Valheim death penalty and tombstones on a server

When a character dies in Valheim on the default settings, three things happen: everything they were carrying goes into a tombstone where they fell, each skill loses 5% of its level, and they wake up at their bed with no food buffs. The tombstone stays in the world until the owner empties it, and for a while after death the character has a "no skill drain" status, so dying again on the way back costs no more skills. On a server, that tombstone is a world object stored on the server, not part of your character - which is why it is still there when you log back in tomorrow, and why a crash at the wrong moment can take it away. This post covers what death costs, how to run back safely as a group, what happens if you log off with a tombstone out, and what each value of the deathpenalty world modifier changes.

What happens when you die#

On the normal death penalty, a death costs you:

• Your inventory, temporarily. Everything you carried and wore goes into a tombstone at the spot where you died. Nothing is destroyed.
• Skill progress, permanently. Each skill loses 5% of its current level. A Swords skill of 40 drops to 38; a Run skill of 20 drops to 19. Higher skills lose more in absolute terms.
• Your food and rested buffs. You respawn with base health and stamina, which is why the run back is dangerous.
• Any active status effects, including a Forsaken power you activated.

You respawn at the last bed you set as your spawn point, or at the sacrificial stones at the world's starting point if you have none. A bed only counts if you slept in it or set it as your spawn, and if it has since been destroyed the game sends you back to the stones. On a big world, that difference is a long walk.

The no-skill-drain window

Right after death, the character gets a status effect that blocks further skill loss. It lasts about ten minutes; the status icon shows the time left. Dying again inside that window leaves another tombstone but costs no skills. That has one practical consequence that matters more than anything else in this post: go back immediately. A corpse run started straight away is free in skills even if it goes wrong. The same run started half an hour later, after the status has expired, risks a second 5%.

Tombstones: what they hold and how to get them back#

The tombstone appears where you died, with a marker on your map so you can find it. It contains everything that was in your inventory and equipment slots. Interacting with your own tombstone moves everything back into your inventory, and if you have picked up items on the way that do not leave room, it opens like a chest instead so you can take what fits. Once it is empty, it disappears.

Picking up your tombstone also gives you a short status effect intended to get you clear of the area you died in. Read its tooltip in game for the exact numbers on your version; it is a help, not a reason to stay and fight.

On a server, the tombstone belongs to the world

The tombstone is stored in the world on the server, exactly like a chest or a wall. That has three effects worth knowing:

1. It persists while you are offline. Logging off with a tombstone out is safe. It will be there when you come back, whether that is in an hour or a month.
2. It does not despawn. There is no timer. A tombstone left in the Mountains in January is still there in June.
3. It is only safe once the world has saved. The server writes the world to disk every -saveinterval seconds. If the server stops uncleanly between your death and the next save, the tombstone was never written - but your character, which saves on your machine, may already have recorded an empty inventory. That is the one way a death can lose everything on the normal penalty.

An admin who sees a player die with an important load can run save in the console to write the tombstone straight away. On RE:NODE the console is in the panel, and the server log shows World saved when it is done. The wider case for regular saves and real backups is in Valheim server backups and world corruption.

Tombstones in awkward places

Tombstones in water float, so a death at sea leaves a tombstone bobbing near where you went under - findable, but usually in the middle of the ocean, among serpents. Tombstones also end up inside rock after a fall, in crypts, on Mistlands cliffs and in Ashlands lava fields. Most can be reached with patience; for the ones that cannot, an admin can help, which is covered in admin tools for lost tombstones.

Death penalty modifier values#

The deathpenalty world modifier sets how harsh death is for the whole world. It is set at launch, alone or as part of a preset, and it is stored in the world.

# Launch arguments: forgiving deaths, everything else default-modifier deathpenalty casual# Launch arguments: a hard world-modifier deathpenalty hard -modifier combat hard

The values, from gentlest to harshest, are casual, veryeasy, easy, normal (the default, no argument needed), hard and hardcore. The community wiki describes them like this at the time of writing:

Treat that table as a guide and the in-game world modifier screen as the authority. The game prints the exact rule for each value in one sentence when you pick it, and the wording has changed between updates. If the rule matters to your group - and on hard and hardcore it matters a great deal - create a test world with that value in the game client and read the text before you set it on the server. Valheim world modifiers and presets covers how modifiers combine with presets: the casual preset includes the casual death penalty, and the hardcore preset includes the hardcore one.

Changing it on an existing world

You can change the death penalty on a running world by restarting the server with a different argument. The change applies from that point on; it does not give anyone back skills they already lost. On a panel host the argument goes in the extra launch arguments; on RE:NODE that is a field on the Startup tab, applied at the next restart.

Changing it mid-world is a group decision. Moving from normal to casual because one player keeps dying in the Swamp also changes the game for everybody else, and moving the other way is worse: people who planned around recoverable gear suddenly are not playing that game any more.

Corpse runs as a group#

Solo, a corpse run is a test of nerve. In a group it should be a routine, and a few habits make it one.

