Instant Death Radius: Difference between revisions

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== Tabletop Games ==

* ''[[~~Dungeons and Dragons|~~Dungeons & Dragons]]'' 3rd Edition was lousy with this, as monsters with reach (such as any monster that was ''larger than you'') could lay serious hurt on you with an Attack of Opportunity if you got within its radius, and unless the monster was using a reach weapon, it could threaten every square within its radius, meaning you could not charge or otherwise get close without sucking up an Attack of Opportunity and taking some heinous damage (because any melee monster worth its salt invariably has very high Strength, and high Strength = high attack bonus = high damage). A caster or archer could just hang back and blast them at range, but if you were a fighter or other class whose primary focus was on melee and wielding the weapons you would normally expect such characters to wield (swords, spears, axes, hammers and other weapons with normal reach), you could pretty much forget about actually doing any damage or contributing to the fight in any way other than being a "meat shield" for the others. Little wonder that the five-foot-step rule, which is called "shifting" in 4th Edition, was clarified in 3.5.

* ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'' 3rd Edition was lousy with this, as monsters with reach (such as any monster that was ''larger than you'') could lay serious hurt on you with an Attack of Opportunity if you got within its radius, and unless the monster was using a reach weapon, it could threaten every square within its radius, meaning you could not charge or otherwise get close without sucking up an Attack of Opportunity and taking some heinous damage (because any melee monster worth its salt invariably has very high Strength, and high Strength = high attack bonus = high damage). A caster or archer could just hang back and blast them at range, but if you were a fighter or other class whose primary focus was on melee and wielding the weapons you would normally expect such characters to wield (swords, spears, axes, hammers and other weapons with normal reach), you could pretty much forget about actually doing any damage or contributing to the fight in any way other than being a "meat shield" for the others. Little wonder that the five-foot-step rule, which is called "shifting" in 4th Edition, was clarified in 3.5.

** It got much worse if the enemies were good at tripping or grappling; one Huge monster in the Monster Manual 4 has an anti-magic grab, preferred subterranean environs, and moves with a faster climb speed than many characters of the appropriate level could run. Fortunately (or [[Game Breaker|unfortunately for the DM]]) Attack of Opportunity optimized character builds can invert this trope entirely. [[Radical Taoist]] developed a number of builds on the [[Wizards of the Coast]] forums (the best known of which was called Lester the Molester) that could not be approached without provoking tons of AoOs; this character would attack a foe if that foe attacked him, attacked a nearby ally, or moved—hell, even if ''they did nothing at all''.

** The main thing though isn't the AoOs, but the full attack that follows. You can expect even the half-decent melee enemies to utterly annihilate you later on accordingly or at least beat you to within an inch of your life before you get another turn. Not sometimes, but every single turn. Dragons are infamous for this, as the higher age categories get six or more attacks per round. And the only way to stand up to regular melee enemies in close combat is to either be an Evasion Tank (see [[Linear Warriors, Quadratic Wizards]]) or just be heavily optimized...in effect, stuff that would normally be a [[Game Breaker]] is required for basic competency.

*** [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0216.html Attack of Opportunity! Attack of Opportunity!]

** One of third edition's supplements introduced a monster-only feat "[[Large and In Charge]]" which allowed them to add [[Punched Across the Room|knockback]] to their attack of opportunity against human-sized attackers.

* In ''[[Warhammer ~~40000~~]]'', getting in close combat with Khorne Berserkers, Genestealers, and Grey Knight Terminators is simply a death wish. One troper who uses Grey Knights had a game in which a Grey Knight Hero and 5 Terminators single handedly chopped up an Eldar Avatar, Wraithlord, a Warlock and his buddies (through shooting), and an entire 20 man Guardian team in the same game in 5 different close combats.

* In ''[[Warhammer 40,000]]'', getting in close combat with Khorne Berserkers, Genestealers, and Grey Knight Terminators is simply a death wish. One troper who uses Grey Knights had a game in which a Grey Knight Hero and 5 Terminators single handedly chopped up an Eldar Avatar, Wraithlord, a Warlock and his buddies (through shooting), and an entire 20 man Guardian team in the same game in 5 different close combats.

** It is an exceedingly bad idea to let a Carnifex near your tanks. not even your prized [[Nigh Invulnerable|Monolith]] will last the assault phase...

** Another oft-noted example is the Leman Russ Demolishor. With a 24" Instant Death Radius for it's Demolishor Cannon, most players give one a wide berth. Unfortunately, a Leman Russ also has at least one other weapon, so staying away from the big gun doesn't quite mean you're safe.

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** Such damage auras are also available to the players, so they can invoke this trope on lesser foes. Still, the archvillain versions are seriously amped up in the amount of damage they deal.

