History Main / LastChanceHitPoint

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* ''TabletopGame/FabulaUltima'': Mastering the [[StoneWall Guardian]] class allows you to take the "Unbreakable" heroic skill, which lets you withstand an attack that would knock you out with one HP once per scene.

* ''VideoGame/TheGuardianLegend'' has your character's shields. If you took an otherwise lethal hit with shields remaining, they would drop to zero. You would be killed if you got hit by anything at zero shields.

* ''VideoGame/EpicBattleFantasy'' series:
** ''VideoGame/EpicBattleFantasy2'' has the Survivior skill bonus, which gives Matt a 1/3 chance of surviving an otherwise-lethal attack with 1 HP.
** ''VideoGame/EpicBattleFantasy4'' introduces the Morale {{status effect}}. With it, a character will survive any otherwise-lethal attack (even if it inflicts [[OneHitKill Instant Death]]), as long as they had at least 49% health remaining when hit. Morale would return in ''[=EBF5=]''
** ''VideoGame/EpicBattleFantasy5'' features the Pixel Glasses, a Flair which lets its wearer survive a single lethal attack, albeit with 0 HP. They will die at the start of their next turn unless healed, however, and taking another hit will obviously kill them.

* ''VideoGame/RogueGalaxy'', provided that the character's HP wasn't already critical before taking the hit.
* ''VideoGame/ClockTower3'''s Panic Mode. While Alyssa is generally invincible, if the Panic Meter fills up, she freaks out, and the player must guide her away from that area's BigBad until the meter lowers enough, if Alyssa is hit by any attack while in Panic Mode, she dies.
* The "Guts" ability and "Angel Curio" items in ''VideoGame/ValkyrieProfile'' enable this, giving the character a chance of surviving any attack with a few hitpoints. Notably, it doesn't have a lower threshold for working, so it's possible for a character with 3 HP to survive attacks dealing hundreds of thousands of HP worth of damage round after round, and when they finally DO end up dying, another character with Auto-Item can [[AutoRevive revive them right afterwards without using up their turn]], the only penalty being that they're not able to act on their next turn. The game ''expects'' you to abuse this. The final bosses have multiple attacks that either deal several times more damage than your HP cap or kill you outright without a miss chance.
* ''VideoGame/EarthBound1994's'' [[LuckStat Guts]] stat, along with affecting CriticalHit rate, gives a character a small percentage chance to endure an attack that would have dealt mortal damage, leaving them at 1 HP instead. This is indicated when the message that would otherwise read "mortal damage" omits the "mortal" part of the message -- even if the damage dealt matches or exceeds the character's HP, characters only head toward 0 HP when mortal damage has been suffered. Secondly, even if a mortal blow is incurred, the rolling HP meter mechanic allows the player to avoid a KO if they can finish the battle or heal before the character's HP actually rolls down to zero.
* Characters with the "Withstand Lethal Attack" status buff, passive, or EMP Skill in ''VideoGame/GranblueFantasy'' can survive a fatal attack for one turn, leaving them with 1 HP.
* [[SpoonyBard Elwyen]] in ''VideoGame/{{Mardek}}: Chapter 3'' has a defensive reaction ability along these lines, which allows her to survive an unlimited number of attacks with 1 HP remaining so long as she had more than 1 HP before the attack. It's a bit overpowered, and one of several factors that contribute to Elwyen [[MagikarpPower being anything but spoony]].
* ''VideoGame/SuperMarioRPG'' has certain enemy attacks that cause instant death to a party member. All of these attacks are classified as physical, and almost all physical attacks can be blocked by pressing a button just before the attack hits. If one of these attacks is blocked, that character will not die, but will be left standing with only 1 HP (though if the block timing is truly impeccable, that character may take no damage at all).

* In ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'', the final boss battle against [[spoiler:Sans]] gives your HP meter a time delay similar to the rolling HP meter in ''VideoGame/EarthBound1994''. This is only in effect for that one battle though, and all the other fights in the game feature a standard HP meter.
** [[spoiler: King Asgore]] is very reluctant to kill you, so you'll never die from any attacks in that battle unless your HP is already at 1.
* The Guardian Spirit passive in the Spirit mage tree in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition'' bestows a barrier upon the mage when they take a blow that would otherwise kill them. Also, the [[StoneWall Champion]] [[PrestigeClass specialization]] for Warriors has Unyielding, which also bestows temporary invulnerability when it activates.
* ''VideoGame/DarkSouls2'' introduces Denial, a [[WhiteMagic Miracle]] that gives you this as a passive buff.
** ''VideoGame/DarkSouls3'' brings it back under a similar name. Unlike the other buffs in the game however, it does not expire with time, it lasts until it's triggered.
* ''VideoGame/{{Nioh}}'' has a passive chance of defying death any time you take an obliterating hit, but it only works if you aren't below 30% health, and if you were on fire or something, your last hit point dies immediately. You can also use a limited NinjaLog ability to respawn a few meters higher than your death point, but you're close to death again and any aerial attacks the enemy may use will likely pulverize you before you can pop a heal or another log.
* ''VideoGame/DigimonStoryCyberSleuth'' and ''VideoGame/DigimonStoryCyberSleuthHackersMemory'' have an ability called Safety Guard that grants this by way of a status effect. When an affected Digimon is hit for lethal damage, their HP goes to 1 and the status effect vanishes, needing to be reapplied if they want to stave off lethal damage again. All but one of the Digimon that learn the ability are Mega-level or Ultra-level.
* ''VideoGame/OctopathTraveler'': One of the Merchant's skills grants this ability. If the Merchant takes otherwise-fatal damage and isn't in Near Death status at the time, they'll survive with one HP.
* ''VideoGame/GranblueFantasy'' has the "Undying/Lethal Attack Dodged" buff, which will allow a character who has it to survive a fatal attack with 1 HP.
** Vaseraga, at level 95, gains the ''Feel No Pain'' passive which makes him unable to be knocked out for the first 20 turns of a battle.
** Nier's ''Death Reversed'' passive allows the main character to survive a lethal hit with 1 HP (provided they aren't already at critical health) as long as Nier is a sub-ally, and this effect can be used [[TarotMotifs 13 times per battle.]]
* ''VideoGame/{{OMORI}}'' ends in a GameOver if [[WeCannotGoOnWithoutYou Omori specifically dies]], so as an AntiFrustrationFeature, he can survive a fatal hit once per battle ("OMORI did not succumb.").

