History Main / NoSavingThrow

* ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick:'' The ultimate duel between Redcloack and the high mage of Azure City, which thanks to the comic already having had an epic battle sequence using up the "effects budget" just consists of them calling attacks and saying "made my saving throw", until Redcloack calls an attack the mage can't beat. [[spoiler:A while later, we see him in the afterlife realizing he ''had'' made his saving throw after all.]]

* In ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'', the Master Ball is a unique Poké Ball that cannot be resisted (except for a handful of unique, uncatchable Pokémon). Any Pokémon that can be caught ''will'' be caught. It's especially notable in ''VideoGame/PokemonLetsGoPikachuAndLetsGoEevee'' if you use it on Mewtwo; Mewtwo swats the ball away, only for it to recover and retaliate by catching it anyway.

* [[WebVideo/TheSpoonyExperiment Spoony]] complains about this in his review of ''Film/MazesAndMonsters'', where [[ViolationOfCommonSense Jay-Jay makes his character jump into a]] [[SpikesOfDoom spike]] [[PitTrap pit]] and the GameMaster just declares him dead on the spot without making ''any'' type of roll, be it a Saving Throw, damage dice, or whatever. Of course, this is just one of many things the film gets wrong about tabletop games...

** If you are level 4 or below in Rules Cyclopedia ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'', if someone casts a [[ForcedSleep Sleep spell]] upon you, you're as good as sleeping, as it doesn't give you a saving throw against it. If you don't have any friends to protect you or wake you up when you're under the spell's influence, you're at the mercy of whoever cast the spell on you, as anyone can use a bladed weapon to kill you instantly no matter how many HP you have. Even in later editions which changed how ''Sleep'' spells work, the effect is dependent on a pool of HP that's genereated when the spell is cast. If the target has a low-enough HP threshold, they're going to sleep. The only way to block ''Sleep'' from working is to be an elf or a half-elf, since magic can't put them to sleep.

* Most spells in the ''Literature/HarryPotter'' series seem to allow for no chance to resist if they are properly cast and hit the target. However, there are counterspells. The one spell that there is "no" counterspell for is the Killing Curse. It's a major plot point that Harry Potter himself is the only one to have survived it, and that turns out to be due to circumstances that gave him uniquely strong protection. That said, it is possible to get around this by putting a physical obstacle in the path of the [[ProjectileSpell spell's energy]]. There's also a very evil form of ritual magic that can be used to survive the Killing Curse, but ''part'' of you would ''still'' die and what's left would be [[NotEvenHuman something less than fully human]] even when (or rather if) you recover your physical form.

** {{Antimatter}} can destroy anything made of positive matter, which is because Satan Girl, a nigh indestructible [[ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} Kryptonian]] [[EnemyWithout doppelganger]] gets finally killed when she gets dumped into an anti-matter star.

* In ''VisualNovel/{{Tsukihime}}'' and ''Literature/TheGardenOfSinners'', if someone bearing the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception hits you in your body's point of death, it's a OneHitKill with no chance of resurrection. This has been shown to work on creatures who can reincarnate, [[ManySpiritsInsideOfOne a gestalt entity of 666 different beasts]] that ordinarily have to all be killed at the same moment, someone who can reverse time to repair damage, a creature that the world itself was actively working to sustain, and even something that wasn't technically alive to begin with. One target managed to hold on for a few seconds, but that's about as much as any creature could hope for. Once you're struck in your point of death, YouAreAlreadyDead. ''Period.'' The only way this can fail is if the target's concept of "death" is too alien for the person with the Mystic Eyes to comprehend, such as the EldritchAbomination ORT. In such a case, the result is a NoSell. Arcueid survivied the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception, but she wasn't directly killed; her body [[LudicrousGibs fell apart via cutting lines]]. Since this isn't fatal for Arcueid's species, she pulled herself back together, but was left with [[WoundThatWillNotHeal wounds that would not heal]].

* The Mangekyo Sharingan's Amaterasu attack in ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' works like this. Everything in its range catches fire, and there's no way, unless the caster wills it, for the fire to be put out. Apparently, the black fire burns straight for seven days and seven nights. If it gets on you, the only way to stop it is to sever that limb. It's also possible to use a sealing jutsu to remove the flames, but they're still burning inside whatever they get sealed into, and should the seal be released or broken the fire would spread again.

