Character Death (Permadeath)

Players often refer to their characters being taken down during battle as “dying” or having “died” and while this is common to refer to having your character being KO’ed as such, actual death has a much more literal meaning in the world of DotC.

Simply being taken down and respawning in your Garrison does not mean your character died, they just got taken down in battle and were taken back to their garrison. However if the Game Moderators ever mention that there is a danger of being killed, it does not mean you might be taken down, it is actually speaking of permanent character death. So when a storyline entity is speaking of the dangers of a task and mentions death, or potentially lethal situations, take that as a warning.

As mentioned previously, characters can suffer injury during battle, in particular there is a type of injury referred to as critical injury which is a lethal wound inflicted to your character. There are times, depending on circumstances, where a critical injury can be guaranteed to be lethal. In most situations, a character that has entered a critically injured state will have to be taken to intensive care, and resources must be used to save them. 

What can critically injure you?

There are many things in the world of Defenders of the Cross that can critically injure you. The easiest to find and identify are creatures, natives or monsters that have a Crown next to their name. Some main examples are Dragons, Behemoths and Astarots. If you get taken down by any of these entities, there is a chance of getting critically injured (each time you get taken down). Due to this risk, it is recommended to think twice about fighting them, and exercise caution when you do battle against them.

In the world of Defenders of the Cross the Story is everything. Many experienced players have moved their storyline in a way that it may allow them to be able to critically injure other players. Defenders who become Generals tend to have such a capacity. When facing off with them, there is always a chance they might critically injure another. 

As mentioned earlier, Storyline is everything. In the world of Defenders of the Cross there are Non-player characters that are storyline driven. Some of these characters may have the capacity to critically injure players as well. 

Lastly, one thing that can result in a Critical Injury is a dangerous storyline situation. You may enter an area that you need to be careful while traversing, because it can become dangerous. Most times when you are in such a dire situation, you receive what many players call a “Survive” prompt. This lets you know that you can’t just leave the situation carelessly. You are stuck in this situation until you escape or it is resolved. Failure to escape or resolve this situation can end in a Critical Injure.

What happens when I get Critically Injured?

When you receive a critical injury, you get a lethal wound. The first thing that happens is that you lose access to the character. The second thing that occurs is an announcement that you’ve been critically injured. Third thing that occurs is your body plops on the floor where you got critically injured. It is at this moment that your fate falls in the hands of the other Defenders and Storyline situations occurring in the area. 

Your body will be lying there, and it will be up to the other Characters in the area to decide to rescue you or not. Defenders will have to manually recover your body, and at times based on what was occurring that can be difficult. Some Storyline entities, natives or creatures, might grab your body and take it to another spot. Other such entities might try to push the Defenders back to prevent your rescue. In the rarest situation, depending on the entity, they might straight up execute you.

Once you are rescued, the Defenders will need to transport you to a place for your recovery. Defenders need to keep in mind that locations for medical treatment have a limit of occupancy. It depends on the amount of personnel that could attend a critically injured defender. If the area is occupied, they need to head to another possible station for treatment. If there is absolutely none available after the three day period, the character will succumb to their wounds. Characters must maintain these things in mind, because the moment a Defender is under intensive care they can’t be moved.

When a Defender is already in a medical facility, they will need medical supplies to be treated. Defenders, players, will be asked to deposit those supplies in a crate, and a 3 day counter will begin (3 Days of MOBBING, so skipping days such as holidays where the story is not running). This window is where medical supplies and the intervention of other entities such as players or Storyline NPCs can be used to prevent the character from passing away or finishing them off. If the supplies for the character are collected, and there are no threats from other players or storyline entities then the character will be recovered in a day. However, even if supplies are gathered and a threat still remains the player will have to complete the 3 (M.O.B) day countdown. (If you find yourself to have handed all supplies, and still have not returned, expect there to be a reason such as an extraordinarily difficult recovery, or entities trying to finish you off).

Death

While your character is in a critically injured state, you will not have access to the character, however if they are saved by using medical resources to recover them, you will have the character returned to your account once the treatment to save them is completed. Keep in mind, however, that critical injuries have a 3 day timer to save the character before they succumb to their wounds and during that time other Storyline Entities or Players may try to eliminate the character. Death comes when all sorts of rescue, recovery or defending of the body fails.

Permanent character death, or permadeath as some will call it, will cause you to lose the character and they will have died as per the records of the storyline. You will lose most, if not all items the character had on them, with the exception of item mall items (if you have purchased item mall insurance or have a monthly subscription running). 

Here are a few statistics in regards to the critical injury / permadeath system:

Canyon City has 2 Static Occupancy for treatment.
Sinocx Town has 1 Static Occupancy for treatment.
Capital City has 7 Static Occupancy for treatment.
El Verloon Outpost has 1 Static Occupancy for treatment.
Mystic City has 2 Static Occupancy for treatment.
Snow Village has 1 Static Occupancy for treatment.
The Refuge has 2 Static Occupancy for treatment.
Shady Town has 1 Static Occupancy for treatment.
Desert City has 1 Static Occupancy for treatment.