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Loadouts & Equipment

The Guard module uses real equipment (armor/hands), but exposes it to players through safe loadout slots.

Armor

Armor is normal Minecraft armor:

  • Helmet / Chestplate / Leggings / Boots

Combat loadout (main hand / offhand)

In the Villager Inventory screen you'll see two special slots:

  • Combat Main Hand
  • Combat Offhand

These slots are not the villager's real hand slots.

Instead:

  • The mod stores your chosen items as a loadout.
  • When the villager is actively fighting (or patrolling), the loadout is equipped into the villager's real hands.
  • When combat ends, the villager's previous hand items are restored.

This design avoids common issues:

  • The player doesn't need to manage the villager's real hands directly.
  • The server stays authoritative and swapping is safe.

When loadouts are equipped

The mod equips the combat loadout automatically when needed, including:

  • Combat modes: Flee / Defend / Aggressive
  • Movement: Patrol

(Other modules may also temporarily equip loadout items when they need a real tool in-hand.)

Shield blocking

If you want villagers to block:

  • Put a shield (or any item with "block" use animation) in Combat Offhand.

During combat, the AI will try to block between swings.

Info

Villager shield blocking is implemented server-side (vanilla doesn't properly evaluate villager shield blocks in many situations). When blocking, damage is canceled, knockback is suppressed, shield durability is reduced, and a block sound is played.

Advanced: what counts as a block?
  • Blocking is offhand-based (the AI uses offhand shields).
  • Attacks are only blocked if they come from roughly in front of the villager (a wide front cone).

Eating (auto-heal)

Villagers can eat food from their inventory to heal.

  • Food is temporarily moved into the villager's real main hand while eating.
  • After eating finishes, the previous main hand item is restored.

See: Combat AI Behavior.

Visuals (hands, holsters, animations)

The client renders villagers with more "player-like" equipment visuals:

  • Held items in hands when equipped.
  • Holstered loadout items when not currently equipped.
  • Arm swing and eat poses for better readability in combat.