abilities

Entity Abilities

This page documents the built-in entity abilities that ship inside the plugin and can be referenced from an entity's abilities: section in entities/*.yml. These are the pre-made abilities available to use without providing custom ability source files.

If you wish to use a Custom Entity Ability, you need the Premium version of the plugin.

Quick usage (entity template)

abilities:
  - spawnbrood        # use ability's default cooldown
  - thornmaw:45       # override default cooldown to 45s for this entity

Table of Contents

• Overview & How to use
• Available abilities (IDs & short descriptions)
  • spawnbrood
  • callhive
  • curseundead
  • frostedfur
  • hardenediron
  • nightcloak
  • thornmaw
  • undyingcommander
• How to reference & test
• Notes & implementation details
• Troubleshooting

Overview & How to use

• These abilities are packaged inside the plugin JAR and can be referenced by their ID (the class/filename without .java or package).
• Place the ability ID under the abilities: list in an entity config. Optionally supply a per-entity cooldown using abilityId:seconds.
• Ability cooldowns and single-use behaviour are defined by the ability metadata; per-entity overrides replace the default cooldown.
• Some abilities register event listeners or schedule tasks — that is part of their behaviour and allows abilities to implement phases or persistent effects.

Available abilities (IDs & short descriptions)

Below are the built-in ability IDs included with this build and a short summary of what each does. Use these IDs exactly (case-sensitive) in your entity files.

spawnbrood

• Display name: Mother’s Brood
• Default cooldown: 10s
• Single-use: false
• Summary: Spawns a number of spiders around the rare, tags them as minions, sets their target, sets scale/health as configured, and plays particle/sound effects. Useful for summoner bosses.

callhive

• Display name: Call Hive
• Default cooldown: 10s
• Single-use: false
• Summary: Spawns a swarm of bees around the rare, sets their target/anger and scale/health, and plays particle/sound effects. Good for insect/swarm mechanics.

curseundead

• Display name: Curse of Undead
• Default cooldown: 10s
• Single-use: false
• Summary: Applies potion debuffs (e.g., slowness) to nearby players and may set them on fire when exposed to sunlight. Intended for undead-themed rares and area debuffs.

frostedfur

• Display name: Frosted Fur
• Default cooldown: 10s
• Single-use: true
• Summary: Registers an event listener that punishes attackers — applies freeze/slowness effects to attackers (including arrow shooters). Implemented as a listener; often used as a defensive single-use phase.

hardenediron

• Display name: Hardened Iron
• Default cooldown: 10s
• Single-use: true
• Summary: Cancels projectile damage (arrows) when the rare's health falls below a threshold (example: 50%). Useful as a defensive phase to counter ranged players.

nightcloak

• Display name: Night Cloak
• Default cooldown: 5s
• Single-use: false
• Summary: Grants temporary invisibility at night (applies an invisibility effect during night ticks and removes it during the day). Good for nocturnal stealth mechanics.

thornmaw

• Display name: Thornmaw
• Default cooldown: 4s
• Single-use: false
• Summary: Spawns a line of Evoker Fangs toward each nearby player and plays spell/witch particles and sounds. Useful for telegraphed area denial attacks.

undyingcommander

• Display name: Undying Commander
• Default cooldown: 1s
• Single-use: true
• Summary: Spawns and maintains a squad of minions around the rare (periodic task). Damage to minions transfers to the rare; if the rare dies, minions are killed. Includes event handlers to manage minion behaviour and damage transfer.

How to reference & test

1. Edit or create an entity file in entities/ (copy entities/template.yml if needed).
2. Add the desired ability ID under abilities: — you may override cooldown with abilityId:seconds.
3. Reload RareSpawns or restart the server.
4. Spawn the rare using /rarespawns spawn <id> (or allow it to spawn naturally) and observe the ability behaviour.
5. Check the server console for any exceptions or log messages if the ability does not run.

Notes & implementation details

• IDs match the class/filename included in the plugin (package names are intentionally excluded from config references).
• Many abilities use the plugin API and helper utilities (EntityUtils, PDC, EntityCreator). If you remove or alter those internals, ability behaviour may break.
• Abilities that spawn minions often tag them in persistent data (so they can be recognized as minions and have special death/dropping behaviour).
• Abilities that register listeners (for example to intercept damage) may keep those listeners active as long as the rare is alive — this is expected to implement complex behaviours.

Troubleshooting

• Ability not found:
  • Confirm the ID matches the class/filename exactly (case-sensitive).
  • Ensure you are running the same plugin build that includes these packaged abilities.
• Ability throws errors at runtime:
  • Check server logs for a stacktrace. Many ability operations call Bukkit API methods that may fail if assumptions (world, target, entity state) are not met.
• Minions not behaving:
  • Minions are often tagged using the plugin's PDC. If you run other plugins that strip PDC or modify entities heavily, minion logic may be affected.