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[[folder:H]]
* HalfHumanHybrid:
** [[spoiler:Moia]], whose parents are [[spoiler:Lucien and an unknown woman.]]
** Though the details are unclear, [[spoiler:Safalaan Hallow is the son of the Icyene Queen Efaritay and Ascertes Hallow (the human who would eventually become Vanstrom Clause).]]
*** [[spoiler:Between The Lord of Vampyrium and River of Blood, Safalaan is turned into a Wyrd (the monstrous result when a person with Icyene blood is vampyrized), thus making him a human/Icyene/vampyre hybrid. This ends up being a plot point in River of Blood--his blood simultaneously has properties of vampyre, icyene, and human blood, making it the perfect haemalchemical bridge for a permanent Vampyrism cure.]]
* {{Hammerspace}}: In addition to the typical BagOfHolding mechanics, lots of {{Emote Animation}}s involve pulling things out of {{Hammerspace}}. Many of the skillcape emotes are guilty of this; for example, the fletching emote has you pull a log, a knife, and a bowstring out of nowhere. The fishing emote produces not only a harpoon, but a small dock and a pond as well. And so on.
* HandCannon: Available as a weapon after "Forgiveness of a Chaos Dwarf", obtainable as rare drops from Chaos dwarf hand cannoneers.
* HardModePerks: Some bosses have a hard mode or challenge mode that makes the fight more difficult but also improves the drops.
* HarmlessFreezing:
** The God Wars dungeon and combatants inside seem to be perfectly fine after being frozen for thousands of years.
** Inverted with the Ancient Magicks freeze-you-in-an-ice-cube ice spells, which are some of the deadliest combat spells in the game.
** Also inverted by living wyverns, a high level Slayer monster, and the environment you fight them in. If you do not light any of the nearby fires, the sheer cold of the environment will freeze and stunlock you repeatedly for long periods of time at once, leaving you almost completely helpless as you get murdered.
** There's a handicap called [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Randomly Freeze]] in the Dominion Tower. All it does is stops you from moving and stops you from attacking until you click on a target or you retaliate.
* HatePlague: The aggression potion makes most combat [=NPCs=] aggressive towards the player. Drinking a cup of tea neutralizes the effects.
* HaveANiceDeath: Dungeoneering:
** "Crafting Calamity" -- Killed yourself with a chisel.
** "Spontaneous Combustion" -- Burnt yourself to death (due to a screwup with a firemaking door).
** "Fishing Folly" -- Died in a hilarious fishing accident. "You have a hilarious fishing accident that you would have told your grandchildren some day, had it not killed you."
* HealItWithBooze: During the final fight against [[spoiler:Rabid Jack]] in Pieces of Hate, a SanityMeter is introduced, and can only be kept down by drinking the barrels of 'rum' around the battlefield. Drink too little, you see hallucinations. Drink too much, and you kill yourself with alcohol poisoning[[note]]Though, this can be survived if your hitpoints are boosted above the maximum damage threshold.[[/note]]
* HealingBoss:
** [=TzTok-Jad=], the boss of the Fight Caves, who will summon monsters to heal him when he reaches half health.
** The Kalphite King will heal himself in battle if the player gets the King in a situation where his attacks cannot reach the player for more than 10 seconds.
** Nex: Angel of Death can heal herself in phase 1 and phase 4 of the fight, with both forcing the player to fight something else in the room to prevent her healing.
** Vorago has several situations in which he can heal himself, largely to force the player to do a large amount of damage in a short time.
* HealingPotion: Saradomin Brew, a yellow potion which will restore player's lifepoints, and is one of the few items that will boost lifepoints above their skill level defined maximum: however, it has the drawback of each successive dose lowering the player's combat stat+s slightly. The Guthix Rest potion restores half the health a Saradomin Brew would, but lacks the Brews' drawback and cures poison.
* HealingSerpent:
** During the Death To The Dorgeshuun quest, Juna, a giant talking snake, helps revive Zanik with some of the Tears Of Guthix.
** During the final encounter with The Ambassador in The Shadow Reef dungeon, Seiryu, who is a very serpentine entity[[note]]One of his titles is even The Azure Serpent.[[/note]], comes to aid the adventurer by healing them.
** The Asylum Doctor's Ring is stated in its examine text to have the image of serpents wrapped around a staff. Said ring is a reward from the Broken Home quest, which features some sort of lunatic asylum or psychiatric hospital.
* HealingShiv: When you use elemental spells against elemental wizards at south of Falador with their respective elements.
** The Resonance ability converts the next instance of damage the player would take to healing. The Divert ability, obtained from Raksha, restores [[ManaMeter Adrenaline]] when you would be hit instead.
* HealingSpring: The Oo'Glog spa pools can cure disease and poison and restore you to full health. You can also get one in the Anachronia base camp, with three of the Oo'Glog pools' options at maximum rank.
* TheHeavy: Several antagonists in the series serve as a villain in their respective quest series, such as the Culinaromancer in the Recipe For Disaster quest.
* HeelRealization: After the events of The Chosen Commander, Juna ended her friendship with Zanik because of religious reasons; Zanik defied her species' god. Juna was utterly devoted to her own god, Guthix, and considered this to be the correct way to behave. After the events of The World Wakes, Juna was reminded that this kind of blind devotion was one of the things Guthix went to great lengths to ''stop''. She now hopes to see Zanik again, and that she can be forgiven for the way she treated her.
* HeinousnessRetcon: The main three Gods of the setting, Saradomin, Guthix, and Zamorak, were the Gods of [[GodOfOrder Order]], Balance, and [[GodOfChaos Chaos]], and were generally treated as good, neutral, and [[ChaosIsEvil evil]] for most of the game's early history. Around the release of [=RuneScape=] 3 in 2013, aspects of siding with factions and making different moral choices in quests were made more central to the game's story. In order to make multiple factions look supportable, Saradomin's "Order" was [[OrderIsNotGood re-interpreted as showing signs of tyranny]], and Zamorak's "Chaos" was re-interpreted less as pure evil and more as subversiveness and creativity, and Guthix was KilledOffForReal. The alternate light on Zamorak and his follower's nature doesn't mesh well with some older quests and lore (some of which were outright replaced, like the Black Knight's Fortress quest with The Death of Chivalry), particularly in the case of the Kinshra which Jagex have tried in several cases to re-interpret as misunderstood and noble.
* HeKnowsAboutTimedHits: The tutorial characters, naturally, who all address the player directly, telling him/her to click on trees and such.
* HellGate: The Pest Control minigame has players cooperate to destroy interdimensional portals that are vomiting out deadly alien invaders.
** The 2021 April Fools' Day event involved an attempt by a Zamorakian cultist to open a gate to Infernus...which was interrupted by a balloon drop from Party Pete, causing it to open a gate to ''Inflatus'' instead. The result was the summoning of many, many demonic balloons, which would cause all of Gielinor to float away if they were not popped.
** As of The Battle for the Monolith miniquest, [[spoiler: we learn that the Codex was originally designed to contain a breach into a very different reality, one dominated by shadow anima, called Erebus--indeed, it is the shadow anima leaking from the contained breach that corrupted the rex dinosaur that would become Raksha. Zaros's plan sees him open the breach, with the intent of entering and persuading the local powers that be to give him the power of an Elder God--the second (and presumably further) stages of the battle involve both the original defenders and Zaros's forces trying to prevent the creatures within from escaping the Digsite and overrunning Gielinor.]]
* HellIsThatNoise: Old School gamers and members from the 2007 era still don't react well to the Ice Barrage sound effect in a [=PvP=] zone or minigame.
* {{Hellhound}}: A standard demonic foe. Special mention goes to Bouncer, General Khazard's particularly vicious pet Hellhound.
* HelmetsAreHardlyHeroic: Many occasions, but lampshaded with the examine text of the dwarven officer in Goblin Flash Mobs.
* HenpeckedHusband: King Roald Remanis III of Misthalin. In "Garden of Tranquility" he initially doesn't want to follow the player to the royal garden, but as soon as it's mentioned that his wife Ellamaria asked for him, he starts using the "afraid/nervous" chat head and ''immediately'' follows the player. As he makes critical comments about his wife's spending and the choices, she slaps him and yells at him about the efforts she (the player) went through to make this garden for him and to be more grateful.
* HeroicCaninesVillainousFelines: A downplayed example with Icthlarin, the jackal-headed god of the afterlife, and his sister Amascut ("[[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast The Devourer]]") who is associated with cats and lions. However, cats aren't particularly villainous (they mostly have BlueAndOrangeMorality), but many are actually Amascut's former priestesses who were [[BalefulPolymorph transformed into cats for cursing Amascut]], but then [[CursedWithAwesome blessed by Icthlarin with eternal life]], making Amascut deathly afraid of all cats.
* HeroOfAnotherStory:
** Several quests, such as Dream Mentor, have the PlayerCharacter team up with other NPC adventurers. After you part ways, they go off on their own adventures.
** The twelve characters the player encounters in Player Owned Ports, who each have their own adventures, with varying degrees of heroism, in the East. They eventually start working with each other, culminating in taking down a [[OurSirensAreDifferent Seasinger]] named Quin. Meanwhile, the PlayerCharacter stays behind to manage the Port and their travels, playing the BigGood.
** This is the entire purpose of the Signature Heroes. It is arguable if they are successful examples however.
* TheHeroSucksSong: PlayedForLaughs. "As Rum Can Be," a song unlocked at the end of Pieces of Hate (the Pirate finale), is a shanty-esque tune consisting of one pirate extolling the player's exploits throughout the Pirate quest series, while the other pirates insult him and declare your entire tale to be lies.
* HeWhoMustNotBeNamed:
** [[spoiler:Zaros]], frequently enforced by modern-day Saradominists and Zamorakians in Gielinor. This gets a major CallBack during "Fate of the Gods":
--->[[spoiler: '''Zaros''': You know who I am. [[SayMyName Say my name]]!]]
** The full name of Jagex's parent company and majority investor, Insight Venture Partners, is notably auto-censored throughout the [=RuneScape=] Forums. Given the infamously unpleasable nature of the fan base, it seems highly likely that this was done to [[CantTakeCriticism prevent players from using the company's name in complaints or denunciations]].
** Most goblins are not permitted to speak of Bandos by name, but instead call him "Big High War God".
* HeWhoFightsMonsters: The moral of the grandmaster quest "The Void Stares Back".
* HiddenElfVillage: Lletya.
* HighClassGlass: A [=TzHaar=] playing the role of a rich guy in a theatrical production wears a monocle for his costume.
* HighHeelFaceTurn: [[spoiler:Subverted with]] Vanescula Drakan. [[spoiler:Though she does help the Myreque defeat her brother, Lord Lowerniel Drakan]], it quickly becomes apparent that her goals no longer match theirs [[spoiler:once Lowerniel is dead.]]
** [[spoiler: Facing defeat as a result of the Salve becoming capable of curing Vampyrism in originally human Vyres and [[ScrewThisImOutOfHere the werewolves of her army abandoning her]], she reluctantly double subverts the trope, taking Queen Efaritay and Safalaan as advisors and working to make Morytania better for everyone, humans and vampyres alike. She also suggests that she's more than willing to zigzag the trope if she starts to feel like a stranger in her own home.]]
* HintsAreForLosers: In Dungeoneering, you can enable Guide Mode, which highlights the rooms you need to go through to reach the end. It gives you a large XP penalty.
* HiveMind: The sea slugs of Witchaven and the Stalkers of Daemonheim. In "Salt in the Wound", the latter is used to interfere with the former.
** In the Monastery of Ascension, the Rorarii have a hive mind and swarm whoever attacks one of them. The [[IAmLegion Legiones]] have a hive mind that grants them godly intelligence.
* HiveQueen: Oodles of them. You've got the Kalphite Queen, Penance Queen, Pest Queen, Jadinko Queen, Mother Mallum, and the most powerful of them all, [[spoiler:the almighty Queen Black Dragon]]. They're all huge disgusting bug things, too, with the exception of [[spoiler:the QBD, who is of course a dragon]] and the Jadinko Queen, who's actually a fairly attractive, graceful lizard person; she's the only one who's an ally, [[BeautyEqualsGoodness fittingly enough]].
** [[spoiler: Araxxi, a giant spider who shows up when you defeat her mate Araxxor as a final phase of that boss, may also count as an example.]]
* HoldTheLine:
** This is the entire job of Burthorpe's armed forces, holding off the trolls coming from the mountains to the north to keep them out of Taverley, the rest of Asgarnia, and Misthalin beyond that.
** At one point in ''Fate of the Gods'', [[spoiler:the player has to endure Mah's nightmare as she manifests hordes of muspah and convulses in pain]].
* HolidayMode:
** Special events happen every Halloween, Christmas, and Easter and all give out appropriately-themed costumes, emotes, and items.
** In Old School, monsters and bosses wear party hats and Santa hats during the Christmas season.
* HolyHandGrenade: Sacred mines.
* {{Homage}}: The pirate quest series seems to be a great big homage to the VideoGame/MonkeyIsland series, right down to the {{Moon Logic Puzzle}}s which include [[ItMakesSenseInContext making a projectile weapon out of a seagull and a broken accordion to attract the attention of a deaf man in a prison]] and a theme of dealing with undead pirates.
** The Broken Home quest pays homage to survival horror games, particularly Franchise/ResidentEvil.
* HolyWater:
** After completing "Legend's Quest", the player can bless water from a spring in Karamja to create a throwable weapon that has increased accuracy against Demons (as well as a damage boost against some of the weaker types).
** As revealed in the Vampyre quest line, [[spoiler:the River Salve was blessed by Saradominist forces to keep the majority of the Vampyres trapped in Morytania. The blessing is weakened by a coalition of Zamorakian and rogue Saradominist forces, but the player eventually succeeds in strengthening it with Guthixian aid.]]
** The Temple of Mort'ton minigame requires players to build and maintain a temple against an endless wave of ghasts in order to sanctify olive oil for the purposes of building funeral pyres for the physical bodies of the ghasts (as well as humans who have been infected by vampyrism) to put their souls to rest. It's also used to prepare a canopic jar in "Curse of Arrav".
** At one point in "Dimension of Disaster", the player needs to help a disillusioned zombified priest to bless some cooking oil for use in an improvised canopic jar.
* HomingBoulders: Quite frequently, in fact. Happens to most projectiles (including some literal boulders), apart from some special types. As for non-exceptions, they will hit you, even if you teleport away.
* HopelessWar:
** [[TheOrder Crux Eqal]] and the [[ChurchMilitant Guardians of Armadyl]]'s war against the Mahjarrat and their followers has so far been worse than fruitless. In the span of [[WhamEpisode two quests]], seven heroes [[CurbStompBattle lost their lives]] in battle against the Mahjarrat and one [[CameBackWrong became enslaved]] by them. To make matters much worse, [[spoiler:Guthix dies at the hands of Sliske in The World Wakes, demoralizing Crux Eqal even further and leaves Gielinor at the mercy of both the Dragonkin and the Mahjarrat]].
** [[LaResistance The Myreque]]'s struggle in Morytania is nothing but this. Sure, they hold their own from "In Aid of the Myreque" through to "The Branches of Darkmeyer", but "The Lord of Vampyrium". [[spoiler:Most of their remaining number are killed in the effort to take down Lord Drakan, and the minute Drakan is dead, Vanescula promptly betrays the Myreque, seemingly kills their leader, Safalaan Hallow, who was the last known descendant of the old Icyene regime that led Hallowvale before its capture and fall, and uses his part-Icyene blood to haemalchemically inoculate the other Vyres against the barrier effect of the River Salve. Ultimately, Veliaf Hurtz and Ivan Strom are left to admit that their supposed top leader, "Calsidiu", does not even exist, and they proceed to disband what remains of the Myreque and leave in defeat.]] In the Vampyre questline finale, "River of Blood", [[spoiler:this is subverted. As it turns out, Safalaan is still alive (albeit vampyrized), Sarius Guile is still alive with intel on Vanescula, and Queen Efaritay is still alive, freed from imprisonment by Lord Drakan's death. Efaritay helps the player refletch the true Sunspear, Sarius helps the player find her father's haemalchemical research, and (after being subdued by the player), the vampyrized Safalaan ends up contributing his unique blood to the Extreme Guthix Balance potion, and at Paterdomus Ivan and the player use the resulting potion to supercharge the River Salve--letting it ''permanently'' cure the Vampyrism of anyone who tries to cross it (which effectively stops Vanescula's army in its tracks). The quest ends with an uneasy alliance between Morytania and Misthalin--with a clear warning from Vanescula that if she ever felt like a stranger in her own home, she would ''very'' much retaliate against the player.]]
* HornyVikings: The Fremennik.
* HorsemenOfTheApocalypse: Referenced in the Stronghold of Security dungeon, with its four levels: War, Famine, Pestilence, and Death. They also exist as characters, running their own clan alongside [[TokenHuman Frank, a normal human]] enlisted because you need five people to start a clan. They have appeared in multiple Halloween events--outside of their holiday appearances, Death runs Death's Office (and plays a role in a number of quests), War runs War's Retreat, and Famine has a cameo appearance at Stormguard Citadel (along with amusing dialogue if you try to give her a Primal Feast). Only Pestilence has yet to appear outside of holiday events.
