Mark of destiny

Overview

An extension to the roleplaying bonus feature, Arelith includes two "marks" which optionally make death a little more permanent than before. The idea behind this is that characters who would normally simply respawn after dying, can be given a definite end.

Mark of destiny

"I've got this burning like my veins are filled with nothing but gasoline

and with a spark it's gonna be the biggest fire they've ever seen...

Sometimes I just wanna drive until the streets run out.

I wanna burn until there's nothing left to burn about."

The Mark of Destiny (MoD) can be acquired from a DM upon request. Any character of any level may qualify for a Mark of Destiny, and once given they cannot be removed, except to be replaced by a Mark of Despair. The Mark grants an additional 20 experience points per in-game hour (6 minutes in real life), which is stacked on top of any Roleplaying Bonus experience that may also be achieved that hour. So someone with a Bonus of 20 will acquire 40 experience points every hour.

There is a tradeoff though - that character will be limited to exactly 10 deaths. This is deaths, not respawns. It does not however include deaths in an Arena area (areas with the PvP Flag enabled), nor does it include deaths that are averted by divine interventions, or the Healer's abilities. Once the character has died 10 times, they can never again be seen on Arelith. That character will not go to the Death area; instead they will simply be deleted. Not even Resurrection or Raise Dead spells will restore them. Each time that character dies, the player will be notified as to how many more times they are allowed to die before being deleted - this is the only time you're able to find out how many "lives" you have left, so it's worth making a note in your In-Game Journal (or somewhere else) for certainty.

Characters that spend their 10 lives automatically roll for the Epic Sacrifice, if they are within the level range. However, the Mark of Despair will not automatically roll on consumption of the 10 lives.

In character and out of character

MoD is an OOC concept. Characters are not aware of having it or of other PCs having it. Knowledge about PCs having MoD or not, should never ever influence characters decisions IC. It is not acceptable to ask for special treatment from other players based on possession of MoD, be it in character or out of character.

Mark of despair

The Mark of Despair is exactly the same as the Mark of Destiny, however it does not add 20 experience points every hour. This is used by DMs as a punitive tool for players that may disregard roleplay (somebody that consistently ignores RP opportunities to solo hunt and silently grind), participate in wanton PvP with little narrative interest (somebody that is often starting PvP fights with little reason or provocation), or try to game the server (somebody that found a way to exploit the mechanics to gain an unfair advantage over other players, or somebody that dies constantly and never RPs as being afraid or caring about death, or worse, that thinks itself immortal). Like the Mark of Destiny, however, players may request a DM to give them the mark at any level.

Marks of Despair are not automatically handed for any rule breach. Usually, a player will get a warning from a DM if their actions are found to OOCly damaging or toxic in nature. A player that received a MoD as punitive action may petition to have it removed if their behavior improves.

Clarification

The Marks are intended to make death more meaningful, whilst still allowing those who enjoy roleplaying their characters in dangerous situations to respawn indefinitely. It is an entirely optional choice, and the consequences (character deletion upon final death) are expect to be upheld.

Just for clarification, Fireboar puts it this way:

"Permanent death via either 5% roll or MoD - neither class of characters may be remade. A similar character but who is a different person is allowed, but why not try something different for variety?"