Selective Peaceful Mobs

Let every player choose how hostile mobs treat them—without changing the experience for everyone else on the server.

Selective Peaceful Mobs is a configurable NeoForge mod for Minecraft 1.21.1. Players with peaceful mobs enabled are ignored by hostile mobs until they attack. Other players can leave the feature off and continue playing with normal vanilla hostility at the same time.

Features

• Per-player peaceful mob behavior.
• Per-dimension and per-mob-type choices for every player.
• A master toggle that overrides all scoped choices when OFF.
• Independent server switches to allow or disable each toggle ability.
• Peaceful and normal-hostility players can play together on the same server.
• Hostile mobs temporarily retaliate when a peaceful player attacks them.
• Direct attacks and player-fired projectiles trigger retaliation.
• Optional same-type group aggro within a configurable radius.
• Player choices persist across dimensions, reconnects, and server restarts.
• Players can manage their own setting; operators can manage other players.
• Configurable server default for players who have not chosen a setting.
• Configurable always-hostile mob list.
• Automatic support for most vanilla and modded mobs classified as hostile monsters.
• No blocks, items, recipes, or custom network payloads.

How it works

Player setting	Result
Peaceful ON	Hostile mobs ignore the player when dimension and mob choices are ON, unless provoked.
Peaceful OFF	Hostile mobs behave normally toward the player.
No saved choice	The server's configured default is used.

Unspecified dimension and mob choices default to ON. An OFF choice in either scope disables protection; master OFF disables it everywhere. Turning the master back ON restores the effect of saved scoped choices. Mob choices apply to a mob type across dimensions, rather than an individual creature.

When a protected player attacks a hostile mob, that mob can target the player for the configured provocation time. If group aggro is enabled, nearby mobs of the same type can retaliate too. Once provocation expires, the mobs return to ignoring that player.

The Ender Dragon, Warden, and Wither are always hostile by default. Server owners can change this list.

Player commands

/peacefulmobs on
/peacefulmobs off
/peacefulmobs status
/peacefulmobs reset
/peacefulmobs dimension <dimension_id> <on|off|status|reset>
/peacefulmobs mob <entity_id> <on|off|status|reset>

• on enables your master setting, with dimension and mob choices applied.
• off restores normal mob hostility for you.
• status shows your master value, dimensions with ON/OFF, and only your explicitly saved ON mob choices. Defaults and dimension toggles do not populate the mob list; protection rules still apply.
• reset returns your master setting to the server default without erasing scoped choices.
• Scoped reset removes that dimension or mob choice, returning it to ON.

Replies use short labels such as minecraft:the_nether: OFF. ON is green and OFF is red. The enabled-mob list contains only explicitly saved ON choices; it shows None when empty.

For example, /peacefulmobs dimension minecraft:the_nether off restores normal hostility in the Nether, and /peacefulmobs mob minecraft:creeper off does so for creepers in every dimension. IDs support tab completion, including loaded modded dimensions and registered entity types.

Operator commands

These commands require vanilla permission level 2 or higher:

/peacefulmobs set <player> <true|false>
/peacefulmobs check <player>
/peacefulmobs reset <player>
/peacefulmobs dimension <dimension_id> <on|off|status|reset> <player>
/peacefulmobs mob <entity_id> <on|off|status|reset> <player>

Configuration

The generated configuration file is:

config/selective-peaceful-mobs-server.toml

When upgrading from a pre-1.0.0 build, copy any customized values from selectivepeacefulmobs-server.toml into the new file while the server is stopped.

Server owners can configure:

• Whether peaceful behavior is enabled by default.
• Whether individual player choices are enabled and saved.
• Whether master, dimension, and mob toggle abilities are individually available (for players and operators).
• Provocation duration, from 1 to 3,600 seconds.
• Same-type group aggro.
• Group aggro radius, from 1 to 128 blocks.
• Whether creative and spectator players are always ignored.
• The list of mobs that remain hostile to protected players.

Default values:

[general]
defaultPeaceful = true
rememberPlayerChoice = true
allowMasterToggle = true
allowDimensionToggle = true
allowMobToggle = true
provokedTimeSeconds = 30
groupAggro = true
groupAggroRadius = 16
ignoreCreativeAndSpectator = true

[alwayshostilemobs]
mobs = ["minecraft:ender_dragon", "minecraft:warden", "minecraft:wither"]

Disabled abilities ignore their saved choices without deleting them. With allowMasterToggle=false, defaultPeaceful supplies the master value; enabled scoped choices still apply. rememberPlayerChoice=false disables all choice changes and uses only the server default. Restart after editing configuration. Existing 1.0.0 player choices are preserved automatically.

Installation and requirements

1. Run the server with Java 21 and install Minecraft 1.21.1 with NeoForge 21.1.231 or newer in the 21.1 line.
2. Place selective-peaceful-mobs-1.21.1-1.1.0.jar in the server's mods folder, replacing the previous version.
3. Start the server and adjust the generated configuration if desired.

The mod is designed for server-side installation. It adds no client content or custom network packets, so players are not expected to need the mod installed. Modpack authors should still verify this with their exact client and server pack.

Compatibility

The mod recognizes hostile mobs through Minecraft's standard hostile-mob classifications and filters players through normal combat targeting paths. This covers most vanilla mobs and conventional modded hostile mobs.

Some highly customized modded mobs may use attack logic that bypasses normal targeting. If one does, add it to your compatibility testing and report it through the project's support channel with the modpack and affected mob details.

Frequently asked questions

Does this change the world's difficulty or stop hostile mobs from spawning?

No. It changes which players hostile mobs are allowed to target; it does not change the difficulty or spawning rules.

Can peaceful and non-peaceful players play together?

Yes. The setting is evaluated per player, so a mob can ignore one player and target another.

Can peaceful players still fight mobs?

Yes. Attacking a hostile mob temporarily provokes it, preserving risk and retaliation.

Can operators force a setting for another player?

Yes. Operators can set, inspect, or reset another player's choice with the admin commands above.

Does it work with modded mobs?

It should work automatically with most modded mobs that use Minecraft's normal hostile classifications and targeting systems. Mobs with fully custom attack logic may require compatibility work.