NetherExile (Paper 1.21.x)

NetherExile is a Paper plugin that turns death into a temporary "Nether exile".

By default, exile starts when a player dies in the Overworld: a lodestone + their head is placed at/near the death location, they respawn in the Nether, and cannot leave until revived (by breaking the lodestone/head marker, by auto-break timeout, or by lava flowing onto the marker).

Optionally, if nethernetherdeath_enabled=true, exile can also start from a player's first death in the Nether.

Features

• Death marker
  • Places a lodestone and player head at the death location.
  • If the player dies in the air, the marker is placed on the ground below.
  • If the player dies in lava, the marker is placed on top of the lava surface.
• Nether exile
  • On respawn, the player is teleported to the Nether at the Overworld-equivalent location (x/8, z/8), searching for a safe position and avoiding the Nether roof.
  • Exiled players cannot leave the Nether (portals are extinguished; teleporting to other dimensions is blocked).
  • If an exiled player dies in the Nether, they are sent back to their original Nether entry location and shown a "no escape" message (if enabled).
• Nether -> Nether exile (optional)
  • If nethernetherdeath_enabled=true, a player's first death in the Nether also starts the exile.
  • Their lodestone/head marker is placed at/near the Nether death location (same air/lava placement rules).
  • On respawn, they are sent back to where they last entered the Nether via portal (Overworld -> Nether).
• Revival
  • Breaking the lodestone or head revives the player.
  • The breaker receives the dead player's head item.
  • Lightning strikes the lodestone, and the revived player is struck with lightning on return to the Overworld.
  • Revived players get 30s Regeneration.
  • Anti-grief: if the dead player stayed near their Nether entry point, they are revived ~100 blocks away from the original death spot (random direction).
• Marker rules
  • Dead players cannot break their own lodestone/head marker to revive themselves.
• Break Lodestone With Arrow (optional)
  • If breakwitharrow_enabled=true, shooting the lodestone with an arrow can trigger revival.
• World border safety
  • Revive teleports are clamped inside the world border and moved to a safe standing spot.
• Auto-break (optional)
  • If nobody breaks the marker after a timeout, the plugin auto-breaks it and revives the player.
  • Timers are based on in-game time while the player is online (so logging out does not advance the timer).
  • Optional progressive mode: each new exile can double that player's timeout.
• Skeleton mode (optional)
  • Dead players spawning in the Nether are equipped with a skeleton skull named with death coords and time.

Commands

All commands are under /netherexile.

• /netherexile help
• /netherexile status
• /netherexile enable
• /netherexile disable
  • Disabling clears current "dead" state (markers are not removed).
• /netherexile revive <player>
  • Revives a currently-dead player (same effect as breaking their marker).
• /netherexile autobreak <status|on|off|set> [duration]
  • Duration supports: s, m, h, d (examples: 60s, 30m, 1h, 1d)
• /netherexile progressive <status|on|off|cap> [value]
  • Progressive (doubling) controls, including optional max cap (via cap). Only meaningful when auto-break is enabled.
• /netherexile netherpenalty <status|on|off|set|cap> [value]
  • Optional: add time to the remaining auto-break timer when a dead player dies in the Nether.
• /netherexile messages <on|off>
  • Toggle player-facing messages (trap/revive/etc).
• /netherexile bedreturn <on|off>
  • If enabled, revived players return to their bed/respawn point when available.
• /netherexile skeleton <on|off>
  • Toggle skeleton helmet feature.
• /netherexile nethernetherdeath <on|off>
  • If enabled, a player's first death in the Nether can start the exile too.
• /netherexile breakwitharrow <on|off>
  • If enabled, shooting a lodestone with an arrow can trigger revival.

Permissions

• netherexile.toggle (default: op)
• netherexile.revive (default: op)
• netherexile.autobreak (default: op)

Configuration

plugins/NetherExile/config.yml (defaults are in src/main/resources/config.yml):

• netherexile_enabled: master enable/disable
• messages_enabled: player-facing messages
• revive_to_bed_enabled: revive to bed/respawn location if available
• autobreak_enabled: enable auto-break timeout
• autobreak_after: base timeout (e.g. 1h)
• autobreak_progressive_enabled: double timeout each new exile
• autobreak_progressive_max: optional max cap for progressive doubling (e.g. 12h, or off)
• nether_death_penalty_enabled: add time when a dead player dies in the Nether (optional)
• nether_death_penalty: how much time to add per Nether death (e.g. 5m)
• nether_death_max_remaining: cap on remaining time after penalties (e.g. 6h, or off)
• skeleton_enabled: equip skeleton skull in Nether for dead players
• nethernetherdeath_enabled: start exile on first Nether death too
• breakwitharrow_enabled: allow breaking lodestone by shooting it with an arrow
• near_entry_threshold_blocks: controls anti-grief "revive 100 blocks away" behavior
• revive_offset_blocks: the revive offset distance when near-entry
• regen_seconds, regen_amplifier: revival buff
• portal_extinguish_radius: how far to search around a dead player for a portal block to extinguish
• portal_extinguish_max_blocks: max connected portal blocks to remove (safety cap)

Data files

In plugins/NetherExile/:

• dead.yml: current exiled player state (marker locations, nether entry, etc.)
• history.yml: per-player progressive timeout history (used when autobreak_progressive_enabled=true)
• entries.yml: last known Nether portal entry locations (used by nethernetherdeath_enabled)

Install

1. Put the jar into your server's plugins/ folder.
2. Start the server once to generate plugins/NetherExile/config.yml.
3. Configure as desired and restart/reload.

Notes / Known behavior

• Marker placement replaces blocks where it is placed (for lava deaths it places above lava rather than replacing lava).
• Auto-break countdown only progresses while the dead player is online (in-game time).
• If your server runs in offline mode, player skin rendering for heads may be inconsistent depending on client/cache behavior.