The Sims 4: Enchanted By Nature introduces significant changes to the life simulation game. This expansion brings new features like the brand-new Fairy occult type, alternative living styles focused on nature rather than traditional houses, and—most importantly for this article—a completely new way for your Sims to fall ill, known as Ailments.
Unlike standard illnesses in The Sims 4, which appear infrequently and are easily treated with generic medicine, Ailments are a distinct category of sickness requiring specific cures or assistance from a magical creature with the ability to fix them. Fortunately, Ailments are generally more bothersome than life-threatening; they aren`t severe enough to kill a Sim on their own. However, their effects can be quite disruptive, making prompt treatment advisable.
How Ailments Work
Ailments are contagious conditions. Sims can catch them from others, be afflicted by a Fairy, or develop them due to emotional imbalance. The contagious nature is real, as spending time near an infected Sim has a high probability of infecting your Sim as well. It`s not limited to direct contact either; similar to real-world illnesses, interacting with objects touched by a sick Sim can also lead to infection.
Similarly, being emotionally unbalanced—indicated by the new balance meter in the Simology tab—makes it likely for your Sim to simply develop an Ailment without any external trigger. It also increases their vulnerability to catching something from another Sim. Conversely, being in emotional balance fortifies your Sim against catching an Ailment naturally or from others. Think of the emotional balance meter as a measure of your Sim`s immune system.
What to Do When Your Sim Has an Ailment
There are several methods for dealing with your Sim`s Ailment. One option is to do nothing and allow the Ailment to run its course. While this might seem counterintuitive, some Ailments do have positive side effects. For instance, `Luck Magnet` makes the infected Sim lucky by drawing luck from other Sims nearby. `Gnome Lure` causes sentient garden gnomes to spawn, similar to Harvestfest. Although typically disliked by many, these gnomes have a new use in the Enchanted by Nature expansion: Fairy Sims can enchant them with Fairy Dust to bring them to life.
So, if you believe the benefits of an Ailment outweigh the drawbacks, you can let it play out. Otherwise, there are four relatively simple methods to immediately end an Ailment:
- Call a naturopath via phone for a 1,500 Simoleon cure.
- Ask any Fairy to cure the Ailment (Note: Fairies cannot cure themselves this way).
- Visit Moondrop Spring in the Everdew neighborhood of Innisgreen to `manifest` a cure.
- Craft a cure at an apothecary table.
Crafting Ailment Cures
Crafting Ailment cures is a relatively easy process because they require only common ingredients that are simple to find. Ailment cures are the first recipes your Sim learns when developing the apothecary skill, requiring only level 1 or 2, so there`s no significant effort needed to unlock them. This is particularly helpful because even though Fairies can magically cure other Sims, they cannot cure their own Ailments using magic.
To acquire the apothecary skill, a Sim just needs to use any apothecary table and select `Study Apothecary Cures`. After a brief moment, they will be able to craft some Ailment cures. Since the rest only require skill level 2, a little more practice with the apothecary table will quickly enable your Sim to craft all available cures.
Given that these cures are low-level recipes, their ingredients are incredibly easy to obtain. You can find them by casually foraging anywhere, such as clicking on any patch of grass in any Sims 4 world, or by purchasing the ingredients directly using the option on the apothecary table. None of the ingredients are expensive, so buying them is a convenient option for players who want immediate access.
List of Ailments
- Burning Passion: Makes the Sim very flirty and likely to occasionally set nearby objects on fire.
- Creation Impulse: Results in a Dazed moodlet but improves the Sim`s crafting ability.
- Emotional Void: Suppresses the Sim`s emotions and passively affects nearby Sims similarly.
- Gnome Lure: Attracts garden gnomes to spawn near the Sim.
- Greenie Meanie: Enhances gardening skills but makes the Sim cranky.
- Luck Magnet: Makes the Sim lucky by transferring luck from others nearby.
- Simoleon Fever: Causes the Sim to randomly cough up Simoleons.
- Sonic Sinuses: Powerful sneezes can break objects, but the Sim gains improved Handiness and can fix things more easily.