Hit Numbers

Vanilla Minecraft only shows a few dark heart particles when you land a hit. Hit Numbers shows the exact number: it floats a number up from whatever takes damage near you, and the colour says whose damage it is:

- yellow: damage to something you just hit with a melee swing
- red: damage you take
- violet: damage to anything else (arrows, mobs fighting each other, fire; other players only with show_players on)
- green: healing of at least a heart, with a plus sign (+4)

Hits on the same target in quick succession are gathered into one number that grows, so 2 + 3 + 1 shows as a single 6 and a fast fight does not fill the screen. Bigger hits are drawn bigger. A number behind a wall is not drawn.

- Numbers on other players are off by default (show_players=false in the settings): some PvP servers do not allow mods that show combat information about players. Numbers on mobs and on yourself are on
- Settings in config/hit-numbers.properties, written the first time you start the game: turn any colour off, turn numbers on other players on, change the smallest heal that is shown (default one heart, so natural regeneration stays quiet), change the text size, and choose the look of the text: a thin outline (default), the game's own heavy outline, or a plain drop shadow. Save the file while the game is running and it applies within a couple of seconds
- Client-side only: it reads the health the server already sends for each creature and draws it. Nothing is sent to the server, nothing on the server or in the world is changed, no network calls
- Requires Fabric Loader 0.19.5+ and Java 25, for Minecraft 26.3. Fabric API is not needed
- Checked by an automated client test on 26.3 with real screenshots (gallery): a real sword swing shows a yellow 6 on the cow; three damages on three ticks show one 6, and the server's own copy of the creature does not count them twice; a heal of 1 shows nothing and a heal of 5 shows +5; damage to you shows a red 8 and a potion shows a green +4, the digits 7, 4, 1 and 9 are legible with a thin outline, near and far (checked by pixel measurements and by eye), and those two numbers are drawn apart, not on top of each other; a real arrow shown as violet damage (not yours); a creature that appears already hurt shows no number; a colour switched off in the settings shows nothing; the settings file is read at start, changed while the game runs, and a broken file means the defaults; the colours are on screen in the drawn frame and not in the frame before the hit; a number behind a wall is not on screen and the same hit in the open is; leaving the world empties the list

Known limitations:
- The number is the health the target actually lost, as the server tells your game. Armor and effects are already counted, but damage soaked up by absorption hearts is not shown, and a hit that kills shows only the health that was left (a 7-damage hit on 3 health shows 3).
- "Yours" means you swung at that creature in melee within the last second. Arrows, tridents, potions, fire and thorns are shown in violet. The other way round, damage from something else that lands within a second after your swing at the same creature (fire, a friend's hit) is shown in yellow.
- Any drop in health is shown as damage, including things that are not attacks (for example when a Health Boost effect ends or maximum health is lowered). A sweeping attack's extra targets are shown in violet, because only the target you aimed at counts as yours.
- Healing under a heart (natural regeneration) is not shown on purpose; min_heal in the settings changes that.
- Only changes the server sends are visible. A server that hides health data shows nothing.
- Multiplayer: it shows how much health mobs (and, if you turn show_players on, other players) near you lose. The game already receives that value, the mod only draws it, and a number behind a wall is not drawn. Numbers on other players are off by default. Some servers do not allow client mods that show combat information at all, mobs included. Check your server's rules before using it there.
- Damage to you is drawn a little ahead of where you were looking, to the right and low, not above your head (your camera is in your head).
- Within 48 blocks only.
- Not tested: dedicated servers, shader packs, other mods' creatures, Linux or macOS. Tested on Windows with Minecraft 26.3 only.

Disclosure: this mod was developed with AI assistance (Claude). It does not reuse code or assets from other mods. It does not collect or transmit any data.