History Main / NecessaryDrawback

* The StandardFPSGuns in general fall into this, with rapid-fire weapons doing less damage per shot. In real life, an assault rifle has better range, accuracy, power, ''and'' rate of fire than a pistol, but in a video game that would make it overpowered, so they usually make pistols [[SniperPistol more accurate]] [[PunchPackingPistol and powerful]] while making assault rifles fully automatic with large magazines.

** Some Devil Fruits appear to be upgraded versions of other Devil Fruits, having more powerful primary abilities [[UnskilledButStrong but lacking the secondary benefits of their "weaker" counterparts]].
*** The Dice-Dice Fruit allows the user to turn their own body into blades, while the Arms-Arms Fruit allows the user to turn their own body into all manner of weapons, such as guns or explosives. However, the former fruit also gives the user the ''durability'' of steel blades even while untransformed, while the latter does not.
*** The Kilo-Kilo and the Ton-Ton Fruits allow the user to alter their own weight, with a maximum weight of 10,000 kilograms for the former and 10 million for the latter. However, the Kilo-Kilo Fruit can also be used to reduce the user's weight; the Ton-Ton Fruit lacks this ability.
*** The Stone-Stone and Isle-Isle Fruits allow the user to fuse with stone and an entire island respectively. The latter is obviously more powerful, since the user can also fuse with non-stony islands and structures such as wooden houses; however, when fused, any damage inflicted on the land results in the user experiencing pain or discomfort.

* In ''Franchise/{{Dragonball}}'', many powerful attacks [[MightyGlacier require a long charge time]]:
** In its first appearance in ''Anime/DragonBallZ'', Piccolo's Special Beam Cannon is a DiscOneNuke in terms of attack power, but takes [[MightyGlacier five]] ''[[MightyGlacier minutes]]'' [[MightyGlacier to charge up]]. He is only able to successfully use it on Raditz by having Goku make a HeroicSacrifice to hold him in place. The charging problem is largely corrected in subsequent appearances, presumably because Piccolo trained to perfect the technique. [[spoiler: Until ''[[Anime/DragonBallSuper Dragon Ball Super]]'', when Piccolo charges the Special Beam Cannon against Frost and it is specifically noted that this is the first time he's charged the technique to full power since the fight with Raditz.]]

* Manga/InuYasha learned how to use the wind scar technique at any time, instead of using it only when he could sense the right moment. But from that point on, he encountered enemies who were able to defend against or reflect it, thus making it most useful for slaughtering mooks rather than villains like Naraku.

* The ''VideoGame/AceCombat'' series categorizes each plane as an Attacker optimized for air-to-surface (ground or naval), a Fighter optimized for air-to-air, or a Multirole plane that have a mix of both air-to-air and air-to-surface special ("SP") weapons. The most common "drawback" is Attackers and Fighters lacking SP weapons for the other role with some exceptions, or Multirole planes whose SP weapons don't particularly excel at their role. (Multirole planes will have to lean towards Attack or Fighter since planes can only carry one SP weapon type at a time, but in games that allow SP weapon switches the mix allows them to tackle missions with mixed opposition.) Of course, some planes (including the [[GameBreaker superfighters]]) will blur these lines...

* In ''VideoGame/{{Earthbound}}'', the Casey Bat is Ness's most powerful weapon... until you account for its 75% miss rate. When it hits, it hits ''hard'', but as [[Literature/CaseyAtTheBat befitting its namesake]], you're just as likely to strike.

* The .357 Magnum in ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'' has pretty much perfect accuracy regardless of distance and can take out most enemies with one shot, but ammo for it is rare and you can't carry much with you. That, and it has a fairly long reload time.
** Same for the crossbow in both games: similarly-perfect accuracy and high power, but ammo is again rare and they have a long cycle time between shots, combined with slow reloads for the first one and [[NoArcInArchery having to account for bullet drop]] for the second one.

