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A common subtrope is [[Weapon of X-Slaying]].
See also [[Only the Chosen May Wield]].
{{examples}}
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* One story of the ''[[Crying Freeman]]'' anime [[OVA]]s involved several parties falling under the curse of the Muramasa blades (explained below), which made the user go berserk until the sword left their grip.
* The Medicine Seller's sword in ''[[Mononoke]]'' can only be drawn when he learns more about the titular monsters. But once he gets the Shape, Truth, and Reason, [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|asskicking]] [[BFS|ensues]].
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* The titular heroine in ''[[Empowered]]'' has a suit that makes her a not-entirely formidable crime-fighter, but once, when she was saving her best friend's life, it grew a pair of glowing wings and unleashed awesome power. She still doesn't know exactly what stimulus caused it (though it's a safe bet it was emotional).
== [[Fan
* Practically every magical weapon that appears in the ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' [[Peggy Sue]] fanfic ''[[I Am What I Am (fanfic)|I Am What I Am]]'' has one or more powers that require certain conditions in order to manifest or use, even if those conditions are as simple as "touch the hilt" or "draw from scabbard/holster".
* In ''[[District 9]]'' Prawn guns and tech are created organically and do not work when used by humans. The prawns are either too passive, too wild, or too undesirable to be used in human armies. Thus, MNU has spent the considerable part of three decades trying to develop test subjects with combined working prawn/human DNA so that they can develop a [[Super Soldier]] program.
==
* ''[[Lone Wolf]]'': The Sommerswerd's "supernatural powers increase the bearer's CS by 8 (prior to the application of weapon skill bonuses), and also increase the sensitivity of his Sixth Sense. It is [[For Massive Damage|doubly damaging]] to undead foes and [[Power Nullifier|absorbs hostile magic]]. Perhaps its greatest power is the ability to kill Darklords, and it's possible, as stated in ''The Curse of Naar'', that it might be able to kill [[Big Bad|Naar himself]]. Only members of the royal house of Sommerlund or a Kai Lord can wield it. If anyone else uses it in battle, it will slowly and irrevocably lose its powers." On the other hand, whip it out in the wrong spot, every Tom, Dick and Rubicante shows up to kick your ass.▼
** Fortunately, evil beings can't take advantage of this to depower the sword—if you happen to be evil and try to hold the sword it will melt your fingers off.▼
* ''[[Tortall Universe]]'': Alanna's sword Lightning reveals its powers only after she has {{spoiler|given herself up to death.}}
* In [[James Swallow]]'s ''[[Warhammer 40,000]]'' ''[[Blood Angels|Deus Sanguinius]]'', Rafen learns that to wield the Spear of Telesto, he must {{spoiler|[[Forbidden Chekhov's Gun|let loose with the Red Thirst]]. Fortunately for him, the spear protects him from [[The Berserker|the Black Rage]], the insanity that ensues when the Red Thirst runs wild in a Blood Angel.}}
* Felix's sword in ''[[Gotrek and Felix]]'' is enchanted to kill dragons and will grant its wielder extra strength and other bonuses, but only when fighting a dragon (or to get him through a fight so he can go fight a dragon later).
* In P.C. Hodgell's ''[[Chronicles of the Kencyrath]]'' series, the hereditary sword of the house of Knorth, ''Kin-slayer'', can cut through opponents as if they were butter—but only when wielded by someone wearing the Knorth signet ring on their finger. Furthermore, it cannot be sheathed until it has killed someone, and the energy of the sword numbs the hand of the bearer. Meanwhile, the ''Ivory Knife'', an ancient heirloom artifact reputed to come from the Kencyrs' God, kills from the merest scratch. It is called "the very tooth of Death."
* The sword Sting from ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'' glows blue when orcs are near, and is an effective weapon against them. It's also effective against [[Giant Spider]]s such as the infamous Shelob. In fact, Sting got its name after Bilbo used it to rescue his dwarf companions from a horde of lesser [[Giant Spider]]s
** The dagger Merry attacks the Witch-King with was also specifically made to fight beings of his nature, and so does crippling damage despite the Witch-King being a Ringwraith. In other situations, it's merely a decent hobbit-sized sword.
** Parodied in Terry Pratchett's ''[[
* Some of the Swords of Power from Fred Saberhagen's ''[[Book of Swords]]'' series have situational powers.
** Shieldbreaker makes the wielder nigh-unbeatable in battle, but only if he's fighting an armed opponent.
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* ''[[Percy Jackson]]'s'' sword ''Anaklusmos'' (Riptide) is made from celestial bronze, and is only effective against monsters or those with divine blood such as other demigods. It is completely harmless if used against regular humans.
== [[Music]] ==
* The titular blade from [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqH5TKWrL3Q "The Arizona Sword"] by [[Leslie Fish]] appears to have been enchanted to turn on its wielder if he tries to use it for unjust reasons.
== [[Oral Tradition]], [[Folklore]], Myths and Legends ==
▲== Mythology ==
* Tyrfing from Norse mythology was under a similar [[Curse]] for a long while. If drawn, it must take a life before it can be put away.
** This included one occasion where its wielder, an [[Action Girl]], had to kill a guy who just took it out of the sheath to look at it. There was no punishment for this, probably because she'd explained the curse beforehand and thus everyone present wrote the guy off as [[Too Dumb to Live]].
== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
=== Gamebooks ===
▲* ''[[Lone Wolf]]'': The Sommerswerd's "supernatural powers increase the bearer's CS by 8 (prior to the application of weapon skill bonuses), and also increase the sensitivity of his Sixth Sense. It is [[For Massive Damage|doubly damaging]] to undead foes and [[Power Nullifier|absorbs hostile magic]]. Perhaps its greatest power is the ability to kill Darklords, and it's possible, as stated in ''The Curse of Naar'', that it might be able to kill [[Big Bad|Naar himself]]. Only members of the royal house of Sommerlund or a Kai Lord can wield it. If anyone else uses it in battle, it will slowly and irrevocably lose its powers." On the other hand, whip it out in the wrong spot, every Tom, Dick and Rubicante shows up to kick your ass.
▲** Fortunately, evil beings can't take advantage of this to depower the sword—if you happen to be evil and try to hold the sword it will melt your fingers off.
=== Tabletop RPG ===
* The rules for intelligent weapons in ''[[Dungeons & Dragons|D&D]]'' include the option of a special purpose that comes with a matching special power only used in the pursuit of said purpose. The chance for a randomly rolled magic weapon to have this property is somewhere around 1% or less.
** You don't have to go quite that far, however. ''Un''intelligent weapons with situational bonuses and/or powers are likewise a long-standing and rather more common D&D staple. ''Sword + 1, + 3 vs. spellcasters'', anybody?
** ''Weapons of Legacy''. There's no plot device or game mechanic someone didn't try to stick in D&D, so they made an entire D&D 3.5 sourcebook dedicated to weapons with specific purpose that unlock abilities via "achievements"/quests.
== [[Video Games]] ==
* Link's sword in ''[[The Legend of Zelda]]'' shoots [[Sword Beam|energy beams]] when he's at full health in the 2D games, otherwise it's limited to melee.
** The Master Sword is also known as the Sword of Evil's Bane, and can reflect evil magics. It's also stated to be unweildable by anybody but the true hero, and untouchable by evil, but those never play much of a part in the actual games. It also serves as a lock at least twice. In Ocarina of Time it hides the Triforce from evil, and in Wind Waker {{spoiler|It binds itself to Ganondorf, turning him to stone for all eternity}}
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* ''[[Dragon Age]]'' also has plenty of these. In fact, using runes the player can opt to make their weapon like this ie. +10 damage to darkspawn.
* The ''[[Dark Cloud]]'' series has the Lamb's Sword. In the first game, allowing the Lamb's Sword to reach critical [[Breakable Weapons|WHP]] transforms it into the much stronger Wolf Sword until it is repaired. In the second game, the sword becomes the Wolf Sword from 9PM until 6AM, again with a boost in attack power.
* In ''[[
* ''[[Chrono Trigger]]'': Robo's ultimate weapon, the Crisis Arm, has its power depend on Robo's last digit of HP. If the last digit is 0, it does no damage. If the last digit is 9, then it can consistently outdamage everyone except a level 99 Ayla. Thankfully, Robo hits [[Cap|999]] HP relatively early, so keeping the Crisis Arm powerful is merely a matter of keeping Robo as close to full HP as possible.
** The DS remake gives Lucca the Spellslinger, a similar weapon based off the last digit of her MP.
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* In the ''Sonny'' series of flash games, many of the techs for the Shadow Psychological build are situational to the point of being frustratingly inconvienient at times, causing many to prefer the Electric Psycho build. In the Cold Hydro build, there is one attack called Shatter that can only be used on opponents who have 3 Ice elemental debuffs (if one debuff expires before Shatter can be cast, then it won't work).
== [[Web Comics]] ==
* Almost every named character that fights in ''[[Goblins]]'' has a weapon that works like this: Big Ears' axe {{spoiler|can't hurt paladins}}, Complains' magic shield that does a random (usually offensive) countermove every time it is struck, Dies-Horribly has a psychic artificial arm, Chief's spear does a [[Macross Missile Massacre]] if he throws it, etc.
* Tavor's swords in ''[[Looking for Group]]'' reveal a map to Kethenecia when coated in blood.
* ..[[Sluggy Freelance
{{quote|'''Zoe''' ([[Face Palm]]): I want the blood of the innocent to rain down in every room of our house.
''Later--''
'''Gwynn (cleaning):''' Did you have to say ''every'' room??
'''Zoe:''' I couldn't remember which room it was in! }}
* Since being reforged with starmetal, Roy's sword in ''[[The
* In a parody of the ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'' example, Lambert of ''[[Irregular Webcomic]]'' has a magic sword that sings "Don't Stand So Close to Me" when orcs are near
== [[Web Original]] ==
* In ''[[Red vs. Blue]]'', Tucker's energy sword can function as a key at times, but is otherwise still a powerful weapon.
{{quote|'''Church''': So, it is a sword. It just happens to function like a key in very specific situations.
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* Lion-O of ''[[Thundercats]]'' fame possessed the Sword of Omens, a nifty sword that in addition to its "Sight Beyond Sight" ability and its power to call upon the other Thundercats, could literally get him out of any situation. For example, on one occasion it essentially transformed into a vaulting pole and propelled him up the side of a castle.
== [[Real Life]] ==
* Smart guns are prototype firearms that use a unique locking system to prevent anyone who doesn't have the matching magnetic key from firing them.
** There are a number of systems: RFID tags, grip patterns, fingerprints.
{{reflist}}
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]▼
[[Category:Power At a Price]]
[[Category:Magic and Powers]]
[[Category:Weapons and Wielding Tropes]]
[[Category:Alliterative Trope Titles]]
▲[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
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