Credits

- Design help: IkBlox

The Leveling

Your equipment should feel earned, not disposable. The Leveling gives every eligible weapon and armor piece its own persistent XP, level, and history, allowing the gear you actually use to grow alongside you.

Level Equipment Through Play

• Weapons earn item XP only when they kill a creature. Damage dealt and repeated hits do not award XP.
• Equipped armor earns XP when you take damage, including damage reduced by enchantments or Resistance.
• Every item progresses independently and begins at level 0.
• The default curve supports 500 levels and can be changed by the server owner.
• Creative-mode progression and PvP rewards are separately configurable.

Rewards That Match the Fight

A zombie and a Warden should not be worth the same amount of XP. Vanilla enemies use balanced rewards, while creatures added by other mods are detected automatically and scaled from their maximum health. Server owners can override individual entities and cap rewards through the server configuration.

Weapons Keep Their Identity

Level damage scales from each weapon's original strength. A powerful modded weapon remains stronger than a vanilla sword at the same level instead of both receiving one identical flat bonus.

Supported equipment includes swords, axes, maces, tridents, bows, crossbows, compatible spears, conventional modded melee and ranged weapons, and armor. Mace smash damage, thrown tridents, projectiles, enchantments, and supported special weapon behavior are included in the final calculation.

Relic and Legacy Equipment

Long-used equipment can permanently earn Relic and Legacy identity. By default, Relic is reached at 25% of the configured maximum level and Legacy at the maximum level. Once earned, the identity remains even if the item's level is later reduced.

Relic and Legacy status appears in item information, Jade panels, chat sharing, and dedicated notifications. Thresholds and presentation can be configured.

Broken Gear Stays With You

When eligible equipment reaches zero durability, it becomes Broken instead of disappearing.

• Broken weapons cannot deal damage.
• Broken armor provides no protection and is moved safely into the player's inventory.
• The item's level, XP, name, and enchantments are preserved.
• One valid repair material in an anvil restores one durability point and makes the item usable again.
• Broken items receive a visible cracked icon and red slot border.

Legacy Transfer

Move part of an item's history to another compatible item at a real cost:

• Find a non-craftable Legacy Transfer Template in End City or Bastion chests.
• Mine End Amber Ore in newly generated End chunks and smelt it into End Amber Ingots.
• Craft a Legacy Transfer Table with two ingots and any four wooden planks.
• Transfer 50% of the source item's total XP to a compatible target.
• The source item remains but its progression is reset; the template is consumed.
• Existing target XP, enchantments, custom names, durability, and other components are preserved.
• Weapons transfer to weapons; armor requires a matching equipment slot.

Templates can be duplicated from one existing template, seven End Amber Ingots, and one End Stone, producing two templates.

Clear, Configurable Presentation

• Custom item-level panel with a smooth XP bar
• Live total damage, ranged multiplier, or Armor value
• Compact, Standard, and Detailed tooltip modes
• Maximum-level accent colors and Broken-item effects
• Item-icon level-up notifications and small kill-XP notices
• Hoverable item sharing with Shift + Middle Click
• A compact WL button in the pause menu
• Optional Jade integration for levelled equipment in the world

Client visuals can be disabled independently. Shared progression and balance settings are controlled by the server.

Multiplayer and Configuration

Progression, damage, XP rewards, commands, Legacy Transfer, and gameplay settings are server-authoritative. World hosts and permitted server operators can edit shared options in-game. Other players can view protected settings, but they appear locked and cannot be changed.

Install the same version of The Leveling on the server and every connecting client.

Compatibility

The Leveling includes data-driven detection for compatible modded equipment and has compatibility foundations for Simply Swords, Spartan Weaponry Unofficial, and ArmorPlus. Item tags and server allow/exclude lists are available for modpacks that need manual control.

Combat overhauls that completely replace Minecraft attack or projectile events, including Epic Fight and Better Combat, may require separate compatibility add-ons.

Requirements

• Minecraft Java Edition 1.21.1
• NeoForge 21.1.248 or a newer compatible 21.1.x build
• Java 21

Jade is optional and is not required to run the mod.

Reporting an Issue

Include your Minecraft and NeoForge versions, full mod list, latest.log, reproduction steps, and a screenshot or video when possible.