Death's Sting

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THIS PAGE CONTAINS SPOILERS

Death's Sting is the current system in place to penalize a character for dying in the world of Elanthia.

Effects of Death

Death and decay have many short- and long-term effects on a character. They consist of a temporary reduction in all stats, a reduction in experience absorption rate, a reduction in health, stamina, mana, or spirit recovery rate, and a reduction in a character's Constitution stat that lasts longer than the other stat reductions. Of these, only the reduction in all stats simply takes time to recover from. All the rest require either a special potion or absorbing experience. Fortunately, the only permanent effect that death has on a character is the loss of a deed. Characters under level 10 will not lose Constitution for recent deaths. Additionally, they recuperate from all other penalties at twice the normal rate.

Decay Timer

Each race has a decay timer measured in minutes. A dead body only has a number of minutes equal to the decay time to have Preservation (305), Symbol of Preservation, or Raise Dead (318) cast on it before it decays. (Prior to 2019/02/26, deaths that occurred in the Rift doubled the decay timer, but this has been updated and the timer is no longer extended.)

Race Decay Timer
Aelotoi 10 minutes
Dwarf 16 minutes
Elf 10 minutes
Elf, Dark 10 minutes
Elf, Half 10 minutes
Elf, Sylvan 10 minutes
Erithian 13 minutes
Gnome, Burghal 14 minutes
Gnome, Forest 16 minutes
Giantmen 13 minutes
Halfling 16 minutes
Krolvin, Half 13 minutes
Human 14 minutes

Short Term Effects of Death

Method of Resurrection Recovery Rate
Resurrection with deeds 4% per minute
Resurrection without deeds 2% per minute
Decay with deeds 2% per minute
Decay without deeds 1% per minute

Immediately after being brought back to life, from either being resurrected or decaying, all stats are reduced by 40%. If a chrism gem is used prior to a character being resurrected, stats are instead reduced by 0-30% depending on the strength (value) of the chrism. The rate of statistic recovery depends on how the character was raised (decaying or resurrection) and if the character has deeds or not (see table on right). Without a chrism, being resurrected with deeds takes 10 minutes to recover, being resurrected without deeds or decaying with deeds takes 20 minutes to recover, and decaying without deeds takes 40 minutes to recover. The use of a chrism reduces recovery time by mitigating the initial stat loss.

A character's constitution stat will recover fully if the character was resurrected, had a deed, and had 0 recent deaths at the time of the death. If all of the above is not true, the character will suffer some lingering long-term effects from the death.

Long Term Effects of Death

Dying in Gemstone has numerous long term effects which only apply in certain cases. Generally, a character that possesses deeds and is resurrected after dying will see one long term effect -- constitution loss. However, a character that does not have deeds, decays, or departs will see more and harsher long term effects, such as reduced spirit, stamina, health, and mana recovery; reduced experience absorption; and increased constitution loss. Constitution loss can be regained with experience. See note below.

Conditions of Death Constitution loss Reduced
Recovery Rate		 Experience
Absorption (25%)
Resurrected with Deeds 1 per recent death None None
Resurrected without Deeds 3, +1 per recent death
Slightly faster recovery rate than below		 2000 500
Decay with Deeds 3, +1 per recent death 2000 1000
Decay without Deeds or
Departure/Spirit Death with deeds		 3, +1 per recent death 5000 2000
Departure/Spirit Death without Deeds 3, +1 per recent death 10000 4000
Note: it takes 2000 experience points to recover 1 point of constitution lost due to death. The total amount of constitution that can be lost due to repeated deaths is 25 points.
Also note: Recent Deaths are defined as the number of deaths that occurred within the last month or 50,000 experience, whichever comes first. This number caps at 5, so the most constitution that a character can lose from a single death is 8 points, which would take 16,000 experience to recover.

Death Sting Amount

When typing EXP, a character can view how much Death Sting they have, which is shown by an adjective describing how severe the sting is. The amounts determining the adjective are displayed below.

Adjective Amount
None 0
Light 1-500
Moderate 501-1000
Sharp 1001-2000
Harsh 2001-4000
Piercing 4001-Unknown (More than 4750)
Crushing Unknown

Recovery Potions and Salve

[+/-] Click here to toggle. Clicking here will show or hide the information about Recovery Potions and Salve to treat Death's Sting.
There is a priestess that wanders around every town and city of Elanthia, usually of a race fitting for the region. If you give her silver (the amount depends on the character's level), she will give you a potion that will aid you in recovering from the effects of Death's Sting. Each dose of this potion recovers one point of Constitution, until the character is fully recovered. After a character's CON points are fully restored, each dose of the potion then begins working on recovering 250 experience of the experience absorption penalty.

Note that you can purchase flasks at any time; however, they will work only for characters of the same (or possibly lower) level.