* HPToOne:
** One of the Nomad's attacks hits your maximum life points minus one, so you must be at full HP (or higher) to survive a hit from it.
** The Warped Gulega does it slightly differently, hitting your ''current'' life points minus one, thus making it a straighter example.
** The current iteration of Delrith from Demon Slayer has an attack like this, which can be reduced to a percent current health attack by hiding under Gideon Bede's prayer shield when he announces it ("Prepare to be incinerated!").
* HufflepuffHouse:
** This was Armadyl at first; while stated to have been a powerful god, very little was known about him or his exploits. The most his following amounted to were an order of people charged with guarding his Staff -- which [[spoiler:isn't even ''his'' staff, it's a weapon made by the Elder Gods.]] In ''The World Wakes'', a quest all about gods and their followers, Armadyl's influence amounts to [[spoiler:Kree'Arra briefly distracting you near the beginning before promptly leaving the scene.]] More recently averted, however--Armadyl took a prominent role during the Bird and the Beast event, with his side killing Bandos, after Sliske's Endgame he began moving some of his Aviansie from Abbinah to the elves' homeworld of Tarddiad (with Seren's permission), and as of City of Senntisten is [[spoiler: one of the gods draining the anima of the Elder Gods' eggs, alongside Zamorak, Seren, and Saradomin]].
** Of the Signature Heroes, for several years Linza the master artisan did not have a spotlight quest, nor any significant appearance beyond a brief cameo in "Deadliest Catch". Even her BadassInDistress moment in the old "Troll Warzone" tutorial has been removed now that Ashdale (and later Tutorial Island and Davendale) exist. She was ''supposed'' to feature in the announced Armadyl-themed quest "Rite of Passage", which got voted into DevelopmentHell in favor of "Heart of Stone". Eventually she ''finally'' showed up in a significant way in "Kindred Spirits", but [[spoiler:her main contribution to the plot is to betray the PlayerCharacter to Sliske at the eleventh hour in a DealWithTheDevil; this only gets her promptly killed off and turned into a Barrows wight, with no indication the problem can ever be corrected]].
* {{Hulkspeak}}: Goblins, trolls, ogres, Glod from "Grim Tales", etc.
* HumanCannonball:
** In "A Clockwork Syringe", firing yourself out of the cannon ''directly'' is too dangerous, so you weld a chain to the cannonball, attach a barrel to it, and ride in that instead!
** "Between a Rock" involves a dwarf firing you out of a cannon.
* HumanHeadOnTheWall: In the alternate timeline that the "Dimension of Disaster" quest takes place in (where the player character never existed and, as a result, [[TheBadGuyWins most of the villains they've defeated were victorious in their ambitions]]), Zemoregal is revealed to have killed most of the game's "Signature Heroes"[[note]]The Raptor's armour can be found in Zemoregal's treasure room, but between his remains being missing and the armour being noted to be in pristine condition it's implied that he avoided this fate.[[/note]] and had their heads stuffed and mounted in his bedroom. The head of the leader of the [[{{Naytheist}} Godless faction]], Kara-Meir, can also be found in a similar manner in his treasure room.
* HumanoidAbomination: The Mahjarrat, which look like skeletons in robes but are actually immensely powerful creatures from other dimensions. [[spoiler:This is an indication that they need to perform The Ritual again, as directly afterward they are much more fleshed out.]]
** The true form of the Mahjarrat still qualifies.
* HundredPercentCompletion:
** The premise of the Completionist cape and its Trimmed version.
** In the past, asking for a random objective after completing all possible random objectives would prompt the game to make fun of you, telling you to go outside instead.
* HungryJungle: Karamja, the Mos'Le Harmless jungle, and the Kharazi Jungle are {{Downplayed}} versions of this trope. Ape Atoll comes close to playing it straight, as the wildlife and inhabitants of the island will try to kill ''anything'' that isn't a monkey of some form.
* HurricaneOfPuns: Numerous instances, notably during the Hand in the Sand quest.
* HybridMonster:
** Make your own, courtesy of the Tower of Life!
** Hobgoblins, the result of Bandos breeding Orks and Goblins to produce strong but agile footsoldiers.
** Chaos Dwogres, the result of the Red Axe at creating Dwarf-like creatures who are genetically able to cast Magic, but with the natural strength of an Ogre.
* HyperactiveMetabolism:
** Lampshaded by Jagex in a [[https://www.facebook.com/RuneScape/photos/a.450339386728.221054.59261801728/10153475651721729 Facebook post]].
** If you talk to the Skinweaver familiar in Daemonheim, one of her dialogue options is to wonder aloud how you can heal yourself by eating food instead of by treating the injury.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:I]]
* AnIcePerson:
** Kamil, who fittingly is the guardian of the Ice Diamond.
** The Ice Queen and her soldiers.
** The Snow Queen
** Astea Frostweb, a Dungeoneering boss.
** [[NamesToRunAwayFrom/AncientDeadLanguages Glacies]]
** The Arch-Glacor, the boss of the Glacor Front in the Elder God Wars Dungeon. The lore mentions even bigger versions of him called Ur-Glacors.
** The Player Character can be this due to the Ice spells in the Ancient Magic spellbook.
* IdeaBulb:
** One of the possible emotes.
** Also the icon of the Invention skill.
* AnIceSuit: There is an [[https://runescape.wiki/w/Ice_warrior_outfit ice warrior outfit]] and an equivalent [[https://runescape.wiki/w/Desert_Treasure_(Kamil) cosmetic override]].
* IDieFree: The fate of (Extinction spoilers) [[spoiler: Kerapac, who uses LoopholeAbuse in his enslavement to buy enough time for the PlayerCharacter to call a [[SummonBiggerFish Shadow Leviathan]] to stop Jas, overloading and destroying the Elder Artefacts empowering him in the process. After he's dragged into Erebus alongside the god that enslaved him and his people twice and destroyed his civilization, a final temporal echo of him mentions having no regrets over his fate]].
* IdiotBall:
** Apparently duct-taped to [[spoiler:Linza]] in "Kindred Spirits" as [[spoiler:she made a DealWithTheDevil with Sliske to betray the PlayerCharacter to him in exchange for protection from the Dragonkin, when Sliske's deceptive and manipulative ''modus operandi'' should be common knowledge among the prominent heroes of the world. She ends up dead and is raised as Sliske's newest Barrows wight, fulfilling the "protection" end of the bargain]].
** Several quests require the player to be quite gullible. Of course, you ''can'' choose not to be gullible, but that unfortunately means [[StupidityIsTheOnlyOption you can't finish the quest]].
* IHaveManyNames: Senliten, as seen below.
---> ''Senliten, upon whom Tumeken shines and from whom his glory is reflected. Bearer of the vengeance of Amascut upon the unworthy, mistress of the Stern Judges. Queen of the desert lands and rightful heir to the glory and fertility of Elidinis. Daughter of the divinity through the royal blood of the deity. Reborn through Icthlarin into this realm as has been and will be.''
* ImADoctorNotAPlaceholder: In the quest Wanted!, when the player demands to know the type of animal fur Solus left behind, Lord Daquarius replies, "I do not know, I'm a warrior, not a zookeeper."
* ImmortalProcreationClause: The Dragonkin, as a result of the curse of Jas (though they had low fertility rates even beforehand). An aversion is explored with the vampyres; [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome they've overpopulated and are running out of prey in Morytania]].
* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice:
** Zaros, with the Staff of Armadyl by Zamorak. [[spoiler:He comes back, though.]]
** And as of "Ritual of the Mahjarrat," [[spoiler:Lucien]]. With the same artifact that skewered Zaros, on top of that.
** In "The Mighty Fall", if you choose to pacify the Bandosians and [[spoiler:execute Zanik]], you'll do it this way.
** Depending on your choices in [[spoiler:''Nomad's Elegy'']], you can even do this to [[spoiler:Nomad himself]].
** And in [[spoiler: "Sliske's Endgame", you finally kill Sliske this way]]. ''Also'' with the Staff of Armadyl.
** The use of the Staff of Armadyl for this trope was finally averted by Kerapac during his boss fight: he uses the staff solely as a magic weapon.
* ImprobablePowerDiscrepancy: Far too many in the game to list. A few examples: giant ants are much more dangerous than barbarians wielding large axes, and blood-drained human prisoners are stronger than healthy human citizens.
* ImprobableWeaponUser: {{Invoked}} to fight the mind-reading Vyrewatch. Because they can predict your next move by reading your mind, the solution to defeat them is to baffle which angle you're going to strike from -- and the best way to do that in combat is to use a [[EpicFlail flail.]] (Averted in [=RS3=] once you get Blisterwood weapons, but still played straight in [=OSRS=] with the Blisterwood Flail.)
* INeedAFreakingDrink: In "Wanted!", you're supposed to try and convince Sir Amik Varze to skip squirehood and promote you straight to a White Knight. If you accept his suggestion that you become his squire instead, he just asks you to bring him a pint of Asgarnian Ale. [[TheAlcoholic Endlessly]].
* INeverSaidItWasPoison: [[spoiler:Wizard Ellaron]] exposes himself in "Rune Memories" by stating that Ariane was in a magical coma, which he shouldn't know yet due to Ariane having fallen into the come in the ruins of the first Wizards' Tower.
-->'''[[spoiler:Wizard Ellaron]]:''' [[LampshadeHanging Oh, did I slip up? Did I let on that I know more than I should - almost as if I planned this whole sequence of events, and my plan is so close to completion that I'm becoming careless about what I say?]]
* InfinityPlusOneSword and InfinityMinusOneSword: Due to the sheer amount of weapons in the game, tendency for exponential price scaling with item quality, and power creep over time, high-level weapons often exist on a sort of gradient between the two-- a weapon that's an InfinityPlusOneSword for one player might be an InfinityMinusOneSword for someone else, depending on that player's ability to make cash and their levels. (For Ironmen, who don't have access to the Grand Exchange, many more weapons fit the InfinityPlusOneSword description.)
** At present, the t95 Magic staff, the Fractured Staff of Armadyl is bar none ''the'' Infinity +1 weapon. Requiring either '''6 billion GP''' (almost triple a max cash stack) or a grind of one of the hardest bosses in the game to solo (or a ''very'' long grind to obtain through duo or trio kills) and incredibly expensive upkeep, you’re rewarded with the remade form of one of the most storied Elder Artefacts in the entire game… and can deal the best DPS in the entire game with it while its special is active.
** Right alongside the Fractured Staff of Armadyl, and often competing with it, is the Bow of the Last Guardian, a tier 95 bow crafted from components dropped only by the boss of the final Elite Dungeon, [[spoiler:Zamorak, Lord of Chaos]]. Its main power comes from a passive effect that allows you to launch additional attacks for extra damage, and a special attack that makes said additional attacks more frequent. Combine this with additional, even ''more'' powerful passive effects from their intended ammo, Elder God Arrows, and you have a weapon that can outclass even top-tier Magic loadouts in certain combat scenarios.
*** In Dungeoneering, Tier 99 Weapons are random drops from bosses; however, the Primal 2-handed sword (wieldable only at level 99 Attack) is a literal case as it is only dropped by a boss encountered on the very bottom floors of Daemonheim.
*** Tier 99 Curses, obtained by using a codex dropped by Nex: Angel of Death, are the Infinity Plus One Prayers and a substantial damage boost...and cost nearly a billion GP each to obtain. And you only get one combat style's curse per codex used, meaning you'll need three total.
*** The Essence of Finality amulet acts as this for neck-slot combat items, having the effects of the two amulets used to make it, better combat stats, some of the highest upkeep costs of any amulet in the game, and the ability to store a weapon's SpecialAttack to use at any time you're using a weapon of the same combat style.
*** In addition to the Elder God Arrows noted above, there are also Deathspore Arrows and Splintering Arrows for bows and Enchanted Bakriminel Bolts for crossbows, all acting as the ammunition equivalent for Ranged. The bolts notably feature Tier 99 damage, hinting at the potential future release of tier 99 crossbows.
** After that are the other t95s and strongest t92s: the Dark Blades of Leng (t95 melee dual wield), the Ek-Zekkil (t95 melee two-handed), the Eldritch Crossbow (t92 2h crossbow), the Blightbound Crossbows (t92 dual wield crossbows), the Seren Godbow (t92 bow), the Abyssal Scourge (tier 92 mainhand melee) and the Wand of the Praesul and Imperium Core (t92 wand and orb). While nowhere near the power of the Fractured Staff of Armadyl, they remain incredibly good in their own right, each acting as the best weapons for those specific style combinations.
** After that are the weaker or more accessible t92s (e.g. the Staff of Sliske, Khopeshes of Tumeken and Elidinis, Masterwork Spear of Annihilation), the strongest t90s (the Seismic Wand and Orb, Ascension Crossbows, and the Noxious Scythe), and the “combat triangle” weapons. These aren’t as useful or as rare as the higher-level weapons, but they remain effective.
*** The Combat Triangle weapons (Terrasaur Maul, Hexhunter Bow, Inquisitor's Staff) are only Tier 80, but can even outperform the Tier 92 weapons against enemies tagged as using the combat style they're strong against. Their prices put them closest to this point, though.
** After that, the majority of Tier 90 weapons (e.g. Noxious staff and bow) occupy a lesser price point, still above the t88s.
*** In Dungeoneering, Tier 90 weapons are the highest-level weapons you can craft. This makes them fit far more clearly as Infinity Minus One Swords.
*** Tier 95 Curses and Soul Split are the Infinity Plus One Prayers through training and questing alone. They are Infinity Minus One Prayers compared to the Tier 99 Curses, though, providing nearly the same damage boost but not requiring you to spend billions of GP to obtain.
*** The Amulet of Souls is this to the Essence of Finality (which actually includes the Amulet of Souls as one of the items to craft it). Aside from improving the effect of your defensive Prayers, it also gives a substantial damage boost.
** At Tiers 82-88 and the least expensive Tier 90s (e.g. God Wars Dungeon 2 general weapons, Superior Ancient Warriors' equipment, the Wyvern Crossbow, Drygore weapons, the Dark Ice Blades), we start to see weapons that more clearly fit the InfinityMinusOneSword description. While many are still expensive by low-level standards (e.g. the Dragon Rider Lance) or require long grinds to obtain (Ports weapons), they tend to still be effective against high-level enemies (especially the Wyvern Crossbow, God Wars Dungeon 2 weapons, and the Elite Seasinger Kiba and Makigai).
** At Tiers 70-80 (e.g. Chaotics, Godswords, the Armadyl Crossbow, Abyssal weapons, Barrows weapons, Crystal weapons, the Sunspear), we see weapons that are much easier to obtain yet are still moderately effective in high-level combat, with some costing less than 100,000 gp. Blisterwood weapons can be fletched with ease once you've completed The Branches of Darkmeyer. The Vanquish and Sunspear are t75 and t78 weapons that can be used in any combat style and only require questing to obtain; the latter even being augmentable.
*** Tier 70 Prayers are Infinity Minus One Prayers to the Tier 95 Curses, requiring far less prayer training and fewer quests to obtain. (There's no good counterpart to Soul Split, though.)
*** The Amulet of Fury acts as this to the Amulet of Souls, being a far cheaper option with no upkeep costs.
** Old School has one weapon that is capable of the highest max hit for each attack style: The Scythe of Vitur for melee, the Twisted Bow for ranged, and Tumeken's Shadow for magic. On the whole, however, the Old School team has taken steps to defy this trope, giving all weapons ''some'' niche they're best at and trying to avoid a generic "best in slot" for all cases of a given style.
*** In general, the Scythe is capable of dealing the "highest" damage against enemies with larger hitboxes. This all comes at a high cost of vials of blood and blood runes to charge it, making it AwesomeButImpractical for most players, as these are rather expensive per charge. As a result, it has yet to find a niche where it is preferable to use the Scythe over other melee weapons where the higher kills/hour offsets the high costs. In fact they had to buff the Scythe specifically because it was being matched and sometimes outclassed by the Osmumten's Fang (a ''stab'' weapon) against specific bosses that are weak to slash.
*** Beneath the scythe, the three best melee weapons are the Blade of Saeldor (slash), the Inquisitor's Mace (crush), and either the Ghrazi Rapier (stab, high strength bonus) or the Osmumten's Fang (stab, rolls twice for accuracy checks).
*** A charged Ursine Chainmace is the most powerful melee weapon against monsters, but only in the Wilderness.
*** The Twisted Bow is in general the best ranged weapon against high-level bosses, due to its damage scaling with the target's magic accuracy giving it ridiculous max hits. Most players argue that it is the singular best weapon in the game because of this. However, it may be more efficient to use certain weapons, such as the Toxic Blowpipe or the Bow of Faerdhinen, against enemies with higher defense and lower magic levels.
