The Vengeance System

Death becomes a fight. When a creature kills you, you don't wake up at your bed. You rise as a ghost right where you fell, and the creature that killed you is marked. Slay it, and you come back to life on the spot with all your items. Fail, and you respawn at your bed as normal, and your killer remembers you.

No more long corpse runs for a death you can win back.

How it works

• You die to a creature. Your backpack goes into your tombstone as usual, but you keep your equipped gear and stand back up as a ghost.
• Your killer is outlined in red and its health bar stays visible. A Vengeance status shows how long you have (2 minutes by default).
• Only your killer fights you. Other creatures nearby lose interest and wander off. If you attack one, it fights back.
• Win: your killer dies (to you, a friend or anything else) and you revive next to your grave at half health, with your items back. You get its trophy and a short Vengeful damage boost.
• Lose: your ghost is killed, the timer runs out or your killer escapes. You get the normal death and bed respawn.

The fight

• The fight happens around your grave. Stray too far and you and your killer can't hurt each other until you return.
• Bloodlust: every hit on your killer adds a few seconds to the timer.
• In the last 15 seconds the edge of your screen turns red and pulses like a heartbeat.
• A ghost can't heal, pick things up, loot its grave or use portals.

Grudge

Lose a revenge fight and your killer gains a star, grows stronger and earns a name like Wolf the Gravemaker. The name is saved with the world. Hunt it down to settle the grudge.

Fair play

• After a win your spirit is spent for 5 minutes. Dying again in that time is a normal death, so dying on purpose isn't a free heal.
• Logging out or quitting as a ghost counts as dying.
• Deaths at sea, falls, drowning, fire and poison are normal deaths. So are deaths to other players and to bosses (bosses can be turned on).

Multiplayer

Built for multiplayer, but not yet widely tested with several players, so please report any problems. Every player needs the mod. Other players see your ghost, creatures run by their games ignore you, and ghosts can't hurt players or be hurt by them. A friend killing your killer counts as your win.

Settings

Everything is configurable in BepInEx/config/com.siddiq.vengeancesystem.cfg. With a config manager mod (press F1 in game), changes to the visual settings apply instantly.

Section	Setting	Default	What it does
General	Enabled	true	Turn the mod on or off
General	GhostTimeout	120	Seconds you have as a ghost
General	GhostHealth	50	Ghost health (capped at your max health)
General	LeashRadius	30	Size of the fight area around your grave (m)
General	AllowBosses	false	Allow revenge fights against bosses
General	RevengeCooldown	300	Seconds your spirit is spent after a win
General	ReviveHealth	0.5	Health after a win (fraction of max)
General	BloodlustSeconds	5	Seconds added per hit on your killer
General	TensionSeconds	15	When the red heartbeat starts
General	SkipAtSea / SeaDepth	true / 4	Deaths over deep water are normal deaths
Bystanders	SendAwayDistance	40	How far other creatures wander off (m)
Bystanders	WinGracePeriod	30	Seconds they stay calm after you win
Grudge and Spoils	Grudge / GrudgeMaxStars	true / 2	Killer gains stars and a name when you lose
Grudge and Spoils	GuaranteedTrophy	true	Your killer always drops its trophy
Grudge and Spoils	VengefulDuration / VengefulDamage	60 / 0.2	Damage boost after a win
Visuals	Screen edge and outline colors, widths and strength		Tune the look to your taste

Compatibility

• Built and tested on Valheim 1.0.17 with BepInExPack_Valheim 5.4.2351.
• Don't combine it with other mods that replace what happens when you die, such as Afterdeath or GhostWalk.
• World modifiers for death penalties (keep equipment, keep inventory and so on) are respected.