You are something once you follow the following advices

First and foremost, you should bank often. Bank your items and hard-earned darkfall gold often. Bank is the safest place in the world of darkfall to store your stuff, since items in your bank can not be looted by anyone. Everything you carry can be looted by others once you die. Taking this into consideration, you are suggested not to carry more than you need.
Stamina bar in darkfall shows your life status. Stamina bar at high level means you are in high spirit, have enough energy, or you will feel tired and even can become a target to your enemies once you stamina bar reaches zero. Taking it into account, you should avoid going below half stamina. it is highly recommended to kill a few monsters at a time, retreat and rest up before you finish the rest. This way you are always prepared for any eventuality. In order to keep stamina bar high in combat, you are suggested to always keep food in your backpack and eat before every encounter. Eating food will improve your regeneration. In a case that your stamina bar is almost zero, you are suggested to fight another day. There is no shame in retreat. If your health or stamina are critically low, try to run to safety.