Just throwing this out there but would it be practical to have a scroll that lets you protect 2 or 3 designated bag spaces from death drops from mobs?
eg You might want to bring a fireguard or frostguard to a hunt but not wear it until a certain room/cave. You can swap items around in those bag spaces and protect them. Might be a bad idea but I thought it was worth mentioning.
It's a nice idea however (at least at the moment) the server does not know where the items are in your bag, just that they are in your bag.
Also I can imagine it just being another level of anguish. "I died and dropped xyz when it was in the protected slot! Give it back or I will throw rude words at you!"