Bear Minimum

Overview

Bear Minimum is a small mod entirely focused on adding bears. Currently, it adds two types of bears, black bears and brown bears, and rebalances the normal polar bears to better fit their impressive reputation. Bears will spawn in a variety of forested and mountainous biomes. The relatively docile black bears bears are found in more moderate environments, whereas the less friendly brown bears are more comfortable in rougher terrain. 

Black Bears

Black bears are the smallest bear added in this mod. They are relatively friendly and will not attack players except to defend themselves or their cubs. Even though bear cubs are cute, keep a safe distance! There may be a vengeful parent nearby. Black bears can be fed a variety of sweet foods, such as honeycombs, apples, and berries. Nearby players will scare black bears away; loud noises such as goat horns will scare them even further!

If black bears are hungry, they may try to eat nearby crops. Make sure to build fences to deter them or you may find some of your crops mysteriously missing. Black bears will also eat arthropods (bugs) and rabbits (if they can catch them!). 

Brown Bears

Brown bears are less friendly than black bears, but otherwise their behavior is very similar. The most notable difference is that brown bears will attack players who invade their personal space! Be careful not to blunder straight into a bear when walking through the woods. Fortunately, brown bears are also skittish and will try to avoid players - unless the players are carrying some of their favorite foods, which include berries, bread, and salmon.

Hungry brown bears may raid crops or hunt. Their prey includes arthropods, salmon, and pigs. 

Polar Bears

In normal Minecraft, polar bears are quite passive. They primarily stand around and do nothing. Thus, Bear Minimum rebalances them to better live up to their fearsome real-life reputation. Polar bears receive a major health and damage boost, in addition to increased knockback resistance to match their noticeably scaled-up size. Be careful when exploring the tundras - trespass in a polar bear's proximity and you may find a mighty foe!

Items

True to its intent as a minimal mod, Bear Minimum does not add many items. Bear meat is obtained from killing polar bears, brown bears, and black bears. Cooked bear meat - as might be assumed - is obtained by cooking raw bear meat. Due to its high fat content, it is slightly less filling but more sustaining than steak. 

Bear Minimum also adds bear spawn eggs for creative mode players. These are, as usual, unobtainable in survival. 

Known Incompatibilities

None, at the moment.

Modpacks

Please use this mod in modpacks! I'd prefer the modpacks be created through CurseForge or Modrinth, so I can keep track of this mod's popularity, but it's not a big deal. Let me know if you'd like me to port this to another version, or add compatibility with other mods! If there are any features you think could make this mod better, please post a comment! I'd love to hear your feedback. 

This mod will also be available on CurseForge, when it is approved. I do not plan on distributing this mod through any other platforms, so I cannot guarantee its safety or accuracy if you get it somewhere else.

Other Versions

I will consider porting this to other versions on request! Just let me know which version and loader you want.