Items Kept on Death

Items Kept on Death is a menu accessed from the Worn Equipment button on the Interface that shows which items players will keep when they die. Normally, the three most valuable items will be kept upon death. Conversely, if a player is skulled, all items are dropped upon death. If the Protect Item prayer is activated, one extra item will be retained, even if skulled.

The values of items are based on Grand Exchange values, if eligible. Other items use their designated value.

Upon death, the player will respawn with full health and Prayer at their selected respawn point, and their three most valuable items. If the death occurred outside the Wilderness, a PVP world or an instance with an item retrieval service (such as Vorkath), all untradeable items are also kept, apart from a few exceptions. The remaining items are dropped on the ground where the player died, staying there for 60 minutes before disappearing only visible to the player who died. It should be noted that the interface does not reflect on untradeable items kept.

The respawn points available are:
 * Lumbridge (default)
 * Falador (Recruitment Drive must be completed)
 * Camelot (King's Ransom must be completed)
 * Edgeville (unlocked by paying 5 million coins to Krystilia)

Ultimate Ironmen do not protect any items on death, nor can they activate Protect Item.

Changes to death mechanics
On release of Old School RuneScape, players always kept only their three most valuable items, regardless of whether they are untradeable. Items that were dropped on the ground remained visible only for the player for one minute, and another minute for everyone before disappearing. Due to network issues with the game servers, at least partially caused by DDoS attacks, the time for the items to appear for others and despawn was incrementally increased, and untradeable items were made always protected. As these changes were meant as a temporarily relief, Jagex has since considered new ways to re-implement more punishing death mechanics.

Wilderness
Upon death in the Wilderness, players keep only their three most valuable items, or four with Protect Item active. Being skulled decreases this to zero and one, respectively. Below level 20 Wilderness, unprotected untradeable items that are deemed useful for combat (such as fighter torso) will become broken and remain in the player's inventory, while other unprotected untradeable items will be dropped on the ground. Above (and including) level 20 Wilderness, all untradeable items that are not protected will be turned into coins depending on the value, unless it has a tradeable equivalent; for example, a toxic blowpipe lost on death will be dropped as an uncharged blowpipe as well as the darts and scales it contained.

One/three-iteming
Using a single item (usually weapon) to minimise risk when player-killing is called 1-iteming. As long as a skulled player has Protect Item and doesn't get smited, an item will be protected.

3-iteming refers to a player limiting him or herself to only three items when going out into the Wilderness. In order for this to work, said player must remain unskulled, which means he or she cannot be the aggressor in combat towards another player nor enter the Abyss without wearing an Abyssal bracelet. Since Items Kept on Death allows the three most valuable items to be kept upon death based on their Grand Exchange values, players can effectively 3-item (or 4-item with Protect Item on) and retain their items as long as they are not skulled.

 WARNING:  When players are 3-iteming, they should also keep their ammo and any stackable items down to a minimum (e.g. no more than 100—if teleports or law runes, no more than 10).

Safe minigames
The term safe refers to the fact that it is safe to die within the minigame. Safe minigames, such as Castle Wars, Duel Arena, or Pest Control, allow players to keep all their items upon death.

Staked duels
In the Duel Arena, players may challenge other players to a staked duel. This means that items or coins are put at stake during the duel, and the winner is awarded with the staked items. However, since the Duel Arena is a safe minigame, players will not lose any items (except the staked items) if they die during the duel.

Safe areas
Safe areas include all random event areas, such as Leo the Gravedigger's event space, as well as player-owned houses. The Items Kept on Death interface will show that players will keep all their items upon death.

Items that are never kept
Certain untradeable items cannot be kept upon death. This is regardless of whether the item is the most valuable item, or if Protect Item prayer is used. When player dies, the item is lost forever and will not appear to other players.

Some of these items include:
 * Pets
 * Clue box
 * Looting bag

Trivia

 * Metal gloves bought from the Culinaromancer's Chest were once always lost on death. This has now been turned into a cash drop when you die, depending on the type of gloves you died with.
 * Free-to-play players that have previously been members and who still have member items can still check the worth of the items, even though they aren't members any longer.
 * When dying with two or more objects of the same value, the priority of the item depends on its position in your inventory.