Death: Difference between revisions
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When a character's [[vitality]] or [[spirit]] drops to 0, or a vital body part is removed, the character will die. There are some other circumstances in which death can occur, such as being struck down by an Immortal. |
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==Dealing with death== |
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At any time during this period, the player can DEPART, at which point his mortal shell will dissolve, leaving behind a grave, and his soul will take a trip on the Starry Road. If the character has earned [[favor|favors]] from the gods he will return to the nearest temple altar naked of his items. The items can then be retrieved from the grave in the place where the character died. Do this by DIGging the grave. |
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Death in DragonRealms is not permanent, but can be a hassle. If you have set a {{com|store}} container for items in your hands, your items will automatically be {{com|stow}}ed. The {{com|TOGGLE}} command gives you the option to add the room name location (you died in) to the global death message that is sent to every other character in-game. |
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Your options will vary depending on how you died (through vitality loss or spirit death). |
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NOTE: Adventurers of first circle are given 5 favor-free deaths in which their items will remain on their person after departing. This benefit goes away after the fifth such death, or if you rise to 2nd circle, so don't forget to stock up on favors! |
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==={{com|depart}}ing=== |
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Alternatively, a corpse can be healed by an [[Empath]] to the point that it can sustain life and resurrected by a [[Cleric]] of sufficient skill. A cleric can also protect the memories of the character, thereby preventing or reversing the skill loss that accompanies the decay of the corpse. |
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At any time during or after death, the player can {{com|DEPART}} at which point his mortal shell will dissolve, leaving behind a grave, and his soul will take a trip on the [[Starry Road (plane)|starry road]]. Depending on the number of [[favor]]s at the time of death you can depart with your items, with your coins, with both, or with nothing. See {{com|depart}} for details. |
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Departing without assistance no longer causes permanent skill rank loss. Instead, field experience held at the time of death is converted into an experience penalty. After returning to life, experience earned from actions is reduced by 50% until the penalty has been paid off. Additional unassisted deaths can add to an existing penalty.<ref>[[Post:Death Updates - Everything Old is New! - 09/12/2025 - 21:49]]</ref> |
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''NOTE:'' Adventurers of first [[circle]] are given 5 favor-free deaths in which their items will remain on their person after departing. This benefit goes away after the fifth such death, or if you rise to 2nd circle, so don't forget to stock up on favors! |
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====Graves and item recovery==== |
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Items left behind upon death are stored in a grave. Graves no longer periodically release their contents into the room. Normally, only the owner, a person the owner has designated through {{com|CONSENT}}, and [[Rangers]] using the appropriate [[Beseech Elanthia to Seal|ability]] can see a grave. Only the owner or a consented designee can successfully {{com|DIG}} it. |
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The owner can DIG their own grave with no roundtime. For subscribers, recovered equipment will automatically attempt to be re-worn. Items that cannot be automatically restored are placed into a recovery bundle. Free-to-play characters receive their recovered items in a recovery bundle to handle manually. A consented character who successfully DIGs the grave instead receives the recovery bundle, which can then be returned to the owner. |
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A grave normally expires after about an hour. When this occurs, its contents are stored with the Rundmolens and can be recovered through an account [[vault]] secretary by asking about GRAVE. This recovery carries a fee based in part on the number of worn, held, and at-feet items stored, the character's level, and a random factor. The fee is added as debt in the area where the Rundmolen is located. Premium and Platinum subscribers, as well as citizens of the area, receive discounts. |
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If returning to a grave would be unsafe, a vault secretary can instead be asked about RECOVERY to have the Rundmolens retrieve and store the grave immediately for a fee. Their storage capacity is finite and should not be treated as additional vault space. |
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Weapons and armor left in a grave can suffer damage. Initial damage is randomized at under 10%, with an additional 1% added for every two hours before recovery, to a maximum of approximately 66%. [[Beseech Elanthia to Seal]] can protect such equipment from this damage.<ref>[[Post:Death Updates - Everything Old is New! - 09/12/2025 - 21:49]]</ref> |
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====Auto-depart==== |
