diff --git a/api/build.gradle b/api/build.gradle
index ecb11a4..c57efd3 100644
--- a/api/build.gradle
+++ b/api/build.gradle
@@ -70,3 +70,15 @@ dependencies {
     }
     compileOnly 'io.lumine.xikage:MythicMobs:4.9.1'
 }
+
+tasks.withType(JavaCompile).configureEach {
+    // ensure that the encoding is set to UTF-8, no matter what the system default is
+    // this fixes some edge cases with special characters not displaying correctly
+    // see http://yodaconditions.net/blog/fix-for-java-file-encoding-problems-with-gradle.html
+    // If Javadoc is generated, this must be specified in that task too.
+    it.options.encoding = "UTF-8"
+
+    // Force warnings
+    options.compilerArgs << '-Xlint:all'
+    options.deprecation = true
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/api/src/main/java/net/islandearth/rpgregions/editor/ClassEditor.java b/api/src/main/java/net/islandearth/rpgregions/editor/ClassEditor.java
index d9ca20f..c20c6b7 100644
--- a/api/src/main/java/net/islandearth/rpgregions/editor/ClassEditor.java
+++ b/api/src/main/java/net/islandearth/rpgregions/editor/ClassEditor.java
@@ -8,6 +8,10 @@ import java.lang.reflect.Field;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.List;
 
+/**
+ * @deprecated in favour of {@link net.islandearth.rpgregions.gui.GuiEditable}
+ */
+@Deprecated
 public class ClassEditor {
     
     private final List<EditField> editable = new ArrayList<>();
diff --git a/api/src/main/java/net/islandearth/rpgregions/editor/field/EditField.java b/api/src/main/java/net/islandearth/rpgregions/editor/field/EditField.java
index 6c34c8d..2e9280f 100644
--- a/api/src/main/java/net/islandearth/rpgregions/editor/field/EditField.java
+++ b/api/src/main/java/net/islandearth/rpgregions/editor/field/EditField.java
@@ -8,6 +8,10 @@ import org.bukkit.ChatColor;
 import java.lang.reflect.Field;
 import java.lang.reflect.Modifier;
 
+/**
+ * @deprecated in favour of {@link net.islandearth.rpgregions.gui.GuiEditable}
+ */
+@Deprecated
 public class EditField {
 
     private final ConfiguredRegion clazz;
diff --git a/build.gradle b/build.gradle
index aced65e..991b2a5 100644
--- a/build.gradle
+++ b/build.gradle
@@ -75,6 +75,18 @@ tasks.shadowJar {
     relocate 'net.wesjd', 'net.islandearth.rpgregions.libs.anvilgui'
 }
 
+tasks.withType(JavaCompile).configureEach {
+    // ensure that the encoding is set to UTF-8, no matter what the system default is
+    // this fixes some edge cases with special characters not displaying correctly
+    // see http://yodaconditions.net/blog/fix-for-java-file-encoding-problems-with-gradle.html
+    // If Javadoc is generated, this must be specified in that task too.
+    it.options.encoding = "UTF-8"
+
+    // Force warnings
+    options.compilerArgs << '-Xlint:all'
+    options.deprecation = true
+}
+
 build.dependsOn shadowJar
 
 import org.apache.tools.ant.filters.ReplaceTokens
diff --git a/modern/build.gradle b/modern/build.gradle
index e5e5bbe..675af21 100644
--- a/modern/build.gradle
+++ b/modern/build.gradle
@@ -49,6 +49,18 @@ compileJava {
     if (!ultraRegionsSupport) sourceSets.main.java.exclude "**/net/islandearth/rpgregions/api/integrations/ultraregions/UltraRegionsIntegration.java"
 }
 
+tasks.withType(JavaCompile).configureEach {
+    // ensure that the encoding is set to UTF-8, no matter what the system default is
+    // this fixes some edge cases with special characters not displaying correctly
+    // see http://yodaconditions.net/blog/fix-for-java-file-encoding-problems-with-gradle.html
+    // If Javadoc is generated, this must be specified in that task too.
+    it.options.encoding = "UTF-8"
+
+    // Force warnings
+    options.compilerArgs << '-Xlint:all'
+    options.deprecation = true
+}
+
 dependencies {
     testImplementation group: 'junit', name: 'junit', version: '4.12'
     implementation 'com.gitlab.samb440:languagy:2.0.3-RELEASE' // languagy
diff --git a/rpgregions/build.gradle b/rpgregions/build.gradle
index 3a08577..c6113a4 100644
--- a/rpgregions/build.gradle
+++ b/rpgregions/build.gradle
@@ -88,6 +88,18 @@ dependencies {
     compileOnly project(':api')
 }
 
+tasks.withType(JavaCompile).configureEach {
+    // ensure that the encoding is set to UTF-8, no matter what the system default is
+    // this fixes some edge cases with special characters not displaying correctly
+    // see http://yodaconditions.net/blog/fix-for-java-file-encoding-problems-with-gradle.html
+    // If Javadoc is generated, this must be specified in that task too.
+    it.options.encoding = "UTF-8"
+
+    // Force warnings
+    options.compilerArgs << '-Xlint:all'
+    options.deprecation = true
+}
+
 configurations.all {
     exclude group: 'commons-io'
     exclude group: 'commons-codec'