PolarSouls

Spigot/Paper/Purpur plugin for Minecraft 1.21.1 that adds a lives system to a Velocity proxy network. When players lose all their lives, they get sent to a Limbo server until teammates revive them.

How It Works

The plugin runs on two backend servers behind a Velocity (might work on BungeeCord/Waterfall, not tetsted yet, if you manage to test it out, please make a issue in GitHub) proxy: Main (survival) and Limbo (purgatory). Both share a MySQL database.

• Players start with configurable lives (default: 2)
• Each death costs one life; optional grace period for new players
• At 0 lives, dead players enter spectator briefly, then get sent to Limbo
• Teammates revive dead players via the ritual structure, /revive, or the Revive Skull
• Revived players get sent back to Main automatically
• Alive players can visit Limbo with /limbo and return with /leavelimbo

Death Modes

Mode	Behavior
hybrid (default)	Spectator for a time window, then transferred to Limbo. Teammates can revive during the window. Reconnecting while dead skips the spectator window and sends straight to Limbo.
spectator	Dead players stay on Main as spectators permanently until revived.
limbo	Dead players are immediately transferred to Limbo.

All modes support reviving via the Hardcore Revive Mode, Revive Skull, and /revive.

Built-in HRM Features

(credits to https://modrinth.com/plugin/hardcore-revive-mod)

Player Head Drops

On final death, the player's head drops at their death location. They also get a message with their death coords.

Revival Ritual Structure

3x3x3 structure to revive dead players:

• Bottom layer (3x3): 4 Soul Sand corners, 4 Stair edges, 1 ore block center

• Middle layer: 4 Wither Roses on the soul sand, 1 Fence on the ore

• Top: Place the dead player's head on the fence

  Check the original page for more details https://modrinth.com/plugin/hardcore-revive-mod

Craftable Items

Revive Skull — Right-click to open a menu of dead players and receive their head for the ritual.

Obsidian	Ghast Tear	Obsidian
Totem of Undying	Any Skull	Totem of Undying
Obsidian	Ghast Tear	Obsidian

Check the original page for more details https://modrinth.com/plugin/hardcore-revive-mod

Extra Life — Right-click to gain +1 life. Recipe is fully configurable in config.yml (only on main).

"Limbo" Visiting

Alive players can visit Limbo using /limbo to interact with dead players. Use /leavelimbo to return. Dead players cannot leave until revived.

Requirements

• Minecraft 1.21.X (Spigot or Paper)
• Velocity proxy
• MySQL database (you can share one with another plugin like CoreProtect)
• Java 21+
• Two backend servers: Main + "Limbo" (Limbo optional in spectator mode)

Note: You do not need hardcore=true in server.properties. Leave it as false on both servers. If you do have it enabled, the plugin will NOT work.

Proxy / Backend installation

• Do NOT install PolarSouls on your proxy (Velocity/BungeeCord/Waterfall). Install the plugin only on your backend Spigot/Paper/Purpur servers (Main and Limbo).
• Ensure the proxy forwards player information to the backends so UUIDs and addresses remain consistent:
  • Velocity: set player-info-forwarding-mode: MODERN in velocity.toml.
  • BungeeCord/Waterfall: enable IP forwarding and set the appropriate bungeecord/proxy options in spigot.yml/paper.yml.
• Make sure both backend servers can reach the shared MySQL database and any messaging channels you use.
• After configuring forwarding, test a full flow: death on Main → transfer to Limbo → revive and return to Main.
  (might work on BungeeCord/Waterfall, not tetsted yet, if you manage to test it out, please make a issue in GitHub)

Installation

1. Place PolarSouls-1.0.0.jar in the plugins/ folder of both servers
2. Start both servers to generate config.yml
3. Configure the MySQL database connection (same credentials on both)
4. On the Limbo server, set is-limbo-server: true
5. Set the spawn in-game with /setlimbospawn
6. Configure the rest in the config.yml, the guide in the config is pretty simple, so just follow it. If you need help, feel free to reach out in GitHub.
7. Restart both servers

Configuration

See the generated config.yml for all options. Key settings:

is-limbo-server: false           # true on Limbo server only

database:
  host: localhost
  port: 3306
  name: polarsouls
  username: root
  password: password

lives:
  default: 2
  max-lives: 5
  on-revive: 1
  grace-period-hours: 24
  revive-cooldown-seconds: 30

main:
  death-mode: "hybrid"           # hybrid | spectator | limbo
  hybrid-timeout-seconds: 300

hrm:
  enabled: true
  drop-heads: true
  structure-revive: true
  head-wearing-effects: true
  revive-skull-recipe: true

extra-life:
  enabled: true
    recipe:
    row1: "DED"
    row2: "INI"
    row3: "GEG"
    # Letter-to-material mapping
    ingredients:
      G: "GOLD_BLOCK"
      E: "EMERALD_BLOCK"
      N: "NETHER_STAR"
      D: "DIAMOND_BLOCK"
      I: "NETHERITE_INGOT"

(to edit this, change one of the letters in the rows to another one, and set the block for that letter under ingredients. A customized example is shown above)

main-server-name: "main"
limbo-server-name: "limbo"

(change this to the names that are in velocity.toml)

Commands

Command	Description	Permission
/psadmin <sub> [args]	Admin commands (lives, grace, kill, revive, reset, info, reload)	polarsouls.admin
/revive <player>	Revive a dead player	polarsouls.revive
/pstatus [player]	Check lives and status	polarsouls.status
/psetlives <player> <n>	Set a player's lives	polarsouls.admin
/setlimbospawn	Set the Limbo spawn point	polarsouls.admin
/limbo	Visit the Limbo server	polarsouls.visit
/leavelimbo	Return from Limbo to Main	polarsouls.visit

Permissions

Permission	Description	Default
polarsouls.admin	Full admin access	op
polarsouls.revive	Can revive dead players	op
polarsouls.status	Can check player status	true
polarsouls.visit	Can visit Limbo as a living player	true
polarsouls.bypass	Bypass all death mechanics	false

License

GPL3