The Sims 3 Ghost Guide
Understanding Life, Death and Rebirth
In this guide, I'll discuss ghosts and death in The Sims 3. There's a lot to cover, but we'll learn the causes of death for Sims. From there we'll discuss methods of resurrection, how to have a ghost baby and what you can do with your tombstones and urns when a Sim has died.
Causes of Death for Sims
This list will start for vanilla Sims 3, that is The Sims 3 with no expansions, and the list will grow as we learn new ways Sims can die with the expansion packs. Yes, your Sims' causes of death will vary depending on what expansions you have installed. I'll also include information on making a Sim die in a certain way for the deviant Sim killers out there.
AgeWith Aging on, Sims will eventually die of old age. This is the natural cause of death in the Sims 3, all other ways seem to be accidental. The life span is determined by what you've chosen in the options menu. Sims don't die immediately once the age bar on elder is full. They'll die at a random moment at some point, but you can't be sure what day they'll die. This is a realism feature. Ghosts of Sims who've died from old age will be white in color. To "kill" a Sim this way, just turn the aging option on and nature will eventually take its course.
Sims can drown in the pool when they are swimming, but it's rare unless they're extremely low on energy. These ghosts will appear blue in color. To kill a Sim by drowning reliably, you'll need to use build mode to trap them in the pool with walls. Removing the ladder no longer works, as they'll just climb out.
ElectrocutionFailing repairs on electronics can cause a Sim to die from electrocution. They don't usually die from the first shock, but the second is likely a sure kill. Handy Sims are immune to this, because they never fail repairs. Sims with high level handiness are also unlikely to die this way. The more complex the device, the more likely the Sim is to die from electroction. The cheapest tv is not as likely to cause death as the transporter lifetime reward, for example. So do some studying before you send your Sim to repair the plasma TV. To trigger this cause of death, get your Sim to repair or upgrade an electronic and get shocked, then immediately jump in to try and get shocked again. It's a bit more tricky than your other options. Ghosts who die this way will be yellow in color.
Fire kills Sims. It can strike at any time with low level cooking. If a fire breaks out, and your Sim is in the vicinity upon the moment of combustion, there's a chance of death. There's also a chance of death when a Sim is fighting a fire. For non-brave or pyromaniac Sims, this can be a concern. It's usually better to call the fire department and take the loss rather than risk the death of the Sim. To kill a Sim with fire, you could have them stand next to a fireplace (wall them in so they have little choice on where to stand). You can also teleport them to their doom with the Sims 3's testing cheats. Sims that are killed by fire will be red in color.
Like many Sims expansions in the past, The Sims 3 World Adventures introduces a new way for Sims to die: The Mummy's Curse. Sims get cursed by mummies sometimes after they lose in a fight. The likelihood of this seems random, as sometimes your Sim will get knocked out. If you do get cursed, you'll know it. Your Sim will be hit with an onslaught of dark energy from the mummy who will then leave them alone.
From the moment your Sim is cursed, they'll have 14 days to cure it. If they haven't done any of the available options on the mummies page, they'll die, disintegrated in a cloud of evil energy. Nothing's wrong with your graphics card -- when the curse starts to get closer to taking effect, your screen will be met with a moving dark ring around the edges that looks very sinister. There will occasionally be evil music played as well as the time draws near.
Upon death, Sims killed by the mummy's curse have dark, black and white ghosts as seen in the screenshot above.
This cause of death is very rare. It takes about 48 hours Sim time for a Sim to actually die of starvation. If you can't grab a snack at the fridge in that length of time, you must intend to kill them. Killing Sims in this way is easy, just wall them up in a room (guests) or turn free will off (Sims of that household). Don't let them eat, and within a couple days they'll die and turn into a purple ghost.
Death Flowers
Death Flowers will cause the grim reaper to take the flower instead of the Sim's soul for all preventable causes of death. With one in the inventory, they'll be immune to all forms of death except aging. This can help to prevent accidents, and with Ambrosia can make Sims immortal without disabling aging.
