Life state

Game mechanic · Featured in:

A life state, a creature, or an occult is a kind of Sim or pet with a special appearance and abilities, mostly inspired by legends or science fiction.

The Sims

Two alternate life states exist in The Sims and its expansions, though they are not well-defined and do not grant any changes in a Sim's behavior.

When Sims die, they become ghosts. In Livin' Large, pleading with the Grim Reaper may result in him bringing a recently deceased Sim back as a zombie. If Unleashed is installed, these zombies can also be restored by Miss Lucille, who can be found on community lots in Old Town, though she cannot restore their personalities. Also in Livin' Large, Sims using the chemistry set might make a purple potion that can temporarily turn a Sim into a monster.

It could be said that witches come with Makin' Magic, but being magical is not treated as a life state in that expansion. Sims who take up magic still look and act the same, and the term "witch" is not used.

In Makin' Magic, one of the charms that can be made is Beauty or Beast. This charm allows a Sim to temporarily change his or her appearance, and some of the available choices resemble life states from later games, such as werewolves and vampires. While players may choose to treat this as a temporary transformation or an illusion, the in-game effects are the same either way. The Sim who has been "charmed" is still normal; the charm only affects the Sim's appearance and does not affect the way the Sim behaves or the way other Sims react to him/her, and the Sim gains no extra abilities or interactions.

The Sims 2

Most expansion packs for The Sims 2 added an alternate state in which Sims can exist. Some added sentient creatures that Sims cannot become but can be playable Sims. These states have unique triggering techniques, advantages, and disadvantages. These states are:

Icon	Life State	Pack	Notes
	Sim		Mannequins are able to be made by using the Debug Mode of Create a Sim, but is otherwise just a unique skin tone.
	Alien
	Bigfoot		Sims cannot become Bigfoot, but Bigfoots can join the household
	Genie		Not Playable
	Ghost		Not Playable
	PlantSim
	Servo		Sims cannot become a Servo, but Servos can join the household
	Spectral Cat		Spectral cats only are available with both The Sims 2: Pets and The Sims 2: Apartment Life installed
	Vampire
	Werewolf
	Witch
	Zombie		Sims can only become zombies in a failed resurrection through the Resurrect-O-Nomitron or wish from a genie. Evil witches can also use a spell to resurrect deceased Sims into zombies.

Each life state offers new opportunities for the Sim, making certain aspects of play easier to handle and others harder.

The Sims 3

The Sims 3 and its expansion packs feature 15 life states. The official game text recognizes certain kinds of life states as "occult", and occult Sims cannot be given makeovers by stylists. Before The Sims 3: Supernatural, Ghost was not considered an occult status according to the game files. With Supernatural, players can create some occults with a Supernatural Type selector in Create a Sim. These life states include normal Sims, ghosts, vampires, genies, werewolves, witches, and fairies.

If a celebrity WooHoos with an occult life state, they may get the Publicly Disgraced moodlet. This can occur even if the celebrity is of an occult life state themselves.

Several states in Supernatural (i.e. Toad Sims, Tragic Clowns, and Zombies) are not considered to be occult. They are merely temporary^[1] states and can only affect normal Sims. These states can be cured by removing the moodlet with the Moodlet Manager or drinking the Cure Elixir.

Non-Occult
Icon	Life State	Pack	Notes
	Human Sim	&BG
	Alien	&EP08	Sims cannot become Aliens, but Aliens can join the household
Occult
Icon	Life State	Pack	Notes
	Fairy	&EP07	Can be created in Create A Sim
	Genie	&EP06	Can be created in Create a Sim with both The Sims 3: Showtime and The Sims 3: Supernatural installed
	Ghost	&BG	Can be created in Create a Sim with The Sims 3: Supernatural installed
	Imaginary Friend	&EP04	Sims cannot become Imaginary Friends, but Imaginary Friends can join the household after becoming human.
	Mermaid	&EP10
	Mummy	&EP01	Sims can become mummies through alchemy if The Sims 3: Supernatural is also installed
	PlantSim	&EP09
	Plumbot	&EP11	Sims cannot become Plumbots, but Plumbots can be added to the household after being constructed
	Simbot	&EP02	Sims can become simbots through alchemy if The Sims 3: Supernatural is also installed
	Unicorn	&EP05	Horses cannot become Unicorns, but Unicorns can join the household
	Vampire	&EP03 &EP07	Can be created in Create a Sim with The Sims 3: Supernatural installed
	Werewolf	&EP07	Can be created in Create a Sim
	Witch	&EP07	Can be created in Create a Sim

The Time Traveler from The Sims 3: Into the Future is also considered an occult in the game files, but they are not able to be played without the use of mods.

Warning

Sims cannot be turned into occults properly through "Edit in CAS" with testingcheatsenabled cheat, even though the option is available for the players to do so. This is because the occult option is not intended to be used this way.

