Set up PvPManager on your Minecraft server

PvPManager is a plugin for the rules around player fighting: combat tagging, protection for new players, a PvP on/off switch for each player and punishments for logging out mid-fight. It runs only on the server, so players install nothing.

Checked against PvPManager 4.0.22, listed on Modrinth for Paper 26.3, October 2026. The jar on Modrinth is the free edition. Commands the wiki marks as premium, such as /pvpgrant, are not in it.

What you need

• A Paper or Purpur server, which shows a Plugins tab under Content in the panel menu.
• Nothing else is required. For safe zones, PvPManager reads WorldGuard regions, so see Set up WorldGuard on your Minecraft server if you want them.

Install PvPManager

1. Open the Plugins tab and keep Modrinth selected in the source chip row at the top of the tab.
2. Search for PvPManager and click Install on the listing. The version filter starts on your server's Minecraft version.
3. Open Console and click Restart. A new plugin only loads at startup.

The plugin creates a plugins/PvPManager folder with config.yml, messages.properties and a combatlogs.log that records players who logged out in combat.

What the defaults do

With the shipped config, as soon as the plugin starts:

• A combat tag lasts 15 seconds.
• Logging out while tagged kills the player, and they drop their inventory, experience and armour.
• New players get 600 seconds of newbie protection, and can end it early with /newbie disable.
• PvP is on for everyone, and players cannot switch their own PvP off. That needs the pvpmanager.command.pvp permission, which many servers hand only to certain ranks.

Change the settings

1. Open File Manager, go to plugins/PvPManager and open config.yml.
2. Change the values you want. The main sections are General Settings, Combat Tag, Combat Log Punishments, PvP Toggle, Newbie Protection and Player Kills. Each has comments above its options, and most features have an Enabled switch.
3. Click Save, then run pmr reload in the Console. The wiki says every setting reloads without a restart.

Two values are easy to find. Combat Tag has Time (seconds, 15 by default), and Newbie Protection has Time too (600 by default). World Exclusions under General Settings lists worlds where the plugin does nothing.

Commands and permissions

• /pvp toggles your own PvP, and /pvpstatus shows yours or another player's state.
• /pvptag shows your time left in combat. /untag <player> removes a tag.
• /newbie add, checktime and remove manage protection, and /newbie disable ends your own.
• /pvpglobal <on|off> switches PvP for the whole server.
• /pvpoverride lets an admin attack anyone, anywhere.
• /pmr reload reloads the config, and /pmr locale <language> changes the message language.

Two permission groups cover most setups: pvpmanager.admin for staff commands and pvpmanager.exempt for players who skip combat rules. If you use LuckPerms, Set up LuckPerms on your Minecraft server shows how to grant them.

Common problems

• The plugin seems to do nothing. Assuming the console shows no errors, your account may hold exempt permissions through operator status. Test with a second account that is not an operator, or run /pvpinfo to see your exemptions.
• PvP is off but players still fight. Either an admin ran /pvpoverride, or the players stand in a WorldGuard region whose pvp flag is ALLOW. Set WorldGuard Overrides to false under PvP Toggle to stop PvPManager forcing PvP on there.
• Safe zones. Set the region's WorldGuard pvp flag to deny. Players who are tagged get pushed back when they try to enter it, which the config calls Anti Border Hopping.