Death

=Player= Players cannot die for good. They can still get knocked out so that they are forced to revive or respawn.

Single Player (Story & Adventure)
You can revive yourself right there with a Revival Shot in case you have one. If you don't, hit "Cancel", and you will respawn at closest fast travel point. You lose no items at all as you do.

Multiplayer
???

=NPCs= NPCs cannot be killed by attacking them. Once an NPC's health drops to 0, he/she is knocked unconcious, and will stand up after a brief time-out. (Don't mix up with human opponents in Adventure Mode, they work just like any other enemy).

NPCs, including VIP, die quite eagerly upon quest triggers though. If someone is destined to die, there is nothing you can do about it.

Leftovers

 * If a generic NPC dies, he/she leaves a corpse behind that can be looted. The corpse usually contains nothing but an Ash Box.


 * If a colonist dies, he/she leaves an Item Box behind. It contains an Ash Box, and any items you have given to the colonist.

Both corpse and the Item Box disappear upon being emptied.

Shop
If a Trader NPC you have already met dies, you will still be able to access his/her unique stock through Trade Post.