History Main / SetSwordsToStun

[[folder:Fan Works]]

* The Mahora Festival arc of ''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima'' ended with a giant fight between the student body and an army of killer robots firing guns and [[WaveMotionGun Wave Motion Beams]]. At first, their weapons only served as [[ClothingDamage stripper rays]], but eventually they were upgraded to hurl whoever they hit forward in time to after the battle, effectively taking them out of the fight without killing them.

* One of the less known [[MemeticMutation jokes]] for ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' is that no matter how the models died, they are ''going home''. Yes, even from being made swiss cheese, exploded, incinerated or vaporized from a plasma shot.

** ''VideoGame/StarWarsMastersOfTerasKasi'' is basically ''Videogame/{{Tekken}}'' [[JustForFun/XMeetsY but with]] Star Wars characters, meaning that lightsabers aren't treated as lethal. In fact, much like the swords in ''Soul Calibur'', they act more like clubs or baseball bats. Even if you defeat an opponent by using a lightsaber, it's still simply classified as a "Knockout" rather than anything fatal.

* ''Franchise/MortalKombat''

* Since battles in the ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}'' series always result in a NonLethalKO or mild ClothingDamage due to the [[DuelsDecideEverything spellcard system]], it's implied that all characters are actually using their own powers but with them being limited to incredibly flashy attacks (such as [[WaveMotionGun Marisa's "spark" spellcards]] or [[RealityWarper Yukari's boundary themed attacks]])

** The ''VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom'' games feature characters with incredibly sharp claws or blades like Comicbook/{{Wolverine}}, Comicbook/BlackPanther, [[VideoGame/DevilMayCry Dante, Vergil]] and VideoGame/MonsterHunter, top tier physical powerhouses like [[Comicbook/TheIncredibleHulk Hulk]], and characters with access to powerful energy projectiles like Comicbook/{{Storm}}, Comicbook/DoctorDoom, [[Comicbook/JeanGrey Phoenix]] and [[Comicbook/MsMarvel Captain Marvel]]. Despite the fact that many of the other combatants are [[VideoGame/StreetFighter human martial artists]] (albeit ones with {{Charles Atlas Superpower}}s), [[VideoGame/ResidentEvil government agents]] or even [[VideoGame/DeadRising reporters]] and ''[[Franchise/AceAttorney lawyers]]'', they're perfectly capable of withstanding beatdowns, slashes and energy blasts from the superpowered characters without dying.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'', during your escape from Vault 101 in the beginning, you cannot kill Amata. No matter what. Shooting her in the head five times at point blank range renders her "unconscious." James likewise is a {{Determinator}} of the grandest scale for walking across the wasteland in only a ratty vaultsuit and taking down super-mutants with a lead pipe (or, when the pipe breaks from excessive wear, ''his fists''.) He's the protagonist's father, so badassery may be genetic.

* An unusual in-universe example occurs in ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemElibe Fire Emblem: the Binding Blade]]'' (the last one to [[NoExportForYou not be released outside Japan]]) with the eponymous [[SwordOfPlotAdvancement Sword of Seals]]. [[GameplayAndStorySegregation Although it doesn't affect Roy's battle capabilities when he ultimately gets to use it]], its strength evidently depends on the resolve of its wielder. Its original owner, Hartmut, had used it to slay a great number of dragons during [[GreatOffscreenWar The Scouring]], but, upon discovering that their leader had assumed the form of a frail young girl, didn't have the heart to kill her, so, when he struck her with the blade, it ensured that the attack would only knock her out.

* {{Inverted|Trope}} in one (and only one) notable case in ''{{VideoGame/Touhou}}''. Normally the flashy magical duels never kill or even seriously injure anyone... but during the fight against Mokou, Reimu and friends go all out, killing her ''[[ImmortalLifeIsCheap repeatedly]]''.

* The Creator/DCComics fighting game ''VideoGame/InjusticeGodsAmongUs'' has many characters with lethal weaponry, like the guns that Comicbook/TheJoker, Comicbook/{{Deathstroke}}, and Comicbook/HarleyQuinn wield, as well as BadassNormal types with no special protection, such as the Comicbook/GreenArrow. The game justifies this in the story mode: every character who isn't already {{Nigh Invulnerab|ility}}le takes some kind of Kryptonian nano-tech pill to compensate...[[GameplayAndStorySegregation after they've already been smacking each other around]]. In one scene, the Joker takes a burst of gunfire to the chest and says "[[LampshadeHanging I should be dead!]] Thanks, happy pill!".

* ''Videogame/SenranKagura'': Being a lighthearted version of a HackAndSlash game, attacks never deal any visible damage other than [[ClothingDamage their clothing]], even if they're done by swords, knives, hammers, guns, or even explosives.

