Q: What will happen when a character dies?
We would like to offer people several methods to choose from, all deemed by us to be equal in penalty, but which will fit different playstyles. For example some people could choose to be returned to their home town with no loss of items and equipment, but cut off from any transportation magic for a period of time. This effectively takes them out of the adventuring portion of their evening, but lets them work on their trade skills, or do some training. Some can choose to pay their god for a full resurrection, in return for "possession slavery" for a time. In this approach their spirit would be placed into the body of a NPC far from their body or home territory and given a task to perform in that form. When they have completed the task (could be time based, like defend this spot, or attack this group, etc) they would be placed back into their body and resurrected with no penalties. If they want the resurrection at the temple, then the period of enslavement will be shorter than if they want the resurrection to happen where they died.
When a character dies, what happens will depend on what measures they have taken in anticipation of possible death. The option above is one thing that could happen, but depending on what spells or items were in effect on your character at time of death, your standing with the gods, what options you had prayed for with your god, etc. different things would happen. Another option, of course, is for a priest to cast a resurrection spell on your body.
Q: How common will death be?
It depends if you go looking for trouble or if trouble finds you. Monsters that initiate an attack against you will generally knock you unconscious for some time, or let you crawl off to recuperate. Monsters you attack might kill you or let you live, that will be dependent partially on how much they hate you (faction, race, etc). Also, we plan on implementing the concept of capture, providing we can work out all the various and sundry abusive conditions. But with capture you (or your group) would be given the option to surrender. If you accept, the you would be bound and marched to their camp, dungeon, etc. Then you can send a message to friends to mount a rescue.