*** The Dragon Hunter Lance and Crossbow are respectively the best weapons to use against dragons specifically, but are outclassed by other weapons against non-dragons, and with the release of the Osmumten's Fang, even the lance has competition against bosses and high-defense metallic dragons.
*** For Magic-users: the Kodai wand has the highest magic damage bonus (15%). The Nightmare Staff comes as a close second with the same magic damage bonus, but a lower magic attack bonus. But for pure damage, the Tumeken's Shadow is the strongest charged staff in the game since it ''triples'' the magic attack and strength bonuses of any other equipment you're wearing.
* INeverSaidItWasPoison: Santa Claus disguises himself as a Fremennik named Thorvar Crittersmash during the [[https://runescape.wiki/w/2010_Christmas_event 2010 Christmas event]] so he could spread cheer to the Fremennik people. He specifically denies being Santa Claus before the player even drops his name.
--> '''Player:''' You look familiar. Have I seen you before?
--> '''Thorvar Crittersmash:''' No, I am the mighty Fremennik, Thorvar Crittersmash! I do not know anything about this 'Santa' you speak of!
--> '''Player:''' I didn't say anything about Santa.
--> '''Thorvar Crittersmash:''' Oh, you didn't? Good! Because he's not here, and I'm certainly not him.
* InformingTheFourthWall: "Nothing interesting happens."
** This is actually [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] in one of the Daemonheim tasks - you're required to use the [[spoiler:Ring of Kingship]] with a [[spoiler:fire]]. Doing so causes the game to [[spoiler:[[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome give a shout-out to Lord Of The Rings]]]] invoking this trope.
** One of your Player-Owned Ports updates is: "[[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial Nothing interesting happened on (Ship)]]."
** Played with should you try nibbling on sliced mushrooms made from fungi on the Arc and Uncharted Islands: "Something interesting happens," specifically [[MushroomSamba a short hallucination]]. If you try to again before a ten minute cooldown ends, you get a straighter example: "Nothing interesting happens...yet."
* InGameBankingServices: Players can deposit and withdraw both money and items from banks in-game.
* InitiationQuest: ''Runescape'' features an interesting take on this with the Shield of Arrav quest; the titular artifact is divided into two halves, with one half being owned by the Phoenix Gang, one half by the Black Arm Gang. It's one of only two quests in the game's twenty-year history that requires the help of another player to complete; while the Phoenix Gang member just has to execute an NPC, the Black Arm initiate needs to 'steal' a crossbow from the Phoenix Gang, which is accomplished by having another player in the Phoenix gang trade a crossbow to the Black Arm Gang player.
* InsurmountableWaistHeightFence: The game is full of them.
%%* InstantDeathRadius: Several of the strongest boss monsters.
* InstantGravestone: Instant Gravestones (usually) protect your items when you die. Bigger and fancier ones can be purchased which hold your items for longer.
* InsubstantialIngredients: Done in at least two places:
** In Player Owned Ports, Bottled Seasinger Cries are used to increase a ship's Seafaring stat for one voyage.
** The produce from [[TRexpy Rex dinosaurs]] at the Ranch Out of Time is called Bottled Dinosaur Roars, which are used as an ingredient in Vulnerability Bombs, various Powerburst potions, and the Adrenaline Renewal Potion. Lampshaded by their description:
---> ''Somehow you've captured the terrifying roar of a dinosaur in a bottle. Best not to think too hard about it.''
* InterfaceScrew:
** Part of the ''[=RuneScape=] 3'' update was the New Interface System, a fully customizable [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin interface system]] intended to allow players to view the parts of the HUD relevant to the parts of the game they wanted to play, and minimize unwanted clutter. Unfortunately, editing the interface itself can be confusing for some, and the default layout is different from the classic one.
** During the fight against Rabid Jack in the quest Piece of Hate, the camera starts to rotate wildly as the player's insanity level increases.
** After defeating the Barrows Brothers in Barrows: Rise of the Six, everyone has to escape the tunnels leading to the Barrows arena if they want to keep their loot. As the timer before the tunnels start collapsing completely counts down to 0, the game view starts tilting sideways.
* InterfaceSpoiler:
** [[spoiler:Akrisae]]'s Barrows Set is easily viewable on the Grand Exchange while searching for Barrows Armour, despite it not making too much sense for those who haven't done "Ritual of the Mahjarrat".
** For anyone who hasn't done Kindred Spirits, [[spoiler:Linza]]'s conversion into one of Sliske's Barrows wights can be spoiled in the same way.
* AnInteriorDesignerIsYou: Courtesy of the Construction skill, you're able to build and decorate your player-owned house however you want. Old School does far more with this than [=RS3=], though, with four additional rooms to choose from.
* InterspeciesRomance:
** Many players' interpretation of their character's relationship with Zanik. The fact that her house has a double bed only adds to this. As does the player turning into a goblin during Land of the Goblins. Even Zanik ponders WhatCouldHaveBeen in one of her letters to the player.
---> '''Zanik''': And I'd be lying if I said I didn't feel something for you. Back when we were about to face Bandos, when we were standing by the portal about to go through, a part of me really wanted to grab you and kiss you. But I thought that was crazy, I'd just had an evil god inside my head and I thought I was going to die and I wasn't thinking straight and so in the end I didn't do anything. But now it seems maybe you wanted me to, and now I have to tell you I can't, and I'm sorry, and I have to try to explain.
*** Teased again with the release of Archaeology; Zanik as a site overseer sends you an invitation addressed to "my dearest (player name)".
** Also, Dororan and Gudrun from Gunnar's Ground.
** One way to interpret Bob and Neite, since Bob used to be human... although it's an unusual case, as Neite was once a human as well.
*** Given that Bob always gives your pet cat the "[[Franchise/StarWars I am your father!]]" speech, Bob and Fluffs could be a straight example. Gertrude even mentions that Bob used to live with them.
** The marriage of the King Black Dragon and the Kalphite Queen, to coincide with the real marriage of Prince William and Kate Middleton. [[spoiler:This later turned out to be a marketing ploy by Diango.]]
** Thok from Dungeoneering has a big crush on the Gorajo Divine Skinweaver. The saga "Thok Your Block Off" shows that it's mutual.
** Preserved journals from the Second Age include gossip that Zaros and Char had a more personal than professional relationship. You can ask either of them about the other, and they'll both avoid the subject.
*** It's later implied by an Angel of Death lorebook (and later [[spoiler: Nex's reaction to Char being sucked into the Monolith]]) that Nex and Char possibly began a relationship after Nex's return to the Ancient Prison.
** Guthix's chronicles and Seren's memory crystals imply that they had a crush on one another, and [[UnresolvedSexualTension neither ever acted on it]].
* IntoxicationMechanic: Alcoholic drinks will slightly [[BoozeBasedBuff boost certain skills]] but will subtract from others; over time, these stats will return to normal. The skill boost is capped, but the decrease is not, meaning it's possible to drink your way to 0 in a skill.
* IntraFranchiseCrossover: [=RS3=] and [=OSRS=] both received announcements in October 2021 of a boss from one becoming available in the other: Nex was announced for ''Old School'' as the Fifth General, while [=TzKal-Zuk=] and a shorter version of the Inferno designed around [=RS3=] mechanics and replayability would be released for the fourth front of Elder God Wars.
* InventedIndividual: At the end of "The Lord of Vampyrium", [[spoiler:Calsidiu]], the supposed leader of the Myreque, turns out to be a lie, and was made up by Veliaf and Safalaan to try and instill hope in said resistance movement.
* InvoluntaryCharityDonation: This is the plot of the "Let Them Eat Pie" quest. The peasants of the town are starving while the disgustingly fat rich glutton lives in luxury, so the PlayerCharacter poisons him with a disgusting pie made of rotten meat, steals from him while he's puking his guts out, and thus the citizens get their food.
* IronicName: Vorkath's name means "pathetic weakling" in the Dragonkin's language. He certainly does not live up to that name.
* IrrelevantSidequest: While no quest is actually a considered a sidequest, if you're just trying to follow one of the plotlines, later stages can have some random-feeling busywork prerequisites. For instance, ''Making History'' is an interesting enough beginner quest, requiring only a few thousand coins and a low crafting level. It's also a direct requirement for ''Plague's End'', a [[HarderThanHard Grandmaster]] quest and climax of the entire Ardounge/Elf plotline. The only correlation is the King of East Ardougne having a single appearance in ''Making History'', and he's inaccessible after ''Plague's End'' changes the world state.
* ItemCrafting: Via the Smithing, Fletching, Herblore, Crafting, Construction, and Invention skills. Runecrafting and Archaeology also occasionally do this.
* ItMakesSenseInContext: One quest involves working with a gnome to commit terrorism for a group of secret government conspirators, which is done by infecting the people and livestock of an entire city with a virus by shooting dye-soaked toads at a farmer's flock of sheep. [[spoiler:The plague is a hoax.]]
* ItMayHelpYouOnYourQuest: In the Christmas 2010 event, where Santa Cl--er, [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial Thorvar Crittersmash]]--sent players into a Daemonheim dungeon he'd failed, giving them a bucket and telling them they'd know when to use it. After the third puzzle, that bucket became very useful because it was needed to [[spoiler:catch the heim crab that stole Santa's hat]].
* ItsAWonderfulPlot: The Dimension of Disaster is an AlternateTimeline where you, the player character, was never born. As a result:
** Delrith and Agrith-Naar were never defeated during the events of Demon Slayer and Shadow of the Storm, respectively. Delrith went on a rampage that destroyed Varrock (which by his own admission was [[VictoryIsBoring disappointingly easy]] without a hero to stand in his way) until Zemouregal showed up and imprisoned him in an abandoned quarter of the city. Meanwhile, Agrith-Naar (as Denath) returned to Infernus and entertained himself by [[TheGadfly constantly making it rain on Delrith]], who was powerless to stop him.
** Hazeel rules over Ardougne and Kandarin, meaning that his cult managed to successfully revive him. Khazard remains his pupil and Philipe Carnillean is part of Hazeel's cult.
** Zemouregal was able to take over Varrock during the events of Defender of Varrock, kill all of the Signature Heroes ''and'' most named {{Non Player Character}}s in Northern Misthalin and Northern Asgarnia; those who he didn't kill were made into undead thralls, with the sole exception of Reldo, who was deemed useful enough to keep around.
** The Fremennik attempted to invade New Varrock, which resulted in the capture of Koschei the Deathless [[spoiler:(really Kharshai the Mahjarrat)]].
** Lucien [[spoiler:massacred the Crux Eqal and Temple Knights with the Staff of Armadyl and the Stone of Jas, before being killed by the Dragonkin.]]
** Azzanadra was never released from his pyramid at the end of Desert Treasure, meaning he's ripe for the picking when a new ritual of Rejuvenation comes around. The same goes for Akthanakos and [[spoiler:Kharshai]], both imprisoned, while Trindine is left in hibernation in Kharid-Et's Shadow Realm and is presumably forgotten and never woken up.
** It's still the Fifth Age, meaning [[spoiler:Guthix hasn't died]]. Understandable, as Orlando Smith, the archeologist that discovered [[spoiler: Guthix's resting place]] can't do much in an undead state [[spoiler: and without a mortal hero whose soul is strong enough to house the World Guardian enchantment, Guthix isn't going to manipulate Sliske into [[ThanatosGambit killing him]] to complete it]]. Because the Sixth Age hasn't started, there are still no gods on Gielinor, as the Edicts of Guthix still hold.
** Though it's not shown, Bandos successfully made Zanik his war-hungry avatar and had her spread chaos. She got all the way to the God Wars Dungeon, where she led the Bandosian army to victory after reassembling the Godsword. Then she opened the door to Nex's prison...[[EpicFail and was immediately killed as a result]]. Nex then stole the Godsword from Zanik's corpse and fled to parts unknown.
** The player not being there to change the past during the quest "Meeting History" caused significant changes to the past, although many events took place InSpiteOfANail. Zaros never came to Gielinor, but Loarnab, who was killed by Zaros in the original timeline, ended up taking Zaros's place in history.
*** To elaborate further, because the player was never born, they never travelled to the past (as shown during Meeting History), and therefore did not influence a pre-teen Jack to become a druid. Instead, Jack grew up to become an EvilSorcerer who terrorized the land until [[BatmanGrabsAGun Guthix was forced to end his reign of terror by killing him.]] Seeing Guthix go against his [[ThouShaltNotKill moral code]] influenced Seren to withdraw from Gielinor and stay in Tarddiad with the elves, which means Zaros was never attracted to Gielinor by her presence and continued to aimlessly wander the universe. As a result, Loarnab grew in power until it gained sapience and took Zaros's place as the ruling god of the Second Age, becoming known as the Dark Imperator. The rest of the events in Gielinor's history mostly take place in the same way as the mainstream timeline afterwards: Zamorak usurps Loarnab, starts the God Wars and Guthix banishes the gods from Gielinor upon his awakening.
%%* ItWillNeverCatchOn: Seen in "Meeting History". --How is it seen? ZCE
[[/folder]]

[[folder:J-L]]
* JekyllAndHyde: In one of the former random events, Dr Jekyll could appear and ask the player for a herb, and reward them with a potion. But if the player does not respond to him within a certain time, he will transform into Mr Hyde and attack the player.
* JokeItem:
** Several, especially the holiday items. Ironically, some of these are now the most valuable items in the game.
** During the Tai Bwo Wannai Trio quest, you must add slices of banana to Karamjan rum. Should you forget to slice the banana first, the whole fruit will be stuffed into the bottle instead. Unfortunately, since the banana gets lodged in the bottle, the item becomes completely useless and can’t be used to advance the quest.
* JungleOpera: Players can visit Anachronia (also known as Fossil Island and the Land Out of Time) to hunt and fight dinosaurs.
* KangarooCourt: Alleged bot accounts were tried at Botany Bay prior to its removal. The verdict is always guilty, and other players could vote on the sentence of the botter before it is banned.
* KarmaMeter: At least two quests let you choose which god to side with. Subverted in that whatever you choose has no real impact outside of those quests.
* KickingAssInAllHerFinery: Vanescula Drakan goes from a ManipulativeBastard in a cocktail dress in the main game to an ActionGirl in an elegant ballgown in ''Chronicle: Legends of Runescape''. It's ''not'' a BattleBallgown, because as a vampyre, [[NighInvulnerable she doesn't need armor]].
* KidHero: Dionysius/Wise Old Man started adventuring at the age of 15, and [[spoiler:Philipe Carnillean becomes one after Carnillean Rising.]]
** Possibly the case for Kennith, but his PlotRelevantAgeUp makes it questionable.
** Possibly the case for Meg, but her age is never specified.
* KilledOffForReal:
** [[spoiler:Duradel, Turael, Cyrisus, Sloane, Ghommal and Hazelmere]] during While Guthix Sleeps, [[spoiler:Sigmund]] in The Chosen Commander, and [[spoiler:Prince Brand and Princess Astrid]] in the Blood Runs Deep. In the Ritual of the Mahjarrat, [[spoiler: Idria, Akrisae (specifically, he becomes one of the Barrows brothers) Jhallan and Lucien are killed]] and in The World Wakes, [[spoiler:Orlando Smith, Cres, and Guthix are killed as well.]]
** ''Old School'' has [[spoiler:Nieve]] in Monkey Madness II, and [[spoiler:Bob the Jagex Cat]] in Dragon Slayer II.
* KillItWithFire:
** Both Glacors and Ice Strykewyrms are [[AchillesHeel very weak against fire spells]].
** You fight Evil Trees by lighting fires underneath them to burn them down.
* KleptomaniacHero: So much that there's even a thieving skill for it.
* KlingonPromotion: Seen in how [[DeityOfHumanOrigin mortal beings have ascended to become gods]] -- a sufficiently daring or badass being can [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu kill a god]] and [[TookALevelInBadass gain their power]] in the process. Both Guthix[[note]][[PapaWolf unintentionally]][[/note]] and Zamorak[[note]][[TheStarscream intentionally]][[/note]] utilized this method to attain godhood, and it is theorized that Sliske ''may'' have done so as well. Godly beings can also gain or lose part of their power by winning or losing in battle.
** It has since been confirmed that Sliske has NOT ascended to godhood, although he did gain significant power [[spoiler:after killing Guthix with the Staff of Armadyl and gaining knowledge from the Stone of Jas.]]
* KlingonScientistsGetNoRespect: The Big High War God Bandos urged his goblin followers to reject and oppress any traits that could enable them to challenge or reject him, such as intellect, willfullness, and pacifism. Grubfoot is perplexed to realize the same qualities that made him a worthless abused flunky on the surface [[LikeAFishTakesToWater make him well-liked in Dorgesh-Kaan]].
* KnightTemplar: Sigmund of the H.A.M. cult absolutely ''despises'' goblins, and is willing to raise [[TheKlan a mob in pink-tinged robes]] to run them out of town, derail trains, and ''flood the entire [[MySpeciesDothProtestTooMuch (peaceful)]] cave goblin city.''
* KnockoutGas: The quest "The Great Brain Robbery" has a section where Harmony Island is covered in knockout gas. You have to wear a scuba-diving helmet or you'll be knocked unconscious.