* In both ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' [=RPGs=], Kenny doesn't get knocked out; he outright [[TheyKilledKennyAgain dies]]. On the plus side, he always has [[ResurrectiveImmortality ways to come back]]; on the minus side, he cannot be resurrected by normal skills or items and has additional drawbacks that make it easier for him to die.

* In ''VideoGame/SplinterCell: Conviction'', the various guns show this. The Five-Seven has the most number of Marks of all but isn't the strongest for the chaos of CQC when you don't have time to line up headshots. Scope-attachable assault rifles like the G36 or AK have the best range but can't be suppressed. The [=SC3000=] is powerful and suppressible but its lack of scope limits its range and has only a measly two Marks. So on and so forth.

** Weapons: The weapon higher up the TechTree may deal more damage and have better range but is costlier to mount, fires less often, and may need a larger turret that tracks more slowly. [[ArmorPiercingAttack Armor piercing]] mass drivers suffer a loss in actual damage and [[BlownAcrossTheRoom knockback]] to get higher accuracy, range, and less deflection off shielding.\\
\\
The sequel adds more complexity to the layer system. Some weapons deal incredible damage to ship internals but horrendous armor-piercing damage. Some weapons deal "deep" but "narrow" damage, meaning you have to get lucky but will quickly get to the innards when they hit the same spots. Others deal wide but shallow damage, meaning less penetration but you don't have to be as accurate. This is however averted with most late-game weapons that have deep ''and'' wide penetration and also greatly damage internals.

[[folder:Webcomics]]

* ''VideoGame/Splatoon2'': The Salmon Run-exclusive Grizzco weapons are generally enormously powered-up versions of the normal weapon types. To keep them from being ''too'' powerful [[ItsEasySoItSucks to be fun]], they each have at least one glaring weakness to balance things out. In particular, almost all of them have insane ink consumption, the Grizzco Brella lacks any shield, and the Grizzco Slosher has a PainfullySlowProjectile (albeit one that [[ArmorPiercingAttack that can damage normally-invincible enemies]]).

There is a danger, however, that inept balancing can lead to too many drawbacks without enough benefits. If the drawback is worse than the effect, it can become AwesomeButImpractical, CripplingOverspecialization, or HighlySpecificCounterplay where the only remaining benefits are highly situational. Drawbacks without added practical benefit can further slide into CoolButInefficient. At the other end is FakeBalance, where the developers thought they had balanced a character but [[AvertedTrope didn't]] [[DevelopersForesight have enough Foresight]] and failed to remove a GameBreaker aspect or two.

** Another case is highly durable units who can deal good damage to many targets such as Terran Thors or Battlecruisers, and Protoss Carriers. These units have decent movement capabilities. This units are limited by their high resource and [[ArbitraryHeadcountLimit supply costs]] limiting their numbers so that they must be deployed with care and used cost effectively. The Battlecruiser was later given [[{{Teleportation}} Tactical Jump]] to allow them to teleport to virtually any location on a map to give a high burst of mobility, but this ability has a cooldown of 71 game seconds to make using it thoughtfully matter.

** If the unit is farily tanky and deals colossal amounts of damage to all targets, then they'll may be limited by low mobility and high resource costs (Protoss Reavers in ''VideoGame/StarCraftI''). In the case of the Protoss Reaver, the player must manually command the unit to build shots to fire, which each cost minerals.
** If the unit has good mobility and a weapon with high damage per shot then they may be forced into an AnchoredAttackStance to use their firepower and have limitations such as reduced damage against some targets or beinging unable to target structures (Terran Siege Tanks and Liberators respectively).
** In the case of the ariel Liberator added in ''VideoGame/LegacyOfTheVoid'', the player has to define the attack radius manually which anchors the unit into place and limits the unit to ''only'' attacking in that selected radius, because Liberators deal incredible damage per shot with a relatively low cooldown before they may fire again.

