Basic Trope: A spell or item in a game which draws randomly from a pool of possible effects, instead of having one set effect.
- Straight: Bob the Bard knows the spell Gambler's Dice, which can cast all status effects, do all types of elemental damage, heal the party, or backfire horribly... but which happens when he uses it is all up to the Random Number God.
- Exaggerated:
- Every single spell known by every single character has a number of random effects, such as random status effects or randomly-chosen elemental affinities.
- Gambler's Dice can potentially be any spell in the game.
- Downplayed: Gambler's Dice only casts a random status effect, or only has a randomly-set element. Its other effects are consistent.
- Justified: Gambler's Dice draws from Wild Magic, which is unpredictable.
- The spell draws upon the thrill of the gamble. The potential for epic rewards balanced against an equal potential for epic failure is why it works. Without that it may as well not be included.
- Inverted: Bob the Bard also has the spell Piercing Song, which does exactly the SAME thing every time it's used, regardless of circumstances.
- Subverted: While the effects of Gambler's Dice seem random, it's actually influenced by predictable things, such as what equipment Bob is wearing, the environment, or who else is in your party at the time.
- Double Subverted: ...Or at least that's what the fans think. Several years later, the game is hacked, and it turns out it WAS completely random all along.
- Parodied: ???
- Zig Zagged: Gambler's Dice rolls the same result several times, but then begins to net other results, so it is assumed to be a freak occurrence. Later on, a different result repeats, but that trend also ends. Bob thinks that the spell serves as a wheel of fortune and some spells have multiple entries on the wheel that make them more likely to roll consecutively, but he also knows that Gambler's Dice could still just be truly random.
- Averted: The game's spells all have a degree of randomness, but it mostly lies in how much damage they deal or in whether or not they successfully induce status effects. No spells have more than one possible effect.
- Enforced: ???
- Lampshaded: "Really, Bob? You're gonna use THAT spell? Haven't you ever noticed how just when we're doing good, it goes and does something like revive all the monsters we've fought? And when we're already in a jam, it poisons all of us? Really?"
- Invoked: ???
- Exploited: Hackers figure out how to manipulate the RNG for the spell to ensure that it fully heals the party or instantly defeats all enemies, every single time.
- Defied: Bob the Bard knows such a spell, but knowing how unpredictable its effects are, refuses to use it.
- Discussed: ???
- Conversed: ???
- Deconstructed: Bob the Bard knows the spell, and does use it. It ends up setting off a world-shattering cataclysm that ends up doing more damage to the world than the Big Bad ever would have, leading the story into some very dark places as Bob wonders when a giant risk is actually worth it.
- Reconstructed: ...But Bob the Bard learns to control his dangerous power, and the spell gets seriously powered up for the Final Boss such that all its effects are good, and it proves vital to defeating him.
Back to Random Effect Spell
