Minecraft can be taken to new extremes with mods, whether you’re playing on Forge or Fabric. That’s why in this list, we’re going to show you 50 of the best mods that turn Minecraft into the ultimate role playing game (RPG)! All of these mods where tested with Fabric using the latest version of Minecraft at the time, which was 1.17.1.
If you feel like playing in a medieval world, or one filled with magic, many of these mods will make that possible. Due to the number of mods showcased in this post, we’ve compiled all the links in a separate page, which you can view. Alternatively, you can also download it as a modpack on CurseForge! (coming soon).
50: Terralith
I’ve chosen to use the Terralith mod for biomes, mainly because it makes more drastic changes, and strays away from vanilla quite a lot. A lot of the new biomes feature more dramatic terrain, so you’ll find valleys, mountains, lakes and more. The mod also doesn’t introduce any new blocks, and a lot of the locations you’ll discover really fit a fantasy, medieval and mystical theme. Above the surface isn’t the only place that’s transformed either, as if you head below ground, you’ll find new cave shapes and biomes too. It took me a while to realize this, but Terralith also includes some new structures, like these Villages which look amazing, and fit our pack even more. It has a Greenhouse, Archery area and even a fort.
49: LevelZ
You might find LevelZ a bit intimidating, as it’s really going to stretch out the length of your world, as well as the amount of work you have to put in to do simple tasks. By pressing K, you can see your skills and levels, which includes the likes of Mining, Farming, Stamina, Luck and more. You can level up your skills by spending your own experience, and doing so will allow you to unlock new abilities, whether it be the ability to equip a better tier of armor, be able to enchant equipment or even just being able to use an anvil.
48: Inventory Hud+
Inventory Hud Plus will change your hotbar and the surrounding areas, with the first feature being that you can display your entire inventory on the screen in different positions and layouts. The active effects are also changed, so that they now show the remaining duration. The biggest change is the armor HUD, where you can see the items you have equipped, as well as their durability. It also shows how many free slots are in your inventory, and the number of arrows remaining.
47: Mo’ Structures
To make your world more interesting to explore, we can install Mo’ Structures. It adds lots of locations which fit an RPG themed world, like some new dungeons which have hostile creatures, such as the Pillager Factory. Or locations where you can find Villagers to trade with, like the Villager Market. Some others are the Hot Air Balloon, Pirate Ship and Tavern.
46: Back Slot
Back Slot adds some new slots into your inventory, which are the Back Slot and the Belt Slot. These slots can receive different tools and weapons, which appear on your character, and definitely fits the theme we’re going for. There’s also an add-on available which I’ll leave a link to and include in the modpack, which allows you to attach two swords to your back, or a shield.
45: Comforts
Comforts adds some useful items which allow you to sleep away from home, like the Hammock, which can be hung from trees and will turn day to night. Or you can craft Sleeping Bags, which turn night to day instead. Neither of these items set spawn points which allows you to keep your home saved, and they can be dyed all different colors.
44: Villager Names
Villager Names will assign Villagers a random name from a list of over 6000, which you can also customize yourself. The mod also shows their profession, or if a Villager is a child. Any Iron Golems in your world also receive changes, as they can be given more robotic themed names, and overall, it should just add a bit more life to Villages.
43: Entity Banners
Entity Banners are placeable items, with one available for each type of mob in Minecraft. You can receive a banner for the corresponding mob as a drop after killing it 50 times. When you place an entity banner down, you’ll have increased damage and defenses against this mob type, and the effect applies to any players within a 48 block radius.
42: Wandering Collector
The Wandering Trader might be someone you want to interact with when you have this mod installed. With the Wandering Collector installed, any items of yours that are destroyed will have a chance of showing up in the Wandering Traders store, so that you can buy them back, and they aren’t gone forever. It kinda feels like they’ve gone out, stumbled upon your equipment and are selling it back to you.
41: RPG-Z
RPG-Z changes how you obtain loot after killing a creature. Instead of the entity just vanishing and leaving items floating, you’ll now have to search its body which will be left behind to obtain the loot.
40: When Dungeons Arise
When Dungeons Arise is another mod which adds lots of structures to your world in the form of dungeons. The scale of some of the dungeons and how they integrate with the terrain is very impressive. They don’t follow a strict theme, and you’ll find all sorts of structures like Homes, Fortresses, Windmills, Temples, Airships, Regular Ships and so much more. As you’d expect, there’s going to be lots of loot to collect, and lots of enemies to fight. You’ll struggle to get bored exploring with a mod like this.
