Minecraft: Bedrock Edition · Add-On
Primal Survival Player's Guide
A survival-RPG expansion for Minecraft Bedrock: nineteen new metals to mine and smelt, twenty armour sets with set bonuses, spears, four classes, companions, five world events and dungeons that open under your feet while you dig. This page walks through every system in the order you meet it.
- Namespace
- vp_aa:
- Packs
- Behaviour + Resource
- Languages
- en_US · es_ES · es_MX
- In-game manual
- Explorer's Compendium
- Platforms
- Windows, Xbox, PlayStation, Switch, iOS, Android
01 · Getting started
Before you start
The add-on explains itself in game. The first thing to build is the manual.
- Craft the Explorer's Compendium. One book and four leather in a cross shape
(
L / LBL / L). It covers ores, armour sets, the bestiary, crafting, mining tiers, events, ecosystems, survival, progression and companions — and it can be re-crafted any time you lose it. - Check what you were handed. On your first spawn the add-on gives you the Missions Book, the Config Stick, 5 SP and tier 1 progression.
- Start a new world if you can. It runs in existing worlds, but ores, creatures and structures only generate in chunks created with the add-on active.
- Keep the Config Stick on you. Thirst, temperature, audio, ecosystem, territories, world events and language all toggle from its menu.
| Task | How you do it |
|---|---|
| Learn the systems | Craft the Explorer's Compendium (1 Book + 4 Leather) |
| Carry a drink | Water restores +6 thirst, milk +8, an empty coconut +5 |
| Survive the first night | Shelter, a campfire for warmth, and light |
| Start the metal chain | Mine a tier 1 ore (Antimony, Manganese, Nickel, Silver), smelt the raw ore, craft a pickaxe |
| Pick a class | Craft and place the Skill Tree, then interact with it. A tier 0 node costs 5 SP |
| Recruit a companion | Craft a Call Totem (2 Gold Ingot + 1 Emerald + 2 Sticks) |
Scroll tables sideways →
02 · Survival
Thirst and body heat
Two bars run alongside hunger: hydration (0 to 20) and body temperature (−30 °C to 60 °C). Both are driven by where you are and what you are doing, and both can be switched off from the Config Stick.
Hydration
Thirst drains while you explore, and standing inside water refills it on its own. Sprinting and every jump drain it faster, and heat makes it worse. When it empties you start taking damage.
| Thirst | What happens |
|---|---|
| 20 / 20 | Full bar. |
| 6 or less | “[!] Warning: You are getting thirsty. Drink water soon!” |
| 3 or less | “[URGENT] You are dehydrated! Drink water immediately!” |
| 0 | You are dying of dehydration — drink now or lose health. |
| Drink or fruit | Thirst restored |
|---|---|
| Water | +6 |
| Milk | +8 |
| Potion | +4 |
| Empty coconut | +5 |
| Mango | +3 |
| Blueberry | +1 |
Body temperature
Temperature is driven by the biome, the time of day, weather, altitude, depth and any nearby lava or ice. Armour insulates you, and the Explorer class widens your comfort zone by ±10 °C with the Climate Adapted node.
| Reading | What happens |
|---|---|
| 40 °C or more | “[HOT] Warning: You are overheating! Find shade, water, or drink milk!” |
| 5 °C or less | “[COLD] Warning: You are freezing! Find warmth near fire or wear insulating armor (like Leather)!” |
| Extremes | Sustained heat or cold drains your health. Shelter, campfires and the right drink bring it back. |
03 · Mining
Ores, smelting and tiers
Nineteen metals, thirty-eight ore blocks (each metal has an ore and a deepslate variant) and four tiers. Progression is a straight line: mine a tier 1 ore, smelt the raw ore into an ingot, craft tier 1 tools, then use those tools to reach tier 2, and so on.
| Tier | Metals | Ore blocks | Pickaxe needed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 | Antimony, Manganese, Nickel, Silver | 8 | Tier 1 pickaxe |
| Tier 2 | Beryl, Bismuth, Chromium, Cobalt, Tungsten, Wolframite | 12 | Tier 2 pickaxe |
| Tier 3 | Germanium, Kyanite, Molybdenum, Ruby, Vanadium | 10 | Tier 3 pickaxe |
| Tier 4 | Adamantium, Platinum, Rhodium, Rhodochrosite | 8 | Tier 4 pickaxe |
| Nether | Pyroxene | 1 | Tier 1 pickaxe |
Smelting
Every raw ore goes into a furnace or a blast furnace to become an ingot. The pack ships 269 recipes, 56 of which are smelting recipes. Two exceptions worth knowing:
- Beryl has no raw form. The ore drops the ingot directly.
