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{{trope}}
{{quote|''"Who'd have thought being a vampire slayer was so fuckin' easy? Stakes and garlic, waste of time, chuck some feathers from the item store at it!"''|'''[[The Spoony One]]''', on ''[[
A game mechanic where undead enemies can be quickly defeated with [[Healing Potion|health items]] or by casting healing/revival magic. From a gameplay standpoint, this simply allows healing skills to do double duty as [[Turn Undead]], and makes the party's dedicated healer not-so-useless when your party is asked to explore that ancient crypt at night. Logically, it's often explained or assumed that the source of healing magic (usually nature or the divine) is anathema to the undead. This particular example is one of the worst cases of [[Guide Dang It]], since it's [[Captain Obvious|unintuitive to cast a healing spell on an enemy]] if players are [[Genre Blind|unfamiliar with this trope]].
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== Video Games ==
* ''[[Ancient Domains of Mystery]]'': Casting various healing spells, including Bless, on undead damages them. Throwing potions of cure corruption also dramatically weakens the [[Eldritch Abomination|chaos beings]].
* In ''[[
* In ''[[
* You can learn a spell in ''[[Castlevania
* Legend's videogame adaptation of the [[Margaret Weis|Weis]]/Hickman original property ''[[Death Gate]]'' features a doppleganger of the player who precisely mirrors his motions (thus blocking his path). The solution is to use the game's rune-based magic system to cast the otherwise ill-advised "Self-Immolation" spell, but to construct it ''backwards''.
* From ''[[Disgaea 2 Cursed Memories]]'' onward, there is the Reverse Damage geo effect, which can invoke this trope (and since there are several stages later on that use Reverse Damage, your healer turns into a death god/goddess.)
** ''[[Disgaea 3 Absence of Justice]]'' introduces an evility that makes healing spells cause damage at the expense of reducing the character's stats, allowing a healer to do this whenever they like, though not quite as effectively.
* The ''[[Final Fantasy]]'' series allows this a lot.
** This mechanic has been in the series since ''[[Final Fantasy II (Video Game)|Final Fantasy II]]''. ''[[
** In ''[[
*** Played straight in the DS version, where the second form will counter every physical or black magic attack using a gas that inflicts silence, slow, poison, and confusion. Effectively, the only way to defeat the boss without burning through all of your items was to spam Cure spells and Hi-Potions on him.
*** It also happens with Lugaborg in the DS version, though not because he's undead. One of his attacks is a "reversal gas" that swaps whether spells and abilities will cause damage or heal it; so, when it's active, healing spells and items inflict damage to their targets, while attacks will heal them instead. If he uses the gas again, though, things will have their normal effect.
** ''[[
*** You could also use a Gold Needle (which cures Petrification) to get an instant-kill on Stone enemies.
*** Most notably, the stone knight things that roam the room where you find Odin can be attacked in this manner, or with Level 5 Death, which makes that "dreadful place" actually a fair training spot.
** The Phantom Train in ''[[
*** While using a Phoenix Down will kill any undead enemy in one hit, they can be expensive to stock up on. Holy Waters turn out to also kill undead enemies instantly, but they cost quite a bit less.
*** ''[[
*** Another "counter" to this system is the exact reverse of Revive Kills Zombie, kill revives zombie. Using Instant Death effects like the Death spell or the effect of an Assassin's Dagger will on an undead foe will cause them to die... and then instantly regenerate with full HP.
*** Also interesting is that the zombie damage system can be applied to player characters. Anyone wearing a Lich Ring is turned undead without the side effects of the Zombie condition, and so will be healed by Death and Poison, and harmed by Cure. Also applies to Gau raging an undead enemy.
*** ''Final Fantasy VI'' also had the spells Rasp and Osmose, which depleted an enemy's magic points (the latter also restored yours by the same amount). Some enemies were noted ([[Guide Dang It|though only at one spot in the entire game]]) to be inherently magical, and unable to maintain their forms if their MP was depleted. You thus had the option of either depleting their hit points or magic points to defeat them; in the case of several that had last-ditch attacks when out of hit points (including [[That One Boss]]), removing their magic was the wiser (or sometimes faster) option.
** A ghost boss in ''[[
*** Casting "Angel Whisper" (ultimate cure-everything-even-death spell) on an undead enemy will result in instant death (no HP loss) + many status ailments.
