Description
Tribulation transforms Minecraft's flat difficulty curve into an escalating gauntlet. The longer you play, the further you explore, and the deeper you dig — the harder the world fights back. Every system is formula-driven, fully configurable, and persists across server restarts.
Zero external dependencies. Just drop it in.
Three-Axis Mob Scaling
Mob stats aren't random — they're computed from three independent factors the moment a mob spawns:
| Axis | How It Works | Cap |
|---|---|---|
| Time | Your cumulative playtime advances a per-player difficulty level (0–250). Higher level = stronger mobs near you. ~1 level per hour of play. | Level 250 |
| Distance | Beyond 1,000 blocks from world spawn, mobs gain bonus health, damage, armor, and toughness. The frontier is dangerous. | +150% |
| Height | Deviation from sea level (Y=62) in either direction adds threat. Deep caves and tall mountains are deadlier. | +50% |
All three axes stack. A high-level player fighting a mob 3,000 blocks from spawn at Y=12 faces the full weight of the system.
21 vanilla mob types have individually tuned scaling rates and caps — zombies don't scale the same as skeletons or creepers. Modded hostile mobs are automatically supported with conservative fallback scaling (configurable per-namespace or per-entity).
Tier-Gated Mob Abilities
Raw stats are only half the story. At 5 level thresholds, mobs unlock new behaviors that change how you fight them:
Tier 1 — Level 50
- Zombies call reinforcements when hit
- Creepers have a shorter fuse (15 ticks)
Tier 2 — Level 100
- Skeletons switch to swords in melee range
- Spiders place webs to slow you down
Tier 3 — Level 150
- Zombies break down doors
- Spiders trample crops
- Wither Skeletons sprint
Tier 4 — Level 200
- Skeletons fire flame arrows
- Vindicators gain damage resistance
- Hoglins and Zoglins get knockback bonuses
- Zombified Piglins aggro from further away
Tier 5 — Level 250
- Zombies sprint
- Creepers have a 25% chance to spawn charged
- Spiders gain a leap attack
Every individual ability can be toggled on or off in the config.
Special Zombie Variants
Two mutually exclusive zombie variants add unpredictability to encounters:
- Big Zombie — Larger, tankier (+10 HP, +0.25 damage), slightly slower. Visually 1.5x scale.
- Speed Zombie — Trades health for raw speed (+0.4 movement speed). Closes gaps fast.
Variants apply across the entire zombie family: Zombie, Husk, Drowned, and Zombified Piglin. Their bonuses stack on top of normal scaling.
Boss Scaling
The Ender Dragon and Wither scale with a separate, gentler formula using only the time and distance axes. No sudden one-shots — just a steady ramp that keeps endgame bosses relevant at higher levels.
Custom bosses can be tagged for the same treatment.
Death Penalty Systems
All penalties are opt-in and independently toggleable. Mix and match to set the stakes you want.
Death Relief
A rubber-band mechanic: lose 2 levels on death (configurable). Prevents infinite difficulty spirals for struggling players. Cooldown-gated to prevent abuse.
Shatter Shards
Rare drops (0.5% chance) from scaled mobs. Using one reduces your level by 5 — but inflicts Slowness, Mining Fatigue, and Weakness for 10 seconds. A deliberate trade-off, not a free reset.
Hardcore Hearts
Each death permanently reduces your max health by 1 heart. Minimum floor of 1 heart. Restoration is possible through Heart Fragments, a craftable recovery item. This system is completely disabled by default.
Soul Inventory
All items are destroyed on death unless enchanted with Soulbound. Experience can be separately configured to survive or perish. Disabled by default — enable it when you want real consequences.
Rewards Scale Too
Harder mobs aren't just punishment. They pay out:
- Bonus XP — Scaled mobs drop up to 2x base XP, proportional to their health scaling factor
- Extra Loot — A chance to duplicate a random drop, scaling with mob difficulty (up to 15% base chance)
HUD Overlay
A minimal shield icon and level number in the corner of your screen. Color-coded by tier:
White (0) > Yellow (1) > Orange (2) > Light Red (3) > Red (4) > Dark Red (5)
Flashes gold on level-up. Anchor position and visibility are configurable.
Commands
| Command | Permission | What It Does |
|---|---|---|
/tribulation info |
Anyone | View your level, tier, and progress to next tier |
/tribulation hearts |
Anyone | Check your heart penalty status |
/tribulation set <player> <level> |
Op | Set a player's difficulty level |
/tribulation reset <player> |
Op | Reset a player to level 0 |
/tribulation reload |
Op | Hot-reload config without restart |
/tribulation debug <player> |
Op | Full scaling breakdown for a player |
/tribulation inspect |
Op | Inspect the mob you're looking at |
Configuration
Everything is tunable in config/tribulation.json. Key sections:
- Per-mob scaling rates — Individually tune all 21 vanilla mob types
- Stat caps — Global limits on health, damage, armor, speed, knockback resistance, and toughness
- Tier thresholds — Move the goalposts (default: 50/100/150/200/250)
- Ability toggles — Enable or disable every mob ability individually
- Death penalties — Each system has its own enable flag, amounts, cooldowns, and floors
- Distance/height scaling — Adjust starting distances, rates, and caps
- Boss scaling — Separate factors and caps for boss entities
- Modded mob support — Namespace exclusions, per-entity overrides, fallback scaling toggle
- HUD — Position, offset, and visibility
Changes apply immediately with /tribulation reload. No restart required.
Full config reference: tribulation.rfizzle.com/config.html
Compatibility
- Minecraft 1.21.1 (Fabric)
- Fabric Loader 0.16.10+
- Fabric API required
- Java 21+
- Works on dedicated servers and singleplayer
- Modded mobs automatically scaled with fallback formula (excludable by namespace)
- Optional integrations: Jade/WTHIT (mob scaling tooltips), EMI/REI/JEI (item recipes), ModMenu (config screen)
Installation
Drop the jar into your mods/ folder. Config generates automatically on first launch. That's it.