History Main / MultipleLifeBars

[[folder:Light Novel]]
* ''LightNovel/SoImASpiderSoWhat'': There's both HitPoints (HP) and Stamina Points (SP). When Kumoko battles the Earth Dragon Araba, the fight seems hopeless because he has HP regeneration ''and'' eventually levels up [[LevelUpFillUp which restores his HP]] and grants new abilities. However, she planned it to be an endurance battle as a gambit using her special skill "King of Sloth" which drains SP, counting on Araba not realizing she had a skill that was draining his SP. Early on it's established that if SP reaches 0 you essentially die of starvation, which is the usual way it goes down (or rather doesn't replenish). The battle ends when Araba realizes that even 1 more attack will kill him, and chooses to FaceDeathWithDignity and allow Kumoko the final strike. This confuses and upsets her, since she expected others to fight to the end, but it's revealed later that to dragonkind, she was considered a worthy opponent.
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* ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' bosses use layered health bars (which are only visible with the Scan ability). [[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsI In the first game]], there is a single bar that cycles through colors for each additional bar's worth of health (green > yellow > orange > pink > purple, with green being the "base"). Some bosses (such as [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII Sephi]][[BonusBoss roth]]) had health ''beyond'' the maximum the bar could display, causing them to appear to be taking no damage from any attacks until they were brought in range. Every game since then has stuck with a green bar and squares underneath, showing how many they had in all. In Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, however, the colors are mixed up (green > blue > yellow > red, with green being the "base"). From Kingdom Hearts 2 onward, the colored bar system was ditched in favor of a HP gauge counter, with one full HP bar representing 200 HP.

** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'' has a GiantFlyer enemy that basically has an extra lifebar: it starts out every battle flying but lands when heavily damaged. Thing is, you can't one-shot it even with 99999s, it always goes to the landed stage with HPToOne.

* ''{{VideoGame/Starcraft}}'': The Protoss have RegeneratingShieldsStaticHealth, and have a building that allows them to rapidly replenish their shields. However, the Zerg's Plague ability allows to bypass the shields and reduce their HPToOne, while the Terrans' EMP reduces shields to 0.

* Bosses can have lots of health bars in ''VideoGame/{{Elsword}}'', especially the later ones. The Field Bonus Boss takes this Up to Eleven: it has 99 bars!

** The Wily Machine's first phase has what can only be described as a health bar ''[[UpToEleven made of health bars]]''. That is, one full health bar, where each hit point represents its own separate health bar. That adds up to 29 times 28, or 812 hit points. However, it takes above average damage from every weapon and lacks MercyInvincibility, so it's not as durable as it sounds.

* ''VideoGame/TheWonderful101'', in the same vein as Bayonetta, can also have bosses with multiple life bars. Most bosses have somewhere around five to ''ten'' layers of health. If you see a boss that has a purple life bar, then get ready for a really long battle. [[spoiler: The final boss's health bar has ''[[UpToEleven eleven]]'' layers.]]

* ''TabletopGame/TheWorldOfDarkness'' tabletop [=RPGs=] all use a mix of SubsystemDamage and Alternate Knockout Conditions: Stun and Bashing damage merely gets converted to Lethal when it exceeds a threshold, but too much Lethal or Aggravated kills you dead.

* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'''s Substitute ability does this; the user pays 25% of their max [[HitPoints health]] to hide behind a plush Pokémon-esque doll (likely in a ShoutOut to ''VideoGame/{{Earthbound}}'', that had inventory-carried teddy bears that served a similar purpose) that has the exact same HP as the user lost, and absorbs any attack barring [[MakeMeWannaShout sound-based moves]] or the [[ArmorPiercingAttack Infiltrator]] ability - and while it seems like a UselessUsefulSpell, and often is in the [[PlayTheGameSkipTheStory main story]]; it has a plethora of secondary effects, including status immunity, and can also assist with [[GradualGrinder stalling tactics]] or even be Baton Passed onto another team member to protect them on switch-in.

** The Final Boss of ''Yakuza 5'' has '''9'''.

* ''VideoGame/{{Frostpunk}}'' has two bars equivalent to a MoraleMechanic: Hope and Discontent. You need to keep Hope as high as possible and Discontent as low as possible. If Hope gets too low or Discontent gets too high, your citizens will threaten to overthrow you. Many actions and effects will affect one or the other, and occasionally both. Eventually, you can choose to pass a law that crosses the MoralEventHorizon and eliminate the need to maintain Hope.

* ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' bosses use layered health bars (which are only visible with the Scan ability). [[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsI In the first game]], there is a single bar that cycles through colors for each additional bar's worth of health (green > blue > yellow > red > purple, with green being the "base"). Some bosses (such as [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII Sephi]][[BonusBoss roth]]) had health ''beyond'' the maximum the bar could display, causing them to appear to be taking no damage from any attacks until they were brought in range. Every game since then has stuck with a green bar and squares underneath, showing how many they had in all.

[[folder: Tabletop Games ]]

[[folder: Video Games ]]

* ''VideoGame/DragonBallAdvanceAdventure'' uses the method of layered lifebars to indicate that much more health while conserving screen space. Even though there's health power-ups that give you more layers on your lifebar, the first fights against General Tao and King Piccolo start you with one layer when the opponent has several, the telltale sign that [[HopelessBossFight the plot's calling for Goku to get clobbered]].

[[folder: Webcomics ]]

* In ''[[TabletopGame/MutantYearZero Mutant: Year Zero]]'', each of the four ''Attributes'' act not only as skill checks for certain rolls, but also as their own individual health bars for certain attacks. Any damage dealt to them results in ''Trauma'' to that ''Attribute'' and lowers the amount of dice that can be rolled on it, until it is recovered by the necessary need for recovery. If any of the ''Attributes'' reach zero, the player's [=PC=] or [=NPC=] becomes broken and they can be killed by the next attack against them.

* In ''VideoGame/CryingSuns'', battleships can have multiple "hull" bars. Some models have them by default, while others start with one and must be upgraded to have more. A battleship is not destroyed until all hull bars have been depleted, and you must work through them one at a time.

* In ''VideoGame/CryingSuns'', battleships can have multiple “hull” bars. Some models have them by default, while others start with one and must be upgraded to have more. A battleship is not destroyed until all hull bars have been depleted, and if you lose a hull bar, you’ll need to have it repaired at a shipyard.

[[caption-width-right:200:Green: [[HitPoints Health]].[softreturn]Grey: [[BodyArmorAsHitPoints Guard]].[softreturn]Blue: [[DeflectorShields Barrier]]. [softreturn]What was the difference again?]]

[[caption-width-right:200:Green: [[HitPoints Health]].[softreturn]Grey: [[BodyArmorAsHitPoints Guard]].[softreturn]Blue: [[DeflectorShields Barrier]].]]

* In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses'', Beast enemies have anywhere from 2-4 bars of health, the reserves represented by red crystal icons next to their HP value. They also have Latent Abilities that [[TurnsRed activate as you take away bars]].