diff --git a/dough-items/src/main/java/io/github/bakedlibs/dough/items/nms/ItemNameAdapter.java b/dough-items/src/main/java/io/github/bakedlibs/dough/items/nms/ItemNameAdapter.java
index a541f203..a335504a 100644
--- a/dough-items/src/main/java/io/github/bakedlibs/dough/items/nms/ItemNameAdapter.java
+++ b/dough-items/src/main/java/io/github/bakedlibs/dough/items/nms/ItemNameAdapter.java
@@ -25,6 +25,9 @@ public interface ItemNameAdapter {
             if (MinecraftVersion.isMocked()) {
                 // Special case for MockBukkit
                 return new ItemNameAdapterMockBukkit();
+            }else if(ItemNameAdapterPaper.canUse()) {
+                //when mcpaper or like are present then rely on paperAPI rather then deep diving into NMS
+                return new ItemNameAdapterPaper();
             } else if (version.isAtLeast(1, 20)) {
                 return new ItemNameAdapter20();
             } else if (version.isAtLeast(1, 19)) {
diff --git a/dough-items/src/main/java/io/github/bakedlibs/dough/items/nms/ItemNameAdapterPaper.java b/dough-items/src/main/java/io/github/bakedlibs/dough/items/nms/ItemNameAdapterPaper.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..d93e1413
--- /dev/null
+++ b/dough-items/src/main/java/io/github/bakedlibs/dough/items/nms/ItemNameAdapterPaper.java
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+package io.github.bakedlibs.dough.items.nms;
+
+import io.github.bakedlibs.dough.reflection.ReflectionUtils;
+import org.bukkit.inventory.ItemStack;
+
+import java.lang.reflect.InvocationTargetException;
+import java.lang.reflect.Method;
+
+class ItemNameAdapterPaper implements ItemNameAdapter {
+
+    private final Method getName;
+
+    ItemNameAdapterPaper() {
+        super();
+
+        getName = ReflectionUtils.getMethod(ItemStack.class, "getI18NDisplayName");
+    }
+
+    public static boolean canUse() {
+        try {
+            ReflectionUtils.getMethod(ItemStack.class, "getI18NDisplayName");
+            return true;
+        } catch (Exception e) {
+            return false;
+        }
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public String getName(ItemStack item) throws IllegalAccessException, InvocationTargetException {
+        return (String) getName.invoke(item);
+    }
+
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/dough-skins/src/main/java/io/github/bakedlibs/dough/skins/nms/PlayerHeadAdapter.java b/dough-skins/src/main/java/io/github/bakedlibs/dough/skins/nms/PlayerHeadAdapter.java
index 957571d9..e0d1adb4 100644
--- a/dough-skins/src/main/java/io/github/bakedlibs/dough/skins/nms/PlayerHeadAdapter.java
+++ b/dough-skins/src/main/java/io/github/bakedlibs/dough/skins/nms/PlayerHeadAdapter.java
@@ -1,29 +1,23 @@
 package io.github.bakedlibs.dough.skins.nms;
 
-import java.lang.reflect.InvocationTargetException;
-import java.util.logging.Level;
-
-import javax.annotation.Nullable;
-import javax.annotation.ParametersAreNonnullByDefault;
-
-import org.bukkit.block.Block;
-
 import com.mojang.authlib.GameProfile;
-
 import io.github.bakedlibs.dough.common.DoughLogger;
 import io.github.bakedlibs.dough.versions.MinecraftVersion;
+import org.bukkit.block.Block;
 
-public interface PlayerHeadAdapter {
-
-    @ParametersAreNonnullByDefault
-    @Nullable
-    Object getTileEntity(Block block) throws IllegalAccessException, InvocationTargetException, InstantiationException;
+import javax.annotation.Nullable;
+import javax.annotation.ParametersAreNonnullByDefault;
+import java.lang.reflect.InvocationTargetException;
+import java.util.logging.Level;
 
-    @ParametersAreNonnullByDefault
-    void setGameProfile(Object tileEntity, GameProfile profile) throws IllegalAccessException, InvocationTargetException;
+public interface PlayerHeadAdapter {
 
     public static @Nullable PlayerHeadAdapter get() {
         try {
+            if (PlayerHeadAdapterPaper.canApply()) {
+                return new PlayerHeadAdapterPaper();
+            }
+
             MinecraftVersion version = MinecraftVersion.get();
 
             if (version.isAtLeast(1, 18)) {
@@ -43,4 +37,11 @@ public interface PlayerHeadAdapter {
         }
 
