Keep Inventory Penalty
by Fab
After a death with keepInventory active, Keep Inventory Penalty takes a share of the player's experience points, halved by default, through a configurable penalty.
What it does
The mod applies an experience penalty when a player dies while the keepInventory game rule is on. Items stay in place as usual, and the penalty removes part of the XP. With the default configuration the lost amount is 0.5 of the player's XP each time, meaning half is taken.
The penalty settings live in a config file inside the world folder, so each world can use its own values. The /reload command applies changes without restarting the game. Options cover whether the penalty is enabled, the percentage lost, and whether the amount is picked at random between two values.
Keep Inventory Penalty runs on the server alone, so players join without installing it. It is published for Fabric and NeoForge across eight game versions 1.20 – 1.21.1, and the code is open source under the MIT License. Files for 1.21.1 were last updated on 2025-07-03.
Key features
XP penalty on death
Experience points are reduced when the player dies with keepInventory enabled, so items and XP are weighed against each other.
Adjustable loss percentage
The share of XP removed can be set in the config, with 0.5 as the default value.
Random penalty range
An optional setting picks the lost amount at random between two values instead of using a fixed share.
Killer receives the XP
An optional setting gives the penalized XP to a player who kills the dying player, which rewards PvP fights.
Death chat message
An optional global chat message announces the XP loss of the player who died.
Compatibility
Latest build for each game version and loader.
Only full game releases are shown. This mod publishes no snapshot builds.
Use cases
Who it’s for: Server owners who run keepInventory worlds and want a death cost in experience points, and players on those servers who want to know how much XP a death takes.
How it compares
Keep my tools! runs on Fabric, Forge and NeoForge with client and server, under the MIT License, and covers 1.20.1 – 1.21.10, so it protects equipment rather than XP. keepEquipment is NeoForge only, for 1.21.3 – 1.21.5, under All rights reserved, and keeps equipment on death. Keep Inventory Penalty is the only one here that applies an XP penalty.
| Mod | Loaders | Game versions | Environment | Updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Keep Inventory Penalty | Fabric and NeoForge | 1.20 – 1.21.1 | Server-side only | 2025-07-03 |
| Keep my tools! | Fabric, Forge and NeoForge | 1.20.1 – 1.21.10 | Client and server | 2026-02-28 |
| keepEquipment | NeoForge | 1.21.3 – 1.21.5 | Client and server | 2025-05-29 |
Questions
Does Keep Inventory Penalty need to be installed on the client?
Which loaders does Keep Inventory Penalty support?
Can the penalty be changed without restarting the server?
Does the penalty apply when keepInventory is off?
In the catalog
Keep Inventory Penalty is one of 17,631 Equipment mods on ModsFinder, and one of 8,894 Equipment mods for Fabric. 32,366 mods support Minecraft 1.21.1.
Similar mods
What the author says
Keep Inventory Penalty adds a configurable xp penalty when you die while using keepInventory. With the default configuration your XP will be halved each time you die.
Official listing
- Modrinth page
- modrinth.com/mod/keep-inventory-penalty
- Owner
- Fab
- Published
- 2023-08-04
- Updated on Modrinth
- 2025-07-03
- Facts verified
- 2026-10-15