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 keep when they die. Generally, only the three most valuable items are kept for free, as shown in this menu. A maximum of five items can be protected in total, using multiple ways to protect extra items. This can be reached by using a combination of Protect Item prayer, a Portent of item protection or the Hoarding perk. However, if a player is skulled, then no items will be protected, or up to three if skulled with Protect Item active, powder of item protection, and having recently eaten a fury shark. Furthermore there are some "safe" situations in which all items are protected. Items that are not protected have to be reclaimed from Death for a fee, or retrieved from a gravestone.

The values of items are based on Grand Exchange prices. Prices were previously based on the store or alchemy value of the items. However, since an update on 19 April 2011, the store or alchemy value of items is no longer used.

Since the update on 19 April 2011, many stackable items, such as coins, are always kept, including most basic items, such as low level armour, runes, seeds, food, and quest and untradeable items. Death mechanics were updated again on 26 May 2015. The cost to reclaim items was decreased on 9 January 2023.

Respawning

Upon death, players are taken to Death's Office and have the option to reclaim items from Death himself (or Frank during Missing, Presumed Death) for a coin fee, or attempt to retrieve items at their gravestone within a small period of time for free.

If a player dies in the Wilderness while skulled, they do not respawn at Death's Office; the player just spawns east of the Edgeville lodestone, losing all their items. However, a maximum of three items can be saved by using the Protect Item prayer/curse, powder of item protection, and fury shark. Opting out of PvP will instead send a player to Death's Office upon death in the Wilderness.

Interface

Death Cost Overview

Death Cost Overview provides a breakdown of how the players reclaim fee is calculated. It also explains how overflow storage works, how to protect additional items on death, and how death works in dangerous PvP areas.

Hardcore Ironman Mode players can also check how many lives they have left by clicking on the 'Overview' button in the upper left.

Death Preview/Death Reclaim

Death Preview shows which items are lost on death and what the final reclaim cost would be. Items cannot be reclaimed here, instead, if a player has died they can reclaim their items by bringing up the Death Reclaim interface by right-clicking "Reclaim items" on Death at Death's Office.

There are three categories for items:

Protected Items ― By default the players top three most expensive items are protected and not lost on death. This can be increased to a maximum of five by using item protection boosts.
Saved Items ― These items are not protected on death and compose the base reclaim cost, they are stored with Death.
Always-Kept Items ― These items are always kept on death and do not affect the reclaim cost.

Overflow Storage

Overflow Storage contains items held if the player dies a second time without reclaiming their saved items. Reclaiming these items costs 10 times the normal reclaim cost and the items are sent to the players bank. A maximum of 50 items may be stored here; if additional items are added to the storage, the cheapest items are permanently deleted and cannot be reclaimed.

Death Preview (Dangerous PvP)

Death Preview (Dangerous PvP) shows which items are lost on death if the player dies in a dangerous PvP area. Dying in dangerous PvP will not send the player to Death's Office, instead they will respawn at the nearest spawn hub with only their protected items (if any). There are two categories for items in PvP:

Protected Items ― By default in dangerous PvP, no items are protected on death. Up to three items can be protected by using item protection boosts.
Lost Items ― These items will be dropped on the ground if the player dies.

Death behaviour

Every item follows one of several behaviours when a player dies with it.

Reclaimable

Reclaimable items are lost when dying in a dangerous area. A maximum of 5 items can be protected to be reclaimed for free. The rest of the items will require payment to retrieve.

Reclaim costs

Reclaiming items after dying from Death will present a nominal return fee depending on several factors. Values are split between saved value, total cost to save and sacrificed item value. Saved item value and sacrificed item value are generally small percentages of the total value of a given item which is reduced the more the item is worth. However some items have fixed items values like the Dragon Rider amulet and Asylum surgeon ring where they have no sacrifice value and cost the same to replace through Death or their original source.

Reclaim costs since were reduced significantly in an update on 9 January 2023. They cost only 0.1% of its value with a minimum cost of 100 coins per stack of items.

Items that are never kept

Some items are never kept on death, and will immediately be lost. These items cannot be protected in any way, even if they are the only item the player is carrying.

Items that are always kept outside the Wilderness

Certain items are always kept when death happens outside the Wilderness. These items are free to reclaim, meaning they add no additional cost; however, reclaiming them still requires paying for any lost reclaimable items.

Items that are always kept

A handful of items are always kept, even when death happens inside the Wilderness. Like those always kept outside the Wilderness, these items add nothing to the reclaim cost.

Items that only exist in safe death areas

Some items can never be obtained in an area where dangerous deaths will happen. These items are always kept, as are any other items the player is holding, regardless of standard behaviour.

