PC Corpse decay times

[Cyprianus]

I've noticed recently that player character corpse decay times seem to be much quicker then they used to be, usually the body rots out in a few hours as opposed to a real life day. I'm not sure if it is a bug but I sort of remember it taking longer to occur in the past.

[Cret]

I was told to post on this:

PC corpses should last for longer then 24 hrs. However, a level 17 PC corpse rotted away in 25. Not sure if its wholey a bug or not. However it should be noted if it is.

[Raona]

The helpfile on corpses indicates that

If you die, your corpse will remain where you fell, carrying upon it your
possessions at the time of your death. A player's corpse will decay to dust
after 18-20 real-life hours, spilling out all their belongings onto the
ground, where they will remain until the game reboots, or someone picks them
up. Corpse decay will happen even while you are linkdead or after you quit.

Unless the corpse is in the conservatory, 25 hours is generous, I think (though not problematic).

Am I missing something here?

[Cret]

I seem to recall them lasting for three days to a week. Perhaps this was changed?

[Raona]

I don't recall that ever having been the case in my 4+ years here, though I will speculate that when the game was less stable, frequent restarts could have reset the clock often enough to make that happen.

However, I think this aspect of the game is working as currently intended. If I'm missing something, please let me know! If you think things should be otherwise, please make a (concrete) suggestion in the Game Suggestions forum. Perhaps the evils need a corpse conservatory, or a break on corpse decay? It'd be a suggestion, though, not a bug, I think!

Thanks for reporting the suspected bug all the same.

[Caelnai]

Suggest moving this to Game Suggestions for further discussion.

[Raona]

Suggest moving this to Game Suggestions for further discussion.

A fine suggestion! Done.

Do folks think that corpses should last longer than the current 24 RL hours?

I know that for my part it would certainly make me less stressed about a PC dying, and more willing to put my PCs in harm's way...but that may or may not be a good thing.

[Briek]

I always thought it was two RL days?

[Caelnai]

Cret is right. Many, many years ago the decay was longer. I believe it currently averages under 24 RL hours and has been this way for years. Personally, I favour lengthening the decay. Corpse recovery is sometimes quick, but if in a difficult location or other problems, it would be nice to have some more time to arrange an RP. (IMO )

Maybe this gets into the old "Is death on FK too easy?" argument and I don't want to restart that again! Death probably is too easy for some (Waterdeep PC with lots of game friends), and too hard for others (newbies, evils, drow, etc.) No solution exists that works for everyone, but lengthening the corpse decay would allow more options if someone is struggling to return to life.

[Raona]

There are some other factors that I think play into this. The games is now MUCH more stable than it used to be (BRAVO, Mask!). I don't *think* corpses survived crashes? If so, any time specified used to be a hopeful outer limit...now it's a more definitive and important number. Does anyone know if that's right? Do corpses go poof when the game crashes or reboots?

I forgot the second factor I was going to raise...sheesh. It'll come to me.

[Lirith]

As far as I know, player corpses survive reboots. I think they also survive crashes too.

[Caelnai]

Yes, they survive reboots. Usually also crashes, but not always (depends on the crash).

[Raona]

Corpse decay times have been appreciably increased. I'm testing to determine just how long it is now, but it's at least 2 days. Anyone have a feeling for what it is, in their recent experience? (This is a real godsend for folks with limited play time!)

[Raona]

Looks like it is now between 4 and 6 RL days, I'm calling it "about 5 RL days," which I'm happy about! A break for the busy and the beginning player alike!

Moving this to resolved bugs as an implemented suggestion.