GentleMobs

Same Minecraft world, gentler mobs.

GentleMobs is a server-side Paper plugin that changes how hostile mobs interact with players, creating a more relaxed survival experience without removing mobs, loot, exploration, or progression from the game.

Hostile mobs still spawn normally. They still wander around, make their normal sounds, interact with the world, drop their usual items, and give experience when killed.

They just don't necessarily want to harm you anymore.

GentleMobs lets you choose how hostile mobs behave toward players while keeping the rest of Minecraft feeling familiar.

Features

• Makes hostile mobs passive toward players

• Passive mobs flee when attacked instead of retaliating

• Optional Neutral mode where mobs only fight back after being attacked

• Vanilla mode restores normal Minecraft behavior

• Set individual behavior modes for specific mob types

• Adjustable flee distance, speed, and duration

• Special handling for mobs with unusual Minecraft AI

• Normal mob spawning, drops, sounds, and XP remain intact

• Optional alternative crafting recipes for difficult-to-obtain items

• Server-side only — players do not need to install anything

• Works well for relaxed survival and family servers

Behavior Modes

Passive

Hostile mobs do not target players.

If a player attacks them, they attempt to flee instead of fighting back.

This is the default GentleMobs experience.

Neutral

Hostile mobs ignore players until they are attacked.

Once attacked, they may retaliate normally.

This keeps some danger in the game while removing the constant aggression normally associated with hostile mobs.

Vanilla

GentleMobs leaves the mob alone and allows normal Minecraft behavior.

This is useful for bosses, special mobs, or anything you still want to remain dangerous.

Per-Mob Overrides

The global mode controls most hostile mobs, but individual mobs can be assigned their own behavior.

For example, you could have:

• Zombies set to Passive

• Creepers set to Neutral

• Wardens set to Vanilla

• Most other hostile mobs using the global setting

This allows you to make the world as peaceful or as dangerous as you want without removing mobs entirely.

By default, the Creaking is currently kept in Vanilla mode.

Alternative Recipes

GentleMobs includes optional alternative recipes for items that can otherwise require hostile or boss encounters.

Current recipe support includes:

• Nether Star

• Dragon's Breath

These recipes can be individually enabled or disabled in the configuration.

The goal is not to make these items free or trivial to obtain, but to provide another progression path for players using a gentler playstyle.

Commands

Use:

/gentlemobs help

Displays the GentleMobs command list.

/gentlemobs version

Displays the installed GentleMobs version.

/gentlemobs reload

Reloads the GentleMobs configuration and custom recipes.

/gentlemobs mode

Displays the currently configured global behavior mode.

/gentlemobs mode <passive|neutral|vanilla>

Changes the global behavior mode.

/gentlemobs inspect

Look directly at a mob within 10 blocks to see its resolved GentleMobs mode, whether it has an override, and its current Neutral combat state.

/gentlemobs override add <mob> <passive|neutral|vanilla>

Adds or changes a behavior override for a specific hostile mob.

Example:

/gentlemobs override add creeper neutral

/gentlemobs override remove <mob>

Removes an individual mob override and returns that mob to the global behavior setting.

/gentlemobs override list

Displays all currently configured mob overrides.

Command tab completion is included to make selecting mobs and behavior modes easier.

Configuration

GentleMobs creates a configuration file where server owners can control:

• Global behavior mode

• Per-mob behavior overrides

• Flee distance

• Flee speed

• Flee duration

• Nether Star recipe

• Dragon's Breath recipe

The default global mode is Passive.

Who Is GentleMobs For?

GentleMobs is designed for players who enjoy Minecraft survival but don't necessarily want every night, cave, or exploration trip to become a combat encounter.

It can be especially useful for:

• Family servers

• Younger players

• Builders

• Exploration-focused players

• Relaxed survival worlds

• Players who enjoy gathering and progression more than combat

• Servers that want customizable mob aggression

• Players who find Peaceful difficulty too restrictive

Peaceful difficulty removes much of Minecraft's hostile-mob ecosystem entirely.

GentleMobs takes a different approach.

The mobs are still there.

The world still feels populated.

You can still fight them if you choose.

They just aren't constantly trying to fight you first.

Server Compatibility

GentleMobs is designed as a Paper server plugin.

Because the behavior changes happen on the server, players normally do not need to install anything on their Minecraft client.

This also makes GentleMobs suitable for Java/Bedrock cross-play servers using systems such as Geyser and Floodgate.

Development

GentleMobs is an ongoing project.

Minecraft mobs use many different AI systems, so certain special mobs may require their own handling to behave correctly in Passive or Neutral modes. Improvements and additional special-mob support will continue as the project develops.

The goal will remain the same:

Keep Minecraft survival intact while making its mobs a little more gentle.