Items that drop on death

Some items such as minigame or crucial boss fight items will be dropped on death and immediately visible to other players.

Gallery

The old interface when in a safe area and all items are kept upon death
All items as another NPC during an event as them will only lose items they had

Update history

This information has been compiled as part of the update history project. Some updates may not be included – see here for how to help out!

patch 23 February 2026 (Update):
- The text on the buttons on Death's Overflow Storage and Reclaim Items interfaces has been changed from black to brown.

patch 2 February 2026 (Update):
- The GP amount text on the buttons on Death's Overflow Storage and Reclaim Items interfaces has been changed from yellow/white/green/blue/purple/orange to a consistent black.

patch 17 July 2023 (Update):
- Fixed an issue that prioritised saving single stackable low value items above high value items for HCIM players on death.

patch 16 January 2023 (Update):
- Hardcore Ironman players will once again retain their protected items on death

patch 28 September 2020 (Update):
- When player is wearing the 'Sign of item protection' the 'If you die in the Wilderness...' window now displays the correct number of protected items.

patch 2 March 2020 (Update):
- Augmented equipment will now correctly show as saved on death within the Wilderness on the "Items Kept on Death" UI.

patch 27 January 2020 (Update):
- Brawling gloves are no longer shown on items saved on the death list when entering the wilderness.
- POH aquarium eggs will no longer be lost on death.

patch 9 December 2019 (Update):
- Trimmed Masterwork armour now gives a degrade warning when unprotected in a gravestone.

patch 24 July 2017 (Update):
- Items listed as always kept on death - including in the Wilderness - no longer overlap each other on the 'Items Kept on Death' interface.

patch 22 May 2017 (Update):
- The Items Kept on Death interface will now display the correct price if reclaiming the items from Death.

patch 17 October 2016 (Update):
- The Items Kept on Death interface will now correctly display the right items being kept with large amounts of stackable items.

patch 15 August 2016 (Update):
- Increased the deathkeep values for Wilderness swords from 2k to match the reclaim costs.

patch 8 June 2015 (Update):
- An issue where there were no tool tips on the "items kept on death" UI if the mouse-over text option was disabled has been fixed.

patch 1 June 2015 (Update):
- Items with a fixed reclaim value (such as the asylum surgeon's ring) now correctly use that value for determining risked wealth and determining default items to auto-protect.

update 26 May 2015 (Update):
- Death Rework
  - Items are now stored by Death when you die for 24 hours.
    - Items are only stored for the first death in 24 hours. If you die before retrieving the items, they are lost.
  - Items are reclaimed for coins. This can be reduced by sacrificing items.
  - Items that would have degraded on death, won't do so if reclaimed from Death's storage, as the penalty is now reflected in the buy-back mechanic.
  - Items can be retrieved from your gravestone instead of Death by leaving Death's office.
  - Items you were holding when you died can no longer be picked up by other players.

patch 1 November 2014 (Update):
- Several graphical issues with Items Kept On Death interface have been fixed.

ninja 23 June 2014 (Update):
- The following items will now be kept on death automatically:
  - Bonecrusher
  - Charming Imp
  - Gem bag (plus the upgraded version)
  - Coal bag
  - Hair clip tokens
  - World event tokens
  - Ouroboros pouch
  - Constructors outfit

patch 11 June 2013 (Update):
- The value of risked wealth on the items kept on death interface have been corrected.

patch 4 December 2012 (Update):
- The Wilderness Manual and Items Kept on Death interface no longer state that you keep 3 items unless skulled.

update 19 April 2011 (Update):
- Dying now (outside of the wilderness or another activity with its own death mechanic) presents a menu where the items kept on death are chosen by you. All other items are placed under your gravestone.
- By default, the most three items (zero in the wilderness, or a number affected by the Protect Item prayer/curse).
  - The value of an item is now determined based on its Grand Exchange value, where possible, instead of on its store or alchemy price. Items not on the GE have their value chosen based on other measures.
- New respawn points are available based on the player's completed quests.
- Many items are now always protected outside of the wilderness.
  - This applies mostly to basic tools, coins, costumes, quest-specific items (but not including reward weapons!) and low-level equipment. (Note that a borrowed item is always prioritised over any other items.)

patch 9 November 2009 (Update):
- The ‘Items Kept on Death’ interface will now give a bit of extra info about gravestones if applicable.

Trivia

When on the Items Kept on Death screen, the effects of being poisoned are paused, same as when using the ring of stone.
When dying with two or more objects of the same value, the priority of the item depends on its position in your inventory.
At some point, the carried wealth/risk counter could only display a maximum of 2,147,483,647. If a player was carrying more, it would show as "Unknown!"