Configuring PvP on Your 7 Days to Die Server
Turn PvP on, choose who can hurt whom, and tune land claims for a raiding server.
Enabling PvP
Player Killing Mode, in Settings under the Gameplay category, controls who can damage whom:
0 - No PvP. Players cannot damage each other.
1 - Kill allies only. Players can damage members of their own party.
2 - Kill strangers only. Players can damage anyone not in their party.
3 - Kill everyone. Full PvP.
The default on a GameGrid server is 3 (kill everyone). If you want a PvE server you have to change it - PvP is on out of the box.
For faction-style play, use mode 2 so party members are safe from each other.
Player Killing Mode is not marked restart-required, so saving it does not restart your server. The value is written to the config file and the game reads it at startup - restart the server yourself for the change to be live.
Death Drops
What a player drops on death is a Sandbox Code option, not a separate setting. There is no DropOnDeath field in the panel.
To change it, build a Sandbox Code with the drop rule you want: start a single-player game, open Sandbox Options, set the death penalty and drop options there, and copy the code.
Paste it into Settings, World category, "Sandbox Code", then restart the server. See SandboxCode System Guide.
The named difficulty presets each carry their own drop rules, so switching preset changes death drops as a side effect. Check that is what you intended before switching one on a live PvP server.
Land Claim Protection
Land claim blocks protect an area from other players. On a PvP server they are the main lever between "safe bases" and "raiding".
Land Claim Count (default 5, range 0-100) - how many claims one player may own. Set it to 0 to switch land claims off entirely; this is the setting to use for a full-raid server, not Land Claim Size.
Land Claim Size (default 41, range 1-1000) - the edge length in blocks of the protected cube around a claim block.
Land Claim Dead Zone (default 30, range 0-200) - the minimum gap between two claim blocks. Does not apply between friends.
Land Claim Expiry Time (default 7, range 1-365) - days of owner inactivity before a claim stops protecting.
Land Claim Online Durability Modifier (default 4) - how much harder the protected area is while the owner is online. Higher means harder to break in.
Land Claim Offline Durability Modifier (default 4) - the same while the owner is offline. Lower this to make offline raiding possible.
Land Claim Offline Delay (default 0, range 0-60) - minutes after logout before the area switches from the online hardness to the offline one. Raise it so logging out mid-raid does not instantly weaken a base.
None of the Land Claim settings are marked restart-required, so saving them does not restart the server for you. They are read when the game starts, so restart once you have finished changing them.
PvP Server Recommendations
Casual PvP: Player Killing Mode 3, land claims left on at their defaults. Players can fight, bases hold.
Offline-raid PvP: Player Killing Mode 3, Land Claim Offline Durability Modifier lowered (try 1), Land Claim Offline Delay raised to 5-10 minutes so combat logging does not open a base instantly.
Full-raid PvP: Player Killing Mode 3, Land Claim Count 0. No claims at all, every base raidable.
Faction PvP: Player Killing Mode 2, land claims on. Parties are safe internally and fight other parties.
PvE with a duel area: Player Killing Mode 0 and a community rule, since there is no per-zone PvP toggle in the settings.
Whatever you choose, keep active admins. Kicks, bans and the whitelist are in Settings under Player Management; console commands are in the Console tab.