Death, Respawn & Corpses

1. Summary

Starting over on every death is too extreme for the default game mode. Flatland3 uses respawn at resurrection points with meaningful loss concentrated on on-person belongings left on a lootable corpse.

Death is a setback and a logistics problem — not a character deletion — unless a future hardcore ruleset opts into permadeath.

2. Design verdict: respawn, not wipe

Recommendation: Default = respawn. Reserve permadeath for explicit hardcore Areas or seasonal modes.

3. Death flow

PvP path: HP → 0 may enter UNCONSCIOUS first (14 §8). The winner chooses kill (this flow) or capture (jail). Instant death still applies to PvE mobs, environment, and when a player chooses to finish a downed foe.

Player HP → 0 (kill confirmed — not merely unconscious)
        │
        ├─► Character enters DEAD state (no actions except UI/chat limits)
        │
        ├─► Spawn CORPSE entity at death location (x,y,z,w)
        │     └── Contains on-person inventory snapshot (§4)
        │
        ├─► Strip on-person items from living character
        │
        ├─► Compute death penalty (§8) from death type + corpse↔respawn distance
        │
        ├─► Select resurrection point (§5) → teleport living character (minimal kit + soul-bound gear)
        │
        └─► Persist: death event, corpse id, respawn point, penalties applied, timers

4. What stays on the corpse

4.1 On-person (goes to corpse)

Everything the character was carrying on their body at time of death:

Rule: If it is in the personal carry graph rooted at equipped/worn slots, it moves to the corpse as a frozen inventory snapshot (same nesting structure).

Exception: Items with soul_bound attribute (§4.4) stay on the character — not moved to corpse.

4.2 Not on corpse (survives death)

4.3 Soul-bound items (decided)

Soul-bound is an item attribute — not every item can become soul-bound.

struct ItemTemplate {
    can_soul_bind: bool,   // only some items eligible
    // ...
}
struct ItemInstance {
    soul_bound: bool,      // set after binding ceremony
}

4.4 Respawn kit

Character respawns with:

• Minimal default clothing if no soul-bound garments
• All soul-bound items still equipped or in designated soul slots
• Death penalty debuffs / XP debt applied (§8)
• No non-soul-bound containers or loot

5. Resurrection points

5.1 Concept

Resurrection spots are registered world nodes (shrines, temples, town anchors, waystones). On death, the player respawns at the closest eligible point to the death location.

Death at (x,y,z) in Area w
        │
        ▼
Query resurrection registry for Area w
        │
        ▼
Closest point by path distance (or straight-line if unreachable)
        │
        ▼
Admit player at spawn pose + facing

5.2 Point types (proposed)

Players may set active resurrection preference among discovered points in the same Area if within policy (e.g. “bind to Temple of X”).

5.3 Closest vs last visited

Default: geometrically / path closest eligible point to corpse.
Optional player bind: overrides to one chosen point if discovered and not on cooldown.

Prevents exploit: binding only to safe city while farming dangerous zone — bind cooldown or “must visit within N hours”.

6. Corpse entity

6.1 Behavior

• Corpse is a world entity at death coords until despawn
• Owner recovery: deceased player (or party) can open corpse and loot back — same rules as any container
• Third-party looting: allowed per Area rules (PvP zones yes; safe towns no)
• Identification: name, time of death, killer (if known)

6.2 Timers

6.3 Region boundaries

• Corpse state is region-local while corpse exists (same world)
• On region crash: control plane reconciles from death event + checkpoint
• Region handoff while dead: corpse stays at death coords; player in DEAD state migrates with connection (01)

7. Persistence on death

8. Death penalties (decided)

Death always carries a variable penalty — never a free respawn.

8.1 Penalty components

Penalties stack from two axes:

1. Death type — how you died
2. Recovery distance — how far corpse is from resurrection point used

total_penalty = combine(death_type_profile, distance_profile)

Applied as modifiers (§8.3) and/or XP / skill debt.

8.2 Death type profiles (examples)

Each profile defines base:

• xp_debt_percent — fraction of recent XP pool owed back
• skill_training_debt — slowed XP gain for N minutes
• resurrection_sickness — stat modifier magnitude & duration
• durability_loss — optional gear on corpse only

8.3 Distance factor

Longer corpse → resurrection point distance increases penalty:

distance_factor = clamp(path_distance_m / reference_distance, 0.5, 2.0)

• Die deep in wilderness, respawn at distant town shrine → higher sickness / debt
• Die next to town wall → lower penalty
• Encourages binding waystones or accepting risk far from civilization

Distance uses path distance in Area when navmesh available; else straight-line with penalty cap.

8.4 Resurrection sickness (unified debuff)

Single debuff bundle scaled by total_penalty:

Clears over time or at shrine/healer for fee.

8.5 What penalties never do (default)

• Delete character
• Wipe cartography ledger
• Drain bank account
• Destroy soul-bound items

9. PvE vs PvP (outline)

10. Player experience (TUI)

• Death screen: killer, death type, penalty preview, corpse vs respawn distance, corpse marker on map
• Commands: flatland corpse locate, flatland respawn (auto), flatland corpse loot when in range
• Agent JSON: corpse id, coords, timer remaining, inventory manifest hash

11. Open questions

Resolved (2026-07-06):

12. Design feedback (starting over)

Permadeath for every death would fight the rest of the design: cartography investment, skill training, town storage, and social play all assume a persistent character. Respawn + corpse recovery adds tension without deleting hours of exploration.

Corpse + on-person loot is the right pressure point: players bank valuables, choose loadouts for trips, and recover corpses in dangerous zones — classic MMO risk loop done well in Ultima Online–style systems.

Inventory mass/volume, bags, and modifiers: 08-inventory-carriers-and-storage.html