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Once dead, the character has a certain amount of time during which his soul will remain attached to his body. The amount of time remaining for a corpse to remain bound to the world of the living is based on spirit, which can be improved by increasing the {{stat|charisma}} stat. |
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====Departing at sea (aboard a ship)==== |
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Departing during an ocean journey will transport your body to a room called [The Sea Floor]. You will be too weak to swim for quite some time; however, after restoring a certain level of health and spirit, the light will beckon you to surface, and you will be returned to the ship that you departed from. |
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===[[Resurrection]]=== |
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Alternatively, a corpse can be healed by an [[Empath]] to the point that it can sustain life and the soul can be found in the spirit realm by a [[Cleric]] and returned to the body through [[Soul Bonding]] and [[Resurrection]]. Normally, at least one [[favor]] is required to guide the Cleric to the soul. A Paladin's [[Glyph of Warding]] allows a Cleric to resurrect someone who has no favors, and can also allow resurrection following a spirit death. |
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A Cleric can use [[Rejuvenation]] on the corpse before it departs or is resurrected. Being fully Rejuvenated before DEPARTing restores 50% of the field experience the character had at the time of death. |
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Resurrection avoids Death's Sting and removes any outstanding experience penalty remaining from previous DEPARTs. It can also restore field experience from the current death based on the corpse's favors. A fully Rejuvenated corpse receives a base restoration of 50% of its field experience, plus an additional 2% for each favor above 25. At 50 favors, a fully Rejuvenated corpse can therefore have 100% of its field experience restored. An active [[Resumption]] spell causes the corpse to be treated as fully Rejuvenated for this purpose. |
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Resurrection also retains the previous chance to preserve temporarily memorized spell scrolls based on the number of favors the character has.<ref>[[Post:Death Updates - Everything Old is New! - 09/12/2025 - 21:49]]</ref> |
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Other abilities can provide similar protection. [[Murrula's Flames]] can restore 50-100% of field experience depending on cast potency, while [[Spiteful Rebirth]] can restore 50-100% based on rebirth power. |
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==Spirit death== |
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If you died from spirit loss, your spirit will normally be too weak to find by a Cleric, leaving {{com|depart}} as your usual option. A Paladin's [[Glyph of Warding]], however, allows a Cleric to resurrect a character who died from spirit loss. |
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If departing, being fully [[Rejuvenation|Rejuvenated]] by a Cleric beforehand restores 50% of the field experience you had at the time of death. |
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==[[Favor]]s== |
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Obtaining [[favor]]s is gaining the Immortal's attention through sacrifice of your experience in order to protect against the penalties of death. Favors have substantial effects on both Death's Sting and recovery through Resurrection. |
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For Death's Sting, up to 20 favors reduce both its duration and its stat penalty. Combat penalties continue to improve with additional favors up to 50. For Resurrection, having more than 25 favors can increase the amount of field experience restored when the corpse has been fully [[Rejuvenation|Rejuvenated]], reaching full restoration at 50 favors. |
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At least one favor is normally required for Resurrection, although [[Glyph of Warding]] provides an exception for a favorless character. |
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===Prydaen Favors=== |
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See [[Prydaen_Favors|Prydaen Favors]] for more information on gaining favors from the Prydaen Three, ([[Eu]]-[[Demrris]]-[[Tenemlor]]). |
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===Rakash Favors=== |
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See [[Celoturs_uz_Siksraja|Celoturs uz Siksraja]], [[Rakash_Traditions_and_Dawvs_(book)|Rakash Traditions and Dawvs]] and [[Awksa_Dzilvawta_Ala|Awksa Dzilvawta Ala]] for more information on gaining favors from the Rakash Immortals, [[Mrod]], [[Enelne]] and [[Coshivi]]. |
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===Death without Favors=== |
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Dying without any favors, assuming you have none of the 1st level bonus favors, has several disadvantages. |
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# You normally cannot be [[Resurrection|Resurrected]], although a Paladin's [[Glyph of Warding]] allows a Cleric to resurrect a favorless character. |
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# Death's Sting receives no favor-based reductions, resulting in its maximum normal duration and stat penalties and extremely severe combat penalties. |
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# Upon arriving at the local altar, rather than a complete healing, only enough to sustain life occurs. |
