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The example you're talking about is Mana Shield. See also Cast from Hit Points, its inverse.
^ Oh, yah. Duh. My bad. Depends on exactly how it's being used.
- Heal Thyself is Exactly What It Says on the Tin, and I don't think there's a "use healing magic to do it" Sub-Trope, other than Healing Hands, which allows you to heal others as well, but Heal Thyself should cover it. It's a blanket trope for "Healing Factor that must be actively used, as opposed to a straight-up innate regenerative ability."
- Mana Shield: An ability or effect that causes your mana bar (MP, TP, whatever) to "take damage" instead of your health.
- Cast from Hit Points: Using your health to cast magic spells instead of your mana (MP, TP, whatever).
It's not any of those... The Golden Apple is not a one-time health-boosting unit (you can use it as long as you have magic power and the Apple is the active item), therefore it's not Heal Thyself. It's not Mana Shield because it's not your magic power taking direct damage. It's not Cast From Hit Points, sort of the opposite, in fact.
Instead of saying what it's not, can you succinctly and clearly explain what it is?
Nothing about Heal Thyself requires that it be a one-time use. Read the Laconic: "An apply-it-yourself Healing Factor." This can be magic, it can be an item, it can be something else entirely.
^ Yah.
It sounds like it's an item that allows you to channel mana/magic/whatever through it to heal yourself. Which just makes it a specific type of Heal Thyself. If we actually have some kind of "Point Conversion" trope that lets you take one of your whatever-meters and convert it to refill one of your other whatever-meters, then it'd be that as well, but I'm not finding the latter.
I'm not gonna start any if we don't have one, but I'd contribute with examples
- El Sword
- Eve's skill Energy Conversion convers a few of her HP into MP.
- Chung's Reload skill lets him gain 2 bullets quickly (3 if you upgade it). Note: ammo for him is treated like an extra meter.
- Ara has 2 resources, the MP bar and the Spirit Orbs; many of her skills convert her MP into spirit orbs.
- Add has 2 resources, the MP bar and the DP bar; some of his skills will use MP and recover a few DP, while some others do the reverse. In particular, Time Tracer's system will make all his skills (and his job advancement's as well) cost either MP or DP and recover the other bar depending on whether he activated the DP Mode or not.
I'll provide a video of God of Thunder footage to describe what I mean:
At this point
Thor collects the Enchanted Apple. As Odin (your Exposition Fairy) explains:
"You've found the Enchanted Apple. This item will heal your wounds. Hold down CTRL to use it."
Note that your health is represented by a red bar and your magic by a green bar. The player immediately holds down CTRL to activate the apple. The green bar shrinks and the red bar extends. Thor had full magic, but it only converts into about half its length in health, to discourage frivolous use.
I'm thinking that he's asking for a supertrope to that. A trope for when you convert resources in one meter to another. Whether that be magic to health or health to magic or one ammo type to another. This might be Too Rare To Trope, and the specific instances are handled by their own tropes.
Heal Thyself looks like "an item that provides a one-time boost to your health". The Enchanted Apple is reusable as long as you have magic. Perhaps a supertrope is needed.
Edited by NateTheGreat^ It's not a one-time use. Read some of the example list, plz. There's an example near the top that is "This character can heal by leaning against a wall." There are also examples of characters casting healing magic.
However, I agree that we could stand to create a Super-Trope for "converting one Stat Meter to another". It may or may not have any examples (since the majority of examples I can imagine are already covered under sub-tropes), but that's no reason to deny Missing Supertrope Syndrome.
Edited for wiki formatting because I suuuuuuuuuuuuck~
Edited by SolipSchismA consumable item that heals is Health Potion (or Health Food), not Heal Thyself
MAX POWER KILL JEEEEEEEEWWWWWThe first line of Heal Thyself is literally "When video game characters get shot, slashed, burned etc., they can usually count on finding a box of medical supplies or similar, with which they can instantly restore their health." Which looks like Health Potion. Perhaps a major cleanup operation is necessary. I'm not even seeing anything like "can turn magic energy into health" at any point in the description. Time for a thread in the Trope Repair Shop?

In a game that has two or more different health/magic/whatever meters, the ability (sometimes granted by an item) to convert one into another (always at a loss, of course). For example, in the old DOS game God of Thunder the Golden Apple can convert your magic power into health; a very useful thing to have at times.