Hey,  
  
 I started picking up minecraft modding recently and I wanted to get a weapon to apply a potion effect when it hits an entity, I looked around in ItemSword and found "hitEntity" So I tried the following (here is the whole class) 
  
 
public class ItemStoneSpear extends ItemSword{
public ItemStoneSpear(ToolMaterial p_i45356_1_) {
	super(p_i45356_1_);
	// TODO Auto-generated constructor stub
}
@Override
public boolean hitEntity(ItemStack par1ItemStack, EntityLivingBase par2EntityLivingBase, EntityLivingBase par3EntityLivingBase){
	par1ItemStack.damageItem(1, par3EntityLivingBase);
	par2EntityLivingBase.addPotionEffect(new PotionEffect(Potion.poison.getId(),100 , 1));
	return true;
}
}
 
  
But it doesn't work no matter what I try. So if someone could help me out i'd love it a ton