RankCapes was made for servers that would like to offer something more to their players. It is a fun aesthetic mod that allows servers to give their players capes based on permissions given to them. RankCapes is not restricted to donating or contributing players, though; anyone can be given a cape, as anyone can be given a permission. Easy to use, RankCapes implements Cape Packs that are like Resource Packs and can be swapped back and forth easily.
Website - Wiki - Client Mod
Bukkit (bleeding edge) build status:
On the server there is a Cape Pack that contains all the textures as well as a file that associates images and cape names. When clients with the RankCapes mod installed connect to the server, they can change their cape to whatever they have permissions for in the cape change GUI. All other players with the mod installed can see theirs, and other player's capes.
Capes are given with this permission node: rankcapes.cape.use.$CAPE_NAME.
RankCapes has one command, it's there for debug purposes only.
mycape - Used for debug, tells the sender what cape it has.
The RankCapes Client mod is required for the player to see their cape. The plugin sends the cape pack and tells the client which capes it has access to, as well as the other players' capes. Currently there is only a Minecraft Forge version available. Installation and use is simple.
Download it here.
Setup is generally simple. See the wiki for details and documentation.
If you have any problem with the RankCapes plugin or mod, you may create an issue on GitHub.
RankCapes uses the Semantic Versioning 2.0.0 system with an added BUILD version. Every time an incompatible API change is made, including SERVER<->CLIENT protocol, the MAJOR version is incremented. Every time Minecraft is updated, the MINOR version is incremented. Every time a backwards-compatible change is made, the PATCH/REVISION version is incremented. Also, whenever the MAJOR or MINOR version is incremented, the PATCH/REVISION version is reset to 0. Every time Travis does a build, the BUILD version increments.
Complicated? Maybe. Just remember to only use server and client versions that have the same MAJOR.MINOR versions.