Elathiel's recent posts convinced me to read up on Realm of Torment.
Sounds VERY interesting!
The magic system is customizable! You can make your own spells? wow!
Permadeath? YUCK! But wait... your character actually AGES! Yes, your character ages over time and will eventually die of old age! But don't worry! You can have children and play them as well, making your family bloodline the HISTORY of the game!
From what it sounds like..... you can even get into a battle with a GOD! (chances are you will lose and thus suffer instant permadeath!, but wouldn't it be great to play that character's son and brag about your father taking on a GOD?)
Well, I am interested to see how this progresses. Hopefully this is not another false hope *cough* *Shadowbane*
Here is a cut from the FAQ about how bloodlines/permadeath will work
# How do blood-lines and permanent death situations work?
Realms of Torment places heavy emphases on clan and community as a way to live and play in the game. Many aspects of Realms of Torment reflect real life, from the effects of terrain on traveling to the degradation of weapons. We are attempting to give players one of the best arenas for role playing ever.
The blood-line system is your way to live through your descendents upon old age and eventual PermaDeath. In order to have a bloodline, you need to create an NPC child. Children come from:
# Your character marries another character and produces an NPC child (or several children). Presently, children produced this way receive the benefit of learning the same skills of his/her parent at a faster rate. (Gender outcome can be influenced.)
# Adopt an NPC child from your clan or village.
# Parenting an NPC child of a friend.
# Through divine intervention you might receive an NPC child. (Gender outcome can be influenced.)
The blood-line child is your prime's replacement in the case of PermaDeath. It is the character that you will play when your prime dies. There is consideration being given to allowing parents to play along side their child (the child being an NPC type).
# Death and PermaDeath. What is it?
Death happens whenever your character is killed by a monster, NPC or player. This is not a permanent death situation, but rather one that returns you to your bind point.
# Permanent death of the character
Forced PermaDeath is a rare happening and usually will come about after the user chooses to place him or herself into a situation that can bring about PermaDeath. It can come about in a number of ways such as battles with gods or going on quests that have the risk of PermaDeath associated with them.
Characters will age. After an estimated time of 500 hours (this number being subject to change), a character will be considered "aged" and die of natural causes.Factors such as critical wounds received in battle over the character's lifetime will effect a character's life span. After PermaDeath, if your character cannot be resurrected, you have the option of creating a new character or playing your blood-line child as your new prime character.