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Death-Activated Superpower: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
Winning the [[Superpower Lottery]] is a good thing, right? Well, unless you're [[Blessed with Suck]] or [[Cursed with Awesome]]. But, what happens when you're a [[Differently-Powered Individual]] whose powers only activate upon your death? Kind of a downer, huh? Well, depending on [[Killed Off for Real|whether permanent death is in your setting]], or [[Death Is Cheap|not so permanent]], it can range from bad to downright awful. Fortunately (for the persons possessing these powers), permanent death is a minority regarding this trope. But if it ''is'' permanent, it obviously won't be a useful power during their lifetime, so the real question is: what does it mean for the rest of the world?
Compare [[My Death Is Only the Beginning]] and [[Thanatos Gambit]]. [[Super-Trope]] to [[Auto Revive]].
When used offensively, this is an example of [[Taking You with Me]].
{{examples}}
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* Doomsday from ''[[Superman]]'' was engineered to come back from death stronger, each time improved to resist whatever killed him last time. And then dropped onto a [[Death World]] by its creator. [[Gone Horribly Right|What could]] [[Hoist by His Own Petard|possibly go wrong?]]
* Marvel's [[The Avengers (Comic Book)|Great Lakes Avengers]] had Mr. Immortal, whose only superpower was the ability to come back from the dead.
* In ''[[All Fall Down]]'', AIQ Squared learns the hard way that Siphon has this.
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== Literature ==
* In ''[[The Dresden Files]]'', wizards can cast a "death curse", which is essentially a powerful [[Cast
* In ''[[The Hollows]]'', when a human is first infected with the vampire virus, they gain some benefit but remain alive. Only once they die from some other cause do they become full-on undead and gain the full suite of powers (and the transformation isn't guaranteed unless the virus was passed down from a parent).
* The Draconians from ''[[Dragonlance]]''. If you're lucky, they turn to stone or into a (dead) clone of yourself. Bad things include point-blank explosions, melting in a pool of acid, and a [[Up to Eleven|repeated, magical blast]].
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== Tabletop Games ==
* [[Warhammer
* D&D has a spell called Contingency, that can do this if you know another spell that would be helpful. Though, the condition for activating the second spell can be just about ''anything''—it doesn't ''have'' to be your death. On the other hand, the spell gets triggered when the specified condition occurs, whether you ''want'' it to [[Gone Horribly Right|go off at that moment]] or not.
** There are a number of Epic Destinies who have powers that state: "once per day when you die" as their activation condition. Usually, it involves getting revived.
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* ''[[Pokémon]]'' has the move Destiny Bond, which, when used, causes the Pokemon who K.O's the user to be instantly K.O'ed if Destiny Bond was the last move used by the user. It directly ties in with the "death" (or in this case, "knockout") of the user - if the user isn't knocked out, the move is completely harmless. This can be extremely useful in competitive play, as it allows a badly injured Mon nearing the end of its usefulness to quickly and efficiently [[Taking You with Me|take down a key opponent.]]
** There is also the [[Mana]] equivalent in Grudge; If the user of this move is K.O'd immediately after its use, the move that the attacker used for the K.O loses all its PP.
* In [[WoW]], the priest class has a talent technically called Spirit of Redemption, but usually referred to as [[Fan Nickname|Improved Death]]. When the priest is killed, they temporarily become a [[Our Angels Are Different|spirit healer]] which allows casting of all healing spells at no mana cost.
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[[Category:Superhero Tropes]]
[[Category:Magic and Powers]]
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