LightDeathMessages

LightDeathMessages is a lightweight, configurable Minecraft death messages plugin for modern Paper/Spigot servers. It replaces vanilla death messages with clean custom messages, supports themes, PlaceholderAPI, broadcast controls, and safe fallbacks for current and future damage types.

Why It Is Different

Most death message plugins either feel heavy, mix settings with messages, or depend too much on version-specific behavior. LightDeathMessages is built to stay simple: configs are cached, death events stay lightweight, themes are file-based, vanilla messages are hidden safely, and unknown/custom damage types fall back without crashing your server.

Screenshots

Preview the plugin in-game with real chat output and theme examples.

Death Messages	More Death Messages

Theme Showcase	More Theme Showcase

Features

• Custom death messages for PvP, mobs, projectiles, explosions, environment deaths, and unknown/custom damage.
• Global, world-only, radius-based, or disabled broadcasts.
• PlaceholderAPI support when installed.
• Legacy color support and safe formatting fallback.
• Command-only prefix messages.
• Death messages with literal skull icons in the message strings.
• Built-in themes plus unlimited custom themes.

Themes

Themes live in:

plugins/LightDeathMessages/themes/

To add your own theme, create a new file such as:

plugins/LightDeathMessages/themes/random.yml

Then select it in config.yml:

themes:
  selected-theme: random

No Java code changes are needed for custom themes. The plugin scans the themes folder and can load any valid .yml theme by file name.

Commands

/deathmessages help
/deathmessages reload
/deathmessages version
/deathmessages test <type|all> [self|global|world|radius|disabled]
/deathmessages theme list
/deathmessages theme preview <theme>
/deathmessages theme apply <theme>

Aliases:

/dm
/deathmsg

Building

Requirements:

• Java 21
• Maven

mvn clean package