diff --git a/common/src/main/java/me/lucko/luckperms/common/storage/backing/sqlprovider/MySQLProvider.java b/common/src/main/java/me/lucko/luckperms/common/storage/backing/sqlprovider/MySQLProvider.java
index 74805fdd6..de555ad00 100644
--- a/common/src/main/java/me/lucko/luckperms/common/storage/backing/sqlprovider/MySQLProvider.java
+++ b/common/src/main/java/me/lucko/luckperms/common/storage/backing/sqlprovider/MySQLProvider.java
@@ -71,6 +71,8 @@ public class MySQLProvider extends SQLProvider {
         config.addDataSourceProperty("cacheServerConfiguration", true);
         config.addDataSourceProperty("elideSetAutoCommits", true);
         config.addDataSourceProperty("useLocalSessionState", true);
+        config.addDataSourceProperty("characterEncoding", "utf8");
+        config.addDataSourceProperty("useUnicode", "true");
         config.setConnectionTimeout(TimeUnit.SECONDS.toMillis(10)); // 10000
         config.setLeakDetectionThreshold(TimeUnit.SECONDS.toMillis(5)); // 5000
         config.setValidationTimeout(TimeUnit.SECONDS.toMillis(3)); // 3000
diff --git a/common/src/main/java/me/lucko/luckperms/common/storage/backing/sqlprovider/SQLProvider.java b/common/src/main/java/me/lucko/luckperms/common/storage/backing/sqlprovider/SQLProvider.java
index 7cece9ac9..dd8ea86af 100644
--- a/common/src/main/java/me/lucko/luckperms/common/storage/backing/sqlprovider/SQLProvider.java
+++ b/common/src/main/java/me/lucko/luckperms/common/storage/backing/sqlprovider/SQLProvider.java
@@ -25,14 +25,10 @@ package me.lucko.luckperms.common.storage.backing.sqlprovider;
 import lombok.Getter;
 import lombok.RequiredArgsConstructor;
 
-import java.sql.Connection;
-import java.sql.PreparedStatement;
-import java.sql.ResultSet;
 import java.sql.SQLException;
 
 @RequiredArgsConstructor
 public abstract class SQLProvider {
-    private static final QueryPS EMPTY_PS = preparedStatement -> {};
 
     @Getter
     private final String name;
@@ -43,63 +39,4 @@ public abstract class SQLProvider {
 
     public abstract WrappedConnection getConnection() throws SQLException;
 
-    public boolean runQuery(String query, QueryPS queryPS) {
-        try {
-            try (Connection connection = getConnection()) {
-                if (connection == null || connection.isClosed()) {
-                    throw new IllegalStateException("SQL connection is null");
-                }
-
-                try (PreparedStatement preparedStatement = connection.prepareStatement(query)) {
-                    queryPS.onRun(preparedStatement);
-
-                    preparedStatement.execute();
-                    return true;
-                }
-            }
-        } catch (SQLException e) {
-            e.printStackTrace();
-        }
-        return false;
-    }
-
-    public boolean runQuery(String query, QueryPS queryPS, QueryRS queryRS) {
-        try {
-            try (Connection connection = getConnection()) {
-                if (connection == null || connection.isClosed()) {
-                    throw new IllegalStateException("SQL connection is null");
-                }
-
-                try (PreparedStatement preparedStatement = connection.prepareStatement(query)) {
-                    queryPS.onRun(preparedStatement);
-
-                    try (ResultSet resultSet = preparedStatement.executeQuery()) {
-                        return queryRS.onResult(resultSet);
-                    }
-                }
-            }
-        } catch (SQLException e) {
-            e.printStackTrace();
-        }
-        return false;
-    }
-
-    public boolean runQuery(String query) {
-        return runQuery(query, EMPTY_PS);
-    }
-
-    public boolean runQuery(String query, QueryRS queryRS) {
-        return runQuery(query, EMPTY_PS, queryRS);
-    }
-
-    @FunctionalInterface
-    public interface QueryPS {
-        void onRun(PreparedStatement preparedStatement) throws SQLException;
-    }
-
-    @FunctionalInterface
-    public interface QueryRS {
-        boolean onResult(ResultSet resultSet) throws SQLException;
-    }
-
 }
diff --git a/common/src/main/resources/lp-schema-mysql.sql b/common/src/main/resources/lp-schema-mysql.sql
index 5d49d841c..99b8e364c 100644
--- a/common/src/main/resources/lp-schema-mysql.sql
+++ b/common/src/main/resources/lp-schema-mysql.sql
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ CREATE INDEX `{prefix}players_username` ON `{prefix}players` (`username`);
 CREATE TABLE `{prefix}groups` (
   `name` VARCHAR(36) NOT NULL,
   PRIMARY KEY (`name`)
-);
+) DEFAULT CHARSET = utf8;
 
 CREATE TABLE `{prefix}actions` (
   `id`         INT AUTO_INCREMENT NOT NULL,