Abilities

SkillsRPG has 72 abilities split across three types. All abilities are defined in YAML under plugins/SkillsRPG/abilities/.

Ability Types

Type	Count	How unlocked
BASE	32 (4 per skill)	Spend ability points earned on level-up. Unlocked at levels 5 / 15 / 30 / 45 / 70 with at least 1 point invested. Rankable up to max-rank.
MILESTONE	32 (4 per skill)	Granted automatically when the player completes a milestone quest at skill tiers 25 / 50 / 75 / 100. Not rankable — granted at rank 1.
SYNERGY	8	Auto-unlocked when a player reaches level 50 in both qualifying skills. See Synergies.

The 12 Ability Patterns

Every ability declares exactly one pattern. The pattern determines what happens when the ability fires.

Pattern	Description
`InstantDamage`	Deals a one-shot burst of damage to the target immediately.
`AoeBurst`	Applies an effect (damage, knockback, debuff) to all entities within a radius.
`Dot`	Applies a damage-over-time effect that ticks for a configured duration.
`BuffSelf`	Grants a temporary positive status effect (speed, strength, resistance, etc.) to the caster.
`DebuffTarget`	Applies a temporary negative status effect (slowness, weakness, etc.) to the target.
`Dash`	Launches the caster in a direction (forward by default, or toward/away from target).
`ProjectileMod`	Modifies the next projectile the player fires (additional velocity, pierce, on-hit effect).
`BlockInteractMod`	Modifies the next block interaction (instant mine, area mine, ore fortune boost, etc.).
`PassiveTick`	Fires on a server-side tick interval when the ability is equipped, regardless of manual activation.
`HealSelf`	Restores a configured amount of health to the caster instantly.
`Shield`	Absorbs incoming damage up to a configured amount for a set duration.
`ResourceConvert`	Converts one resource into another on activation (e.g. mana health, XP items).

Ability YAML Schema

Each ability is one entry in its skill's YAML file (or a standalone file if you prefer):

abilities:
  power_strike:
    id: power_strike           # unique string id — used in /skills admin unlock
    skill: swords              # which skill this ability belongs to
    type: BASE                 # BASE | MILESTONE | SYNERGY
    pattern: InstantDamage     # one of the 12 patterns listed above
    unlock-level: 5            # player must reach this skill level before the ability appears
    points-to-unlock: 1        # ability points required to purchase rank 1
    max-rank: 3                # maximum rank players can invest to
    pvp-enabled: true          # if false, ability is blocked by the WorldGuard/ChunkClaim PvP check

    # rank-params defines values at each rank (must have max-rank entries)
    rank-params:
      1:
        damage-multiplier: 1.5
        mana-cost: 15
        cooldown-seconds: 10
      2:
        damage-multiplier: 2.0
        mana-cost: 18
        cooldown-seconds: 9
      3:
        damage-multiplier: 2.75
        mana-cost: 22
        cooldown-seconds: 7

    icon: IRON_SWORD            # material for the ability item in the GUI
    name: "<gold>Power Strike"  # MiniMessage display name
    lore:
      - "<gray>A devastating strike that deals"
      - "<gray><b>{damage-multiplier}x</b> weapon damage."
      - ""
      - "<yellow>Mana: <white>{mana-cost}"
      - "<yellow>Cooldown: <white>{cooldown-seconds}s"

Key notes

{damage-multiplier}, {mana-cost}, {cooldown-seconds} — any key from rank-params can be referenced in lore with {key-name} — the engine substitutes the current rank's value at display time.
pvp-enabled: false means the ability will not fire against player targets in PvP-flagged regions (WorldGuard or ChunkClaim). It still fires against mobs.
MILESTONE and SYNERGY abilities should omit points-to-unlock and set max-rank: 1. Milestone lore can omit mana-cost if it fires passively as a grant.

Rank Scaling

When a player spends points to increase an ability rank, SkillsRPG reads the rank-params block for the new rank and recalculates all derived values (damage, mana cost, cooldown, etc.). There is no interpolation — each rank's full param set is defined explicitly.

Players can only increase ranks, not decrease them, except via the respec flow which resets all base-ability ranks to 0 and refunds points.

The Ability Bar

Players have a 3-slot active ability bar (expands to 4 at total level 200+). To equip abilities:

Open /skills Equip Abilities.
Click an ability to assign it to the active slot.
In-game: F (default swap-hand key) cycles the active slot. The active ability fires when swap-hand is pressed while already on that slot.

MILESTONE and SYNERGY abilities can also be assigned to the bar. SYNERGY abilities are available as soon as both qualifying skills reach level 50.

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