Make Clay Valuable Again

Clay blocks yield nothing useful when broken by hand, and the clay shovel or clay pickaxe is needed to collect clay. Stone tools can no longer be obtained through the usual crafting route, so the early game asks players to gather clay before progressing. Clay balls drop from Wither Skeletons with a 10% chance, and skeletons killed in the mod are the source that lets players reach enough clay balls for clay tools. Killing the Wither Ender Dragon always drops one clay ball.

The mod aims to extend early-game progression in Minecraft by making clay harder to get. Its author notes that many other mods make clay too readily available, and the changes are meant to keep the general progression of the game in order. Wooden tools and swords are needed in larger numbers before the path to clay tools opens. Players who want a slower, more deliberate start can use it alongside the vanilla game.

The mod is open source under the MIT License and is published for Forge on 1.11.2 only, with version 1.0.0 as its latest file, released on 2023-10-28. A server running it needs every connecting player to have it too. Public links for the source code, issue tracker and wiki are available.