** Then there's the {{spoiler|Zombie President}} in ''[[
*** Abadon from the same game, a Phoenix Down will miss but the Curaga spell will severely damage him. For some unknown reason, he has the spell himself so you don't even need to use up your own magic stock, just keep drawing and casting!
**** You don't even need to risk a draw failure or worry about a low MAG stat on the drawing character. Equip the ''Recover'' command for guaranteed 9999HP healing. Or 9999HP hurting on Abadon and any other undead creature you may encounter. And you have infinite uses of it. You only need three, though.
*** The Zombie status effect makes player characters subject to this trope, as well as turning their models a strange shade of green. This is its ''only'' effect, so you might wonder why the enemies bother. Right up until the point you get one-shotted with a Curaga.
** In ''[[
** Evrae Altana in ''[[
*** One boss uses this exact tactic ''against'' your party, using a Zombie attack on one of your party members followed by Life (which kills Zombies). This can easily be used to your advantage, though: Occasionally he will aim for a party member he did ''not'' Zombify, causing nothing to happen. He might even hit a '''dead''' party member, reviving him with full HP. A later [[Sequential Boss]] also resorts to Zombie effects in her second form {{spoiler|which you ''must'' "suffer" before defeating her, because the first action of her third form is a global death effect which only Zombied party members will survive.}}
*** Almost the ONLY way for a reasonably leveled party to to take on the Dark Flans inside Mount Gagazet is to use a zombie weapon to inflict the status on the flan, then Phoenix Down or Life it to death.
** The [[Final Boss]] of ''[[
*** Aside from Cure, all of your White Magic takes an offensive bent when used on enemies. Life becomes an insta-kill spell, Heal hits the targeted enemy with every status affliction it would normally cure, and Exit [[Phantom Zone|boots them out of reality entirely.]]
** This trope is the basis for one of the main game-breakers of ''[[
** And in ''[[
*** Also played straight in the same game on one [[Sidequest]] where a requester wants a Potion and Hi-Potion to heal up, but winds up hurting herself drinking the Potion because she is a zombie. Luso stops her from drinking the Hi-Potion, which would have been extremely fatal. Keep taking care of her, she gets better (and dual wielding).
* In Bungie's ''[[Myth]]'' series, healing any undead unit will kill it.
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* In ''[[Nethack]]'', the Finger of Death spell, one of the most powerful spells in the game, resulting in an instant kill if the target is not an undead or any monster that can resist the spell, only serves to ''heal'' Death, who is one the Riders (three of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse appeared; specifically, Famine, Pestilence, and Death; {{spoiler|it is assumed that the player is War}}), while Pestilence, another Rider, can be healed by potions of sickness and damaged by potions of healing, because [[The Dev Team Thinks of Everything]].
* Played straight in the MMORPG ''[[Ragnarok Online]]'', where the Resurrection spell and items that give the same effect have a chance to instantly kill any non-boss creature with the undead element, even other players (assuming they wear armour that gives them the undead element). Healing spells of every sort also damage undead enemies (and allies), the exception being the Alchemist's Potion pitcher skill.
* Interestingly played with in ''[[
** Strangely, its MMORPG successor ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' ignores this so that undead PCs can be revived by living teammates. This caused [http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2004/04/23 some philosophical problems] for the boys at ''[[Penny Arcade]]''.
*** Most infuriatingly, Death Knights are not themselves Undead; they're just as alive as the Paladins they face (and, by implication, used to be). Why couldn't they just have allowed living PCs to learn the damn spell?
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* [[Pokémon]] Diamond & Pearl introduced Black Sludge, an item that harms its holder. That is, unless held by a Poison type, which is healed instead.
* In the game ''[[Magicka]]'', most spells cast using the Life element heal the living and deal damage to zombies. Which explains the ability to place [[Healing Shiv|healing mines]]. [[Foe-Tossing Charge|Not a good]] [[Ring Out|spell to use]] [[Stop Helping Me!|for standard healing, though]]
* In ''[[
* ''[[Minecraft]]'' has several kinds of potions with beneficial or harmful effects. For every type, you can use it on yourself, or turn it into a splash potion to throw at friends or enemies. Zombies and skeletons are healed by potions of Poison or Instant Harm, but can be damaged with potions of Regeneration and Instant Health.
