History Main / ExploitedImmunity

* ''Anime/YuGiOh5Ds'': Aporia faces Jack, Lua, and Luca in a three on one duel where their cards become real and inflict real damage. Aporia has FeelNoPain, so he is not worried about any damage he takes, while his opponents do.

* ''Series/{{Lexx}}'': "[[Recap/LexxS03E10 Battle]]" features an accidental example; [[BigBad Prince]] shows up to taunt [[ExtraordinarilyEmpoweredGirl Xev]] as she's dying in the desert, however he [[DeathIsCheap dies of dehydration]] almost immediately (since she's a HalfHumanHybrid with DNA from a desert dwelling creature and he isn't).

* Downplayed by Damon Kronski in ''Literature/ArtemisFowl: The Time Paradox'', who likes organizing meetings in a leather souk in order to give himself an edge over whoever he's meeting. Most people find the smell of the leather-tanning chemicals used in the souk unpleasant or unsettling, but Kronski isn't fazed by this because he lost his sense of smell as a child. [[spoiler: Holly defeats him by using her healing magic to fix his sense of smell and rob him of his immunity. His FirstTimeFeeling of the chemicals drives him crazy.]]

* Downplayed by Damon Kronski in ''Literature/ArtemisFowl: The Time Paradox'', who likes organizing meetings in a leather souk in order to give himself an edge over whoever he's meeting. Most people find the smell of the leather-tanning chemicals used in the souk unpleasant or unsettling, but Kronski isn't fazed by this because he lost his sense of smell as a child. [[spoiler: Holly defeats him by using her healing magic to ''remove'' his immunity by fixing his sense of smell. His FirstTimeFeeling of the chemicals drives him crazy.]]

** Doctor Brian Virgil from ''Videogame/Fallout4'' betrayed the Institute, then turned himself into a supermutant and took refuge in the Glowing Sea, hoping that the intense radiation would deter anyone from following him while not affecting him due to his mutation.

** Doctor Brian Virgil from ''Videogame/Fallout4'' betrayed the Institute, then turned himself into a [[RadiationImmuneMutant supermutant]] and took refuge in the Glowing Sea, hoping that the intense radiation would deter anyone from following him while not affecting him due to his mutation.

** Doctor Brian Virgil from ''Videogame/Fallout4'' betrayed the Institute, then turned himself into a [[RadiationImmune Mutant supermutant]] and took refuge in the Glowing Sea, hoping that the intense radiation would deter anyone from following him while not affecting him due to his mutation.

** Doctor Brian Virgil from ''Videogame/Fallout4'' betrayed the Institute, then turned himself into a {{Radiation Immune Mutant|s}} and took refuge in the Glowing Sea, hoping that the intense radiation would deter anyone from following him while not affecting him due to his mutation.

* Downplayed by Damon Kronski in ''Literature/ArtemisFowl: The Time Paradox'', who likes organizing meetings in a leather souk in order to give himself an edge over whoever he's meeting. Most people find the smell of the leather-tanning chemicals used in the souk unpleasant or unsettling, but Kronski isn't fazed by this because he lost his sense of smell as a child.

* In ''Anime/YuGiOh5Ds'', Aporia faces Jack, Lua, and Luca in a three on one duel where their cards become real and inflict real damage. Aporia has FeelNoPain, so he is not worried about any damage he takes, while his opponents do.
** Similarly, Yami Marik does this a couple of times in the original ''Anime/YuGiOh''. First, his Shadow Game with Mai has both players losing memories of people they knew whenever one of their monsters is destroyed. But he's a sociopath, and she's not, so this has a large psychological effect on her over the course of the match, while he doesn't care at all. And against Joey, whenever a monster is destroyed, it saps the owner's stamina. Here he is counting on having greater stamina, while he saps away at Joey's strength to the point where he wins by disqualification when Joey falls unconscious seconds before victory.

[[folder:Fanfics]]

* ''FanFic/DungeonKeeperAmi'': Ami can see through her own fog, so she can fill a room with it and fight fine, while her enemies have their vision hindered.

