Gaming Stats are usually all positive numbers, because most numbers people deal with are positive, and having to deal with negative numbers makes programming and mental math slightly harder.
But just because it has downsides doesn't mean that no one does it, and those who do use it usually have a reason, like making stat reduction effects have meaning, instead of just not caring about it if it affects a Dump Stat since it can only go down to zero.
A rate of change from the norm, like Damage Over Time noted as a Regenerating Health stat of -1 Hit Points per second, instead of the expected positive of Regenerating Health, doesn't count, however. That's just phrasing a standard effect in terms of possibly total effect on health regeneration. Negative angles and coordinate systems are a standard part of math, so those don't count, because negatives are expected there.
Similarly, stats that are just derived directly from other stats, without any way of external modification, also don't count, such as using the "average value" as the zero point for the derived stat, which is just a mathematical way of saying how off-average a stat is, like if 50 out of a 100 Cap is average, a derived stat that wouldn't count is "Derived = (Stat / 10) -5"
Non-Health Damage is usually needed to lower stats to the negatives, but Stat Death is unlikely to overlap with this because that usually happens when a value hits 0, and it's usually not possible to get to the negatives without passing through 0.
Examples:
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Tabletop Games
- Chronicles of Darkness: Skill scores can be raised from 0 to 5 (or higher) in the Point Build System, using a dice pool of [Attribute + Skill + Bonuses]. However, an untrained (i.e.: 0) skill has an effective score of -1 for physical and social skills or -3 for mental skills: you can try to coast by on raw talent in a Medicine test, but without great equipment or a genius intellect, you're chancing a Dramatic Failure.
- Fate: Accelerated Edition: Whereas player character skill scores bottom out at 0 ("Mediocre"), Mooks have a score of -2 ("Terrible") in the things they're bad at, highlighting that they're just a small speed bump to make the player characters look good by comparison.
- The Generic Universal Role Playing System can let your health be negative, though this means you are currently dying. You must succeed on a Difficulty Class 10 Constitution check or die, but can be brought back to life unless it's too late.
- Magic: The Gathering: Two cards, Char Rumbler
and Spinal Parasite, have negative power. Spinal Parasite has negative toughness, the only creature in the game to do so, but is meant to enter with at least two 1/ 1 counters on it so that it has a positive amount of Power/Toughness.
- Paranoia, Red Clearance Edition: The game provides 16 skills, where a player selects one skill and assigns an equivalent negative to the next character. This stage is zero-sum, with all positives and negatives balancing out. A negative skill will still roll a number of dice, except that non-successful dice will subtract from the overall score.
- Pathfinder: If a character's Hit Points total falls below zero, they're unconscious and actively dying, and they continue to lose 1 HP per turn until they receive healing or pass a Constitution check (with a penalty equal to the negative HP total) to stabilize. They die if their negative HP matches their Constitution score.
Video Games
- AI War: Fleet Command: AI Progress can go negative by destroying Data Centers and similar targets. This only prevents an increased AI response from happening until the progress totals positive again, as there is a gradually increasing AI Progress Floor that ensures a minimum activity level.
- Bug Fables: Medals that can lower attack or defense of a party member could do so past zero to negative values. Negative defense means that attacks against the given bug are stronger than they would normally be, while a negative attack stat means that they need an attack boost (either a buff or special move) just to deal basic damage to a defenseless enemy. Enemies cannot have negatives of either stat.
- Dandy's World: Shrimpo's stealth stat is listed as being 1* (0), but in-game, it's actually -99 due to his passive ability, Bully, lowering it.
- Deltarune: The playable characters will dip into negative health points when they die, a status referred to as "Down". While Downed, they will slowly regain HP until it becomes a positive number again and they can get back up. Infamously, the Roaring Knight inflicts "Swoon" instead, where any attack that's strong enough to kill Ralsei or Susie will immediately reduce them to -999 HP. They also can't recover on their own when Swooned, forcing the player to use a Revive Mint to resuscitate them.
