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4[[quoteright:200:[[WesternAnimation/AladdinTheSeries https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mozenrathpowersandprice.jpg]]]]
5[[caption-width-right:200:[-You mean magic ''isn't'' for free? -] ]]
6
7->''"All power demands sacrifice."''
8-->-- '''[[EvilSorcerer Sindri Myr]]''', ''VideoGame/DawnOfWar''
9
10Power. The ability to influence, create, change, and even destroy. Things, places, ''people.'' It is by nature highly contentious: Some want it and would kill for it, others do not want it, or would gladly give away such a burden. Therein lies the rub. For all its force, blessings, or ability to change, power is not free... [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatResponsibility of responsibility]], consequence, or cost. Some people think the exchange [[EquivalentExchange has to be "fair"]]. BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor...
11
12Drama derives vigor from the quandary of how power, seemingly free of any strings, has inherent costs. Whether they are hideous mutations, social alienation, or even death varies by story, genre, and kind of power. But the underlying basis is the same: Power at a Price.
13
14Sometimes this manifests in the form of [[SelfHarmInducedSuperpower requiring damage to be caused by oneself to be able to use these powers]].
15
16See also NecessaryDrawback and WeaknessTropes. Compare DeathOrGloryAttack. For related tropes, see PriceOfPowerIndex.
17----
18!!Examples:
19
20[[foldercontrol]]
21
22[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
23* ''Manga/AfterGod'': [[spoiler:Waka can switch with Alula if she drinks blood, but only up to 10 times or she'll get stuck permanently.]]
24* Humans in ''Manga/ChainsawMan'' can normally only obtain power by making [[DealWithTheDevil contracts with devils]], usually losing part of their body or [[CastFromLifespan shortening their lifespan]] with each use.
25* ''Anime/DarkerThanBlack'': The premise of the whole show. SuperpowerLottery gives you a superpower but you must pay the price for using it. When it's something that you can do yourself, like breaking your fingers or smoking, it's compulsive. When it's aging forward or backward, it triggers after each use. Also, the show strongly implies that the main price that all Contractors must pay is losing their humanity and becoming an [[LackOfEmpathy absolutely rational]]...[[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman being]]. There are at least two ways of using the power and not paying the price, though both aren't cheap either. [[spoiler: Losing your body is really a price to pay. Or gradually turning into a walking plant. Hei subverts this because he [[SoulFragment inherited]] his abilities from his sister, who effectively paid the price for him (and depending on how her merger with him works, she may still be paying the price for every time he uses the power as her sleeping probably wouldn't impact Hei all that much).]]
26* The Manga/DeathNote grants any human who obtains one the power to instantly end the lives of others, simply by writing their names within the notebook's pages. One of the [[RuleMagic myriad rules]] of the Death Note, however, stipulates that any human who uses one will not be allowed to enter Heaven nor Hell when they die, as their souls would be destined for "Mu". [[spoiler:{{Subverted}} by WordOfGod, however: in the world of ''Death Note'', there is no Heaven or Hell, and humans will go to "Mu" regardless of whether they use a Death Note.]]
27** A shinigami, one the original owners of a notebook, can see a human's name and remaining lifespan by simply looking at their face. A human can strike a deal with them to attain the same power, but the cost is half their remaining lifespan. For example, if one had ten years left to live, it would be reduced to five.
28* In ''Manga/DemonSlayerKimetsuNoYaiba'', the Mark, sometimes called Mark of the Sun or Demon Slayer Mark, are mysterious body marks that grow on demon slayers who have achieved their peak strength and are seemly under the body heat akin to someone with high fever and stress. The power of the Mark allows a slayer to grow in strength, agility and perception to much greater superhuman heights, with said power increase now actually placing them on relatively equal grounds with Upper Moon demons. All of this however, drains the Mark user of all their stamina incredibly quickly, making the ability a dangerous choice against demons who simply have limitless regeneration, and later in the story it is stated that [[spoiler:Mark users don't gain all that power for free, it is actually draining from their lifespan itself; and the Upper Moon Kokushibo affirms that without question all Marked slayers will die before or when they grow to be 25 years old]].
29* ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'': As you'd expect from the series that gave us EquivalentExchange, this comes up a lot, but the most notable example is circleless transmutation, which is gained by attempting the taboo of human transmutation. You get the ability to perform alchemy without a circle, giving you tremendous power and flexibility. The cost? Well, for Ed, it's AnArmAndALeg. For Al, it's his entire body, leaving his soul stuck in a suit of armor. For Izumi, it's some internal organs, leaving her sterile and intermittently coughing up blood. [[spoiler:For Roy, it's his eyesight.]] It's unavoidable, and it's ''always'' bitterly ironic.
30* ''Manga/HellGirl'': Eliciting the services of Ai Enma grants one the power to send whoever wronged them directly to Hell, and all one has to do is untie the red string around a black straw doll's neck. Once you pull the string and finalize your intended target's damnation, however, you will be branded and, after you die, be condemned to Hell, yourself.
31* ''Manga/HunterXHunter'': [[LifeEnergy Nen powers]] can have self-imposed conditions that strengthen the ability, with the more convoluted ones giving greater powers, though greater punishments if broken:
32** Gon's Jajanken requires him to shout out his power for it to actually work. He actually finds an interesting benefit from it in that he can psyche people out on what hand he'll throw out.
33** Chrollo's power-stealing ability has multiple conditions. Actually using those powers also requires him to keep a book open at all times and forces him to fight with one hand. [[spoiler: Before he fights Hisoka, he changed the rules of the book so he could use one ability with his hands free or two while keeping the book open. But he gains new restrictions in exchange.]]
34** To plant a bomb on people, Genthru needs to say a specific phrase while touching someone, and the bomb is only armed when he explains it to people. The former condition makes it impossible for him to plant bombs on people who know what he actually is, but by the time he says the second condition, it's already too late for those he armed to do anything about it; him actually having decent fighting skills outside his primary bomb further dissuades resistance.