Temporary states

A number of situations will be treated by the game as having certain restrictions to them that are shared across most or all of them, almost all of them different from those placed on full-status occults. They cannot travel to sub-worlds, create new outfits, or change appearance in mirrors. They are generally immune to aging up, making them immortal if they are not Elders. Some can change between previously made outfits, but far from all can do so.

Icon	State type	EP
	Toad Sim	&EP07
	Tragic Clown	&EP07
	Zombie[1]	&EP07
	Having been given the Flight of Felicity through fairy dust.	&EP07
	Having got the "Glowy on the Outside" or "Feeling Blueish" outcomes from the jelly bean plant.	&EP07
	Being in "Inner Beauty" mode from a fairy's curse.	&EP07
	Feeling colored effects from a nearby Spectrum Mood Lamp.	&EP07
	Having been poisoned by a PlantSim.	&EP09
	Being in Bot mode with the Bot Fan trait.	&EP11
	Having had their skin color change from a colored dew bottle (except the Rainbow and Grey ones).	&EP11
	Wearing the Quantum Power Suit.[TS3:ITF]	&EP11 (Limited Edition)

This article or section about The Sims 3 needs a picture to illustrate what it is about. Find an image or upload one and add it.

Werewolves^[TS3:SN] in werewolf form are treated as being a full-status occult and a temporary state at the same time, meaning they are subjected to the above restrictions on travels and appearance changes until they change to their human form.

The Sims 4

The Sims 4 with its expansions and game packs feature 11 life states. Originally the game featured no occults until Patch 5 with the introduction of ghosts and subsequently the inclusion of occult based game packs and expansions including occults. Every occult except from Servos and the temporary states can be made from within Create A Sim via the occult selector or in the occult category of creating a new Sim.

There are two temporary life states that can only be acquired through special objects and interactions, they will naturally disappear as NPCs or are a temporary moodlet buff that expires on playable Sims.

Permanent States
Icon	Life State	Pack	Notes
	Sim	&BG
	Alien	&EP01	Can be created in Create a Sim. Sims can have alien powers temporarily by drinking Alien Aura serum.
	Fairy	&EP19	Can be created in Create a Sim
	Ghost	&BG	Added in patch 5, can be created directly in Create a Sim as of patch 170
	Imaginary Friend	&EP20	Sims cannot become Imaginary Friends, but Imaginary Friends can be added to the household after becoming human.
	Mermaid	&EP07	Can be created in Create a Sim
	Servo	&EP08	Sims cannot become Servos, but Servos can be added to the household after being constructed
	Spellcaster	&GP08	Can be created in Create a Sim
	Vampire	&GP04	Can be created in Create a Sim
	Werewolf	&GP12	Can be created in Create a Sim
	Unicorn	&EP14	Can be created in Create a Sim
Temporary States
Icon	Life State	Pack	Notes
	PlantSim	&BG	With The Sims 4: Enchanted by Nature installed, PlantSims gain extra interactions
	Skeleton	&GP06 &SP18	Sims can be cursed through a cursed relic[TS4:JA] or performing a "Ghastly Ritual" at a seance table[TS4:PS] which will turn them into Bonehilda.

Trivia

• Pack leader is considered as the life state for dogs in The Sims 2: Pets, because of their unique appearance and ability to nibble Sims and turn them into werewolves. However, it is not possible to become a pack leader.
• Spectral cat is considered as the life state for cats in The Sims 2: Apartment Life, because of their unique appearance and abilities. They will never age, have no gender, are unable to breed, are immune to the Tempus Interruptus spell, and do not have the bladder need.
• Unicorn is considered as a life state for a horse, because of their unique appearance and ability to bless or curse a Sim.
• The Sims 3: Pets is the only expansion pack in the series to feature a non-humanoid occult life state, the unicorn.
• The Sims 3: Supernatural is the first expansion pack in the series to feature more than one playable life state.
• Mannequin is just a custom skin color that can be accessed in The Sims 2 Create a Sim debugging mode. The game however does not support babies being born with this skin tone. Doing so will cause the game to crash. The players are required to use a mod to prevent the crash and allow the baby to be born.
• Even though ghosts have been featured in all games of The Sims series, The Sims 4 is the first game in the PC series in which ghosts can be manually directed to use ghostly abilities, rather than that being something that was only an autonomous action. In The Sims 2 for consoles, ghosts can use their special interactions while socializing with other Sims, but no other ghost abilities than those.
• The ability to create a life state straight from Create a Sim was introduced in The Sims 3: Supernatural, but was not continued for future life states. This was later reintroduced into in The Sims 4 packs: Get to Work, Vampires, Island Living, Realm of Magic, Werewolves, and Enchanted by Nature.
• In The Sims 4: Journey to Batuu, various Star Wars-inspired alien Sims are seen in the world of Batuu. However, technically these are all normal Sims wearing hats designed as alien heads, hands, and feet, making them look like another species. This only gives the illusion that they are aliens - they remain normal Sims in all aspects.
• If Sims of two different life states try for a baby, it's possible that the produced offspring may be a Hybrid.

Notes and references