gas to capture a bunch of villagers
  • Electrocuting his opponent.
  • And hitting him with a log from behind.
  • And setting him on fire.
  • And cutting his limbs off with hedge clippers.
  • Threatening to kill the person his opponent loves, throwing a flower pot at their face to distract them, then running off to follow through on their threat.
  • Trying to slow his opponent down by giving her some "innocent bystanders to slice up."
  • Pulling a gun during a knife fight. Scratch that. Pulling a gun out of Hammerspace during a knife fight.
    • torg facing lod moldy pantss in a magic duel pulls out a shot gun he also shot first
    • torg and the truth brick
• TFA Prowl in the Insecticomics teaches his class to use any available item as a weapon. When Laserbeak tries to call him on this, he kicks her aft with a sandwich.
• Mr. Raven from El Goonish Shive

Wizard: Have you no honor? Raven: The lives of my students are more important.

• Karcharoth and Fenrir of Cry Havoc do whatever they think they need to in order to survive and win.
• Rocky the rogue from Our Little Adventure stands out in their adventuring group.
• King Eric in Yet Another Fantasy Gamer Comic is known as great and just man and all that, but once the gloves are off, they are... really off.
• In Errant Story, Jon Amraphel is the only main character without any magical ability. How does he cope with fighting Magic Knight elven military, monks with Bullet Time Super Speed, and tiny fairy demigods? By a) being very good with guns, and b) cheating like hell. Being a semi-retired assassin, he does his best to avoid anything like a face-to-face fight.
• Pinton the Pig in Future Pig is definitely this. See him teach it to a student here.
• Dark Pegasus from DMFA not only disintegrates an enemy in mid-speech, but then finishes his speech by mocking his enemies for allowing him to do that.
• Jack Noir in Homestuck is a big fan of teleporting behind people and stabbing them in the back. Though he is omnipotent, so perhaps he doesn't count.
  • Winning his immortality by killing the Black Queen with the bunny does, however.
  • Vriska Serket and her ancestor, Marquise Mindfang have no qualms with using their psychic powers to use others to kill or maim their opponents.
  • Dave is not above using his friend who their foe cannot bring himself to harm as a human shield. AUTO-HARLEY!
• The Non-Adventures of Wonderella presents: "PICK Your Battles".

Web Original

• The Evil Overlord List contains numerous examples of this.
  • 4.) Shooting is not too good for my enemies.
  • 7.) When I've captured my adversary and he says, "Look, before you kill me, will you at least tell me what this is all about?" I'll say, "No." and shoot him. No, on second thought I'll shoot him then say "No."
    • 7.) (Depending on what site you're using) When the rebel leader challenges me to fight one-on-one and asks, "Or are you afraid without your armies to back you up?" My reply will be, "No, just sensible."
  • 11.) I will be secure in my superiority. Therefore, I will feel no need to prove it by leaving clues in the form of riddles or leaving my weaker enemies alive to show they pose no threat.
  • 39.) I will be neither chivalrous nor sporting. If I have an unstoppable superweapon, I will use it as early and as often as possible instead of keeping it in reserve.
  • I will only employ assassins and bounty hunters that work for "the money". Those who work for "the thrill of the hunt" tend to do stupid things, like even the odds to give their victim a sporting chance.
  • If I'm sitting in my camp, hear a twig snap, start to investigate, then encounter a small woodland creature, I will send out some scouts anyway just to be on the safe side. (If they disappear into the foliage, I will not send out another patrol; I will break out the napalm.)
  • 201.) Under no circumstances will I ever, EVER give a weapon back to the hero engaged with me in a duel. Sporting chances are for sissies.
• In The Gamers Alliance, several heroes and villains fight dirty whenever they can; very few characters actually try to fight in a gentlemanly manner.
• Sensei Ito, one of the martial arts instructors at Whateley Academy in the Whateley Universe, has created an entire fighting style around this. He's a little old man with no mutant powers, and he can take down flying bricks, avatars, you name it. He's fighting (and training) mutants, so you know he isn't going to fight fair.
  • One should note, of course, that some folks - including Ayla - doubt that Ito is actually just a Badass Normal. One of the prevailing theories is that he's also either a secret mutant, or very experienced at Ki manipulation. Odds are weighted towards the Ki manipulation.
  • Erik Mahren, before his emergence as a mutant. As one of the range instructors, he's the one who okays or used to what is and is not allowed to be used on the range. And he is a Badass Normal, and is more than capable of defending himself against most of the students at Whateley - even the ones who think it's funny to sneak up behind people and stab them in the kidneys.
• In The Salvation War, the demons accuse the humans of fighting dishonorably by using long-ranged artillery, airstrikes, tanks, and long-range rifles rather than fight the demons in hand-to-hand combat. Or at least, the demons try to, but the humans are too busy slaughtering their Bronze-Age armies wholesale to listen.
• Sup guy extraordinaire Johnny Rocketfingers.
• Pretty much everyone in Darwins Soldiers fights dirty but Dr. Kerzach probably fights the dirtiest.
• In Suburban Knights, the That Guy With The Glasses crew tries to play along the fantasy scenario, only using (fake) swords. But when the Cloaks use a machine gun, Angry Joe uses his gun. And in a climactic battle, Linkara goes "screw this" before dropping his sword and grabbing his gun, and while Joe is using his SMG again, Obscurus Lupa grabs a spare and starts shooting as well.
• Darth Apparatus from The Gungan Council, a Sith, has thrown sand in eyes, used blasters, and bombs in order to win in a universe where his comrades will use only the Force and their lightsabers.