- Pyroxene comes from the Nether. There is no overworld pyroxene ore — mine Nether Pyroxene instead.
| Item | Pattern | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Pickaxe | XXX / _S_ / _S_ | 3 ingots + 2 sticks |
| Axe | XX_ / XS_ / _S_ | 3 ingots + 2 sticks |
| Shovel | _X_ / _S_ / _S_ | 1 ingot + 2 sticks |
| Hoe | XX_ / _S_ / _S_ | 2 ingots + 2 sticks |
| Sword | _X_ / _X_ / _S_ | 2 ingots + 1 stick |
| Spear | _X_ / _S_ / _S_ | 1 ingot + 2 sticks |
| Helmet | XXX / X_X | 5 ingots |
| Chestplate | X_X / XXX / XXX | 8 ingots |
| Leggings | XXX / X_X / X_X | 7 ingots |
| Boots | X_X / X_X | 4 ingots |
_ is an empty slot and the grid reads top to bottom. A tier 4 metal (Adamantium, Platinum, Rhodium, Rhodochrosite) needs a tier 3 pickaxe before it will drop anything. The full per-metal table — depth, rarity and set bonus — is in the data reference.04 · Equipment
Armour and set bonuses
Twenty armour materials, four pieces each: eighty armour pieces in total. Every set gives its bonus only when all four pieces — helmet, chestplate, leggings and boots — are worn. Holding a single piece does nothing.
| Material | Tier | Set bonus (4 pieces) | Extra effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pyroxene | Nether | Fire Resistance | — |
| Antimony | Tier 1 | Jump Boost | — |
| Manganese | Tier 1 | Absorption | — |
| Nickel | Tier 1 | Haste II | Pulls nearby dropped items to you. |
| Silver | Tier 1 | Resistance | — |
| Beryl | Tier 2 | Water Breathing | The helmet alone gives night vision. |
| Bismuth | Tier 2 | Speed | — |
| Chromium | Tier 2 | Health Boost | Reflects 15% of the damage you take. |
| Cobalt | Tier 2 | Resistance | Momentum: you speed up while working. |
| Tungsten | Tier 2 | Resistance | Repairs itself over time. |
| Wolframite | Tier 2 | Haste | Haste while you are below Y=0. |
| Germanium | Tier 3 | Hero of the Village | Bonus XP. |
| Kyanite | Tier 3 | Night Vision | Lights the area around you. |
| Molybdenum | Tier 3 | Absorption II | Blocks knockback. |
| Ruby | Tier 3 | Saturation | — |
| Vanadium | Tier 3 | Conduit Power | — |
| Adamantium | Tier 4 | Resistance II | Saves you from one death (120 s cooldown). |
| Platinum | Tier 4 | Strength | — |
| Rhodium | Tier 4 | Resistance | Deflects incoming projectiles. |
| Rhodochrosite | Tier 4 | Regeneration | — |
05 · Equipment
Weapons and tools
Every metal has a sword and a spear. Spears are two-handed polearms: more reach and a slower swing than a sword, with a chargeable hit. The tier 3 and tier 4 spears reach five blocks.
| Weapon | Damage | Durability | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Metal sword (20) | 5–10 | 150–3000 | One per metal. Repaired with the matching ingot. |
| Metal spear (20) | 4–7 | 200–650 | One per metal, 1 ingot + 2 sticks in a diagonal. Tier 3–4 reach 5.0 blocks. |
| War Hammer | 12 | 250 | Heavy, knockback and an impact sound. |
| Machete | 7 | 250 | Bleed effect, +4 against small creatures, opens coconuts. |
| Sickle | — | 250 | Cuts foliage fast. |
| Slingshot | 3 | 250 | Fires cobblestone. |
| Advanced Slingshot | 6 | 250 | Fires iron nuggets. |
| Sentinel's Axe | 13 | 1250 | Boss weapon: life steal and Dash Slam. Dropped by the Obsidian Sentinel. |
Tools work the same way: each of the twenty metals has a pickaxe, an axe, a shovel and a hoe, and the pickaxe tier decides what you are allowed to mine, from tier 1 to tier 4.