In games, this helps to create variety. For example, you might have a game system in which broadswords are powerful and have a wide range, but are slow and heavy, while daggers are quick and light, but with a short-range. Perhaps the CombinedEnergyAttack and WaveMotionGun requires a few seconds of prep time to use correctly, and even then it is usually a [[ItOnlyWorksOnce one time deal]], or at most [[RuleOfThree maybe three.]] Guns likewise have range, but [[GunsAreWorthless have to be nerfed]] so that people would look at other weapon types out there. A GameBreaker is something that ''ignores'' this rule, which means that ''everyone'' either has to do it or they ''will'' lose.

[[folder:Film]]

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}}'' concludes with Aladdin freeing Genie from the lamp, with the result that Genie is no longer bound by the restrictions of only being able to grant three wishes at a time and can come out of the lamp whenever he wants. However, when Genie returns to Agrabah after touring the world, in [[WesternAnimation/AladdinTheSeries their subsequent adventures]] Genie makes it clear that his powers are now just "semi-phenomenal, nearly-cosmic" as opposed to his previous '''PHENOMENAL COSMIC POWER''', thus making it harder for the heroes to defeat their foes as Genie often doesn't have the power to just deal with the current threat with the equivalent of a wish.

** A unit who deals (mostly) full damage to every target in the game will be limited by certain factors. If the unit costs only minerals to build without any vespene gas, then the damage will be low enough that the units requires [[ZergRush strength of numbers]] and are highly vulnerable to SplashDamage and AreaOfEffect (Terran Marines and Zerglings). These units have low supply costs to facilitate said numbers.

There is a danger, however, that inept balancing can lead to too many drawbacks without enough benefits. If the drawback is worse than the effect, it can become AwesomeButImpractical, or CripplingOverspecialization is the only remaining benefits are highly situational. Drawbacks without added practical benefit can further slide into CoolButInefficient. At the other end is FakeBalance, where the developers thought they had balanced a character but [[AvertedTrope didn't]] [[DevelopersForesight have enough Foresight]] and failed to remove a GameBreaker aspect or two.

* ''VideoGame/StarCraft'' has this across the series as a balancing factor. A unit who deals (mostly) full damage to every target in the game will be limited by certain factors. If the unit costs only minerals to build without any vespene gas, then the damage will be low enough that the units requires [[ZergRush strength of numbers]] and are highly vulnerable to SplashDamage and AreaOfEffect (Terran Marines and Zerglings). If the unit is farily tanky and deals colossal amounts of damage to all targets, then they'll be limited by low mobility and resource costs (Protoss Reavers). If the unit has good mobility and a weapon with high damage per shot then they may be forced into an AnchoredAttackStance to use their firepower and have limitations such as reduced damage against some targets or being unable to target structures (Terran Siege Tanks and Liberators respectively). In the case of the ariel Liberator, the player has to define the attack radius manually which anchors the unit into place and limits the unit to ''only'' attacking in that selected radius as Liberators deal incredible damage per shot with a relatively low cooldown before they may fire again.

* ''VideoGame/StarCraft'' has this across the series as a balancing factor. A unit who deals (mostly) full damage to every target in the game will be limited by certain factors. If the unit costs only minerals to build without any vespene gas, then the damage will be low enough that the units requires [[ZergRush strength of numbers]] and are highly vulnerable to SplashDamage and AreaOfEffect. If the unit is farily tanky and deals colossal amounts of damage to all targets, then they'll be limited by low mobility and resource costs. Etc.

* ''Tabletop/ChangelingTheLost'': Goblin Contracts have powerful effects balanced by significant drawbacks, but there's one noteworthy [[InvertedTrope inversion:]] [[DangerousForbiddenTechnique Call The Hunt]]. It summons a Fae hunting party to your location without any drawback, ''because its effect is already its drawback.'' Needless to say, only Loyalists or the [[GodzillaThreshold truly desperate]] will use it.

