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Most of the mobs in the Lord of the Rings mod are NPCs, that is, non-player characters. Examples include Gondor soldiers, Orcs, and Elves. Spiders and Wargs are not considered NPCs because they are not sapient beings, and do not have certain characteristics specific to NPCs, such as eating and talking, and are simply mounts related to a specific faction.

List of NPCs[]

There are many different types of NPCs in the Lord of the Rings Mod:

Elves[]

Elves are the Firstborn Children of Ilúvatar, and were the first race to awaken in Arda. They are wise, fair, immortal beings who live in both Middle-earth and Valinor. In Middle-earth, you are likely to find Elves in places such as Rivendell, Lindon, Lothlórien, Dorwinion, and Mirkwood (The uncorrupted part). Unfortunately, some of the Elves that awoke were corrupted by Melkor, and, as a result, became Melkor's servants. In the mod, Elves are immune to poison.

Dwarves[]

Unlike Elves and Men, Dwarves were not originally created by Ilúvatar. Rather, they were created by Aulë, deep beneath the mountains of Middle-earth, and they were given life by Ilúvatar. They awoke about 100 years after the Elves, and are known for their great mines, strength, and metalsmithing skills. Of all races in Middle-earth, they are the most resistant to corruption. They are not immortal like the Elves, but they can live for hundreds of years unless they are slain in battle. In Middle-earth, you are likely to find Dwarves in places such as Erebor, the Blue Mountains, and the Iron Hills.

In the renewed version, Dwarves have natural knockback resistance.

Hobbits[]

Hobbits are the little folk of the Shire, which in addition to Bree is presently their only home, though in the past they lived in many other regions of Middle-earth. They are small, peaceful folk who dwell in holes. Hobbits are closely related to Men, and are presumably counted among the Secondborn Children of Ilúvatar as well. Like Men, they are mortal. They can, however, be a fearsome foe when roused. All wildlife in the Shire knows to find cover when a Hobbit stoops for a stone. They are stealthy, to the point that to Men it may seem magical. In the Mod, they use slings, the least effective ranged weapon in the game, to protect their borders. A lot of money can be made by setting up a pipe-weed farm and selling to the Hobbits. They also have lots of food you can loot and ovens you will certainly want to steal.

Men[]

Men are the Secondborn Children of Ilúvatar and they inhabit many areas of Middle-earth. Unlike Elves they age, and eventually die and leave the world. Men (at least those not of Númenórean descent) tend to live shorter lives than Dwarves and Hobbits. Some Men are good, including those of Gondor, Rohan, Dale, and the Rangers of the North, though other Men, including the Southrons, Easterlings, and the Dunlendings, have sided with evil powers. The player is considered a man by other NPCs.

Ents[]

Ents are the tree-herders of Fangorn Forest. In the days of old, their realm covered all the vast forests of Middle-earth, but today, Fangorn is their only home. They are fearsome warriors who will attack any foes which attempt to enter Fangorn or to chop down trees, though they will allow friendly players to drink some of their Draught.

Orcs and Uruk-Hai[]

Orcs and Uruk-Hai (which are just stronger versions of Orcs) were created by Melkor in the First Age of Middle-earth. They were born of young, captured Elves that he tormented, ruined and finally seduced to his power. They hate the light just as much as the darkness. They hate everything. Even each other. They are the main foot-soldiers used by the evil factions in Middle-earth. In general, they are not particularly strong, but their numbers and hate can more than make up for their individual weaknesses. There are also Black Uruks, who are sub race to the Uruk-hai.

Trolls[]

Trolls are semi-intelligent creatures, created by Melkor to imitate the Ents. They are as strong as stone, the stuff from which they're made. Though, Ents are said to be stronger. Yet their primary weakness lies in the spell that was cast to create them. The spell was cast in the darkness of the first age. Thus, light is their undoing. It turns them back to the stuff from which they are made. Stone. Half-trolls don't suffer from this problem.

