Familiar Friends
With Familiar Friends, players gain special pets through a book, and each pet adds its own abilities, a port of an older Minecraft mod called Familiars.
What it does
Familiar Friends is a port of an older mod named Familiars, brought forward to modern Minecraft. Players earn familiars with experience and equip them through Book Familiars, a book crafted from mob drops of several kinds. Twenty familiars give the player effects and abilities, some based on the originals with a fresh coat of paint and others entirely new.
The mod runs on the client and on the server, so both need it, and it requires Fabric API, Koala Lib and MidnightLib. Familiar Friends is published for Fabric and NeoForge across three game versions, 1.20.1, 1.21 and 1.21.1, under a custom license that does not make it open source. The source code and issue tracker are public.
Key features
Book-based pet system
Familiars are acquired with experience and equipped through a book, which keeps the pet system tied to progression.
Twenty familiars
The mod adds twenty familiars, each giving its own effects or abilities to the player who equips it.
Mob-drop crafting
Book Familiars are crafted from drops of several mob types, so collecting spoils from different creatures feeds into the pet system.
Configurable costs
The cost of familiars can be changed, and the system can be disabled entirely through the config files.
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 2
Use cases
Nostalgic revival
Players who remember the original Familiars can bring the pet system back on a modern version of the game.
Who it’s for: Players who want pets with abilities as part of their progression, and server owners who want to adjust or disable the familiar system through configuration.
How it compares
Book of Familiars is a Forge and NeoForge mod released under the MIT License and is open source, covering 1.20.1 – 26.1.2. Friends For Life is a Fabric and NeoForge mod under All rights reserved, not open source, covering 1.20.1 – 1.21.1. Familiar Friends is not open source and runs on Fabric and NeoForge for the same range.
| Mod | Loaders | Game versions | Environment | Updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Familiar Friends | Fabric and NeoForge | 1.20.1 – 1.21.1 | Client and server | 2026-05-28 |
| Book of Familiars | Forge and NeoForge | 1.20.1 – 26.1.2 | Client and server | 2026-10-12 |
| Friends For Life | Fabric and NeoForge | 1.20.1 – 1.21.1 | Client and server | 2026-09-22 |
Questions
Which loaders does Familiar Friends support?
Does Familiar Friends need to be installed on the server?
Which dependencies does Familiar Friends require?
Can the familiar system be turned off?
In the catalog
Familiar Friends is one of 7,216 Magic mods on ModsFinder, and one of 3,630 Magic mods for Fabric. 32,366 mods support Minecraft 1.21.1.
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What the author says
Familiar Friends is a mod based on a very, very old Minecraft mod from back in the day called Familiars. I had a lot of nostalgia for the mod so I decided to port it over to modern Minecraft! This mod adds 20 familiars that grant the player new effects and abilities, some based on the original familiars (with a fresh…
Official listing
- Modrinth page
- modrinth.com/mod/familiar-friends
- Owner
- Deadlydiamond
- Published
- 2024-12-02
- Updated on Modrinth
- 2026-05-28
- Facts verified
- 2026-10-15