Lifepath

Build a character by playing, not by picking from a list

Lifepath is a character-progression mod where three things shape who you become: what you are, what you focus on, and what you actually do.

Species — what you are

Fifteen playable species, from amphibian to undead. Each brings innate traits and signature abilities — your species defines your starting canvas, not a rigid class.

Specialization — a head start, not a lock

Thirteen trades — Blacksmith, Hunter, Scholar, Farmer and more — give you skill aptitude and a protected floor: your trade skills can't decay below a guaranteed level. But nothing is locked: anyone can learn anything; your specialization just makes some paths faster.

Skills — what you actually practice

Thirteen skills level by doing. Mine ores to improve Mining. Cook meals to improve Cooking. Skill milestones unlock real abilities — an Iceborn's frost, a Phoenix's rebirth, and everything in between (79 abilities ship with the mod).

Decay — mastery needs maintenance, not punishment

Skills fade only if you ignore them: nothing below level 25 ever decays, decay only starts after an inactivity grace period, and your specialization protects a floor you'll never fall under. Casual play is safe; peak mastery is earned and kept.

What it looks like in game

• A character screen for your species, specialization, traits and conditions — every entry has its own icon.
• A skills screen with level bands and milestone progress; click a skill for the full picture.
• A compact HUD with resource bars and cooldown/state icons that stays out of the way.
• Server-authoritative progression — safe on dedicated servers, persists across deaths, works in singleplayer.

Install

• Minecraft 1.21.1
• NeoForge 21.1+ — primary loader: grab lifepath-<ver>-neoforge.jar
• Fabric 0.16.10+ — secondary support: grab lifepath-<ver>-fabric.jar plus Fabric API 0.116.0+ in mods
• Lifepath in mods on client and server — the server owns character state
• Java 21

Compatibility

Lifepath is standalone — it does not require Origins or any other progression mod, and it doesn't touch vanilla progression systems. It's built to sit under content mods: an integration adapter for Overgeared-style smithing ships in the jar and turns forged-output crafting into Smithing XP when a compatible partner mod is present — verified live with Overgeared on NeoForge 1.21.1. On Fabric the adapter stays dormant (Overgeared has no Fabric 1.21.1 build) — see the project repo for the exact compat state).

First minutes

1. Open the character screen (default C; the Controls menu lists both Lifepath keys).
2. Pick a species with /lifepath species choose — tab-completion lists the species, and its description prints when you pick.
3. Specializations are assigned by a server admin (/lifepath specialization set) — solo with cheats, set your own. It's a head start, not a contract.
4. Go play. Watch the skills screen fill in; press the ability key (default G) to fire an active ability — click an ability row on the character screen to choose which.

Status

Approaching 1.0 — feature-complete and in release-candidate stabilization. The content set and UI are final for 1.0; balance may still shift. Report issues on the GitHub issue tracker linked from this page.

If you found something that broke, or have an idea where to take this, come over to the Dwurdy Workshop Discord, where we organise to maintain this mod. Any help is appreciated.

We also maintain other mods there, for example: Dawnmine, Dwurdy Sharks, Gatehouse, HeapHammer, ItemGraph, Straja.