Reference!
In the world of Lineage 2, every action has a price. By killing peaceful players, you earn karma: a minimum of 240 points per kill. The more kills you make, the higher your risk. Speaking of price, you risk losing items upon death, which we'll discuss in detail in this article.
Karma and PK in Lineage 2: analysis
Hello, friends! Let's begin this analysis with a detailed description, citing the original sections of code responsible for each function.
The most interesting thing here is that there are clear numbers and parameters. For example, I often remember arguing about how many PKs do items start dropping, or what the drop rate is for supplies/weapons, etc. Why do I always get gear, while I only get arrows or cans from PKs?
Let's try to sort through these things step by step, to create a common base for our savings. As they say, it will come in handy around the house.
*MinKarma = 240
The minimum karma that will be added to a player for 1 illegal kill (PK).
Example: a player has 0 karma, he made a PK → it will become 240.
*SPDivider = 7
When a "red" player receives SP, some karma is burned automatically. The amount burned is calculated as
KarmaLost = floor(SP_received / 7).
Example: Received 700 SP → 100 karma removed. It's worth noting that in many builds, you can clear karma by purchasing SP scrolls from the Long-Nosed Priest, provided, of course, you're registered and your side won. seven seals.
*BaseKarmaLost = 1200
How much karma is removed at once when a “red” character dies.
Example: died with 1500 karma → after death it will become max(1500 − 1200, 0) = 300
*ListOfNonDroppableItems = 57,1147,425, …`
List of item IDs that never drop from the player upon death.
Adena 57 and a bunch of "sacred" items are listed, including pets, quest items, etc.
*DropAugmented = False
If the item is sharpened with LS (Augment), it is not dropped upon death.
*ChanceOfPKDropBase = 60.
Base chance (in %) to lose an item upon death if the player is PK (has karma).
Works both when dying from a mob and from a player.
*ChanceOfPKsDropMod = 1.
Modifier for each PK made: Total chance =
ChanceOfPKDropBase + ChanceOfPKsDropMod × PK_COUNT.
Example: player has 30 PK → 60 + 1×30 = 90% chance to drop something on death.
Karma and PK in Lineage 2: What can drop and what are the chances?
*ChanceOfDropWeapon = 13
*ChanceOfDropEquippment = 27
*ChanceOfDropOther = 80
These are the proportions (weights) by which the category of a falling thing is chosen when it is decided that “something” should fall.
Sum = 13 + 27 + 80 = 120 → normalize:
- weapons ≈ 10.8%,
- armor/ax ≈ 22.5%,
- other ≈ 66.7%.
After selecting a category, specific items from the player's inventory are randomly selected within it (except for those prohibited by the list/flags).
Karma and PK in Lineage 2: Limits and Distances
MaxItemsDroppable = 10
A player can lose no more than 10 items per death (one per "iteration" of choice).
MaxDropThrowDistance = 70
How far (in game units) should dropped items be scattered from the deceased?
Karma and PK in Lineage 2: PK drop thresholds
MinPKToDropItems = 5
The PK threshold after which items can drop at all.
If a player has less than 5 PK, items do not drop, even if he is “red”.
KarmaNeededToDrop = True
If True, items drop on death only for players with karma > 0 (i.e. "red").
If False, item drops may be without karma (under other conditions/flags), but this is not usually used.
Short example*
- A player with 7 PK, karma 1200 (red), dies → right to drop exists (>= MinPKToDropItems and KarmaNeededToDrop=True).
- Chance to drop something: 60 + 1×7 = 67%.
- If it does, the category is selected based on weights (≈ 10.8% weapons / 22.5% equipment / 66.7% other).
- No more than 10 items will drop, prohibited IDs and augments will not be touched.
Here's a brief, informative breakdown of how Karma and PK mechanics work in Lineage 2. We hope this was helpful. Over time, we'll add an article detailing which items can't drop during PK, and a link to that will be added to this article.
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