35** Netero is an interesting case in that using his nen abilities requires him to say a lengthy prayer. What brings it from AwesomeYetImpractical to SimpleYetAwesome is that he spent years honing his prayer technique to the point that he can pray within a fraction of a second, essentially meaning that he can use his powerful abilities at little cost.
36* In ''Anime/PowerOfHopePrecureFullBloom'', this is what Natts finds out about the Time Flowers: [[spoiler:they're able to allow the Anime/YesPrettyCure5 and [[Anime/FutariWaPrettyCureSplashStar Splash Star]] teams to transform into Pretty Cures by reverting them back to young teens, however, doing so takes a bit of their life force and the flower starts to wither. When the flower fully withers, then the user dies. Coco and Natts tell the girls to stop using the flowers and they agree... [[ChronicHeroSyndrome after they take care of the threat threatening their city]]. Sadly, Nozomi continues to go overboard, suffering fainting spells and even having a heart attack.]]
37* ''“I… Don’t Want to Work Anymore” Literature/IQuitBeingAnAdventurer. Even if You Treat Me Better Now, I Won’t Do It. I Will Never Work Again.'' has mages be scarce because being able to use magic always requires a sacrifice of some sort. Aix himself had to sacrifice his ability to cast archmage-level spells in exchange for getting the "extension" ability that allows him to cast the "basic" spells he has left and have them last ''a full month'' unless they're dispelled. It's only after he's been driven out of the adventurer's guild by the extremely corrupt and incompetent guild master that the town learns just how special Aix is, but by then, he no longer cares and absolute can't be convinced to come back to the guild, no matter how good the terms he's offered.
38* ''Manga/OnePiece'':
39** Consuming a Devil Fruit grants the eater some random and permanent power, but it always comes with one consistent weakness: you gain SuperDrowningSkills and will become paralyzed if even partly submerged in water. There is also a type of nearly indestructible material known as Seastone which gives off the same "energy" as the ocean and acts like kryptonite towards Devil Fruit users.
40** The New Fish-Man Pirates rely on a strength-increasing drug known as Energy Steroids to make themselves a credible threat to the Neptune Army and the Straw Hats, but the drug makes its crippling side-effect known after their defeat: it eventually subjects its users to RapidAging, and the crew become feeble old men in an instant.
41[[/folder]]
42
43[[folder:Comic Books]]
44* The chemicals that ComicBook/{{Daredevil}} was exposed to as a child enhanced his senses of hearing, smell, taste, and touch but cost him his sight.
45* ''ComicBook/XFactor2006'': Quicksilver is able to restore Mutant powers with a touch. Unfortunately, the subjects either die or have their powers become too unstable for them to control.
46* ''In Batman(2016)'': The [[spoiler:Gotham-Twins]] are a typical example for this.[[spoiler: Their Powers are using up their life spans. As Gotham girl says, "what we bought weren't powers for life. It was life for powers."(issue #5)]]
47* In Creator/MarvelComics, writer Creator/JasonAaron first introduced how magic is costly. His run on Dr. Strange has the Sorceror Supreme's decades of spellcasting giving him all kinds of health issues, plus he can no longer properly taste and gain sustenance from human food. Magic's cost reaches its apex with ''ComicBook/TheAvengersJasonAaron'' where an alternate reality Loki once simultaneously defeated every EldritchAbomination and CosmicEntity attacking the Earth, but the price was killing everything other than himself in that universe.
48* When ComicBook/ThePunisher was killed and brought back to life as a Frankenstein-esque cyborg by the Legion of Monsters to defend them, he was eventually restored to full life by the supernatural Bloodstone. However, while the stone granted him a HealingFactor so long as he kept it, he was convinced to discard it when the Legion of Monsters pointed out to him that it was starting to compromise his moral judgement to the extent that he was considering killing someone because of what she ''might'' do in the future, one of the monsters informing Castle that his one redeeming quality was that he only killed those who deserved it.
49* In ''ComicBook/{{Saga}}'', every spell that can be used by the people of Wreath requires ingredients and more powerful spells often tax a person's body, potentially risking life and limb. Early on, Marko's father, Barr, uses a powerful spell to keep their rocketship from being destroyed, but the strain from using it caused his ailing heart to give out. [[spoiler:Later on, when Alana's second child becomes stillborn, she begins to inadvertently project a possible future version of their now-deceased son. Such a spell, however, harms the caster's heart (figuratively ''and'' literally), and because she can't stop the spell, Alana's life is placed in peril.]]
50* ''ComicBook/{{Spawn}}'': The DealWithTheDevil Al Simmons made is that he gains incredible powers and may return to the living world to take revenge for his murder... but he is also obligated to lead Hell's armies at the battle of Armageddon, and he only has so much necroplasm to fuel his powers. Once it runs out, he will immediately be sent back to Hell. [[CastFromLifespan Each use of his powers moves him one step closer to damnation.]]
51[[/folder]]
52
53[[folder:Fan Works]]
54* In ''Fanfic/WalkAMileinAnothersShoes'', a ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'' fanfic, Izuku obtains a navel laser quirk from All for One as a child. It causes severe strain on his body, making him constantly sick to the stomach. Later he develops a gas laser that poisons him. However, the real price is that All for One expects Izuku's service in return.
55* In ''Fanfic/NewBloodArtemisgir'', after learning that a witch's raw magical power begins increasing massively upon their first period, Hermione performs a ritual to start her menstrual cycle at the optimal time. [[MoodSwinger This causes problems for her later on.]]
