Death consequences
Dying is a part of the game. The risk of death is what makes exploration and combat interesting and exciting. The goal on Threshold is to make the system reward risk taking and also to keep death something that is interesting and fun (at least fun for the player, if not the character). We strive to make it something that produces interesting roleplay opportunities.
Remember that none of the "death exceptions" are guaranteed or absolute. For example, the source of the last point of damage you receive may not be directly from a source that would provide the exception. Any death always carries the risk of the full penalty.
There are three categories of consequences/penalties from death:
- Player level loss.
- Experience point loss.
- Other random temporary effects.
Additionally, since you come back to life in a fresh body, all of your tattoos and body piercings will be gone. You can, of course, get them done again.
Player Level Loss
Generally, every time you die you lose a player level. Below is a list of things that affect level loss whether you prayed or were resurrected. You can only receive ONE of the following benefits and this list shows the order they are checked for:
Invader
Threshold is in constant turmoil. Sometimes civilization is beset by all sorts of horrible invaders who seek do destroy humanoid kind. If you are slain by an invader you do not lose a player level.
Boon
Boons are granted by deities, rulers of powerful kingdoms, and other similarly powerful forces. If you have earned a boon you suffer absolutely no ill effects from death.
The Cycle of Life
Every 12 years (1 RL year) you can feel the cycle of life making another revolution within you. One of the ways this manifests itself is that the next time you die, you will not lose a level. You can only have one of these stored up at a time and the only way to earn it is to pray at any temple during this momentous time (any time during the game year that is character's anniversary. To see when, type: score)
Vengeance
In some rare situations, when you are slain by an NPC, Loviatar will infuse you with the means to obtain vengeance. In order to stay strong so that you can seek out revenge, you will lose neither a player level nor any experience points.
Kismet
Fortune (or is it Fate?) favors the daring. Those who lead a daring life of risks and exploration are more likely to be blessed by kismet than those who do not. Whenever you die, there is a chance kismet will smile upon you and you will suffer no player level loss. The odds of this happening are greater the more often you die. If you gain a guild level and never died during the previous one, your chances of being blessed by kismet decrease significantly.
Outcast
If you have been banished from your guild you will also lose one guild level each time you die. This is because you have no instructors to assist you in retraining your body and mind.
Experience Point Loss
Generally, every time you die you lose all experience points you have accrued that level. Many things can alter this. You can only receive ONE of the following benefits and sections below show the order they are checked for.
Invader
When you are slain by an invader you only lose half of your accrued experience points.
PvP
No experience point loss.
Boon
No experience point loss.
Vengeance
No experience point loss.
Resurrection
When you are resurrected you only lose half of your accrued experience points.
Other Random Temporary Effects
In addition to level and experience point loss, other strange effects will beset anyone who returns from the Domain of Mortis. The only time you will not suffer any of these random effects is if you had earned a boon before your death or if you are resurrected.
Some of these effects are common and well understood, while others are very obscure and occur rarely. Usually you will only be afflicted with one of the following effects when you return to life, but it is possible to be stricken with more than one if they are all minor. These random effects are all designed to have a roleplay effect. A great deal of work was invested in creating a wide variety of effects to make death more of a fun roleplay opportunity than just a sad, bummer that depresses you.
Temporary means you have no idea how long it will last, but it is not permanent.
Some examples include:
- Memory Loss: You return with empty casual and full introduce lists
- Partial Memory Loss: You only forget some of the people you know.
- Cannot Speak Common.
- Cannot Speak Your Racial Language.
- Hallucinations.
- Alcoholism. You must consume heavy quantities of alcohol or your natural regeneration ceases.
- Alcohol Aversion. Alcohol stops your natural regeneration.
- Piety. You must visit a temple at least once every game day to meditate or worship, or you become so fearful of divine wrath your natural regeneration ceases.
- Other: It wouldn't be fun if we listed them all!
- Yes, Many Others: If you died recently (in the last few hours perhaps) and something weird is happening to you that you cannot explain, it probably isn't a bug! It is one of the more charming death effects!
Help File
help death consequences
