Hazardous Blocks and Plants

Hazardous Blocks and Plants are the blocks and plants added by the mods in Fear Nightfall that damage, trap, slow, freeze or set fire to a living entity that touches them, stands on them, steps on them or is hit by something falling. Many of the mods in the pack add at least one. The hazards appear in the Overworld and the Nether, in both ordinary biomes and horror biomes, so a player who walks through unfamiliar terrain can meet several of them on one trip.

Most hazards act in one of four ways: when an entity enters the block's space, when it steps onto the block, when it lands on the block after a fall, or as a fire source. The table below lists the main hazards by mod. The sections after it group them by behaviour and give the numbers that matter for planning a route. The detailed mechanics of each block are on the linked pages.

Hazard summary

Contact hazards

Several plants damage an entity that enters their block space. Bramble and Tiny Cactus only hurt players. Burning Blossom sets the entity alight and deals fire damage on every tick of contact. It can only be placed on Nether ground, such as netherrack, soul sand and nylium. Dorcel and the Dusktrap from Regions Unexplored also work on contact. The Dusktrap is the harshest plant in this group, with 3.0 damage per tick, and it holds the entity in place while it hurts. Its redstone signal makes it useful as a sensor, but it should not be built into a route that players walk.

The Barrel Cactus is the only cactus in Cacti (Regions Unexplored) that damages entities. The Saguaro Cactus and the Saguaro Cactus Flower do not, so the saguaros of the Saguaro Desert do not hurt, while its small Barrel Cacti on sand and sandstone do.

Step-on hazards

Some blocks hurt an entity only when it steps onto them. The Brimstone Fumaroles of Erupting Inferno and the Thermal Calcite Vents of Hot Springs use the same damage type. Each step costs 1.0 damage, so a path across several of them adds up quickly. Fire-immune entities are not hurt by either. A vent is made by right-clicking a Thermal Calcite block with a pickaxe, so a player who builds one creates the hazard on purpose.

The Stove from Farmer's Delight is a step-on hazard that works only while it is lit. A lit stove burns any living entity whose body touches its grilling area, for 1 HP of fire damage and the Burning effect. Sneaking avoids the burn. An unlit stove is harmless and stops cooking.

Falling and overhead hazards

Hazards that fall or drop are a particular risk when a player jumps down or moves under a structure.

Thin Black Ice from Jaden's Nether Expansion breaks under a walking player at a small chance, much more often when sprinting. It breaks at once when a player lands on it from a fall of at least one block, and a broken block can set off its neighbours in a chain. The Black Ice Glaciers sub-biome of Soul Sand Valley is where it is most common. Black Icicles hang from ceilings and rise from floors. A falling icicle freezes any creature it lands on, and a crossbow shot freezes the target it hits.

Sorrowsquash grows on a stem in the Sorrowsquash and Sorroweed biome. When the stem head holding a fruit is broken, the fruit can fall and damage whatever lies below, with the amount set by config. The Soul Sand Valley is also home to several of the pack's horror mobs, so the overhead danger often appears alongside them.

Powered Ceiling Lights and Fans from Refurbished Furniture are a hazard only while they receive power through Electricity. A powered fan deals 0.5 damage each tick to every living entity in the area beneath its blades, mobs and players alike. An unpowered fan does no damage.

Traps

Traps are blocks that trigger once and then change or break. The Hound Trap from Born in Chaos is the most damaging trap in the pack. It is a flat plate that springs when an entity walks into it. It deals damage and applies Bone Fracture and Slowness, then turns into a Closed Hound Trap. Players take 10 damage from it, while undead and animal mobs take 25. The trap needs a solid block beneath it and drops itself if that block is removed.

Bamboo Spikes from Supplementaries are a trap that keeps working as long as it is not broken. A spike deals 3 damage when a creature lands on it and 1.5 damage in other contact cases, and it slows movement inside the block. A spike can be tipped with a lingering potion, which applies that effect on contact.

Infected plants

The flowers and grasses of Sleepy Hollows Plants are the hazards in this group that apply a status effect rather than direct damage. An infected plant applies the Infected status to anything that stands on or in it. The status deals wither damage about every 2 seconds and drains Sanity. The effect is described on the Sleepy Hollows Effects page. Infected plants are cleansed with Luminous Water.

Fire hazards

Burning Blossom and the lit Stove set entities on fire, and the Brimstone Fumaroles and Thermal Calcite Vents deal damage that is not fire damage but are blocked by fire immunity. Burning Blossom is the only flower in the mod that damages entities. Hoglins and Piglins are not affected by its fire effect. Its damage check does not depend on fire immunity, so a fire-immune entity still takes its damage. That behaviour follows from the code path and has not been tested in game.

Fear Nightfall context

Fear Nightfall is a horror pack, and several of these hazards sit in biomes that the pack treats as frightening. The Spider Nest is a horror biome whose spider eggs and webs are found only inside it. The Sleepy Hollows biome holds the infected plants, and the Soul Sand Valley holds the black ice and sorrowsquash. The horror mobs that share those biomes are described on the Horror and Spooky Content page.

Tips

Look at the ground before walking through flowers, vines or plants in an unfamiliar biome. Most hazardous plants look like ordinary decoration, so a bramble or a Dorcel is easy to miss.

Sneak when crossing a lit stove, a sheet of thin black ice or a line of spikes. Sneaking avoids the stove burn, keeps thin ice from breaking under you, and prevents damage from an up-facing spike.

Do not drop onto thin black ice or a sorrowsquash field. Both hurt more after a fall than they do on a walk.

Keep netherite away from ectoplasm. Ectoplasm rusts netherite blocks that touch it, as described on the Netherite Plating and Grates page.