The latest expansion for The Sims 4, Enchanted by Nature, introduces significant changes to EA's iconic life simulation game. This update features the debut of a new Fairy occult type, innovative ways to live off the land rather than in traditional homes, and—most pertinent to this discussion—a novel illness mechanic for Sims, known as Ailments.

Unlike the usual illnesses in The Sims 4, which are infrequent and can be treated with standard medicine, Ailments represent a distinct class of sicknesses necessitating specific remedies or intervention from a magical entity capable of curing them. Thankfully, Ailments are more of a nuisance than a threat—they won't directly endanger a Sim's life—but their disruptive nature often means it's best to address them promptly.

How Ailments work

Ailments are transmissible diseases that can be contracted from other Sims, inflicted by a Fairy, or triggered by emotional imbalance. The risk of infection is genuine; being in proximity to an infected Sim significantly increases the likelihood of your Sim catching the illness. Moreover, just like real-world diseases, contact with objects handled by a sick Sim can also lead to infection.

Similarly, an emotional imbalance—indicated by the new balance meter in the Simology tab—can cause your Sim to spontaneously develop an Ailment, and it also heightens their susceptibility to infections from others. Conversely, maintaining emotional balance strengthens your Sim's resilience against Ailments, whether contracted naturally or from other Sims. Think of the emotional balance meter as a gauge of your Sim's immune strength.

What to do when your Sim has an Ailment

There are multiple strategies for addressing your Sim's Ailment. One option is to do nothing and let the Ailment resolve naturally. Although this might seem counterintuitive, certain Ailments have beneficial side effects—like Luck Magnet, which makes the afflicted Sim lucky by drawing luck away from nearby Sims. Similarly, Gnome Lure leads to the appearance of animated garden gnomes, reminiscent of Harvestfest. Typically, I find gnomes bothersome, but in the Enchanted by Nature expansion, they serve a new purpose—Fairy Sims can use Fairy Dust to bring them to life.

If you decide the benefits of the Ailment outweigh the drawbacks, you can allow it to run its course. Otherwise, you have four straightforward options to cure the Ailment immediately:

• Use your phone to consult a naturopath, who will treat your Sim for 1,500 Simoleons
• Request a fairy to cure the Ailment—though fairies cannot use magic to cure themselves.
• "Manifest" a cure by visiting Moondrop Spring in the Everdew neighborhood of Innisgreen
• Craft your own cure using an apothecary table

Crafting your own Ailment cures

Creating Ailment cures is a straightforward task because they require only readily available ingredients. These cures are the first items your Sim learns to craft upon acquiring the apothecary skill, needing only level 1 or 2, so there's no extensive effort involved. This is fortunate, as Fairies can magically cure other Sims, but not themselves when afflicted by Ailments.

To develop the apothecary skill, a Sim simply needs to use an apothecary table to "Study Apothecary Cures." After a brief period, they will be capable of crafting some Ailment cures. Since the remaining recipes require only skill level 2, it will take just a few more moments of experimenting with the apothecary table before your Sim can make all of them.

Given that these cures are entry-level recipes, their ingredients are incredibly easy to find by foraging around any area in any Sims 4 world, or by purchasing the ingredients through the apothecary table. The ingredients are inexpensive, so acquiring them shouldn't pose a problem for those eager to get started.

List of ailments

• Burning Passion: Causes the infected Sim to become very flirty and prone to occasionally setting nearby objects on fire
• Creation Impulse: Induces a Dazed moodlet while enhancing the infected Sim's crafting abilities.
• Emotional Void: Reduces the infected Sim's emotions and passively affects nearby Sims in the same way.
• Gnome Lure: Causes gnomes to appear near the infected Sim
• Greenie Meanie: Makes the infected Sim exceptionally skilled at gardening but also very irritable.
• Luck Magnet: Grants the infected Sim luck at the expense of those around them.
• Simoleon Fever: Causes the infected Sim to cough up money.
• Sonic Sinuses: Powerful sneezes can occasionally break things, but the Sim gains improved handiness and can fix things more easily.