* LadyLand:
** The Lunar Clan is predominantly female. The bankers' examine text even notes how pleased they are to be the only men on the island.
** Aside from the Fairy Godfather and his gang, the fairies of Zanaris are also all-female.
* LaResistance: The Myreque of Morytania, an underground organization fighting to protect the resident humans from the oppressive vampiric regime. In their questline the player bolsters their numbers, finds new safehouses, and helps procure new weaponry so the Myreque can take the fight to the vampyres. [[spoiler: The group disbands after the events of ''The Lord of Vampyrium'', which see most of the members killed and the vampyres' leader, Lord Drakan, killed for good.]]
* LargeAndInCharge: Kree'arra, K'ril Tsutsaroth, Nex and General Graardor are all very large, command the armies of their gods in God Wars Dungeon and are very powerful boss monsters. Averted with Zilyana, who is just slightly taller than a human, but is just as lethal as the others -- but her wingspan is still gigantic.
** The bosses in the Heart of Geilinor are similarly gigantic, and also command vast armies of Seren, Sliske, Zamorak and Zaros. Telos averts the trope--he is large, but does not command an army of his own.
* LargeHam:
** Yk'Lagor the [[MeaningfulName Thunderous]].
** Sigmund from the Cave Goblin series. It doesn't help he gets a hammy voice upgrade in the Dominion Tower.
* LastDitchMove:
** Nex uses the Wrath prayer upon death. Also, the Ring of Life will teleport a player who is critically wounded from battle, destroying itself in the process. Similarly, the Sign of Life, Portent of Life, and Defense Skillcape perk resurrect a player whose lifepoints have been reduced to zero with 25% health, with the former two being consumed to do so. Some conditions apply--notably, a one hour cooldown.
** Vanstrom Klause also pulls this [[spoiler:after you defeat him in The Branches of Darkmeyer, summoning several Bloodveld guardians and nearly killing you. You survive, however.]]
** Upon defeat, Ripper Demons will perform a ballerina-like twirl, slashing any player within distance for high damage. Moving out of their way is the only way to be safe.
** In the ''[=Old School RuneScape=]'' quest Dragon Slayer II, Galvek unleashes a fireball that ends up incinerating his master after being defeated by the player.
* LastOfHisKind:
** Thurgo is said to be the last of the Imcando dwarves[[spoiler:, although a second one, Ramarno is found later, and Thurgo claims more are alive as well.]]
** Commander Zilyana is the last of the [[OurAngelsAreDifferent Icyene]], winged humanoids that have been compared to angels. [[spoiler:However, Safalaan is later confirmed to be at least part icyene, and it later turned out that there are still plenty of Icyene left in their home realm. One, Padomenes, hangs out at Falador castle.]]
** General Graardor was long thought to be the last of the Ourgs, a race known for their [[DumbMuscle immense brute strength]]. [[spoiler:Double subverted: he's not the last Ourg, but he is the last member of the Kal-i-Kra of his homeworld, [[WhereIWasBornAndRazed which he indirectly destroyed after killing his world's god and protector Jododu Otoku]]. Among the Ourgs is Zarador, who oversees the Bandosian Kyzaj tournament, and who also served as Bandos' right hand man, during his ill-fated battle against Armadyl.]]
** [[TheUnpronouncable K'ril Tsutsaroth]] is thought to be the last [[OurDemonsAreDifferent Tsutaroth demon]].
** [[PlayingWithFire Char]] is the last Auspah, a race of fire-controlling humanoids.
** The unnamed Phoenix is the last of her kind when her brother Si'morgh is killed by a dragon. However, players get to hatch baby phoenixes out of hidden eggs.
** K'klik is the last known [[OurDragonsAreDifferent Fairy dragon]].
** Nex is the last of a race of [[PersonOfMassDestruction unbelievable power]], whatever that is...
*** [[spoiler:As of Fate of the Gods, we know that Nex's species is called either Nihil or Zaryte, and that Nex is not the last of them, but rather the only (as far as we know) one that Zaros saw fit to grant enhanced intelligence and power.]]
** It is unclear whether the Dramen tree is the last of its kind.
** The White tree, however, is truly the last of its kind.
** Fyburglars tree is also likely to be the last of its kind.
** Enakhra is the last female Mahjarrat, a race that could have as few as 7 individuals depending on the player's choice. [[spoiler: Subverted: during the Vault of Shadows mystery/miniquest, the player discovers Sliske's old subordinate Trindine has been hibernating in the Shadow Realm for millennia.]]
** Hannibus was considered the last of [[DragonRider the dragon riders,]] before he apparently died of old age in a cave in the midst of the godforsaken wasteland known as the Wilderness. Ultimately subverted: you later find that he and at least a few other dragon riders are still alive, while his daughter Vindicta is very much still alive (and, while a DyingRace, his people--the Ilujanka--are still present on their homeworld. At Vindicta's recommendation, a few of the younger ones are even planning to move to Anachronia).
*** As of the finale of the Effigy Incubator storyline, [[spoiler: thanks to Vicendithas, the Ilujanka successfully produced a clutch of eggs for the first time in generations]].
** Before his ascension to godhood, Guthix was the last of the Naragi, a race of peace-loving humanoids who were wiped out by a god war.
** Therragorn is the last White Dragon.
* LaughingMad:
** Blink, a boss encountered while Dungeoneering.
** Gregorovic, the General of Sliske's forces in the Heart of Gielinor.
* LavaSurfing: Done during [[spoiler: Children of Mah]] in order to reach the site of [[spoiler: the final Ritual of the Mahjarrat]]. [[spoiler: You have a wipeout on a lavafall at the end and need Seren to rescue you.]]
* LawOfTimeTravelCoincidences: The quest "Meeting History" involves the player character doing just that, being flung back in time through use of an Enchanted Key in order to meet some of the first humans on Gilenor -- in the process revealing that humanity is not a native species to the plane, but instead come from another realm.
* LeakedExperience: Taken to extremes in the Soul Wars minigame before it was updated. It allowed players to earn bonus experience in the slayer skill without doing any of the fighting in the game itself, up to the maximum level the skill allowed if one worked at it enough. This led to players who, with no combat experience whatsoever, ''are masters of a skill involving killing everything that moves.''
* LeaveHimToMe: In the special quest Dimension of Disaster, after the player helps free Arrav from Zemouregal's control, Arrav asks to be the one to fight Zemouregal, to which the player agrees.
* {{Leitmotif}}:
** The goblins have one, the H.A.M. members have one, Zaros has one, and many others have one, too.
** For areas, Daemonheim floors often have a single motif heard throughout most of the floors with the same theme.
* LethalLavaLand: The Karamja volcano, parts of the Wilderness, etc. Freneskae also qualifies.
* LevelGrinding: The game is full of ways to do it for all skills, and it's the only way to really reach the higher levels. It's generally referred to as "training" by [=RuneScape=] players.
* LGBTAwakening: [[spoiler: Angof, the only known sane crystal shapeshifter, is transgender, and she realized it after playing with her newfound crystal shapeshifting abilities. To quote her diary:]]
-> [[spoiler: '''Angof''': The pain is still there, always present, always reminding me. But, I feel I am better able to resist it today. I've been without the crystal for 5 days now and whilst it's agony, I am feeling a little more like myself. In many ways I am more myself than I've ever really been. No longer that little boy that felt trapped in a skin that was not his own. The form changing ability of the crystal certainly has it's advantages.]]
* LifeDrain: Several, including onyx-tipped bolts, Soul Split, the Guthan's armor set, the Vampyrism aura and scrimshaw, the Balanced Strike ability, and others.
* LifeEnergy: All magic is based on Anima. Philosophers usually refer to this as a "soul". Anima is generated by all life, though sentient life generates the most. The Elder Gods create worlds with the intention of generating and harvesting it. The skill of Divination was created by Guthix through his death to enable mortals to do the same, giving them indirect access to divine power and ensuring mortals will be able to oppose the gods should they find it necessary.
* LightAndMirrorsPuzzle: Mourning's Ends II [[GuideDangIt infamously]] has a complex version of this, with color-changing gems required to complete three floors worth of puzzles, which is much worse than it sounds, all the while being attacked by shadow monsters. The next three quests in the series feature them as well:
** Within the Light: Similar to Mourning's End II, but in a much smaller area without the three-dimensional element or attacking shadow monsters.
** Plague's End: Done as part of the boss fight with [[spoiler: The Dark Lord]], in a manner similar to Within the Light.
** The Light Within: Used as part of the puzzle to [[spoiler: revive the elven goddess Seren]]. This time the mirrors sometimes reflect at diagonal angles.
* LighterAndSofter: In a rare inversion of the game's ongoing DarkerAndEdgier trend, the "Troll Warzone" tutorial that once introduced players to Gielinor (having superseded Lumbridge in turn) was [[RetGone removed]] and replaced with a new tutorial based on the island of Ashdale, which was simultaneously set up as the hometown of the PlayerCharacter. Many of the steps in the old tutorial became disconnected tasks, while marauding troll soldiers throughout Burthorpe and Taverley were replaced with mountain wolves, and the starving refugees and wounded/dead soldiers that used to populate parts of the area were removed entirely.
** Violet is Blue and Violet is Blue Too are a duology of incredibly wholesome quests about aiding a small human girl named Violet and her adoptive yeti parents, released in 2018 and 2020 respectively.
* LimitBreak: Ultimate abilities in [=RS3=] are powerful abilities that consume all of your adrenaline at once. Weapon special attacks that consume 100% Adrenaline (in [=RS3=]) or 100% Special Attack Energy (in [=OSRS=]) also qualify.
* LinkedListClueMethodology: Treasure Trails.
* LionsAndTigersAndHumansOhMy: Cats, penguins, seals, polar bears, walruses, camels, crocodiles and monkeys are capable of speech and all apparently have the same level of intelligence as humans. Some of these races blend into human society, while others have built whole civilizations of their own.
* LivingBattery: The various worlds throughout the [=RuneScape=] universe were created to serve this function for the Elder Gods. Freneskae (formerly) and Gielinor (presently) are the "perfect" worlds for generating Anima, though Zaros has discovered that imperfect worlds tend to spawn sentient life, which generate more Anima than anything the Elder Gods intentionally create.
** The ancient, minor god Loarnab was captured and sapped of his divine energy by [[DivineRanks the much, much stronger Zaros.]] He used the hydra god's divine energy to [[MassTeleportation teleport 12 legions of demons into the world,]] at which point Loarnab finally died, turning to stone.
* LizardFolk: ''Old School'' has the Lizardmen, a sapient race created by Xeric that he used to conquer Kourend. Though Xeric is long gone, the lizardmen are still around, and pose a persistent threat to the people of Kourend.
* LoadBearingBoss: Bork, a repeatable miniquest boss, and Barrows: Rise of the Six, a high level boss encounter, feature crumbling arenas after the boss is defeated. It's especially noticeable in the latter, where the damage actually becomes significant enough that you can easily die if you're not constantly on the move to escape.
* LogicalWeakness: In Old School, Karil the Tainted actually inverts this. Despite being a ranger, Karil is actually weak to magical attacks. This is because his magic skill is low, which is how magic defense is calculated for non-playable characters.
* LoopholeAbuse: Entrana forbids bringing weapons and armor, but never anything about bringing the materials to the island to make them right there (handy if you're doing Lost City). Subverted in that if you're in possession of any such gear long enough, a monk will come to knock you out and send you back to Port Sarim.
* LordBritishPostulate: Before the release of the Ivandis Flail, Vyrewatch couldn't be killed. This didn't stop players from trying, and succeeding.
** A number of bosses that were intended only for multiple players to fight have been killed solo, though it often only occurs after years of power creep and at the highest levels of [=PvM=] skill. The only duo+ boss that hasn't met this fate is Vorago.
* LosingYourHead:
** A zombie pirate in "A Clockwork Syringe", as part of the storyline.
** Moss golems, a high level Slayer creature, feature this as a mechanic - after a golem's head pops off, you have to kill the golem quickly before [[DetachmentCombat its head comes to life and attacks you]], at which point the golem becomes immune to damage until the head is killed.
* LotusEaterMachine: In the quest Song from the Depths, the siren Remora is led to believe she's singing on an island after being swallowed by the Queen Black Dragon.
* LovecraftLite: The Crassians from "A Shadow Over Ashdale" are a race of cephalopod-crustacean monsters that swarm seaside villages and forcibly convert human captives into more of their own. Their leader Agoroth is a squid-based creature easily as big as the ship you battle it on (including arms that reach around to the other side of the ship). Not only do you defeat them, you can repeat battles with Agoroth twice a week for bonus experience items.
** The Crassians return for the Curse of Black Stone quest, as well as the Temple of Aminishi and the Shadow Reef.
** The Grotesque is a monster in the Lumbridge swamp whose multitude of arms reach so far that the "wall beasts" that pop out of crevices in the Lumbridge Caves are actually part of it. The horror of it is somewhat mitigated when you reach Dorgesh-Kaan and learn that the goblins there harvest wall beast fingers for food.
** The Sea Slug quest line cleaves toward this, mixed with BodySnatcher plot.
* LuckBasedMission:
** Stomp. Every time he gets down by a 1/3 of his health, the ceiling caves in, causing rocks to fall, as well as small lodestones that have to be used on larger ones to stop Stomp from healing that 1/3 of health you just took off. The problem? The rocks are impassible and can block off the large or small lodestones. This was eventually changed so that the rocks can be cleared out of the way.
** Dungeoneering has a puzzle where you have to sneak past a purple orb in a sort of turn-based puzzle, but your character can randomly 'stumble' which gives the purple orb a free move on you, making it nearly impossible to complete if this happens more than once.
*** Speaking of Dungeoneering, the elite Daemonheim task set reward "Hard Mode" requires that all skill doors have a base level 90 requirement to pass. If you happen to attempt this with skills below level 90, you're [[AIIsACrapshoot tossing the dice]] as to whether you'll even be able to complete the floor. See "Fake Difficulty" entry.
** In "Mourning's End Part 2", you have to cross a set of wall hand-holds to reach a chest and a pillar, though it's made easier with high ability and weightless equipment.
* LuckilyMyShieldWillProtectMe: Shields are available to players, usable with one-handed melee weapons, crossbows, throwing weapons, and wands. The abilities available to players using them usually revolve around reducing or [[AttackReflector reflecting]] damage, while higher level ones allow you to regain life, NoSell attacks, and even [[NotQuiteDead bring you]] BackFromTheDead.
* LukeIAmYourFather:
** {{Invoked}} in "Salt in the Wound". When a mind-controlled villager asks you to identify yourself in order to gain entry to Mother Mallum's lair, one of the options in the DialogueTree is "I AM YOUR FATHER!" (If you select it, she'll look at you funny and tell you to go away.)
** Bob the Cat tries it out if you speak with him while you have a cat with you. He and your cat will quote the ''Franchise/StarWars'' scene, with Bob as Vader and your cat as Luke. It's just a joke, of course.
* LuckyRabbitsFoot: A strung rabbit foot (worn as a necklace) is an item that gives players a better chance of getting a bird's nest when cutting trees or ivy; it also grants a better chance of getting long and curved bones in combat.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:M-N]]
* MacGuffin: The Elder Artefacts are a group of twelve powerful, divine artefacts created by the Elder Gods.
* MacGuffinDeliveryService: You, usually during quests. Occasionally lampshaded.
* MacGuffinGuardian: During "Temple of Ikov", the guardians of Armadyl are tasked with guarding the staff of Armadyl, one of the twelve Elder Artefacts.
* {{Magick}}: The term used for Ancient Magick, a combat oriented style of magic largely used by Zarosians and Mahjarrat and developed long ago.
* MagicStaff: The basic weapon of a mage. Staves provide bonuses to magic, and some varieties also provide infinite quantities of elemental runes as well.
* MagicWand: The standard for one-handed magical weapons.
* {{Magitek}}: There are many examples, but the prime one would be Invention, a form of technology powered by the divine energies of the gods.
* MakeWayForTheNewVillains: After a lengthy story arc of all your efforts to stop him being AllForNothing, [[spoiler:the Dragonkin kill Lucien in a CurbStompBattle.]]
* ManaMeter: There are five examples, each with different gameplay attached:
** The Prayer bar fuels passive buffs, including effects that reduce damage taken from a certain combat style or buff your stats (and in [=RS3=], also includes some utility prayers for skilling). It doesn't regenerate on its own, but can be restored at altars and with prayer potions.
** The special attack bar ([=OSRS=] and [=RS3=] Legacy Mode) starts at 100% and regenerates over time when used. Special attacks of weapons consume special attack energy to fuel their attacks.
** Adrenaline ([=RS3=] Revolution and Full Manual) is somewhat closer to a special gauge in a fighting game than a standard ManaMeter. You generate adrenaline in combat by using autoattacks and basic abilities, spending it to cast weapon [[SpecialAttack special attacks]], [[SpecialAttack threshold]] abilities, and [[LimitBreak ultimate]] abilities--however, you slowly lose it if you leave combat for an extended period of time.