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==Penalties from death== |
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===Experience penalty=== |
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Permanent skill rank loss from death was removed in September 2025. When a character DEPARTs without assistance, field experience from the death is instead converted into an experience penalty. While this penalty remains, experience awarded by actions is reduced by 50%, with the withheld experience paying down the penalty. This affects experience at the time it is earned rather than the rate at which field experience drains. |
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The penalty can accumulate across multiple deaths. If a character DEPARTs again while a previous penalty remains, the new amount is added to the old one. [[Resurrection]] removes any experience penalty remaining from previous DEPARTs. |
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The general state of your experience penalty can be viewed using the [[Experience command]], and will show in the results: |
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* Your memory is declined (1/8) by your recent death, making it difficult to retain new experience. |
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* Your memory is frayed (2/8) by your recent death, making it difficult to retain new experience.> |
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* ?? |
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* Your memory is broken (8/8) by your recent death, making it difficult to retain new experience. |
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===[[Death's Sting]]=== |
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Death's Sting is the name given to the penalties suffered after {{tt|depart}}ing without avoiding them through Resurrection or another protective ability. |
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Death's Sting normally lasts for 1 hour. Each favor reduces its duration by 1.5 minutes, up to a maximum benefit from 20 favors, giving a minimum duration of 30 minutes. |
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It also applies a 20% penalty to the character's stats. Each favor reduces this penalty by 0.5%, again up to 20 favors, resulting in a minimum stat penalty of 10%. |
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Death's Sting additionally imposes strong offensive and defensive combat penalties. A character receives approximately 1% of their normal offensive and defensive capability per favor, up to 50 favors and 50% capability. The system maintains a minimum level of effectiveness even for characters with very few or no favors. |
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While Death's Sting is active, rested experience cannot be used. |
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A properly completed [[Resurrection]] avoids Death's Sting entirely. The Cleric spell [[Uncurse]] can remove Death's Sting, as can certain other abilities such as [[Alamhif's Gift]], and sufficiently potent [[alyssum tea]].<ref>[[Post:Death Updates - Everything Old is New! - 09/12/2025 - 21:49]]</ref> |
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==Permanent Death and the Afterlife== |
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Permanent death is no longer possible in [[DragonRealms]] as of 2009. Previously, having a character die without favors ran the risk of permanent loss. Dying in this way was referred to as "walking the [[Starry Road (plane)|starry road]]." Unlike other player character races, the [[Prydaen]] believe that upon death their soul is returned to the [[Prydaen Terminology#Wheel_of_Life|Wheel of Life]] to be born again. |
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From an Out Of Character (OOC) perspective, permanent death will never occur, whether due to lack of favors or old age. From an In Character (IC) perspective; our characters understand that they may die at any time, when the Immortals deem their time on Elanthia is over. |
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The general populace of Elanthia, including most Nobility and some Royalty are unable to gain [[Favors]] and live their singular life and die once, permanently (one of the reasons why wars and disasters and diseases are actually a big deal lore-wise). |
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Once someone dies, their eventual fate varies. |
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{{RefAl}} |
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Latest revision as of 15:20, 16 September 2026
When a character's vitality or spirit drops to 0, or a vital body part is removed, the character will die. There are some other circumstances in which death can occur, such as being struck down by an Immortal.
Dealing with death
Death in DragonRealms is not permanent, but can be a hassle. If you have set a STORE container for items in your hands, your items will automatically be STOWed. The TOGGLE command gives you the option to add the room name location (you died in) to the global death message that is sent to every other character in-game.
Your options will vary depending on how you died (through vitality loss or spirit death).
DEPARTing
At any time during or after death, the player can DEPART at which point his mortal shell will dissolve, leaving behind a grave, and his soul will take a trip on the starry road. Depending on the number of favors at the time of death you can depart with your items, with your coins, with both, or with nothing. See DEPART for details.
