Skull (status)



The Skull is a status effect caused by entering a Player-versus-Player World, a Bounty World, or the Abyss. Upon leaving the location that caused the skull effect a 10 or 20 minute timer starts after which the effect will be removed. If a player dies while Skulled they will lose all of the items they are carrying as opposed to keeping the three most valuable.

Abyss Skull
The Abyss Skulled effect can be avoided by wearing an Forinthry bracelet when entering the Abyss. The 'Abyss skull' will disappear automatically after 10 minutes of gameplay unless the player re-enters the Abyss in that time, in which case the timer will be reset. The Protect Item prayer can be used to save a single item if a player dies under the effect of this skull.

Red skull
The Red skull is a status effect which players will gain after winning a round of the TzHaar Fight Pits. The red skull does not appear outside the Fight Pits, and disappears if the player with it leaves the Fight Pits or switches worlds. It will also disappear if another player wins the next round of the Fight Pits. Players with a red skull will not lose their items if they die, as the Fight Pits is a "safe" activity. The only way to have the red skull outside the fight pits is with a glitch.

Wilderness
Players can still obtain a white skull via the wilderness. A player must attack another player either in a PvP world or a Bounty Hunter world. This was in the older version of Runescape, when you could always be attacked in the wilderness. Modern day Runescape only has a few worlds in which you can kill other players in the wilderness.

Bounty Hunter
Previously, before the Bounty Hunter Wilderness-only PvP update, in the Bounty Hunter activity players had a skull icon that was either brown, grey, green, blue, or red. The colour of the skull and size of the coin pile correspond to the value of the items the player is holding. Players dying in the activity would lose all of their items.

PvP/Bounty Worlds
Originally, by attacking a player in a PVP world or in a Bounty world, the attacker would receive a skull but not lose all of their items if killed by another player or NPC. The skull would last for twenty minutes of playing time. In theory, the skull would not appear if a player attacks another player in retaliation, although this wasn't completely reliable. Attacking another player's familiar wouldn't give a player a skull.