History Main / ExploitedImmunity

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, AcquiredPoisonImmunity, and YouCantKillWhatsAlreadyDead. Contrast ElementalIgnorance, SuicideAttack and DeliberateInjuryGambit (where the attacker ''is'' harmed), WeHaveReserves (where the attacker's allies are harmed -- but the attacker doesn't care), BriarPatching (when Alice tricks enemy Bob into doing something helpful to her), ImmunityDisability (where immunity to something can be "exploited" ''against'' said immune person), ReviveKillsZombie, 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. See also SymmetricEffect, as this trope is one way to exploit mutually damaging variations.

** Intelligent, spell using [[TheUndead undead]] (such as [[OurLichesAreDifferent liches]]) can use spells that produce persistent effects over a large area (such as Cloudkill, Sleep, Stinking Cloud, etc) without worrying about being caught in the area of effect, as undead are immune to these effects.
** Elven forces with mages can use Sleep spells with impunity, as they are mostly immune to them.
** Any PC that is or acquires an immunity to a type of attack can be expected to exploit this. For example, a mage under a Minor Globe of Invulnerability spell (which blocks 3rd level and lower spells) can use a staff which casts third level area effect spells at point blank range.
** There's a magic item that [[InvertedTrope inverts]] this, by allowing the wearer to cast a healing spell in the process of an attack. If this is used against a normal living person, they'll be hurt and angry, but are unlikely to die because [[HealingShiv the spell heals the damage inflicted by the attack]]. But [[ReviveKillsZombie used against a disguised undead]], their LACK of immunity to healing magic makes their injury that much worse, and reveals their true nature.
** 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 are a race of SnakePeople with immunity to all poisons. They make extensive use of poison traps when defending their lairs, and they 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.

* In ''[[Film/RevengeOfTheSith]]'', the cyborg General Grievous breaches the hull of his own ship in hopes of [[ThrownOutTheAirlock ejecting the heroes into the vacuum of space]].

* In ''[[Film/RevengeOfTheSith]]'', General Grievous breaches the hull of his own ship in hopes of [[ThrownOutTheAirlock ejecting the heroes into the vacuum of space]].

* Tanks are ImmuneToBullets. Infantry are not. This has sometimes led to tanks shooting each other with their coaxial machine guns or even canister rounds to kill infantry trying [[InsertGrenadeHere plant explosives]] on them.

This can range from the mundane (e.g., an amphibious character forcing their opponent onto land or drowning them) to the more fantastic (e.g., fireproof characters dragging their opponents into a burning building) and more abstract situations (e.g., stranding themselves in the desert when they have more experience surviving in it). It can also cover [[KryptoniteFactor weaknesses that the target has]] which aren't shared by most people; what matters is that one character lacks the weakness and exposes them both to it (or are exposed to it by the immune character's allies). It also counts if the character is only ''resistant'' rather than completely immune to whatever they're exposing themselves to (allowing them to claim VictoryByEndurance).

* Similarly, several immortal characters in ''{{LightNovel/Baccano}}'' deliberately throw themselves into lethal situations to take a non-immortal out, since they'll just regenerate.

* ''ComicBook/{{Deadpool}}: The Merc with a Mouth generally FightsLikeANormal and trusts in his HealingFactor to rectify any mistakes he makes, but it also lets him deliberately choose to take crippling or deadly injuries in order to land a surprise hit or escape a difficult situation. The old 'break the bones in your hands to get out of handcuffs' trick, for instance, is very easy for him, and shooting/stabbing through himself to kill an opponent is almost a SignatureMove.

** 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.

* ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'': In "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS05E13ForTheUniform 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.

** Simultaneously play straight and inverted in one fight scene in which Roy has Durkon use a [[HolyHandGrenade Holy Word]] spell in range of a group of villians, then has [[TokenEvilTeammate Belkar]] spring an ambush on them. One of the villains attempts to use a [[CompellingVoice Suggestion]] spell on Belkar, but Belkar was deafened by the Holy Word, causing the Suggestion to fail.

** In ''Videogame/FinalFantasyIX'': [[BlackMage Vivi]]'s most powerful spell is Doomsday, which inflicts [[CastingAShadow shadow damage]] on all allies and enemies on the field. Equipping your characters with gear that absorbs shadow will cause them to be healed by the spell instead. The BonusBoss Ozma also tries this, but it's possible to invert it: it has Doomsday in its arsenal and normally absorbs shadow damage, but one sidequest rewards you by making it weak to shadow instead, so if it does use the spell, it'll harm itself.

** Inverted in one fight scene in which Roy has Durkon use a [[HolyHandGrenade Holy Word]] spell in range of a group of villians, then has [[TokenEvilTeammate Belkar]] spring an ambush on them. One of the villains attempts to use a [[CompellingVoice Suggestion]] spell on Belkar, but Belkar was deafened by the Holy Word, causing the Suggestion to fail.

* ''ComicBook/{{Daredevil}}'': A favorite tactic of Daredevil is to take out the lights as, being blind and having radar sense, he can fight just fine without them, but it throws his enemies into confusion.

* ''ComicBook/{{Vampirella}}'': Being a FriendlyNeighborhoodVampire with none of the traditional weaknesses of a vampire, Vampirella has occasionally used this to her advantage. She once encountered a group of American Civil War era vampires who outmatched her in numbers and had almost two centuries worth of fighting experience. Fortunately, she had brought with her a priest who blessed the falling rain, transforming it into holy water. While the other vampires died, she lived.
* ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'': Every human who uses Kryptonite against a Kryptonian is doing this. But as Lex Luthor discovered, they need to beware of ImmunityAttrition. Kryptonite may not kill a human in minutes, but it's still a radioactive material, and long-term exposure can cause cancer.
* In the ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' graphic novel ''The Gorn Crisis'', Riker is on board a Klingon vessel that is being boarded by the titular Gorns. The Klingon captain is prepared to hit the self-destruct, but Riker convinces him to turn down the temperature on the life support instead. The Gorns, being cold-blooded LizardFolk, are quickly reduced to torpor while the warm-blooded human and Klingons are merely a bit uncomfortable.

