History Main / ContractualBossImmunity

* ''{{Paranoia}}'' gives certain NPCs "GM fiat armor" as shorthand for "beating this guy would really mess up the plot, so whatever the [=PCs=] try, contrive some excuse for it to fail".

* Averted in ''CyborgJustice'', where the instant-death torso rip moves work as well with the bosses as it do with the {{Mook}}s. On the other hand, they're also the only one to be able to do it to ''you''.

*** There's also the psion-killer (psions basically being wizards using MP instead of the usual system), a golem specifically designed, as one might infer, to kill psions (and by extension wizards/sorcerers).

* Largely averted in {{Borderlands}}. Anything that critical hits a normal enemy will critical hit a boss with the same level of damage multiplier. It's just that bosses have a '''lot''' of health. This is especially evident with Sniper Rifles, as the vast majority of sniper rifles will one-shot any {{Mook}} with a [[BoomHeadshot critical hit]], but, while doing far more damage per hit on bosses compared to weapons with less sheer power, they are much less useful because of their very low firerates and reliance on crits. It is fully averted in the case of vehicles, however. Any boss that you can use vehicles in its arena (with the exception of the also vehicle-riding Mad Mel), you CAN run down, and it will almost always be a one hit kill. The game does severely limit the number of bosses that you can bring a runner to play with, though. The most notable examples of this are the optional boss One-Eyed Jack, Widowmaker, and Helob. It is very easy to get a Runner into their general areas, and it will almost always one hit kill them. Your runner will not likely survive the charge, however.

* ''{{Paranoia}}'' gives certain NPCs "GM fiat armor" as shorthand for "beating this guy would really mess up the plot, so whatever the PCs try, contrive some excuse for it to fail".

** Of course, your garden-variety Cheating Bastardness ensures that the "33% chance to hit" with these moves actually means "You will miss every time until you are KOed." Except when the CPU uses them.

** The spiritual successor, ''SupremeCommander: Forged Alliance'', teleports the ACUs of crticial units out of the battlefield instead of having them explode.

** Played straight though in AssasinsCreed 2. All Enemies are vulnerable to your hidden blade ''and'' your smoke bomb, but the final boss (and the penultimate boss) are conveniently immune.

** In MetalGear2:SolidSnake, you have to defeat a normal scientist who has no super powers or attacks for that matter with landmines and/or remote controlled missiles. Many of them.

** In {{Persona3}} and {{Persona4}} ([[NoExportForYou not sure about the first two]]), instant kill spells return as Light and Dark magic. Some enemies can block either or both elements, but every boss is immune.

* Averted in ''TheGodfather'' game. All "bosses", even the enemy Dons, are still regular humans like Aldo yourself - nothing a BoomHeadshot or [[MoreDakka burst of tommygun fire]] can't fix.

** Except golems, which are flat-out immune to spells that allow spell resistance unless otherwise stated, and even then, it usually either slows it or heals/hastes it. Oh, and we can't forget epic-level golems! The Mithral Golem is only DE-HASTED by an actual slow spell, and the Adamantine Golem is straight-up immune to everything (most epic monsters have a ton of immunities on their own). Even this doesn't stop creative wizards who can bypass the immunities by not targeting the golem itself. Grease and other battlefield alterations, [[strike: illusions (mindless creatures lack any method to beat)]] [[strike:(mindless creatures are immune to illusions, and golems are immune to the spells anyway, since they all allow SR)]] Image creating illusions like silent image (mindless creatures don't have the reasoning capacity to disregard out of hand the river dancing gnolls that just appeared), buffing the meatshield and simply "greater invisibility"ing past them are all accepted methods to defeat golems.

** Most [[OneWingedAngel "OneWingedAngels"]] in shooters are generally immune to bombing. There are a few exceptions, such as ''DoDonPachi: Dai Ou Jou'' where Hibachi is immune to bombs but takes full damage from Hyper.

* Bosses in ''WorldOfWarcraft'' tend to be immune to incapacitating effects such as [[BalefulPolymorph Polymorph]], [[AntiMagic Interrupt and silence effects]], and most notably stun effects. This is quite necessary, as if they weren't, every party would simply take as many rogues as possible to keep a boss stun-locked and incapable of doing anything.
** However, spellcasting bosses tend to have spells that can be interrupted (and in many cases this is necessary). A few spells also simply have a different effect on them (most notably the Deep Freeze spell of Frost Mages). And they are fully vulnerable to attacks or spells that can only be used on targets with low health or do more damage in that case. Those skills typically kill of a normal enemy right away, but against a boss they are still valuable, especially against the kind of boss that is [[TurnsRed the most difficult at low health]].

* The bosses of the [[DownloadableContent DLC]] "special stages" in ''MegaMan 10'' are completely immune to all of the secondary boss weapons (which you automatically receive when you begin the stage). Giving them no special weakness would have been one thing, but it's irritating that you can't even access those weapons' interesting attack patterns doing normal damage.

** It is often harder to counter the defences and resistances of particularly powerful bosses than it is to beat them to death with your arsenal of [[InfinityPlusOneSword hugely powerful weapons]], but nothing quite beats the sheer satisfaction of reducing a horrendously powerful dragon to just so much shiny meat with a lucky [[DoesExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Finger Of Death]] spell.

** Played straight though in AssasinsCreed 2. All Enemies are vulnerable to your hidden blade ''and'' your smoke bomb, but the final boss (and the penultiamte boss) are convienently immune.

** UN-averted in that, if you have a weapon with the property of Chance to Kill Undead (or something like that), any undead boss devolves into beating it with the weakest stick u can find with that enchantment (since you cant MAKE that one)... until he goes Poof. Still, i believe i hit him around 200 times before that happened once.

[[AC: VideoGames: Jump'n'Run]]
* Averted in Yoshi's Island, where you can one-hit kill one of the bosses because you can slightly see him before the bossfight starts and the boss thus is still small.

* The final boss in [[Infamous]] has this in spades. On easy mode, all your attacks work, and he can be beaten quickly, on normal mode, your strongest doesn't work, but he can still be killed easily. On the [[nintendo hard]] mode? At least one of your skills will be below maximum level (assuming you chose an option to get a ton of XP), and all but your NORMAL ZAP and one (relatively weak) evil move work on him. Considering the sheer number of ways he can one hit you if you're at less than full health? Painful fight to say the least. Can take over an hour, not counting the inevitable dozens of retries.

*** In addition, the final boss [[spoiler: Chaos]] can be killed by casting Bane, a ''OneHitKill'' spell. It doesn't always work, although that's no problem since you can infinitely cast Bane using the Bane sword as an item.