Disabling Seasions But Keeping its Stuff - Want to disable weather or make plants in season year-round? You can do so with my new Seasons Tuner Mod
Improving Sims 4: The past month, I've spent every day tinkering The Sims 4, making quality of life improvements, gameplay changes, and new difficulty settings for the game. If you'd like to learn more about my project, visit the post on Patreon where you can download it now.
A Spellcaster takes a hit from a Sage as they duel in the Magic Realm's dueling area.
Players demanded a witchcraft or magic system for The Sims 4, and Maxis have delivered. The new Spellcaster system allows players to make their Sim into a new life state that can use magic. There are a few differences between Spellcasters and normal Sims, so let's outline them here and give you some information to get started playing them.
There are a total of three ways to become a spellcaster in The Sims 4 Realm of Magic. Let's start with the way that will probably be used by most people new to the pack, which is accessible to any existing Sim Teen or up: Ask one of the three Sages in the Magic Realm.
A Sim becomes a Spellcaster. A Sage has given her the power after a simple fetch quest.
Heading to the Magic Realm via the portal in Glimmerbrook, go into the main "Magic HQ" building. There, you can click a Sage and 'Ask How to Use Magic'. Sages have glowing symbols floating over their heads, so they're very easy to spot. They'll give you a quest - a super simple one to pick up glowing magical motes - and when you complete this quest, you'll officially be a spellcaster. Just head over to the Sage to turn them in. You might want to grab a few more while they're visible in case they turn out to be useful!
You can also make a Spellcaster via Create-a-Sim just like any other Occult. You'll start out at Apprentice rank just like a Sim who did the quest.
The finally way to become a caster is to be born one. It may be that you still need to do the quest via one of the Sages or ask your super powerful parents to endow you with magical ability. If you have a Sim born to spellcaster parents, you'll get the Magical Birthright trait. This ensures that you get more Spellcaster Perk Points on rank up and may have some other effects. Maxis have said that Magical Birthright actually grows in power the more generations of Spellcaster a Sim has in their ancestry.
A summary of the Maxis Realm of Magic Deep Dive, held just before the release of The Sims 4's latest game pack. Includes extensive info on spellcasters, curses, familiars, learning magic, alchemy... and on and on.
The main difference between Spellcasters and regular Sims is found on the needs panel. There's a new Spellcaster Charge meter up top. Using magic increases charge, causing your Sim to be utilizing more energy when they cast. This growing energy devotes more power to spells they cast but comes with a price - increased failure rates. Each spell you cast adds to the charge, and the amounts may vary depending on the difficulty of the spell (speculation).
Aside from failure rates and increased spell potency, there's a second thing about Spellcasters and the charge meter - when it's full, your Sim is in danger of a new Death by Overcharge. This new death type results in a Ghost with a Trait that makes them immune to another death by overcharge. This may be useful in some cases, meaning the leash is off when a Spellcaster has left the realm of the living.
Spellcaster Charge depletes naturally over time, but you can take perks that help you to manage it. Additionally we know there's a Discharge spell that causes a Sim to release this built up energy. This may be useful if you're near full on charge and want to continue casting. However we don't know if there are any drawbacks to this yet.
Explore My Mods! Color Picker for Builders, Seasons Tuner, Dine Out Reloaded and a Gameplay Overhaul! Like other modders, I've been working to make The Sims 4 a better game. Check out my many mods here!
Spellcasters can purchase a number of Perks, which impact magical ability, wizard duels and alchemy. You must gain more than one point on level up, else how could you buy a total of 24 with 4 ranks?
It looks like there are at least 6 Ranks to the Spellcaster system in Realm of Magic. The new system gives you perk points when you rank up, and experience is generated by doing magical witchy stuff like casting spells, dueling, creating or drinking potions.
It's possible to learn every perk if you are devoted enough, as you can overmax Spellcaster. There are 24 separate Perks you can buy with talent points. 15 of these are the type that require prerequisites, while 9 do not.
Two familiars are seen in this shot taken from the Realm of Magic Official Gameplay Trailer.
Familiars are little floating cutesies that follow your Sim around as a protective presence. They come as objects and disappear when you've bound them. While you can collect as many familiars as you want (and even have duplicates) you can only have one active at a time. I assume they are jealous of one another, the creeps.
While you have a familiar active, it is capable of preventing your wizard's death one time, though they need to recharge afterward. Just don't die twice in a row and you'll probably be OK. I guess because of how protective they are, having a familiar active gives your Sim a little positive moodlet.
