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Invisible Kills

Hide killer identity in death messages when the attacker is invisible.

Overview​

When a player with invisibility kills another player, the normal death message reveals their identity (e.g., "Steve was slain by Alex"). Invisible Kills modifies these death messages to hide the killer's name, maintaining the mystery of stealth attacks.

Why use invisible kills?​

The default death message immediately outs who killed you. If you want invisibility attacks to stay anonymous — manhunt games, assassin events, or just making stealth potions worth using — this hides the killer's identity.

Configuration​

features:
  invisible-kills:
    enabled: false
    death-message: "{victim} was killed by §k?????????"

Configuration Options​

OptionTypeDefaultDescription
enabledbooleanfalseMaster toggle for the feature
death-messagestring(see above)Custom death message with placeholder

Message Placeholder​

PlaceholderDescriptionExample
{victim}Name of the player who diedSteve

How It Works​

  1. Player A (with invisibility effect) kills Player B
  2. Plugin intercepts the death event before the message broadcasts
  3. Checks if Player A has the invisibility potion effect
  4. If yes, replaces the death message with the custom message
  5. The §k formatting code creates scrambled text for the killer's name

Example Messages​

Normal death message:

Steve was slain by Alex

With Invisible Kills enabled:

Steve was killed by ????????

The §k magic text effect makes the question marks appear as rapidly changing random characters, adding to the mystery.

Using the GUI​

  1. Run /smp to open the main menu
  2. Click on Invisible Kills
  3. Left Click: Toggle the feature on/off
  4. Right Click: View current settings and death message format

Message Customization​

You can customize the death message in config.yml:

Mysterious Message​

death-message: "{victim} died under mysterious circumstances..."

Assassin Themed​

death-message: "§c[ASSASSIN] §7{victim} has been eliminated."

Spooky Themed​

death-message: "§8§oA shadow claimed {victim}..."

Magic Text (Default)​

death-message: "{victim} was killed by §k?????????"

The §k code creates the scrambled/obfuscated text effect.

What Triggers the Feature​

The invisibility check requires:

  • Active INVISIBILITY potion effect on the killer
  • Any duration (even 1 tick counts)
  • Any amplifier level

Death Causes Affected​

This feature affects kills by:

  • Direct melee attacks
  • Projectiles (arrows, tridents)

Does NOT affect:

  • Environmental deaths (fall, lava, drowning)
  • Mob kills
  • Deaths when killer has no invisibility

Game Mode Ideas​

Assassin Game​

  1. Assign each player a target
  2. Give invisibility potions as rewards
  3. Use Invisible Kills to hide successful assassinations
  4. Last player standing wins

Manhunt Enhancement​

  1. Hunter has invisibility
  2. Speedrunner cannot know when hunter is near
  3. Death message hidden so teammates don't know who was killed

Mystery Murder​

  1. One player is secretly the murderer
  2. Murderer receives invisibility
  3. Players must deduce who is killing them

Troubleshooting​

Kill messages still showing​

  1. Verify enabled: true in config
  2. Ensure killer actually has invisibility effect
  3. Run /smp reload after config changes

Placeholder not working​

Ensure you're using {victim} with lowercase spelling exactly.