everybody hates starting a new character only to be murdered by a griefer later that day or possibly even later that week.
now on the flip side, EVERYBODY LOVES griefing. and i mean what if someone tresspasses?
how about a compromise?
ability to knock people unconcious but inability to kill them, atleast till they learn some skills to fight back or to give you reason to want to kill them
like melee combat, archery, or the trespassing skill. (and possibly melee combat but that is a little too easy to get, maybe instead of learning the unarmed combat skill it's when you get your unarmed skill up to 5-10 points or something?)
it'd cut down a bit on the learning curve aswell since new people can level in peice without the threat of having to start over in less then 24 hours