Alder

Stick Crafting - By Burktros: This allows you to split firewood into sticks using an axe. I'd consider this a must-have, as otherwise you're two other options are to find sticks on the ground, or break branchy leaves, which gets quite tiresome. Status HUD - By Rangelost: Adds an unintrusive HUD that gives you some very helpful info, like wind speed/direction, how wet you are, the month/day/time, the temperature, and your armor's durability. But most importantly, whether the game considers your house as a proper room, greenhouse, or cellar. VERY important if you're just getting used to room sizes, as it matters for keeping you warm in winter, keeping animals through winter easier, growing crops through the winter, and preserving food. Temporal Storm Timer - By Rangelost: Not too far into the game you'll experience temporal storms, they cause high level enemies to spawn anywhere, and last quite a while. This timer not only counts down the time until they're over, but also shows you how long until it'll start. Unmodded; the game will warn you in chat that a temporal storm is nearing, then the mod will then give you a bar that shows when it'll strike. Ok now for what I'd consider just quality of life; A Wearable Light - By misterandydandy: This allows you to add light items to your gear (Like a lantern tied on your belt) that'll light the area around you. Normally if you want to light the area around you, you'll need to hold a light-emitting item in your main or offhand, this mod allows you to free up a hand while still keeping things illuminated. Super useful for caving when you want a shield and sword in each hand. Cellar Door - By UnnamedSystem: Cellars are needed for preserving food, the size of the room and the materials it's built with all affect how long food can be preserved. However placing a door will worsen your preservation regardless of door type, the only way to maximize your preservation is to cover the entrance with a solid block. This mod adds a ceramic door you can craft that won't worsen your food preservation, which is nice to have, and looks thematically appropriate as well. Zoom Button - By goxmear and SpearAndFang: Essentially like your optifine zoom in Minecraft. Very useful in a game where walking closer to a strange object can easily lead to a wolf biting your face off. (Half the time I can't tell if I'm looking at a wolf or boar until it's too late) Less Foilage - By mathgeniuszach: Plants and leaves in this game are massive, if like me you start to find them becoming a nuisance, this mod will set them to only be as large as the blockspace they occupy. Extra Info - By DanaCraluminum: Adds some extra information in your handbook. Like what items a trader sells/buys, what items an animal can eat, or how much time is left on your charcoal pit, pit kiln, bloomery, coke oven, quern, everything. It's super handy for planning ahead, and also for those who don't have trades or food items memorized. There are a couple of others that I use like Buzzwords to find bees easier, or Easy Sod for early game grass roofing, Human-Like Skins for human skin tones, and Grindless Mod to increase a few mob drops. Though, I wouldn't consider any of them overly important. Anyways, as you play through the game, you'll probably find a few things here or there that bug you or you feel are missing, when you do, just take a quick look at the mods page, and it's likely someone has already made a mod for it, the community is pretty cool like that. I hope you guys enjoy your time playing! Best of luck!