Basic Trope: The more powerful something is, the harder it is to find. Or rather, the rarer an object is, the more potent it will be.
- Straight: A basic utility knife can be found in just about any shop, and sometimes even in enemy loot. An elite long sword can only be bought in specialized weapon shops in large cities. The Infinity +1 Sword is a one-of-a-kind weapon made out of five rare materials that each can only be found in different continents; and even then, the weapon can only be forged by a Legendary Blacksmith.
- Exaggerated: Every time you buy a utility knife, there is a 1 in 100,000 chance that it will turn into a Game-Breaker Infinity +1 Sword that can kill everything — including the Final Boss — in one hit. It also has a homing projectile which does the same amount of damage, and fires insanely fast to boot.
- Downplayed: The Infinity +1 Sword is just as readily available as a common dagger, although it's also a million times more expensive, and only top adventurers can afford the powerful weapons.
- Justified: The materials required to generate and release large amounts of firepower (without harming the user, that is) are very expensive, making it impossible to mass produce.
- Inverted: The Infinity +1 Sword can be found in pretty much any shop, but one must hunt all over the continent to even catch a glimpse of the elusive dagger.
- Subverted: After the player completes a chain of 10 difficult side quests, they finally obtain the purportedly one-of-a-kind Infinity +1 Sword, only to later stumble into a hidden cave full of the exact same weapon.
- Double Subverted: They're all fakes, or inferior copies. The Infinity +1 Sword is truly the only one in existence.
- Zig-zagged: With just a small fee, a local blacksmith can upgrade the fake copies to become just as powerful as the real Infinity +1 Sword.
- Parodied: The total power of a particular object is divided by the number of similar items available in the same vicinity. A "Steel Sword" can only have a total Attack Point of 100, and when two of the same blade are being used together, their attacks are halved to become 50 points each, and so on. Hence, creating duplicates of the same item (which makes them more common) actively makes them weaker, and vice versa.
- Averted: The powerful items are just as numerous as their weaker counterparts.
- Enforced: The producers don't want the hero to become overpowered too quickly if they manage to obtain the most powerful weapon too early in their adventure.
- Lampshaded: "This Ultra Rare Diamond Rapier is sold only in this shop, and nowhere else. Unlike those common wooden swords. I assure you, this is the best weapon you can find."
- Invoked: A royal edict was made to jack up the prices of more powerful items so that fewer citizens can buy equipment they could use to revolt.
- Exploited: The Big Bad knows that the heroes are poorly equipped because they have trouble finding better weapons, and plants ambushes on the paths of their search.
- Defied: The king commissions his best researchers and craftsmen to mass produce the Infinity +1 Sword, so that everyone is capable to defend themselves against the Big Bad's forces without having to wait for the hero all the time.
- Discussed:The Hero: Why is it so hard to find a good sword?The Lancer: Well you know how it goes, quality is just hard to find.
- Conversed: "But gold is such a poor choice of metal for weaponry! Just because it's rare, doesn't mean it's powerful!"
- Deconstructed: Many wannabe heroes are killed before they can become strong enough to overcome the Big Bad because most of them are poorly-trained fighters, and the good equipment that could have allowed them to survive are so hard to come across.
- Reconstructed: Since good equipment are rare, the bad guys are just as poorly equipped. This gives the Ragtag Bunch of Misfits heroes a more equal ground in their battles. But understanding their lack of battle experience, the heroes must make use of their wits and resourcefulness to get away from their fights alive, and they themselves get stronger as they search for better weapons and supplies.
- Played for Laughs: The fabled MacGuffin is an extremely powerful Power Crystal that grants its user the ability to... break boulders with their bare hands (but not other materials, such as plastic or rubber), and draw perfect circles.
- Played for Drama: The MacGuffin's power can only be used once, and because the item is so rare, the heroes delay using it until it's too late.
Back to Power Equals Rarity.
