History Main / ConservationofNinjutsu

Subtrope of both QuantityVsQuality and QualityOverQuantity. Related to LawOfOne.

That said, there is some TruthInTelevision here. Ninja were predominantly spies in reality, focused on gathering intel without being seen. Such jobs were best done by highly trained individuals, since if one person was found, the whole group would be jeopardized. Keeping the job to one well trained and prepared ninja ensured minimal risk.

Subtrope of both QuantityVsQuality and QualityOverQuantity.

[[quoteright:350:[[Webcomic/SamAndFuzzy https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/807391be7507e74708a5bb1b8fda0025.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350: You can have three guesses who's going to win. The first two don't count.]]

* In video games, this trope is often employed for balancing purposes. If you encounter a particular enemy as a boss and you also encounter it at some other point ''en masse'' in one place, each individual enemy in the mass will usually be much weaker than the one who's fought by themselves, so as to keep the fight from being excessively difficult or lengthy. Even for regular mooks, this is often applied, with shooters in particular often [[ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy lowering the accuracy of enemies]] the more of them are present, that way one can still be a non-trivial threat while ten is only (say) two or three times as dangerous, rather than [[NintendoHard nigh-impossible to beat]].

See also TooManyCooksSpoilTheSoup, StrongAsTheyNeedToBe, FixedRelativeStrength and TheWorfEffect. Compare ConservationOfCompetence and KillOneOthersGetStronger. This trope is a reason the ZergRush may fail. HydraProblem and AsteroidsMonster usually lead to this trope. Beware, however, in case RealityEnsues, and this trope ''[[WrongGenreSavvy doesn't]]'' apply. If the system ''doesn't'' use this, TheMinionMaster will capitalize on it, as will the WolfpackBoss. Contrast EliteArmy (in that the one {{Ninja}} is a deadly threat while an army of them are [[BadassArmy almost invincible]].). See also OneManArmy (for characters who are strong enough to take on large numbers of enemies). An aversion may result in a BolivianArmyEnding.

See also TooManyCooksSpoilTheSoup, StrongAsTheyNeedToBe, FixedRelativeStrength and TheWorfEffect. Compare ConservationOfCompetence and KillOneOthersGetStronger. This trope is a reason the ZergRush may fail. HydraProblem and AsteroidsMonster usually lead to this trope. Beware, however, in case RealityEnsues, and this trope ''[[WrongGenreSavvy doesn't]]'' apply. If the system ''doesn't'' use this, TheMinionMaster will capitalize on it, as will the WolfpackBoss. Contrast EliteArmy (in that the one {{Ninja}} is a deadly threat while an army of them are [[BadassArmy almost invincible]].) and OneManArmy (for characters who are strong enough to take on large numbers of enemies). An aversion may result in a BolivianArmyEnding.

* ConservationOfNinjutsu/{{Other}}

As the number disparity grows larger, another factor comes into play—there's strength in numbers, but also ''anonymity'', which in fiction is a [[NominalImportance crippling weakness]]. Characterization is a precious, rare resource that is difficult to set up, which means most characters [[FlatCharacter are not going to get any]]. Since characters often [[CastHerd travel in homogeneous packs in terms of characterization depth]], the larger a group is, the less characterization—and therefore, ‘’[[UniquenessValue uniqueness]]‘’—its members probably have. And in fiction-land, ‘not being unique’ [[SecondLawOfMetafictionalThermodynamics automatically makes one expendable]].

As the number disparity grows larger, another factor comes into play—there's strength in numbers, but also ''anonymity'', which in fiction is a [[NominalImportance crippling weakness]]. Characterization is a precious, rare resource that is difficult to set up, which means most characters [[FlatCharacter are not going to get any]]. Since characters often [[CastHerd travel in homogeneous packs in terms of characterization depth]], the larger a group is, the less characterization its members probably have.

Also known as [[http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/Ninja/Laws The Law of Inverse Ninja Strength]]: ''Threat Per Mook = O(1/N)'' where N = number of Ninjas (or other "Elite Adversaries"), that is, the threat per mook tends to decrease fast enough so total ninjutsu cannot grow, assuming arithmetic additivity of ''threat''.

In other words, if Team Meager is up against Team Gargantuan, we probably know something about Team Meager and at least care how well they're going to do in this fight—maybe we even outright sympathize with them and root for them to win. Team Gargantuan, on the other hand, is likely a [[FacelessGoons faceless]] blob of {{Mooks}} or {{Red Shirt}}s that we [[WhatMeasureIsAMook don't care about on any personal level]]. Letting Team Gargantuan steamroll over Team Meager in this scenario would be [[AntiClimax anticlimactic]]; ''not'' letting Team Gargantuan do that means playing this trope straight almost by definition. Often Team Gargantuan instead of applying their numbers, [[MookChivalry tends to get in line]] waiting to get beat in turn.

* In video games, this trope is often employed for balancing purposes. If you encounter a particular enemy as a boss and you also encounter it at some other point ''en masse'' in one place, each individual enemy in the mass will usually be much weaker than the one who's fought by themselves, so as to keep the fight from being excessively difficult or lengthy.

