The Tombstone is an object introduced in the 1.0.5 patch that is placed when a Hardcore or mediumcore player dies; extended to all players in the 1.1 patch. Upon the player's death, the stone is inscribed with whatever message was displayed in the bottom left-hand corner of the screen.
The stone can be removed with any Pickaxe or by removing one of the blocks on which it is sitting. Once it's in the inventory, it can be placed on any surface of 2 blocks or more.
Tombstones are similar to Signs due to the text on the both of them being editable. Tombstones do not need to be replaced after death in order for the player to edit its text.
When a Tombstone is first spawned, it is thrown into the air and can sometimes bounce around until it finds a suitable spot to land. If it does not find a spot where it can be planted, it will come to rest and will be able to be picked up without being broken.
A golden tombstone is dropped if the player dies with more than 5 
dropped on death (10 1 
in inventory).
Tombstones have no value to be sold, so farming them is not recommended unless used for cosmetic purposes. It's usually better to store all your money in a container, then use a softcore character to farm for them. Killing yourself many times will work just fine. If you are farming for the golden ones, remember to take the money after death, and don't do this on Expert Mode nor multiplayer, enemies and players can steal your money and despawn/escape.
Variations[]
A player standing by a Tombstone in the Snow Biome
Trivia[]
- Before the 1.1 patch, tombstones dealt a large amount of damage when still bouncing. This aspect may be similar to the Fallen Star.
Bugs[]
- Occasionally the Tombstone will stop bouncing without finding a suitable place to land. If this is the case, it will disappear after a short time, or the next time the world is loaded.
- If the player reads a tombstone while holding a boss-summoning item, the boss will spawn, but the item won't disappear. Boss items can be infinitely used this way.
- If the player dies close to the top of the map, on a sky bridge, e.g. by a Wyvern, the Tombstone may pass through the bridge.
Tombstone is stuck in this position and is unreadable in the game.
Update Info[]
- Golden variants added, they drop when a player has more than 10
in their inventory. - Updated Tombstone, Grave Marker, Cross Grave Marker and Obelisk sprites.
- Cross Grave Marker, Grave Marker, Gravestone, Headstone, and Obelisk variants were added. Variants are chosen randomly on death.
- Now drops on all player difficulties
- Added to the game.