- DiRT Rally: Ride Height may be set to a negative value. A negative ride height works better on smooth terrain, but may cause the car to have difficulty with bumps.
- DROD RPG:
- The player's and monsters' ATK and DEF can be negative, and everything works as expected: for instance, a player with -5 ATK deals 5 damage per hit to a monster with -10 DEF. The main use for this is that hold architects may wish to start the player with metal equipment and low stats so that early-game monsters are still relevant: for example, with a short sword (+30 ATK) and a base ATK of -20, the player's initial total ATK will be 10.
- GR and REP (reputation) can also be negative. GR is normally money (it stands for "greckles", the game's currency), but an architect may want to use it as a miscellaneous stat, so allowing negative numbers makes this more flexible.
- All the multiplier variables that affect how much you gain from drinking potions or taking stat gems can be negative. With a negative multiplier for HP, drinking potions damages the player!
- Europa Universalis: The relationship between nations ranges from -200 through 200, determining how much they like you. This adjusts over time, based on actions or ongoing events.
- Evolve Idle: You can have a negative amount of electrical power, meaning that power consumption is higher than power generation. During a period of power deficit, lower-priority buildings will cease to be powered.
- The Last Federation: There is a relationship meter among the various players, which is adjusted by various actions. If it's too negative between one species and the player, they will send powerful ships to attack. It's considered irreparable harm if it drops too low.
- Mewgenics: All seven of a cat's basic stats can go in to negative values, which usually plays out like the value being at 0 (such as zero or negative Constitution meaning that a cat's maximum health is capped at one, and so on), except more stat buffs are required to gain any benefits. Luck is the major exception, as that going in to the negatives makes it much more likely that anything to do with randomness will have an unfavorable outcome.
- Ruphand: An Apothecary's Adventure: Attack and Defence can reach negative values if sufficiently reduced by Stats-Tradeoff Equipment, to make the tradeoff more meaningful than if they could only be reduced to 0 and no further. Since a character's Attack is just a bonus on the damage an attack is set to do. 0 Attack doesn't mean "no damage is dealt" like in other games.
- Slay the Spire: There are various ways to decrease certain stats below zero, for either you or the enemy. The Silent has the cards "Wraith Form" and "Piercing Wail." The former makes her practically invincible for 3 turns but decreases her dexterity over that same duration, which affects how much block she is able to gain from her cards. Piercing Wail decreases enemy strength by 6 for the turn, decreasing their damage. Both cards can decrease their respective stat below zero.
- Social Democracy: An Alternate History: Budget can go under 0, simulating a deficit. This deficit should be addressed, whether through tax hikes or spending cuts.
- Toontown Online: Gag Accuracy, after all calculations, can end up negative, which results in The Computer Is a Lying Bastard due to statements of Always Accurate Attack said for SOS Cards which still use the Random Number Generator, just rigged so that any non-negative accuracy would hit.
- Undertale: Mixed with Stats Dissonance in the case of Asgore. The CHECK ability gives stats that's an outright lie. It says 80/80 ATK/DEF, but the data shows it to actually be 10/-30 respectively. This has led to all kinds of Fan Wank about them being Willfully Weak.
- Xenoblade Chronicles X: Resistance stats function by properly mitigating damage, but equipping certain gear can give you negative values, which makes you start taking extra damage from that attack type. Sakuraba Industries gear specializes in physical defense, but actively lowers your resistance to gravity, which means that one solid gravity attack from an enemy can easily One-Hit KO you regardless of how much HP you have to mitigate the hit.
- Warhammer 40,000: Gladius: Loyalty is a stat used for cities representing how much control the Non-Entity General has over the civilian population (so loyalty goes down with every new point of population), meaning that at high values it gives a big buff to resource gathering and a debuff at negative values. It also sharply decreases with every new city the player founds.
Western Animation
- Regular Show: Mordecai and Rigby go to the Coffee Shop and find that two annoying kids are the talk of the town because they're great at the newly installed Arcade Game: "Broken Bones." The guys try to put the kids in their place by proving they're better at the game, and they end up scoring negative points.