Civilians
Civilians adds customizable NPCs that walk around the world, talk to players and can be given custom skins, dialogue and names, so that towns and villages feel populated.
What it does
Civilians places interactive NPCs into a world that players build or explore. Each NPC can be renamed, reskinned and given its own dialogue, and it wanders around rather than standing still. Right-clicking an NPC opens a talk screen, and two buttons appear for interaction. The NPCs are meant to give creations such as cities, towns and villages a sense of life, in the way that villagers populate vanilla villages but with more control over how they look and behave.
Skins are loaded from .png files placed in a designated folder. Wide skins use 4px arms, which is the standard model, and Slim skins use 3px arms in the Alex style. Once a skin file is in place it appears in the GUI and can be applied to an NPC. An NPC Totem item is craftable and is used to spawn NPCs. The mod also includes a fighting companion option with improved AI pathfinding and preset trades.
Civilians is published for Fabric only, for 1.21.1, 1.21.4 and 1.21.5, and it requires Fabric API. Every player and the server need a copy of the mod. The code is open source under the MIT License, and the source code and issue tracker are public.
Key features
Customizable NPCs
NPCs can be renamed, reskinned and given their own dialogue, and they walk around the world.
Custom skins
Wide and Slim skin files from a designated folder appear in the GUI and can be applied to any NPC.
NPC Totem
A craftable NPC Totem spawns the NPCs, so builders can place them where they want.
Talk and dialogue
Right-clicking an NPC opens a conversation, and each NPC can say different lines.
Companion and trades
A fighting companion with improved pathfinding and preset trades is included alongside the civilians.
Gallery
Compatibility
Latest build for each game version and loader.
Only full game releases are shown. This mod publishes no snapshot builds.
Requirements
Dependencies declared by the latest file for each loader.
Required 1
Use cases
Who it’s for: The mod suits builders, roleplayers and survival players who want their worlds to feel populated and immersive, and server owners who want shared NPC towns.
How it compares
KantoNPCs is a Fabric mod for 1.21.1 with a custom license and is not open source, and it runs on client and server. CobbleBetterNPC is server-side only, for 1.21.1, under All rights reserved, so players join without installing it. KastNPC is client and server for 1.21.4 under All rights reserved. Civilians covers 1.21.1, 1.21.4 and 1.21.5 under the MIT License.
| Mod | Loaders | Game versions | Environment | Updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Civilians | Fabric | 1.21.1 – 1.21.5 | Client and server | 2025-10-20 |
| KantoNPCs | Fabric | 1.21.1 | Client and server | 2026-07-15 |
| CobbleBetterNPC | Fabric | 1.21.1 | Server-side only | 2026-04-04 |
| KastNPC | Fabric | 1.21.4 | Client and server | 2026-05-24 |
Questions
Does Civilians need Fabric API?
Do players need the mod to join a server running it?
Which game versions does Civilians support?
In the catalog
Civilians is one of 11,058 Mobs mods on ModsFinder, and one of 5,189 Mobs mods for Fabric. 15,307 mods support Minecraft 1.21.5.
Similar mods
What the author says
Civilians brings life and realism to your Minecraft world! Whether you’re building a city, town, or village, Civilians fills your creations with interactive NPCs that look and act like real players. Just like villagers in Minecraft villages — but far more customizable — Civilians walk around, go in and out of…
Official listing
- Modrinth page
- modrinth.com/mod/civilians
- Owner
- AsianSandwiich
- Published
- 2024-12-30
- Updated on Modrinth
- 2025-10-20
- Facts verified
- 2026-10-15