History Main / PracticalTaunt

** Bards get a cantrip called Vicious Mockery, a string of insults laced with subtle magical enchantments which deals out a small amount of psychic damage to a target. Given very few enemies have resistance to psychic type damage, if you really need to deal some damage resistances be damned, this is a decent fallback. Plus there are few more reliable ways to get a laugh out from the rest of the table than [[CherryTapping finishing off a tough creature]] with a specially-prepared insult.

** [[AvertedTrope Averted]] for most other characters who've since received taunts; these have token effects such as restoring a negligible amount of health (Valentine [[TrademarkFavoriteFood eating a chocolate bar]]), or granting the opponent an infinitesimal amount of meter (the rest). In Parasoul's case, taunting gives a 100% chance that the next [[AssistCharacter Egret]] [[AnnoyingVideoGameHelper Call]] she dismisses will say [[MemeticMutation "Well, excuuuuuuuse me, Princess!".]]

* In all manner of ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' games, both video games and tabletop, Taunt is a skill that has some debuff effects on enemies. In addition, player characters often have the dialog option to taunt particularly arrogant creatures (such as Demons and Dragons) to get so mad they do something really stupid, such as ignore the fact that their hoard is being looted in the background, or the demons to get [[UnstoppableRage so furious]] to blurt out their [[WeaksauceWeakness True Names]], which ends up giving the Player Character [[SlaveMooks limited control over them]].
** In 5E, Bards get a cantrip called Vicious Mockery, a string of insults laced with subtle magical enchantments which deals out a small amount of psychic damage to a target. Given very few enemies have resistance to psychic type damage, if you really need to deal some damage resistances be damned, this is a decent fallback. Plus there are few more reliable ways to get a laugh out from the rest of the table than [[CherryTapping finishing off a tough creature]] with a specially-prepared insult.

* This can become a necessity in ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind Morrowind]]'' if you're sent on a mission to eliminate someone. Murder is against the law, but if you can provoke the target into attacking ''you'', you can fight back and kill them completely legally under self-defence. Amusingly, just taunting them is often not enough - you have a relationship measure that, if it sinks too low, simply leads the target to believe that you are {{Not Worth Killing}}, and they will ignore you no matter how much you taunt them. If however, you compliment and/or bribe them into liking you better, you gain enough of their respect that your taunts are effective. Then they'll pull out their weapon and go to town.

** In addition to retaining the TP recovery, taunts in ''VideoGame/TalesOfXillia'' have other functions for some of your party members: [[MagicKnight Milla]] gains the ability to charm foes, while [[SquishyWizard Elize]] switches giving extra power to either her martial or arcane artes.

* ''Franchise/TalesSeries'':

** In the GameMod VideoGame/BrawlMinus, several taunts become practical. Mario's "cap" taunt makes him Metal Mario, and Meta Knight's "Fight me" taunt gives the opponent a Beam Sword (in reference to his [[HonorBeforeReason honourable nature]]).

* In ''SidMeiersPirates'', shouting a taunt during a swordfight will briefly tilt the "advantage" bar more in the taunter's favor, making it much easier to dodge and counter the next swing. Understandably, taunting at the wrong time and getting stabbed for it doesn't have quite the same effect.

** When the Medic taunts with the Kritzkrieg, he regains 10HP. If he taunts with the Amputator, all nearby allies regain health. Engineer's Eureka Effect taunt "teleports player back to spawn and replenishes all health, metal and ammo". Pyro's Mmmph "Fills all health, enables a primary weapon crit boost, and gives you invincibility for the duration of the taunt" (This weapon is also nearly universally hated because of the ludicrous buffs it gets from just doing damage). Heavy and Scout have items they consume when you click the shoot button, though these items do the exact same thing when you taunt with them.

** When the Medic taunts with the Kritzkrieg, he regains 10HP. If he taunts with the Amputator, all nearby allies regain health. Engineer's Eureka Effect taunt "teleports player back to spawn and replenishes all health, metal and ammo". Pyro's Mmmph "Fills all health, enables a primary weapon crit boost, and gives 75% damage resistance for the duration of the taunt". Heavy and Scout have items they consume when you click the shoot button, though these items do the exact same thing when you taunt with them.

