About HardcoreDeathBan
A tiny Paper plugin that bans players on death, with configurable lives, messages and PAPI support. Built for Hardcore servers. HardcoreDeathBan was originally created for my friend's community Hardcore server when I couldn't find a 26.1.x Hardcore ban plugin with customizable ban messages. This plugin was in use from Day 1 of the server to facilitate it's unique gimmick of 3 lives = ban. I immediately knew I wanted to make this public to help any others who needed hardcore lives with custom ban messages.
Lives system
The plugin optionally supports a multi-life mode. With lives.enabled: true in config.yml, each player starts with lives.default lives (default 3). Each death decrements their count by 1. They're only permanently banned when they hit 0.
Lives are stored in plugins/HardcoreDeathBan/lives.yml, keyed by UUID. They persist across server restarts. Lives only regenerate manually: admins grant them via the /hcdb lives commands.
When a player dies but has lives left, the plugin sends configurable notifications (personal message, title/subtitle, server broadcast). Each is independently toggleable and configurable in the lives.notifications config section, with MiniMessage formatting support for colors and styles.
Install
- Drop the jar into your server's
plugins/directory. - Start the server once to generate
plugins/HardcoreDeathBan/config.yml. - Edit
ban-messageto your liking. - Run
/hcdb reloadin-game or from the console.
Commands
/hcdb reload: reloadsconfig.ymlwithout restarting the server. Requires thehardcoredeathban.reloadpermission (op by default). Alias:/hardcoredeathban reload./hcdb lives <player>: show how many lives a player has left./hcdb lives <player> set <amount>: set exact lives count./hcdb lives <player> add <amount>: grant additional lives./hcdb lives <player> remove <amount>: take lives away./hcdb lives <player> reset: reset to the configured default./hcdb lives reset-all: wipe everyone's lives data (e.g. for a new season).
The lives subcommands require the hardcoredeathban.lives.manage permission (op by default) and the lives system to be enabled (lives.enabled: true in config).
Configuration
Edit plugins/HardcoreDeathBan/config.yml. It's heavily documented, so every option should be intuitive:
ban-message: "{death-message} on {date} at {time} after %statistic_time_played% of survival. RIP, {player}."
ban-message: the text shown on the ban screen. Supports placeholders (see below).timezone,timestamp-format,date-format,time-format: control how{timestamp},{date}, and{time}render.lives.*: see "Lives system" section above.
More info in the config.yml
Built-in placeholders
These work in ban-message and in any lives notification (lives.notifications.message.text, title, subtitle, broadcast.text):
| Placeholder | Description |
|---|---|
{player} |
The player's username. |
{world} |
World the player died in (e.g. world, world_nether). |
{cause} |
Short damage type (e.g. fall, lava, mob_attack). |
{death-message} |
Full vanilla death message (e.g. "Notch was blown up by Creeper"). |
{timestamp} |
Full timestamp formatted via timestamp-format. |
{date} |
Date formatted via date-format. |
{time} |
Time formatted via time-format. |
{lives_remaining} |
Lives the player has left (lives system only). |
{lives_max} |
Configured starting lives (lives system only). |
{lives_lost} |
lives_max - lives_remaining (lives system only). |
PlaceholderAPI support
If PlaceholderAPI is installed, all %papi_placeholders% are resolved in ban-message and lives notifications. Useful expansions include Statistic (for %statistic_time_played%) and Player: install with /papi ecloud download <Name>.
This plugin also registers its own PAPI expansion exposing the lives count for use in scoreboards, tab lists, and other plugins that consume PAPI placeholders:
| Placeholder | Description |
|---|---|
%hcdb_lives_remaining% |
The player's current lives. Returns the configured default if the player isn't tracked yet. |
%hcdb_lives_max% |
Configured starting lives (lives.default). |
%hcdb_lives_lost% |
max - remaining. |
These return empty strings when lives.enabled: false. The expansion is only registered if PlaceholderAPI is loaded.
Exempting players
By default, ops are exempt (default: op in plugin.yml). To exempt non-op players, use any permission plugin (LuckPerms, etc.). For example, with LuckPerms:
/lp user <username> permission set hardcoredeathban.exempt true
Unbanning
Use the same unban command you're used to.
The vanilla command for unbanning is: /pardon <username> (from console or any op).
Notes
- The ban is issued from the console, so the plugin doesn't need any permission setup itself.
- The listener runs on
MONITORpriority. It does not modify the death event, only reacts after every other plugin has had its say. If you have a plugin that cancels deaths (e.g. a "second chance" plugin), it will run first and the player won't actually die, so no ban. - The
/banis dispatched on the next tick via the scheduler. This avoids subtle issues with kicking a player from inside their own death event.
Support Discord
If you need any support with HardcoreDeathBan, please join my Software & Support Discord. You can access the HardcoreDeathBan section using the corresponding ❤️ button in #🔮get-roles
