Elite Creatures Reborn

Creatures spawn with mutations — named, visible traits that change how a fight goes. A Mad greydwarf comes at you twice as fast on half the health. A Bloated draugr takes twice the killing and then explodes in your face. A Devouring wolf eats the boars around it and grows on what it eats until it comes looking for you.

Rebuilt from scratch. This release covers mutations and stars; the rest returns over the next releases.

Mutations

Nine, one per creature by default, each with its own colour and its own name on the nameplate.

Mutation	What it does
Mad	Far faster, half health
Bloated	Double health, explodes a second after it dies
Cloaked	Invisible beyond 6 metres
Splintering	Splits into two weaker copies when killed, which can split again
Leeching	Regenerates, and heals from the damage it deals
Warding	Reflects damage and knocks you back
Plated	Armoured while healthy, hits harder as that armour goes
Miasmic	Trails poison clouds; poisons players, never creatures
Devouring	Kills creatures in one bite and keeps their health and damage, until it is big enough to hunt you

Stars

Beyond vanilla's two, counted in fives on the nameplate: a small star is one, a large star is five. A mutation on a large star is stronger. Star chances and mutation chances are set per biome, so the Meadows stay the Meadows.

Configuration

Two files, both written and documented on first run, both hot-reloaded while you play:

• BepInEx/config/gglasgow.elitecreaturesreborn.cfg — the settings: star chances, mutation chances and mutation strength per biome, colours, nameplate distance, and an off switch for everything.
• BepInEx/config/creature_rules.yml — the rule file, for anything too structured for a flat settings file.

A server binds connected players to its own rules. Display preferences — colours, tint strength, nameplate distance, whether trait names show at all — stay with each player and are never locked.

Console commands

Command	Does
elite spawn <prefab> <stars> [mutation...]	Spawns exactly that creature, bypassing every roll, for testing
elite inspect	Prints the resolved stars, mutations and numbers for the creature under your crosshair
elite purge	Removes the loaded creatures this mod has marked, with no drops
elite effects <text>	Lists loaded effect prefabs matching the text and plays one, for building visuals

Install

With a mod manager, install it. By hand, drop EliteCreaturesReborn.dll into BepInEx/plugins. Requires BepInEx. On a server, install it on the server and on every client.

Multiplayer

Creature state travels in the world data the game already shares, so every player sees the same creature with the same traits. Install it on the dedicated server as well as the clients.

Files

• plugins/EliteCreaturesReborn.dll — the mod, a single merged assembly
• config/gglasgow.elitecreaturesreborn.cfg — settings
• config/creature_rules.yml — creature rules

Building

.NET SDK 8, with Valheim installed:

dotnet build EliteCreaturesReborn/EliteCreaturesReborn.csproj -c Release

Override -p:GamePath=..., -p:BepInExCore=... or -p:ModLibsPath=... if your layout differs. The build merges the shared libraries into one DLL and writes it to dist/.

License

GNU General Public License v3.0 (GPL-3.0). You are free to use, study, share and modify it, and anything you distribute that is built from it must carry the same freedoms and be released under the same licence, with source. See the LICENSE file for the full terms.