Hide and Fight Chamber: A Minecraft Self-Defense Build

All screenshots are from Minecraft 1.13.2.

Note that this only applies to Minecraft, NOT Hytale. I assume that Hytale mob AI will be much smarter than Minecraft's, allowing mobs to avoid player-made hazards that would otherwise bait a Minecraft mob.

Plus, I assume the goblin is not the only Hytale mob that can break blocks, and some mobs can break blocks in similar ways to the player or the Ender Dragon. (totally speculative)

So I failed…yet another playthrough of Bytesize by getting too close to a bear glitching into the ground while trying to attack it in an enclosed fence. I got distracted by my mosquito bites; these mosquitoes have more firetrucking energy than Smosh's 15 Hour Energy.

But that fail gave me the idea of building a better chamber designed to keep the player safe from naturally spawned mobs while killing them.

Since I suck at introductions, let's move to the main topic.

The Hide & Fight Chamber. (Torches are optional.)

Top-down view.
Roof removed for illustration purposes.

View from inside the Hide & Fight Chamber.
The 2-block-high interior prevents Endermen and fliers from going inside.

This is what I like to call the "Hide & Fight Chamber". (I know the name is already taken by "Run, Hide, and Fight", but I got lazy. Kindly suggest a better name.)

I know, it's a very simple-looking structure, but that's the point. It's practical yet cheap and easy to build; only 36 wood logs are needed at minimum. I could build this thing before the first night even if I can only use my fists to punch wood.

Let's break down this structure piece by piece.
Notice how I used fences with slabs above them, forming a half-block-high hole. Fences are treated by entities (like mobs) as if they're 1.5 blocks tall. In combination with a slab, it technically becomes 2 blocks tall with no gaps, preventing tiny mobs from going through (because I'm that paranoid).

The floor is a half-block tall to allow me to hit short mobs like spiders and baby zombies.

I don't want to place or break blocks to enter or exit, so I used a wooden door and wooden trapdoor for the entrance. The wooden door prevents skeletons from shooting me when it is closed, while the opened wooden trapdoor allows me to go inside while filling in the wall to make it look good. (Putting a slab instead of a trapdoor also works, but I'm paranoid of mobs glitching through.)

The ceiling sticks out to prevent spiders from climbing on top and denying my kills. Letting zombies and skeletons stay under the ceiling is intentional because killing them by myself is faster than letting the sun burn them.
Cutting down trees near the Hide & Fight Chamber is recommended to prevent zombies and skeletons from hiding elsewhere.

With a water bucket and extra wood, the Hide & Fight Chamber can be upgraded into this beast:

Put a water source on each of the 4 inner corners of the slabs.
This will push mobs towards the Hide & Fight Chamber.

One problem I realized with the regular Hide & Fight Chamber is that most mobs don't actually pursue the player when they're inside despite the small gap. (On the bright side, hitting creepers doesn't make them explode while hiding here!)

This upgrade solves that problem by ensuring that whatever mob goes near the chamber stays near the chamber (if applicable).

Endermen will avoid the water but still stay near it in 1.9+, so defeat all the hostile mobs in the water before getting free hits on the Enderman.

Side note: With enough resources, you can even turn the Hide & Fight Chamber into an actual house like this!