** Finally, Summoning has two Mana Meters:
*** The first, the summoning energy bar, is used for summoning Familiars in the first place (which slowly drains while you have a familiar out, though you don't lose your existing summons at 0 summoning energy remaining). It behaves somewhat like Prayer: you don't regenerate it automatically, but you can easily restore it at summoning obelisks.
*** The second, the spell points bar, is used to cast your summons' special moves. It behaves somewhat like the special attack bar: it starts at full and slowly recovers on its own.
* ManaPotion: Prayer Potions and their variants are this for Prayer. Adrenaline potions and their variants are this for Adrenaline (and special attack energy in [=RS3=] Legacy combat). Summoning potions and their variants are this for both summoning energy and spell points.
* ManEatingPlant: The stranger plant familiar.
** Venus flytraps can be found in swampy or jungle areas, and they'll snap at you if you get too close. [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome They're too small and weak to seriously hurt your character, though.]]
** Anachronia has four types of "vile blooms" that act as high-level Slayer monsters. They aren't aggressive, though.
* MarathonBoss: Vorago, the team-based boss fight with a combat level of 10000. He has five phases of battle to go through, each having him with 250,000 hitpoints. (That's 1,250,000 total life points!) And unless the team knows exactly what they're doing and can achieve their teamwork perfectly, one phase can last much longer than needed. Oh, and he will [[FlunkyBoss summon minions in one phase]]. Let's not forget the [[ThatOneBoss hard mode version of this battle]].
** There's also Nomad's Elegy's final fight against Nomad...and the unlockable Memory of Nomad fight afterward.
* MarathonLevel: The Underground Pass, a long trek through a cave filled with monsters, traps, and puzzles. Bring lots of food, you ''will'' need it.
* MassMonsterSlaughterSidequest:
** Players who slay enough chompy birds with a special luring technique will be rewarded with [[AndYourRewardIsClothes fancy hats]]. If you also want to trim the Completionist cape, you'll need to kill ''4,000'' of them, assuming you don't have Chompy bird enhancers (which treat one chompy bird kill as two kills per charge) to make the job quicker and easier for you.
** The Slayer skill is based around this. Slayer masters assign you to kill a certain number of a specific enemy type, gaining experience after each qualifying kill, and once you're done you'll have to get another assignment to keep training. Your reward for this is [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment the ability to kill even more monsters]]...and the many, many valuable drops Slayer monsters can have.
* MaximumHPReduction: Some creatures could transmit "disease", which randomly decreases stats including constitution, which affects maximum life points. Barrelchest Mk II, a [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot pirate zombie robot]] (ItMakesSenseInContext) directly drains constitution as part of its special attack. The Magister, a high-level Slayer boss, can also drain Constitution through the use of a [[YourSoulIsMine soul obelisk]]. Instead of eating various food, this kind of damage can only be restored quickly with more expensive super restore potions.
* TheMaze: A large portion of "Sliske's Endgame" involves racing the other contestants of Sliske's god game to the Stone of Jas... by navigating through a series of overly cryptic labyrinths.
* MeaningfulName:
** The evil pirate Rabid Jack's ship is named ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albatross_%28metaphor%29 This Albatross]]''.
** From the "Fremennik Trials" quest: Swensen the Navigator's name is [[spoiler:the solution to his maze. Notice how his name contains only the letters N, S, E, and W--the four cardinal directions]].
** Most Big Game Hunter creatures are named in a mix of Latin and Greek for their visual features.
** The quest Summer's End involves the player helping the spirit of a girl named Summer find peace, and was released at the end of summer 2008.
* {{Microtransactions}}: These have become ubiquitous in recent years, to the point that microtransaction updates and promotions [[MoneyDearBoy tend to far outnumber]] other new content updates such as quests and in-game activities.
** Players were able pay cash to buy additional spins on the Squeal of Fortune, which gave rewards ranging from items to experience and coins.
** Solomon's General Store runs on the purchase of [=RuneCoins=] to access or unlock cosmetic outfits, pets, titles, keepsake keys and many more. A few items in the store even bring in-game benefits, such as increases in bank capacity or additional action bars for [=EoC=] users.
** Treasure Hunter replaced the Squeal of Fortune, this time with purchasable keys that unlock treasure chests for [[BribingYourWayToVictory experience lamps, bonus experience stars, useful skilling resources, straight coin bag prizes, experience-boosting outfits]] and an ever-growing list of promotional items.
* MedievalStasis: Averted. The past was full of advanced magical technologies but disasters such as the God Wars and the burning of the Wizards' Tower have created periods of regression due to the loss of technological and magical knowledge. The Invention skill and the rediscovery of lost technologies via the Archaeology skill have slowly brought Gielinor into an industrial revolution although the DungeonPunk skin still remains prominent.
* MidairBobbing: Seen with the pets from "The Firemaker's Curse".
* MillionMookMarch:
** In "King of the Dwarves", the player character encounters an ensemble of chaos dwarves and chaos dwogres, led by Grimsson and backed by multiple multicannons, deep within Barendir.
** In "River of Blood", the player character is confronted by an ensemble of vampyres, bloodvelds, and werewolves as Vanescula attempts to cross the River Salve. Standing over on the other end of the river is an ensemble of human Varrockian soldiers, armed and ready to battle Vanescula's forces.
* MindProbe: Lucien's daughter Moia has this ability. It is used in the saga Nadir and the quest Dishonour among Thieves.
* MinecartMadness: At least one quest involves navigating a maze of minecart turnoffs.
* MinMaxing: Fairly common; characters who take this to its logical conclusion are known as "pures".
** Frequently, [=PvP=]-ers will level Attack and Strength disproportionately while leaving Defence ridiculously low or untouched, turning their character into a GlassCannon who can down more balanced characters of the same combat level. The introduction of HitPoints bonuses for all armour in 2012 made this strategy significantly riskier, since it simultaneously increased the penalties associated with this tactic (low-level armour now puts you at a much greater risk of being OneHitKO'd by other players) and reduced the corresponding advantages (other players with increased HP are harder to take down quickly, and players with shields now have access to abilities that can block your attacks).
** Skill pures also exist, whereby characters do not level combat skills at all while working one or more non-combat skills up to level 99. This can be a detriment, however, as many lucrative skilling areas are guarded by aggressive [=NPCs=] -- and [[PlayerKilling PKers]] -- who can and ''will'' prey on low-levelled players who lack the sense to flee.
* MissingSecret: Acts as a form of GameplayAndStorySegregation in that many more cities and civilizations exist in the background than have actually been coded into the game. As a result, an absurd number of major cities and entire nations (most prominently the Skull and [[spoiler:Arposandra]]) are in isolation, be it mythic or overtly enforced by snooty border guards who will tell you that the place is "closed to outsiders". If an update eventually rolls around that lets you in (as with Keldagrim or Meiyerditch), this becomes an example of BrokenBridge: you'll still have to do a quest to get in and the people inside will be fearful or distrustful of outsiders. And the city will ''still'' be full of places you can't access.
* MissXPun: The White Knights of Falador have ThemeNaming playing on the title "Sir": Sir Rebrum, Sir Vey, Sir Renitee, Sir Vyvin, Sir Render, Sir Rogate, Sir Remony, Sir Ving, Sir Fsup, Sir Tiffy Cashien, Sir Loynst Ayke, Sir Plyan Demand...
* {{Mithril}}: {{Downplayed}}. Mithril is stronger than steel, but still a rather low-level armour, at only 30 Defense to wear. In accordance with tradition, though, it weighs less than other metals.
* MixAndMatchWeapon:
** The Ivandis Flail, a combination flail/sickle/magical staff designed to battle Vyrewatch vampyres.
*** Later in the Myreque quest series, [[spoiler:the reforged Sunspear, which can be used as a spear, a javelin, or a magical staff, and can be switched between the three modes on the fly, even while in combat]].
** The Devious Minds quest has players create a Bowsword, a bow made from a bent sword, for an NPC.
** What do you get when you cross a bow with a shield? You get a shieldbow, which shoots arrows ''and'' provides the defensive bonuses of a shield.
* MobileShrubbery: The penguins' disguises in Penguin Hide and Seek take this form. Averted by the more rarely seen Penguin Agents, who are seen holding briefcases instead.
* TheMole: Many.
** [[spoiler:King Lathas and one entire elf faction]] in the Plague City to Mourning's Ends storyline.
** More obviously, Sigmund in the H.A.M. series, originally a sinister advisor to the Duke of Lumbridge.
** The "Stranger" in Canifis, who is really [[spoiler:Vanstrom Klause, a top lieutenant of the Vyrelords of Darkmeyer. He even manages to [[StupidityIsTheOnlyOption manipulate you]] into [[NiceJobBreakingItHero bringing the Myreque resistance movement to the brink of destruction]].]]
** [[spoiler:Wizard Ellaron]] in Rune Mysteries and Rune Memories. His aim is to bring about the destruction of the Wizard's Tower for [[spoiler:the alleged betrayal of his order most of a century earlier. In the meantime, he has lived and studied among his avowed enemies for decades while [[TheChessmaster manipulating]] [[BrokenPedestal his former apprentice]], Ariane, into becoming a conduit for the magical energies that would complete the conflagration]].
** [[spoiler:A good chunk of the knights of the Order of the Temple of Saradomin, also known as the Temple Knights, are actually followers of Zaros, and have been indoctrinated in Zaros' beliefs for centuries. This includes Lady Eva Cashien, the niece of the Temple Knights recruiter Sir Tiffy Cashien who the player worked with during Salt in the Wound, though Sir Tiffy himself remains a staunch Saradominist loyalist.]]
* MoneyMauling: In the quest The Mighty Fall, Yelps can attack by throwing coins at the player. The Giant Mimic can also attack in a similar manner.
* MoneySink: The entire Construction, Summoning, and most notably, Invention skills. Long overdue because of the billions high alchemy was bringing into the game. In more detail:
** Construction requires large investments of gold to add new rooms to the player's house, quickly climbing to the tens of thousands. Additionally, the unique resources required for using the skill need to be bought from or processed by [=NPCs=] for a fee.
** Summoning's two core resources are untradeable. Spirit shards are cheap individually but required in bulk to do any serious training and can only be purchased at a fixed price from [=NPCs=][[labelnote:*]]Following the mining rework, geodes can now provide shards, but nowhere near enough to sustain training[[/labelnote]]. Colored charms are only dropped by enemies at a steady trickle, putting a hard cap on how quickly players can advance.
** Invention revolves around breaking down items to obtain components, and using the components enhance new items. High-end items need to be broken down to receive high-end components, and enhanced items are untradeable. While this drives up the ''gold'' price of endgame items due to scarcity (as players are more likely to break them down than dump them on the market), the destruction and binding of desirable items leads to immense amounts of ''wealth'' quietly exiting the economy.
** Players can donate GP to the [[https://runescape.wiki/w/Whirlpool_(Deep_Sea_Fishing) whirlpool]] at the Deep Sea Fishing hub to earn titles and temporary buffs.
** A 2% convenience fee was added to the Grand Exchange in January 2023 to offset the reduced death costs.
** ''Old School [=RuneScape=]'' has a literal ''gold sink'' that players can build in their houses. It is constructed from ''very'' expensive items that can only be bought from an [=NPC=].
* MoneySpider: Lots of enemies. Not really killed for gold, since nothing really drops a lot of gold (though some enemies drop items meant to be alchemized for gold). A notable example of this trope played straight is the Grotworm; it drops exactly 5000 coins fairly frequently.
* MonsterClown: Gregorovic a.k.a. "The Mannequin," Sliske's general and a boss monster in the Heart of Gielinor, has a creepy harlequin design. %%This is not Villainous Harlequin because that trope is specifically a less-threatening Monster Clown.
* MonsterIsAMommy: Rocs and dagannoths in their respective quests.
* MoodWhiplash:
** The Memorial of Guthix activity has the players locating and powering engrams that contain more of Guthix's memories, mostly serious lore and possible plot hooks. Then there's the Sheep engram, which is a HurricaneOfPuns about sheep [[spoiler: and the disguised penguins at Farmer Fred's ranch]].
** As a lead-up for the finale of the Pirate Quest series (which is essentially one giant homage to the likes of VideoGame/TheSecretOfMonkeyIsland), a miniquest in which a player collects five journals detailing the lore of Mos'le Harmless was released. The majority of the journals read like something that Creator/HPLovecraft would write if he was raised reading Literature/TreasureIsland.
*** The actual quest, Pieces of Hate, has this in spades. [[spoiler:After your ship is sunk by Rabid Jack, you're taken to the bottom of the sea, where you encounter Jack himself at a portal on the sea floor, where a great, black hand emerges, implied to be [[EldritchAbomination Xau-Tak]]-- or at least, part of him. Up until this point, a strange, starry cat has been following you throughout the quest, which seems to be a manifestation of Xau-Tak itself...]] and immediately after that, you unlock the song "As Rum Can Be", a sea shanty that recounts the events of the questline.
* {{Mordor}}: The Wilderness. Once a thriving city in the Zarosian empire, now just a charred wasteland with cracks in the earth spewing lava, crumbling ruins, vicious monsters, and [[PlayerKilling PKers]].
* MotiveRant: The killer delivers one at the end of "One Piercing Note".
* MuggingTheMonster: What happened to the 'Empty Children' during the mystery of the same name: they were homeless kids who terrorised merchants to get money and food out of them, but unbeknownst to them, one of their marks was actually a werewolf pretending to be human. Fortunately for the children, the werewolf didn't kill them, they just turned them, giving the kids the ability to fight back against the people preying on them.
* MultiArmedAndDangerous: All [=TzHaar=] and [=TokHaar=]. Four arms, three fingers. They even use a base twelve maths system. Not all of them use that many weapons, though.
* MultipleTailedBeast: The Shaikahan looks like a lion with two tails.
* MundaneUtility:
** If you talk to Linza after "While Guthix Sleeps", she's excited about your discovery of the Dragonkin Forge and the possibility of creating new items of dragon metal. She impulsively suggests making a dragon ''cheese grater'', then admits that's a stupid idea.
** The reason Divination is required for Invention? You are using divine energy as the power source for your gadgets. Phenomenal cosmic power, being used to make ''batteries''.
* MyDeathIsJustTheBeginning: [[spoiler:The player may not want Guthix to die, and Sliske may have thought it was a victory for the forces of Zaros, but Guthix intended [[ThanatosGambit his death to work into the eventual plan]] of setting Gielinor free from "[[JerkassGods oppressor gods]]" once and for all]].
* MythologyGag: The 15th Anniversary Gower Quest is essentially Mythology Gags: The Quest, containing dozens of references to old elements of Runescape, and showcasing new parts of the game that have been introduced over the years. For instance:
** The main throughline of the quest is that the Life Runecrafting Altar has been shattered. The Life Altar and Life Runes were elements in the game that were originally going to be used for Summoning.
** To pull off a bank heist to recover the first part of the Life Altar, you have to recruit Rome ofrom the DummiedOut Romeo and Juliet quest; Tim and Crunchy, a pair of very minor characters [[http://i.imgur.com/Z95tbmO seen here]] that acted as the selectors for high and low-detail modes of Runescape 2; and glitched Penguin spy that acted as an AmnesiaDanger, the cause of a bug that allowed it to be spotted over and over again for massive amounts of Penguin Points that could be converted into experience.
** The entrance to the Behind the Scenes pub is a puzzle entirely in pitch black, mimicking the "Black Hole experience", a simulation of what happened to players who used cheats on their accounts, and was eventually removed due to the only way of returning from the Black Hole Experience, the Disk of Returning, being unobtainable if it was dropped, leaving the player stuck there.
** The actual gateway to the Behind the Scenes pub is called the "Gate of Lloigh-enn"; the Flames of Lloigh-enn was the official term for the pair of braziers that flanked the gateway on the Runescape 2 login screen, originally coined in a mailbag.
** One of the parts of the Life Altar is hidden behind skilling challenges... kind of. The skills you have to perform are all in the beta stage, and are easily exploitable for power-leveling. The three skills you have to master are Riding, Sailing, and Bankstanding; the former two have been in-jokes in the Runescape community for years, while the latter refers to the common practice of skilling near a bank with easy access to resources.
** A few references are made to the {{Bowdlerization}} of Runescape in other languages; for instance, an NPC is said to be 'smelling strongly of beer, or fizzy soda, if you're playing in Portuguese" and a door in the beta area is said to be full of blood, while a note in German says it's a room full of marmalade.
* NaturallyHusklessCoconuts: Coconuts without a husk are seen growing on player-grown palm trees. The seasonal beach event in Runescape 3 has players pick these off of trees as well.
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast:
** The Dungeoneering bosses certainly have this. All of the Kal'Gerion generals (demons) and Stalkers (giant eyeballs) have very intimidating names:
*** From the Kal'Gerion Army: [[AnIcePerson To'Kash the Bloodchiller]], Har'Lakk the Riftsplitter, Bal'lak the Pummeller, [[LargeHam Yk'Lagor]] the [[NoIndoorVoice Thunderous]] and [[BadBoss Kal'Ger the Warmonger]].
