Armor Rebalance completely reworks Minecraft’s armor protection system by adding precise fractional protection and weight values, a custom armor HUD, a mana system, and a new crafting material for magical equipment.

The mod is designed for modpacks that need more accurate armor balancing, support for custom armor sets, and a shared mana system that can be used by magical weapons and equipment.

Rebalanced armor protection

Vanilla armor values are replaced with new values. Fractional protection is supported, allowing armor pieces to provide values such as 3.75, 5.875, or 8.75 instead of being limited to whole numbers.

Default full-set protection values:

leather armor — 12;
chainmail armor — 12;
golden armor — 18;
iron armor — 24;
diamond armor — 36;
netherite armor — 42.

Default protection per piece:

Leather and chainmail

helmet — 2.5;
chestplate — 4;
leggings — 3.5;
boots — 2.

Gold

helmet — 3.75;
chestplate — 6;
leggings — 5.25;
boots — 3.

Iron

helmet — 5;
chestplate — 8;
leggings — 7;
boots — 4.

Diamond

helmet — 7.5;
chestplate — 12;
leggings — 10.5;
boots — 6.

Netherite

helmet — 8.75;
chestplate — 14;
leggings — 12.25;
boots — 7.

By default, the weight of each vanilla armor piece is equal to its protection value.

Custom armor display

Armor Rebalance replaces the vanilla armor bar with a custom HUD.

The new display:

supports fractional armor values;
displays the exact protection amount as text;
supports protection values above the vanilla limit of 20;
uses additional icon layers for high armor values;
is hidden in Creative and Spectator modes.

This allows players to see their real protection while using powerful or heavily modified armor sets.

Configurable armor values

Armor values are stored in a JSON configuration file:

config/armorrebalance/armor_values_24_gold075.json

Items from other mods can be added by specifying their registry ID, protection, and weight.

Example:

"examplemod:custom_chestplate": {
  "armor": 8.5,
  "weight": 7.0
}

Protection values must be divisible by 0.125, allowing precise balancing for custom armor sets.

Mana system

Version 1.3.0 introduces a complete mana system.

Default player values:

maximum mana — 100;
regeneration — 1 mana per second;
regeneration starts immediately;
mana is fully restored after death.

The mana bar is displayed slightly above the hunger bar, leaving enough space for the underwater air bubbles.

In Creative and Spectator modes:

mana is infinite;
abilities do not consume mana;
the mana bar is hidden.

When a magical item does not have enough mana, its attack or ability is not activated.

API for other mods

Armor Rebalance provides an API that allows other mods to:

read the current mana amount;
consume mana;
restore mana;
increase maximum mana;
synchronize mana between the server and client.

This makes Armor Rebalance a foundation for magical staffs, mage armor, and other mana-powered equipment.

The Magic Staffs mod uses Armor Rebalance for staff mana consumption and mage armor bonuses.

Gilded leather

A new crafting material called Gilded Leather has been added.

Item ID:

armorrebalance:gilded_leather

Recipe:

G G G
L L L
G G G

Where:

G — gold nugget
L — leather

Result:

3 Gilded Leather

Gilded Leather is used to craft magical armor and can also be used by other dependent mods.

Requirements

Minecraft 1.20.1;
Minecraft Forge 47.4.10 or a newer 47.x version;
Java 17.