Messaging: 

As you sip from the liquid, your mouth begins to tingle.  Soon, the feeling spreads throughout the rest of your body.  Your tongue feels numb and the base of your skull is getting warm.  An inky blackness creeps in along the edge of your vision and for a few panicked moments you can't see a thing.
Suddenly your senses return to normal, but you feel somehow changed. --CON penalty mitigation effect.

You take a sip of the liquid.  The taste is sweet, like an orange.
You feel a momentary tingle sweep through your chest. --EXP absorption penalty mitigation.

You take a sip of the liquid.  The taste is sweet, like an orange. --No effect.
Death sting salve, which normally appears as "a squat jar of pallid grey salve", may also be purchased from the Simucoin Store for 100 Simucoins. The salve is more potent than the potions purchased from the priestess. Players should RUB (verb) the salve to use. Death's sting salves may be bundled to save space and measured to determine how many rubs are left. Besides the Simucoin Store, death's sting salves may often be found sold in Playershops or as prizes in Giftboxes or at Pay events.

Death Messaging

As part of Hot Summer Nights 2015, new death messaging was introduced to give insight into where individuals died. Previously, the only unique death message was isolated to the Rift.

Town-Specific Death Messaging

Location Message
Cysaegir Person just got squashed!
Four Winds Isle Person is dust in the wind!
Icemule Trace Person was just put on ice!
Kraken's Fall (on land only) Person's life on land appears to be as rough as her life at sea.
River's Rest, including Citadel Person has gone to feed the fishes!
Solhaven Person just took a long walk off of a short pier!
Ta'Illistim, including OTF Person just turned his/her last page!
Ta'Vaalor Person is going home on his/her shield!
Teras Isle, including the Ruined Temple Person just punched a one-way ticket!
Wehnimer's Landing Person just bit the dust!
Zul Logoth Person is six hundred feet under!

Hunting Ground Specific Death Messaging

Location Message
Aradhul Road, including the Displaced Red Forest Person may just be going home on his/her shield!
Castle Varunar, trail to Solhaven or Icemule Person just gave up the ghost!
Elemental Confluence Person {town messaging} in the Elemental Confluence!
Hinterwilds Person just got iced in the Hinterwilds!
Open Sea Adventures Person just sank to the bottom of the Tenebrous Cauldron!
Open Sea Adventures Person just sank to the bottom of the Great Western Sea!
Reim Person just lost his/her way somewhere in the Settlement of Reim!
Reim Fortress Defense Person just perished defending a fortress within Reim!
The Rift The death cry of Person echoes in your mind!
Sanctum of Scales Person's flame just burnt out in the Sea of Fire!

Festival and Quest Death Messaging

Location Message
Black Swan Castle Person just bit the dust... in Black Swan Castle!
Duskruin Arena Person was just defeated in Duskruin Arena!
Duskruin Arena sewers Person just perished underneath Bloodriven Village!
Duskruin Arena bank heist Person failed within the Bank at Bloodriven!
Ebon Gate Festival - Caligos Isle - Arena of the Abyss Person was just defeated in the Arena of the Abyss!
Ebon Gate Festival - Caligos Isle Person is now fish food for the fauna of Caligos Isle!
Ebon Gate Festival - Feywrot Mire Person was just reunited with his/her ancestors!
Troubled Waters Person just died on the Great Western Sea!
Night at the Academy Person failed to bring a shrubbery to the Night at the Academy!

Special Occasion Death Messaging

Occasion Message
Eve of the Reunion Person gorged on too much candy and exploded.
Eve of the Reunion Person just crawled into his grave. Weirdo.
Eve of the Reunion Person became dead. Guess the trick went bad.
Eve of the Reunion Person table for two? Er... never mind, make that table for one.
Eve of the Reunion Person does the zombie-shuffle.
Eve of the Reunion Person looks like he just crawled out of a grave. Get the shovel!
Eve of the Reunion While trying to fly like a bat, Person meets the ground. Messy.
Eve of the Reunion Person tripped over a pumpkin and found a squash.
Eve of the Reunion Person just drowned while bobbing for apples.
Eve of the Reunion Person was just scared to death!
Eve of the Reunion Looks like Person won't be breaking any mirrors anytime soon.
Eve of the Reunion A mournful wail fills the air. Oh wait, it's just Person dying.
Eve of the Reunion Leg bone connected to the knee bone. Knee bone.. Oh wait, Person just died.
Eve of the Reunion Person just bit the dust. Would someone give her some treats?
Eve of the Reunion Knocking on the wrong door, Person got a special treat!
Eve of the Reunion Person looks like he saw a ghost! Never mind, he is a ghost!
Eve of the Reunion Will someone tell Person to stop pretending to be a ghost?

Resources

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