History Main / PercentDamageAttack

* The word "decimate" originates from a Roman military punishment where soldiers were ordered to draw lots, with one out of every ten[[hottip:*: "decimus", Latin for one-tenth]] men being executed as a result. The term is [[YouKeepUsingThatWord rarely used that way anymore]].

* In the first ''{{Civilization}}'', nukes destroyed ''exactly'' half of a town's current population, including defending units and one significant structure.

* ''{{Runescape}}'' has enchanted ruby bolts which have a chance to take away 20% of opponent's health from the enemy at the cost of decimating player's health. They're used to take down some of the stronger enemies.
* ''GoldenSun'''s summons use the target's max HP to calculate damage, but they also have a fixed base power.

* In addition to various HPToOne attacks, ''ChronoTrigger'' features several bosses (mainly Dalton and his Golems) who use attacks that drop your health to half of its current state.

* The "Super Fang" move in ''{{Pokemon}}'' reduces the opponent's HP by half, and is mandated to inflict ScratchDamage if the opponent is already reduced to one HitPoint. It is not affected by the game's ElementalRockPaperScissors beyond the fact that "Ghost"-type opponents are immune to its element.

** In ''FinalFantasyVII'', ContractualBossImmunity is avoided for some flying bosses, who only have a 50% damage reduction from it instead. Also, there is at least one enemy that ''absorbs'' gravity attacks as HP: Master Tonberry.

** In ''FinalFantasyIX'' and ''FinalFantasyXII'', gravity-based damage was calculated based on an opponent's ''maximum'' HP rather than their ''current'' HP and therefore became a FixedDamageAttack.
** ''{{Final Fantasy X-2}}'' has both flavors of percent-based attacks all over the place.

* The word "decimate" originates from a Roman military punishment where soldiers were ordered to draw lots, with one out of every ten[[hottip:*: the word ultimately derives from the Latin "decimus", meaning "(one) tenth"]] men being executed as a result. The term is [[YouKeepUsingThatWord rarely used that way anymore]].

* The word "decimate" originates from a Roman military punishment where soldiers were ordered to draw lots, with one out of every ten men being executed as a result. The term is [[YouKeepUsingThatWord rarely used that way anymore]].

A close relative of the FixedDamageAttack, this is an attack or spell in many {{RPG}}s whose damage is proportional to the target's current HP. The most common forms of this attack will reduce the opponent's HP by 1/4 (or 1/2) of its current value, weakening the target without killing it. Like a Fixed Damage Attack, these attacks ignore the usual damage calculations altogether, with the only variable being whether or not the attack actually ''hits'' the target to begin with.

Naturally, a character at full HP will receive the most raw damage, while characters with low HP will receive hardly any damage whatsoever. Whether or not this attack is capable of actually landing a killing blow varies by system: The amount of damage inflicted is typically rounded down, so a character reduced to their last HitPoint might receive no damage whatsoever (unless ScratchDamage is required, or if ElementalRockPaperScissors gives it a boost).

An occasional variant involves a percentage based on the target's ''maximum'' HP instead of their current HP (so its effect does ''not'' diminish as the opponent is weakened). But because the target's maximum HP is a fixed amount during any given battle, this variant becomes a FixedDamageAttack as a result.

* The ''FinalFantasy'' series has many examples and frequently classifies them as a "gravity" element, featuring versions that remove 25%, 50%, and 75% of the opponent's HP, respectively. Some can target multiple foes simultaneously.

** In ''FinalFantasyIX'' AND ''FinalFantasyXII'', gravity-based damage was calculated based on an opponent's ''maximum'' HP rather than their ''current'' HP and therefore able to inflict a killing blow.

** In ''DigitalDevilSaga'', ''most'' Hama/exorcism spells reduce HP by a percentage with a decent chance of working (both of those depending on the spell), but they will instant kill enemies weak to them, while Mudo/death is instant death.

* ''TacticsOgre'' ''The Knight of Lodis'' has a spell that deals damage equals to 10% of the foe's maximum HP. It's nearly useless except for fighting the final boss, who has high HP and is extremely hard to deal high damage to. If you have two or three casters using it, it goes down fast.

** Played with in ''MagicTheGathering'': Decimator Web, for [[FourIsDeath four]] mana, does two damage to a player, takes six cards from his library and puts them in his graveyard, and gives him a poison counter, theoretically bringing him one-tenth of the way closer to death along three paths. It does not, however, increase or decrease according to life total, number of poison counters, or size of library.

* In {{Persona 4}}, while most Holy element attacks were instant kills, one attack called "God's Judgement" reduced the target's current HP by half. Being part of the Holy element, it could still be nullified/reflected by an appropriate Persona.
** In ''DigitalDevilSaga'', ''all'' "hama" spells reduce HP by half (but will instant kill enemies weak to them) while dark "mudo" element is still instant death.

** In ''FinalFantasyVII'', ContractualBossImmunity is subverted for some flying bosses, who only have a 50% damage reduction from it instead. Also, there is at least one enemy that ''absorbs'' gravity attacks as HP: Master Tonberry.

** The moves "Crush Grip" and "Wring Out" are subversions: They obey the standard damage formula (attack/defense power, ElementalRockPaperScissors, chances of a CriticalHit), but their base attack power is proportional to the opponent's percentage HP. If one strike reduced the opponent's HP by half, the next strike will only hit for half as much.

* GoldenSun's summons are a partial example; they use the target's max HP to calculate damage, but they also have a fixed base power, and they use both to calculate damage.

* The word "decimate" originates from a Roman military punishment where soldiers were ordered to draw lots, with one out of every ten men being executed as a result. The term is [[YouKeepUsingThatWord rarely used that way anymore]].

** In ''FinalFantasyIX'', gravity-based damage was calculated based on an opponent's ''maximum'' HP rather than their ''current'' HP and therefore able to inflict a killing blow.

** In ''FinalFantasyVII'', ContractualBossImmunity is subverted for some flying bosses, who only have a 50% damage reduction instead. Also, there is at least one enemy that ''absorbs'' gravity attacks: Master Tonberry.

* One attack in {{Persona 4}}, "God's Judgement" reduced the target's current HP by half, but was classified as a Holy element, so it could also be nullified/reflected with the appropriate Persona.
** In ''DigitalDevilSaga'', ''all'' hama spells reduce HP by half (but will instant kill enemies weak to them) while dark/mudo will still do instant death.

* ''{{Runescape}}'' has enchanted ruby bolts which have a chance to take away a large percentage of health from the enemy at the cost of you taking damage. They're used to take down some of the stronger enemies.

The general variant uses not the target's current HP, but their ''maximum'' HP. This makes the spell a lot deadlier, as it becomes indistinguishable from an instant kill attack at low HP levels.