Death Lesson

Death Lesson is a quality-of-life Forge mod that turns player deaths into useful recap reports.

Instead of only showing the vanilla death message, Death Lesson explains what killed you, what damage led up to the death, which source contributed the most, and what could have helped you survive. It is designed for survival worlds, multiplayer servers, and modpacks where deaths can come from many different sources.

Learn from the death. Fix the mistake. Survive the next one.

What does it do?

When a player dies, Death Lesson creates a report based on recent server-side damage events. The report can show:

• The fatal damage source
• A timeline of recent damage before death
• The largest recent damage contributor
• Gear and armor worn at the time of death
• Main hand and offhand items
• Totem placement checks
• Status effects active at death
• Practical prevention tips
• Unknown and modded damage sources handled safely

For example, if lava dealt most of the damage but a skeleton landed the final hit, Death Lesson can explain that clearly instead of only showing the final death message.

Features

• Tracks recent player damage server-side
• Creates a death report when a player dies
• Shows the final hit and recent contributing damage
• Highlights when the biggest damage source was different from the fatal hit
• Provides practical prevention hints
• Includes a readable damage timeline
• Includes a gear snapshot at death
• Includes active status effects
• Supports unknown and modded damage sources defensively
• Sends a concise chat summary after death
• Adds a clickable [View Death Lesson] chat action
• Adds a Death Lesson button to the vanilla death screen when a report exists
• Includes a polished client-side report screen when installed on the client
• Works server-authoritatively in multiplayer

Prevention tips

Death Lesson gives conservative, practical suggestions based on what happened before death.

Depending on the situation, it may suggest things like:

• Fire Resistance for lava or fire deaths
• Feather Falling or Slow Falling for fall damage
• Shields or Projectile Protection for arrows and other projectiles
• Blast Protection or distance for explosions
• Water Breathing or Respiration for drowning
• Armor checks when important gear was missing or damaged
• Totem placement reminders
• Safer handling of magic, wither, poison, void, suffocation, and other damage types

The mod does not claim that a tip would have guaranteed survival. It is meant to help players understand likely prevention options.

Commands

Death Lesson includes simple player commands:

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

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

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

• /deathlesson debug
  Shows raw technical report details for troubleshooting.

Config options

Death Lesson includes configurable options for tracking, display, and report detail.

Available options include:

• trackingWindowTicks
  How many recent server ticks of damage are tracked. Default: 400

• maxDamageEvents
  Maximum stored damage events per player. Default: 12

• enableChatSummary
  Enables the post-death chat summary.

• enableDeathScreenButton
  Enables the Death Lesson button on the death screen.

• enableDetailedTimeline
  Enables detailed damage 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.

Damage types handled

Death Lesson can recognize and report many common 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 damage sources are reported cautiously instead of crashing the mod.

Multiplayer behavior

Death Lesson is server-authoritative.

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

Recommended installation:

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

Known limitations

Death Lesson is designed to be educational, not a perfect combat simulator.

Known limitations:

• It does not perform exact survival math.
• Prevention tips are suggestions, not guarantees.
• Modded armor, accessories, and damage systems may affect outcomes in ways the mod cannot fully inspect.
• Extra equipment APIs such as Curios, Trinkets, or Baubles are not directly inspected.
• Unknown modded damage is handled cautiously and may have less specific advice.

Version info

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