[Githzerai Monk]

Permadeath has made its (limited) return. I really debated this one, and asked for input from the staff on this as well. But again, due to discussions here, I felt that bringing back the possibility of permanent death is needed to give pause to an individual that feels ‘Oh - I can mouth off to this Red Wizard because my PC can always respawn or come back from the Fugue’. Now, notorious individuals may place death marks on other characters. After an accumulation of death marks from different player’s characters, true (perma)death can occur from which the individual cannot return.

I can see the worth of this, but I have one reservation.

Seems to me, this is just a "let the biggest group win" tool. Which will have the "feel" of having to obay or risk perma death. Its fine in a setting like Thay and all. But I know that I would likely never make a character that would oppose the (I hate to say it like this, but best example) "popular crowd".

I trust Thay, the staff and the players. I can just see this being such a bully tactic, that it gives me shivers. To think my Red Wizard can be perma killed, from a group intent on grinding rp exp to boost noteriety, for no other reason than they can. Yikes.

No opposed, just...yikes

Understood. Any recommendation on how this perception/problem can be changed to avoid bullying or allow people to create characters that are not going to fall into a 'clique'? Like - it can only be used on characters at or above the same notoriety level as the person giving the mark, perhaps? Or something else?

But again - the issue of trying to help enforce a bit of restraint on new(er) PCs (or players) that expect they can ignore the established order/Red Wizards/PCs is the primary purpose of allowing death mark on PCs, and is something I'd like to maintain with any modification made to this (or if this feature modification dies as quickly as it was made).

Perhaps the marked player is notified of the identity of whoever marked them (or even a subset of the marks they have received). The mysterious allies might provide hourly (or any other unit of time) updates on the location of anyone who has marked them to marked players that fit certain requirements (marked character is x levels below the character who marked them etc.). These locations should be general and might not even say which of their enemies is in a given location like 'Someone in Nethjet wants you dead.' Or instead a notification could be given when entering an area that player is in (or when they enter the marked player's area) like 'Something feels wrong...'

Marking another PC could result in a temporary fully marked situation for the player who marked the other PC. If my PC stays dead once they're dead, and I manage to kill someone while I'm marked, I expect to not have to deal with them again. This still does not prevent the marking player sending others after the marked player.

Perhaps instead of a temporary mark on the PC who marked the other PC, the marked PC has on-kill 3-marks on any PC, so that if they kill anyone, they can elect to have them permanently killed. If assassins are sent my PCs way and my PC deals with them, my PC should be able to expect to not have to deal with that particular assassin again. Risks collateral damage to non-involved PCs, but means marking players have to pay other PCs much more to take the risk of assassinating a marked PC.

Perhaps the marking PC receives much more severe assassination attempts(tougher baddies and more frequent attacks, including while with other PCs too, perhaps?), as those with an interest in the marked player's survival seek to ruin the influence of those who would see the marked player dead.

Given that a player can only mark one character per 6 months, it requires three simultaneous marks to properly mark a PC and that we can trust players not to abuse it, most of the above is probably overkill. My personal choice would be giving marked PCs warning about the PCs who marked them, however the situation of a PC assassin going after a marked PC more than once concerns me.