| Metal | Sword damage | Sword durability | Spear damage | Spear durability |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adamantium | 10 | 3000 | 7 | 650 |
| Antimony | 5 | 200 | 4 | 200 |
| Beryl | 6 | 700 | 5 | 320 |
| Bismuth | 5 | 400 | 5 | 320 |
| Chromium | 8 | 1200 | 5 | 320 |
| Cobalt | 7 | 1100 | 5 | 320 |
| Germanium | 7 | 500 | 6 | 480 |
| Kyanite | 7 | 1000 | 6 | 480 |
| Manganese | 6 | 1500 | 4 | 200 |
| Molybdenum | 6 | 900 | 6 | 480 |
| Nickel | 5 | 250 | 4 | 200 |
| Platinum | 8 | 2200 | 6 | 480 |
| Pyroxene | 8 | 350 | 6 | 480 |
| Rhodium | 9 | 2500 | 7 | 650 |
| Rhodochrosite | 6 | 600 | 7 | 650 |
| Ruby | 7 | 1561 | 6 | 480 |
| Silver | 5 | 150 | 4 | 200 |
| Tungsten | 7 | 1800 | 5 | 320 |
| Vanadium | 6 | 800 | 6 | 480 |
| Wolframite | 8 | 1650 | 5 | 320 |
06 · Progression
Classes and the skill tree
Four classes, six tiers of nodes each (T0 to T5) and thirty-four skill nodes in total. Skill Points come from mining, hunting, discovering biomes, crafting, achievements and missions — and whatever your class does best pays double. You start with 5 SP.
Miner Path of the Deep
- Passive
- Deep Greed — Ores mined below Y=0 yield +1 bonus SP.
- Active ability
- Tremor
- Legendary (Prestige)
- Earthshaper — Terra Shield below Y=16. [NG+ Legendary: pickaxes mine 3x3]
- Nodes
- 9 across six tiers (T0–T5)
Hunter Path of the Hunt
- Passive
- Bloodlust — Every kill restores 1 HP.
- Active ability
- Predator Vision
- Legendary (Prestige)
- Beast Lord — Tame two creatures at once; all owned companions deal +25% damage.
- Nodes
- 8 across six tiers (T0–T5)
Explorer Path of the Horizon
- Passive
- Wanderlust — Discovering a new biome grants Speed I for 10 seconds.
- Active ability
- Grapple
- Legendary (Prestige)
- Dimension Walker — Immune to Temperature and Thirst damage forever.
- Nodes
- 8 across six tiers (T0–T5)
Artisan Path of the Forge
- Passive
- Craftsman's Focus — Working at a crafting table or furnace grants Haste I for 10 seconds.
- Active ability
- Overcharge
- Legendary (Prestige)
- Infinite Forge — Crafted tools never break.
- Nodes
- 9 across six tiers (T0–T5)
| Tier | SP | Materials the tier also asks for |
|---|---|---|
| T0 | 5 | — |
| T1 | 10 | 5 ingots of a specific metal (per class) |
| T2 | 20 | 8 ingots of a specific metal |
| T3 | 35 | 5 + 5 ingots of two specific metals |
| T4 | 60 | 8 + 5 ingots of two specific metals |
| T5 | 100 | 8 ingots of one metal — this is the legendary node |
Opening your tree
The tree is a world object now: craft the Skill Tree
(2 Oak Log + 1 Diamond + 2 Book + 1 Gold Ingot + 2 Adamantium Ingot), place it and interact
with it. Destroying or moving it never resets your class, SP, skills, prestige or tokens — progress is
saved to you, not to the block.
Prestige
Once you have 50 available SP you can prestige: you gain a prestige level, a Mastery Token and your class legendary ability. Want to change class instead? A reset costs 1 Adamantium Ingot.
