A killing blow may be administered only to a unconscious victim. It is delivered by touching a weapon or spell packet to the victim's torso and calling out “Killing blow one… killing blow two… killing blow three.” (This process takes a minimum of three seconds, no matter how quickly you say the words.) If the process is interrupted, the killing blow fails.

A killing blow may be interrupted by:

• The character taking damage
• The character being hit with any spell
• The character being hit with raw mana (hitting the character with a spell packet while saying the descriptor interrupt¹⁾)
• The character's weapon being knocked away
• The character being distracted by a rogue's distract ability.

If a killing blow is interrupted, the character must wait at least 15 seconds before attempting another killing blow.

If a killing blow succeeds, the character is dead and is beyond normal or simple magical healing. (A killing blow is the equivalent of cutting the victim's head off.) However, a dead character may still be magically resurrected.