Mound exterior
A mound is a rare dungeon-like structure that generates in the Overworld containing vanilla spawners and loot.
Generation[]
Mounds can generate anywhere in the Overworld, not restricted to any particular biome; however, they require an unobstructed 19x19 block area open to the sky that is relatively leveled (varying only 2-3 blocks in height) that is covered in stone, dirt, or grass. In practice, this makes them most common in plains and savannas.
Mounds have a 1/150 chance to generate in any given chunk, making them already very rare. Their stringent spawning requirements will likely cause most generation attempts to fail, making them rarer still.
A mound will not generate in any chunk where a random aura node has already been generated.
Structure[]
Interior upper floor with sinister node (torches added for visibility).
Interior lower floor with spawners and loot pit (torches added for visibility).
Mounds outwardly appear as 19x19x6 dome-shaped heaps of grassy earth protruding out from the landscape covered in patches of tall grass. One side of the dome contains an entrance built out of cobblestone, mossy cobblestone, and cobblestone stairs, with a single block of chiseled stone bricks at the head of the doorway. The entrance is blocked off by iron bars.
Inside the dome is a large 11x11x3 room made of cobblestone and mossy cobblestone. In the center of the room is a 5x4 opening in the floor with pillars on each of its corners. Floating level with the floor in the center of this opening is a sinister aura node. A staircase is located in the back left corner of the room.
The level below is another 11x11x3 room. Two spawners are located in the two corners opposite the staircase against the wall directly below the entrance, one spawning zombies and the other spawning skeletons. In the center of the room is another 5x4 opening in the floor with corner pillars aligned with the one above leading down into a pit. A ladder on the wall between the spawners descends down into the pit.
The central pit is 4 blocks deep and contains loot. Against the wall directly opposite the ladder is a chest. This chest has a 1/3 chance to be trapped with a block of TNT beneath it primed to detonate when the player opens the chest. Against each wall to either side of the chest will be either an abandoned crate or an old urn.
Loot[]
The lone chest will contain loot pulled from the same loot table as dungeon chests. There is a 20% chance that the chest will pull from the loot table twice instead of only once.
The abandoned crates and old urns will generate with the following rarity chances:
| Rarity | Chance |
|---|---|
| Common | 60% |
| Uncommon | 30% |
| Rare | 10% |
Trivia[]
- The name of this structure appears nowhere in the game itself. The name "mound" is derived from how it is referred to by Thaumcraft's source code.
- All mounds are oriented the same direction, with entrances facing to the north. The spawner in the northeast corner will always spawn skeletons and the northwest spawner will always spawn zombies.
- Mounds are the second rarest of all generated structures added by Thaumcraft by generation chance, second only to obsidian totems with default config settings. However, since mounds have far stricter spawning requirements, they tend to be significantly rarer in practice.