56* ''Fanfic/APlaceInMyDreams'': One of the [[Literature/{{Campione}} Authorities]] that [[Literature/SwordArtOnline Kirito]] got from Morpheus, [Dream a Dream of the Future], allows him to receive visions from up to a week into the future in his dreams, or even talk to a dream-facsimile of someone that's perfectly accurate, but when used, he's effectively in a coma that he can't be woken from until exactly eight hours have passed.
57* ''Fanfic/StarfallStarVsTheForcesOfEvil'': Major curses such as [[RetGone the one Empress Ishtar cast on Earth]] require a sacrifice. [[HumanSacrifice Her husband died on the night the curse was cast]]. [[spoiler:As it turns out, the price she actually paid was her [[MindlinkMates heart bond]] to her husband. This immediately turned her into TheSociopath, which horrified her husband so much that he killed himself]].
58[[/folder]]
59
60[[folder:Film - Live Action]]
61* ''Film/DraculaUntold'': Vlad's supernatural powers that he needs to defeat his enemies come at the cost of his humanity.
62-->'''Vlad Dracula''': I'm the thing men fear, but at a cost.
63* ''Film/TheWitchFiles'': The coven discover that casting spells--especially for selfish purposes--comes at a price: Claire starts going blind; Brooke goes deaf; MJ's jaw decays and her teeth fall out; Greta gets early onset arthritis; and Jules goes into early menopause.
64* ''Film/WonderWoman1984'': In addition to BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor, every wish made upon the Dreamstone has a price to it; Barbara wishes to be "strong, confident, and sexy" like Diana but loses her empathy in the process, while Diana wishes for Steve Trevor back but [[spoiler:begins losing her powers in exchange]]. This is why Maxwell Lord wished to [[BecomingTheGenie become the Dreamstone]]; he can control the prices, stealing whatever he wants in exchange for a wish. Even better (for him), he can do this even if he tricks someone into making a wish ''he'' wants, basically getting two wishes at once. However, he has to rely on granting the wishes just to maintain his health, which in part forms the latter half of the movie.
65[[/folder]]
66
67[[folder:Literature]]
68* ''Literature/TheJenkinsverse'':
69** Humans have insurmountable physical advantages over other species but with some serious downsides. Earth's comparatively dense, warm, and humid atmosphere means that humans can suffer from altitude sickness if they exert too hard in the thinner, cooler, and drier atmosphere preferred by most species. Humans must eat and drink more to stay healthy, have a whole battery of dietary needs that, if not met, lead to malnutrition, scurvy, or [=BeriBeri=]. The human nervous system, being efficiently fine-tuned for high performance relative to those of nonhumans, is vulnerable to things such as intoxicants or hallucinogens. While this may sound like a case of CursedWithAwesome - humans are the only species capable of getting drunk and enjoying recreational drug use - things like the standard fire suppressant foam found on all starships can drive a human into a paranoid frenzy before they go catatonic.
70** Then there's the SOR, whose training consists of working themselves to and past the point where the human body tears itself apart. Then they use alien drugs that allow them to rapidly regenerate, their bodies all the stronger from having been pushed so hard. They're the closest thing to superhuman and can die of malnutrition if they're active in their gear for too long, due to the sheer impossibility of eating enough calories to fulfill their bodies' energy needs during such activity.
71** The Ten'Gewek have the same problem but worse. Corti discussing their biology note that they ''really'' need all those huge game animals to satisfy their nutritional needs, and there's the possibility of them starving to death in as little as three days. Given Men like Yan grow even bigger and stronger, but it eventually causes a neurological disorder similar to Alzheimer's.
72* In the ''Literature/MercyThompson'' books by Patricia Briggs, witches don't have much power unless they sacrifice something substantial, like a loved one, and real power is thought to be the domain of black witches for this reason. However, in the spinoff series, Anna meets a white witch who gained power by sacrificing her own eyes.
73* ''Literature/TheTravelersGate'': All artifacts of Ragnarus require some cost to use them. It is possible to force others to pay the price for you, but the only one who did that was the [[PhysicalGod Ragnarus Incarnation]]; every normal Traveler of Ragnarus simply pays the price themselves. These include a wand that [[SanitySlippage eats away at your sanity every time you use it]], a knife that [[LaserGuidedAmnesia makes you forget a single person when you return it]] (the longer you keep it out, the more important a person you forget), a crown that strikes you mute, and a spear that causes horrific pain to the user. The spear, notably, is typically the [[WeaponSpecialization weapon of choice]] for the head of the family, as the pain is ultimately an illusion and thus nowhere near as dangerous as the other prices.
74* ''{{Literature/Discworld}}'': According to Archchancellor Ridcully, magic is actually very easy. The tricky part is getting wizards to ''not'' perform magic for every mundane purpose or using it to solve their problems because the overuse of magic attracts things from the Dungeon Dimensions, and if they break through, the effect is described as the ocean trying to warm itself around a candle.
75* Mike of ''Literature/TheFold'' has a perfect photographic memory for everything he's ever experienced. While this makes him a quick study for any academic field or hobby it also leaves him exposed to every trauma he's experienced in full detail, all the time.
76* ''Literature/TheNeverendingStory'': In the second half of the book, when Bastian enters Fantastica, he gets the power to have any wish of his fulfilled, quickly leading to his becoming a "perfect" MarySue version of himself. However, every granted wish causes him to lose some part of his memories from his life in the human world, threatening him with a loss of self if he can't find the wish he ''really'' wants and escape Fantastica before it's too late. Gaining superficial strengths and admiration while forgetting his weaknesses also causes him a very bad case of AcquiredSituationalNarcissism, to the point that [[spoiler: he's waging war against his best friends to become the ruler of the whole world]] before he sees how close he is to being doomed forever. Seeing this involves stumbling upon a town full of crazy people who all went down the same path and lost themselves.
77* ''Literature/TheCrimsonShadow'': The good wizards draw their power from the forces of the universe, Brind'Amour explains. Even a mage as powerful as him can only draw on so much magical energy per day. Some mages try to get around this by gaining power from pacts with demons, though this disorders the universe.
