🧠 KnowledgeBound

KnowledgeBound is a server-side RPG skill progression and balancing mod for Minecraft. It completely re-imagines vanilla progression, replacing immediate access to late-game gear with a time-and-action-based knowledge system.

Start as an unskilled novice who can barely swing a sword, gather basic materials, or craft low-quality tools. Over time, as you perform tasks in the world, your knowledge will grow, unlocking standard vanilla capabilities and eventually allowing you to master your chosen professions!

✨ Key Features

⚡ 100% Server-Side Compatible: Clients do not need to install the mod to join a KnowledgeBound server! Everything runs perfectly server-side.
🖥️ Optional Client-Side HUD: Players who do install the mod on their client can press K to toggle a real-time HUD showing all skill progress bars.
⏱️ Real-Time Progression: XP is gained based on real-time minutes spent actively practicing a skill, preventing gameplay spam and TPS/lag exploits.
🛠️ Immersive Crafting Qualities: Low-tier crafting attempts can fail entirely (wasting ingredients) or yield Poor Quality items with only 10% durability.
⚔️ RPG Combat & Armor Scaling: Damage is dynamically scaled down until you train your combat skills. Armor is locked behind your highest combat tier.
🏆 Custom Specialties & Limits: Configurable limits prevent players from mastering every job, encouraging specialization and player trading.
📊 Double-Chest GUI & Scoreboard: Don't have the client mod? No problem! Use /kb gui to open an interactive chest menu or /kb hud to see your stats on a server-side scoreboard.

📖 How It Works

Unlike typical RPG mods where you grind by breaking thousands of blocks or slaying hordes of mobs, KnowledgeBound tracks the time you spend practicing your craft.

Gain XP through activity: You earn 1 "minute" of XP for each real-time minute spent using a skill (with an internal cooldown to prevent spam).
Use the correct tool: To level up, you must use tools appropriate for your tier. E.g., to go from Mining Tier 1 to Tier 2, you must mine using stone pickaxes.
Tiers Matter: As you level up, you unlock higher item tiers. Attempting to craft or use items above your current knowledge level carries severe penalties.

📂 Job Categories & Progression

KnowledgeBound features 13 unique skills split into distinct job archetypes:

🛠️ Material Jobs (5 Tiers)

These jobs govern high-tier equipment crafting. You cannot skip tiers; attempting to craft an item above your tier will always fail.

Toolsmithing: Crafting pickaxes, axes, shovels, and hoes.
Weaponsmithing: Crafting swords, bows, and crossbows.
Armouring: Crafting armor pieces.

🪵 Class Jobs (3 Tiers)

These jobs cover building, utility, and survival crafting. You can attempt to craft items above your tier, but at a high risk of failure.

Carpentry: Wooden items, chests, doors, and furniture (Bamboo items are +1 tier harder!).
Masonry: Stone and brick crafting, redstone components, and concrete.
Beekeeping: Honey/honeycomb harvesting, moving beehives, and crafting Royal Honey.

⛏️ Gathering Jobs (5 Tiers)

At low tiers, gathering blocks has a chance to drop nothing. Level up to become an efficient harvester.

Forestry: Chopping wood and logs.
Mining: Breaking stone, deepslate, and ores.
Digging: Shoveling dirt, sand, gravel, and clay.
Farming: Harvesting mature crops.

⚔️ Combat & Other (5 Tiers)

Melee Combat & Ranged Combat: Boost your damage output from a starting 40% up to a full 100%. Your highest combat tier determines which armor (Leather -> Chainmail -> Iron -> Gold -> Diamond -> Netherite) you are allowed to wear.
Fishing: Catching fish to level up your aquatic survival skills.

🐝 Specialized Mechanics

🪨 Stonecutter Hazards:

Using the stonecutter requires Masonry Tier 1. At low tiers, there's a chance you'll accidentally cut yourself, taking damage!

🍯 Royal Honey:

Master beekeepers have a chance to harvest rare Royal Honey, which grants custom potion effects (Regeneration and Saturation).

🚫 Boat Construction Rules:

Large ocean-going boats are blocked from crafting by default, adding strategic planning to early-game exploration.

⚙️ Fully Configurable

All settings are stored in config/knowledgebound.json on the server. You can configure:
XP time multipliers (make leveling faster or slower).
Specific item and block assignments to different tiers.
Failure rates, combat damage scaling, and armor requirements.
Custom effects for Royal Honey.
Supports hot-reloading in-game using /kb reload!

💬 Commands

/kb (or /checkxp) - Check your current skill levels.
/kb gui - Open the server-side double-chest progress screen.
/kb hud - Toggle the server scoreboard sidebar.
/kb reload - (Admin) Reload the configuration file instantly.
/kb set - (Admin) Adjust a player's skill levels.

📦 Installation & Requirements

Make sure you are running Fabric Loader on Minecraft 1.21.1.
Install the latest Fabric API on both the server and client.
Place the KnowledgeBound-x.x.x.jar in your server's mods/ directory.
(Optional but Recommended) Install the mod on the client to enable the real-time HUD (toggled with K).