VitalCore

VitalCore replaces the usual health float and its pile of timers with a complete vitals system. Add the Vitals component to any pawn or actor and define its stats - Health, Stamina, Shield, Mana, Hunger, anything - inline or in a shared Vital Core Profile data asset. Each stat has a current, maximum and minimum value, a regeneration rate and a delay that restarts whenever the stat is damaged, drained or spent.

Damage goes through a clear pipeline: multipliers per damage type class (including child types), a flat armor value, a minimum-damage floor, then a shield stat that absorbs part or all of the hit before health and recharges on its own delay, with a break event. The engine's own Apply Damage, Apply Point Damage and Apply Radial Damage are picked up automatically and counted once, so existing weapons work without changes. Every hit records its direction, location, bone, instigator and causer; the last hit angle drives hit indicators, and at death the kill credit and the assist list are computed from the damage dealt inside a configurable time window.

Vital Core Effect data assets cover timed and status effects: damage or heal over time, stat drain or boost, with tick interval and duration, plus stacks, maximum stacks, a Refresh / Extend / Keep policy and modifiers that add to or multiply a stat's maximum or regeneration, add armor or scale incoming damage while active. A quick Apply Timed Change node does the same without an asset.

Pawns can be downed first, with a bleed-out timer that damage shortens, then die, and be revived with a fraction of their health. An invulnerability window after hits and revives and a god-mode toggle are built in. Character owners take fall damage from their landing speed with a threshold and linear or curve scaling. Stamina spending refuses what it cannot afford and locks out after exhaustion until stamina recovers, and a sprint helper drains stamina and can switch the walk speed.

Everything is server-authoritative and replicated: stats, effects, life state, last hit, kill info and timers reach every client, and RepNotifies fire the same Blueprint events there as on the server. Save Vitals captures every stat and effect into one SaveGame-ready struct and Load Vitals restores it. The VitalCore.Debug console variable draws every pawn's vitals above it in development builds.

VitalCore is part of the Alpha XP collection for Unreal Engine 4.27 and 5.8. Every feature is exposed to Blueprints and C++, it ships with styled HTML documentation, and it is compiled and verified warning-free against clean UE 4.27 and UE 5.8 projects.

Key features

• Vitals component with any number of named stats from a data asset or an inline array
• Current, maximum and minimum value per stat, runtime add, set and base-max changes
• Regeneration per stat with rate and delay after damage or use (negative rates decay)
• Damage multipliers per damage type class, flat armor and a minimum-damage floor
• Shield stat that absorbs damage before health, own recharge delay, break event
• Timed effects: damage / heal over time, stat drain / boost, tick interval and duration
• Status effects with stacks, max stacks and Refresh / Extend / Keep policy
• Modifiers: add or multiply max and regeneration, add armor, scale damage taken
• Downed state with bleed-out timer, death, revive with a health fraction
• Invulnerability window after hits and revives, god-mode toggle
• Server-authoritative replication with client-side events through RepNotify
• Automatic hook into engine point, radial and generic damage
• Hit info: direction, angle, location, bone, instigator and causer
• Kill credit and assist list within a time window, with player states
• Fall damage from landing speed for characters, linear or curve scaling
• Save Vitals / Load Vitals into a SaveGame-ready struct
• Try Spend Stamina with exhaustion lockout and a sprint drain helper
• VitalCore.Debug on-screen stats and a Blueprint function library

Blueprint & C++ API

The API is organised into these entry points:

Callable runs when executed · Pure no exec pin, returns a value

Events & delegates

Bind these in Blueprint (drag off the object → Bind Event) or with AddDynamic in C++.

Options & enums

Compatibility

One ready-made build per engine version is included in the download — copy the one that matches your project.

Technical details

What's in the download

Quick start

1. Unzip the download and pick the build that matches your engine (4.27 · 5.8).
2. Copy the VitalCore folder into your project's Plugins/ folder (create it if needed).
3. Open the project, enable VitalCore under Edit › Plugins and restart the editor.
4. Right-click in any Blueprint graph and search Damage — or include the public headers from C++.
5. Package for your target platform (Windows, macOS).

Good to know