* Infantry weapons also have to trade off between no fewer than five features: ammunition capacity, rate of fire, weapon size, weapon handling, and stopping power. You can excel in at-most three of the five categories before the weapon starts being unusuable to infantry. You ''can'' have a HandCannon like the Desert Eagle that fires the terrifying .50 AE round, if you are ready for it to weigh 5 pounds, carry just seven rounds, and have a recoil that causes wrist pain even on a properly braced shot. Alternatively, a more controllable machine pistol such as the Sa vz 61 Skorpion is not even 3 pounds and can carry a respectable 20 round magazine. However, its .32 ACP rounds are considered so lightweight by modern standards that it almost edges into being a LittleUselessGun. More practical guns such as the Beretta 92 succeed by being adequate in most of the noted traits but also not making sacrifices to reach exceptionalism in any one area.

* Some custom parts in ''VideoGame/GhostRecon: Future Soldier'' work like this - modifying a part on a gun will usually confer a bonus but also add a drawback. A long barrel will increase accuracy but also reduce maneuverability, an overpowered gas system will increase the rate of fire but also make it harder to control, and so on. On the other hand, some parts are objectively better than others; for example, the Gripod combines all the advantages of a bipod and vertical grip, and almost all attachments are better than no attachment at all.

There is a danger, however, that inept balancing can lead to too many drawbacks without enough benefits. If the drawback is worse than the effect, it can become AwesomeButImpractical. Drawbacks without added practical benefit can further slide into CoolButInefficient. At the other end is FakeBalance, where the developers thought they had balanced a character but [[AvertedTrope didn't]] [[DevelopersForesight have enough Foresight]] and failed to remove a GameBreaker aspect or two.

* In ''Manga/DemonSlayerKimetsuNoYaiba'', as the series progresses Zenitsu steadily becomes one of the fastest beings in the story, but the drawbacks of his Thunder Breathing techniques never fade away, Zenitsu only works around making the extreme muscle fatigue on his legs take longer to kick in after continuous usage of his abilities; that limitation is put into place so Zenitsu doesn't become an untouchable speedster without limits, otherwise he would be an unparalleled demon slayer, with very few equals.

** Extreme combinations of mobility and armor protection without firepower are rare, but this is because if you can add enough mobility, it can effectively replace armor. The [[CoolPlane/RealLife SR-71 Blackbird reconnaissance aircraft]] flew so high and so fast that despite several attempts no one ever managed to shoot one down because the aircraft and missiles sent after it ''simply couldn't catch it''. As a recon aircraft, it had no weapons.

* ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'': A recurring theme in the construction rules is that equipment made of lighter materials than normal ends up being ''bigger'' than normal and thus eats up more internal space; classic examples are extralight fusion engines, endosteel structure, Ferro-fibrous armor, and double heat sinks. Where this principle isn't followed -- XL engines on aerospace fighters are notorious offenders, and double heat sinks arguably also qualify since, when done right, they can end up ''saving'' internal space as well as weight relative to the standard model, -- the items in question do acquire certain GameBreaker qualities. (InUniverse, these things may be to some degree balanced by the cost -- indeed, quite possibly the only reason internal combustion engines are still used at all is that they're notionally cheap and available, because they certainly have no actual in-game advantages whatsoever to compensate for their drawbacks, -- but in actual gaming practice certain pieces of gear are just flat-out preferable to others. The Battle Value system tries to help balance things out, but it ultimately remains an ''optional'' rule that even after a couple of decades of development cannot hope to account for everything and retains several bugs.) From a material sciences point of view this makes a lot of sense. It is very very rare for one substance to be just plain better than another. For example, steel is much stronger per unit volume than titanium, but we use titanium quite often in aerospace construction where a bulkier (you still need to pass certain mechanical limits) but lighter structure is better. We rarely bother to use titanium in a tank.

** The [[BFG M60]] is a heavy machine gun that can kill common infected in one shot, does a good amount of damage to special infected, and its beefy 150 ammo reserve means you can go full auto without needing to reload. The drawback is the M60's ammo reserves can't be refilled, making it a one-time use weapon.