* Surprisingly (and somewhat frustratingly) averted in multipart browser RPG [[MARDEK]], which has a Zombie status effect (which turns your party members into zombies who attack you) and an item, Holy Water, that cures it. Using Holy Water on a pre-existing zombie does nothing.
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** One of the odder monsters of the old-school D&D games was the Nilbog, a goblin that could not be killed with regular attacks and spells, as such attacks would heal him rather than hurt him. The only way to kill him was to use healing spells.
* ''[[Exalted]]'' has a [[Functional Magic|Charm]] (Order-Affirming Blow) that undoes Shaping effects. Guess what? [[The Fair Folk]] use shaping effects to create their bodies. [[One-Hit Kill]].
* ''[[Magic:
* ''[[Le Donjon De Naheulbeuk]]'' invert the tropes with the [[Eldritch Abomination|transnaturals]] monsters Gorgauths and Dalmorgs, that show incredible sensitivity to magical attacks, while heal spells enhance all their stats tenfold. it is even lampsahded in the description.
{{quote| I wonder what moron decided one day to throw a heal spell on a Dalmorg so we know the effect of such a move.\ }}
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* ''Night on Mispec Moor'' by [[Larry Niven]]. An alien plant reproduces by infecting newly killed corpses and rallying their bodies for one last lurch. On a battlefield an off-worlder is cornered by these plausible zombies. He's in deep trouble until, in desperation, he tries spritzing one with his [[Applied Phlebotinum|pan-spectrum cure spray]]. [[Better Than It Sounds]].
* Averted in the ''Xanth'' series, where water from a healing spring can patch up damage dealt to undead creatures - fairly useful to the (good guy) Zombie Master, since his zombies don't heal naturally. It can't return them to true life, though, only return them to an intact corpse state.
* The Hunter from the ''[[Coldfire Trilogy]]'' is a strange example. As a consequence of the [[Deal
* ''Rappaccini's Daughter'' by Nathaniel Hawthorne is one of the older examples of this. The daughter of a botanist, Beatrice Rappaccini grows up in a poisonous garden and, as a result, becomes poisonous herself. A man falls in love with her from afar and, in desperation, gives her an antidote so they can try to live together. Guess what happens...
* In [[The Black Mountains]] by [[Fred Saberhagen]], Som the Dead, a local viceroy of a vicious empire, has made himself immortal and invulnerable by becoming a living dead. Any attacks against him wound the attacker. He is finally destroyed when, mistaking him for someone horribly wounded and gangrenous, Draffut throws a measure of concentrated liquid life force at him.
== Live Action TV ==
* In an episode of ''[[Star Trek:
** In the ''[[Star Trek: New Frontier
** The original series episode [[Star Trek:
* In ''[[Noob (TV series)|Noob]]'', the main group's healer accidentally heals enemys on a regular basis, which is quite annoying for his guildmates... except when they happen to be dealing with undead enemys.
* Ricky Fitness saves his fellow [[The Aquabats Super Show|Aquabats]] from grimy sludge monsters with his [[Improvised Weapon|anti-bacterial hand gel]]. They later subvert the trope against a fairly clean "lint and cleaning chemicals" monster by using Crash McLarson's lucky socks.
== Webcomics ==
* In [[Dominic Deegan]], white magic (which usually has restorative and invigorating effects) is not only ''very'' effective against undead and necromancers, but potentially lethal to [[Deal
* [[Penny Arcade]] made a World Of Warcraft related comic about a group of Horde characters gathered around their fallen Undead friend, who was asking politely to be rezzed; the others ponder whether or not casting revival on a zombie would be a good thing or if it would finish him off.
* In [[8-Bit Theater (Webcomic)|8-Bit Theater]] {{spoiler|[[Big Bad|Chaos]] had just about torn his way into the dimension in order to turn it into his own hellish playground. The depowered protagonists were helpless and as Chaos went [[One-Winged Angel]] it appeared all was doomed... until four healing characters showed up and purified Chaos with White Magic}}.
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'''Priest:''' Which he was.<br />
'''Healer:''' So, that worked out. }}
* Referenced in a combination of [http://www.cad-comic.com/cad/20100604 this] ''[[Ctrl
* ''[[Full Frontal Nerdity]]'' played this with regards to a ''Left 4 Dead''-inspired campaign. Cure Disease would kill the zombies by eliminating the virus animating them while a resurrection would return them to life... at which point the zombies would tear the newly-revived character apart.
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