Nitwits Crank It

Nitwits in vanilla minecraft don't do much. This mod adds a variety of whimsical behaviors and pranks that nitwits can engage in while all the other villagers toil away.

This is a highly configurable NeoForge mod for Minecraft 1.21.1 that adds behaviors to adult nitwit villagers. They will pull pranks, crank create handcranks, ring bells, and ride pigs! These whimsical idiots will liven up any village.

Requirements

• Minecraft 1.21.1
• NeoForge 21.1.0 or later

Optional dependencies

Without Create, all features not listed against it above still work.

Server and client

• Clients can join a server that has the mod without installing it.
• Players need the mod on their client only for the Jade status line, and for translated option names in Configured.

Schedule

Nitwits use the vanilla villager schedule. The mod uses three time windows:

• Work hours: the vanilla villager work period.
• Play time: the afternoon play period of baby villagers (day time 10000–12000), until nightfall. The morning play period overlaps work hours, so it isn't used.
• Awake: any time the nitwit isn't sleeping or in its rest period.

Features

Work (work hours, needs Create)

Hand cranks

• The nitwit turns the crank the same way a player's right-click does. This drives anything the crank is connected to.
• Optionally, a nitwit turns the crank backwards, the way a sneaking player does (wrong-way chance, off by default). Whoever starts a crank turning sets the direction, and nitwits that join in keep it.
• While cranking, nitwits play the vanilla head-shake animation without its sound, and now and then make the villager ambient "hmm" sound.

Turntables

• The nitwit stands on a spinning turntable and lets it spin them. Only one villager per turntable.
• If the turntable stops, or something else gets on it, the nitwit steps off onto free ground beside it.
• After riding for 10 seconds or more, the nitwit is dizzy for 3–6 seconds when it leaves. While dizzy, it lurches randomly sideways and its head rolls around.

Both: working nitwits occasionally show happy villager particles and do small jumps.

Pranks

Every 10 seconds, each nitwit rolls for each prank type in random order and performs the first one that passes its chance roll and has a target. The nitwit runs to the target and performs the prank. Then it plays the villager celebrate sound, shows happy particles, and runs away.

Reactions to a successful prank

• Non-nitwit villagers within 16 blocks show one angry particle. Other nitwits don't react.
• Iron golems within 16 blocks that can see the prankster and have no attack target chase it for 5–15 seconds. They don't attack. A golem drops the chase as soon as it has a real target. The nitwit keeps fleeing for as long as it's being chased.

Antics (play time)

Every 10 seconds, an idle nitwit rolls for each antic in random order and starts the first one that passes and has a valid spot. An antic lasts 15–35 seconds or until play time ends. Occasional happy particles.

Default belt_hazards tag: fire, campfires, magma blocks, cactus, sweet berry bushes, wither roses, pointed dripstone, and (if Create is present) mechanical saws, drills, crushing wheels, deployers and mechanical rollers. You can change the tag with a datapack.

Pig riding (play time)

• A nitwit that sees a saddled adult pig within 12 blocks runs to it and rides it. Pigs that are leashed, named or already ridden are skipped.
• The rider alternates between wandering the pig around and charging it at a random nitwit within 16 blocks for 5–10 seconds.
• Other nitwits within 7 blocks of a rider run away, hopping, until they are 11 blocks away.
• Baby villagers that are playing chase a rider they see within 12 blocks, hopping and squealing. They give up past 20 blocks.
• The nitwit gets off at the end of play time, or when something takes priority over play (panic, hiding, a raid, a Hero of the Village).

Following

Hero of the Village (any time awake)

• Every 10 seconds, a nitwit within 10 blocks of a player with Hero of the Village may start following them for 20–60 seconds. Invisible and spectating players are ignored.
• Following a hero interrupts work, play and golem-following. It does not interrupt pranks, panicking, hiding, raids or sleep.
• The nitwit stops when the hero is more than 16 blocks away, the effect ends, or the nitwit gets more than 48 blocks (configurable) from its village. The village is measured from its bell, or from its bed if it has no bell. After that it can't start following again until a cooldown ends (default 60 seconds).
• Nitwits following a hero still throw gifts at them.

Iron golems (play time)

• Every 10 seconds, a nitwit may start following a visible iron golem within 16 blocks for 20–60 seconds. It stops if the golem gets more than 24 blocks away.
• With a 30% chance (configurable), the golem gets fed up after 3–10 seconds. The nitwit says "no", and the golem chases it off for 5–15 seconds, the same as the prank chase.

Junk gifts

Nitwits throw junk at a Hero of the Village in place of the vanilla wheat seeds. The table, with weights: stick 10, dead bush 8, rotten flesh 8, dirt 6, cobblestone 6, poisonous potato 5, string 5, feather 5, bowl 4, clay ball 4, bone 4, flint 4, wheat seeds 3, pufferfish 1.

The gift table is nitwits_crank_it:gameplay/hero_of_the_village/nitwit_gift, assigned through NeoForge's raid_hero_gifts data map. When junk gifts are disabled in the config, it gives wheat seeds.

Anvil bonk

• A villager hit by a falling anvil that survives becomes a nitwit. It loses its job site, trades, experience and level, and plays the "no" sound. Anyone trading with it has their trade screen closed.
• By default, villagers that have already been traded with (any experience) are not affected, matching vanilla's job lock.

Advancements

A separate advancement tab. Most are earned by being within 16 blocks when it happens.

The trigger, nitwits_crank_it:nitwit_mischief, takes an optional kind (bonk, crank, dizzy, village_bell, pig_ride, hero_follow) and can be used by datapack advancements.

Jade status

Looking at a nitwit shows one of: Cranking, Riding a turntable, Heading to work, Dizzy, Riding a pig, Fleeing an iron golem, Up to something (village bell / desk bell / steam whistle / a shove), Belt surfing, Playing in the wind, Fishing (sort of), Tagging along after a hero, Tagging along after a golem. The line can be toggled in Jade's plugin settings ("Nitwit Activity").

Other behavior

• If a villager becomes a nitwit (or stops being one) by any means, such as commands, its AI is rebuilt right away.
• None of the per-nitwit state (work spot, prank target, cooldowns, follow target) is saved. It is worked out again after a reload. Village bell cooldowns and steam whistle release times are saved per world.

Configuration

Server config: config/nitwits_crank_it-server.toml. To override it for a single world, put a copy in saves/<world>/serverconfig/ (on a dedicated server, world/serverconfig/). With Configured installed, it can be edited from the mod list.

Chances marked "per 10 s" are rolled every 10 seconds per eligible nitwit.