** Most notable is the Envoy of Shadows, an AV of the resident [[Demonic Invaders]] who has TWO damaging auras, fire and darkness. I guess it must be what it's like to try and melee a [[Game Breaker|Spines/Dark armor scrapper]]

* The Cave Troll enemy [[Took a Level In Badass]] in recent ''[[Castlevania]]'' games and now has an electric attack that spreads an azure ring around him. If you get caught ''inside'' it, the ring will stun you at every hit which takes away in the worst cases 90-100 lifepoints ''every nanosecond''. The only way to survive is to heal yourself while still being hit, otherwise you can only hand over your ass to the monster.

* The Cave Troll enemy [[Took a Level in Badass]] in recent ''[[Castlevania]]'' games and now has an electric attack that spreads an azure ring around him. If you get caught ''inside'' it, the ring will stun you at every hit which takes away in the worst cases 90-100 lifepoints ''every nanosecond''. The only way to survive is to heal yourself while still being hit, otherwise you can only hand over your ass to the monster.

** This was quite a shock to everybody playing Portrait of Ruin who was coming off Dawn of Sorrow. If you say you didn't die on this thing at least once, you are a Goddamned LIAR.

* The wall-based Guardian necromorph in ''[[Dead Space (video game)|Dead Space]]'' is one of these. Getting within a certain radius of it while it's still alive (well, alive-ish) will instantly decapitate your character.

* The final boss of''Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits''. Unless you knew exactly what was coming (and the only way to do so is with a walkthrough) and equipped your melee fighters with all the normally-useless elemental protection you can get, getting in close with him is a deathwish.

* Many very large enemies in ''[[Serious Sam]]'' like the huge lava golem, Ugh Zan III or reptiloid highlanders have deadly melee attacks which can kill player almost instantly.

* Mathematically, if not ''thematically'', inverted with [[Mini Boss|Hakumen]] and [[Tier-Induced Scrappy|Nu-13]] of ''[[~~Blaz Blue~~]]''. As bosses in a fighting game's Arcade Mode, they have smarter AI than the opponents the player has fought before. This means they seem conscious of the fact that there are ranges at which they can attack, but most characters can't hit them back. Hakumen has a space between "whatever range his opponent can hit at" and "the end of his [[BFS]]" where he can attack with impunity. Nu has vicious and unpredictable ranged attacks—for Nu and her [[Confusion Fu]], the Instant Death Radius is ''the half of the screen farthest from her.''

* Mathematically, if not ''thematically'', inverted with [[Mini Boss|Hakumen]] and [[Tier-Induced Scrappy|Nu-13]] of ''[[BlazBlue]]''. As bosses in a fighting game's Arcade Mode, they have smarter AI than the opponents the player has fought before. This means they seem conscious of the fact that there are ranges at which they can attack, but most characters can't hit them back. Hakumen has a space between "whatever range his opponent can hit at" and "the end of his [[BFS]]" where he can attack with impunity. Nu has vicious and unpredictable ranged attacks—for Nu and her [[Confusion Fu]], the Instant Death Radius is ''the half of the screen farthest from her.''

** On higher difficulties or [[Difficult but Awesome|against a skilled human player]], you do '''not''' want to get within grab range of [[Mighty Glacier|Tager]].

** Ragna's Devoured by Darkness Distortion Drive bites off a lot of the enemy's health and gives it to him. Pity about it being so [[Awesome but Impractical]], starting from being limited to grab range and getting worse from there.

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** Similarly, with most of the games, particular on Elite difficulty, if an enemy sees you, they will more than likely get a near-instant [[One-Hit Kill]] shot. Even at long range.

* In ''[[Killzone]] 2'' the knife is a [[One-Hit Kill]] both for you and your enemies.

* ''[[Ace Combat]] X: Skies of Deception'' has the Shock Cannon on the Gleipnir {{spoiler|and Archelon Fortress}} that shows a red flashing circle on the [[Enemy Detecting Radar]] when it's ready. If you get into it, say bye-bye. The mission Blitz, as well as Solitaire from ''5: The Unsung War'', has circles of radar coverage that, while not killing you outright, will cause a mission failure if you wander into them. In ''4: Shattered Skies'', anyone who made the mistake of getting within 850 feet of Mobius One using a [[Game Breaker|QAAM]]-equipped plane had effectively received his death sentence. ''X'' also has the mission In Pursuit, where "high-performance SAMs" protect a group of jammers from you, flying within their coverage is a death wish.

* ''[[Ace Combat]] X: Skies of Deception'' has the Shock Cannon on the Gleipnir {{spoiler|and Archelon Fortress}} that shows a red flashing circle on the [[Enemy-Detecting Radar]] when it's ready. If you get into it, say bye-bye. The mission Blitz, as well as Solitaire from ''5: The Unsung War'', has circles of radar coverage that, while not killing you outright, will cause a mission failure if you wander into them. In ''4: Shattered Skies'', anyone who made the mistake of getting within 850 feet of Mobius One using a [[Game Breaker|QAAM]]-equipped plane had effectively received his death sentence. ''X'' also has the mission In Pursuit, where "high-performance SAMs" protect a group of jammers from you, flying within their coverage is a death wish.