* The ''MagicTheGathering'' card [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=39890 Taunting Elf]] causes all of the defending opponent's creatures to block it when it attacks.

* Some characters' taunts in ''VideoGame/JumpSuperStars'' have special effects; for example, [[Manga/BlackCat Eve]] gets a super jump. The stunning kiss from above is included too, but it goes to... ''[[BusouRenkin Kazuki]]''.

* In ''SidMeiersPirates'', shouting a taunt during a swordfight will briefly cause you to move faster and your opponent slower, making it much easier to dodge and counter the next swing. Understandably, taunting at the wrong time and getting stabbed for it doesn't have quite the same effect.

* In ''[[VideoGame//HearthstoneHeroesOfWarcraft Hearthstone]]'' there are minions with the Taunt ability (and those that don't have it can be given it via other minions abilities or spells) that must be killed before the other creatures or the player can be attacked. However, it only works on attacks, spells and hero powers are exempt from having to attack Taunt creatures. There are also spells that can Silence a minion (remove any special effects it might have, such as Taunt, Deathrattle which triggers something when the minion dies, or other such things) or that target and damage or outright destroy minions with Taunt.

** [[AvertedTrope Averted]] for most other characters who've since received taunts; these have token effects such as restoring a negligible amount of health (Valentine [[TrademarkFavoriteFood eating a chocolate bar]]), or granting the opponent an infinitesimal amount of meter (the rest). In Parasoul's case, taunting gives a 100% chance that the next [[AssistCharacter Egret]] [[StopHelpingMe Call]] she dismisses will say [[MemeticMutation "Well, excuuuuuuuse me, Princess!".]]

* Every character in ''VideoGame/JojosBizarreAdventureAllStarBattle'' has multiple taunts, which can lower their opponent's Heart Heat gauge when they're prone. Joseph also has a counter which lets him [[HeyThatsMyLine copy his opponent's taunt]] to gain an entire bar of his Heart Heat gauge ''and'' increase the strength of his hamon attacks.

** This could be very effective strategy for 3 ships. Ships with the [[KineticWeaponsAreJustBetter charging mass]] weapon could charge their shot before firing to increase damage (by the time you can re target a new foe and close after a kill your mostly charged), while the top-tier bomber had a very slow firing but devastating main weapon. All these ships could effectively kill anyone in 1-2 hits, but missing with your shot was costly since it took so long to charge a new one. Worse, most of these ships were bombers which were slow, with low maneuverability made it very hard to aim the shots you couldn't afford to miss. Cue taunting a foe into a direct charge, firing your [[OneHitKill fully charged]] weapon as soon as they are remotely close, then varying away in time to avoid most incoming fire (and debris from an exploding ship). This was the only way to achieve certain secondary mission objectives which required a high percentage of mook kills (50-75) with a bomber too slow to even reach (must less kill) foes fast enough to prevent allies from scoring too many kills.

* In ''[[Literature/TheAvatarChronicles Epic]]'' by Conor Kostick, this has the role of a ChekovsSkill: when Erik is creating a new character in the eponymous game, he's mildly interested by the fact that one of her skills is "mock" but doesn't know how he'd ever use it. While he and his friends are trying to take down the Red Dragon, their "fail-safe" plan fails, and Erik does the only thing he can think of: the "mock" skill, which causes the dragon to turn its attention to him and allow them to get their routine back under control.

[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
* In all manner of ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' games, both video games and tabletop, Taunt is a skill that has some debuff effects on enemies. In addition, player characters often have the dialog option to taunt particularly arrogant creatures (such as Demons and Dragons) to get so mad they do something really stupid, such as ignore the fact that their hoard is being looted in the background, or the demons to get [[UnstoppableRage so furious]] to blurt out their [[WeaksauceWeakness True Names]], which ends up giving the Player Character [[SlaveMooks limited control over them]].