Special Mobs Mod — Guide
Mechanics
Special Mobs works by hooking into the natural spawning of vanilla monsters. When such a mob spawns, there is a small chance it becomes one of the special variants for its type rather than the ordinary version.
Common themes across variants:
- Status-effect attacks — many variants apply effects on hit, such as Blindness, Nausea, Slowness, Weakness, Mining Fatigue, Poison, or Wither.
- Stat changes — variants may have increased health, increased damage, or armor-piercing attacks; "Giant" variants are larger and stronger, while "Mini," "Baby," and "Small" variants are reduced in size and stats (often faster).
- Special behaviors — teleporting, phasing through blocks, riding other mobs, leaping or flying, summoning minions, splitting into smaller copies, stealing or eating the player's food, disarming the player, or altering the environment (placing dirt/gravel, destroying light sources, creating water spheres).
- Resistances and weaknesses — some variants are immune to fire, potions, arrows, fall damage, or drowning, and a few have specific weaknesses (for example, weak to wooden tools, snowballs, or Smite).
- Unique drops — variants commonly drop a thematic item, and some drop pre-enchanted weapons or bows, spawn eggs, or special potions.
Zombie and Zombie Pigman Variants
Both Zombies and Zombie Pigmen share a similar roster of variants.
| Variant | Behavior | Notable Drops |
|---|---|---|
| Fire | Immune to fire; sets targets ablaze on hit | Coal |
| Fishing | Uses a fishing rod to reel the player in | Raw Fish |
| Giant | Larger, with more health and damage | — |
| Hungry | Eats food from the player's inventory | Apple |
| Plague | Inflicts random negative status effects | Brown / Red Mushrooms |
| Brutish | High health with armor-piercing damage | Flint |
| Vampire (Pigman) | High defense; weak to wooden tools | Gold Ingot |
Skeleton and Wither Skeleton Variants
Skeleton variants frequently come armed, and several drop enchanted weapons or bows.
| Variant | Behavior | Notable Drops |
|---|---|---|
| Fire | Immune to fire; shoots flaming arrows | Coal; Stone Sword (Fire Aspect I); Bow (Flame I) |
| Gatling | Fires arrows extremely rapidly | Gunpowder |
| Brutish | Armor-piercing fire arrows | Flint; Bow (Agony I); Stone Sword (Pain I) |
| Giant | Larger with increased stats | — |
| Poison | Fires poison arrows | Spider Eye; Bow (Venom I); Stone Sword (Poison Aspect I) |
| Ninja | Camouflages as terrain, attacks in melee | Ink Sac; Paper; Katana (Sharpness III); Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi (Pain II, Unbreaking V) |
| Thief | Disarms players | Gold Nugget |
| Spitfire | Shoots volleys of fireballs | Fire Charge; Bow (Flame I); Stone Sword (Fire Aspect I) |
Creeper Variants
Creepers have one of the largest variant rosters, mostly themed around different kinds of explosions and environmental effects.
| Variant | Behavior | Notable Drops |
|---|---|---|
| Armor | Yellow; wears leather armor | Leather |
| Death | Dark grey with red eyes; deadly explosion | — |
| Dirt | Brown; spews dirt on explosion | Dirt, Bread |
| Doom | Dark grey; massive explosion | Bone Meal |
| Ender | Black with purple eyes; teleports; burns in sunlight | Ender Pearl |
| Fire | Red; fiery explosion | Coal, Fire Charge |
| Jumping | Purple; performs high jumps | Glowstone |
| Lightning | Light blue; lightning explosion | Redstone |
| Splitting | Light green; splits into mini creepers when hit | — |
| Mini | Small and fast | — |
| Drowning | Dark blue with red eyes; creates a silverfish water sphere | Bucket |
| Dark | Wears a Jack o'Lantern; destroys light sources | Torches; Potion of Night Vision |
| Gravel | Bursts into gravel | Gravel, Flint |
| Gravity | Dark purple; pulls nearby entities toward it | Gold Nugget, Apple |
Spider and Silverfish Variants
Spider variants:
| Variant | Behavior | Notable Drops |
|---|---|---|
| Baby | Reduced size and stats | — |
| Desert | Applies Nausea, Blindness, Slowness | Leather |
| Flying | Immune to fall damage; long leaps | Feather |
| Giant | Larger with increased stats | — |
| Mother | Pink eyes; regenerates; spawns baby spiders on death | — |
| Pale | Applies Weakness III | Fermented Spider Eye |
| Poison | Dark blue; poisons on hit | — |
| Ghost | Transparent; phases through blocks | Slimeball |
| Small | Smaller than normal | — |
| Tough | Lime/green eyes; highly resistant | Flint, Iron Ingot |
| Witch | Immune to potions and arrows | Blaze Powder, Glowstone Dust, Ghast Tear, Magma Cream |
| Hungry | Steals and eats player food | Apple; Potion of Hunger; stolen items |
Silverfish variants:
| Variant | Behavior | Notable Drops |
|---|---|---|
| Fishing | Red-striped; fishing-rod attacks | Raw Fish |
| Blindness | Tan/grey; applies Blindness | Ink Sac |
| Flying | Blue; immune to fall damage | Feathers |
| Tough | Large/black with red eyes; high defense | Flint |
| Poison | Green; poisons on hit | Spider Eye |
Slime Variants
Slimes are reimagined as fruit-themed variants, each with a color, a special behavior, and a matching dye and potion drop.