** Basically, almost all missions that require you on fly in a ravine would make it perfectly clear that, if you fly over it, it's mission failure, no second chances.

* In ''[[Syphon Filter]]'' if you see the flashing "[[Boom! Headshot!|headshot]]" indicator above your head, you better run for cover ASAP or [[Your Head Asplode]]. The snipers never miss. Some bosses will also headshot you if you get too close; one requires you to shoot the lights out so you can nonlethally subdue him.

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** The Pyro is a [[Kill It with Fire|blazing deathball]] within a space of about [[Video Game Flamethrowers Suck|five meters]], and also possesses a rather effective array of melee weapons as well. Any further out however, and nothing in the Pyro's arsenal but secondary weapons will be able to hit you at all.

** The Heavy basically turns into an Instant Death Radius up to medium range any time the minigun is revved up. At point blank range, anything that has the misfortune to be in front of a Heavy—even another Heavy—will die ''in less than a second''.

* Every boss in [[Valkyrie Profile Covenant of the Plume]] other than the first one can automatically use a special attack at the end of their chain of attacks against you, even if they wouldn't be able to do so had you taken another story path and recruited them. Unless you have a ''lot'' of HP or you're using one of the main character's unique abilities, this is for all intents and purposes an automatic knockout. What's worse, if your characters attack en masse and the counter manages to KO one of you without the use of a special, they'll use the special on a second attacking character, typically knocking them out too. Against sword-using bosses like Darius, this means you shouldn't let anyone other than the main character get within reach of the counter, and maybe not even him until you've worn your foe down a bit. Against mages like Liselotte, well, here's hoping you've got at least five revival items on hand. And then there's the final boss of the good path, whose counter targets every character who attacked her and has a chance of stunning anyone who survives it.

* Every boss in [[Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume]] other than the first one can automatically use a special attack at the end of their chain of attacks against you, even if they wouldn't be able to do so had you taken another story path and recruited them. Unless you have a ''lot'' of HP or you're using one of the main character's unique abilities, this is for all intents and purposes an automatic knockout. What's worse, if your characters attack en masse and the counter manages to KO one of you without the use of a special, they'll use the special on a second attacking character, typically knocking them out too. Against sword-using bosses like Darius, this means you shouldn't let anyone other than the main character get within reach of the counter, and maybe not even him until you've worn your foe down a bit. Against mages like Liselotte, well, here's hoping you've got at least five revival items on hand. And then there's the final boss of the good path, whose counter targets every character who attacked her and has a chance of stunning anyone who survives it.

* ''[[Ninja Gaiden]]'', Xbox remake, has the Gleaming Blade move and its [[Limit Break|Ultimate Technique versions]]. They do a number on normal enemies and can punish even [[Harder Than Hard|Master Ninja]] bosses significantly.

* In one ''[[Cortex Command]]'' mod, there are robots known as Zombie Bots, which can instantly gib anybody within their claw attack radius.

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** The Torturer in ''II'' will ventilate you instantly with his M60 machine gun if you get in his sights at close range. Ditto for Sanchez, who you have to take out by throwing a grenade into his hiding place.

* Likewise, in ''[[Kane and Lynch]] 2:Dog Days'', taking a bullet at point-blank range usually results in an instant death.

* ''[[Vindictus]]''' [[Wake Up Call Boss]], the Gnoll Chieftain, is the first major boss you face that primarily uses smash attacks on you, as opposed to normal attacks. At the level that you first face him, two to three hits with his giant hammer are enough to kill you, and one of his smash attacks is a powerful whirlwind sweep which clears a sizable radius around him, making staying out of range and using hit-and-run tactics as he's recovering from a smash key to surviving the battle. Higher-level players have an easier time dealing with him, both due to experience in dealing with such bosses and having better armor and more HP.

* ''[[Vindictus]]''' [["Wake-Up Call" Boss]], the Gnoll Chieftain, is the first major boss you face that primarily uses smash attacks on you, as opposed to normal attacks. At the level that you first face him, two to three hits with his giant hammer are enough to kill you, and one of his smash attacks is a powerful whirlwind sweep which clears a sizable radius around him, making staying out of range and using hit-and-run tactics as he's recovering from a smash key to surviving the battle. Higher-level players have an easier time dealing with him, both due to experience in dealing with such bosses and having better armor and more HP.

* Player example in the classic ''[[Doom]]'' games, if the player is packing the [[BFG]]. One shot at point-blank range downs everything in the game except for bosses.

** Even then it is capable of taking out the Spider Mastermind in a single shot. (And tables on the Doom wiki indicate it is theoretically possible to do the same to the Cyberdemon. Only theoretically, though, the random numbers of the damage make that practically impossible.)