AuraSkills

AuraSkills adds skills to players that grow through what they do on the server. Mining grows for stone mined, Farming for harvesting, Combat for fighting with weapons, Fishing for fishing — and for each level the player gets a small perk (more health, faster movement, a better chance of rare items).

The player has their own overview: how many levels they have in each skill, how many remain until the next one, and which perks they have already gained. The server can also display leaderboards — who is best at what.

The plugin builds on the older Aurelium Skills and also offers a system of levels, mana, and abilities. However, that is an extension — you can start with just the skills, which require nothing else.

It is important that it itself does not ban or protect anything. It is a reward layer on top, and therefore it pays to set the pace: if levels grow too quickly, players will have them in a week and stop enjoying it.

Perks from skills need to be taken seriously even when building the server. When a player gains more health or faster movement, it changes combat and difficulty — it pays to go through the perks and decide which you want and which you turn off.

It pairs well with PlaceholderAPI (skill level can be shown in the tab list or in a menu) and with LuckPerms (rewards for reaching a level).

1. Download AuraSkills from modrinth.com/plugin/auraskills for your server version.
2. Upload the .jar to the plugins folder and restart the server.
3. Check the console — the plugin must load and should not report missing add-ons (for example for PlaceholderAPI).
4. Type /skills — a menu with skills must open.
5. Go through the configuration and set the pace: how much experience each activity gives and how fast levels grow. These values determine how long players will enjoy leveling.
6. Decide which level benefits you want. More health and speed change combat — for a PvP server, go through them especially carefully.
7. Assign permissions: a regular player needs to open the skills menu and see their own stats, while management gets administration.
8. Test it on yourself: mine a few blocks and open /skills — your mining level must increase.
9. Set up display via PlaceholderAPI (scoreboard or menu). Without that, players barely know about skills.
10. Test it with a player who plays on the server regularly — whether the leveling pace seems reasonable to them. No one else can answer this question for you.

Growth rate is the most important setting. When levels rise quickly, players reach them in a week and stop caring about them; when slowly, they never see any benefit. Test it with a player.
Per-level benefits change the game (health, speed, strength). Go through them and disable the ones that don't fit your server — otherwise combat balance falls apart.
Without PlaceholderAPI, players barely know about skills. Show the level at least in the tab list or in a menu — they'll see that something is growing and will come back.
AuraSkills doesn't protect the server or prohibit activities. It's a rewards layer; protection and rules are handled by other plugins.
When experience isn't being added, verify that the player is doing an activity it's awarded for, and whether counting is disabled for the given world or tool.
Skill and setting names change slightly between versions — when searching, rely on in-game help and the plugin documentation, not guesses.
Back up the plugin's data. Players' progress is in it, and without a backup it will be lost on restore.