39: Enhanced Celestials
Enhanced Celestials will add some random events which can spawn during the night, with the first being the Harvest Moon. When this happens, the growth and drop rate of Crops will be increased. Whereas during a Blood Moon, the nights will be more dangerous, as you won’t be able to sleep, and more hostile mobs will be able to spawn. If you run this mod with Optifine, it seems to crash right now.
38: Loot Beams
Loot Beams will add beams of light to items which are dropped on the ground, which has been seen in many RPG Games. There’s different beam colors which are determined by the colors of the item tooltip, and they’ll show the rarity of an item.
37: End Remastered
End Remastered changes the process of reaching the End. Instead of using regular Eyes of Ender, there’s now 12 custom eyes you must collect instead. These can be found in different structures like Desert Pyramids, Mineshafts and Igloos, and some mobs also drop eyes like the Wither. Once you’ve collected all the Eyes, you can head to one of the new structures, which are the End Castle and End Gate, before filling in the frame. I covered a whole spotlight of this mod on my channel, which you can check out if you’d like.
36: Advanced Compass
Another HUD change comes with the Advanced Compass mod. It adds a compass permanently to the top of your screen, which can show coordinates and the direction you’re facing. By pressing N, you can set your own custom waypoints with icons which appear on the compass, or you can press P to open the config, were you can change the settings and choose which entities should be visible.
35: Bountiful
With Bountiful, you can head to Villages, and find a new structure which contains a Bounty Block. When you interact with it, you’ll see a list of available bounties, which are like mini quests. You might be asked to kill some creatures, or collect some items in return of a reward. There’s different tiers of bounties, and you can use decrees to determine the theme of bounties you can complete.
34: Advancement Plaques
The Advancement Plaques mod changes the popup that appears when you complete an advancement. Now, they’ll look like glowing plaques, and will play a nice sound which really makes you feel like you’ve achieved something great.
33: Achievement Plates
There’s also Achievement Plates. When you unlock an advancement, you’ll receive a trophy-like item which can be placed down in your world, as a way to show off your most rare achievements.
32: Simply Camping
You might want to camp out for the night when exploring, which you can do thanks to Simply Camping. To start, you’ll find 2 new biomes, which are variations of the Pine Forests, and you might come across Bears inside who are aggressive. By collecting Cloth from Ferns, you can craft a Sleeping Bag and Tent to spend the night in, which can be dyed all different colors. You’ll be able to roast Marshmallows and make S’mores. A small change is made to fishing too, so that you actually reel the fish in.
31: Wavey
If you recently migrated your account to a Microsoft one, then you would have received a Migration cape. Not only do these enhance your character a little and fit our theme, but you can also make them more realistic with the Wavey Capes mod, which stops Capes looking so flat and rigid.
30: Automatic Path
If you keep moving between Villages or locations, then try out automatic path. It will cause grass blocks to turn into paths over time, if they’re repeatedly walked on, which is a very immersive feature.
29: Waystones
I like the Fabric port of Waystones, which can either be crafted, or found in some locations in your world. When a Waystone is activated, it can be used to travel between other activated Waystones effortlessly, or you can use Warp Scrolls and Warp Stones from anywhere. With the default settings, it will cost you some levels to teleport between Waystones.
28: Hookshot
The Hookshot is a new tool which you can craft with 2 Blocks of Redstone, a Piston, 2 Iron Ingots, a Chain and an Arrow, and you can then dye it some different colors if you’d like. When you hold right click with a Hookshot in your hand, it will grip onto any block within a 24 block radius, giving you a new and interesting way to travel. You can take the Hookshot into a Smithing Table and upgrade it with items like Chains, Eyes of Ender or Pistons to increase the speed, range, allow it to move through water and more.
27: More Banner Features
More Banner Features makes Banners more useful, as you can now equip them as Capes if you have the Trinkets mod installed. Animals like Horses, Donkeys and Llamas will have new inventory slots so they can be equipped with Banners, and they can also be placed on Pigs, Striders and Boats, and you’ll also be able to hang them from the bottom of blocks. It’s great for for playing a style were you belong to a faction.
26: Bed Benefits
If you’ve played Fallout 4, then you might be familiar with the well rested mechanic. Bed Benefits does something similar, so that if you sleep for the night, you’ll wake up healed, and any negative potion effects will be removed.