Departing without assistance no longer causes permanent skill rank loss. Instead, field experience held at the time of death is converted into an experience penalty. After returning to life, experience earned from actions is reduced by 50% until the penalty has been paid off. Additional unassisted deaths can add to an existing penalty.[1]
NOTE: Adventurers of first circle are given 5 favor-free deaths in which their items will remain on their person after departing. This benefit goes away after the fifth such death, or if you rise to 2nd circle, so don't forget to stock up on favors!
Graves and item recovery
Items left behind upon death are stored in a grave. Graves no longer periodically release their contents into the room. Normally, only the owner, a person the owner has designated through CONSENT, and Rangers using the appropriate ability can see a grave. Only the owner or a consented designee can successfully DIG it.
The owner can DIG their own grave with no roundtime. For subscribers, recovered equipment will automatically attempt to be re-worn. Items that cannot be automatically restored are placed into a recovery bundle. Free-to-play characters receive their recovered items in a recovery bundle to handle manually. A consented character who successfully DIGs the grave instead receives the recovery bundle, which can then be returned to the owner.
A grave normally expires after about an hour. When this occurs, its contents are stored with the Rundmolens and can be recovered through an account vault secretary by asking about GRAVE. This recovery carries a fee based in part on the number of worn, held, and at-feet items stored, the character's level, and a random factor. The fee is added as debt in the area where the Rundmolen is located. Premium and Platinum subscribers, as well as citizens of the area, receive discounts.
If returning to a grave would be unsafe, a vault secretary can instead be asked about RECOVERY to have the Rundmolens retrieve and store the grave immediately for a fee. Their storage capacity is finite and should not be treated as additional vault space.
Weapons and armor left in a grave can suffer damage. Initial damage is randomized at under 10%, with an additional 1% added for every two hours before recovery, to a maximum of approximately 66%. Beseech Elanthia to Seal can protect such equipment from this damage.[2]
Auto-depart
Once dead, the character has a certain amount of time during which his soul will remain attached to his body. The amount of time remaining for a corpse to remain bound to the world of the living is based on spirit, which can be improved by increasing the charisma stat.
Departing at sea (aboard a ship)
Departing during an ocean journey will transport your body to a room called [The Sea Floor]. You will be too weak to swim for quite some time; however, after restoring a certain level of health and spirit, the light will beckon you to surface, and you will be returned to the ship that you departed from.
Resurrection
Alternatively, a corpse can be healed by an Empath to the point that it can sustain life and the soul can be found in the spirit realm by a Cleric and returned to the body through Soul Bonding and Resurrection. Normally, at least one favor is required to guide the Cleric to the soul. A Paladin's Glyph of Warding allows a Cleric to resurrect someone who has no favors, and can also allow resurrection following a spirit death.
A Cleric can use Rejuvenation on the corpse before it departs or is resurrected. Being fully Rejuvenated before DEPARTing restores 50% of the field experience the character had at the time of death.
Resurrection avoids Death's Sting and removes any outstanding experience penalty remaining from previous DEPARTs. It can also restore field experience from the current death based on the corpse's favors. A fully Rejuvenated corpse receives a base restoration of 50% of its field experience, plus an additional 2% for each favor above 25. At 50 favors, a fully Rejuvenated corpse can therefore have 100% of its field experience restored. An active Resumption spell causes the corpse to be treated as fully Rejuvenated for this purpose.
Resurrection also retains the previous chance to preserve temporarily memorized spell scrolls based on the number of favors the character has.[3]
Other abilities can provide similar protection. Murrula's Flames can restore 50-100% of field experience depending on cast potency, while Spiteful Rebirth can restore 50-100% based on rebirth power.
Spirit death
If you died from spirit loss, your spirit will normally be too weak to find by a Cleric, leaving DEPART as your usual option. A Paladin's Glyph of Warding, however, allows a Cleric to resurrect a character who died from spirit loss.