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, AcquiredPoisonImmunity, and YouCantKillWhatsAlreadyDead. Contrast ElementalIgnorance, SuicideAttack and DeliberateInjuryGambit (where the attacker ''is'' harmed), WeHaveReserves (where the attacker's allies are harmed -- but the attacker doesn't care), BriarPatching (when Alice tricks enemy Bob into doing something helpful to her), ImmunityDisability (where immunity to something can be "exploited" ''against'' said immune person), ReviveKillsZombie, 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.

[[folder:Comics]]

* A favorite tactic of ComicBook/{{Daredevil}} is to take out the lights as, being blind and having radar sense, he can fight just fine without them, but it throws his enemies into confusion.
* On one occasion, ComicBook/{{Wolverine}} sprayed Sabertooth with gasoline and threatened to light a match. When Sabertooth grabbed the gas pump and sprayed him right back, Wolverine shrugged and [[GoodThingYouCanHeal lit the match anyway]].
* Franchise/WonderWoman has repeatedly shown that she doesn't rely on her eyes, which lead to her intentionally blinding herself during her fight with Medusa in [[ComicBook/WonderWoman1987 Vol 2]]. She was still a better fighter than most of the Justice League in the months she spent blind afterwards. She also on occasion will turn out the lights to deal with hostage situations while leaving the hostage takers in the dark.
** ''[[ComicBook/WonderWoman1942 Volume 1]]'': On more than one occasion Diana uses her immunity to extreme temperatures to deal with a foe, with one particularly foolish pursuer not giving up until they'd fainted from the heat.
* ComicBook/{{Vampirella}} is a FriendlyNeighborhoodVampire with none of the traditional weaknesses of a vampire, a fact she has occasionally used to her advantage. She once encountered a group of American Civil War era vampires who outmatched her in numbers and had almost two centuries worth of fighting experience. Fortunately, she had brought with her a priest who blessed the falling rain, transforming it into holy water. While the other vampires died, she lived.
* Every human who uses Kryptonite against a Kryptonian is doing this. But as ComicBook/LexLuthor discovered, they need to beware of ImmunityAttrition. Kryptonite may not kill a human in minutes, but it's still a radioactive material, and long-term exposure can cause cancer.

[[folder:FanWorks]]

* ''Film/AlienNation''. Due to their BizarreAlienBiology, salt water burns Newcomers like acid. A Newcomer drug lord has his human henchmen pull another Newcomer into the ocean to kill him.
* ''Film/MarsAttacks''. When the Martians hear recordings of Slim Whitman singing "Indian Love Call" their heads explode. The humans take advantage of this to destroy them.

* ''Film/{{Constantine}}'' has the title character flush out some demons that have infested a hospital by having his apprentice perform a holy water ritual on the hospital's [[TelepathicSprinklers fire safety system]], then holding a cigarette lighter below a smoke detector, triggering the sprinklers to rain holy water. The holy water burns the demons while leaving the humans inside unharmed.

'''Obadiah Stane:''' [[OhCrap "Icing problem?"]] <the Iron Monger suit freezes up>\\

* In ''Film/{{Innerspace}}'', Tuck moves his battle with Igoe [[FantasticVoyagePlot into Jack's stomach]] where [[spoiler:the acid dissolves the baddie while Tuck remains unharmed in his minisub.]]

** In the Virtual World arc, the monsters and effects are solid so players experience real damage. When Noah Kaiba duels Seto and then Yami Yugi, he uses his VirtualRealityWarper powers to make it so this does not apply to him. Seto damages him several times and Yami Yugi hits him with several Direct Attacks and he doesn't feel a thing, while a mere 100 damage is extremely painful to Yami Yugi.

** 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.

*** Krieg also has a skill tree dedicated to setting both himself and his enemies on fire. While he ''does'' still take damage from setting himself on fire, he heals based on damage he deals with elemental effects, ''including'' damage he deals to himself with incendiary weapons, making him more or less immune while still taking full damage, [[CombatSadomasochist just the way he likes it.]]

** ''VideoGame/Fallout3'' originally averted this. You still had to [[HeroicSacrifice sacrifice yourself]] in the chamber of deadly radiation at the end of the game, or take the [[KarmaMeter Evil karma option]] and convince Sarah Lyons to sacrifice ''her''self instead, despite the fact that you may have one of three possible companions who are immune to radiation tagging along with you, one of whom is a ''brainwashed slave who is physically unable to disobey you no matter how much he may want to''. Yet all of them will refuse and tell you to [[ButThouMust do it yourself]]. Purchasing the ''Broken Steel'' DLC will allow you to send one of them in, but Creator/RonPerlman still calls you a coward for not doing it yourself.

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, AcquiredPoisonImmunity, and YouCantKillWhatsAlreadyDead. 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), ReviveKillsZombie, 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.

* ''TabletopGame/ArsMagica'': A spell lacking any Penetration total on the spellcasting die roll can't affect a target with any ResistanceToMagic, which every Hermetic magus has to at least some degree. Magi can deliberately omit Penetration from their spellcasting to exclude each other from AreaOfEffect spells.