25: Enchantment Lore
With Enchantment Lore, you can open Enchanted Books and read them, like you would with regular books. It shows what the Enchantment does, it’s maximum level and the items it can be applied too, which is nice to have.
24: Stoneholm
Stoneholm adds underground Villages to your world, which you’ll often find an entrance to on the surface. In a world filled with mysteries and danger, you’d expect that some Villagers would decide to move underground. You can head down to them, trade, look around or explore the abandoned sections, where you might find some loot.
23: Draylar’s Battle Towers
Another dungeon mod is Draylars Battle Towers, which adds large tower structures in your world. They should be pretty easy to spot due to their size, and each one has between 10 and 13 floors. As you work your way up, you’ll have to clear all the mobs, and remove their spawners, but it’s worth it as you’ll also come across a lot of loot. The floors contain different enemies, like Zombies, Witches, Spiders and even Guardians. Once you reach the top floor, you’ll need to unlock the box using 10 Boss Keys, which you can obtain by breaking spawners in the Tower. This will spawn the Tower Golem, a boss who’s going to be quite difficult to defeat if you aren’t prepared.
22: Arcanus
Arcanus is a magic mod, inspired by WinCraft, and you can get to work with it by crafting a Wand from 2 Sticks and an Amethyst Shard. You’ll then need to start finding Spell Books, which you can start looking for at Libraries, like the ones in Villages and Strongholds, or you can check near Ruined Portals instead. When you open a Spell Book, you’ll learn the spell, and how to cast it, which can be done with your left and right mouse buttons. Spells cost mana, and if you overwork yourself, you might just die. Some of the spells allow you to teleport, deal damage, knock enemies back and more.
21: Simple Backpack Mod
With all the time away from home you’ll be spending, it’s a good idea to install a Backpack Mod. I’ve chosen the Simple Backpack mod, which adds a Backpack, Ender Pack and Void Pack. A Backpack provides 54 extra slots, and can be crafted with 4 Wool, 4 Iron Ingots and a Chest. Just make sure to not place anything valuable inside the Void Pack, as it will be deleted.
20: Boat Containers
If you’re going to travel by Boat instead, then try out Boat Containers. You’ll be able to create Boats which can have a Chest or Ender Chest inside, giving you storage on the go. It’s compatible with More Banner Features, so you can also place a Banner inside your Boat, and having all these connections between Ender Chests, Ender Boat Chests and your Ender Backpack is a nice thing to have.
19: Ranger’s Heaven
Ranger’s Heaven improves on archery. To start with, Multishot now has more levels, with the highest being 5, and each one will still shoot an additional arrow. There’s some extra enchantments too, like Roped, which will pull you towards the location an arrow lands. Or Explosive, which will obviously cause explosions on hit. And Seeking will cause arrows to home onto enemies.
18: Spirit
Spirit allows you to create your own mob spawners, by harvesting Souls. To start, you’ll need a Soul Crystal, which you can create by placing down Soul Sand and surrounding it in 4 Warped Wart blocks. When you light the Soul Sand on fire and throw in an Amethyst Crystal, you’ll receive a Soul Crystal in return. You’ll then need to break a Spawner, and throw the Broken Spawner into a Soul Fire to receive a Soul Cage. When you kill mobs with the Soul Crystal in your inventory, their souls will be sent to the Crystal, which you can hover over to see its progress. As it levels up, you can place it into the Soul Cage to activate the Spawner, and remove it whenever you’d like.
17: Mythic Mounts
Mythic Mounts adds new creatures to your world, like Dragons, Moths, Lizards, Dire Wolves, Griffins and more. Like the name suggests, they’re mounts, so you can tame and ride them, similar to Horses. Some animals can even fly, if you repeatedly press the jump key, and aquatic animals can take you underwater. They can be equipped with horse armor, told to sit and be bred too. You might find it quite hard to find these mounts, so you can adjust the config file so they spawn in all biomes, or increase their spawn rate.
16: ToroHealth Damage Indicators
ToroHealth Damage Indicators will add a bar to the top right corner of your screen when hovering over a mob, allowing you to see their health. You can also see the amount of damage you deal per hit, and configure whether health bars should be visible in the game world.
15: Chat+
Chat Plus adds some new chat features, with the most prominent being that you can link items in the chat. It’s useful for playing with friends, so that you can show eachother your equipment, as it also supports item hovering.
14: Second Chance
With Second Chance, your chance of an instant death is lowered. If you’re above 7 hearts and you take a fatal amount of damage, you’ll be left on half a heart, instead of being killed.
