CHARACTER DEATH AND SCALPING

As players experience the game through the eyes of their characters, character death becomes an important aspect of the game.

The Two Types of Death

In the Realms there are two states of "Death". They are death (or dead), and scalped. Any wound inflicted to an unarmored kill zone causes death. Death renders the character incapable of any action until such time as a spellcaster or item with the power to heal the dead raises the character, or magic that regenerates or animates him takes effect. Scalping is the removal of a characters life essence through mutilation of the body. It is a more serious form of death that requires more than a simple spell to repair. Scalped characters cannot be animated or regenerate.

Acting Dead

Whether your character is dead or scalped, the results look much the same. In either case, you should lie or sit still. Try not to look around or talk. You should do your best to role-play a corpse. Don't get upset if someone hits you with a killing blow when you are already dead, just say, "Dead". They are just making sure that you really are dead.

In tournaments, or other high combat situations, it is acceptable for a character to move out of the way to avoid being stepped on. They may resume their "death act" in a safer place, or assume a tornado position to avoid injuries. Generally, if you are role-playing death in this form, you should put your weapon over your head, signifying your character is dead.

If someone looks at you and asks you to describe your wounds, do your best to comply. If you were backstabbed and you're lying on your back, tell them they don't see any wounds. Then, if they roll you over to look at your back, tell them they see a deep wound in your back.

Playing Dead

It is legal for Player Characters and Non-Player Characters to lie down and pretend they are dead, but they may not use the tornado position option (which is allowed only for safety), nor may they put their weapons over their head. If someone asks a player if their character is dead, the player and the character are not obliged to answer, but if a player is asked to describe their character's wounds, they should do so as accurately and honestly as possible. If their character is not really dead and someone comes close to them to loot their character's body, they are free to attack the unsuspecting looters. If you are unsure as to whether someones character is dead or not, and want the character to be dead, tap the player gently in a kill location.

Death

Death occurs in many ways. Usually, death of a character happens when something, usually a weapon, hits a character in an unarmored kill location. Certain spells may also kill a character, from magic missiles of some sort, to ingesting poisons or other more esoteric means.

Death can be repaired by a myriad of spells, abilities and items. Be sure to go over the Combat and Basic Magic Effects Everyone Should Know sections for more details on what causes and cures death.

Scalping

Scalps

A scalp is a token carried by each player, which represents the life essence of that player's character. A player must be carrying their character's scalp at all times; unless the character is dead and scalped (see below), or unless they are under the influence of a spell which removes the character's scalp. A player character's scalp must have their players name and the character's name written legibly on it. A scalp does not exist physically in the IC world therefore it cannot be searched. A scalp is a non-magical and non-stealable marshalling tool.

How Characters are Scalped

The act of scalping is done to simulate the mutilation of a corpse to the point where it cannot be revived by normal Raise Dead spells. In order to scalp a body, you must strike 200 blows on the ground beside the body of the character being scalped. More than one person may scalp a body at a time. More than one weapon may be used to scalp a body as well. This effectively divides the number of blows to be struck between the number of participants and number of weapons used. Some monsters and characters under certain spells may require more scalping blows to completely destroy. If you strike 200 blows and the victim says, "The job is not yet done," then the scalping is not yet complete. Some spells and abilities may accelerate the act of scalping.

After the scalping is finished, the player of the scalped character must present his character's scalp to the character that just scalped him. It is then that player's responsibility to present the scalp to an Event Holder, or an appointed marshal. The EH must be informed immediately of the scalping, thus allowing the EH time to prepare for those who might wish to return the scalped character to life.

Since the act of scalping is a simulation of mutilation of a corpse, characters that are pretending to be dead should interpret any scalping blows as blows to the closest kill location. So, if your character is pretending to be dead and someone starts to scalp him, the first blows that are struck on the ground next to you should be played as if they were striking your character on the nearest kill location, destroying any undamaged armor, and then killing him.

Should your character be dead at the end of an event without being raised, even if the character was not actively scalped, the character will be considered scalped.

How a Character Can Fix Another Scalped Character

To restore someone to life after scalping, characters must first have the body of the person needing to be raised. Then characters must either cast a Call the Soul spell to summon and reattach the scalp. If characters lack the body, only an Intervention spell will be able to return the scalped character back to life. When the body and scalp are reunited, characters must cast one Raise Dead spell for each event (including the first) since the scalped character was scalped in order to raise him. A different spellcaster must provide each Raise Dead spell used for this purpose.

Permanent Death

When a character is dead and scalped at the end of an event at which they were at some point alive, they get a "tick." Characters may also receive ticks due to use of certain magic items or plot interactions. A character is only obligated to accept one involuntarily tick per event. A character only gets three ticks per calendar year before their soul can no longer be rescued by any means. All ticks acquired over the course of a year are removed on January 1st of every new year.

If a character is killed and scalped during an event, but returned to life before the end of the event, they do not get a tick.

For a scalping to be official, it must be brought to the EH's attention. The EH must provide the Death Marshal with this scalping information from their events. The Death Marshal will keep track of this information.

The current Death Marshal is _____________, who can be reached at; _________________________________, (888) 888-8888, and by e-mail at ___________________.

Death, Scalping and Memory

When your character is killed (dead, but not scalped) and then raised, he may remember everything up until the point of his death. If your character is killed and scalped, he will not remember anything about how he died should he manage to be raised.