History Main / TheLawOfPowerProportionateToEffort

* In ''Franchise/{{Discworld}}'' magic works this way; it takes the same amount of effort to move something with magic that it would take to move it with muscle. If you want to get a 145 pound wizard to the top of a tall tower really quickly, it helps a lot if there's a 145 pound stone at the top of the tower you can use as a "counterweight". Of course, Discworld runs on RuleOfCool, so this is sometimes ignored when something really needs to happen for plot reasons.

[[folder: Anime & Manga]]

* [[PstandardPsychicPstance Concentration]]/[[ChargedAttack Charging]]/[[VancianMagic Preparation]]/[[PowerCrutch External Help]]

* [[ThoughtControlledPower Thought]]

*** Destruction and Erase are the most egregious exceptions which prove the rule. They are terrifyingly lethal abilities which utterly destroy a person's body and soul down to the smallest particle. But even more horrific than that is that their users can do so almost instantaneously and with little time to dodge or defend. Zen-O's Erase can even wipe out an entire universe or timeline with a mere thought or gesture, which is what makes him [[spoiler:and his future counterpart]] [[TheDreaded the most feared beings]] known.

* ''ComicBook/IncredibleHulk'': The Hulk's power typically comes from his lack of control. As the epitome of UnstoppableRage, the more berserk the Hulk is, the stronger he is. There have been times in which he's gained a greater "base strength" while in control[[note]]Notably, [[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulkFutureImperfect The Maestro]] and [[ComicBook/WorldWarHulk the Green Scar.]][[/note]], but even then getting angrier makes him scarier. Other characters have attempted to control the HulkOut and keep their mental faculties, such as the Abomination, ComicBook/RedHulk, ComicBook/SheHulk, and [[ComicBook/TotallyAwesomeHulk Amadeus Cho,]] but they've all hit a limit to their strength--except when the latter two get mad.

* ''ComicBook/IncredibleHulk'': The Hulk's power typically comes from his lack of control. As the epitome of UnstoppableRage, the more berserk the Hulk is, the stronger he is. There have been times in which he's gained a greater "base strength" while in control[[note]]Notably, [[ComicBook/FutureImperfect The Maestro]] and [[ComicBook/WorldWarHulk the Green Scar.]][[/note]], but even then getting angrier makes him scarier. Other characters have attempted to control the HulkOut and keep their mental faculties, such as the Abomination, ComicBook/RedHulk, ComicBook/SheHulk, and [[ComicBook/TotallyAwesomeHulk Amadeus Cho,]] but they've all hit a limit to their strength--except when the latter two get mad.

*** When first introduced, ''nobody'' knew how to ascend to this form; it required extreme amounts of emotional stress and a dire need for it. With enough practice, however, it gradually becomes easier. It also burns through ki over time ([[InformedFlaw allegedly). To face Cell, Goku and Gohan perfected the form so that took no effort to activate or sustain, which paid off because it closed to gap to Super Saiyan 2, allowing Gohan to attain it during the Cell Games.
*** Super Saiyan 3 takes the flaw of Super Saiyan and exaggerates it: it burns through ki like nothing else and takes an extreme amount of effort to activate. At the time there were only two solutions: being dead (where ki isn't a problem) or the Fusion Dance, since the combined ki makes Super Saiyan 3 a plaything. The downside however was burning through time: if a dead person on Earth then the form will reduce the time they have left, while a Fusion that lasts 30 minutes may be reduced to mere minutes.

*** When first introduced, ''nobody'' knew how to turn it on. However, once done for the first time, it became easier subsequently but with heavy concentration. It still required emotional stress and physical fatigue when activated on subsequent occasions. We're also told that it wastes a ton of energy, but this was mostly an InformedFlaw.
*** Before the Cell Games, Goku and Gohan intentionally {{Invoked|Trope}} this trope. Through training, they modified Super Saiyan form so that it barely took a thought to activate, and used almost no energy. In other words, it had become their new "normal" state, meaning that when great emotional stress hit this time, Gohan ascended to [[NextTierPowerUp Super Saiyan 2]].
*** Unlike the others, Super Saiyan 3 (the most powerful form, excluding ''Anime/DragonballGT'' and ''Anime/DragonballSuper'') could be activated deliberately. Even so, it took Goku several ''minutes'' to charge up with a living body (he developed it while having an immortal, dead one). Both he and Gotenks were also under a lot of strain the whole time it was activated, limiting the time they could remain in that form.
** Kaioken:
*** When Goku is first taught the Kaio-ken (an ability that multiplies his base power), he's hardly able to use more the fourth level before the stress on his body is too much to bear. Through training, he's eventually able to use twenty times with barely any effort, but by that point the technique had become SoLastSeason.

