The official discord link if you wish to join the discord: https://discord.gg/j5RKwCvAFu
The background art comes from Cherylann1960.
Support the wiki on our official Ko-Fi page or Patreon page!
Penetration Damage
Background
Penetration Damage is an open wound injury that occurs when an object pierces the skin and enters a tissue of the body, creating a deep but relatively narrow entry wound. This type of damage is typically seen as durability negation due to pointed weapons stretching the impact area and crushing it, weakening the tensile strength enough to easily create an entrance wound area. Typically in fiction there are characters that are a far higher tier then the regular real world humans that can still be harmed and killed by bullets and sword stabs. An example of this is many old folklore stories of entire armies fighting a massive beast and being able to pierce it with their swords and spears, despite the army being far lower tier then the beast usually. The same can be said for bullets as well due to its piercing nature. While realistically someone with extremely high durability should be able to bounce off sword stabs and bullets, most of the time the idea is that while characters have extremely high durability, their body is still human, meaning it can be penetrated by much lower tier objects. Piercing damage can also vary depending on whether it's based on physically piercing a target, or through supernatural means. Naturally this means we only accept people that won't be affected by piercing damage to be those with Pierce Resistance.
Types
Penetrating trauma is fairly straightforward in concept, and therefore does not require many sub-tiers to differentiate them. However, the key difference for the two listed types below (with the third category being an exception for fiction standards) is the type of tool used.
- Physical Penetration: Physical Penetration is defined as an attack that pierces the skin and enters a tissue of the body, creating a deep but relatively narrow entry wound. Penetrating trauma is most easily defined and associated with internal body damage, but will vary based on the tool used, such as firearms which can create an entry and, oftentimes larger, exit wound. Trauma of this caliber is most commonly suited for piercing through flesh, bone, and small-scale plants.
- Examples: Samurai Jack (Samurai Jack) (possessed a traditionally-designed katana blade), Solid Snake (Metal Gear) (uses various firearms in combat), Denji (Chainsaw Man) (has chainsaws he can grow out of his body), and Hornet (Hollow Knight) (uses a needle used akin to a lance)
- Bladed Penetration: Bladed Penetration is a term used in reference to high-powered technological devices and tools that are designed to create openings in reinforced materials such as stainless steel or solid rock. This is often in the form of a high-powered laser or water jet cutters. Unlike trauma caused from standard piercing weaponry, bladed penetration is both far stronger and far less fragile than standard tools and can easily cut through things much stronger due to its high energy concentration without much risk.
- Examples: Lightsabers from Star Wars (weapons designed with hot plasma blades capable of cutting through steel), The Arasaka HLR-12X Heavy Laser Rifle (AKIRA) (technologically advanced laser rifle capable of piercing incredibly tough materials), Mega Water S (Mega Man) (uses highly pressurized water attacks in combat)
- Metaphysical Penetration: Metaphysical Penetration is an irregular piercing attack that is not of the physical plane. These types of attacks are often targeted towards the soul or mind, thereby bypassing durability entirely. It should be noted that these kinds of attacks should specifically be stated to be on a different level of existence in nature and/or completely ignore all physicality. Furthermore, attacks of this caliber aren't likely to cause standard injuries that one would expect with physical penetrating trauma.
- Examples: Undyne (Undertale) (uses spears that are capable of directly attacking the SOUL), Gideon Graves (Scott Pilgrim) (can physically reach into people's subconscious and cause harm to them), Ichigo Kurosaki (Bleach) (can attack spiritual entities as a soul reaper), The Power Suit's Wave Beam (Metroid) (a power beam modification capable of phasing through physical matter)
Limatations
- A common defense for penetration trauma are ballistic vests, which are made from tightly-woven fibers that absorb and disperse a bullet's impact energy. This is a common way to handle piercing attacks in general, and certain weapons may not have the power to tear through the tensile strength of the layered vests (Look to Bulletproof for more explanation).
- The strength of the piercing point may not have the proper shape and refined form to be used against tougher foes, and could very easily shatter under its own recoil if not used correctly (i.e human teeth being used to bite down on tougher objects like bone or metal wire).
Note
- For characters who can use their teeth offensively, please only make note of this ability when it's mentioned or elaborated on by the character or their series, or if they are specifically fluent in using them. Otherwise refrain from cluttering pages with information that ultimately is common knowledge amongst readers.
- For an in-depth comparison between blunt and penetrating damage, please read our Blunt Damage vs Penetration Damage page here. Information regarding the differences between the two can be found here.