78* ''Literature/BewareOfChicken'': The Pact of Shennong grants great power, the abundance of the earth, and long life, but it also binds you to the earth, permanently locking you out of ascension and ensuring your eventual death.
79* In ''Literature/Mermaid2011'', the sea witch can only create magic for other merfolk by mixing her own blood with the most valuable thing the recipient has, like [[TongueTrauma Lenia's voice]] and her sisters' hair.
80* ''Literature/ShatterTheSky'': Faris is capable of [[AgonyBeam causing pain to other people]], but every time she uses it the harm to herself increases.
81* ''Literature/TheToughGuideToFantasyland'': One possible kind of magic requires a practical cost for the desired effect. This may involve selling one's soul to a demon, or it may just mean that you [[CastFromHitPoints grow tired]] after casting spells.
82* The titular Literature/KnightsOfTheBorrowedDark suffer "the Cost" of using their powers: the slow transformation of their skin and body to black iron, beginning in their hands and creeping upwards. Letting the iron spread too far will eventually kill a Knight, which is why they tend to rely on [[MagicKnight weaponry]] and use their powers only as a last resort.
83* ''Literature/{{Pact}}'' and ''Literature/{{Pale}}'': all magical power is obtained at a price; nothing is ever given for free. Just to unlock the ability to use magic at all you have to [[CannotTellALie permanently give up the ability to lie]], and after that, any magic you do gain is usually as a result of making a deal with [[FantasyKitchenSink an Other]]. What those deals are varies tremendously, but Practioners should beware that most Others have been negotiating these deals longer than any human has ever lived...
84* ''[[https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/79094/rise-of-the-living-forge-a-blacksmith-litrpg/ Rise of the Living Forge]]'': The fact that magic demands equivalent exchange is actually a comfort to Arwin, when he finds that his new class forces him to regularly eat magical items of increasingly high quality. Based on what he knows of how the Mesh works, he is confident that it will be worthwhile in the end.
85--> He couldn't imagine how big the boons would be to someone who was forced to consume a Legendary weapon every week, but he knew they’d be immense.
86[[/folder]]
87
88[[folder:Live Action TV]]
89* ''Series/{{Alphas}}'': Inherent to all Alphas. Their atypical brains grant them superhuman abilities, but ''always'' have a downside. Bill has SuperStrength, but as it's dependent on the human fight/flight response, he has a [[HotBlooded hair-trigger temper]]. Hicks has superhuman muscle memory, AKA WireFu in ''all'' its badass forms; but as it ''isn't'' tied to that response, stress causes him to become clumsy. Rachel has SuperSenses, but is prone to SensoryOverload - in all its forms. Gary is a {{Technopath}}, but he's also an [[IdiotSavant autistic savant]] because sensing the entire EM spectrum isn't of much use without [[RequiredSecondaryPowers a brain fast and obsessive enough to process the information]].
90* The third season of ''Series/TheBoys'' finds Billy Butcher and Huey discovering and using "[=V24=]", a drug from Vought that, when injected into a normal person's body, grants them superpowers for twenty-four hours, including super strength, super agility, and another unique power (EyeBeams and {{Teleportation}}, respectively). Unfortunately, in addition to turning the user into, to quote Butcher, "[[DrunkWithPower a right cunt]]", there are serious side-effects to using [=V24=]: increasingly severe neurological disorders, brain lesions, and finally, malignant tumors. [[spoiler:Huey stopped using the drug before it could affect him permanently, but Butcher, who took six doses of [=V24=] over the course of the season, ends up in the hospital with a grim prognosis of [[YourDaysAreNumbered eighteen months to live, tops]].]]
91* PlayedForLaughs in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_B7cvVRBX0 this]] ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' sketch which parodies ''Series/StrangerThings'', and specifically, [[CreepyChild Eleven's]] ability to [[MindOverMatter move objects telekinetically]] at the cost of a PsychicNosebleed. Eleven and Mike find other "special" children, all of whom have a superhuman power with negative consequences; to make matters worse, some of their gifts are [[WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway extremely useless]]. There's Fourteen, who can [[PlayingWithFire start fires mentally]], but throws up in his mouth whenever he does; Nine, who can [[{{Telepathy}} read minds]] at the price of terrible gas (and she also has unrelated irritable bowel syndrome); Five, who has SuperSpeed but [[RagingStiffie gets an erection]] whenever he runs, so he has to stop to hide it; someone with an unknown number who can make delicious chili (and ''only'' chili) and has blood gush from his brain as a consequence; Eighteen, who can "do a pretty good Film/{{Borat}} impression," but immediately goes into a two-day coma when she says a single quote ("MY WIIIIFE!"); Three, who can [[MetaGuy end sketches with clever ideas]] but has to make ridiculous faces to do so; and Fifty...who, as it turns out, is just a fifty-year-old woman and BadassNormal ("I have good credit, I own my own condo, and I can leg press 375, so TAKE THAT, YA DUMB KIDS!").
92[[/folder]]
93
94[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
95* ''TabletopGame/ArsMagica'': It's nearly impossible to teach a new supernatural ability to someone who practices [[MagicAIsMagicA a different magical paradigm]]. {{Mystery Cult}}s accomplish it with initiation rites that claim a price from the aspirant -- physical goods, a quest, [[OathboundPower binding vows]], or even ordeals inflicting long-term character [[SkillScoresAndPerks Flaws]].
96* This is a common facet of ''TabletopGame/ChroniclesOfDarkness'' games. For example, as the blood potency of [[TabletopGame/VampireTheRequiem a vampire]] rises, it becomes more difficult for that vampire to [[HorrorHunger feed]]; when a [[TabletopGame/ChangelingTheLost changeling's]] connection to the Wyrd strengthens, they gain [[FantasticFragility frailties]], supernatural weaknesses and compulsions; as [[TabletopGame/MageTheAwakening mages]] grow stronger, they face greater risk of unleashing [[TheCorruption Paradox]].
