Dragon’s Dogma 2: What happens to items when Pawns die?

In Dragon’s Dogma 2, your Pawns are your stalwart companions—only the most foolhardy or confident Arisen would take on their quest without a full retinue at their back. Given how plentiful and how dangerous combat is, however, it’s only natural that a few Pawns will fall along the way, and you likely won’t be able to revive all of them before they’re sent back to the Rift they came from.

This can be a problem if your Pawns are carrying valuable or otherwise important items, locking you out of certain quests or simply depriving you of rare goods like Ferrystones. Fortunately, items in your Pawn’s inventory aren’t lost forever, and there is a way to get them back—in most cases, that is.

How to get your dead Pawn’s items back in Dragon’s Dogma 2

Much like in the first game, Pawn items in Dragon’s Dogma 2 are deposited into your Arisen’s storage when they leave the party. When a Pawn falls in battle and you aren’t able to revive them within the generous timer (say, for instance, they’ve fallen off a cliff or a battle is keeping you busy), you’ll be able to find whatever items they were carrying safely in your Item Storage. All you need to do is visit the nearest Inn, where you’ll be able to withdraw those items, add them to your inventory, and even redistribute them to your Pawns.

This comes with a few caveats, however. Only your Main Pawn will deposit every item they’re carrying into your storage, as they’re the only Pawn you can micromanage the equipment and inventory of. Hired Pawns, on the other hand, will only drop items they’ve collected while traveling with you, meaning they’ll hold onto their gear and any other items their Arisen might have given them. Unfortunately for players, this means you can’t just kill Hired Pawns for their higher-level gear, although NPCs are still fair game.

The same also applies for Hired Pawns who are dismissed; anything they’re carrying that you may have forgotten to remove from their inventory goes directly into your storage for your perusal. But this automatic deposit system is still beholden to the ordinary restrictions of item storage. If your storage is approaching its weight limit or you already have a 99 stack of a certain item, items that would otherwise be deposited will simply vanish into the aether instead, never to be reclaimed. Make sure you always have enough room in your chest and stop hoarding those upgrade materials you could be using instead!