** And then there's [[BearsAreBadNews Kuma, Panda,]] [[KatanasAreJustBetter Yoshimitsu]], [[KnifeNut Kunimitsu]], [[EnergyWeapon Devil Kazuya, Devil Jin, Angel]], [[PlayingWithFire True Ogre]] and [[ChainsawGood Alisa]].

* Particularly bad in ''VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters'' games, as many characters have attacks that could level a building, yet leave no lasting damage anyway. One ''really'' nasty example is Orochi (a god), who can apparently ''[[YourSoulIsMine steal and destroy his opponent's soul]]'', yet if said opponent is not KO'd by this attack, then they can still get up and fight, despite the fact that they should be a [[SoullessShell hollow shell]]. {{Whip|ItGood}} has a gun and, in some games, it doesn't even deal damage. She has another one as an HSDM and at least deals a good amount of damage. Other characters even have missiles, [[FrickinLaserBeams lasers]], a [[ThisIsADrill gigantic drill]], an [[EpicFlail iron ball]]... Hell even the [[PlayingWithFire flames]] should be enough to deal third-degree burns but don't. Also, [[VideoGame/SamuraiShodown Nakoruru]] literally stabs you in the heart as part of her throw move, and as long as your HP isn't completely depleted, no overly long bleeding occurs and your character walk away just fine.

** And then there's [[BearsAreBadNews Kuma, Panda,]] [[KatanasAreJustBetter Yoshimitsu]], [[KnifeNut Kunimitsu]], [[FrickinLaserBeams Devil Kazuya, Devil Jin, Angel]], [[PlayingWithFire True Ogre]] and [[ChainsawGood Alisa]].

** Also, when Kenshin was fighting his master Seijuro Hiko, he hit him on the chest on a way that Kenshin admits would have killed a lesser man and got Hiko bedridden fighting for his life. For some hours. After a night's sleep he was perfectly fine.

* ''VideoGame/BattleArenaToshinden''

* All melee weapons in the first ''VideoGame/{{Gothic}}'' were set to stun, forcing the player to administer a CoupDeGrace to every human enemy before they would be considered dead. Rectified in the second game where the game adjusts weapon lethality based on whether you might want a certain enemy alive, allowing you to perform therapeutic pummeling sessions while saving you the need to extra-stab every last bandid least they stand up and annoy you further. ZigZaggingTrope: Magic and arrows (except blunt arrows in ''3'') are always lethal which makes some duelling side-quests NintendoHard for characters that specialize in those.

* ''PrincessTheHopeful'': All the various charms that add weapons (ranged, melee, or other) to a Princess's Regalia have a rule that lets her switch them between inflicting Bashing and Lethal damage at will. There is no requirement that this change be reflected in the weapon's actual appearance, meaning that you can have a Princess stab someone with a sword and them just be knocked out because the Princess says so.

* All melee weapons in the first ''VideoGame/{{Gothic}}'' were set to stun, requiring the player to administer a CoupDeGrace to every human enemy before it would be considered dead. Rectified in the second game with a HiddenMechanic by which the game judges if you might possibly want an enemy alive and adjusts weapon lethality accordingly, both allowing for therapeutic pummeling sessions and saving you the need to extra-stab every last bandid to prevent them from staning up and annoying you further. ZigZaggingTrope: Magic and arrows (except blunt arrows in ''3'') are always lethal which makes some duelling side-quests NintendoHard for characters that specialize in those.

* The ''VideoGame/CapcomVsWhatever'' series:

** ''VideoGame/MortalKombatX'': The 10th game of the series marks the return of Brutalities. These finishers were last featured in UMK3, but work entirely differently than in that case. They are now tied to the specials of the characters, and are sometimes involving stabbing weapons. Kitana and Mileena are the worst offenders. Kitana has a special move, where she is jumping on the opponent's chest and slices their throat using her fans. Even though normally this would be instant death, when the opponent has more than 10% of health (or so), this only damages them. It turns into a Brutality, when the opponent has less HP than that, and the Kitana player performs the right input for the finisher, and only then will it chop the other figher's head off. Mileena's stabbing special move, where she uses her sais to absolutely gut the opponent with multiple stabs is similarly only lethal under the Brutality circumstances detailed above.

