I'm looking for the name of this trope or examples of characters that have this power. The power works like this: When you break a bone the bone heals tougher. When you are cut, your skin heals harder. When you get a disease, you become immune. Everything that damages you makes you less susceptible to it. When muscles tear, they grow stronger. If you are burned alive and survive, you skin will regenerate quicker afterwards. If you drink alcohol, you become smarter. I've read several stories with this, but in the one i remember the best, the mc was brutally beaten over and over as a child so they would be tougher as an adult. I'm trying to find the name of the book, but searching via this trope. I'm sure i've encountered it as well in comics, but i don't remember with hero/villian had this power. EDIT: I think its the superpowered version of what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Edit: TvTropes filed it under Adapative Ability. Thanks for you help guys.
The closest trope I can think of is http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AdaptiveAbility but dunno if that is what you want.
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CameBackStrong http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/WhyWontYouDie http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MiseryBuildsCharacter http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AdaptiveAbility http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AdaptiveArmor Quote me if you find the story. Sounds interesting.
You do realize that they were looking for the name of the trope, not novel titled, right? Granted your novels do fit the bill, so it would help others understand more.
Funny thing is, lots of that has a basis in reality. But only when in moderation. Bones for example can become harder, but actually breaking them will weaken them, muscles tearing happens during exercise and they regrow stronger... or something like that, but overdoing it is of course bad, Diseases is the same, your body develops antibodies to fight them off. Its why people only get chicken pox once. Scarring however is a permanent weakness
I believe the power would be called an adaptive healing factor. The alcohol example doesn't make sense though. You'd develop an immunity to alcohol long before your brain cells die from drinking it.
Thank you very much. This is exactly the type of stuff i was looking for. seems like it was a combo of misery and adaptive Edit: I think its the super powered version of what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. but there doesn't seem to be a trope for it exactly.
Nah, titles or characters are fine. I was hoping for more popular examples though so i could search them on tvropes and find the trope that way.
Not likely. To cause brain damage your first time drinking alcohol might be physically impossible. You'd probably have to vaporize it and directly inhale it.
unfortunatly you dont get smarter when you drink because under a technicallity alcohol is a poison, thats why its called "alcoholic poisoning" when you drink so much you have more poison than your liver can handle. "It's the result of a deficiency of thiamine, an essential B vitamin. Not only are severe alcoholics often malnourished, extreme alcohol consumption can interfere with the body's absorption of thiamine. So while alcohol doesn't actually kill brain cells, it can still damage your brain if you drink in mass quantities." counter-argument to "Bones for example can become harder, but actually breaking them will weaken them" breaking them does make them stronger as the repairing material is calcium which not only seals the fracture but also covers the outside of said fracture as well. youre argument would be correct in the short term, in the long term not so much.
I wasn't aware that it was a cumulative effective. I just assumed it was a part of the experience or specifically a side effect of ingestion. Ingesting alcohol = brain cell death. If you have cell regeneration. alcohol would trigger it was my assumption.
It was exactly Adaptive Ability. as the book i was looking for was listed there. Thank You very much.