97* ''TabletopGame/{{Cyberpunk}}'' implements this with cybernetic implants, as CyberneticsEatYourSoul. Every implant comes with a "humanity cost", and every ten points of humanity cost deducts one point of Empathy from the player's character. As a result, the more cybernetics a character implants, the less they are able to empathize with fellow humans. Once a character's Empathy stat reaches zero, they develop full-blown Cyberpsychosis, at which point the DM assumes control of the character as they descend into murderous mania.
98* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' has had several variant magic systems over the years to evoke this trope, but the most famous is the defiling magic from the setting of Dark Sun. On the world of Athas, casting spells of any sort drains life energy out of nearby vegetation and at stronger levels pulls life out of the caster or those nearby. As a result, most beings of the setting have turned to psionics to perform supernatural feats.
99* ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'' has this being one of the themes of Black cards. Often Black Cards will provide high power for their mana cost, but also require you to pay life, sacrifice creatures, or discard cards in order to use that power. For example, the card [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=25642 named "Greed"]] allows you to draw a card as many times as you can afford by paying only one mana... and two life, getting you more resources to fight with but putting yourself ever closer to the grave.
100* All mutant powers in ''TabletopGame/{{Paranoia}}'' follow this rule. If you are [[SuperRegistrationAct registered as a mutant]], you will be subjected to FantasticRacism, but you will be allowed to use your mutant power in public; vice-versa, if you aren't registered, you will be treated much better until you are uncovered as a mutant, at which point the Computer will straight-up kill you.
101** Then there's the [[TechnoPath Machine Empathy]] power, which is a special case. On one hand, it's the most powerful power in the game, which is set in a sci-fi complex full of machinery and computers. On the other hand, being discovered will kill you, [[DeaderThanDead all your clones, and the genetic template they were cloned from]]. And no, you cannot get put on the mutant registry.
102[[/folder]]
103
104[[folder:Video Games]]
105* ''VideoGame/TwentyXX'':
106** You have, effectively, six stats: weapon damage, power damage, running speed, jump height, health, and energy. Many, many augments you can pick up increase some at the expense of others: Forcemetal Shell, for example, increases your health at the expense of speed, while Glass Cannon buffs your damage output but lowers your health. Your maximum health ''does not'' have a minimum level, so if you pick up too many health-reducing items, you will die.
107** Prototype Augments are even worse. These have sizeable benefits, but potentially ''devastating'' drawbacks. You might, for example, pick up a cloud of minions (this can get [[https://i.imgur.com/vAuvMcg.png very silly]], especially if you have a Splintering Twinifier), but while those will be attacking anything that gets close to you, you'll lose the ability to attack or use powers. Another couple ''massively'' increase either your damage output or the effects of all future stat boosts you get, but doubles or triples the damage you take. Still, others cause you to burn ''maximum'' energy instead of recoverable energy in exchange for significantly increased power damage, make bosses harder in exchange for more rewards, or let you use a SetBonus without the full set at the expense of a harsh reduction to your damage. (That said, if you get lucky, you can find a System Restore, which lets you wipe away the drawback of all the Prototypes you have when you pick it up.)
108* ''VideoGame/BaldursGateIII'' has this as a recurring element in the game's plot, particularly for certain characters:
109** As a Warlock, Wyll gained his magical powers, which he uses to help the people of the Sword Coast, through a DealWithTheDevil. The devil in particular, Mizora, is very keen on keeping Wyll in her employ, and promising dire consequences should he fail to fulfill his obligations to her.
110** When Karlach was Shanghai'd into Zariel's army in [[{{Hell}} Avernus]], she had her heart replaced with an Infernal Engine. This enhances her fighting abilities beyond that of many demons, but it is shown to be prone to overheating, keeping her from being close to others and leaving her touch-starved. [[spoiler:This is an unfortunate characteristic of Infernal Metal: her Engine was not designed to operate outside of Avernus. While an insulating system can be installed that will let her touch others without hurting them, it will eventually meltdown and kill her unless she returns to Avernus, where the engine can run stably.]]
111* ''VideoGame/TheBindingOfIsaac'': A lot of items require this.
112** Deals with the Devil provide some of the best items in the game, but you need to spend permanent {{Heart Container}}s and/or Soul Hearts to take them.
113** Glass Cannon fires a repeatable gigantic tear, but every use lowers you to [[OneHitPointWonder half a heart remaining]], no questions asked. ''Repentance'' buffed the item by removing the health cost and instead making you take 2 extra hearts of damage and temporarily shattering the cannon if you get hit while holding it, making the risk/reward a little more worth it.
114** Potato Peeler gives Isaac a stacking Meatboy familiar and can be used as many times as you like, but each use will cost you a Red Heart.
115** Magic Skin gives you any item from the current room pool, but removes a heart container and replaces it with a worthless Broken Heart. Also, the more you use Magic Skin, [[ClingyMacguffin the more likely you are to find it later]], tempting you to keep using it...
116** Damocles gives you twice as many items, but as soon as you get hit once, at any moment, there's a minuscule chance the sword falls and [[OneHitKill kills you instantly]]. You can circumvent this with an ExtraLife or a perfectly timed invincibility.
117* ''VideoGame/BugFables'': Only a few of the [[ThePinIsMightierThanTheSword Medals]] provide straight-up boosts with no drawback, and there are none that outright boost attack or defense without some downside. Most commonly, some Medals that increase one stat lower another, or require the equipped party member to be hit with a status ailment in order to work (such as a Medal that increases defense, but only while poisoned).
118* ''VideoGame/CryingSuns'': Every battleship’s core system, apart from the default Excelsior class, provides some benefits while also imposing a drawback.