     }
+
+    @ParametersAreNonnullByDefault
+    @Nullable
+    Object getTileEntity(Block block) throws IllegalAccessException, InvocationTargetException, InstantiationException;
+
+    @ParametersAreNonnullByDefault
+    void setGameProfile(Object tileEntity, GameProfile profile) throws IllegalAccessException, InvocationTargetException;
 }
diff --git a/dough-skins/src/main/java/io/github/bakedlibs/dough/skins/nms/PlayerHeadAdapterPaper.java b/dough-skins/src/main/java/io/github/bakedlibs/dough/skins/nms/PlayerHeadAdapterPaper.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..c4a9ba3d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/dough-skins/src/main/java/io/github/bakedlibs/dough/skins/nms/PlayerHeadAdapterPaper.java
@@ -0,0 +1,74 @@
+package io.github.bakedlibs.dough.skins.nms;
+
+import com.mojang.authlib.GameProfile;
+import com.mojang.authlib.properties.Property;
+import io.github.bakedlibs.dough.reflection.ReflectionUtils;
+import io.github.bakedlibs.dough.versions.UnknownServerVersionException;
+import org.bukkit.Bukkit;
+import org.bukkit.block.Block;
+import org.bukkit.block.Skull;
+
+import javax.annotation.Nullable;
+import java.lang.reflect.Constructor;
+import java.lang.reflect.InvocationTargetException;
+import java.lang.reflect.Method;
+import java.util.Collection;
+
+public class PlayerHeadAdapterPaper implements PlayerHeadAdapter {
+
+    private static final String PROPERTY_KEY = "textures";
+    private final Method createPaperGameProfile;
+    private final Method paperGameProfileSetProperty;
+    private final Constructor<?> createProperty;
+    private final Method setGameProfile;
+
+
+    public PlayerHeadAdapterPaper() throws NoSuchMethodException, SecurityException, ClassNotFoundException, UnknownServerVersionException {
+        Class<?> paperGameProfile = Class.forName("com.destroystokyo.paper.profile.PlayerProfile");
+        Class<?> paperProperty = Class.forName("com.destroystokyo.paper.profile.ProfileProperty");
+        createPaperGameProfile = ReflectionUtils.getMethod(Bukkit.class, "createProfile");
+        paperGameProfileSetProperty = ReflectionUtils.getMethod(paperGameProfile, "setProperty", paperProperty);
+        createProperty = ReflectionUtils.getConstructor(paperProperty, String.class, String.class);
+        setGameProfile = ReflectionUtils.getMethod(Skull.class, "setPlayerProfile", paperGameProfile);
+    }
+
+    public static boolean canApply() {
+        try {
+            Class.forName("com.destroystokyo.paper.profile.PlayerProfile");
+            return true;
+        } catch (ClassNotFoundException e) {
+            return false;
+        }
+
+    }
+
+    @Nullable
+    @Override
+    public Object getTileEntity(Block block) throws IllegalAccessException, InvocationTargetException, InstantiationException {
+        return block.getState();
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void setGameProfile(Object tileEntity, GameProfile profile) throws IllegalAccessException, InvocationTargetException {
+        if (!(tileEntity instanceof Skull)) {
+            throw new IllegalArgumentException("tileEntity must be BukkitAPI Skull tile entity. Provided " + tileEntity.getClass().getName());
+        }
+        Skull skull = (Skull) tileEntity;
+        Collection<Property> properties = profile.getProperties().get(PROPERTY_KEY);
+        if (properties.isEmpty()) {
+            return;
+        }
+        String texture = properties.iterator().next().getValue();
+
+        Object paperGameProfile = createPaperGameProfile.invoke(null, profile.getId());
+        Object property;
+        try {
+            property = createProperty.newInstance(PROPERTY_KEY, texture);
+        } catch (InstantiationException e) {
+            //shouldnt fail if it got this far
+            throw new InvocationTargetException(e);
+        }
+        paperGameProfileSetProperty.invoke(paperGameProfile, property);
+        setGameProfile.invoke(skull, paperGameProfile);
+    }
+}