Death, Dying and Maiming: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 13:19, 17 July 2025

Death and the finality thereof is a prevailing theme in the Realms of Terror where compared to the Prime Material—here there are no resurrections, no regenerations, and the only forces capable of creating spontaneous, true life are the Mists of Death themselves. Yet in spite of these facts there has never been a shortage for the brazen many who seek, futilely, to harness those forces beyond the Misty Border—and never a shortage for outcomes unfortunate and unforeseen.

Death in The Domains of Dread

The Domains of Dread is a permadeath server. This means any character who dies—player or non-player—will have lost their natural life even if death does not entail their immediate closure. Time-limited return in this way means becoming a Dread Figure or being part of a larger Game Master chaperoned event but, regardless, such characters are limited to the play period being a Dread Figure imposes or until the event’s conclusion after which they will be closured and removed from play.

Closure is final. No Game Master will redact a character’s lawful closure. Deaths which are determined to have happened due to malfeasance, bugs and/or unintended behavior may be redacted per the Game Rules. When a character is closured the player account may be awarded with an amount of Mist Tokens.

Information about a closured character will be made available to the player in the obituaries section on the Forums, after which the character is retired from their server vault.

Dying

Characters in The Domains of Dread die as a result of lethal damage suffered from hostile engagements with human-controlled entities, per the Character versus Character Rules. Likewise it is required that a character be informed that pursuing conflict would necessitate lethal damage prior to taking lethal damage. AI-controlled entities do not use lethal damage and will not seek to finish characters off after they have been downed.

A character who reaches 0 HP or lower is downed and cannot take any action, being fictionally unconscious. Human-controlled hostile entities may select their body with the !fd chat command to initiate a coup de gras action taking 90 seconds IRT to complete after which the downed character will be killed. Any hostile spell, spell-like ability or damage interrupts the coup de gras.

A downed character who is not killed outright takes 1 untyped damage every turn IGT until they reach -10 HP, after which they will expire if they were downed from lethal damage.

Every 30 seconds IRT the downed character rolls d100 + Fortitude save +/- CON, trying to beat DC 95. Should they succeed once they stabilize, now healing 1 HP every turn IGT until reaching 0 HP, after which they will be still downed but may choose to get back on their feet at 1 HP.

It is not possible to be set below -5 HP from whatever damage downed a character. This includes being downed from falling a death save from deathwatch, but they will be set to -5 HP and suffer a -5 penalty to stabilize. Intervention from recovery items such as bandages or sutures may immediately stabilize a downed character, subject to a successful Handle Medicine check from the administering character. Healing spells must heal the character to 0 HP in order to stabilize. They will not recover HP past 0 from healing spells until they are back on their feet.

When a character expires, they produce an itemized corpse. When a character is downed, they drop any held item or equipment to the ground. Any character who is downed suffers -1 AC and AB until their next successful rest, scaling up to -3 AC and AB per down.

Maiming and Critical Injuries

A character who reaches -10 HP as a result of nonlethal damage are fictionally not dead but maimed, entering a comatose state as an itemized body. They may be revived with the sacrifice of some materials and a cast of restoration from another player character or capable non-player character after an interregnum period, anywhere from 5 to 25 minutes IRT based on level with some random fuzzing. The interregnum period or restoration requirement do not apply if they were rendered unconscious from subdual damage or a knockout coup de gras, awakening if their body is dropped on the ground or after 15 minutes IRT. Logging out with an itemized body in the inventory drops them, awakening them on the spot.

Characters who are restored are subject to revival sickness, dealing heavy attribute damage that cannot be cursed, even with restoration. The sickness persists anywhere from 48 to 168 hours IRT, based on level with some random fuzzing. As the sickness nears expiry the attribute damage will soften until fully restored to normal. Knocked out characters recover lost attributes faster.

After a character is maimed for the first time, any future maiming induces critical injuries. Critical injuries may be temporary or permanent. When a character receives a critical injury, the player will be presented with a choice between three options to apply to the character, selected by the Game Masters from a random table. As the character accrues more of these critical injuries, a greater handicap is applied to the random table, opening the possibility for more severe consequences up to and including death.