If departing, being fully Rejuvenated by a Cleric beforehand restores 50% of the field experience you had at the time of death.
Favors
Obtaining favors is gaining the Immortal's attention through sacrifice of your experience in order to protect against the penalties of death. Favors have substantial effects on both Death's Sting and recovery through Resurrection.
For Death's Sting, up to 20 favors reduce both its duration and its stat penalty. Combat penalties continue to improve with additional favors up to 50. For Resurrection, having more than 25 favors can increase the amount of field experience restored when the corpse has been fully Rejuvenated, reaching full restoration at 50 favors.
At least one favor is normally required for Resurrection, although Glyph of Warding provides an exception for a favorless character.
Prydaen Favors
See Prydaen Favors for more information on gaining favors from the Prydaen Three, (Eu-Demrris-Tenemlor).
Rakash Favors
See Celoturs uz Siksraja, Rakash Traditions and Dawvs and Awksa Dzilvawta Ala for more information on gaining favors from the Rakash Immortals, Mrod, Enelne and Coshivi.
Death without Favors
Dying without any favors, assuming you have none of the 1st level bonus favors, has several disadvantages.
- You normally cannot be Resurrected, although a Paladin's Glyph of Warding allows a Cleric to resurrect a favorless character.
- Death's Sting receives no favor-based reductions, resulting in its maximum normal duration and stat penalties and extremely severe combat penalties.
- Upon arriving at the local altar, rather than a complete healing, only enough to sustain life occurs.
Penalties from death
Experience penalty
Permanent skill rank loss from death was removed in September 2025. When a character DEPARTs without assistance, field experience from the death is instead converted into an experience penalty. While this penalty remains, experience awarded by actions is reduced by 50%, with the withheld experience paying down the penalty. This affects experience at the time it is earned rather than the rate at which field experience drains.
The penalty can accumulate across multiple deaths. If a character DEPARTs again while a previous penalty remains, the new amount is added to the old one. Resurrection removes any experience penalty remaining from previous DEPARTs.
The general state of your experience penalty can be viewed using the Experience command, and will show in the results:
- Your memory is declined (1/8) by your recent death, making it difficult to retain new experience.
- Your memory is frayed (2/8) by your recent death, making it difficult to retain new experience.>
- ??
- Your memory is broken (8/8) by your recent death, making it difficult to retain new experience.
Death's Sting
Death's Sting is the name given to the penalties suffered after DEPARTing without avoiding them through Resurrection or another protective ability.
Death's Sting normally lasts for 1 hour. Each favor reduces its duration by 1.5 minutes, up to a maximum benefit from 20 favors, giving a minimum duration of 30 minutes.
It also applies a 20% penalty to the character's stats. Each favor reduces this penalty by 0.5%, again up to 20 favors, resulting in a minimum stat penalty of 10%.
Death's Sting additionally imposes strong offensive and defensive combat penalties. A character receives approximately 1% of their normal offensive and defensive capability per favor, up to 50 favors and 50% capability. The system maintains a minimum level of effectiveness even for characters with very few or no favors.
While Death's Sting is active, rested experience cannot be used.
A properly completed Resurrection avoids Death's Sting entirely. The Cleric spell Uncurse can remove Death's Sting, as can certain other abilities such as Alamhif's Gift, and sufficiently potent alyssum tea.[4]
Permanent Death and the Afterlife
Permanent death is no longer possible in DragonRealms as of 2009. Previously, having a character die without favors ran the risk of permanent loss. Dying in this way was referred to as "walking the starry road." Unlike other player character races, the Prydaen believe that upon death their soul is returned to the Wheel of Life to be born again.
From an Out Of Character (OOC) perspective, permanent death will never occur, whether due to lack of favors or old age. From an In Character (IC) perspective; our characters understand that they may die at any time, when the Immortals deem their time on Elanthia is over.
The general populace of Elanthia, including most Nobility and some Royalty are unable to gain Favors and live their singular life and die once, permanently (one of the reasons why wars and disasters and diseases are actually a big deal lore-wise).
Once someone dies, their eventual fate varies.