Skull (status)

For the item, see Skull (item)

The skull is a status effect caused by attacking a player in the Wilderness that hasn't attacked you first, or by entering the Abyss. This effect makes a skull hover over the players' head for twenty minutes. If the player dies during this time, they lose all of their items, instead of keeping 3 as they normally would. Although, they also lose the skull. The Skulled effect can be avoided by not attacking a player first, or by wearing an Abyssal bracelet when entering the Abyss.

Although players using Melee may be able to goad their opponents into into attacking first, thus preventing themselves from getting "skulled", players using Magic (Mage) or Ranged typically tend to strike first due to having the element of surprise.

The "Protect Item" prayer will still save one more item than normal whilst a player is skulled; that is, it will save one item upon death, rather than the player losing all of their items.

The "skull" will disappear automatically after 20 minutes unless the player launches another preemptive strike or re-enters The Abyss.