Basic Trope: Any attack, tactic, etc. that could come at a price (and very nearly always does). In other words, it is dangerous, and therefore forbidden.
- Straight: Dave casts the Explosivo spell on a Boss in Mook's Clothing. Said spell causes the target to explode, but has a three-in-five chance of making the user do the same thing.
- Exaggerated: …said spell could potentially cause an Earth-Shattering Kaboom if used incorrectly.
- Downplayed:
- …said spell could cause mild burns to the face if the caster is too close to the target, making its use somewhat undesirable to begin with.
- A potentially lethal or crippling technique is banned in officially-sanctioned tournaments, but permitted for self-defense when safer alternatives aren't an option.
- Justified: The target has crossed the Godzilla Threshold and the Explosivo spell, however dangerous it may be to the caster, the Boss in Mook's Clothing would cause a lot more damage if Dave didn’t use it.
- Inverted: The Explosivo spell, although dangerous, is a staple of modern magical duels; therefore to not use it would be forbidden.
- Subverted: Dave creates a magic shield around himself first to circumvent the possibility of blowing himself up.
- Double Subverted: …but it turns out to be a bit more literal than that…
- Parodied:
- The Explosivo spell has the unfortunate side-effect of possibly turning the caster into a bushel of daisies.
- Dave's feng shui Old Master teaches the Explosivo technique, under the condition that he must never use it: With the correct furniture arrangement, the room will explode, vaporizing everything in it—including the practitioner. Due to its nature, the Old Master is killed demonstrating it.
- Dave learns how to punch with his fist. This is disallowed, because it has a one in Eleventy Zillion chance to trigger Apocalypse Wow.
- Zig Zagged: The mentor who taught Dave the Explosivo spell inadvertently blows himself up later in the story, but Dave never blows up.
- The Souldrinker spell is very powerful, never has friendly fire, and doesn't have any adverse effects to the caster but is forbidden. This is because it extends their lifespan and power. This lead to more indiscriminate usage and extended very deadly wars because it was too good for the caster.
- Averted: The nature of the Explosivo spell dictates that only the target is at risk of exploding, never the caster.
- Enforced:
- The writers are trying to set up a Forbidden Chekhov's Gun.
- Or prove that Anyone Can Die.
- Lampshaded: "Dave, are you crazy? You could have blown up that brute and yourself at the same time! There’s a reason that spell was outlawed, you know!"
- Invoked: The designers of the spell Explosivo purposefully made it have a chance of blowing up the caster to encourage careful use.
- Exploited: Dave tells Emperor Evulz how to use the Explosivo spell, and then reveals to him that Evulz’s Dragon failed to recover the Macguffin. Evulz decides to test out the Explosivo spell by testing it out on the Dragon. Both of them explode when the spell rebounds, which means that Dave saved the day without actually using the Dangerous Forbidden Technique in the first place.
- Defied: Only a novice could possibly blow himself up, and so the Explosivo spell is only taught to advanced mages. Dave is one such mage, and thus is incapable of accidentally killing himself.
- Discussed: “Why the heck would I use that spell?” “You shouldn’t, Dave! That’s the point!”
- Conversed: “How much you wanna bet he’s gonna use the Explosivo spell at some point?”
- Deconstructed: Dave successfully destroys the Boss in Mook's Clothing with the Explosivo spell, but the rebound explosion that resulted severely burned Dave and killed off the rest of his party. He spends the rest of his life horribly disfigured and wondering if there were actually a better way to save the day.
- Reconstructed: …however, Dave has since become a master of the Explosivo spell and is so profound at using it that he is able to blow up only his target and never himself or others.
The Dangerous Forbidden Technique trope is so dangerous even its trope page is forbidden.
