Number appearing after counter

Question

In the deckbuilding card game Slay the Spire, I encountered this card description:

強打：８ダメージを与える。弱体２を与える。

(弱体 is a status effect that in this case, lasts for 2 turns.)

Previously I had only seen numbers come before their counters, so I wondered why the choice was made to put it afterwards in the second sentence.

The only analysis I could think of is that this is a noun + number + counter combination, where there's an implied counter being omitted, as in:

弱体２（回）を与える

My question is why would one put a number after a counter/noun, how does it work grammatically, and how does it differ in meaning with putting it beforehand?

Answer 1

In short, 2弱体 looks like "two 弱体's" or "two units of 弱体", whereas 弱体2 looks like "弱体 type 2", "弱体 level 2", "弱体 II", etc.

When a word comes after a number, it describes the unit/counter of the number. When a word comes before a number, it describes the type of the number. Common examples:

• 秒速5メートル: 5 meters per second (lit., "5 meters in per-second speed")
• 摂氏30度: 30 degrees in celsius
• 地上5000メートル: 5000 meters above ground
• 震度5強: Intensity 5+ in JMA Seismic Scale

Note that 秒速 and so on are not technically counters (it's not "5 speeds", "30 celsiuses", "5000 grounds", "5 scales").

Some words work as both. For example, バージョン3 means "Version 3", whereas 3バージョン means "3 versions". バージョン is a counter only in the latter.

In your example, 弱体2 is unit-less, so you first need to refer to the rule book to see what it means. It's probably a stronger version of 弱体, but 弱体2 is not necessarily twice as strong as 弱体. If 弱体 is clearly defined as a "stackable" status that works additively, 弱体2 and 2弱体 might refer to the same thing ("two levels/layers of 弱体").