*** Stalkers: How else would you react to names the likes of [[AnIcePerson Plane-freezer Lakhrahnaz]], Night-gazer Khighorahk, [[CastingAShadow Shadow-forger Ihlakhizan]], Flesh-spoiler Haasghenahk and World-gorger Shukarhazh?
** Lucien. Sure, he doesn't sound like much, but if you meet him, run. Then teleport. Then log out. Then leave your house. Then book a flight to Russia. [[OverlyLongGag Then sneak aboard a rocket to the moon.]]
** [[PersonOfMassDestruction Nex]]... a single syllable that causes even the gods themselves to quake in fear. Her name literally means "murder" in Latin.
** Telos, whose name means “final purpose” and acts as the Heart of Gielinor’s counterpart to Nex.
* NavelDeepNeckline:
** Magic robes like the batwing display this when a female avatar [[http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120724054552/runescape/images/f/fb/Batwing_robes_equipped_female.png wears them]].
** Vanescula Drakan's outfit combines this with {{Sideboob}}.
* NayTheist:
** The cave goblins. Considering their former god was both a BloodKnight and a {{Jerkass}}, it's hard to blame them.
** The Godless faction which arises after [[spoiler:the events of The World Wakes and the return of the gods]]. They reject the gods, both aggressive and pacifist alike, believing that mortals should be free to choose their own path, and seek to protect the innocent.
** Guthix himself, having ascended to godhood [[YouKillItYouBoughtIt by accident]] during a RageAgainstTheHeavens and [[YouAreWhatYouHate become what he hates]]. He tried to make Gielinor a world without gods, singlehandedly won the God Wars in order to drive the other gods out of Gielinor, and entered dormancy for millennia at a time to try and keep himself from becoming a new object of worship for the mortal races.
* NatureSpirit: One is found in God Wars Dungeon and the second is found in Mort Myre.
* {{Necromancer}}:
** Necromancers experiment with magics that allow them to bind ghosts and summon skeletal soldiers. This branch of magic is extremely dangerous to master. And because of the many unpleasant applications, it is widely shunned as TheDarkArts. Necromancy is similar to conventional magic, except the power source is different. Rather than being powered as a byproduct of life, it is powered as a byproduct of death. It is less versatile than conventional magic, but also has abilities that conventional magic does not.
** One of the possible explanations for prayer is that it is a benign form of necromancy, in which you are calling upon the souls of the deceased for mystical aid.
** The player in [=OSRS=] can reanimate the dead using the Arceuus spellbook.
** The Adventurer eventually unlocks the Necromancy skill in [=RS3=], becoming the first necromancer to use consenting spirits instead of enslaving them.
* {{Necromantic}}: Melzar the Mad was a Zamorakian wizard, who's wife and countrymen were slaughtered by Elvarg, a powerful green dragon. He only escaped thanks to his mastery of magic, and studied necromancy in an attempt to bring them all BackFromTheDead. In his efforts to do so, he summoned a demon to draw power from and conducted unethical experiments. He knew that his fellow villagers were left in a tormented state by his experiments with undeath, but the demon reassured him it would be worth it. His sanity increasingly declined, and one day, his focus slipped on a necromancy spell, causing it to backfire on him and break his mind entirely.
* NeglectfulPrecursors: The Elder Gods left behind a variety of extremely powerful {{Ancient Artifact}}s and only took limited precautions to prevent them from being abused. Much worse, to the extent that they did take precautions, the security mechanism on the Stone of Jas is at ''least'' as dangerous as the potential for abuse. [[spoiler: Justified: They really don't care, and if they do, they only see mortals as pests.]]
* {{Nerf}}: Several combat features were heavily nerfed on the introduction of the new combat system.
** Ice spells used to [[TheDreaded inspire terror]] in any player that heard the [[SugarWiki/MostWonderfulSound signature sound effect]] of the spell being cast. However, in the combat update, their freezing effect was severely reduced, and the new system even allowed players to escape and become immune to it. Nowadays, they don't even have the iconic ringing sound anymore.
** Prayers have also been hit by this. Originally, they blocked all incoming damage from [=NPCs=] of the corresponding type, and 40% of all player-dealt damage, which was invaluable in fighting many bosses. Now they deal a blanket 50% protection (60% for Deflection curses with the Amulet of Souls/Essence of Finality), offering only a slight improvement against players in exchange for utterly ruining them for combat against bosses.
** In the early days of ''Old School'', a popular way to train magic was "splashing". By wearing armor that lowered your magic attack to -64, your magic attacks would never sucessfully land, but you would still get the base XP for casting the spell. If cast againt a weak monster such as a rat, it was possible for your character to earn magic XP for up to six hours while AFK. A hidden update lowered this time to twenty minutes; if the game wasn't interacting with, your character will stop casting magic. Another update made it impossible to earn any magic XP while splashing in and around Lumbridge.
* ANaziByAnyOtherName: The Vampyres. They rule a city named Meiyerditch, where humans are held as slaves and treated as food. The city is even referred in-game as a ghetto.
* [[NeverTrustATrailer Never Trust A Twitter]]: Every week Jagex releases a hint to the next update on Twitter. More often than not these hints provide no clues to the update whatsoever and make no sense until AFTER the update is released. The worst offender is the hint "Ruby Dragon" and the update was a thieving guild quest. There was no way the players were supposed to guess that based on the hint.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero:
** The ends of Spirit of Summer and Enakhra's Lament. Certain parts of various other quests involve the player inadvertantly causing things to get worse before having to make them better. Some, unfortunately, are a result of [[StupidityIsTheOnlyOption stupidity being the only option]].
** Congratulations, you found the Stone of Jas! [[spoiler:You also cleared the way for Lucien to teleport in and steal it.]]
** Congratulations, you found Guthix's resting place! [[spoiler:You also set off his burglar alarm, which has attracted the attention of every single zealot on the planet, all of whom are bent on killing Guthix. And they succeed...[[SubvertedTrope though it turns out]] Guthix [[ThanatosGambit needed to die by Sliske’s hands]] for his plan to create the World Guardian, a living version of his Edicts, to succeed.]]
* NinjaPirateZombieRobot: There are zombie monkeys, ninja monkeys, zombie monks, ninja implings, zombie pirates, zombie pirate robots ("barrelchests"), etc.
--->Ports update: Your ship (ship name) wisely avoided interfering in a battle between a monkey ninja ship and a pirate zombie ship.
* NobodyPoops: {{Lampshade}}d in the God Letters and by the occasional NPC. All throughout Runescape, there are bathrooms, but few if ''any'' toilets.
** April fools 2014 featured mock forums with Jagex mods discussing, among other things, inclusion of more types of tea in the game and with that "allowing your character to relieve themselves after consuming too much tea", it was suggested to use trees or revitalizing construction with player built commodes "ranging from holes in the ground through to gold-plated masterpieces"
** Averted by some creatures in the Player Owned Farm--indeed, dragon manure is used to make Ultracompost. Played straight for zygomites and dinosaurs on the farm, though.
* NoFourthWall:
** The barkeeper in the Blue Moon Inn in Varrock is aware that [=RuneScape=] is only a computer game and says as much if the player asks him for advice.
** In the 2011 Easter Event, the player explicitly tells a squirrel to stop breaking the fourth wall.
** Signature Hero Ozan wrote his own examine text.
** Several characters will outright refer to skills as having levels-- in The Fremennik Trials quest, while composing a ballad about your achievements, you can have your character belt out that they have Level 99 in a skill if it is indeed maxed.
** Gower Quest, being a (likely) non-canon story literally set "behind the scenes" of the game, very much sees this happen.
* NoHeroDiscount: Played straight most of the time. Occasionally {{averted}} when a quest reward gives you a discount--for example, after proving your merit as a sailor and defeating some pirates in Cabin Fever, you can charter ships at half price.
* NoMacGuffinNoWinner: The premise of "Sliske's Endgame" revolves around participants of Sliske's games racing each other in a series of cryptic [[TheMaze labyrinths]], promising the Stone of Jas to the winner. His plans go out the window after Kerapac arrives and [[spoiler:destroys it with the Elder Mirror]].
* NoNameGiven: The Pharaoh of Menaphos's name is unknown.
* NoNeedForNames: The Gorajo only refer to one another by their job titles and view distinguishing individual members of a given job as pointless.
* NonHumanUndead: While human undead are the most common type of undead, undead versions of goblins, ogres and trolls are not unheard of, and an old trailer implies that undead dragons exist as well. There are revenant versions of over a dozen races as well.
* NonStandardGameOver: Near the end of "Missing, Presumed Death" [[spoiler:if you fail to release Death from his cage before Icthlarin's shield runs out Strisath will kill Icthlarin. You get the message "Icthlarin has died." in your chatbox before the screen fades to black and the sequence starts over]].
* NoodleIncident:
** Marion the bartender said that she lost her skill in archery after an incident involving a [[StuffBlowingUp Chinchompa]] named Fluffy and a butter churn.
** There are these weird sea slugs called sluglings that you pick up to make rum. When asking Captain Braindeath why they call them sluglings, he responds that they call them sluglings because of "a long, complicated story involving three dead seagulls and a busted pipe". Why you even need slugs of any kind to make rum in the first place [[YouDoNotWantToKnow is a question better left unanswered]].
** From the "Little Book o' Piracy" obtained after Cabin Fever: "Davy's Grip - A popular drinking game involving mangoes, a hammer, and all the corkscrews the players can get their hands on."
** The various misfortunes that befall the Varrock Museum's expedition barge.
** A random encounter with Ozan has him explaining that since Ilona only wants to talk about you after "The Blood Pact", he had to get creative on their date to keep her interest.
---> If anyone asks about the time you and I got shipwrecked together and had to fight a horde of zombie trolls, or the time I saved you from the lair of the fire spiders, just smile and nod, okay?
** The "Bad things" that Rantz the Ogre did to the food the last time he tried cooking in the "Big Chompy Bird Hunting" quest.
* NoOSHACompliance: In the H.A.M. storerooms, the doors are also locked from the inside. In the real world, doors usually are not locked from the inside to allow occupants to escape in the event of a fire.
* NostalgiaLevel: The quest ''Beneath Cursed Tides'' takes the player to the sunken ruins of the original Tutorial Island, where they interact with the old tutors and reenact the old tutorial. You can even unlock a piece of retro music.
* NothingButSkulls: Usually averted, as most bone piles feature a full skepeton, but occasionally played straight, such as in Draynor manor.
* NothingIsTheSameAnymore: After "The World Wakes" [[spoiler:the Edicts of Guthix are broken and the gods can freely interfere on Gielinor. The player is a Guardian of Guthix with the power to defy the gods. And the world advances from Year 169 of the 5th Age into Year 1 of the 6th Age.]]
* NothingIsScarier: The Wilderness. Particularly the deeper areas where there's hardly anything, save for a few [=NPCs=], and you could be attacked by a powerful player-killer any moment. The [[HellIsThatNoise ambiance]] does ''not'' make anything better...
* NoticeThis:
** When the game wants to mark an object as important, a blinking yellow arrow will often appear above it. This is used to mark posts in the Brimhaven Agility Arena, to mark destinations in the tutorials, and so on.
** The pinball random event has glowing rings appear around the post you're supposed to tag.
** Loot beams appear over valuable/rare drops and important objects such as Dungeoneering keys and vary in size and intensity based on such. By default it appears as a golden PillarOfLight but other variants can be unlocked such as a [[EverythingsBetterWithRainbows rainbow]] or a [[GraveRobbing grave marker]].
** Some bosses have indicators highlighting incoming mechanics. Verak Lith has two: a marker showing where his element bomb attack will land (so the player can catch it and disperse it into the right eggs), and one showing the direction of his next dragon divebomb attack.
* NotMeThisTime: Despite being cast as the [[SatanicArchetype devil figure]] by the followers of Saradomin, Zamorak and his minions have been suspected, in character and out, of being behind many, many acts of evil that turn out in the end to have been someone else's fault. Some examples:
** In ''One Piercing Note'', the Zamorakian demon slaughtering the Abbey sisters is actually [[spoiler:one of the sisters whose KnightTemplar tendencies have worsened into SerialKiller territory.]]
** Hreidmar's vision from Zamorak in ''Birthright of the Dwarves'' telling him to commit his atrocities throughout the dwarven quest series turns out to have been [[spoiler:just a deluded hallucination. [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane Or is it?]]]]
** The Dark Lord from the elven quests, long thought to be Zamorak by the players, turns out to be [[spoiler:a shard of the benevolent elven goddess Seren that was used as a receptacle for all of her darker thoughts.]]
** The source of the madness-inducing whispers and corruption at the bottom of [[EldritchLocation Daemonheim]], which most players assumed to be Zamorak due to him harnessing Daemonheim to return to Gielinor, turns out to [[spoiler:not be Zamorak according to WordOfGod. [[NothingIsScarier We still don't know]] what's really causing it.]]
** The destruction of the First Tower, long blamed on the Zamorakian Red Wizards, was really caused by [[spoiler:the other Wizard orders screwing up a ritual when they ignored the Red Wizards' advice out of distrust—notably, the Saradominist blue wizard is the one who abandoned the ritual, destroying the tower as a result.]]
** Zamorak is still responsible for [[ApocalypseHow utterly devastating]] the land of Forinthry and turning it into the Wilderness, slaughtering the [[DyingRace Dragon Riders]] and most of the rest of the followers of Zaros in the past, starting a genocidal civil war on Pandaemonium, and (indirectly) enabling the evil deeds committed by Lowerniel Drakan, so he's still hardly a HarmlessVillain.
* NotTheIntendedUse: Talking to any NPC on Lunar Isle without a seal of passage will get you booted back to Relleka. If you have a way to teleport to Lunar Isle (such as portal in your house), this can actually be a pretty useful way to get to Relleka.
* NumberOfTheBeast: An unintentional example: the infamous "Falador Massacre" happened on June (5-)6th, 2006. For its tenth anniversary, ''Old School'' created a [=PvP=] server called World 666 in commemoration.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:O]]
* ObfuscatingStupidity:
** Traiborn, considering his role in Love Story, and the fact that one of [=RuneScape=]'s legendary heroes has not yet robbed the Wizards' Tower because of him.
** Wizard Grayzag. He summons little imps as part of his wizarding career, but there's a lesser demon in the room next to him... and then the quest The Void Stares Back brings even more surprises. [[spoiler:Really. He accomplishes two things -- being [[BigBad behind the whole quest line]], and [[KilledOffForReal causing the real, irreversible death of an NPC.]]]]
* ObviousRulePatch:
** The restrictions on where you can place a cannon. This is {{lampshaded}} in a Postbag from the Hedge by Nulodion, claiming that he just felt as if he wasn't ''permitted'' to set up a cannon in dangerous areas.
** "You can't light a fire here."
** The Flash Powder Factory was patched to give a 50% reduction in points whenever you leave with more than 2 minutes left on the timer, to promote players to play through entire matches. Previously, players would leave the game early to get around DiminishingReturnsForBalance by starting a new round.
** The Dominion Sword can only be wielded two-handed, despite obviously being only a longsword, in order to fit in with the other two-handed magic and ranged dominion weapons.
* OffScreenAfterlife: There is at least one, if not many, but every ghost or otherwise dead character you encounter hasn't crossed over yet, and those who have come BackFromTheDead (such as Zanik and, well, you) [[DeathAmnesia have no memory of it]]. The Spirit Plane that you summon summoning beasts from appears to just be a plane full of ghostlike critters rather than an afterlife for dead critters. Zanik herself describes the time period when she's dead as... [[NothingIsScarier nothing.]] The moments before she was revived were the moments just before her death.
* OffscreenMomentOfAwesome:
** After "Ritual of the Mahjarrat", some [=NPCs=] will talk about how they were at the battle, just at another part of the plateau. Kuradal takes the cake, having slain a few hundred Glacors (very powerful ice elemental bosses who summon minions) after chasing one of the Mahjarrat's minions into a cave.
** Player Owned Ports pretty much define this trope. The premise is that you, the portmaster, send ships to the Eastern Lands to trade. You don't interact with the Wushanko Isles themselves, you just send a crew there to spy on [[FantasticRacism Purist thugs]] or fight fire breathing turtles. There are also some [=NPCs=] who can do special voyages, some of which involve backstory on the Isles. It culminates in the Whaler (using his talk to sea creatures ability to get Shuma the whale to fight with him), the Occultist ( [[ICannotSelfTerminate who is immortal thanks to her time as the Dragon]] ), and the [[HandicappedBadass Assassin]] attacking [[EvilOverlord Quin]], who may or may not have an Elder Artefact that she uses to command an army of monsters, and winning. That sounds, if possible, ''better'' than the Ritual of the Mahjarrat fight, and it all took place off screen.
* OffWithHisHead:
** Done pretty nastily in the Dungeoneering dungeon. There are dinosaurs that you can kill for leather to make armour, and although it can be done through combat, it kind of destroys most of the hides you could have gotten. However, you can design a Hunter trap designed to get a lot more hides by invoking this trope when the dinosaur goes for the bait.
