#ts4 witches

So I’ve seen a couple people doing this ranking thing with Sims 4 packs and I thought I’d make one in terms of witchy gameplay, especially since some of those packs can be so useful for a fun pagan gameplay even if that’s not what they’re advertised for.

So I’m going to highlight my reasons for ranking the packs as above below the cut.

[Quick breakdown TL/DR, witchy-wise you got:

The litteral Seasons, Meditation Day, Witches, Outdoor Potions, Necromancy Stuff, Ocean Living with Ancestors, MOAR Familiars, Discover The Fae Cult, Eco Candlemaking, Spiritual Forest Escape, Spooky pUmPKIns, The Greek Well Garden, Get a Coven, Backyard Birds and Tumbled Adventure.

+Vampires, Country Kitchen, and Laundry Day. for a e s t h e t i c s.]

Essential:

Seasons : I’m sorry if you’re pagan or a witch you need seasons in your name, literally. It adds the 4 seasons, snow, dead leaves, and on top of that it adds fully customizable Holidays, meaning you can make your own sabbaths or esbaths celebrations to put on the calendar. It also features gnomes that spawn and wait for the appropriate offering, give them the right thing and they will gift you seeds, otherwise they will be angry. They are linked to spring and are very much akin to the fae. Oh and of course, this is the best pack for gardening.

Spa Day: With that name it seems weird to put it so high but listen: Meditation, incense, and the wellness skill (developed with meditation and yoga). I use meditation as a way to have “circle” time in game (and there are meditation stool cc for that purpose!). It is for me essentially, the “ritual” interaction.

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Needed per taste / path:

Realm of Magic: I almost put that one up in essentials but only a fraction can be used in a realistic way, and I’m talking about potions. The main reason this is not in essential is because you could choose either this pack or Outdoor Retreat for the “potion” feature. Anyways: this is the actual witch pack, including spells and potions in cauldron and a bunch of cool plants for gardening (and if you feel fancy you can fly on a broom). It also comes with familiars that can boost your confidence when you summon them.

Outdoor Retreat: This pack is the absolute best for more realistic potion-making but has less interesting options than Realm of Magic. Herbalism remedies they are called, though some are to help with stress and sadness or fertilizer (which can be used as a way to bless your plants). You have to collect a variety of wild herbs and bugs in order to mix your brews or you can keep the bugs as pets! How fun.

Paranormal Stuff: This newer addition to the sims is a blessing for any necromancer out there. Séances, which can be done with a séance table with a crystal ball or with a chalk circle on the ground, allow you to communicate with the dead, to appease the spirits (which can help calming and reducing ghostly activity in haunted houses), and to do a ghostly ritual which will make you a ghost for a few hours (which I like to imagine as astral travel). It features not only special interaction with basegame ghosts but also spectres, a new form of spirit which are more simple in personality and that can be appease with offerings or otherwise talked to.

Island Living: This pack is known to add a beachy world with mermaids and boats, but is also hides a very pagan tradition with the trait “child of the island” which has been called “shaman” by some, it makes your sim care about the island, its pollution state, the community events and feel a connection to the ancestors, which are spirits you can meet for wisdom. There is a drink called ‘Kava’, which is made in a special bowl and can be a nice thing to use as a special sabbath drink or offering. You can also collect seashells!

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Got that ONE good feature:

Cats and Dogs: As the name states, it introduces Cats & Dogs and if you have Realm of Magic, your pets can be bound to you as familiars!

Discover University: As a university witch you can join the secret society which have meetings around a mushroom circle just off campus where they hang out in cloacks with the sprites and give them offerings on a stone altar for good luck and positive moods. Basically there are fae witches in University and you can be one.

Eco Lifestyle: Candlemaking! You can make your own candles! They like melt and stuff! Also for anyone interested in environment gameplay this is the pack with pollution and working as a neighbourhood to make the earth greener!

Snowy Escape: Actually this one got a few good pagan things. You can go hiking! Take a meditative walk in the woods, be inspired by nature, or walk up to the mountain shrine to make a wish and/or give an offering. You can also encounter various kinds of forest spirits on your walks and have multiple kind of interactions with them.

Spooky Stuff: Pumpkins! This pack comes with pumpkin carving and I use it every in-game Samhain.

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Fun extra / could be useful

Romantic Garden Stuff: This one comes with a wishing well, give it various amounts of money (the bigger amount boost your chances of the wish coming true) and make a wish amongst the various options the game give you. Aesthetically this may be interesting for Hellenic witches who like the ancient greek vibes.

Get Together: The club system is useful for everyone and can definitly be used to make a coven.

Backyard Stuff: It comes with birdfeeders! And also windchimes and lemonade.

Jungle Adventure: This one almost went lower, but I do often use polished crystals on my altars. In basegame you have these relatively big crystal chunks but with the archeology table in jungle adventure you can polish them into smaller oval shapes, basically you can make tumbled crystals.

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Just for Aesthetics

Vampires: For those of you who like the goth side of “witchy” aesthetic the Vampire pack will be good for you. One word: candlebra.

Country Kitchen Kit: My kitchen witches with country farm dreams will love the look of this small kit!

Laundry Day: Another one for some rustic fun. Don’t like the washing machines? You can wash your clothes by hand! This is great with the off-the-grid lots that come with Island Living.

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For the rest of the packs I couldn’t think of a single witchy / pagan use to them.

~lolnyny