| Variant | Behavior | Notable Drops |
|---|---|---|
| Strawberry | Red; immune to fire; ignites players | Fire Charge; Red Dye; Potion of Fire Resistance |
| Blueberry | Blue; does not drown; hops underwater | Light Blue Dye; Potion of Water Breathing |
| Watermelon | Green; launches itself at targets | Melon; Lime Dye; Potion of Resistance |
| Blackberry | Black; higher health; creeper-like explosion | Gunpowder; Ink Sac |
| Grape | Purple; immune to fall damage | Purple Dye; Potion of Jump Boost |
| Lemon | Yellow; immune to fire; lightning/teleport | Redstone; Yellow Dye; Potion of Haste |
| Caramel | Orange; sticks to the target and deals damage | Sugar; Orange Dye; Sticky Sword (Sharpness III) |
Blaze and Ghast Variants
Blaze variants:
| Variant | Behavior | Notable Drops |
|---|---|---|
| Inferno | Orange; high health; fireball barrages | Blaze Powder; Fire Charge |
| Hellfire | Grey with red eyes; shoots a single Ghast fireball | Gunpowder |
| Smolder | Black with six eyes; blinds targets | Coal |
| Ember | Black with yellow eyes; melee rushes | Coal |
| Cinder | Tiny; melee rushes; ignites on hit | — |
| Conflagration | Black rods, normal head; high defense; weak to snowballs | Fire Charge; Potion of Fire Resistance |
| Jolt | Blue with orange eyes; lightning strikes, teleports, dodges | Redstone |
| Wildfire | Large with four red eyes; mixed attacks; spawns cinders | Coal; Blaze Spawn Egg |
Ghast variants:
| Variant | Behavior | Notable Drops |
|---|---|---|
| Baby | Tiny; attacks in melee | — |
| Fighter | Grey with red stripes; melee attacks | Iron Ingot |
| King | Dark grey/golden stripes; regenerates; larger fireballs | Gold Ingot; Emerald |
| Queen | Dark grey/purple stripes; regenerates; spawns babies | Gold Ingot; Emerald |
| Mini | Tiny; picks up hostile mobs | — |
| Unholy | White with black mouth; immune to non-Smite weapons | Gold Ingot |
| Faint | Green and transparent; phases through blocks | Slimeball |
Enderman Variants
Enderman variants build on the base mob's teleporting nature with new effects and movement tricks.
| Variant | Behavior | Notable Drops |
|---|---|---|
| Blinding | Blinds nearby players | Ink Sac |
| Cursed | Applies Weakness and Mining Fatigue | Gunpowder, Sugar, Spider Eye, Fermented Spider Eye, Glistering Melon |
| Icy | Immune to fire; applies Slowness IV | Snowball |
| Lightning | Summons lightning when hit | Redstone |
| Mirage | Creates illusions when teleporting | Silverfish Monster Egg |
| Mini | Smaller variant | — |
| Thief | Fast movement; teleports its target on hit | — |
Witch Variants
Witch variants are distinguished by their robe colors and the kinds of potions and minions they bring to a fight.
| Variant | Behavior | Notable Drops |
|---|---|---|
| Witch of the Wind | Dark purple robe; speed, melee and invisibility | Feather; Potion of Hiding (Invisibility + Blindness) |
| Witch of the Wilds | Green robe; rides a spider; throws poison potions | Fermented Spider Eye; Skeleton Spawn Egg |
| Witch of Shadows | Black robe with white eyes; throws Blindness potions | Ink Sac; Splash Potion of Blindness |
| Witch of the Undead | Black torn robe; spawns skeleton minions; heals with instant damage | Skeleton Spawn Egg; Skeleton Skull |
| Witch of Rage | Brown robe; Strength and Resistance potion; melee | Blaze Powder; Potion of Rage (Strength + Resistance) |
| Witch of Domination | Fancy robe with yellow outline; melee; inflicts Wither | Bottle o' Enchanting; Helmet of Mind Protection |