07 · Companions
Companions
Four companions form your squad. They are summoned with the Call Totem (2 Gold Ingot + 1 Emerald + 2 Sticks), up to five of each type, they are tamed with an Emerald or a Gold Ingot, and they level from 1 to 30 with XP. They never attack you — only monsters.
| Companion | Health | Role | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| Prospector | 40 | Miner | Follows you, fights in melee and digs 2x1 tunnels with a pickaxe, leaving what it mines on the ground. |
| Ranger | 40 | Ranged | Fires arrows at hostiles (15 block range). Fights in melee when it is underwater. |
| Sentinel | 80 | Tank | Bodyguard: very hard to kill and it weakens nearby hostiles. |
| Mystic | 25 | Healer / mage | Throws fireballs (15 block range, 2.5 s interval) and heals you. Its fireballs break blocks. |
Using a companion
- Equip it: hit it while holding a tool or a piece of armour.
- Open its menu: hit it with an empty hand.
- Gear: armour (helmet, chest, legs, boots) and role weapons — swords for the Sentinel, bows and crossbows for the Ranger, pickaxes for the Prospector. The Mystic takes anything.
- If it dies, its equipment comes back to you.
| Menu button | What it does |
|---|---|
| Follow | The companion walks behind you. |
| Stay | It anchors where it stands and still attacks nearby hostiles. |
| Mine | Prospector only: it digs a 2×1 tunnel in the direction you are looking. The same button stops it. |
| Gear | Returns the equipped weapon to your inventory. |
| Dismiss | Sends the companion away (it hands its gear back first). |
08 · Dungeons
Dungeons
Dungeons build themselves while you explore the Overworld below Y=60. The add-on checks every 30 seconds, rolls a 15% chance, and opens one 50 to 90 blocks away — never under your feet, with a 10-minute cooldown between dungeons.
Dig towards it. You enter through a room, so look for a wall rather than a hole.
Inside: five to ten rooms joined by corridors, an ore vein matching the depth, loot chests whose tables get better the deeper you go, monster spawners, and a crypt at the end that is always guarded by Cinder Brutes — one in a tier 1–2 dungeon, two in tier 3 and above.
| Room type | What is in it |
|---|---|
| Hall | The room you walk into. Always lit with torches. |
| Storage | Chests and crates. |
| Prison | Caged cells. |
| Library | Bookshelves and reading rooms. |
| Garden | Plants and greenery. |
| Forge | Anvil, furnace and lava. |
| Lava pit | An open pit of lava. Mind your step. |
| Crypt | The deepest room. Always guarded by Cinder Brutes. |
| Depth | Palette | Ore vein | Mobs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 | Stone Bricks / Stone Bricks / Stone Bricks | Antimony Ore | Zombie, Skeleton, Spider |
| Tier 2 | Mossy Stone Bricks / Cracked Stone Bricks / Stone Bricks | Silver Ore | Zombie, Skeleton, Creeper, Spider, Husk |
| Tier 3 | Deepslate Bricks / Polished Deepslate / Deepslate Tiles | Kyanite Ore | Zombie, Skeleton, Husk, Wolf Spider, Nether Scarab |
| Tier 4 | Polished Blackstone Bricks / Blackstone / Polished Blackstone | Rhodium Ore | Wither Skeleton, Husk, Skeleton, Nether Scarab, Cinder Brute |
09 · World
World events
Five events can hit your world. You start them from the Config Stick, and they never trigger while you are inside a dungeon.
| Event | What happens |
|---|---|
| Red Night | At midnight: a storm, custom fog, Weakness, waves of mobs and the Obsidian Sentinel. 5 minutes. |
| Eclipse | Blindness, its own fog and waves of Void Crawlers and End Stalkers. 2.5 minutes. |
| Nether Breach | A storm, red fog, nausea and Nether mobs (including Cinder Brutes). 3.3 minutes. |
| Meteor Strike | Meteorites fall and leave craters with minerals inside. 1.7 minutes. |
| Great Migration | A herd of 15 herbivores crosses the land. |
10 · World
Territories and Alphas
The Overworld is divided into regions of 64×64 blocks. Walk into one and it marks itself and warns you to beware the Alpha; the Alpha spawns about five minutes after you arrive. While it lives, everyone in the region is under its aura debuff, and the family mobs around it get stronger.
| Family | Alpha | Alpha health | Aura debuff |
|---|---|---|---|
| Snake | King Cobra | 40 | Poison |
| Wolf Spider | Broodmother | 60 | Mining Fatigue |
| Crocodile | Swamp King | 80 | Slowness |
| Black Panther | Pride Leader | 50 | Weakness |
Killing an Alpha is worth 50 SP. Conquer three Alphas of the same family and you claim that family.