** Stomp. The entire boss fight is an attempt to destroy the portal that Stomp's head is sticking through. When this is achieved, the portal [[PortalCut acts like a guillotine]], separating Stomp's head from his body in a bloody, gruesome mess.
** Most notably, [[spoiler:this is the fate of Bandos after his battle against Armadyl.]]
* OhCrap: Many moments. Sometimes by [=NPCs=] during quests and the like (Garden of Tranquility's guard scene), and often by players (usually when finding a new room in Dungeoneering).
* OlderIsBetter: Equipment originating from the Barrows brothers or the Third Age is usually much better than any of the armor made during the Fifth Age (and most mundane armor from the Sixth Age). But since Barrows armor is so old, it degrades over time and will eventually need repairing. The Inquisitor Staff and Spear of Annihilation are powerful weapons that must be reconstructed from archaeological materials and artefacts.
* TheOldGods: The Elder Gods. Also possibly Xau-Tak. Also possibly [[spoiler: Vos]].
* OldSaveBonus: The Classic Cape is a unique reward for those who ever logged into ''Classic'' while it was up and running.
* OminousPipeOrgan: Yk'Lagor's theme and several tracks in Morytania.
* OneGenderRace:
** All of the Elder Gods are considered female, though given their transcendent nature, gender distinction is effectively irrelevant.
** All the [=TzHaar=] and [=TokHaar=] identify with male pronouns.
** Discussed with regard to the Icyene in the Legends' Guild.
--->'''Ariane:''' Not all Icyene are female, Ozan.
--->'''Ozan:''' ...was HE hot?
* OneHandedZweihander: A mid-level slayer master Vannaka wields both a steel two-handed sword and Dragon square shield at the same time although not even players with maxed Strength can wield two-handed swords with a shield. During "Beneath Cursed Tides" the player is able to do so with the aid of Vannaka and the added buoyancy underwater, and completing the quest unlocks a cosmetic steel two-handed sword that overrides the appearance of the player's main-hand weapon, letting them look like they can pull this off in-game.
* OneHitKill: Often employed by high-level bosses, usually through a hit of around 32,000 damage - much more than enough to kill any player in one hit ''even in maxed out defensive gear''. Sometimes done via a hit splat that literally says [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin "Instant Kill"]].
** The Kalphite King was one of the first monsters in the game to use this type of attack. As an added kicker, he immobilizes you prior to starting it, leaving you [[OhCrap unable to do anything about it]]... unless one of your teammates is able to [[DrawAggro distract him]] and NoSell the attack with a defensive ability. (Or you can spam click an ability added later to try and dodge it on the last tick.)
** There's also Araxxor, who in addition to [[FlunkyBoss an army of vicious spiderlings]] can sometimes summon an acidic spider that will slowly stalk you, and then [[SuicideAttack explode when it catches up to you]]. It's a downplayed example, in that it deals ''up to'' 32,000 damage when it explodes, meaning that it can potentially hit low enough that you'll survive. More often than not, however, it'll hit hard enough to one-shot you.
** Ripper demons, a high level slayer monster, are one of the very few normal monsters that can do this to you, DeathFromAbove-style. Thankfully, they choreograph it, making it fairly easy to avoid.
** Telos will one-shot you in his fourth and fifth phases if you don't defuse his anima bombs properly.
** Raksha will one-shot you if you don’t either hide behind a pillar or destroy his shield before he can finish charging a certain attack in his fourth phase.
** Two bosses can escalate this to a TotalPartyKill:
*** Vorago's final phase, a tug-of-war like battle where your team has to push him to his side of the arena by damaging him, before he can do the same to you. If he succeeds in pushing your team to the edge of their side, everyone dies and the entire fight must be restarted from the beginning. Especially aggravating if you were in Hard Mode.
*** Solak has a similar final phase where his mind comes under assault from [[spoiler:manifestations of Erethdor, the dark elf possessing him]], and players must defend it from them. Should [[spoiler:the manifestations]] succeed in destroying Solak's mind, everyone in the fight will die instantly alongside it.
** Players have access to Deathtouched Darts, an item that can be used to kill just about ''any'' monster in the game, ''including most bosses''[[note]]For some bosses, such as Vorago, using a dart skips one phase of the fight, while others still, such as Nex in her "Angel of Death" fight, are [[ContractualBossImmunity completely immune to them]].[[/note]]. Unfortunately, the only way to get them (outside of promotional events) is to buy them from a merchant's shop on a very specific day, costing you a whopping ''5 million coins'' for a single dart. And given how even the most profitable bosses have average drops valued under that amount, you will end up losing money more often than not. On top of this, you get [[AwesomeButImpractical hit with some penalties]] when you do use them - your kill will not count towards your Soul Reaper task or overall killcount, and you'll be locked out of progressing either of them for 15 minutes. Finally, for obvious reasons, you cannot use them against other players.
** Last but not least, this is also the end result of [[spoiler:[[DoNotTauntCthulhu insulting Jas]] at the end of Sliske's Endgame]].
** ''Old School'' generally averts this, with the player being able to tank any singular attack and walk away, provided they have enough hitpoints beforehand can heal quickly enough after. The only exception is [=TzKal=]-Zuk, whose autoattack has a max hit so high that it has a chance of one-shotting a player regardless of how high their hitpoints have been boosted.
* OneSteveLimit: Formerly inverted in the case of Pollnivneach (an entire town where, prior to an update (and still the case in Old School), everyone is named Ali, with the only named woman native to the town being Ali(ce)), and simply averted in almost all other cases. Played straight with players' screennames.
* OneWomanWail: Nex's "Angel of Death" battle theme and prelude feature this style of vocal.
* OnlySmartPeopleMayPass: Has an entire ''quest'' dedicated to this trope, including a chemistry puzzle loaded with chemistry-related in-jokes like nitrous oxide ([[spoiler:[[BigNo NO]]]]) and dihydrogen monoxide ([[spoiler:water]]).
* OnlyThePureOfHeart: The Wand of Resurrection is like this. However, it also involves some PureIsNotGood. If someone is pure good, they can use the wand to bring someone back to life. If someone is not pure good or evil, the wand will bring them back as a zombie, which will try to kill the one who brought them back. But if someone [[PureIsNotGood pure evil]] uses the wand, they can raise zombies as much as they want, and not worry about them disobeying.
* OracularHead: Postie Pete.
* OrcusOnHisThrone: Many villains. Literally with Nomad, whose CoolChair really does make him more powerful.
* OurAngelsAreDifferent: They're Icyene, such as Commander Zilyana.
* OurDemonsAreDifferent:
** Avernic demons originate from different planes and resemble red humanoids with big teeth and tails. Stronger ones have wings.
** Chthonians are another demonic strain whose appearances are [[EldritchAbomination extremely variable]]. They are highly intelligent, amoral ([[MySpeciesDothProtestTooMuch usually]]), and cannibalistic.
** The Infernals were once the undisputed rulers of Infernus before the Chthonians usurped them. [[spoiler:Some, if not all of them, are eventually revealed to be [[DemonicPossession Aughra dragonkin possessing Avernic bodies.]]]]
** Shadow cacklers resemble Cthonian demons made of shadow and according to WordOfGod have a connection to them.
* OurDragonsAreDifferent:
** The dragonkin are a civilization of {{Draconic Humanoid}}s, which happen to look like [[Film/TheDarkCrystal Skeksis]]. They survived the destruction of the previous universe by taking refuge in the Abyss. Kerapac's actions infuriated the Elder Gods, causing them to be cursed. The curse made them BlessedWithSuck, infusing them with divine power, inflicting them with terrible pain, and taking away their ability to reproduce.
** There is a race referred to as "fairy dragons". They are rumored to be connected to the dragonkin, but this is unconfirmed and little about them is known.
** Modern dragons are one of the dragonkins' creations. Also, as well as various types of [[ColourCodedForYourConvenience coloured dragons]], there are dragons coated in metal or gemstones. They were created by mutating [[DinosaursAreDragons dinosaurs]] in an effort to create a successor race free of the dragonkins' curse. In practice, none of the dragons lived up to the dragonkins' expectations.
* OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame: The steampunk variety. Notably, their magic is locked (aside from the Saradominist Imcando dwarves)...because if it isn't, they turn into evil Chaos Dwarves instead.
* OurGoblinsAreDifferent: The ordinary surface goblins have green skin. Their intelligence is as high as most humans', but the way they're raised, they usually never reach their full potential. There are also cave goblins which have pale green skin and large eyes and are far more intelligent than their surface-dwelling bretheren.
* OurGodsAreDifferent:
** In the {{Retcon}}ed God Letters, the gods were transcendent beings who resided on a higher plane and held CompleteImmortality. They were {{Anthropomorphic Personification}}s, the spirits of natural forces and [[GodsNeedPrayerBadly mortal belief]]. To see a god in its true form was enough to [[GoMadFromTheRevelation risk madness for the weak willed]], and stronger willed beings [[YouCannotGraspTheTrueForm would have to interpret them in a way their mind could cope with]].
** In current Runescape theology, the gods are divided into two categories, Younger Gods and Elder Gods.
*** Most of the gods are defined as "younger gods", which are more along the lines of {{Physical God}}s. Their domains are little more than their philosophies. Most of them were once mortal and [[TouchedByVorlons gained their powers by absorbing divine magic]], typically by killing an existing god or lingering around certain extremely powerful artefacts. Though very powerful, the younger gods ''can'' be killed, their bodies [[TakenForGranite typically turning to stone]]. And since becoming a god forfeits all right to an afterlife, death generally causes CessationOfExistence.
*** The Elder Gods are not completely invulnerable, but do hold CompleteImmortality. They are {{Anthropomorphic Personification}}s of different aspects of time and are akin to {{Elemental Embodiment}}s. They have the power to [[CreatingLife create life]] and entire worlds, doing so with the intention of feeding off of the [[LifeEnergy Anima]] they generate. They are beyond mortals to the point that they [[CreatingLifeIsUnforeseen barely even perceive the existence of sentient life]], and thus [[BlueAndOrangeMorality have no problems]] with [[spoiler:destroying or enslaving it]].
* OurImpsAreDifferent: Imps are small red demonic creatures that drop ash when killed. Originally they looked like gnomes in a hoodie with horns, but were re-designed to look more like a demon, with red skin and bat-like wings. There's also the friendlier Snow Imps who are blue colored and are the servants of the Queen of Snow. Similar creatures include the implings that look like small imps and can be caught for the Hunter skill.
* OurLichesAreDifferent:
** "Skeleton Mages" are an attackable monster in a few places. There's also Iban, who was resurrected by a witch and has a phylactery in the form of a doll whose parts you have to gather and assemble in order to defeat him.
** Subverted with the Mahjarrat, who are powerful mages with skeletal faces and a penchant for necromancy... but are actually just a separate species whose default form (provided they haven't attended a Ritual in a while) happens [[HumanAliens to look like a human skeleton]].
* OurMinotaursAreDifferent: Minotaurs appear both as a low-level enemy and as different summoning familiars.
* OurSoulsAreDifferent: Souls are comprised of a being's memories and emotions. The Anima Mundi, and by extension magic, is created as a by-product. A soul's strength is derived from action and inspiration. The more experiences one absorbs, and the greater the challenges one braves, the more powerful one's soul becomes. When a living being dies, the {{Psychopomp}} in charge of the world said being died on will sever the bond that connects a soul to its body, freeing them to enter an afterlife depending on their homeworld or religion. If a living thing loses a small portion of their soul, they can still eventually recover, and said portion will attempt to return if it is released. But if a living being's entire soul is destroyed, they will be doomed to CessationOfExistence when they die.
** Notably, Mahjarrat lack souls. Gods may or may not have souls, albeit far more "rigid" ones that also experience CessationOfExistence when they die.
* [[OurVampiresAreDifferent Our Vampyres Are Different]]:
** Vampyres are not undead, but an alien race that feeds on blood. They are able to convert other races into similar beings, but this power is not innate and requires a complex formula and magical process. Also, see Phantasy Spelling below.
** Jiangshi ''are'' a type of TheUndead and are referred to as being a sort of eastern vampire that feeds off of LifeEnergy rather than blood. Victims revive as life draining zombies. They are thankfully rare, but extremely dangerous. The existence of only one Jiangshi risked annihilating all life in the Arc via ZombieApocalypse.
** Averted in the quest Vampyre Slayer, in which Count Draynor, the first fightable vampyre introduced in the game, is weakened with garlic and killed with a stake. He fits the traditional Dracula archetype and was once implied to be undead, but since the vampyres have been retroactively established as fully living beings (despite their proclivity for sleeping in coffins), he, too is now considered fully alive and incredibly weak for a vampyre due to living away from the vampyre-controlled subcontinent of Morytania for so long.
* OutOfCharacterAlert: Char has the ability to possess the fire makers and get them to kill each other. The best way to determine whose possessed so you can restrain them is to see who is acting strangely. Later in the quest, she starts learning their behaviors and imitating them, so you have to quiz them on SomethingOnlyTheyWouldSay.
* OutsideTheBoxTactic: This is a key aspect of "skilling bosses" in both [=RS3=] and [=OSRS=] and encounters like them (such as Big Game Hunter). These are foes that can only be defeated by using non-combat skills, though they tend to avert SheatheYourSword (you're still fighting the boss, just in an unconventional way).
** ''Old School'' pioneered these, with the Wintertodt (Firemaking) and Tempoross (Fishing). %% if any OSRS players are here, please add more details.
** ''[=RuneScape=] 3'' has Croesus, a [[FungusHumongous gigantic]] [[FesteringFungus sentient fungus]] that rent through the soldiers defending the Senntisten graveyard like a hot knife through butter (just as it did the Zarosian Tenth Legion ages prior, forcing Zaros himself to quarantine the entire district to prevent its further spread and starve it out.) The only way to impede its progress through the front is to harvest the fungus with Hunter (catching floating spores), Fishing (dredging up fungal algae), Mining (mining calcified fungus), and Woodcutting (chopping woody timber fungus), and to fight the boss itself requires you to harvest its fungus, use different types to repair statues around its arena, and awaken the spirits of four ancient Zarosian heroes interred there to open the fungus at its core to harvest.
*** Each of the four Zarosian heroes ''also'' used this trope for the kills that got them a place in the heroes' section of the Senntisten graveyard:
*** Vendi, a nonbinary hunter called the Destroyer of the Dagannoth, cleared out a Dagannoth infestation by using poisoned meat to kill the Dagannoth Rex guarding the Dagannoth Mother, enraging her into getting caught in a gigantic, reinforced box trap for relocation elsewhere. [[AnimalLover They regretted having to kill the Rex, hoping it would forgive them in the afterlife.]]
*** Sana, a deaf woodcutting sculptor called the Eradicator of Araxytes, created beautiful works of colored flame called fyrdeeds to convey her emotions, works that ultimately came to inspire the Zarosian empire. However, after making a massive, cornucopia-shaped fyrdeed to unite Senntisten (which was turning on itself as the result of various disappearances happening recently), Araxytes (which were causing the disapparances) came to infest it as the result of the insect-based pigments she used. She went during the day to set the fyrdeed alight, burning the Araxytes and barely escaping the flames. She was honored to receive the city's gratitude, but was disappointed that people would remember her as a killer rather than an artist.
*** Ophalmi, a fisherwoman called the Catcher of the Crassian, was a natural prodigy at fishing who [[ChallengeSeeker sought more and more dangerous catches]], yet never found a catch challenging enough to stave off her boredom. Eventually, the Zarosian Church tasked her with catching a [[SeaSerpents Crassian Leviathan]] that was threatening coastal trade routes. With a necronium fishing hook and line enchanted with all five Zarosian elements, she spent days reeling in the beast, neither eating nor sleeping nor drinking--eventually, she brought it in close enough for the ship's crew to skewer it with harpoons. She ended up dying immediately after, exhausted after finally having caught the ultimate catch.
*** Tagga, a miner called the Massacrer of Moles, suspected that the results of an attempt to exterminate small moles in Senntisten (while doing the sort of agricultural "cheating" that would lead to the Falador Giant Mole ages later) would only lead to lots of Giant Moles menacing the city. Tagga was ultimately proven right, as a mine outside the city held a veritable army of Giant Moles. Rather than let the armies of Senntisten get themselves killed trying to fight in the tunnels, Tagga snuck past the moles to weaken the mine's core support, telling their men to undermine the outer supports and collapsing the entire mine, burying the moles alive. (Tagga found the city's reaction--an honor conveying nothing of Tagga's actual skills or passions, only a single, desperate action in response to the city's [[SurroundedByIdiots stupidity]], with a statue in the city graveyard to remind them of of their own mortality--disgusting.)
