VanillaMagic
Vanilla-friendly early-game magic: wands, a healing staff, eitr foods and a wraith mage set, from the Black Forest to the Plains.
About this mod Author’s original text
VanillaMagic
Vanilla-friendly early-game magic for Valheim.
In vanilla, magic only becomes available in the Mistlands. VanillaMagic adds a small set of
basic magic tools that you can use from the Black Forest through the Plains, so a mage
playthrough can start much earlier.
The goal is to fit in, not to replace anything. Everything is built from the game's own
models, materials and effects, so it looks and feels like vanilla Valheim. The numbers are
tuned to sit next to the bows and weapons of each biome rather than outclass them. Your
Mistlands staves stay an upgrade.
Features
Wands and staves
Crafted at the Forge, one per biome, each a step up from the last:
| Item | Biome | Forge lvl | Recipe | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flame Wand | Black Forest | 1 | 7 Bronze, 1 Surtling Core | Rapid stream of embers. 20 blunt + 20 fire per bolt, 7 eitr |
| Healing Staff | Swamp | 2 | 10 Withered Bone, 2 Ancient Seed, 10 Ectoplasm | Heals you and everyone standing close for 12/15/20/25 s (by quality), 20 eitr + 30% health |
| Frost Wand | Mountains | 3 | 28 Silver, 1 Crystal, 2 Freeze Gland | Single frost bolt that bursts on impact. 90 frost, 30 eitr |
| Stone Wand | Plains | 4 | 18 Black Metal, 4 Obsidian, 5 Fine Wood | Heavy rock that shatters and knocks enemies back. 240 blunt, 40 eitr |
All of them can be upgraded at the Forge and use the vanilla magic skills.
Eitr food
You need eitr to cast, so the mod adds a few early sources of it:
- Wildberries: a glowing purple bush found in the Black Forest (more rarely in the Swamp and Plains). Eat the berries raw for a little eitr.
- Ghostshake (Cauldron lvl 2): 4 Wildberries + 1 Ectoplasm. A light eitr meal (5 HP / 20 stamina / 40 eitr).
- Blue Mushroom: grows in Frost Caves in the Mountains, using the game's own unused blue mushroom (15 HP / 10 stamina / 25 eitr).
- Mushroom Soup (Cauldron lvl 3): 1 Mushroom + 1 Yellow Mushroom + 1 Blue Mushroom makes 2 bowls (20 HP / 23 stamina / 25 eitr, 25 min).
- Crystal Sugar: grind Crystal in the Windmill.
- Eyescream with Sprinkles (Cauldron lvl 3): the Eyescream recipe + 1 Crystal Sugar, trading a little health and stamina for 10 eitr.
- Frosted Sweetbread: Viking Cupcake dough + 1 Crystal Sugar at the Prep Table, then bake it. The frosted Viking Cupcake now gives 20 eitr (33 / 33 / 20). Baking plain dough gives the new unfrosted Sweetbread with vanilla stats.
All of these foods can be placed with the Serving Tray, like vanilla food.
Wraith armor
A 4-piece mage set for the Swamp-to-Mountains stretch (hood, robe, leggings, cape), made from
wraith chains and Fenris hair, crafted and upgraded at the Workbench:
- Light armor (8, +3 per level) with eitr regeneration on every piece.
- Full set bonus: +10 Elemental Magic and +10 Blood Magic.
- The cape is frost resistant.
- Upgrade costs grow with the biomes (Wolf Hair Bundle, Ectoplasm, Leather Scraps, Chain).
Drop changes
These make the ingredients reachable in their own biome:
- Wraiths (Swamp, at night) always drop 1-4 Ectoplasm (same as the vanilla Ghost). Ghosts now drop it only 10% of the time.
- Fenrings have a 25% chance to drop a Wolf Hair Bundle.
The Ghost and Fenring drops can be changed in the config.
Installation
With a mod manager (recommended)
Install with r2modman or Mod Manager. BepInEx and Jötunn are installed automatically.
Manual
- Install BepInExPack Valheim.
- Install Jötunn.
- Copy VanillaMagic.dll into BepInEx/plugins/VanillaMagic.
Multiplayer
Everyone must have the mod, including the server, with the same minor version. Jötunn checks this when you connect.
Configuration
Settings are in BepInEx/config/com.barnabur.vanillamagic.cfg, created on first launch. You can also edit them in game with Configuration Manager (F1).
| Setting | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Drops.FenringHairChance | 25 | Chance (%) that a Fenring drops a Wolf Hair Bundle |
| Drops.FenringHairAmount | 1 | How many Wolf Hair Bundles a Fenring drops |
| Dr
Install & use Install: BepInEx plugin
- The archive from playbuff is the mod itself — usually a BepInEx plugin (a .dll or a plugin folder once unzipped).
- Recommended: use a community mod manager (such as r2modman) — pick this game, import the mod, and the manager sets up BepInEx and its dependencies for you.
- Manual route: install the BepInEx loader in the game folder, then drop the unzipped .dll or plugin folder into BepInEx/plugins/.
- Launch the game — the BepInEx console logs every plugin it loads; seeing this mod in the log means it is installed.
Mods with listed dependencies need those installed too, or they will not load. Options are usually changed in-game or in the plugin's config file. In multiplayer, the host and every client need the same mods installed.
Install these first, or the mod will not work: