Get ProtocolLib to enjoy all features, it's optional though. Download:

Added:

• ProtocolLib is now OPTIONAL! It's still needed to get all features but allows an independent use. Helpful if, e.g., ProtocolLib is not updated for a new version of Spigot or you only need basic motd features.
• Commands to toggle HoverText and UnknownSlots
• HEX support for single hex colors and multi gradients (big thanks to @harry0198 and his project) #21

========== Quick Start ==========
Two color gradient and bold font:
<g:#ED4264:#FFEDBC>&lSo cool!

Three color gradient and italic font:
<g:#ED4264:#FFEDBC:#22c1c3>&oSo cool!"

Single HEX code and underlined:
<#FFEDBC>&nIt's me :)

Removed:

• bug that threw an NPE while trying to get %player% #32 #33
• bug that didn't resolve PAPI vars right after start-up #35
• Old System.out.println. Using Logger now, shouldn't upset your Paper #31
• some noisy messages spamming your console

Tested with 1.16 & 1.17 @ Java 16

Feature	Without ProtocolLib	With ProtocolLib
ClassicMotd	🟢	🟢
RandomMotd	🟢	🟢
BanMotd	🟢	🟢
WhitelistMotd	🟢	🟢
RestrictedMode	🟠	🟢
FakeMaxPlayer	🔴	🟢
FakeOnlinePlayer	🔴	🟢
VersionText	🔴	🟢
OutdatedClientText	🔴	🟢
UnknownSlots	🔴	🟢
SlotsPlusOne	🔴	🟢
OnlineMultiplier	🔴	🟢
HoverText	🔴	🟢

This plugin requires ProtocolLib!   ProtocolLib download

  Added:

• HEX support for single hex colors and multi gradients (big thanks to @harry0198 and his project) #21

========== Quick Start ==========
Two color gradient and bold font:
<g:#ED4264:#FFEDBC>&lSo cool!

Three color gradient and italic font:
<g:#ED4264:#FFEDBC:#22c1c3>&oSo cool!"

Single HEX code and underlined:
<#FFEDBC>&nIt's me :)

Removed:

• bug that threw an NPE while trying to get %player% #32
• Old System.out.println. Using Logger now, shouldn't upset your Paper #31
• some of noisy messages spamming your console

Tested with 1.16 & 1.17 @ Java 16

ServerlistMODT X LITE

This is a lite version of ServerlistMOTD which aims to bring maximum compatibility without relying on any dependencies outside of Spigot. To make this happen, I had to disable a few features.

YOU DON'T NEED PROTOCOLLIB FOR THIS RELEASE!

The feature set of this lite version compares to the full version of ServerlistMOTD as follows:

Feature	LITE-X-2021-06-13	X-2020-09-05
ClassicMotd	🟢	🟢
RandomMotd	🟢	🟢
BanMotd	🟢	🟢
WhitelistMotd	🟢	🟢
RestrictedMode	🟠	🟢
FakeMaxPlayer	🔴	🟢
FakeOnlinePlayer	🔴	🟢
VersionText	🔴	🟢
OutdatedClientText	🔴	🟢
UnknownSlots	🔴	🟢
SlotsPlusOne	🔴	🟢
OnlineMultiplier	🔴	🟢
HoverText	🔴	🟢

This plugin requires ProtocolLib!   ProtocolLib download

  Added:

• PlaceholderAPI support everywhere (Player placeholders not working due to technical limitations!) #13
• Custom text for outdated clients in the serverlist #11
• BanManager support for newer versions
• Now communicates how many duplicate players are remove from the internal db (console)
• Improved randomness of randomised variables/ motd 
• Internal improvements

Removed:

• bug that broke world loading order and therefore plugins like Multiverse or Towny #9
• bug that broke BanMOTD #7
• bug that broke %randomplayer% and %money% in some places

Manually tested for 1.8.8, 1.12.2 and 1.16.2    

Info for 1.16.1:

• You can find a beta build independent of ProtocolLib here working with Spigot 1.16.1 with a disabled dependency on ProtocolLib. This means that all your motds will work normally but all slots features won't work, as they depend on ProtocolLib.
• OR use ProtocolLib dev build from here and use this official ServerlistMOTD build!

Removed:

• fixed a bug where the vault integration caused a npe

Added:

• added info message in console on server startup, notifying the user which economy plugins ServerlistMOTD taps into

Removed:

• fixed a bug where uncached users caused NullPointerExceptions when pinging the server

Added:

• automatic world name detection if you are not using 'world'

Removed:

• fixed a bug where the plugin didn't get disabled completely if configured world name can't be found

Everything's new!

ServerlistMOTD X revamps the very old code base of older versions and is meant to last. This is not a feature update!

You need ProtocolLib to use ServerlistMOTD which you can finde here: click me! Please remember to use the correct version of ProtocolLib if you are not using the newest version of Spigot!

Added:

• stability
• performance
• config migration -> Your old config gets renamed and a new one gets generated. You can easily copy and paste old motds!

Removed:

• BungeeCord support (Sorry, this is just too much to maintain. Please use older versions!)
• collection of metric data via bStats
• update command
• junk!

Be cautious:

• You have to migrate your old configured motds from config_old.yml to the newly generated config.yml!
• The permissions have changed. Please update them!
• BungeeCord is no longer supported!

You need more information on how to use ServerlistMOTD? Head over to the wiki or the project page on dev.bukkit.org and read more about how ServerlistMOTD can kickstart your motd.

This version is tested on spigot-1.13.1-R0.1-SNAPSHOT-b1953 and ProtocolLib v4.4.0.

first alpha of ServerlistMOTD X for Spigot/ Bukkit