See also TooManyCooksSpoilTheSoup, StrongAsTheyNeedToBe, FixedRelativeStrength and TheWorfEffect. Compare ConservationOfCompetence and KillOneOthersGetStronger. This trope is a reason the ZergRush may fail. Beware, however, in case RealityEnsues, and this trope ''[[WrongGenreSavvy doesn't]]'' apply. If the system ''doesn't'' use this, TheMinionMaster will capitalize on it, as will the WolfpackBoss. Contrast EliteArmy (in that the one {{Ninja}} is a deadly threat while an army of them are [[BadassArmy almost invincible]].) and OneManArmy (for characters who are strong enough to take on large numbers of enemies). An aversion may result in a BolivianArmyEnding.

* In video games, this trope is often employed for balancing purposes. If you encounter a particular enemy as a boss and you also encounter it at some other point ''en masse'' in one place, each individual enemy in the mass will usually be weaker than the one who's fought by themselves, so as to keep the game from being impossibly difficult.

'''In any martial arts fight, there is only a finite amount of''' '''''ninjutsu''''' '''available to each side in a given encounter. As a result, one {{Ninja}} is a deadly threat, but an army of them are [[{{Mooks}} cannon fodder]].'''

A specific form of PlotArmor, this trope is very common due to the numerous [[DoylistVersusWatsonian storytelling]] considerations fueling it. [[RuleOfDrama Drama thrives on conflict]], and having the few put up a fight against the many is basically a free conflict coupon that's automatically viable during any few vs. many confrontation. Why have the superhero team [[CurbStompBattle curb stomp]] the villain if you can make him powerful enough to force them into TeethClenchedTeamwork? Why have the dozens of {{Mooks}} club TheHero unconscious three seconds into an encounter if you can let him take down seven or eight of them before he collapses, to show how much of a badass he is? That would be letting some perfectly good [[EmotionalTorque dramatic tension]] go to waste.

This can, of course, apply to EliteMooks other than ninjas. Vampires are particularly susceptible to Conservation Of Ninjutsu, as are werewolves, alien monsters, [[RedshirtArmy Special Forces commandos]] and SuperPoweredRobotMeterMaids.

See also TooManyCooksSpoilTheSoup, StrongAsTheyNeedToBe, FixedRelativeStrength and TheWorfEffect. Compare ConservationOfCompetence and KillOneOthersGetStronger. This trope is a reason the ZergRush may fail. Beware, however, in case RealityEnsues, and this trope ''[[WrongGenreSavvy doesn't]]'' apply. If the system ''doesn't'' use this, TheMinionMaster will capitalize on it, as will the WolfpackBoss. Contrast EliteArmy ("in that the one {{Ninja}} is a deadly threat", while an army of them are [[BadassArmy almost invincible]].) and OneManArmy (for characters who are strong enough to take on large numbers of enemies). An aversion may result in a BolivianArmyEnding.

See also TooManyCooksSpoilTheSoup, StrongAsTheyNeedToBe, FixedRelativeStrength and TheWorfEffect. Compare ConservationOfCompetence and KillOneOthersGetStronger. This trope is a reason the ZergRush may fail. Beware, however, in case RealityEnsues, and this trope ''[[WrongGenreSavvy doesn't]]'' apply. If the system ''doesn't'' use this, TheMinionMaster will capitalize on it, as will the WolfpackBoss. Contrast EliteArmy ("in the that one {{Ninja}} is a deadly threat", while an army of them are [[BadassArmy almost invincible]].) and OneManArmy (for characters who are strong enough to take on large numbers of enemies). An aversion may result in a BolivianArmyEnding.

In other words, if Team Meager is up against Team Gargantuan, we probably know something about Team Meager and at least care how well they're going to do in this fight—maybe we even outright sympathize with them and root for them to win. Team Gargantuan, on the other hand, is likely a [[FacelessGoons faceless]] blob of {{Mooks}} or {{Red Shirt}}s that we [[WhatMeasureIsAMook don't care about on any personal level]]. Letting Team Gargantuan steamroll over Team Meager in this scenario would be [[AntiClimax anticlimactic]]; ''not'' letting Team Gargantuan do that means playing this trope straight almost by definition. Often Team Gargantuan instead of applying their numbers, [[ChinMusicLineDance tends to get in line]] waiting to get beat in turn.

In other words, if Team Meager is up against Team Gargantuan, we probably know something about Team Meager and at least care how well they're going to do in this fight—maybe we even outright sympathize with them and root for them to win. Team Gargantuan, on the other hand, is likely a [[FacelessGoons faceless]] blob of {{Mooks}} or {{Red Shirt}}s that we [[WhatMeasureIsAMook don't care about on any personal level]]. Letting Team Gargantuan steamroll over Team Meager in this scenario would be [[AntiClimax anticlimactic]]; ''not'' letting Team Gargantuan do that means playing this trope straight almost by definition.

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->"You need to work together. If you don't, your numbers become my advantage."
-->-- Malcolm stating to Oliver and Thea how the ConservationOfNinjutsu works in ''Seris/{{Arrow}}''.

NOTE: This obviously does not apply when the hero had some superior advantage against a big group (like, say, magic powers or a huge machine gun) and then lost it and had to go hand-to-hand for the last few guys. Let's not get carried away.