diff --git a/evennia/contrib/health_bar.py b/evennia/contrib/health_bar.py
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+"""
+Health Bar
+
+Contrib - Tim Ashley Jenkins 2017
+
+The function provided in this module lets you easily display visual
+bars or meters - "health bar" is merely the most obvious use for this,
+though these bars are highly customizable and can be used for any sort
+of appropriate data besides player health.
+
+Today's players may be more used to seeing statistics like health,
+stamina, magic, and etc. displayed as bars rather than bare numerical
+values, so using this module to present this data this way may make it
+more accessible. Keep in mind, however, that players may also be using
+a screen reader to connect to your game, which will not be able to
+represent the colors of the bar in any way. By default, the values
+represented are rendered as text inside the bar which can be read by
+screen readers.
+
+The health bar will account for current values above the maximum or
+below 0, rendering them as a completely full or empty bar with the
+values displayed within.
+"""
+
+def display_meter(cur_value, max_value, 
+                  length=30, fill_color=["R", "Y", "G"],
+                  empty_color="B", text_color="w",
+                  align="left", pre_text="", post_text="",
+                  show_values=True):
+    """
+    Represents a current and maximum value given as a "bar" rendered with
+    ANSI or xterm256 background colors.
+    
+    Args:
+        cur_value (int): Current value to display
+        max_value (int): Maximum value to display
+    
+    Options:
+        length (int): Length of meter returned, in characters
+        fill_color (list): List of color codes for the full portion
+            of the bar, sans any sort of prefix - both ANSI and xterm256
+            colors are usable. When the bar is empty, colors toward the
+            start of the list will be chosen - when the bar is full, colors
+            towards the end are picked. You can adjust the 'weights' of
+            the changing colors by adding multiple entries of the same
+            color - for example, if you only want the bar to change when
+            it's close to empty, you could supply ['R','Y','G','G','G']
+        empty_color (str): Color code for the empty portion of the bar.
+        text_color (str): Color code for text inside the bar.
+        align (str): "left", "right", or "center" - alignment of text in the bar
+        pre_text (str): Text to put before the numbers in the bar
+        post_text (str): Text to put after the numbers in the bar
+        show_values (bool): If true, shows the numerical values represented by
+            the bar. It's highly recommended you keep this on, especially if
+            there's no info given in pre_text or post_text, as players on screen
+            readers will be unable to read the graphical aspect of the bar.
+    """
+    # Start by building the base string.
+    num_text = ""
+    if show_values:
+        num_text = "%i / %i" % (cur_value, max_value)
+    bar_base_str = pre_text + num_text + post_text
+    # Cut down the length of the base string if needed
+    if len(bar_base_str) > length:
+        bar_base_str = bar_base_str[:length]
+    # Pad and align the bar base string
+    if align == "right":
+        bar_base_str = bar_base_str.rjust(length, " ")
+    elif align == "center":
+        bar_base_str = bar_base_str.center(length, " ")
+    else:
+        bar_base_str = bar_base_str.ljust(length, " ")
+    
+    if max_value < 1: # Prevent divide by zero
+      max_value = 1
+    if cur_value < 0: # Prevent weirdly formatted 'negative bars'
+      cur_value = 0
+    if cur_value > max_value: # Display overfull bars correctly
+      cur_value = max_value
+    
+    # Now it's time to determine where to put the color codes.
+    percent_full = float(cur_value) / float(max_value)
+    split_index = round(float(length) * percent_full)
+    # Determine point at which to split the bar
+    split_index = int(split_index)
+    
+    # Separate the bar string into full and empty portions
+    full_portion = bar_base_str[:split_index]
+    empty_portion = bar_base_str[split_index:]
+    
+    # Pick which fill color to use based on how full the bar is
+    fillcolor_index = (float(len(fill_color)) * percent_full)
+    fillcolor_index = int(round(fillcolor_index)) - 1
+    fillcolor_code = "|[" + fill_color[fillcolor_index]
+    
+    # Make color codes for empty bar portion and text_color
+    emptycolor_code = "|[" + empty_color
+    textcolor_code = "|" + text_color
+    
+    # Assemble the final bar
+    final_bar = fillcolor_code + textcolor_code + full_portion + "|n" + emptycolor_code + textcolor_code + empty_portion + "|n"
+    
+    return final_bar