VanillaSkills: Quick guide
Runs on Fabric and NeoForge (Minecraft 26.2 / 26.1.2). Install the jar on the server (Fabric needs Fabric API) — players install nothing and get the textures pushed to them on join. Or use the ready-made VSP Player/Server packs.
Where’s my XP?
Section titled “Where’s my XP?”Removed — nothing drops or grants it. The XP bar shows your banked Skill Shards instead. Servers can put vanilla XP back with one config switch (experienceEnabled).
How do I earn shards?
Section titled “How do I earn shards?”Do advancements — that’s the main source: tasks pay 5, goals 20, purple challenges 50. Also: mine shard ore, fish up crates, sell to the wandering trader, and loot structure chests. And just play: mining, building and harvesting all have a small chance to shake a shard loose every once in a while — luck (the Fortune Finder lane) improves those odds.
Quest Shards are a second currency: earn them from Bounty Board quests (/quests), spend them on the gear-unlock lanes and the Quest Shop. 3 Quest Shards convert to 1 Skill Shard, one way only.
How do I spend shards?
Section titled “How do I spend shards?”Open the tree with /skill. Fifteen lanes — health, speed, mining, luck, damage, armor, reach, swimming, gear unlocks and more. Every node is a live modifier, and you can respec any time. Shards can also be withdrawn as items, traded, and banked again with a right-click.
How do I enchant?
Section titled “How do I enchant?”The enchanting table is now the Infusing Table — no lapis, no levels. Put enchanted books in chiseled bookshelves around it: it offers exactly what’s shelved, charges shards, and never consumes the books. Shelve a book once, enchant with it forever.
Anvils no longer put books on gear — that’s the Infusing Table’s job. Anvils still combine two books.
What does the anvil cost?
Section titled “What does the anvil cost?”Shards, not levels: 1 per repair material, 1 per enchant level on the item you sacrifice. Renames are free. Vanilla’s prior-work penalty no longer compounds, so nothing becomes “too expensive.”
What’s the gear ladder?
Section titled “What’s the gear ladder?”Hardwood → Rose Gold → Steel → Crystalline → Dragon, woven in between the vanilla tiers — Steel sits between iron and diamond, Crystalline between diamond and netherite, Dragon above netherite. Each set has a full-set bonus (checked live), and crafting each tier is unlocked through the Armorsmith / Toolsmith lanes.
- Steel is smelted, not crafted: one iron block → 3 Steel Ingots in any furnace.
- Full stats for every tier: Gear & crafting.
How do I get Dragon gear?
Section titled “How do I get Dragon gear?”-
Kill the Ender Dragon yourself — 8 Dragon Scales per kill, 32 for the world’s first.
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Forge a Dragon Ingot: Netherite Ingot + 4 scales.
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Upgrade netherite gear at a smithing table with the ingot and a Dragon Template.
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Repair: one scale + 2 shards fully fixes a piece. Bonus: drop a Dragon chestplate and an Elytra on an anvil and they fuse.
Why can’t I mine this?
Section titled “Why can’t I mine this?”- Deepslate needs a Steel-tier-or-better pickaxe (vanilla diamond/netherite count).
- Shard ore (reinforced deepslate) needs Netherite, Crystalline or Dragon — anything weaker shatters it and you get nothing.
What are the crates?
Section titled “What are the crates?”Fished out of the water, right-click to open (it spins a little slot reel). Wooden/Copper/Iron/Diamond as a rarity ladder, plus Frozen, Lush and Desert biome crates. Luck of the Sea catches you a few more crates; the Unboxing rod enchantment upgrades which crate bites.
Portable storage?
Section titled “Portable storage?”Chest + 8 leather = Satchel — a shulker box in all but name, no End trip required.
Running a server?
Section titled “Running a server?”- Config lives at
<world>/vanillaskills/gameplay.json— every stat, cost and toggle, each explained by the file’s built-in#option-guide. Live-reload with/skill reload. - The skill tree, quests, shop and crates are datapacks — reprice, replace or remove anything like vanilla tags.
- Useful commands:
/skill skillshards <player> add <n>,/skill give <item>,/quests board.