11 · Survival
The Death Tomb
When you die, your items — armour and offhand included, with their NBT intact — are stored in a tomb at the exact spot where you fell. Go back, hit the tomb block and everything returns to your inventory. Anything that does not fit drops at your feet.
12 · Progression
Achievements and missions
Fifty-six achievements across seven categories and three rarities. Rarer achievements pay more SP, and they are the fastest way to fund your skill tree early on.
| Category | Achievements |
|---|---|
| Hunting & Beasts | 10 |
| Mining & Forging | 10 |
| Survival | 10 |
| Exploration | 9 |
| Global Events | 7 |
| Companions | 5 |
| RPG & Classes | 5 |
| Rarity | Achievements | SP each |
|---|---|---|
| Common | 24 | 1 |
| Rare | 19 | 3 |
| Epic | 13 | 5 |
Missions
- The Explorer is a travelling NPC who hands out 70 missions — 20 story missions and 50 radiant ones — and reappears about two minutes after you finish one.
- Four Survival Tiers hold 11 progression tasks.
- The mission board (Missions Book) offers hunt, gathering, exploration and escort jobs that pay emeralds, diamonds and SP. Up to five can be active at once.
13 · Progression
New Game+
Beat the Ender Dragon and the world steps up: creatures and companions scale with you, the endgame achievement unlocks, mythic minerals and Alphas turn up more often, and the class legendaries — Earthshaper, Beast Lord, Dimension Walker and Infinite Forge — come into play.
14 · Quality of life
Utilities
Ten quality-of-life tools, each with its own switch in the Config Stick.
| Utility | What it does |
|---|---|
| Death Tomb | Keeps your inventory in a tomb block when you die and returns it when you hit the block. |
| Scanner Goggles | Shows the name, exact health, coordinates and durability of what you look at. |
| Floating Container | Draws items and blocks floating above the chest you are looking at. |
| Block Tool Hint | Tells you which tool works best on the block you are aiming at. |
| Durability Display | Live durability of the item you are holding, straight in the HUD. |
| Hostile Detection | Warns you when a hostile creature is close. |
| Damage Visuals | Shows the real damage numbers you deal. |
| Inventory Full Warning | Warns you before you leave loot behind. |
| Pickup Notifications | Confirms what you just picked up. |
| Movement Info | Speed, fall and movement readouts. |
15 · Questions
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to start a new world?
No. It works in existing worlds, but a new world is recommended so the new ores, creatures and structures can generate.
Can I play with friends?
Yes. It works in multiplayer, Realms and servers. Each player keeps their own progress, class and companions.
Does it work with other add-ons?
It is self-contained and uses its own vp_aa: namespace, so it can sit next to other add-ons. A conflict is only possible with packs that change the same vanilla mobs or recipes.
How do I learn how everything works?
Craft the Explorer's Compendium (1 Book + 4 Leather). It is the in-game manual and covers every feature.
I died and my items are gone. Can I get them back?
Yes. Your items are stored in your Death Tomb. Go back and hit the tomb block to recover everything.
Which devices are supported?
Every Minecraft Bedrock platform: Windows, Xbox, PlayStation, Switch, iOS and Android.
Where do I find the new ores?
Each metal has an ore and a deepslate variant, and the metal table lists its depth band and rarity. Two exceptions: Beryl has no raw form (the ore drops the ingot) and Pyroxene is mined from Nether Pyroxene in the Nether.
How do I get a spear?
One ingot and two sticks in a diagonal — every one of the twenty metals has its own spear, with damage from 4 to 7 and durability from 200 to 650.
Can I turn off thirst and temperature?
Yes, both have a switch in the Config Stick. The Explorer prestige skill Dimension Walker also makes you immune to their damage permanently.
How do I choose a class, and can I change it?
Craft the Skill Tree item, place it and interact with it. The choice is permanent, but a reset costs 1 Adamantium Ingot, and at 50 available SP you can prestige for a Mastery Token and your class legendary.
How do dungeons appear?
They generate on their own while you explore below Y=60: checked every 30 seconds, 50–90 blocks away, never under your feet, with a 10-minute cooldown. Watch chat for the cold-draft message.