1. Respawn, then wait. The dead player should not sprint back alone with no food. Eat first - always keep food in a chest by the beds - and pick up a spare weapon.
2. Tell the group where it is. Your tombstone is on your map, not theirs. Describe the place, or put a pin on your map and write it to a cartography table. Cartography tables and shared maps shows how.
3. Send the closest player as escort. A friend in full gear clearing the area is worth more than the dead player arriving first.
4. Grab and go. Empty the tombstone, take the short buff it gives you, and leave. Kit up somewhere safe.
5. Use the window. Everything above should happen inside the no-skill-drain time. If the run will take longer than that, it is not a reason to stop - just accept the risk.

Can other players empty your tombstone?

Friends recovering a tombstone for someone who cannot make the trip is common on group servers, and in current builds another player can open your tombstone and move items out of it. What they take goes into their inventory, not yours, so it is a hand-over rather than a recovery - and it is also exactly how griefing happens on a public server. Test it once on your version before relying on it, and see wards and griefing for what an admin can do about players who loot others.

A death kit chest

Every base that people respawn at should have a chest with:

• A set of mid-tier armour and two weapons, not the best gear
• Three kinds of food, enough for two runs
• Healing mead and the resistance mead for the current biome
• A pickaxe or axe, in case the tombstone is in a crypt or under trees

It costs a few evenings of crafting and saves the group from turning one death into three. It also means a newcomer always has something to wear - see onboarding late joiners.

Logging off with a tombstone out#

People log off with a tombstone out all the time: it is late, the tombstone is in the Plains, and nobody wants to risk it at night. On a dedicated server that is fine.

• The tombstone stays. It is part of the world, saved by the server.
• The skill loss has already happened. Logging off does not undo or delay it.
• The no-skill-drain window does not carry over in a useful way. By the time you come back, assume it has gone and play carefully.
• The world keeps going. On a server that other people play on, raids, creatures and other players are all still around the tombstone while you are away. That is rarely a problem for the tombstone itself, but it is a reason to ask whoever is online to keep away from the spot.

What is not fine is logging off with a tombstone out on a world hosted from inside someone's game, if the host then plays without you and something goes wrong - but that is one of the many reasons to use a dedicated server in the first place. The Valheim dedicated server guide covers the differences.

Hardcore and permadeath groups#

hardcore is a different game. A death destroys what you carried and resets your skills, so there is no corpse run at all - there is only starting again. Groups that choose it usually also turn off the map with the nomap setkey and agree rules about what a returning character may bring.

Hardcore is much harder on a group than on a solo player. A party that loses one member in the Plains has a player back at the starting area with nothing, while everyone else has late-game gear, and the morale cost of that is real. Hardcore and permadeath servers goes through how groups make it work and when they should not try.

The middle ground most groups like is hard: deaths sting, some gear is lost, and the corpse run still exists. If your group finds normal too forgiving, try hard for one biome before committing to hardcore for the whole world.

Troubleshooting#

My tombstone is not on the map. Open the full map and look for the death marker near where you died. If it really is gone, either somebody emptied it, or the server stopped before the next save after your death. Ask an admin to check the log for an unclean stop.

I respawned at the start of the world. Your bed was destroyed, or you never set it as your spawn point. Sleep in or interact with a bed at each base you use.

I lost more than 5% of a skill. You may have died again after the no-skill-drain window ended, or the world uses hard. Check the world's modifiers with the admin.

I cannot take everything out of the tombstone. You picked things up on the way and your inventory is full. Drop or store something, then take the rest. The tombstone stays until it is empty.

My friend opened my tombstone and the items went to them. That is how it works when someone else opens it. Ask them to hand the items over.

The tombstone is in a place I cannot reach. Ask an admin. With devcommands they can fly to it or teleport you, and as a last resort replace the items.

FAQ#

How much skill do you lose when you die in Valheim?

On the normal death penalty, 5% of each skill's level. The world modifier changes that: lower values lose less, hard loses more, and hardcore resets everything. Dying again during the no-skill-drain window after a death costs nothing more.

Does a tombstone disappear if I log off?

No. On a dedicated server the tombstone is part of the world and is saved by the server. It stays until you empty it, however long you are away.

Can I lose my items permanently on the normal setting?

Only in unusual cases: a tombstone somewhere genuinely unreachable, someone else emptying it, or a server crash between your death and the next world save. A clean server stop always saves first, so it is the unclean stops that matter.

Can the death penalty be changed after the world has started?

Yes. Restart the server with a different -modifier deathpenalty value. The new rule applies to deaths from then on; skills already lost stay lost.

What does casual death penalty do?

Equipped gear stays on your character and the rest of your inventory goes to the tombstone, and skill loss is small. The in-game modifier text gives the exact rule for your version. It is popular on family and casual servers - see casual and family servers.

Is there a way to skip the corpse run?

Not in vanilla without admin help. On casual you keep your equipped gear, which makes the run short and safe. Otherwise, an admin with devcommands can help - but most groups find a death kit chest and a prompt run back are all they need.