Dungeons And Dragons Online: d20 Magazine Rack Interviews Eckelberry

A new news magazine style interview popped up, this time featuring David Eckelberry. d20 Magazine Rack covers a little bit of everything in this one, including a bit about death, finding traps, and some more general "What is DDO?" aspects.

One very interesting element that David spoke of was the death of a character. Death isn't necessarily the end in D&D, as many players of the pencil and paper version are well aware. So it is here, as well. When a character dies, they drop a soulstone in the spot where they met their unfortunate demise. The player is then given a choice; return to the city or the nearest shrine to be resurrected (with appropriate loss of experience) or hang about as a ghost. As a ghost, a character has limited movement (they must remain near their soulstone) and can't do much, but it is possible for an ally to pick up the soulstone and carry it to a place where resurrection is possible. Dungeon adventures are strictly private excursions; only the members of a given party will experience the dungeon, but some outdoor areas are shared, which means that a kindly stranger may also pick up your soulstone and carry it to a shrine or the city.

Good stuff all around. You might be able to save for half damage, but you're still not going to be able to resist the link.