Mostly No Science (Forge)

Modpack with a focus on exploration and progression.

Mostly avoiding mods that you have to look up a wiki for.

Upgrading/Leveling your character:

• Project MMO - Level up in mining, combat, etc. by doing those activities to get bonuses for those activities. Equipment is level gated.
• PlayerEx - Gain Stat points as you gain Minecraft exp.
• Everlasting Abilities - Spend Minecraft exp to gain permanent potion effects you find.
• Lost Trinkets - Occasionally unlock passives that you can equip.
• Spice of Life: Carrot Edition - Gain more max health by eating new foods.
• Vampirism - Become a vampire or vampire hunter and and collect materials to rank up and gain more double-sided buffs.

Gear Progression:

• Tinkers Construct - Smelt materials into weapon, tool, armor, parts and combine them to create equipment. Most materials have unique passives.
• Silent Gear - Similar to tinkers. Less time to get started, less potential.
• RelicEx - Items for your curio slots that give PlayerEx stats.
• Apotheosis - Some items will have rarity and additional affixes that can be transferred to other items.

Plenty to explore:

• Aquamirae - dugeons and boss
• Atum 2 - realm with dungeons, bosses, unique equipment
• Dungeon Crawl - Procedurally generated dungeons.
• Dungeons of Exile - dungeons
• Stalwart Dungeons - dungeons
• The Abyss II - dimension
• The Afterlight - dimension
• The Lost Cities - dimension
• The Twilight Forest - dimension with quests and many bosses
• The Undergarden - dimension
• Valhesia Structures - dungeons
• When Dungeons Arise - dungeons
• YUNG's Better Dungeons/Mineshafts/Strongholds - improve vanilla dungeons

Magic Systems:

• Ars Nouveau - spell crafting
• Blood Magic - explore the magic system
• Forbidden and Arcanus - variety and familiars
• Mahou Tsukai - magic circles that avoids just doing vanilla effects
• Mana and Artifice - spell crafting
• Occultism - ritual magic
• Psi - spell programming

The best storage system: Simple Storage Network

The best gravestone mod: Corail Tombstone