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-Death is a prevailing theme in the Realms of Terror - there are no resurrections, no regenerations, and the only force seemingly capable of creating spontaneous, true life are the Mists of Death themselves. Despite this, there has never been a shortage of those trying to harness these forces beyond the Misty Border - and never a shortage of unfortunate outcomes.
+Death and the finality thereof is a prevailing theme in the Realms of Terror where compared to the Prime Material—here there are no resurrections, no regenerations, and the only forces capable of creating spontaneous, true life are the Mists of Death themselves. Yet in spite of these facts there has never been a shortage for the brazen many who seek, futilely, to harness those forces beyond the Misty Border—and never a shortage for outcomes unfortunate and unforeseen.
-== Death in ''The Domains of Dread'' ==
+== Death in ''[[The Domains of Dread]]'' ==
-''[[The Domains of Dread]]'' is a '''''permadeath''''' server. This means any character that dies - player or otherwise - has lost their natural life even if death does not entail their [[Glossary|closure]]. In almost all cases a dead player character who does not closure may return only as a [[Dread Figures|Dread Figure]], and in ''all'' cases return is temporary - either they are subject to the limited play period being a Dread Figure provides, or until the conclusion of whatever [[Staff, Requirements and Applications|Game Master]] sanctioned plot has brought them back after which they will be closured.
+''The Domains of Dread'' is a '''''permadeath''''' server. This means any character who dies—player or non-player—will have lost their natural life even if death does not entail their immediate [[Glossary|closure]]. Time-limited return in this way means becoming a [[Dread Figures|Dread Figure]] or being part of a larger [[Staff, Requirements and Applications|Game Master]] chaperoned event but, regardless, such characters are limited to the play period being a Dread Figure imposes or until the event’s conclusion after which they will be closured and removed from play.
-Closure is final. There is no-one on staff who will redact a character's closure. Deaths which happen due to eminently provable bugs or other malfeasance may be retconned per the [[Game Rules]]. When a character dies and is closured the player account will be awarded an amount of [[Mist Tokens]] based on criteria explained in that article.
+Closure is final. No Game Master will redact a character’s lawful closure. Deaths which are determined to have happened due to malfeasance, bugs and/or unintended behavior may be redacted per the [[Game Rules]]. When a character is closured the player account may be awarded with an amount of [[Mist Tokens]].
-== Dying in ''The Domains of Dread'' ==
+Information about a closured character will be made available to the player in the obituaries section on the [[Forums]], after which the character is retired from their server vault.
-Generally, a character dies from lethal damage only during plot relevant conflict, either from another [[Conflict Rules|player character]] or from a non-player character controlled by a Game Master. In both cases the player will have been made aware that pursuing conflict would be lethal prior to undertaking lethal damage.
-When a character reaches <code>0 HP</code>, they are unconscious and cannot take any action. A hostile player or non-player character may choose to finish off an unconscious enemy, undertaking a coup de gras action which takes at least 90 seconds to complete, dictated by the supervising Game Master. If they are not finished off they will take 1 point of <code>untyped damage</code> every 60 seconds until they reach <code>-10 HP</code>, after which they will expire if they were rendered unconscious from lethal damage.
+== Dying ==
+Characters in ''The Domains of Dread'' die as a result of lethal damage suffered from hostile engagements with human-controlled entities, per the [[Character versus Character Rules]]. Likewise it is required that a character be informed that pursuing conflict would necessitate lethal damage prior to taking lethal damage. AI-controlled entities do not use lethal damage and will not seek to finish characters off after they have been downed.
-Conversely, every 30 seconds the character rolls <code>d100 + Fortitude save +/- CON</code>, trying to beat <code>DC 95</code>. If they succeed at this roll even once, they stabilize, and start to heal <code>1 HP</code> every 60 seconds until they reach <code>0 HP</code>, after which they are still down but may attempt to get back up at <code>1 HP</code>. It is not possible to be set below <code>-5 HP</code> from whatever blow renders a character unconscious. This includes being rendered unconscious due to failing a death save from having ''<code>deathwatch</code>'', though they will be set at <code>-5 HP</code> and suffer a <code>-5 penalty to their death saves</code>.