Players who own Cats and Dogs can tag any of their .. dogs, or cats, as a familiar. They joked and indicated you could have the traditional black cat or a golden retriever. Go for a chihuahua if you want. Anyway, these forms of familiar are able to be sent after magical ingredients which will surely help your potion-crafting.. so go for the pet familiar if you want! We don't know how summoning them works just yet but hopefully you access them the same way once they're bound - via the Magic menu you get when you click your Sim.
Central to playing a spell user, you'd want to have a wand, right? Well, Realm of Magic has both wands and brooms. Even though you don't really call these casters Witches, you do get to ride about like one. Brooms and Wands can both be favorited by your inventory, so you can tell your Sim to always use this or that wand or broom. Also, you're able to collect them and know that they only take up 1 slot in your Sim's inventory. Wands do not differ except in appearance, and their role is to really decide which casting animation your Sim will use. Brooms do have an actual function - transportation. Higher level casters are better at using them. You can set a broom to an always use broom for transportation mode, too!
There are three gurus, and three magical disciplines (other than Alchemy) in the Game Pack.
Spell are tracked in a Sim's Spellbook, which is a new panel accessible from the Motives/Needs panel (hotkey o). There are four magical schools in Realm of Magic. First are the spellcasting types - Practical with a total of 9 spells, Mischief which has 7, and Untamed magic which has 8 for a grand total of 24 spells Sims can learn.
A Sim learning a spell in Realm of Magic.
In addition to spells, Sims can learn a total of 15 distinct potion recipes. Many of these are cures or have functions that already exist in game. For instance there is a potion that cures curses, and another that replenishes needs.
Alchemy requires use of a cauldron, purchasable by Sims at home. You can also find cauldrons at the Magic HQ - several of them. You'll need ingredients in order to make a potion, which takes a bit of time. Up to four Sims can work together to speed up the process, or you can take the Blender Arm Perk to improve crafting times.
You can give other Sims potions or drink them yourself, though be wary - potions can fail and will likely do some horrid things to your Sims, like turn them green or give them a curse.
Curses result from failed magical acts, including drinking potions, failing to cast a spell, or during the Alchemy process. There are a number of cursees, and a Sim can have up to three at one time. Unlike Get Famous' fame quirks or Vampire weaknesses, it's not required that your Sim have curses and they can be cured. You'll definitely want to seek a cure from a potion or spell, as curses do not wear off automatically and can be extremely annoying.
We now have a Youtube Channel with over 50 guides in video format to go along with the huge site I've already created. Check it out and consider subscribing if you like my style.
The Sims 4 Seasons expansion now has options! Want to disable weather or make plants in season year-round? You can do so with my new Seasons Tuner Mod
The past month, I've spent every day tinkering The Sims 4, making quality of life improvements, gameplay changes, and new difficulty settings for the game. If you'd like to learn more about my project, visit the post on Patreon where you can download it now.
Cottage Living Guide! Here is my guide to new features in the Sims 4 Cottage Living Expansion
You can also find handy Cottage Living Cheats
I have much more to come, since you can actually write a few guides about this pack!
Blender has been incredibly useful in video production, so I made my own Physics and Simulation Improvement Addon that lumps a ton of unique tools into one compact interface.
Snowy Escape Cheats
Lifestyles in Snowy Escape
Climb Mt. Komorebi
Sentiments in Snowy Escape
Rock Climbing
Skiing Skill
Snowboarding Skill
I've released a guide to Sentiments in The Sims 4 & Snowy Escape.
There is a new platform tool in The Sims 4. There's also a new Sentiments system, but it'll take some time to create a guide to that. Players can also use rental lots in any world now by changing lot types of builds in manage worlds.
I've created a massive List of The Best Mods in The Sims 4 that should be very helpful to new players and those who have not yet explored modding and how much it can do for your gameplay.
New - Secrets I have a new guide to secrets in the game. If you prefer, you can also watch a video about secrets in Sims 4.
Nifty Knitting is now available. Learn all about the stuff pack on my guide page here.
NEW - Nifty Knitting CheatsNew features in the Sims 4 June 2020
The Sims 4 Eco Lifestyle Guide
Eco Footprint: How it Works
Neighborhood Action Plans
How to Cheat in Sims 4 Eco Lifestyle
Civil Designer Career
Insect Farms & Bio Fuel
Fabrication Skill in Eco Lifestyle
Juice Fizzing NEW
Traits and Aspirations in DLC
Gameplay Ideas for Sims 4 Eco Lifestyle
Updated
Trait Cheats Updated
Traits List Updated
Aspirations List Updated
Readers who use adblock or those who'd like to thank me for my efforts can now pledge $1/$5 monthly via Patreon. This helps a lot with server costs and provides some stability for my business.
