How Has Apothecary In The Sims Evolved from The Sims Medieval to The Sims 4 Enchanted by Nature?

A recent online resurgence of The Sims Medieval, paired with the release of The Sims 4 Enchanted by Nature, has us thinking– how has Apothecary in The Sims evolved over the years? We’ve done some digging, and, of course, some playing, so keep reading to learn more about how the Apothecary specialty has changed throughout The Sims universe.

The Sims Medieval is a Spin-Off, drawing from essential The Sims 3 mechanics. In the game, you play as multiple Sims with various hero specialties, such as Wizard, Apothecary, and Monarch, which you use to complete quests and achieve ambitions. In this world, your Sims rely on Apothecaries to craft cures for illnesses, wounds, and more. The Apothecary skill is reintroduced in The Sims 4 Enchanted by Nature, bringing back the ability to create natural remedies for your community.

The Apothecary, Naturopath, and Doctor Careers

Apothecary Career

Apothecary heroes in The Sims Medieval are referred to as Bloodletters. As a Bloodletter, your Sim relies on the Physician skill and is responsible for gathering ingredients to Craft Cures, Healing Sick and Injured Sims, Applying First Aid, Diagnosing Illnesses, and Researching unidentified illnesses to protect the townsfolk and the kingdom. Of course, they can always choose to be a little malicious along the way. 

In addition to solving illnesses of the body, Apothecaries in The Sims Medieval are often asked for help curing ailments of the heart and mind.

Naturopath Career

In the newer generation of The Sims games, The Sims 4 Enchanted by Nature borrows from this gameplay and introduces the Naturopath career. The Naturopath career is a semi-active career with an in-office, work-from-home, and a rabbit hole option for scheduled work hours. Sims in this career are healers committed to crafting cures to ailments through natural and sustainable means, and will excel with the Natural Living and Apothecary skills.

Since this career is not a standard rabbit-hole career, your Sim can go out in the world to deliver Elixirs, or treat patients from the comfort of their home office. This resembles gameplay in The Sims Medieval, as Bloodletters need to venture around the open world of their kingdom to complete quest tasks. 

Doctor Career

The Sims 4 Get to Work includes the classic Doctor career. This is an active career, letting you join your Sim at work to heal patients and rise through the ranks. This career is worth mentioning while we’re on the topic of Apothecary in The Sims, mostly because of the surgery aspect. Bloodletters heal injured Sims by performing surgery on the Operating Table, and can fail similarly to Doctors in The Sims 4.

Ailments and Wounds

Apothecary in The Sims adds ailments and wounds to the list of risks your Sim could encounter in The Sims Medieval and The Sims 4 Enchanted by Nature. Ailments and illnesses can be contracted by interacting with a sick Sim, being cursed or placed under a spell, ignoring Needs, and more. In both of The Sims games, these ailments can negatively impact moods and career performance.

Apothecaries in The Sims Medieval are at the forefront of medical experimentation and creation, so they often spend their time researching these new illnesses and testing various recipes to craft Tonics that are the first of their kind. In The Sims 4 Enchanted by Nature, Apothecaries combat known ailments through tried and true recipes.

Wounds are specific to The Sims Medieval. Interactions with the Pit Beast and tussles with Guildsmen are just some of the ways your Sim can get injured in the medieval world. These wounds range from Minor, Moderate, Major, and Extreme and require a Salve or surgery from a Bloodletter to heal.

Your Sim will need to gather Leeches from the local river to Stock their Operating Table and perform surgery. This interaction is more interactive than Apothecary gameplay in The Sims 4 because you need to carefully apply and remove the Leeches at the right point before being able to administer medication and successfully complete the surgery.

Elixirs and Potions

Elixirs and Potions can be crafted in both The Sims Medieval and The Sims 4 Enchanted by Nature for reasons other than aiding the ill and wounded. In The Sims 4, Apothecaries can craft helpful Elixirs, such as Hooked on Nature, and harmful Elixirs, such as Noxious Gas. These can be gifted to other Sims to mischievously ruin their day.

Apothecaries in The Sims Medieval can craft their own helpful Tonics and Potions, such as Mouthwash and a Fireproofing Potion, to give to other Sims or sell. They can also craft harmful creations, such as Sleeping Draught and Monarch’s Poison.

Aside from being able to craft these Tonics and Potions, Apothecaries in The Sims Medieval can use their Tonics to tamper with the town’s water supply at the well, for better or for worse!

Apothecary in The Sims: Compare & Contrast

It might seem like Apothecaries in The Sims Medieval have a more detailed gameplay than the Apothecaries introduced by The Sims 4 Enchanted by Nature; however, that may just be due to the open world map of the kingdom and the quests your Sim has to complete. If you look closely, you’ll notice Apothecary in The Sims hasn’t evolved very much.

Daily Life of an Apothecary in The Sims

The Sims of the medieval world treated their careers as their true passions, letting them creep into every aspect of their lives. In The Sims Medieval, Apothecaries often spent hours researching illnesses and wounds and traveling around the kingdom to collect rare ingredients and hand-deliver precious cures. Apothecaries ran their businesses from home and made house calls as needed.

In the modern world of The Sims 4 Enchanted by Nature, life as an Apothecary is pretty similar. Apothecaries can choose where they conduct business, rely on Foraging for their apothecary ingredients, and often bring their cures directly to their patients.

I feel the difference here comes from the lack of variety across The Sims 4 DLCs in general, making The Sims Medieval shine in comparison as an isolated game. In The Sims 4 Enchanted by Nature, the addition of the Apothecary skill and the Naturopath career simply feels like any other career or skill added to the game. Many of the animations seem to be reused from the Doctor career, and the Elixirs are similar to the Potions Spellcasters use in The Sims 4: Realms of Magic. This takes some of the excitement out of the Apothecary skill.

Luck and Balance

An interesting feature of both games is Luck and Balance. Luck in The Sims Medieval is determined by your Sims’ mood, quest and quest task progression, daily task progressions, personality traits, and any illnesses or wounds they may have. Having good luck will positively impact certain interactions, increasing the odds of successfully crafting a Tonic or discovering herbs, while bad luck will have the opposite affect. This feature is pretty straightforward and easy to acclimate to as you play the game.

In The Sims 4 Enchanted by Nature, the Luck and Balance system has seemed to evolve to be overly sensitive and, in my opinion, adds confusion to the Simology panel. Many Simmers have reported their Sims constantly struggling with bad luck, making for a frustrating gaming experience. Thankfully, this can be disabled through Game Options.

Looking back at its creation in 2011 and its reintroduction in 2025, Apothecary in The Sims has been an ancillary feature used to further stories and cause havoc. But has it truly changed at all? Let us know what you think in the comments below!