On SWLOR, it is exceedingly rare yet possible that a character may be permakilled. This hardly ever happens, however. But, the fact that it can happen means that we need to spell out our position on it.
First, understand that primarily permadeath or similar consequences are something that mainly happens when characters are engaging in high risk, high reward behavior during DM events and plotlines. It is NOT something another player can impose on you without your consent.
If you are killed in PvP, it is your choice whether or not you truly die, unless a DM rules otherwise. It is perfectly acceptable to respawn and RP it as you having been wounded and crawled away to safety. Just follow all PvP rules and, as a side request, try to be gracious and humble in defeat rather than acting like you’re immortal just because you can’t actually be killed. 99/100 times PvP should end in subdual and a relatively quick release, or a kill and you respawning in a med bay.
The DM team can, at any time, decide to permakill your character. Again, we hardly ever do this. But we can decide to enforce a permakill after PvP. We just are exceedingly unlikely to do so.
As a general rule permadeath for us is a practice of informed consent. We want, as much as is feasible, for you to understand OOC when a course of action may result in your character’s true demise. Typically this will come from you wanting to perform some particularly heroic deed or something hugely impactful to the server beyond the usual scope of an event or plot.
Sometimes it may also come from you wanting to perform some action that is exceedingly dangerous or deadly. Diving into a sarlacc pit to save someone who fell in for instance, or exposing yourself to vacuum unnecessarily, or bungee jumping over a black hole. Again, we will try to provide warning when something like this is going to get you killed.
But if you do something so spontaneously incompatible with life that we can’t warn you, and there is no feasible, non-deus ex machina way for you to live, that may just be it for your character unless a DM at their own discretion decides to retcon you having done it. We don’t usually like retcons though, no one does.
Also, a note on faction conflict and permadeath/capture. Most of you are part of factions that are at war with each other. While there are ceasefires and treaties on Viscara itself to avoid this server becoming an endless dueling ground, really nowhere is truly safe from PvP. It can happen.
If you are beaten down and captured by other PC’s, you do not necessarily have to comply OOC with the capture RP. We do encourage you to go along with it though and to keep the DM team appraised of how things progress. Be a good sport in defeat, and recognize it’s just another page in your character’s story.
To the victors, keep things moving fast for the person captured, and ensure they are released in short order. A capture should usually not last long. An hour or two at most. Past that, get a DM. Do not leave victims alone for more than a few minutes without their/a DM’s consent.
Capture RP should be done with a purpose, such as to elicit some information or ransom. While OOC we do have rules about not permakilling characters, everyone IC should be treating these situations with the gravity they realistically deserve. If you are not treating it that way, we reserve the right to authorize permadeath, or permanent capture/imprisonment.
(Side note, while torture is a part of the setting, please do not let it become graphic. Simple force lightning or force chokes or a non-graphic beating or some bot with a needle hovering overhead is enough. Or leave it as a fade to black thing. This is a PG-13 server.)
More permanent capture/imprisonment is an alternative to permakilling, again only done with DM approval, which is reserved for extreme cases. Unlike permadeath, a character is welcome to request an event to break out. However, breaking yourself out is extremely difficult. Other players can attempt to rescue the player, or negotiate for release/prisoner exchange, which is likely to be much easier. Prolonged/indefinite imprisonment is rare, but much more common than permadeath.
Also, in terms of the degree to which PvP is expected on this server - It’s not, really. This isn’t a pvp-heavy RP server at all. It certainly isn’t an action server. PvP is a part of RP but here it tends to be a small part. Please always remain in character and focused on the conflict and story rather than those seconds or minutes of brawling. Please remember to keep IC and OOC separate, and make a ticket if you have issues rather than ruining the other player’s experience. Be kind and gracious in both defeat and victory.
Finally, an update on policy:
We’ve done this in the past, but moving forward, any time a DM specifically enforces permadeath on a character, you can give your next character up to 250 of their skill levels. If you are permanently captured you can choose to retire the character to receive this as well, but the old character can never come back.
This is to remove some of the OOC sting of permadeath, and encourage players to engage in the sorts of heroics we all like to see.
If you feel your character has reached the end of their journey feel free to reach out to the DM team regarding retiring them if you would like to receive this migration XP. It is not guaranteed to happen but the goal here is to avoid stagnation so we aren’t entirely opposed to the idea.