13: Dual Wielding
Depending on the play style you’re going for, you might like the Dual Wielding mod. It allows you to equip weapons into your off-hand slot, giving you a new style of combat.
12: Extra Alchemy
Extra Alchemy adds a few new features, like the Potion Bag. Inside it, you can store your potions, and you can even consume them without opening the bag again. The mod adds a lot of new Potions too, more than I can talk about, but some are the Potion of Crumbling, which destroys certain blocks under you. The Potion of Fuse will explode when the effect runs out, making it a great option for arrows. The Potion of Magnetism will pick up items around you, and can be toggled. Or the Potion of Learning, which increases experience gained by 10 percent, but there’s many more. Using Rings, you can also have potion effects for unlimited durations, at the cost of experience.
11: Medieval Weapons
If you’re looking for a medieval themed RPG, then try out the Medieval Weapons mod. It adds lots of new weapons, like Battles Axes, Daggers, Maces, Lances and more which are of all different tiers. They have a few different abilities too, like the Double Handed Axe can be used to block attacks, Lances have increased damage on Horses, and Daggers deal more damage when stealthed.
10: XP Obelisk
XP Obelisk adds a new block which allows you to store your experience, so you don’t lose it if you die. Using an Experience Transfer item, you can withdraw and deposit experience into storage. One cool feature is that you can apply a lock to the storage block, so that other players can’t access it.
9: AdventureZ
AdventureZ will add some new enemies to your world, who are going to be very difficult to defeat. It even includes an end boss, which is the Blackstone Golem, and it can be summoned by completing a ritual. Some other creatures you might encounter are the Piglin Beast who will come to defend Piglins, or the Soul Reaper, Necromancer and Summoner. If you kill the Eye, a Dragon Egg can hatch, providing you with a tameable Dragon which you can ride.
8: Minecraft Dungeons Weapons
The Minecraft Dungeons mods all add a bit of consistency, so I think they’re worth mentioning. Starting with Minecraft Dungeons Weapons, it adds over 100 new items, which includes different types of Swords, Axes, Bows, Crossbows and some other unique items like Whips, Spears and Clubs. Some of these items have special abilities and effects too, like the Bee Stinger which can summon a Bee to fight for you.
7: Minecraft Dungeons Armors
There’s also Minecraft Dungeons Armors, which includes over 40 sets of armor which you’ll recognize from Minecraft Dungeons, most of which are craftable. Wearing a full set of armor can provide a set bonus, with some examples being the Shadow Walker Set, which removes fall damage. Spider Armor which allows you to climb walls like a Spider. Or the Living Vines set which gives Fire Resistance.
6: Minecraft Dungeons Artifacts
With Minecraft Dungeons Artifacts, there are over 25 Artifacts which you can find in some structures in your world. When held, you can right click them to activate them, which can cause some different effects. There’s the Totem of Regeneration, which can heal nearby players. The Lightning Rod which can summon Lightning to attack an enemy. Or the Ghost Clock which gives invisibility and speed, but there’s a lot more of course.
5: Better End
Better End massively improves on the End dimension, adding all new biomes, structures and mobs. With it installed, the End won’t be as lifeless and repetitive as it usually feels, as you can now get lost exploring a mystical and fantasy themed landscape. There’s also some new mechanics, foods, tools, armor and weapons.
4: Antique Atlas
Antique Atlas changes how you view maps of your world. If you craft the Antique Atlas item, you can open it up to see a hand-drawn styled view of the area around you. You’re able to set custom waypoints, move the map around and zoom in. It will fill up more as you explore, and you can combine multiple atlases together.
3: Repurposed Structures
Repurposed Structures will change a lot of vanilla structures, giving them new designs. As an example, you can find Desert Temples spawning in lots of locations, with different designs to match the biome they’re in. The same goes for other structures like Outposts, Temples, Strongholds, Villages and more. There’s some new structures you can come across too.
2: Grims Transportables
Grims Transportables main feature is Carts, which can be attached to horses. These can be used to carry other players around who can sit in the back, or there’s a type of cart which can hold a double chest, making it easier to transport lots of items throughout your world. The mod also includes some new types of rails.
1: Better Nether
Another mod worth mentioning is Better Nether, which overhauls the Nether. You’ll find all new biomes, mobs, blocks and items. It’s a huge improvement even compared to the Nether update we saw a while ago, and makes the dimension a lot more interesting to explore.