*** Unofficially, [=RS3=] also has Big Game Hunter, which sees you gathering materials to repair several giant ballistas, gather and fletch poisoned spears, then bait giant dinosaurs onto pressure plates to trigger the ballistas [[StealthBasedMission all while avoiding their detection]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:P]]
* PaperThinDisguise: Done in the 2021 Valentine's Day Heartstealer quest by both the player and master thief Caelyn Kadaan in order to infiltrate and steal a massive, heart-shaped ruby from the Museum of Varrock during a gala (as an anniversary gift for her wife and partner in crime Annette). [[spoiler: Annette also shows up to the gala in one of these to attempt to steal one. The player has the option to see through it right away in dialogue and Annette sees through yours and Caelyn's right away, but Caelyn doesn't see through it until Annette reveals herself at the end.]]
* PeninsulaOfPowerleveling:
** Elite Dungeon 3 (the Shadow Reef)’s opening section before the first boss is somewhat infamous for being incredibly good combat experience per hour (in the order of ''one million'' combat xp/hr with high efficiency setups), as well as good loot and dungeoneering xp and tokens, while also being accessible to players with even moderate combat levels. This method was ''heavily'' nerfed (alongside many other combat training methods) with the release of Necromancy to prevent players from using the dungeon to max the skill within 24 hours.
** A certain Hydrix Dragon spawn in Elite Dungeon 2 can be used to train Slayer at absurd rates (by repeatedly leaving the dungeon and letting them respawn, then using chinchompas to damage both at once.)
** For a very long time, the beach near Rellekka was one of these, since it was infested with Rock Crabs. Rock Crabs have 25 HP, are always aggressive, and have weak, inaccurate attacks. ''Old School'' eventually introduced the Kourend and Fossil Island beaches, which are covered in Sand Crabs and Ammonite Crabs, versions of the Rock Crab with even more HP.
** The Ape Atoll Dungeon is infested with Skeleton Gorillas and Zombie Monkeys, which are endlessly aggressive and will gang up on your character. They are commonly used for Ranged or Magic training, either with chinchompas or burst spells. In ''Old School'', completing Monkey Madness II unlocks Kruk's Dungeon, which is even better for area of effect training.
* PercentDamageAttack:
** While you're chasing Solus Dellagar in the "Wanted!" quest, he will try to ward you off with one of these attacks. It will deal damage equal to at least 90% of your current life points, but it will never kill you.
** Glacors can use one that deals damage equal to half your current health.
** Enchanted ruby bolts have a chance to take away 20% of your target's current health (with a few exceptions) at the cost of taking away 10% of your own health.
* PerpetuallyStatic: [[spoiler:In the finale of 'Sliske's Endgame', Sliske]] claims that the world is like this and that changing it is his motive for his villainy. However, the same dialogue identifies him as TheSociopath and thus ''much'' more likely to see the world in this way.
* PhantasySpelling: Vampires and vampyres ''both'' exist, but the two are fairly different. To be more specific, vampires are feral were-bats, while vampyres are more civilized, taking on a more human appearance the stronger they get. But that wouldn't stop either of them from chowing down on your neck, given the chance. An update changed standard vampires to also being spelled vampyre however, for unknown reasons.
* PhysicalGod:
** [[spoiler:The Mahjarrat, especially Lucien after he acquired two artefacts of the gods, both with immense power.]]
** The Mahjarrat who invented Dungeoneering [[spoiler:wants to bring Zamorak back into the physical world.]]
** The younger gods are basically extremely powerful, unaging mortals as opposed to transcendent beings.
** The PlayerCharacter briefly becomes this after [[spoiler:touching the Stone of Jas and being infused with a FRACTION of it's power.]]
* PickyPeopleEater: The flavor of human blood to a vampyre is affected by what emotion the human it came from is feeling. The in-game book "A Taste of Hope" reveals how each of the vampyre clans harvests blood to get their prefered flavor. This is a clue for solving puzzles in Castle Drakan involving locks that can only be opened by the correct flavor of blood by assigning the person feeling the correct emotion to give blood to each lock.
* PimpedOutCape: Skillcapes, with their ornate trimmings and over-the-top shoulderpads, the Max Cape, with that and customizable colors, Master Skillcapes, which are even more ornate than their Skillcape counterparts, and the Completionist Cape, featuring even more pizazz than the Max Cape (to say nothing of the Trimmed Completionist Cape).
* PinataEnemy:
** The Living Rock Patriarch, which gives 30% more experience than a normal enemy and drops a number of noted items such as Diamonds, Rune Ore, Blood and Mud Runes as a 100% drop, totaling little over 200k for one kill, though it takes a couple hours to respawn per world and is surrounded by other aggressive monsters inside a single combat area.
** Many Slayer-specific monsters, such as Ripper Demons, Corrupted Scorpions, and Edimmu are infamous for their high-value item drops. It's practically a meme to respond to any new member asking "how to get gold quickly?" with "Slayer".
** Bork drops a nice collection of gems, charms and coins, but can only be killed once per day.
* {{Pirate}}: Loads of them, including a quest series based on them.
%%* PirateParrot
* ThePiratesWhoDontDoAnything: Most of the pirates are this. They hang around in [[OutlawTown Mos'le'Harmless]], talk like pirates, and drink 'rum', but don't do much actual piracy. Of all the pirate captains the player meets, only one of them still has a ship. You only see him steal something from another ship once, and the other ship in question was also full of pirates. Rabid Jack is the exception--when he started acting like a ''real'' pirate, he brought the wrath of the law down so hard on the whole pirate community that the rest of them had to [[spoiler:organize themselves into an armada and hunt him down]]. Too bad he didn't stay dead...
* PlagueDoctor: There is a set of quests set in West Ardougne collectively named the Plague City Quests that live this trope to a T. You learn to love Ye Olde Worlde hazmat suits.
* PlanetOfSteves: Pollnivneach, where everybody's name is Ali. An update in RS3 changed this, though OSRS still maintains it.
* PlantPerson: Ents, wood dryads, and tree spirits. Ancient Zygomites seem to have plants on their heads instead of fungi.
* PlayerGeneratedEconomy: With the Grand Exchange, trading is much more organized and elaborate than most other [=MMORPGs=].
* PlotCoupon: You'll be collecting these a lot during quests.
* PlotlineDeath: Quest [=NPCs=] seem to suffer from these. Others, including players, will be perfectly fine, except during the quests which need you to die.
* PlotTailoredToTheParty: In the final scene of "Salt in the Wound", you need Ezekial's explosives expertise to break through damaged walls, Kennith's persuasive abilities to manipulate a mind-controlled villager, and Eva's strength and combat skill to hold off the guards and deal the finishing blow.
* PocketDimension:
** Player-owned houses are stated to exist in these.
** The Runecrafting Guild was created within the 'shadow' of the old Wizard's Tower.
** For the 2011 Christmas Event, a new Wizard's Tower was made for a Christmas Party in one. When asked about where exactly it is in relation to the original Wizard's Tower, the wizards will mention that [[MindScrew you need to know the alphabet above Z to understand]].
* PoisonedWeapons:
** Weapon poison potions, which players can apply to their weapons to make them poisonous for a brief period of time. There are three tiers of weapon poison, each lasting longer and dealing more damage than the last.
*** These potions worked differently before the Evolution of Combat update - they could only be applied to daggers, spears, and certain ranged ammunition, but the poison was ''permanent'' and players did not have to reapply it.
** The Wyvern crossbow, a level 85 weapon with a passive poison effect that deals damage ''even to poison-immune targets''. This also ''stacks'' with weapon poison potions, though only if the target is not immune to normal poison, otherwise only the crossbow's poison is applied.
** Cinderbane gloves, a high level pair of hybrid gloves that make the wearer's attacks permanently count as being poisonous so long as they are worn. When used with weapon poison potions, the gloves cause a stronger and more rapidly-hitting poison. When combined with the above mentioned Wyvern crossbow, one can overwhelm their target through the sheer amount of poison damage.
** Laniakea's Spear, while not poisoned itself, does apply weapon poison more often and with more damage. This fits its former wielder--a Slayer Master who relies on poisons to fight.
** Enchanted emerald bolts and enchanted emerald bakriminel bolts have a chance to apply their own poison on hit.
** In ''Old School'', the old poison rules still apply, but with a few new features. There's a new poison called 'venom', which ''increases'' rather than decreases with time. You can get a helmet that passively applies venom to all your weapons, and there's several high-level weapons that inflict venom with magic or ranged attacks.
* PoisonMushroom:
** Played straight with some of the "perks" that equiment augmented with the Invention skill can receive. Examples include, among other things, reducing your damage against certain creatures, preventing you from using protection prayers, and even "skulling" you for as long as the item is equipped.
** Zig-zagged by the "poorly cooked" version of the Karambwan octopus, which is the only fish out of many in the game that actually hurts the player (though only when poorly cooked), though it only deals small damage. However, it can be ground into a paste that you can use to [[PoisonedWeapons make your attacks poisonous]] for a short period of time, similarly to the potions mentioned above in PoisonedWeapons.
* PoorCommunicationKills: Part of how the old wizard's tower was destroyed. The Green wizard stole the Red apprentice's idea, and the Red wizard told his apprentice to keep quiet about it as punishment for helping a non-Red. The idea resulted in the need for a second plane to use, so the Red wizard bargained with a demon for use of the abyss. When all 8 wizards started the ritual, the Blue apprentice saw the demon's hand in the spell, causing the truth to come out. The Blue wizard refused to participate in a spell involving Red magic, and walked off in the middle of the ritual at a crucial moment, causing a massive explosion, the only survivors of which were the Blue and Red apprentices.
** You can find out after the end of 'The Brink Of Extinction' that the reason [[spoiler:the [=TokHaar=] shut down the lava conduit is because the [=TzHaar=] are destined for extinction if they don't return to the Elder Kiln]], and by foiling their plans, the player managed to screw over an entire race. The thing is, at no point during either 'The Elder Kiln' or 'The Brink Of Extinction' did anyone actually explain that. If they had, maybe the problem could have been resolved, but because the player had no idea what was going on, they fixed the obvious problem, not knowing what would happen as a result.
* PortTown: Several of them: Phasmatys, Port Sarim, Rellekka, etc. Menaphos has an entire port district.
* PortalCut: This is the fate of one of the boss creatures in Dungeoneering. The boss, simply called Stomp, is a creature's head coming through a portal that calls down rocks during the fight. After the portal gets weakened several times, at the end of the fight the portal snaps shut, resulting in a surprisingly graphic death -- the wall where the portal was gets rather bloodstained, and the monster's severed head essentially thrashes itself to death.
* PortalPool: In the Mage Arena area, the player can step into the sparkling pool and enter a reward chamber if they have defeated Kolodion.
* PosthumousCharacter: Tons of them. One of them even stars in the Restless Ghost quest.
* PostModernMagik: A rare example: the Lumbridge Cook's magic cooking range.
--> '''Cook''': It's called the Cook-o-Matic 25, and it uses a combination of state-of-the-art temperature regulation and magic.
** The entire invention skill is the PlayerCharacter doing garage-workshop-level tinkering to create new tools or bootstrap improvements onto old ones, made possible by powering the system with the memories of a dead god.
* PowerCrystal: Literal power crystals are found from Daemonheim and are used in puzzles, but the Four Diamonds of Azzanadra, lava crystals, and the crystals in Watchtower and Mourning's End Part 2 also count. The elves' civilization is basically built from the crystallized remnants of their patron goddess.
* PowerfulPick: Played with; while pickaxes are wieldable, they are much less effective than weapons made of the same grade of metal (or even a couple of levels below them). However, they're not worthless in combat, as they are still stronger than some weapons made of lesser metals. Some bosses and enemies even have armor that has to be broken with the pickaxe before you can damage them with normal weapons (although you can still hack away at them with your pickaxe if you wish).
* PowerTrio: Saradomin, god of order (superego), Zamorak, god of chaos (id), and Guthix, god of balance (ego). Of the Transcendent Gods, Seren and Zaros take turns playing superego and id, while Guthix remains the ego.
* PracticalTaunt: The Provoke ability. It is mainly used in tanking roles at high level bosses to draw aggro away from offensive roles, and in fact is vital for some of them. [[spoiler:For instance, against the Kalphite King, you must use it in tandem with the [[NoSell Barricade]] ability to prevent him from [[OneHitKill one-shotting]] your teammates.]] However, it also has its uses for [=PvP=] - if you use it against another player, that player's attacks deal half damage to any player but yourself, though it also makes your attacks deal half damage to anyone but the player you provoked.
* PressXToDie: When the PlayerCharacter meets the [[TopGod Elder God]] Jas and tries to [[spoiler:plead their case to [[HumanityOnTrial allow life on the planet to continue to exist]]]], they have the option of insulting her to her face. If they ignore the game's explicit warning and follow through with it, she [[DoNotTauntCthulhu annihilates them without a second thought]].
* PrestigiousPlayerTitle: The World Guardian, as of the Sixth-Age. Various earnable titles may also count wherein they apply to the content they are tied to, such as The Liberator in regards to the Liberation of Mazcab storyline.
* ProtagonistCenteredMorality[=/=]GameplayAndStorySegregation: There's no KarmaMeter in this game, so you could theoretically slaughter everyone attackable in a given city and still for all plot purposes be considered that city's greatest hero. The game pulls no punches in mocking this.
%%* PsychologicalTormentZone: Tolna's Rift.
* PublicDomainCharacter: King Arthur, Romeo and Juliet (gone outside of [=OSRS=] and (in Romeo's case) Behind the Scenes), Robin Hood, etc. Camelot as a whole is a public domain region.
* {{Pun}}: This game has so many puns that it's often ridiculed. The Crawling Hand, for example:
--> ''I need to make some furniture, could you lend me a HAND?''
--> ''Haha. Very funny.''
* PunctuationShaker: Most of the demons have an apostrophe in their names.
* PunnyName:
** A RunningGag with the White Knights. They all have names like Sir Amik Varze (ceramic vase), Sir Tiffy Cashien (certification), Sir Tendeth (certain death; [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin guess what happens to him]]), Sir Vyvin (surviving), Sir Prysin (surprising), the list goes on and on. Apparently, it even extends to family members-- Sir Tiffy Cashien's adopted daughter is named Eva (evocation), and Sir Owen Sonde's late parents were Stario Sonde (stereo sound) and Altra Sonde (ultrasound). The only White Knights without puns in their name are [[ExpandedUniverse Squire/Sir Theodore]], later joind by [[Franchise/AlvinAndTheChipmunks Sirs Alvin and Simon]].
*** From Azzanadra's Quest, we have Sir Uptitious (surreptitious), [[spoiler: Trindine's White Knight disguise]], and Sir Vey Lance (surveillance), the head of the Temple Knights [[spoiler: who is actually a Zarosian sleeper agent, a disguised Cthonic demon named Veilinius. The White Knight puns also end up being justified through a CerebusRetcon: after many bored millenia, Veilinius decided to amuse himself by inserting puns into the names of various Asgarnian lineages.]]
*** During "Defender of Varrock", you get to read a Varrock census. As an EasterEgg, Sir Prysin is listed by his first name, thus making him Entor Prysin (enterprising).
** Also frequently occurs with the Druids of Taverly. There's Pikkupstix, (Pick Up Sticks) Runestax, who tend to a stack of runes dedicated to Guthix's memory; Kaqemeex (Cake mix) who teaches you Herblore; Dotmatrix,and Bettamax. This also acts as a ShoutOut to {{ComicBook/Asterix}}, whose characters possess a similar naming scheme.
* PurelyAestheticGender: Except on three occasions. The first occurs during the Recruitment Drive quest, where the player must be female in order to beat one of the challenges, as you must fight a character that no ''[[NoManOfWomanBorn man]]'' can defeat. Males who have to pay for the switch get their money back and a free "makeover" voucher to make themselves male again. The second is for an unlockable title in Prifddinas, which can only be unlocked as a male character. Before September 9, 2019, the third was which royal sibling you marry in Throne of Miscellania, as they have slightly different courting methods. You could only marry the opposite gender sibling (the kingdom would have issues if there's no heir, after all), and the wedding scene that happens in a later quest only happened if you stayed the same gender you were when you courted your spouse. This was eventually changed so that LGBTQ+ players could marry the same gender sibling if they wanted.
* PurpleIsPowerful: Zaros.
** Arceuus in ''Old School''. You can even dye a specific outfit purple if you have 100% favour with them.
* PuzzleBoss:
** The Gluttonous Behemoth, which will rapidly heal itself by feeding on a nearby carcass if its HP drops to half. [[spoiler:Put a player or a fire between the Behemoth and its food source....[[SubvertedTrope or just outdamage the healing with tier 99 weapons you've bound.]]]]
** Char from The Firemaker's Curse also counts. You can only damage her based on 100 times the number of fires you have lit in her arena.
* PyroManiac:
** Really, anybody training Firemaking counts, but Emmett from "The Firemaker's Curse" stands out. He's covered in burn scars, his idle animation is ''setting himself on fire for fun'' and rolling to put himself out (which explains the burn scars), and he's genuinely thrilled by the Firemaking puzzles in Char's caves.
** Also the name of an Invention perk for Firemaking that gives you a chance to burn all your remaining logs in your inventory at once.
** Blaze Sharpeye from the quest All Fired Up is probably the most obvious.
[[/folder]]
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