This is inspired by a new series in which I start at toddler and gradually take on the major bonuses. Here's a link to the full playlist!
I now have a guide page to Tiny Living Stuff where you can learn about Murphy Beds, the new death, as well as the lot bonuses you'll receive if you manage to keep the size of your lot down with this new pack's Tiny Home Lot Type.
New I now have a guide to Making Super Sims in The Sims 4. Look for a text version within the next 72h. It won't have THAT much more info but it will help out as a checklist.
This was inspired by a series, "Let's Play a Super Sim" in which I start at toddler and gradually take on the major bonuses. Here's a link to each part for people who are interested. You can also see the Let's Play as a Playlist on Youtube.
The Sims 4 Discover University has been announced for November 15 for PC/Mac and December 17 for Xbox and Playstation 4 consoles. Click to learn more about the pack, see my summary of the livestream or read our FAQs below.
Other Guides to Discover University:
New Lot Traits: Study Spot and University Student Hang Out
New: Discover University FAQ: Gameplay Features
New Video The Sims 4 Discover University Gameplay Tips Video
More videos coming soon!
Disclaimer This site is not endorsed by or affiliated with Electronic Arts, or its licensors. Trademarks are the property of their respective owners. The Sims and The Sims 4 Logo are trademarks of Electronic Arts, Inc. Game content and materials copyright Electronic Arts Inc. and its licensors. All Rights Reserved. All original Guides on this site © Carl's Guides
Comments (10)
Just wondering, do you know if it is possible to become a sage?
I’ve read a couple places that it’s been confirmed that you can’t become a sage. Yet another missed opportunity for interesting gameplay
But it seems you CAN learn the spell that initiates a sim into being a spellcaster, so there's that.
So my sim learned Decursify, but I tried to cast it while she was charged, and it backfired. So now she has a second curse, and the new one makes it so she's always at like 10% Energy but can't go to sleep. Decursify has a long cooldown, but I don't know how long. I just know it's been at least 10 hours and I can't cast it yet.
Also, I wondered why the house I downloaded, that was made specifically for Glimmerbrook, had a bunch of pet stuff in it! Now my petite blonde witch has an enormous Newfie as a familiar.
Curses last until your sim removes them. Guide to Curse Types, Effects and how to Cure Them
Right, I know curses don't go away on their own. The spell to get rid of them has a long cooldown on it though. While it's on cooldown, it's grayed out and mousing over it tells you that it "takes a lot of energy, and you won't be able to cast it for a while." Curse of the Night Wraith prevented me from going to sleep, so I used my loooong night to experiment till I finally learned the potion.
I wonder if I could create potions and open an alchemy shop through the retail store panel? Perhaps? Thoughts?
You can pretty much sell anything through a retail store, just fill the shelves with your items, click on them and set them as being for sale. I've tried retail stores a couple times and found them to not be worth the aggravation though. You're doing good if you're 100 simoleans ahead at the end of the day, when you could just craft stuff and click the sell box for much more.
Currently potions are worthless but he QA devs have this marked as a bug so hopefully this will be fixed soon. But yes, once the devs fix the pricing it will be possible to make a potion shop.
How do you find out if another sim is a Spellcaster (besides probably seeing them in the Magic Realm)?
Well, it's a dead giveaway if you see them getting around on a broom, and I have seen it happen in public places. I haven't paid attention to see if it comes up on their thumbnail when you're talking to them, the way most other occult types do.
If you have get together, you can try forming a club with requirement spellcaster and see all who qualify.
I agree with everything you pointed out in this video with only one exception... I am a “Story maker”, but not a happy one. Too many details to explain why! All I can say is “All Sims Are Alike” In real life we are not!
Hey is that possible to be sages ? And how to learn the last spell of each type magic (untamed,practical, mischief) ?
No your played Sim can not be a Sage, learn the last spells by asking each type of Sage to teach you.
Can I make my Alien a spellcrafter?
I actually found out that when you bind a pet as a familiar, they stay in your family and roam around as normal! Also, if you do the testingcheats true and use the Cheat Need: Make Happy, it completely reduces your spellcaster charge to normal !
You know I've spent a lot of time Dueling in the Magic Realm from Phone calls and I just thought I'd offer my 2c, It appear that if you select a "normal" spell (e.g. Inferinate) while in the middle of a cast animation for a duel it at the very least significantly raises your chances of winning over (f.e.) waiting for the anim to finish.
Just be sure to cancel the queue'd spell after the duel unless you want to damage your relationship with the sim who's dueling you :P
Should sims be able to do magic outside of the magic realm? the menu doesn't pop up when my spellcaster sim is at home in Henford...