Palworld DeathPenalty Setting: Item Drop Values Explained

Palworld DeathPenalty Setting: Item Drop Values Explained

The DeathPenalty setting controls what a player drops when they die on a Palworld dedicated server. It is one option inside the OptionSettings block of PalWorldSettings.ini, and it applies to every player on the server. This guide explains the four available values, what each one drops, the default, and how to change it.

The four DeathPenalty values

Palworld supports exactly four values for DeathPenalty. The default is All.

Value	What is dropped on death	What you keep
None	Nothing	Everything (items, equipment, party Pals)
Item	Inventory items only	Equipment and party Pals
ItemAndEquipment	Inventory items and equipped gear	Party Pals
All (default)	Inventory items, equipped gear, and the active Pal team	Nothing

"Items" means the contents of your inventory. "Equipment" means the gear you have equipped (weapons, armor, accessories, gliders). "Pals" under the All setting refers to the Pals in your active party, not Pals stored in the Palbox at your base.

Where the items go: the Death Chest

When you die and lose items under any penalty other than None, the dropped contents are placed into a Death Chest at the location where you died, not deleted outright. Key behavior:

• A Death Chest does not despawn on a timer. The dropped items stay in the world until you retrieve them or the limit below removes the chest.
• Each player can have up to nine active Death Chests at once. When a tenth death would create another chest, the oldest Death Chest (and its contents) is removed to make room.
• Depending on your World Settings, other players may be able to loot your Death Chest. On PvP-enabled servers this means dropped gear can be taken by others.

To recover your belongings, return to the Death Chest at your death location and collect them. Returning promptly matters mainly because of the nine-chest limit and, on shared servers, the chance another player loots the chest first.

How to change the setting

Step 1: Open PalWorldSettings.ini

1. Open your server control panel (the Supercraft panel or your provider's panel) and find the configuration or server-settings editor, which edits PalWorldSettings.ini for you.
2. If you edit the file directly, it lives at Pal/Saved/Config/LinuxServer/PalWorldSettings.ini on Linux servers, or Pal/Saved/Config/WindowsServer/PalWorldSettings.ini on Windows servers.

Step 2: Find DeathPenalty inside OptionSettings

1. All gameplay options live on one long line inside the OptionSettings=(...) parentheses.
2. Search the line for DeathPenalty= and note its current value.

Step 3: Set your value

Replace the value after DeathPenalty= with one of the four valid options. The values sit inside the single OptionSettings line, separated by commas:

OptionSettings=(...,DeathPenalty=None,...)
OptionSettings=(...,DeathPenalty=Item,...)
OptionSettings=(...,DeathPenalty=ItemAndEquipment,...)
OptionSettings=(...,DeathPenalty=All,...)

Do not add quotes around the value and do not break OptionSettings onto multiple lines, as the server reads it as one line.

Step 4: Save and restart

1. Save the configuration file.
2. Restart the server. The new value does not apply to a running server.
3. Confirm the change in game by checking what is dropped after a death.

Choosing a value

• None removes all death consequences. Useful for building, creative, or relaxed PvE servers.
• Item drops only inventory items while keeping equipment and Pals, so players recover quickly. Suited to casual survival.
• ItemAndEquipment drops items and equipped gear but keeps party Pals. A middle ground between casual and the default.
• All is the default and the harshest option, dropping items, equipment, and the active Pal team. Suited to hardcore or high-stakes servers.

Frequently asked questions

What is the default DeathPenalty?

The default value is All, meaning players drop their inventory items, equipped gear, and active-party Pals on death unless you change the setting.

Can players see the current death penalty in game?

There is no in-game display of the server's DeathPenalty value. Players have to ask the administrator or read the server rules to know which setting is active.

Do dropped items despawn after a few minutes?

No. Dropped items go into a Death Chest that does not despawn on a timer. The limit is that each player can have at most nine active Death Chests at once, and a tenth death removes the oldest chest and its contents.

What happens to my Pals with the All setting?

The Pals in your active party are dropped into the Death Chest along with your items and equipment. They are not released into the wild. You recover them by returning to the chest, the same as your items. Pals stored in your base Palbox are not affected.

Can I set different penalties for different players?

No. DeathPenalty is a single server-wide value and applies to everyone equally. There is no per-player option in the base game settings.

How often can I change the setting?

You can change it whenever you like, but each change requires a server restart to take effect.

Run your Palworld server with full control over PalWorldSettings.ini on professional Palworld hosting with an easy config editor, automatic backups, and support.