+A character who reaches <code>0 HP</code> or lower is downed and cannot take any action, being fictionally unconscious. Human-controlled hostile entities may select their body with the ''<code>!fd</code>'' [[Chat Commands|chat command]] to initiate a coup de gras action taking 90 seconds [[Date and Time|IRT]] to complete after which the downed character will be killed. Any hostile [[Spells|spell]], spell-like ability or damage interrupts the coup de gras.
-When a character expires, they produce an itemized corpse. When a character is rendered unconscious, they drop any item or equipment held in their hands.
+A downed character who is not killed outright takes <code>1 untyped damage</code> every turn IGT until they reach <code>-10 HP</code>, after which they will expire if they were downed from lethal damage.
+Every 30 seconds IRT the downed character rolls <code>d100 + Fortitude save +/- CON</code>, trying to beat <code>DC 95</code>. Should they succeed once they stabilize, now healing <code>1 HP</code> every turn IGT until reaching <code>0 HP</code>, after which they will be still downed but may choose to get back on their feet at <code>1 HP</code>.
+It is not possible to be set below <code>-5 HP</code> from whatever damage downed a character. This includes being downed from falling a death save from ''<code>deathwatch</code>'', but they will be set to <code>-5 HP</code> and suffer a <code>-5 penalty to stabilize</code>. Intervention from recovery items such as bandages or sutures may immediately stabilize a downed character, subject to a successful [[Handle Medicine]] check from the administering character. Healing spells must heal the character to <code>0 HP</code> in order to stabilize. They will not recover <code>HP</code> past <code>0</code> from healing spells until they are back on their feet.
+When a character expires, they produce an itemized corpse. When a character is downed, they drop any held item or equipment to the ground. Any character who is downed suffers <code>-1 AC and AB</code> until their next successful [[Recovery and Rest Cycles|rest]], scaling up to <code>-3 AC and AB</code> per down.
 == Maiming and Critical Injuries ==
-Should a character reach <code>-10 HP</code> from nonlethal damage such as from hostile, AI-controlled entities or <code>subdual damage</code>  they are fictionally not dead but maimed, entering a comatose state as an itemized body. They may be revived with the sacrifice of some materials and a cast of [[Greater Restoration|''greater restoration'']] from another player or capable non-player character once an interregnum period has elapsed, anywhere from 5 to 20 minutes IRT based on level.
+A character who reaches <code>-10 HP</code> as a result of nonlethal damage are fictionally not dead but maimed, entering a comatose state as an itemized body. They may be revived with the sacrifice of some materials and a cast of ''[[restoration]]'' from another player character or capable non-player character after an interregnum period, anywhere from 5 to 25 minutes IRT based on level with some random fuzzing. The interregnum period or ''restoration'' requirement do not apply if they were rendered unconscious from subdual damage or a knockout coup de gras, awakening if their body is dropped on the ground or after 15 minutes IRT. Logging out with an itemized body in the inventory drops them, awakening them on the spot.
-The revived character is subject to revival sickness which deals heavy [[Attributes|attribute]] damage that cannot be cured, even with ''greater restoration.'' This sickness will last anywhere from 24 to 48 hours IRT, based on level, and gradually erode until the character's attribute values return to normal.
+Characters who are restored are subject to revival sickness, dealing heavy [[Attributes|attribute]] damage that cannot be cursed, even with restoration. The sickness persists anywhere from 48 to 168 hours IRT, based on level with some random fuzzing. As the sickness nears expiry the attribute damage will soften until  fully restored to normal. Knocked out characters recover lost attributes faster.
-After the first maiming in a character's life, any future maiming will also induce a critical injury. Critical injuries may be temporary or permanent. When a character receives a critical injury, the player will be presented with a mandatory choice from three options to apply to the character, selected from a random table. As the character accrues more critical injuries, a greater handicap is applied to the random table, creating the possibility for more severe consequences up to and including death.
+After a character is maimed for the first time, any future maiming induces critical injuries. Critical injuries may be temporary or permanent. When a character receives a critical injury, the player will be presented with a choice between three options to apply to the character, selected by the Game Masters from a random table. As the character accrues more of these critical injuries, a greater handicap is applied to the random table, opening the possibility for more severe consequences up to and including death.