119** The Kaos class's core system lets you carry an extra four squadrons and gives you some Scrap whenever you obtain a new squadron. In exchange, your squadrons are always [[MaximumHPReduction patched]] and cannot be repaired.
120** The Jericho class's core system [[CooldownManipulation halves the cooldown time]] for the first shot of your non-direct damage battleship weapons and gives your squadrons a damage bonus against debuffed targets. In exchange, your squadrons have a DPS penalty against non-debuffed targets.
121** The Geno class's core system lets your stealth squadrons enter stealth the instant they’re deployed instead of needing to wait and increases the BackStab damage they inflict when they come out of stealth. In exchange, all your squadrons have 20% less maximum health.
122** The Hammer class's core system makes your squadrons FriendlyFireproof and temporarily doubles their attack power whenever they get hit by friendly fire. In exchange, the movement speed of your squadrons is reduced by 15%.
123** The Void class's core system increases your chances of starting a fight in an advantageous position, doubles the speed at which your squadrons capture things, and lets you have 6 officers instead of 5. In exchange, the number of commandos you can deploy on an expedition is reduced from 10 to 8.
124* ''VideoGame/DawnOfWar'': In ''Chaos Rising'', there are some very powerful items. [[ArtifactOfDoom The catch is that they are tainted by Chaos and corrupt their users]]. Interestingly, this also applies to maintaining full purity in the same game, since it grants you ludicrously powerful abilities, though at the expense of forcing you to work very, very hard at maintaining that purity.
125* ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry3DantesAwakening'': The Haywire Neo-Generator locks Dante in Devil Trigger mode for the majority of Mission 12 but at the cost of [[CastFromHitPoints slowly depleting his HP]]
126* In ''VideoGame/{{Drakengard}}'', forging a pact with a magical creature can grant a person great power and command over magic, but there is always a price to pay for forging a pact:
127** Caim, the protagonist, gave up his voice in exchange for his pact with the Red Dragon, turning him into an [[AntiHero Anti-]]HeroicMime.
128** Inuart, Caim's friend-turned-rival, gave up his ability to play music when he forged a pact with the Black Dragon.
129** Leonard, a [[DeathSeeker Death Seeking]] priest, gave up his eyesight in exchange for his pact with a Faerie.
130** Arioch, an elf [[OutlivingOnesOffspring whose children were killed by the empire]], gave up her fertility in exchange for her pact with Undine and Salamander. This would drive her towards [[ImAHumanitarian cannibalistic]] [[AxCrazy insanity]].
131** Seere, an innocent young boy, gave up his "time" in forging a pact with Golem, turning him into TheAgeless whose age is locked into preadolescence.
132* ''Videogame/GrimDawn:'' Thematically, the Witch God Solael is all about this. He has overwhelming power greater than either of his two siblings (with [[UnskilledButStrong none of the foresight or planning]]), and he will gladly grant you a piece ''if'', and ''only if'', you are willing to make great sacrifices for it. One of his followers in the ''Forgotten Gods'' expansion is glad to go at length on it; if you say this seems like the work of a cruel god, he'll fire back saying the world and life itself is cruel since both will keep taking things away from you and never stop, while Solael gives you something worthy for all the suffering and lets you take things into your own hands afterwards.
133* ''VideoGame/HeroesOfTheStorm'':
134** Gul'dan is based on this concept. Instead of naturally regenerating mana, he [[CastFromHitPoints Life Taps]] to trade health for it. This gives players infinite mana to use... if they're careful. His talents also enforce this, with an option that increases his damage but reduces how much healing he receives, and another that boosts his health but increases his respawn timer.
135** Alarak has a series of talents that lower his overall damage but improve other aspects of his kit. One in particular is Hasty Bargain, which resets the cooldown of all of his skills at the cost of permanently lowering his damage by 3% each time it's used.
136* The [[{{Macguffin}} Raysphere]] of ''[[VideoGame/{{Infamous}} inFAMOUS]]'' is a powerful device that can grant people ([[spoiler:or at least those with the Conduit Gene]]) powerful, superhuman abilties. The cost? It does so by creating an explosion that will absorb the energy from any normal humans caught in the blast, killing them, and redirecting that energy into [[spoiler:any potential conduits]] that have also been caught in the blast. When Cole accidentally set it off in the beginning, the Raysphere destroyed 6 city blocks and killed thousands.
137* In ''VideoGame/LibraryOfRuina'', during a battle, you'll be periodically given the opportunity to pick an Abnormality Page, which provide various benefits to your side. Red "Breakdown" cards tend to be considerably stronger than green "Awakening" ones, but they always have a tradeoff of some kind - like penalizing you in one aspect, activating only after you've been already hit by a negative event, or having a convolute activation method. On top of that, "Breakdown" cards are more likely to appear when the battle is going badly for you, and less likely if you're doing well.
138* The [[VideoGame/MegaManBattleNetwork4RedSunAndBlueMoon fourth]] and [[VideoGame/MegaManBattleNetwork5TeamColonelAndTeamProtoMan fifth]] ''VideoGame/MegaManBattleNetwork'' games have Dark Chips, which are very powerful but afflict [=MegaMan=] with various bugs that persist through the rest of the fight. Additionally, your maximum HP is ''permanently'' reduced by 1 after you use each one, and frequent usage of them can lead to [=MegaMan=] becoming unable to enter Full Synchro.
139* Accepting [[DealWithTheDevil 'THE DEAL']] in ''VideoGame/TheMessenger2018'' grants you double maximum health and triple attack power. It also pisses Quarble off enough that he deserts you, enabling {{Permadeath}}.
