NightWard

Hold a cross and hostile mobs keep away from you.

While a player holds the cross in either hand, hostile mobs stop targeting them. Any hostile that ends up within 8 blocks walks back out and stays there. Drop the cross and the mobs come for you again within half a second.

Requirements


Minecraft	1.21.4 through 26.2
Java	21 or newer
Server	Paper, or a Paper fork

Crafting

Five sticks in a plus shape.

[ ] [S] [ ]
[S] [S] [S]
[ ] [S] [ ]

Using a torch, or a lead, or anything else

The cross is the default, not the mechanism. Point the ward at any vanilla item:

amulet:
  items:
    - TORCH

Torches now ward and the cross does not. List several items to allow several.

Configuration

Key	Default	Meaning
`amulet.items`	`[nightward:cross]`	What wards. Accepts any vanilla item name
`amulet.base-item`	`NETHER_STAR`	The vanilla item the cross is built on
`amulet.craftable`	`true`	Register the crafting recipe
`radius`	`8.0`	How far the ward reaches, in blocks
`sweep-interval-ticks`	`10`	How often the sweep runs. 20 ticks is one second
`flee-speed`	`1.2`	Movement speed multiplier for retreating mobs
`enabled-worlds`	`[]`	Empty means every overworld. Names are case-sensitive
`exempt-types`	`[WITHER]`	Hostile types the ward ignores
`cancel-hostile-damage`	`true`	Blocks projectiles and explosions. Never blocks melee
`require-permission`	`false`	Gate the ward on `nightward.use`

What it will not do

Mob farms stall while somebody holding a cross stands near them. This is a side effect of the feature working, and the plugin does not try to detect farms or work around it. Use enabled-worlds to leave a world out.

The Wither is exempt by default. It can be summoned in the overworld, and warding it would remove the fight. Empty exempt-types if you want it warded.

Source

NightWard is open source under the MIT licence.

Code, issues and releases: https://github.com/arthurhess/NightWard
Downloads: Hangar and Modrinth

The README in that repository is the canonical copy of this text. The Hangar and Modrinth pages are kept in step with it.