Not Now, Shield

If you carry a shield in your off-hand, you have probably right-clicked a log with an axe and watched the shield go up instead. Vanilla Minecraft skips the axe's action whenever a blocking item is in the off-hand, unless you sneak (Mojang bug MC-273378). Not Now, Shield lets the tool try first.

What it does

On 26.2, axes strip logs and wood, scrape copper and remove wax while you hold a shield.

On 26.3, axes, hoes and shovels all share the same check, so the mod also lets hoes till and shovels make paths.

Also on Minecraft 1.20.1 (Fabric and Forge): the lower shield only.

When there is nothing for the tool to change (you right-click stone, or the air), the click falls through and your shield raises as normal. You keep your shield exactly as it was; you just stop fighting it while you build.

It also works with modded tools that pass their right-click to the vanilla axe, hoe or shovel.

Your shield is also drawn lower on your screen, resting or raised, so it covers less of your view. It blocks exactly the same; only the picture moves, and only on your own screen. Modded shields are lowered too.

Details

• One jar supports both Minecraft 26.2 and 26.3.
• Needs only Fabric Loader. No Fabric API, no config.
• For multiplayer, install it on the server and on each client so the shield and the tool agree on what happens. The lower shield works on your own game even on a server without the mod.

About this mod

I made this for my own modded playthroughs and am sharing it in case it helps others. I built it with help from Claude, an AI assistant, and tested it in my own instances. The source is on GitHub under the MIT License, so you are welcome to read it, fork it or include it in a modpack.

The vanilla bug this works around: MC-273378.