:Also, there absolutely HAS to be a serious penalty for dying;

Why not make a Bard bind song take away the equivalent exp from each player
to bind. That would allow a person to get bound somewhere, but effectively
Lose the Exp equivalent to dying to get bound. Id call that a penalty that
you would have to serious weigh.. They they would have to ask themselves,
which do I want? Lose EXP or Run 5 Zones? Just a thought.