Be Undead
by ZiederZiet
Be Undead turns the player into a zombie, with the drawbacks, weaknesses and advantages of undead mobs applied to the character.
What it does
Once the mod is installed, a player plays as an undead character with the usual zombie drawbacks: sunlight, water and weakness effects change how the game plays. Husks burn in sunlight unless a helmet is worn, Drowned die under water and Zombies die when sand touches them, which shapes exploration and travel. Healing and harming potions work in reverse for undead players, and the Smite enchantment adds extra damage against them.
Zombies have one inventory slot for armor, the offhand and a chest, and gain access to the rest of the hotbar in a different way. Experience comes only from killing other mobs. The behavior is set by a modified config, so server owners can adjust the rules. The mod is meant for players who want a challenge and a different way to play through the game.
Be Undead is published for Fabric, Forge and NeoForge, with files for 1.19.4 – 1.21.4 across eight release versions. Servers that run it need every player to install it too. The code is not open source; it is released under All rights reserved, while the source code and issue tracker are public.
Key features
Sunlight and water effects
Husks burn in sunlight unless a helmet is worn, and Drowned die under water, changing how undead characters move through the world.
Reversed potions
Healing and harming potions behave in reverse for undead players, and weakness potions and golden apples can turn a zombie back.
Limited inventory
Zombies have one slot for armor, the offhand and a chest, with access to the rest of the hotbar limited accordingly.
Experience from kills
Experience comes only from killing mobs, so the progression loop is built around combat.
Gallery
Compatibility
Latest build for each game version and loader.
Only full game releases are shown. This mod publishes no snapshot builds.
Use cases
Challenge runs
Players who want a harder survival run can play as an undead character and work through the game under the modified rules.
Who it’s for: Players who want a challenge run and server owners who want to tune the undead rules through the modified config.
How it compares
Zombie Break & Build is server-side only and open source under the GNU Lesser General Public License v3.0 only, with files for 1.20.1 – 26.3 on Fabric, Forge and NeoForge. Zombies+ runs on client and server, is not open source and is published for Fabric and Forge across 1.20 – 1.20.4. Be Undead also needs both sides, so it differs from Zombie Break & Build in environment and license.
| Mod | Loaders | Game versions | Environment | Updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Be Undead | Fabric, Forge and NeoForge | 1.19.4 – 1.21.4 | Client and server | 2026-01-10 |
| Zombie Break & Build | Fabric, Forge and NeoForge | 1.20.1 – 26.3 | Server-side only | 2026-09-22 |
| Zombies+ | Fabric and Forge | 1.20 – 1.20.4 | Client and server | 2024-11-10 |
Questions
Does Be Undead need to be on both sides?
Which loaders does Be Undead support?
Can server owners change the undead rules?
In the catalog
Be Undead is one of 29,952 Game mechanics mods on ModsFinder, and one of 19,630 Game mechanics mods for Fabric. 17,979 mods support Minecraft 1.21.4.
More from ZiederZiet
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What the author says
Being a zombie has many disadvantages, but don't worry, you can be turned back by using a weakness potion and a golden apple. I challenge you to play through the game while being a zombie.
Official listing
- Modrinth page
- modrinth.com/mod/beundead
- Owner
- ZiederZiet
- Published
- 2025-04-10
- Updated on Modrinth
- 2026-01-10
- Facts verified
- 2026-10-15