Touch of Death: Difference between revisions

== Tabletop Games ==

 

** Earlier versions have a few spells that do this (such as Slay Living, the evil reverse of the 5th-level Raise Dead for clerics), as well as the Quivering Palm ability of the Monk, which allowed the monk to simply will the death of the target for some time afterward. The downside is you can only use it once per week. Thanks a lot, Wizards!

** Although Monks in 4th edition have no instant Touch of Death attacks, Quivering Palm returns as a highest-level once-per-day power that does high damage and ongoing damage that gets worse with each failed saving throw.

** There is an Epic Level spell in 3rd edition called Memento Mori. You think that you want someone dead. They die. Nothing else to it. They call it Epic Level magic for a reason.

* Slightly more balanced is the Enlightened (read: fancy-pants martial artist) ability in ''[[Deadlands]]'', the aptly-named Poison Palm. Hucksters have a similar ability. Sykers have a number of variations on this trick, but the one that actually requires touch is called "heartstopper." Then again, Sykers are [[Badass]] [[Super Soldier]] [[Ninja]] [[Recycled in Space|In The Future]]. (Yeah. Dey gots baggage.)

* ''[[GURPS]]: Martial Arts'' notes that this exists everywhere, 17th century fencers had the ''botte segrete''. The actual ''dim mak'' is just a use of the (fortunately cinematic) Pressure Secrets skill or an Innate Attack called "Hand of Death".

* ''[[Feng Shui]]'' doesn't have many fu powers that might qualify as a "Touch of Death" (even Lightning Fist, on a path that includes "Dim Mak" which only ignores armor, mainly does damage that bypasses Toughness), but the prime contender for the title would be Storm of the Tiger, the ultimate technique of the Path of the Healthy Tiger, which you can only get by mastering both the healing and the vengeful paths of the style, and which allows you to spend as much Chi as you want on a barehanded strike that you have just made and do twice that amount of Chi in extra damage.

* ''[[Kung Fu Panda]]'':

** Tai Lung is able to paralyze anyone with his nerve strikes, but his method was crude and amateurish compared to Master Oogway who is fast and skilled enough to strike with a complex ''pattern of nerve strikes'' and do it in [[Bullet Time]]! Also subverted in that one of Po's advantages is that his body fat protects his nerves so well that nerve striking is useless on him.

* Death from ''[[Family Guy]]'' can kill with a touch; excused by his being, well, ''[[The Grim Reaper|Death]]''. When [[Death Takes a Holiday]] and Peter needs to fill in for him, simply wearing Death's shroud causes anything Peter touches to instantly die, even without intending it. He learns this the hard way.

* In ''[[Aqua Teen Hunger Force]]'', there's one-shot character Dan from Grim Reaper Gutters, who won't leave until he makes a sale! He kills Carl [[Butt Monkey|(of course)]] with a Touch of Death after Carl refuses to buy any gutters.

{{quote|*bawling* "EVERYTHING I TOUCH '''DIEEEEES!'''}}

** Which was then [[Played for Laughs]] as his Dad says "Hey Dinkleburg. Why don't you come over here and give my wife a congratulatory hand touch?"

[[Category:Death Tropes]]

[[Category:Stock Super Powers]]