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Life Crystals

Find crystals underground to permanently increase your max health. Exploration rewarded.

Overview

Life Crystals adds a progression system that rewards exploration. Deep underground, you'll find glowing Life Crystal ore that can be mined and consumed to permanently increase your maximum health.

Start with the standard 10 hearts and work your way up to 20 — just like in Terraria. It gives players a tangible reason to explore caves and venture deeper into the world.

Tip

Life Crystals are most common between Y levels 0 and -40. Bring plenty of torches and mining equipment!

Mechanics

Health Increase

Each Life Crystal consumed adds 1 heart (2 HP) to your maximum health. The progression works as follows:

  • Starting health — 10 hearts (20 HP)
  • Maximum health — 20 hearts (40 HP)
  • Crystals needed — 10 total

Using Life Crystals

To use a Life Crystal:

  1. Mine the Life Crystal ore with any pickaxe
  2. Collect the Life Crystal item
  3. Right-click while holding it to consume
  4. Your max health increases immediately
  5. You're fully healed upon consumption

Visual Effects

Life Crystals are easy to spot while mining:

  • Emit a soft red glow in dark caves
  • Sparkle with heart-shaped particles
  • Make a distinctive sound when nearby
  • Shimmer effect when held in inventory

Finding Crystals

Spawn Locations

Life Crystal ore generates in the following conditions:

  • Y Level — Between 0 and -40 (most common at -20)
  • Biomes — All overworld biomes
  • Frequency — Similar to diamond ore
  • Vein Size — 1-2 crystals per vein

Mining Tips

  • Branch mine at Y level -20 for optimal results
  • Life Crystals glow, so turn off your torches periodically to spot them
  • They can generate in caves, ravines, and mineshafts
  • Use Night Vision potions to see the glow more easily

Note

Once you've consumed 10 Life Crystals and reached 20 hearts, additional crystals cannot be used. Store extras in case of death in hardcore mode!

Configuration

Life Crystals can be configured via the config file located at: 

config/iggymods/life-crystals.toml
Option Default Description
healthPerCrystal 2 Health points added per crystal
maxCrystals 10 Maximum crystals that can be used
minYLevel -40 Minimum generation height
maxYLevel 0 Maximum generation height
veinSize 2 Crystals per vein (1-3)
veinsPerChunk 3 Average veins per chunk
enableGlowEffect true Enable glowing in darkness

Compatibility

Supported Versions

  • Minecraft 1.20, 1.20.1, 1.20.2, 1.20.4
  • Forge, Fabric, NeoForge

Known Compatible Mods

  • All IggyMods — Designed to work together
  • JEI/REI — Shows crystal usage in recipe viewer
  • Health display mods — Extra hearts show correctly
  • World generation mods — Crystals generate in modded dimensions
  • Difficulty mods — Health bonuses scale appropriately

Note

If you're playing with mods that modify base health, you may want to adjust the config to balance progression.

Iggy