* A variant used in ''VideoGame/XCOMEnemyUnknown'' allowed a lucky (?) soldier to be "critically wounded", requiring the attention of a Medkit or to complete the mission before they bled to death, rather than the usual instant death. A stabilized soldier had 1HP and was still vulnerable to [=AoE=] damage and would be out of commission for a fair length of time (plus a permanent Will stat reduction) if they survived, but many a Commander would take this over losing them permanently.
** The ''Enemy Within'' DLC added a Gene Mod perk that would guarantee this would happen, with more time to stabilize and no Will penalty. In both cases the soldier was still effectively "dead" as far as combat effectiveness for the mission went, barring the use of Revive, but they were at least still breathing.
** ''VideoGame/XCOM2'' doesn't include Gene Mods, but instead has Psi Operatives and their "Sustain" ability, which protects them form a lethal hit once per mission and stabilizes them at one [=HP=]. As a bonus, the affected soldier will enter Stasis state, making them immune to any damage until your next turn, and, as opposed to "critically wounded", they will be able to act normally once Stasis wears off.

* Shedinja is the only Pokémon to be a OneHitPointWonder. Since its max HP '''is''' 1 HP, somehow getting Sturdy onto it results in [[NighInvulnerable a Pokémon that cannot be fainted through direct damage]], although it can still fall to poisoning, weather effects, etc. You can only pull this off legitimately in a doubles battle and it requires some easily telegraphed setup, so it's not a common strategy by any means, but in the Hackmons format on [[Website/{{Smogon}} Pokémon Showdown]], where any mon can be given any moves and abilities, it's a big part of the metagame.

* Energetic Miis in ''VideoGame/{{Miitopia}}'' has a quick called "Hang On" that sometimes allows them to survive an otherwise fatal attack with 1 HP.

* Energetic Miis in ''VideoGame/{{Miitopia}}'' has a quick called "Hang On" that sometimes allows them to survive an otherwise fatal attack with 1 HP.

** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'' on normal difficulty settings will generally not allow any single blow to outright kill you -- but if that last hit sends you for a tumble, the bruising you take on impact is a separate source of damage and can kill you as a follow-up. You're also not protected from Guardian-type lasers.

* Most Creator/{{Capcom}} fighting games will occasionally allow players whose health meters are completely red to stay alive. (In the event that player were to win that round, the player won't receive any bonus points for leftover health.) The ''VideoGame/StreetFighterII'' games on UsefulNotes/SuperNES have this, possibly due to rounding 1 of 176 hit points down to 0 of 88 pixels.
** Taken advantage of to devastating effect in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pS5peqApgUA this]] ''[[Videogame/StreetFighterIII Street Fighter III: Third Strike]]'' match.

* Film/TheTerminator in ''VideoGame/MortalKombat11'' has a special ability where if he is reduced to or beyond less than 10% of his health on the final round, his skin burns away to reveal his robotic exoskeleton. It's more of a PowerUpLetDown, however, since his moveset and even basic controls are heavily restricted in this form.

* Little Mac has a chance of getting this in ''VideoGame/PunchOut'' for UsefulNotes/NintendoWii. When hit by an attack that ''should'' deliver an instant knockout, that is not knock him down for a 10 count, Little Mac has a chance of channeling some HeroicResolve and managing to stay on his feet with a piddling sliver of health remaining. In Title Defense mode, Bald Bull also does this if you try to knock him down with anything but a Star Punch.

* The ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' series has the recurring "Second Chance" and "Once More" ([[InconsistentDub "Withstand Combo"]] in ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsIII'') Abilities. The former allows you to survive any killing blow with 1 HP, while the latter allows you to survive any combo with 1 HP (unless the first hit kills you). The ease of accessibility to these Abilities varies between games, but they are mighty handy when facing {{Bonus Boss}}es. Except for the ones that [[FakeDifficulty "ignore" them for no good reason.]]

* In ''VideoGame/BoxxyQuestTheGatheringStorm'', there’s the “Life+” status, which will automatically bring you back to life at 1 HP the next time you die. There are three ways to gain this status – with the aid of a certain accessory, by using Tyalie’s megahax, or as a random effect from [[BonusBoss Nihilerror]]’s “Cosmic Breakdown” attack.

* ''LightNovel/BofuriIDontWantToGetHurtSoIllMaxOutMyDefense'' has the skill Stout Guardian, which ensures that anyone who takes a lethal attack will be left with one last hit point, with the skill itself being on a timer.

->''Ensures you always retain 1 HP after an attack that would otherwise finish you off, unless you are already down to 1 HP. ''

** In [[VideoGame/PokemonXandY Generation 6]], any Pokémon with maxed-out [[VideoGameCaringPotential affection]] has a chance of withstanding a lethal blow with one HP remaining a la Endure, no matter how damaging the hit nor how much HP they had remaining.

* Any otherwise-fatal attack in ''VideoGame/CopyKitty'' brings Boki down to one hit-point (represented by a number flickering between 1 and 0).