What is responsible for reviving of fallen brothers?
Luck mostly
When a brother goes down in combat, there is 2 possibilities : he can either be dead for good, or have a chance to be saved at the end of the fight.
Your brother is dead for good if:
- He dies of a fatality kill (decapitated or crushed skull)
- He is revived as a Wiederganger
- He is eaten by a Nachzehrer (while "dead" ; if he is swallowed while still fighting by a stage 3 Nachzehrer he can still be saved, provided you free him quick enough), or by the Kraken
- He is poisonned to death by a Webknecht
And I think that's about it. Now, if your brother demise doesn't fall into one of these categories, he has a chance to survive with "only" a permanent injury. I don't recall the exact probability of survival, but it should be something between 30% and 50% and it doesn't depend on your stats. The only exception is if your brother has the "Survivor" perk, in wich case the chance of survival is of 90% ! However, if that brother already has all of the possible permanent injuries, he will die (and at this point, that's mercy !)
According to the source code (version 1.4.0.40):
- Fatalities kill for good.
- Basic chance to survive is 33%.
- Survivor trait increases the chance up to 89.76%
- Arena Veteran trait increases the chance up to 49.83%
- If a brother has both Survivor and Arena Veteran traits, the chance to survive is 135.5% which means that he will always survive unless other conditions from this list prevent it.
- A brother dies for good if he has all possible permanent injuries.
- Surgeon follower guarantees surviving if a brother does not have any of the permanent injuries.
- Slaves in the Manhunters scenario always die for good.
- If a brother was auto retreating and killed, it is for good.