Supertrope to DruggedLipstick (unless there's explicitly another reason the user isn't affected by the drug) and GiveChaseWithAngryNatives (where the hazard is a third party). Compare FriendlyFireproof (for when the hazard in question is your allies' attacks), GoodThingYouCanHeal, and AcquiredPoisonImmunity. Contrast ElementalIgnorance, SuicideAttack and DeliberateInjuryGambit (where the attacker ''is'' harmed), BriarPatching (when Alice tricks enemy Bob into doing something helpful to her), ImmunityDisability (where immunity to something can be "exploited" ''against'' said immune person), and ImmortalLifeIsCheap. Some versions of the SelfPoisoningGambit rely on this. If the attacker's "unharmed" because they've already been harmed, this overlaps with DisabilityImmunity.

* The ''Series/{{Lexx}}'' episode "Battle" features an accidental example; [[BigBad Prince]] shows up to taunt [[ExtraordinarilyEmpoweredGirl Xev]] as she's dying in the desert, however he [[DeathIsCheap dies of dehydration]] almost immediately (since she's a HalfHumanHybrid with DNA from a desert dwelling creature and he isn't).
* ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'': In the episode ''For The Uniform'', Eddington bombs Cardassian colonies with chemicals that are harmful to them, but not humans. In response, Sisko bombs Maquis colonies in kind, to force Eddington to surrender.
* One ''Series/{{Tracker}}'' episode had an assassin who exposed himself to a deadly virus which could kill by touch but didn't harm him as long as he killed often enough. Except in human form, where it turned into a MateOrDie thing.

** One villain used a dark room to blind his opponents while he was wearing night vision goggles. Duncan thwarted this by using a lit match to blind the guy long enough to take him out.
** Recurring villain Xavier St. Cloud used a variant of this. Early in the 20th century, Xavier, a longtime immortal, developed a fondness for the use of toxic gas in his robberies, and in one scene from the series' present day, he simply walks into a large jewelry shop, drops a vial of the stuff, lets everyone there including him succumb to the poison, then calmly gets back up a minute later when his HealingFactor brings him back to life. At which point he grabs all the loot and leaves.

** In the story "Doomsday", the Doctor vanquishes the Daleks and Cybermen by opening the Void and exposing the planet to "background radiation", which is found in the void and is self-attractive. The Daleks and Cyberman, who have been living in the void for years, are already soaked in the stuff so they are sucked back in, while humans remain unharmed. [[spoiler: However, Rose, who has traveled between her universe and [[AlternateUniverse Pete's World]], is also covered in a bit of Void Stuff, and is nearly pulled through herself except for Pete's intervention.]]
** In "The Dalek Invasion of Earth" the Daleks are defeated by detonating an underground pocket of trapped magnetic fields. The resulting surge of magnetism crushes the metal Daleks, while their human slaves are unaffected.
* ''Series/TheXFiles'' episode "Nothing Important Happened Today" part 1. A female SuperSoldier who can't be killed lures a man into driving her home, forces his car to drive off a bridge and holds him underwater until he drowns.
* ''Series/{{Daredevil 2015}}'' uses the example from the comic book section: before going in to save Claire from a room full of Russian mobsters, Matt takes out the lights in the room as he's blind and doesn't need them anyway. This serves to a) handicap the mooks who now can't see as well to fight, b) [[MookHorrorShow scare the mooks]] who now have to fight a man dressed in black coming at them out of the dark, and c) inform Claire that he's there as she knows about his blindness.
* In one episode of ''Series/{{Sanctuary}}'' in the second shapeshifting yeti episode someone who appeared to be Dr. Magnus claimed that saltwater made yetis stronger. At the end there were two Magnus's in the same room that was half flooded with seawater and Will mentioned what the first Magnus had said about yetis and saltwater. Then the second Magnus grabbed her double and threw the two of them into the water, which turned out to actually be like acid to yeti skin.
* In Season 6 Episode 4 "Book Of The Stranger" in ''Series/GameOfThrones'', Daenerys Targaryen is in a hut with the Dothraki Khals while they discuss what to do with the rebellious khaleesi, considering gang-rape as an option. Unknown to them, the floor was treated with a flammable coating, the doors were barred shut from outside, and the guards outside were assassinated. Dany casually knocked over the braziers after delivering a scathing TheReasonYouSuckSpeech to the khals, eventually engulfing all the hut in an inferno. Dany is immune to fire. She walks out of the inferno naked, and the ''entire Dothraki people'' gathered around fall to their knees in reverent awe.
* Michael and Sam get into a fight in an episode of ''Series/BurnNotice''. Knowing he isn't a match for Michael in a typical fist fight, Sam, a former SEAL, tackles Michael into the water, where he has the advantage. It doesn't work, however, as Michael gains the upper hand by pretending to pass out.
* In ''Series/{{Heroes}}'', Adam Monroe uses this tactic against [[spoiler:Nakamura]]. He met the victim atop a skyscraper, grabbed him and jumped off. Monroe can regenerate, and apparently isn't afraid of heights.

* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' has several:

** Avernus, the {{Fire and Brimstone|Hell}} upper {{layer|edWorld}} of the Nine Hells, serves this purpose in the ForeverWar between Devils and Demons: the native Devils are unaffected by fire, while the invading Demons get the brunt of the fireball-heavy local weather.
** The Yuan-Ti, a race of SnakePeople with immunity to all poisons, sometimes assassinate human nobles and royalty by getting one of their agents hired as a food taster and having them certify poisoned food as being OK.
* Similar to the D&D example above, the ''TabletopGame/D20Modern'' setting Urban Arcana has an example: Cast a spell on yourself to resist concussion damage. Strap some C-4 to yourself (C-4 (and all explosives) inflicts concussion damage). Then, enjoy being [[ActionBomb a suicide bomber who actually ditches the "Suicide" part]].
** Similarly, tear gas, which actually is a GameBreaker at lower levels, since it allows the PC[=s=] to just wear gas masks and function normally while their opponents (who are unlikely to be equipped with gas masks a low levels) are exposed to the full effects of the tear gas.
* An early edition of ''TabletopGame/WarhammerFantasyBattle'' had the spell "Wind of Death", which hit ''every'' living thing on the table and (statistically speaking) could kill an average human unit 50% of the time. A player who had tougher troops (or better yet; undead troops, who would be immune) could easily find themselves better off than their opponent after using it.
* In 2nd edition [[TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}} Warhammer 40K]], the Avatar of Khaine is completely immune to flame and melta-weapons. The Eldar Fire Dragons carried melta-weapons that were devastating against any vehicle or infantry unit. So some players would deliberately charge in the Avatar at some huge monstrosity like a Hive Tyrant or Carnifex and have a nearby Fire Dragon squad open fire on BOTH combatants. The Avatar comes out unscathed while the enemy is reduced to a smouldering crisp.

* ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoSanAndreas'': Being the first game in the series where the player can swim, CJ can evade pursuit by jumping into water. The pursuers will jump in after him, but they have SuperDrowningSkills.

* The Armageddon spell in the ''Videogame/HeroesOfMightAndMagic'' series is one of the most damaging spells available, but inflicts heavy damage on ally and enemy alike. There are a few ways to negate this; some monsters (such as the fire-immune ifreet and the magic-immune black dragons) will be unharmed by the spell, and the [[InfinityPlusOneSword Armageddon's Blade]] renders your entire army immune as one of the perks of wielding it.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands 2}}'', one of Krieg's skills allows him to become an ActionBomb if his HP is depleted. If he manages to kill an enemy in the explosion, he'll come back to life thanks to the [[DesperationAttack second wind]] mechanic.
** A variation--shields that grant immunity to certain elements encourage players to liberally spread that element around when enemies are affected by it and they are not. Most commonly manifests as the liberal application of fire from flame-elemental grenades or ExplodingBarrels, doing considerable DamageOverTime to enemies and leaving the immune player unharmed.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/JackieChanAdventures'', Valmont attempts to free himself from DemonicPossession by Shendu, by handling the Pan'Ku Box, an object forged using [[GoodHurtsEvil Good Magic, which Shendu can't touch]]. It hurts both of them, but Shendu suffers more and is rendered unconscious by the pain.

* In an episode of the 1990s ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManTheAnimatedSeries'', Tombstone, who doesn't need to breathe, catches the hero in a chokehold inside a room that's filling up with toxic gas.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheMask'' animated series, one villain, Kablamus, was originally a children's entertainer attempting to develop a formula to keep balloons from popping. After the inevitable laboratory accident, he became a supervillain with the ability to explode his own body and then regenerate.
* ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' a brawl between Aquaman and Wonder Woman was neck-and-neck for the powerful pair until Aquaman forces Wonder Woman into the water where his ability to breathe beneath it gives him the advantage.

* ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2012'' The turtles and their mutant alligator ally Leatherhead are semi-aquatic by nature and they use this to their advantage on several occasions. The turtles use the water to sneak into areas at several points and one episode has Michelangelo holding his breath for an extended period in order to get through a room full of toxic air. Leatherhead meanwhile hides a [[AliensAreBastards kraang]] energy crystal in an area that's only accessible through a flooded tunnel and in season 4 he drags evil mutant dog Rahzar [[spoiler:into the ocean [[GoodIsNotSoft and drowns him]]]].

* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrophyte Pyrophytes]] are plants that can tolerate fire. Some actively exploit this by encouraging fires, which they can survive but other competitors can't, such as the Eucalyptus trees and their blanketing of the forest floor with [[MadeOfIncendium broad, oily dry leaves]].

** During a fight between Vaarsuvius and a Black Dragon, the dragon deploys an AntiMagic field which robs them both of their spellcasting. Vaarsuvius, being a SquishyWizard, becomes completely useless within the field, while the dragon retains all of her brute strength.
** A minor example occurs in [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0594.html "Rock the Boat"]], when Elan jumps on Kubota's rowboat. When Kubota complains that he's going to sink the boat and drown both of them, Elan reminds him that he isn't wearing any weighty armor (unlike Kubota, who's wearing a breastplate), so he has a better chance of swimming to safety.

** During one of her earlier appearance, Miko Miyazaki refuses to attack a band of ogres in their sleep, but instead wakes them and allows them to surround her... and then orders Vaarsuvius and Durkon to target her with their fire and lightning spells. As a former Monk, she has the Evasion ability and can easily pass a Reflex save to minimize her injuries, while all the ogres take full damage.

* In ''Film/DeathProof'', this is how the serial killer kills his victims. He's an ex-stuntman with a special stunt car, the driver's seat of which is 100% safe no matter what happens to it. He lures women into his car and intentionally gets into terrible accidents. He'll survive, since he's in the "death proof" driver's seat, but his victims don't.

** Some of the most powerful moves in the game, such as Take Down and Head Smash, are accompanied by recoil damage that hurt the user. This can be neegated by Pokemon with the Rock Head ability.

** [[DemonicSpiders Cosmic Monolith]] is rather infamous for this. It has an attack appropriately called Doomsday that hits the entire battlefield for massive dark damage that is nigh impossible to survive without equipment reducing dark damage. It, of course, absorbs dark, so it also heals itself while putting your party at Death's doorstep at the same time. One wonders whether this is not ShoutOut to [[Videogame/FinalFantasyIX Ozma]]. On the other hand, there are fights where its allies are not resistant to darkness, but it still spells trouble. The next games changed Doomsday so it hits only enemies.
** The following games also have some spells such as Ashes that puts burn on everyone on entire battlefield. Since the damage from burn here is fiery DamageOverTime that can be absorbed, no points for guessing which enemies use it. Likewise, the Virus from ''5'' deals Bio damage and can spread by itself from enemies to allies by interaction between them, and this is used by FinalBoss that can spread Virus and absorbs Bio.

** [[DemonicSpiders Cosmic Monolith]] is rather infamous for this. It has an attack appropriately called Doomsday that hits the entire battlefield for massive dark damage that is nigh impossible to survive with equipment reducing dark damage. It, of course, absorbs dark, so it also heals itself while putting your party at Death's doorstep at the same time. One wonders whether this is not ShoutOut to [[Videogame/FinalFantasyIX Ozma]]. On the other hand, there are fights where its allies are not resistant to darkness, but it still spells trouble. The next games changed Doomsday so it hits only enemies.

** [[DemonicSpiders Cosmic Monolith]] is rather infamous for this. It has an attack appropriately called Doomsday that hits the entire battlefield for massive dark damage that is nigh impossible to survive with equipment reducing dark damage. It, of course, absorbs dark, so it also heals itself while putting your party at Death's doorstep at the same time. One wonders whether this is not ShoutOut to [[Videogame/FinalFantasyIX Ozma]]. On the other hand, there is are fights where its allies are not resistant to darkness, but it still spells trouble. The next games changed Doomsday so it hits only enemies.

** [[DemonicSpiders Cosmic Monolith]] is rather infamous for this. It has an attack appropriately called Doomsday that hits the entire battlefield for massive dark damage that is nigh impossible to survive with equipment reducing dark damage. It, of course, absorbs dark, so it also heals itself while putting your party at Death's doorstep at the same time. One wonders whether this is not ShoutOut to [[Videogame/FinalFanatasyIX Ozma]]. On the other hand, there is are fights where its allies are not resistant to darkness, but it still spells trouble. The next games changed Doomsday so it hits only enemies.