Skull (status)

For the item, see Skull (item).

The Skull is a status effect caused by entering the Bounty Hunter minigame, attacking another player on a Player-versus-Player World or by entering the Abyss. When a player engages another player in combat, or enters the Abyss a skull and crossbones will hover over the player's head for ten minutes of playing time. The Bounty Hunter Skull is 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. If the player dies during this time, they lose all of their items, instead of keeping 3 as they normally would. The Abyss Skulled effect can be avoided by wearing an Forinthry bracelet when entering the Abyss. There is no way to prevent the PvP Skull, and if players are killed while in this state they will lose all of their items, unless they activate the Protect Item Prayer.

Requirements
Attacking another player's summoning familiar on a PVP world will not create a skull.

Skulled Players lose every item they are carrying, unless they activate the Protect Items prayer, which will save their most valuable item only. However, in the Bounty Hunter minigame, a player cannot activate it if they have a pick-up penalty or leave penalty. The "Abyss skull" will disappear automatically after 10 minutes of gameplay unless the player re-enters the Abyss, and the Bounty Hunter Skull disappears as soon as the player leaves the crater.

Formerly
Formerly, players became skulled whenever they attacked another player in the Wilderness unprovoked. The Wilderness skull was a plain white skull and crossbones which disappeared on death or after 20 minutes without any attacks on other players. This was removed in the player killing update of 10 December, 2007, in which player killing in the Wilderness was replaced by the Bounty Hunter minigame. However, because of the 15 October, 2008 update, a player may receive a skull if he or she attacks player first in a Player Versus Player world. Note that if you retaliate to an attack from another player, you will not receive a skull, as you did not attack first. This, though, is questionable, as players reportedly become skulled for returning attack, though not commonly.

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" minigame.