The Grim Reaper Cometh
When a Sim dies on your lot, the grim reaper will appear to harvest their soul. The Sim's body will disappear and the spirit will leap into the urn or gravestone. Before the patches came, Sims could befriend and eventually woohoo with the reaper to get a grim reaper baby. We wonder why the developers included this feature initially and removed it. Was in unintended or over the line? We'll never know for sure. Your Sim can socialize with the reaper, and even add him to their list of contacts but he will only come when a Sim has died, so socializing further is impossible. The ability to create reaper babies is a thing of the past. The reaper is known to stick around a bit at times and do some silly things, as in this picture with the reaper using the virtual reality goggles.
Urns, Tombstones and Haunts
Sims who die on your lot will leave behind an urn or tombstone. Whether it's an urn or tombstone depends on its location. It's purely a visual. When a Sim's grave is indoors, it will be an urn. Outdoors you'll see a tombstone. You can change this appearance at will by moving the 'grave' indoors or outdoors. Note that there are at times bugs that cause a gravestone or urn to vanish with no known resolution. A Sim could die on your lot and leave nothing behind, unfortunately.
After midnight, a dead Sim's ghost may appear and haunt the lot where its grave is placed. They'll vanish by morning. During that time, your Sim may interact with the ghost, but most of the time they'll just behave erratically. They may do some odd things associated with their cause of death. For example, Sims who've died of starvation may head for the fridge to grab a snack, and Sims who've died in a fire may take a shower. They can actually break the shower, too. So a haunt can be amusing at first but ends up quite annoying as they disrupt your Sim family's life.
To rid yourself of the haunts on your Sim's current lot, you could take their urn or tombstone to the public cemetery in town. They'll then be a part of the cemetery. For legacy familities, which often have a lot of deaths and could be overrun by haunts at night, it's suggested you make a family cemetery out of a nearby lot. To do this, go into Edit Town and select a Public lot, such as a fishing spot or a park area. Decorate the lot any way you wish with fencing, flowers, benches, etc. Do everything you want the first time because if you go back to that lot in Edit Town after placing tombstones, all of them will be returned to your family inventory and you'll have to place them again. After you've completed the setup and decoration of your cemetery, go back to the game. Pick up any grave that you wish to place in your cemetery and simply go to the lot and place it wherever you wish. Eventually the lot will show up in the town view as a cemetery. You can even rename it if you choose. The ghost will no longer haunt your lot once the Sim's tomb or urn is gone. They'll instead come out most nights like other ghosts tend to do.
Resurrecting Sims and Playable Ghosts
Ghost Sims can only become playable by resurrecting them via the Science Lab opportunity that will appear some time after their death. This appears in the special opportunity slot, so make sure it's clear of any other opportunities if you want it to happen. Your Sim will be asked to bring the deceased's urn or tombstone to the science lab to resurrect them. This will bring them back as a playable ghost. Marriages are not sustained after death, but must be reinstated by proposing again. This Sim will come back as a playable ghost and you'll be capable of making ghost babies. After you've completed this opportunity the first time, Sims' tombs may be taken (by dragging to your active Sim's inventory) back to the science lab for resurrection at the cost of $5,000 Simoleons.To resurrect a Sim from the dead entirely, have them eat Ambrosia. This can be stored in the fridge until it's ready to be served to the ghost. For a ghost in the house, this will usually be a simple matter of placing the dish at their feet or on a table and making it accessible to them. Even in the graveyard, they seem to know what it is and will go straight for the ambrosia. If the Sim was under your control before, they'll be returned to your household if there's enough room, upon bringing them back to life. Follow the link to learn more about making this dish. It will bring a Sim from death (ghost) back to a normal state, and can perpetually halt death due to aging when eaten by living Sims. The Sim's age bar will revert to 0 days at that state in their life span.
You can't make an elder into a young adult with Ambrosia, but you can make them into an elder that has just recently turned. This works either way, as you can keep them from being elders entirely if you feed them ambrosia early enough. More doses of this dish will be required in order to maintain immortality.