*** {{Downplayed| Trope}} for this technique; when someone uses a Kamehameha, the longer it takes them to [[CallingYourAttacks say its name]], the more power they're building up.
** Spirit Bomb:
*** The Spirit Bomb is, by ''far'' Goku's strongest technique, but it needs a trifecta of charging time, mental concentration ''and'' cooperation from those he's borrowing energy. Meaning that unless he has someone to cover him for the several (or even ''dozens'') of minutes it takes to complete it, he won't survive long enough to get it off, and the longer it takes him to find and convince others to help, the longer the Bomb will take to complete.

* ComicBook/ImmortalIronFist used to summon his Iron Fist in a very conservative manner due to the stress it caused. That limit has since been removed, however, [[PowerCreepPowerSeep because it made him rather useless after he began teaming up with stronger superheroes.]]

* Manga/{{Bleach}} demonstrates this through its kidou magic: a Shinigami can cast a spell without the half-minute spirit chant, but it loses most of its power and probably won't be more than a distraction against its target. Most kidou victories involve struggling to delay the enemy long enough for someone to finish a full chant-- or one of the strongest Captains showing off how much damage they can do with a few words.
* Manga/{{Naruto}}

* ''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima'':

* [[InvokedTrope Invoked]] for Comicbook/{{Cyclops}}, whose main superpower is a destructive pair of EyeBeams, with the power to destroy mountains, that appear whenever he opens his eyes. Using this power is based on a gesture (opening his eyes), but to stop that from [[StoryBreakerPower becoming broken]], he not only has PowerIncontinence, but two different energy sources for these beams are introduced to provide limits.

* Comicbook/ImmortalIronFist used to summon his Iron Fist in a very conservative manner due to the stress it caused. That limit has since been removed, however, [[PowerCreepPowerSeep because it made him rather useless after he began teaming up with stronger superheroes.]]
* ''Comicbook/IncredibleHulk'': The Hulk's power typically comes from his lack of control. As the epitome of UnstoppableRage, the more berserk the Hulk is, the stronger he is. There have been times in which he's gained a greater "base strength" while in control[[note]]Notably, [[ComicBook/FutureImperfect The Maestro]] and [[ComicBook/WorldWarHulk the Green Scar.]][[/note]], but even then getting angrier makes him scarier. Other characters have attempted to control the HulkOut and keep their mental faculties, such as the Abomination, ComicBook/RedHulk, ComicBook/SheHulk, and [[ComicBook/TotallyAwesomeHulk Amadeus Cho,]] but they've all hit a limit to their strength--except when the latter two get mad.

* ''Videogame/WarcraftIII'': The most powerful spells often require channeling, which puts the caster at risk. Some very powerful spells like summoning a demon lord or breaking the Earth's crust under the Northern continent took several in-game days to complete, with the summoners completely dependent on others for protection.
* ''Videogame/GoldenSun'' has a psychic power that activates exactly once without any effort on the heroes' part and is never heard from again (in Kolima Forest, the pollen that turns people into trees starts falling towards the heroes, when Psynergy bubbles grow around them and prevent the transformation).
* ''Videogame/{{Pokemon}}'': Many moves utilize this scale.

* In ''Videogame/DragonAgeInquisition'', it's offhandedly mentioned by one of the party members that back in the days of the advanced (but ultimately lost) Elven empire, some spells required ''decades'' to cast. These spells were apparently awesome to behold and blended with other magic to create an "unending symphony" of magical energy. But as Elves were immortal in that age, they didn't understand the concept of time, so such long casting seemed trivial.

*** The Spirit Bomb is, by ''far'' Goku's strongest technique, but it needs both charging time ''and'' mental concentration. Meaning that unless he has someone to cover him for the several (or even ''dozens'') of minutes it takes to complete it, he won't survive long enough to get it off.

** Using their abilities requires difficult, exhaustive, or [[CastFromHitPoints harmful]] effort to use. Typically, this means the ability can only be cast a limited number of times before the toll is too much for the user to take (sometimes incurring ''permanent'' damage from overuse).