* Particularly bad in ''VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters'' games, as many characters have attacks that could level a building, yet leave no lasting damage anyway. One ''really'' nasty example is Orochi (a god), who can apparently ''[[YourSoulIsMine steal and destroy his opponent's soul]]'', yet if said opponent is not KO'd by this attack, then they can still get up and fight, despite the fact that they should be a [[SoullessShell hollow shell]]. {{Whip|ItGood}} has a gun and, in some games, it doesn't even deal damage. She has another one as an HSDM and at least deals a good amount of damage. Other characters even have missiles, [[FrickinLaserBeams lasers]], a [[ThisIsADrill gigantic drill]], an [[EpicFlail iron ball]]... Hell even the [[PlayingWithFire flames]] should be enough to deal third-degree burns but don't.

*** As a precursor of the X-Ray moves in ''VideoGame/MortalKombat9'', MK4 had "bone breakers", which were unique for each character, and consisted of [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin breaking the opponent's bones.]] All the fighters of course are a-ok in just a few frames, losing around 15-20% of their health, and are perfectly capable of punching and comboing normally, using their (supposedly) broken limbs. The most egregious example is Liu Kang's bonebreaker, as he is straight up breaking the other character's ''spine''... as usual, without any gameplay-affecting ill effects.

** The ''VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom'' games feature characters with incredibly sharp claws or blades like Comicbook/{{Wolverine}}, Comicbook/BlackPanther, [[VideoGame/DevilMayCry Dante, Vergil]] and VideoGame/MonsterHunter, top tier physical powerhouses like [[Comicbook/TheIncredibleHulk Hulk]], and characters with access to powerful energy projectiles like Comicbook/{{Storm}}, Comicbook/DoctorDoom, [[Comicbook/JeanGrey Phoenix]] and [[Comicbook/MsMarvel Captain Marvel]]. Despite the fact that many of the other combatants are [[VideoGame/StreetFighter human martial artists]] (albeit ones with {{Charles Atlas Superpower}}s), [[VideoGame/ResidentEvil government agents]] or even [[VideoGame/DeadRising reporters]] and ''[[VideoGame/AceAttorney lawyers]]'', they're perfectly capable of withstanding beatdowns, slashes and energy blasts from the superpowered characters without dying.

* In ''Anime/GundamBuildFightersTry'', the new and improved Gunpla Battle machine has Damage Level settings which affect the level of damage the participants' models suffer after the game powers down but has absolutely no effect on the damage it ''seems'' to incur during battle. In one episode, one Gunpla's forearms shatter like glass, but since the machine was set to Damage Level C it's perfectly fine afterward.

* In ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'', Rose Quartz's sword turns out to be a variation of this - while sharp enough to hurt organics, its real purpose in combat was to destabilize Gems' physical forms as quick as possible (often a single strike) without doing damage to their core gems. A Gem's body is sort of a HardLight hologram created by the gemstone that is its HeartDrive. Destroy the body, it ''eventually'' regenerates but the Gem is out of the fight for some time. Destroy the gemstone, and [[KilledOffForReal say adios]].) [[spoiler:This is the first hint that Rose didn't really shatter Pink Diamond. All witnesses claimed Rose used her sword to shatter Pink Diamond. In truth, Rose ''was'' Pink Diamond enacting a plan to fake her own death and the "Rose" who "shattered" her was actually a shapeshifted Pearl. The shards that were left behind were fakes created by Pink Diamond herself.]]

** Cyrax and Sektor use bombs and rockets respectively. They inflict about the same damage as Stryker's hand grenades.

** VideoGame/MortalKombatX'': The 10th game of the series marks the return of Brutalities. These finishers were last featured in UMK3, but work entirely differently than in that case. They are now tied to the specials of the characters, and are sometimes involving stabbing weapons. Kitana and Mileena are the worst offenders. Kitana has a special move, where she is jumping on the opponent's chest and slices their throat using her fans. Even though normally this would be instant death, when the opponent has more than 10% of health (or so), this only damages them. It turns into a Brutality, when the opponent has less HP than that, and the Kitana player performs the right input for the finisher, and only then will it chop the other figher's head off. Mileena's stabbing special move, where she uses her sais to absolutely gut the opponent with multiple stabs is similarly only lethal under the Brutality circumstances detailed above.

** ''VideoGame/MortalKombat3'': Technically, you can hit an enemy 5 or 6 times in a round with Stryker's hand grenades. His pistol attack (only in Ultimate [=MK3=]) is curiously a ranged one and consists of firing 3 bullets from point-blank range. It does a bit more damage than a grenade, but still, the other character should be dead on the spot.

** ''VideoGame/MortalKombat4'': All characters have weapons that do significantly less damage than one would think. This trope applies to Sonya for example, who is a regular human, yet a full-on swing with a sword can't kill her on the spot. You can also throw [[ImprovisedWeapon stones and skulls]] at your opponent, and these items also could hurt a bit more.