Balrogs[]

Balrogs were Melkor's most trusted servants, and were essentially Maiar who were corrupted into joining his side. They are massive, fierce fire-demons who seethe with flame and brutality. They played a part in creating the world, and were greatly feared by all the Free Peoples, and even the Valar. Durin's Bane was the last Balrog known to exist in Middle-earth, although nobody knows what lurks in the depths of the world

NPC AI[]

Basic movement[]

When NPCs are not doing anything, they will slowly wander around in no particular direction, unless they're bound to a particular structure, in which case they will stay within a small radius of that structure. When they come to a one-block high step, they will jump. NPCs will avoid jumping down any cliff that might hurt them, and they usually don't try to walk into lava. However, they make no attempt to stay out of water, and will attempt to swim upward.

Interactions[]

When right-clicking to an NPC, the NPC will speak to you, with text appearing over their heads, or in the chat bar, depending on how you have configured the speech. This will occur regardless of alignment, although what they say will depend on your alignment with their faction. If you have a neutral or good alignment, there is a chance there will be an exclamation point above the NPC this means the NPC has a mini-quest.

If you have a negative alignment with an NPC's faction, most NPCs allied with that faction will (with a few exceptions) attack you. They will also attack you if provoked. Hostile NPCs will sometimes shout at you just before they attack. NPCs will also attack any NPCs that are part of a faction they're enemies with.

The behaviour of some mobs is also affected by alignment, such as wargs, spiders, huorns, and Hill-trolls.

Choosing a target[]

NPCs choose a target by looking at all the targets within their sight range, and by looking at how far away their target is and how many NPCs their target is currently fighting. This relationship is given by Pythagoras' theorem, which is as follows:

NPC attack weight = sqrt[(distance between target and NPC)2+(number of NPCs currently fighting target)2]

The higher a target's "NPC attack weight", the lower the chance that the NPC will attack that particular target. This means, for example, that an NPC is more likely to attack a target 5 blocks away that's not being fought than a target 4 blocks away that is currently being attacked by four other NPCs.

Attacking[]

When provoked by various means, all NPCs will attack. They can do this in various ways. In the renewed version, this also includes passive civilian NPCs now attacking if a nearby friend was killed by any entity, not just by a player (as it is in the legacy version).

Melee units[]

Melee units will get close to their target and swing a weapon at them. The damage dealt is calculated differently between versions:

In the legacy version, NPC melee attacks deal a base of 2 ( 2 ) empty fist damage plus 75% of the weapon's additional damage. This contrasts with player melee attacks, which deal a base of 1 ( 1 ) empty fist damage plus the full weapon bonus. For example, a Dwarven sword, with +7 damage, deals (1 + 7) = 8 ( 8 ) damage in the hands of a player, but deals (2 + 6 * 0.75) = 7 ( 7 ) in the hands of an NPC.

In the renewed version, NPC melee attacks deal exactly the same damage as a player would with the same weapon. This change was made to simplify things by introducing parity between players and NPCs. (Note: since Minecraft 1.9, melee weapons' tooltips display the total attack damage when wielding, rather than the additional damage added on top of an empty fist as is the case in 1.7.10.)

The properties of the weapon also determine the attack speed and reach of an NPC. For example, pikemen have a significantly greater reach than NPCs with swords, but they can't attack as many times per second.

In addition, the renewed version adds functional shields for both the player and NPCs. The NPCs lucky enough to have one use situational AI to decide when to block and when to attack, making combat much more tactical. The factors that go into deciding how they behave include the NPC's health, recent hits, number of nearby friends vs. foes, and whether their target is blocking in return.

Ranged units[]

Ranged NPCs will attempt to get within a certain distance of their target, and will start shooting or throwing projectiles at it. If their target gets too close to them, they will start to back up so that they don't get hit. This can make them very hard to hit with a melee weapon, especially if they're mounted.

Ranged and melee units[]

Some of the Mod's NPCs can fight with a bow at long range and a melee weapon at short range. They follow the AI of ranged units most of the time, backing away from targets that approach them, unless their target gets very close to them. In that case they'll switch to their melee weapon and engage in standard melee combat.

Bombardiers[]

Orc bombardiers will get close to an enemy in the same way that a melee unit would, but instead of attacking, they will drop a primed bomb and run. This bomb will explode within a few seconds. After that, the bombardier will switch to a dagger or scimitar and attack the same way as any other Orc.

Farming units[]

Hired farming units will hoe dirt or grass into farmland, unless a sand block is placed under that dirt. They will always keep at least one seed in their inventory, and will plant available seeds on farmland. When crops are fully grown, they will harvest them and place the seeds their inventory, ready to farm again.

Non-hired farming units will plant and harvest seeds the same way as hired farming units, but their inventory cannot be accessed.

Hired unit AI[]

Hired military units will generally use the same AI as their non-hired counterparts, with some exceptions. They will stick to within a certain distance of their player and will teleport back to the player if they're too far away, similar to tamed wolves, unless they're in combat. Whether or not they are currently fighting, they can be commanded using the horn and sword of command, and, if they're told to stay in guard mode, will remain within a certain distance of the block that they were assigned to guard. Additionally, they will automatically heal themselves if hurt when they are not in combat.

Special AI[]

Many NPCs are capable of various "non-standard" actions that don't happen in vanilla Minecraft.

Eating and drinking[]

NPCs are capable of eating and drinking if they are hurt, healing themselves in the process. However, they can only do this when they are not fighting. The precise amount that they heal themselves depends on the food they ate, with more filling food healing more than less filling food. NPC's may also eat or drink even if they're unhurt on occasion.

Healing[]

Some NPC's will gradually heal over time if they are hurt, without eating or drinking. These include all traders and hired units. NPC's won't heal in combat, but if they're not currently fighting, they will heal at the rate of approximately one half heart every second.

Mounted NPCs[]

Rohirrim Archer New

A mounted Rohirrim Archer

Some NPCs can ride the various mounts in the mod. This gives them a 50% greater sight range and greatly increases the speed at which they move. Usually, the AI of the rider controls how both the mount and NPC move, except in the case of spider-riders and warg-riders.

Seeking shade[]

Many "evil" NPCs will try to get out of direct sunlight. This includes most orcs and trolls. If they stay in the sun, they will be weakened or slowed down (orcs) or killed (trolls). To prevent this, these NPCs will seek shade or water.

Equipment drops[]

Much like zombies and skeletons in vanilla Minecraft, NPCs have a chance to drop parts of their equipped gear upon death. This includes held items and armour. However, the drop chances are significantly lower than for vanilla mobs. Furthermore, although all slots have a chance to drop independently, the chance for any given slot takes into account the total number of equipped items, such that (for example) the chance to obtain two equipment drops from an NPC with two equipped items is roughly equal to the chance to obtain one drop from an NPC with one equipped item, not roughly twice as likely.

The formula is:

slot drop chance = 1 / ((20 - looting level * 4) * total number of equipped items)

Therefore, for a fully-equipped NPC (held item and four armour pieces) the chance to receive a drop from any given slot, assuming no looting enchantment, is

1 / (20 * 5) = 1%

the chance to receive at least one drop is:

1 - (1 - 1/100)^5 ~= 4.9%

and the chance to receive all five drops is:

(1/100)^5 = 1/10000000000 = 0.00000001%

In the legacy version only, left-hand items will not drop, as these are cosmetic only in that version.

If an NPC has custom NBT data set (through the /summon command or otherwise) giving it a vanilla equipment drop chance equal to or greater than 1.0 (100%), it will use the vanilla mechanics instead for that slot, guaranteeing an item drop.

All items (260)

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