140* In ''VideoGame/PathOfExile'' this is a frequent theme of the "keystone" passive skills, which typically offer a powerful benefit at the cost of some major drawback, either inherent or additional. For example, Mind Over Matter causes a percentage of damage to be taken from [[ManaShield mana instead of life]] with the inherent drawback that taking too much damage leaves you out of mana and unable to use most abilities without additional workarounds, while Unwavering Stance makes you immune to being stunned but also prevents you from evading enemy attacks. Many builds revolve around minimizing or working around the drawbacks, like taking Elemental Equilibrium, which increases enemy resistance against the last element you hit them with while decreasing their resistance against other elements, then combining a damaging spell that deals damage over time and thus doesn't ''hit'' with a spell of a different element that's feeble but easy to hit enemies with.
141* ''VideoGame/PokemonXAndY'' introduces the Mega Evolution mechanic, which allows specific Pokémon to gain a temporary power boost. However, several entries for these Mega Evolutions point out that the Pokémon are suffering from PhlebotinumOverload and are just barely getting by while fighting in frenzied states (to make a point, Mega Lucario basically turns into a BloodKnight with a [[GoodIsNotNice heartless]] way of fighting, unlike its usual calm and collected disposition). In ''VideoGame/PokemonMasters'', Sycamore's special day episodes further add to this, with him saying that Mega Evolution in general takes a toll on the Mega Evolved Pokémon, but they kept pushing through for the sake of personal victory.
142* ''VideoGame/{{Stellaris}}'': Interacting with Shroud usually works this way, with most of the more powerful Shroud entities demanding a price be paid for their assistance.
143** The Eater of Worlds makes your armies and fleets immensely powerful, but every so often it will get hungry and devour some of your population.
144** The Composer of Strands greatly enhances the physical capabilities of your citizens (they live longer, breed quicker, etc), but will also randomly mutate them at times, possibly in very negative ways.
145** The Instrument of Desire supercharges your economy but also makes your citizens decadent, spoiled, and unruly.
146** The Whispers in the Void massively boosts your research, but your researchers will occasionally go insane or just have their heads explode out of nowhere.
147** The entity known as "[[EldritchAbomination The End of the Cycle]]" promises to grant your empire immense power [[DealWithTheDevil if you agree to bring about "The End"]] (and ignore the tooltip warning you in big red letters, "'''[[SchmuckBait DO NOT DO THIS!]]'''"). It makes good on its promise and grants you [[GameBreaker Game Breaking]] advantages for the next fifty years. Then, when it comes to collect on its part of the bargain, [[spoiler:it ''utterly destroys your empire'': every planet ''rendered uninhabitable'', every settlement ''destroyed'', every citizen ''killed'', save for a handful of people who saw this was a bad idea and started a colony on the edge of the galaxy with what little resources they could scrounge together. Worse still, this is a price the ''entire galaxy'' will be expected to pay, as the souls of your slaughtered citizens form a fleet of nigh-indestructible terror that will set out to purge the cosmos of all life, with the aforementioned colony being ''[[ForcedToWatch saved]] [[ControllableHelplessness for]] [[CosmicHorrorStory last]]''. And even on the off chance that the fleet of the damned is routed and the galaxy saved, that lone colony will be slapped with a permanent diplomacy penalty so steep, that you can bet any other galactic power still around will want to wipe it out [[VideoGameCrueltyPunishment as recompense for nearly destroying the galaxy for your own avarice.]]]]
148* ''VideoGame/TheTiamatSacrament'': The titular Tiamat Sacrament is a ritual that can grant a dragon great power, but it requires the consent of six of the Great Seven and most of them are reluctant to allow this ritual. [[spoiler:The ritual causes dragonkind's Blood Memory to be reset, preventing new dragons from accessing the wisdom of their oldest members.]]
149* ''VideoGame/{{Warcraft}}'': This is pretty much a universal theme for the series. Draw power from the [[TheLegionsOfHell Burning Legion]]? You get a serious power boost but enjoy being twisted into a hideous demon and serving the will of an OmnicidalManiac. Serve the [[EldritchAbomination Old Gods]]? Sure you can wield shadows and control minds (if you don't go insane first), but BodyHorror and {{Lovecraftian Superpower}}s are the ''best'' you can eventually hope for. Hear the call of the Lich King? You might be a great necromancer, but the [[TheNecrocracy Scourge]] only works with the undead... Even the relatively benign arcane magic is cripplingly [[AddictiveMagic addictive]], enough to destroy ancient night elven society and cause global misery for the high/blood elf population millennia later.
150** In particular, playable Warlocks in ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' embody this. They trade health for mana as a key mechanic and can summon powerful demons for a price. Classic [=WoW=] was most harsh about this, with the Warlock's most powerful demon requiring the sacrifice of another player ''and'' a separate enslavement spell. If anything failed, that demon could turn on its master.
151** Worgen are immune to being turned undead by anything short of The Lich King himself, but are also monstrous [[OurWerewolvesAreDifferent wolf-men]]. They have their origins rooted in this trope as well: a sect of night elves once practiced a form of VoluntaryShapeshifting into wolves, but they lost control of themselves in the process. Seeking to fix this, they used an enchanted scythe... which instead {{Shapeshifter Mode Lock}}ed them in an in-between form.
152* ''VideoGame/WorldOfHorror'':
153** The majority of the spells in the game cost either [[HealthMeter Stamina]] or [[SanityMeter Reason]] to cast, meaning that you're burning away your [[CastFromHitPoints strength]] or [[CastFromSanity sanity]] as fuel.
154** The influence of the Old God Ath-Yolazsth makes it so that spells that normally drain your Reason [[TimedMission advance the Doom Track]] instead. They're specifically noted to be popular with magicians, who appreciate being able to practice their craft without any ''visible'' cost to themselves.
155* ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' series has several:
156** The overall game lore, as revealed in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword'', reveals that being a [[TheChosenOne Triforce wielder]] amounts to this. It turns out that Demise, the GodOfEvil, laid a DyingCurse as he was defeated, stating that he would always come back to plague the world [[BigGood Hylia]] had created. To this end, Hylia swore that she too would choose an avatar to return to conquer Demise, along with a Champion arising to defend that avatar. These three individuals wield the Triforces of Power, Wisdom, and Courage, respectively; in the series proper, they are held by Ganondorf/Ganon, Princess Zelda, and Link. While the Triforce pieces grant their users amazing abilities, Demise's curse ultimately means that the three are doomed to a cycle of permanent reincarnation--''every'' Ganon, Zelda, and Link ''have'' to fight one another, and even if they try to resist or hide, [[YouCantFightFate fate will]] [[TheCallKnowsWhereYouLive find them anyway.]]
157** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'':
158*** The goddess Hylia has sealed a horned demon [[TakenForGranite inside a statue]] near Hateno Village. Said demon will offer to extend Link's Heart Containers or Stamina Meter, but only at the cost of the other (i.e., if you want to extend the Stamina Meter, you have to sacrifice a Heart Container). Thankfully, the trade can always be reversed if the player changes their mind.
159*** The DLC "The Champions' Ballad" offers Link a new weapon, the One-Hit Obliterator. [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin As the name implies]], it has the power to destroy any enemy, no matter how large or powerful, in a single blow. However, the magic works both ways: it also reduces ''Link's'' health to a single quarter-heart, so one attack from even the weakest enemy will kill him. And just to make things even harder, the Obliterator has a mandatory cooldown period after each use.
160** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTearsOfTheKingdom'': The weapons dropped by [[spoiler:Phantom Ganon]] are far and away the strongest in the game in terms of raw attack power. However, being infused with [[MadeOfEvil gloom]], wielding them [[MaximumHPReduction eats into Link's maximum hearts]] in the same manner as standing in the cursed substance.
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163[[folder:Webcomics]]
164* ''Webcomic/TheDreadful'': Burke's ring was enchanted to make him ImmuneToBullets but at the cost of his sanity.
165* ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'':
166** Aberrations take this path to magical power, starting as normal humans but slowly transforming into horrible monsters as they become more powerful. [[PuppeteerParasite Sirleck]] in particular has mutated into a horrific thing that would be perfectly comfortable in H.R. Giger's art.
167** A key feature of the magic system is the value of attributes. Some spells can be easier to cast if you make temporary sacrifices, so long as the trade-offs makes sense to the caster. For example, a spell to increase strength can be easier to cast at the cost of reason if that genuinely makes at least some amount of sense to the caster.
168* ''Webcomic/WhiteHeron'': Kim Jeong's powers work by altering her personal flow of time to give her superhuman strength, speed, and durability... though overusing it comes at the cost of a backlash effect that leaves her effectively frozen in time from anywhere for a few hours to potentially years.
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171[[folder:Western Animation]]
172* ''WesternAnimation/AladdinTheSeries'': Mozenrath's gauntlet grants him great power, but wearing it causes him physical pain, and the gauntlet is also implied to have dissolved the flesh on his hand and arm until it's worn on down to the bone.
173-->'''Mozenrath:''' (''to Aladdin'') This is what ''I'' did for power! The magic of a genie was handed to you on a silver platter, but I gave ''my right hand'' for power! To wear the gauntlet is painful… but it’s worth it! Worth it to destroy the likes of you!
174* ''WesternAnimation/TheDragonPrince'': This is how dark magic seems to work, requiring the lifeforce or essence of at least part of living being in order to cast a spell. Excessive amounts of usage also seem to take some kind of toll on the user, as evidenced by Viren draining the life of magical butterflies to keep himself looking like a middle-aged man.
175* Defied in ''[[WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague Justice League Unlimited]]'' by Lex Luthor when running for president. He eventually reveals to The Question that his entire bid to run for president was nothing more than a multi-million-dollar campaign ''[[EvilIsPetty just to tick Superman off]]'', and that the power and authority he'd get from being president isn't worth how much power he'd actually have to give up in exchange.
176* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'': Jasper tried to [[FusionDance fuse]] with a Corrupted Gem Monster to create a OneWingedAngel to stop Amethyst and Steven. Not only did this end up being more of a ClippedWingAngel, [[spoiler:it spread TheCorruption to Jasper herself, turning her into a mindless beast]].
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179[[folder:Real Life]]
180* High-level politicians face significant restrictions on their personal freedom in the name of security.
181* The rank structure in the military works this way. A higher rank means more power, more authority, and even a pay raise, but it also means more responsibility, more work, and more consequences for screwing up. An old adage in the Canadian Armed Forces is "Corporal is the best rank" because you have the best balance of power and price -- so much so that some members volunteer to remain corporals for the remainder of their contracts.
182* Any known human who has either incredible strength, beauty, or intellect would tell you. That getting as gifted as they were, often requires an undying, borderline-obsessive conviction to some sort of process. For example, true bodybuilders (such as Arnold Schwarzenegger) ate only the right portions and only nutritional meals. Constantly they frequented the gym, wasting potential decades to get the size they were. But as time withers and weakens the human form, even Titan-level muscle can sag and take extra care to maintain.
183* As anyone who is a connoisseur of vehicles, computers, video games, and the like will tell you, the more powerful your rig is, the more money and time you'll need to put into it to buy and maintain it.
184* The Cunard Line's legendary "Greyhounds of the Atlantic", the ocean liners ''Lusitania'' and ''Mauretania'', were by far the fastest ships on the North Atlantic run in the early 1900s, with ''Mauretania'' holding the Blue Riband[[note]]the prize for the fastest Atlantic crossing[[/note]] from 1909 to 1929. But their quadruple turbine engines and the high speeds at which they operated meant that they tended to vibrate uncomfortably during their crossings, in contrast to less speedy (but more comfortable) liners like the White Star Line's ''Olympic'' and ''[[UsefulNotes/RMSTitanic Titanic]]''.
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