Runic Skills

[2.0.0] - 2026-08-28

A major correctness, balance, and reliability update focused on making sure every perk and Power actually does what it claims, while improving progression, multiplayer configuration, compatibility, and UI clarity.

Every Perk Now Works

A full audit found that 129 of 462 perks had no gameplay effect at all.

That backlog is now closed.

• 112 previously inactive perks now work.
• 17 perks were removed because the mechanics they described do not exist in the current game or supported mod set.
• Tooltips were rewritten where necessary so every perk accurately describes what it really does.
• New automated checks prevent inactive perks from silently being added again.

Examples of updated perks include:

• Colony Guardian — now works inside vanilla villages.
• Zipline Expert — now improves minecart travel.
• Waystone Tinker — now reduces Ender Pearl damage.
• Architect — helps nearby blocks survive explosions.
• Grand Sage — reduces the XP cost of raising Wisdom.
• Soul Binding — saves the held item into the Ender Chest on death.
• Mechanical Knowledge — speeds up nearby hoppers.
• Lock Expert — reduces lock-pick durability loss.

Some perks now only appear when the mod they depend on is actually installed.

Removed Unsupported Perks

Removed 17 perks whose promised mechanics could not actually be implemented in the current build.

This includes perks based around:

• Block-placement speed.
• Nature's Aura.
• Backpack expansion.
• Extended redstone range.
• "More accurate" vanilla timing systems.

Existing saves keep their old IDs safely, so no player data is corrupted.

Powers Overhaul

Powers have been extensively rebuilt and audited.

• 25 previously inactive Powers now work.
• Vanilla actions such as arrows, Ender Pearls, and bow usage can now trigger Powers where appropriate.
• Power unlock requirements are now properly enforced.
• Power tier requirements scale with the configured skill cap instead of assuming a level-100 system.
• Secondary skill requirements, total skill requirements, prerequisite chains, and Power Point budgets now actually work.
• Power eligibility is rechecked during gameplay, so losing a requirement immediately disables its effect.

Incomplete Powers Are Now Hidden

Nineteen Iron's Spells Powers still lack a complete implementation.

They are now clearly marked as inert and:

• Cannot be equipped.
• Do not appear normally.
• Cost no Power Points if retained in an older save.

Developers can restore them for testing with:

powerEnableExperimentalContent = true

Several partially substituted Powers are now marked Approximate, with tooltips explaining exactly how their current implementation differs from the original concept.

Safer Player Data

Player progression data is now validated when loaded.

The mod now protects against corrupt or unreasonable values in:

• Skill levels.
• Passive levels.
• Perk ranks.
• Cooldowns.
• Power state.

Existing legitimate progress remains intact even if server balance settings are later lowered.

Fixed Permanent Attribute Bonuses

Fixed several cases where perk or integration bonuses could remain permanently attached to a player after:

• Disabling a perk.
• Turning off an integration.
• Removing another mod.

Mana, spell power, critical chance, dodge, lifesteal, healing, and similar bonuses are now tracked and cleaned up properly.

Improved Skill Progression

All skill-level changes now go through one consistent system.

This fixes inconsistencies between:

• Commands.
• GUI level-ups.
• Configuration reloads.
• Events.
• Quest integrations.

/skills set, /skills add, and /skills subtract now use the current live server configuration and safely prevent integer overflow.

Fixed Bulk Passive Leveling

Shift/Ctrl/Alt passive leveling finally works as advertised.

Previously, trying to buy multiple levels sent several packets and almost all of them were silently rejected by the rate limiter.

Bulk changes are now sent and processed as a single request.

Server Config Is Now Authoritative

A major multiplayer configuration issue has been fixed.

Previously, only 128 of 1,133 configuration fields were synchronized to clients. The rest could make the client use its own local settings instead of the server's.

Now:

• All gameplay config values synchronize automatically.
• Clients use the server's values while connected.
• Local config returns after disconnecting.
• New config fields cannot accidentally be forgotten by the sync system.
• /skillsreload reports which options update live and which require a restart.

Config Validation

Server config values are now properly clamped to their supported ranges.

This is especially important for dedicated servers where TOML files are edited manually.

Invalid packet collection sizes are also rejected before memory is allocated.

Fixed Potion Effect Compatibility

The player-effect mixin previously replaced too much of Minecraft's normal status-effect logic.

This could strip:

• Ambient status.
• Particle visibility.
• Effect icons.
• Hidden effect chains.
• Forge curative-item data.

It could also report the wrong entity as the source of an effect.

The mixin is now much narrower and leaves normal Minecraft behavior untouched when Runic Skills does not need to modify the effect.

Fixed Magic Resistance

Magic Resistance was previously checking whether damage was indirect, which caused it to resist things such as arrows while missing some actual magical attacks.

It now uses a dedicated, datapack-extensible magic-damage tag.

magicResistValue is also capped at 0.95, preventing invalid configurations from turning damage into healing.

Fixed Crafting Locks

Fixed locked crafting recipes leaving behind a ghost output item on the client.

Crafting restrictions are now enforced directly when taking the result, including:

• Normal clicks.
• Shift-clicking.
• Quick-move behavior.

Fixed Enchanting Discounts

Enchanting discounts no longer repeatedly reduce themselves when an invalid or rejected enchant action is attempted.

Discounts are now applied when offers are generated, keeping displayed and actual costs consistent.

Titles No Longer Overwrite Player Names

Runic Skills no longer writes titles into Minecraft's vanilla custom-name field.

This fixes conflicts with:

• Nickname mods.
• Chat mods.
• Team formatting.
• Tab-list mods.
• Other name-formatting systems.

Titles are now added through Minecraft's name-formatting event, preserving styling and other mods' components.

Old Runic Skills-generated custom names are cleaned up safely on login.

The old:

titlesUseCustomName

setting is now deprecated and ignored.

Clearer Perk Tooltips

Perks now distinguish between:

• Perk Enabled
• Perk Available — click to activate
• Perk Locked
• Perk Disabled

Previously, newly unlocked perks could incorrectly display as disabled even though the player simply had not activated them yet.

Requirement and rank displays have also been cleaned up.

Ore Detector Now Renders Properly

The Ore Detector perk now draws its own client-side block outlines through walls.

No server packets are required.

Better Powers Screen

The Powers screen now:

• Labels incomplete or approximate Powers.
• Explains why a Power cannot be equipped.
• Shows more useful eligibility information.

Better Optional-Mod Compatibility

Added proper supported-version ranges for integrations including:

• Iron's Spells 'n Spellbooks
• Placebo
• Curios
• Better Combat
• L2Tabs
• Supported gun mods

Unsupported API versions should now fail cleanly during startup rather than causing unexpected errors later during gameplay.

Update Checker Fixed

The old custom update checker was broken and pointed at the wrong repository.

Runic Skills now uses Forge's standard update-checking system instead.

Documentation Cleanup

• Removed the claim that KubeJS can register custom skills, perks, passives, titles, and conditions. That feature was never implemented.
• Updated documentation to match the systems that actually exist.
• Added new perk-audit and content-status documentation.

Multiplayer

Network protocol updated from 9 → 10.

Clients and servers must both use Runic Skills 2.0.0.

Mismatched versions are rejected cleanly when connecting.

Compatibility & Migration

• Player data automatically migrates to the new sanitized format.
• Removed perk IDs remain safely preserved in older saves.
• Existing inert Powers are retained but disabled until removed or eventually implemented.
• magicResistValue values above 0.95 are automatically clamped.
• Several packet and API structures have changed, so add-ons using Runic Skills internals may require updates.