* In ''VisualNovel/{{Tsukihime}}'' and ''Literature/TheGardenOfSinners'', if someone bearing the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception hits you in your body's point of death, it's a OneHitKill with no chance of resurrection. This has been shown to work on creatures who can reincarnate, [[ManySpiritsInsideOfOne a gestalt entity of 666 different beasts]] that ordinarily have to all be killed at the same moment, someone who can reverse time to repair damage, a creature that the world itself was actively working to sustain, and even something that wasn't technically alive to begin with. One target managed to hold on for a few seconds, but that's about as much as any creature could hope for. Once you're struck in your point of death, YouAreAlreadyDead. ''Period.'' The only way this can fail is if the target's concept of "death" is too alien for the person with the Mystic Eyes to comprehend, such as the EldritchAbomination ORT. In such a case, the result is a NoSell. Arcueid survivied the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception, she wasn't directly killed; her body [[LudicrousGibs fell apart via cutting lines]]. Since this isn't fatal for Arcueid's species, she pulled herself back together, but was left with [[WoundThatWillNotHeal wounds that would not heal]].

* In ''VisualNovel/{{Tsukihime}}'' and ''Literature/TheGardenOfSinners'', if someone bearing the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception hits you in your body's point of death, [[OneHitKill you die]]. It doesn't matter if you can reincarnate or bring yourself back from the dead. It doesn't matter if you are [[ManySpiritsInsideOfOne a gestalt entity of 666 different beasts]] that ordinarily have to all be killed at the same moment. It doesn't matter if you can reverse time to instantly repair any damage done to your body. It doesn't matter if the world itself is actively working to sustain your continued existence. It doesn't even matter if you aren't technically alive to begin with. If you're hit in your point of death, ''you die. Period.'' You might be able to hold on for a few seconds if you've lived for a really long time, but that's about it; once you're struck in your point of death, your imminent demise is inevitable.
** The only way the point of death strike can fail is if the target's concept of "death" is too alien for the person with the Mystic Eyes to comprehend, such as the EldritchAbomination ORT. In such a case, the result is a NoSell. In at least one timeline, Shiki had to fight a creature with no point of death. He still killed it by giving it a point of death.
** The only known case of something surviving the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception is Arcueid at the start of ''Tsukihime'', but she wasn't directly killed; rather, her body was [[LudicrousGibs forced to just randomly fall apart via cutting lines]] instead of activating her death directly. Since this isn't necessarily fatal for Arcueid's species, she barely managed to get herself back together and was baffled at how the [[WoundThatWillNotHeal wounds simply would not heal properly during the story]]. WordOfGod even said that if Arcueid had been stabbed in her point of death, she ''would'' have died, no matter what.

* ''Anime/CodeGeass'': Geasses in general can't be defended against. The only thing that even has a chance of countering one is another Geass, but that's more of a case of bypassing some aspect of their Geass. It would be like a telepath not being able to read something that the target doesn't know. [[spoiler:A Code Bearer seems to have some ability, but it's not elaborated on. Cyber-Jeremiah also has his [[AntiMagic Geass Canceller]] which also has no saving throw, but that's like how a healing spell doesn't have a saving throw; it's something you'd want to happen.]]

** The spell ''Heat Metal'' does 2d8 fire damage per turn, and after the first round of damage, the victim has the option to drop the affected object... [[NotTheIntendedUse if it can]]. Cast it on handcuffs, or a prosthetic limb, or plate armour that takes five minutes to remove, and you can slowly cook your foe to death with them able to do nothing about it. More damningly, it also forces Disadvantage on the affected target's attack and ability rolls, markedly reducing their offensive output.

* ''VideoGame/DarkestDungeon'': The final form of the FinalBoss has an attack that's not only a OneHitKill, it [[AlwaysAccurateAttack cannot be avoided]], [[UnblockableAttack blocked]], and [[LastChanceHitPoint Death's Door]] cannot protect from it. ''When'' it hits, that character's dead. The only saving grace is that he uses it exactly twice in the fight (once at 2/3 hp, and again at 1/3 hp), and you get to ''[[SadisticChoice choose which character dies to it]]''. The only possible counter would be to inflict enough damage in a single attack to get the boss from "above the threshold" to "dead". [[spoiler:It's been done, but even then it relied on the RNG with only a 1/4 chance of success, in order to deliver a giant CriticalHit that would have utterly destroyed almost every boss in the game outright.]]

* In ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'', the Master Ball is a unique Poké Ball that cannot be resisted (except for a handful of unique, uncatchable Pokémon). Any Pokémon that can be caught ''will'' be caught. It's especially notable in ''VideoGame/PokemonLetsGoPikachuAndEevee'' if you use it on Mewtwo; Mewtwo swats the ball away, only for it to recover and retaliate by catching it anyway.