DL : DeathLesson

Death Lesson

Death Lesson turns player deaths into useful learning reports.

Instead of only seeing the vanilla death message, you get a practical recap showing what killed you, what damage led up to the death, what contributed the most, and what could help you avoid the same mistake next time.

It is built for Forge 1.20.1 and is especially useful in survival worlds, multiplayer servers, and modpacks with lots of different damage sources.

Features

• Server-side tracking of recent player damage
• Death reports generated when a player dies
• Fatal damage source detection
• Recent damage timeline
• Largest damage contributor detection
• Gear snapshot at death
• Active status effect snapshot
• Totem placement checks
• Practical prevention hints
• Chat summary after death
• Clickable [View Death Lesson] chat action
• Death Lesson button on the vanilla death screen when a report exists
• Polished client-side report GUI when installed on the client
• Defensive support for unknown and modded damage sources

Why use it?

Minecraft death messages only tell part of the story.

Sometimes the final hit is not the real reason you died. Lava may have done most of the damage, but a skeleton might land the last arrow. A fall might kill you because your boots were missing Feather Falling. A totem might have saved you, but only if it had been in your hand or offhand.

Death Lesson helps explain those details in a readable way.

What the report can show

A Death Lesson report may include:

• What killed you
• What damaged you recently
• Whether the final hit was different from the biggest damage source
• A timeline of damage events
• Armor and held items at death
• Active status effects
• Totem state
• Practical survival tips
• Technical details through /deathlesson debug

The goal is not to blame the player. The goal is to make the next attempt easier.

Prevention hints

Death Lesson gives practical suggestions based on the damage you took.

Examples include:

• Fire Resistance for lava or fire deaths
• Feather Falling or Slow Falling for fall damage
• Shields or Projectile Protection for projectiles
• Blast Protection or safer distance for explosions
• Water Breathing or Respiration for drowning
• Armor checks when important gear was missing or damaged
• Totem placement reminders
• Cautious advice for magic, wither, poison, void, suffocation, freezing, and modded damage

Suggestions are conservative. The mod does not promise that a tip would have guaranteed survival.

Commands

• /deathlesson last Shows your most recent detailed report and opens the GUI when available.

• /deathlesson summary Shows a short recap of your most recent death.

• /deathlesson clear Clears your stored report and recent damage cache.

• /deathlesson debug Shows raw technical report details.

Config

Death Lesson includes configurable tracking and display options:

• trackingWindowTicks — recent damage tracking window. Default: 400
• maxDamageEvents — max stored damage events per player. Default: 12
• enableChatSummary — enables post-death chat summaries
• enableDeathScreenButton — enables the Death Lesson button on the death screen
• enableDetailedTimeline — enables detailed timeline entries
• enableDebugDetails — enables raw technical details
• enableDeathLessonScreen — enables the custom report screen
• enableClientScreen — allows the client GUI to open
• showCoordinatesInReport — shows positions in timeline entries
• compactMode — uses tighter GUI spacing
• useColorEmphasis — enables color accents
• maxTimelineEntriesShown — caps displayed timeline rows

Multiplayer

Death Lesson is server-authoritative.

The server tracks damage and creates reports. Each report is only sent to the player who died.

Recommended setup:

• Singleplayer: install on the client
• Dedicated server: install on the server
• Best multiplayer setup: install on both server and clients
• Server-only: chat reports and commands work, but the GUI is unavailable
• Client-only on a server without the mod: reports are not generated

Damage types

Death Lesson handles common vanilla damage categories, including:

• Lava
• Fire
• Fall damage
• Projectiles
• Explosions
• Magic
• Wither
• Poison
• Drowning
• Starvation
• Suffocation
• Freezing
• Void damage
• Contact damage
• Anvils
• Falling blocks
• Mob attacks
• Player attacks
• Unknown or modded damage sources

Unknown and modded sources are handled defensively so the report can still be generated safely.

Known limitations

• Death Lesson does not perform exact survival math.
• Prevention tips are educational suggestions, not guarantees.
• Some modded armor, accessories, and damage systems may not expose enough information for perfect analysis.
• Extra equipment APIs such as Curios, Trinkets, or Baubles are not directly inspected.
• Unknown modded damage may produce less specific advice.

Version

• Minecraft: 1.20.1
• Loader: Forge
• Forge: 47+
• Mod version: 1.0.0
• Mod ID: deathlesson
• License: MIT
• Creator: Iljas