Death (mechanic)



Death occurs when a player's life points reach zero. A message in the chat box informs them of this: Oh dear, you are dead! and a gravestone will appear at the spot in which they died.

Note: Gravestone will remain if player logs out or loses connection, but the timer will continue to run down.

Fortunately, the player will respawn. If a player is in the duelling arena or a safe activity when they "die" they will not lose any of their items and will not respawn in Lumbridge, Falador, Camelot or Soul Wars, but rather they will respawn at a specified respawn point.

If a player dies while they have the Retribution prayer active, all enemies that are in a 3x3 square grid centred on the dying player are dealt damage equal to 10×1/4 of that player's maximum prayer level (only in a multi-combat area). Also if the Wrath curse is active when a player dies, it deals damage of up to 250% of your max Prayer to all nearby enemies life points in a 5x5 radius. Note that this curse will not hurt other players outside of PvP areas, and it won't hit multiple targets in non-multicombat zones.

Respawning
When players die, they will respawn, meaning they will be transported back to their respawn point with full life points and restored stats. By default, players respawn in Lumbridge. However, if a member has completed the Recruitment Drive quest, they may choose to respawn in Falador instead. Completing the King's Ransom quest allows a player to start and complete the Knight Waves Training Grounds, which unlocks the ability to respawn in Camelot. Completing Nomad's Requiem allows players to respawn at Soul Wars.

Items lost
When a player dies, they will lose all items t h ey were carrying at the time of their death except for their three most valuable items. Other than those three (or four, depending on whether or not Protect Item was used) items that the player kept, most of the remaining items will be under a gravestone for a certain amount of time. If the player manages to get back to his/her gravestone before it crumbles, they will be able to reclaim their items. If a player was skulled at the time of their death, because they were player killing in the Wilderness or they had entered the Abyss without wearing a Forinthry bracelet, then they would not get to keep any items upon respawning.

However, if a player has the Protect item prayer active, they will get to keep one extra item if they die (i.e. four items or one if skulled).

Previously, in the 16 October 2007 update, items dropped from players who were killed remained visible to the player who died for 1 minute, in case he/she wants to recover his/her items. After that, anyone nearby will be able to see and take them. Since the gravestone update on 10 December 2007, this update is rendered obsolete.

For more information on exceptions see Items Kept on Death.

Since February 1 2011 people may now loot all things dropped at a person's gravestone after it has crumbled away, but now people get double the amount of time to receive their items from their gravestones with the exception of the Dwarven gravestone. Its timer was increased by a factor of 2.5.

Item anomalies
The precedence for retaining an item depends on its store or alchemy value, which can often be at considerable variance with the value to players. Rares such as party hats, (alchemy value: 1 coin), are items vulnerable to this problem. Because lent items are kept above all other items on hand, some players borrow an item in return for lending the same item to another player so that it may be kept upon death.

Transportation
A player can use death as a means of transportation, often at remote areas with no transportation methods available. To do this, simply deposit everything in your bank, die, and you'll appear at your respawn point. NOTE: Check if you have items that you'll always lose on death.

Stat recovery
Sometimes when a player is diseased, it might be easier, better, and faster to die. After death you'll be cured. Make sure to store everything in your bank first.

Poison removal
It might also be more economical to die rather than to cure a poisoning. Just simply die with nothing.

NPCs useful for the above

 * All types of dragons
 * Revenants
 * Higher levelled demons
 * Chaos elemental
 * Vyrewatches
 * Barrows brothers (Need a spade for this)
 * Ogress Warriors
 * Ogre shamans

Grim Reaper


Due to an update, the realm of the Grim Reaper is accessed when new players die for the first time. The Reaper will explain about death, item losses, and gravestones. The player may exit at any time through the exit portal. One's gravestone's timer is paused whilst one is within the dimension of the Reaper. The player is, at this time, "dead". The player is only allowed this one time, the first time they die, though they apparently pass through this every time upon death. This occurs only once per player. Currently, there is a glitch making it so you die there. After you die there, you will still be there, just with all your tabs unlocked allowing you to teleport out. If you die again after doing this glitch you will go back to the realm.

Due to another recent update, when a player dies, an NPC named "Death" appears and takes them away to their respawn point. If the player is in a minigame, Death will still take them away to their respawn point. Death is just another name for "The Grim Reaper".

The office where the Grim Reaper is for the first time a player dies is the same design used for the Random Event where the Certers ask the player to identify an item, except that the Grim Reaper variation seems darker, colorless and lacks a Bank Deposit Box.

Killed In Escape
Killed In Escape is an occurrence where a player dies as they escape from the monster they are fighting. Attack animations that have already started will follow the player through the teleport and hit them.

When a player fights a monster and decides they want to escape before they die, but they are killed as they teleport out, their grave will appear at the location they have teleported to. The player will still get a grave but will reappear at their respawn point immediately after escape. It should be easy to recover any lost items since the player can just bank at their respawn point and get another teleport to that same location, especially if the place is Varrock. The best scenario is if the player's respawn point is Lumbridge and they teleport to (and die) right there. Then, they respawn right next to their own grave.

Also, If you use the house teleport and die inside your POH, you will respawn outside the POH portal without losing your items.

Common Occurrences

The most common place to see this happen would be in a multi-combat zone with aggressive monsters or bosses. Some players stumble across these monsters and only realise they are in danger in time to click their teleport out. If they are a fraction too late, then they will have been killed in escape.

Trivia

 * If you look really close at a dying player, it seems like after their head hits the ground it "bounces" a little.
 * If a player casts a Blood spell from the Ancient Magicks spellbook shortly before their health hits 0, the player will die and gain health, making it look like the player died with some health left.
 * Similar to the above, in most cases, if something kills you but at the very second you eat, you will die with positive health.
 * If a player dies in RuneScape Classic, the message in their chatbox says "You have been granted another life. Be more careful this time! You retain your skills. Your objects land where you died."
 * Sometimes, in cases of extreme lag, NPCs will stay in their positions after death, without performing the death emote, and later disappearing.
 * During The Fremennik Trials quest, being killed by Koschei the Deathless after killing him thrice will give you a message saying: "Oh dear, you are...still alive somehow?" instead of the normal message: "Oh dear, you are dead!".
 * Before it was removed, during the quest Romeo & Juliet, if the player were to drink the Cadava potion, he/she would have performed the death animation and the chatbox will say: "Oh dear, you are nearly dead!" before waking up in the Apothecary.
 * In one glitch, if you die while playing a safe activity such as Fist of Guthix, the NPC Death might say "let me escort you to Lumbridge (player name)" even if the player is supposed to respawn somewhere else.