Basic Trope: This attack reduces the target's HP to a few from Critical Existence Failure (typically 1).
- Straight:
- During a boss battle, Emperor Evulz unleashes a powerful attack that always reduces the party's HP to 1.
- One of Bob's attacks deals a standard amount of damage, but when it would be fatal, it leaves the target at 1 HP.
- Exaggerated: The attack reduces your maximum HP to 1.
- Downplayed: The attack reduces you to 1% of your maximum HP.
- Justified:
- The attack was designed to toy with the hero and give him false hope before the finishing blow.
- Bob wants to capture the target, not kill them.
- The spell was designed specifically as Loophole Abuse for circumventing instant death attack protection wards common to anyone of importance. It doesn't kill them.
- Inverted:
- The attack is programmed to always do 1 HP of damage.
- The attack reduces the user's HP to 1.
- A healing spell restores HP equal to the target's maximum HP minus one.
- Subverted: The attack reduced you from full HP to 1 HP... Because it's actually a Fixed Damage Attack that does (max HP - 1) damage and would've killed you outright if you weren't fully healed.
- Double Subverted: The attack is a stronger version of another attack that reduces your HP to one, no matter what.
- Parodied:
- A bunch of 1s are dropped at the party, reducing their HP to one.
- The enemy has no other attacks and can do nothing but reduce you to one health.
- Your character's hp is represented as Clothing Damage: being hit by this attack reduced him to a precariously placed fig-leaf.
- The enemy attempts this attack in a game where the player character is a One-Hit-Point Wonder. The attack fails.
- Zig Zagged: The said attack may or may not reduce the hero's HP to one.
- Averted:
- The boss did not have that attack.
- It's "just" a One-Hit Kill instead.
- Enforced:
- "This boss has to be hard, but a One-Hit Kill might be too hard for the players..."
- The programmers added the attack specifically to finish the Hopeless Bossfight without killing the player(s) outright.
- Lampshaded: "Twit! I only need one hitpoint to kick your pansy ass!"
- Invoked:
- The villain needs the hero as a hostage and uses this spell specifically because it reduces him to the edge of death, meaning he can't try anything funny if he wants to live.
- The Sixth Ranger uses this spell in order to prove to the hero that if he wanted the hero dead, he would be.
- Exploited:
- The hero unleashes an attack that gets more powerful the less health he has.
- The Hero uses an Attack Reflector and hits the boss with that attack, reducing IT to one hitpoint!
- Defied: The boss launches an attack that lowers the hero to one HP, then casually mentions that he's not going to let you get away that easily and hits again for that one last HP before the hero can react.
- Discussed: "Watch out there! One more hit, and you're history!"
- Conversed: "Why did the boss reduce my guy's HP to one? He could've just killed me!"
- Deconstructed: The attack involves manipulating the target's biology, and thus is an incredibly difficult spell to use. A slight mistake will result in the victim either dying outright or being significantly above one health. As the spell gives them the chance to counterattack even if successful, the spell is soon forgotten for less flamboyant and more convenient magics.
Back to HP to 1. Maybe take a mega potion on your way back...
