Have you ever watched the Grim Reaper in The Sims 4 and wished you had his job? The Life & Death Expansion Pack has you covered there, as this pack comes with not one, but two brand-new careers. One is a traditional-style Undertaker career. The other is an active career (think the Doctor or Detective career from Get to Work), and this one is the Reaper career. This line of work gives you exactly what you would expect: working for none other than the Grim Reaper himself, dealing with the recently-departed and reaping souls. While the Reaper career isn’t that difficult, it does have a lot of responsibility, and if you’re new or unfamiliar to it, it can feel overwhelming. That’s why this guide has been put together, to walk you through the Reaper career and ensure your success.
We’ve got other guides for The Sims 4 Life & Death, including these:
- Undertaker Career Guide
- Ghost Historian Aspiration Guide
- Ravenwood World Guide
- How to Get All Tarot Cards
What You Need for the Reaper Career
There isn’t too much that you need to ensure that your Sim succeeds in the Reaper career. The key to success is going into work with your Sim every shift. However, there are some things that you might need at work to make getting those promotions easier. You should seriously consider getting the following:
- A computer: Computers aren’t exactly cheap in The Sims 4 (and the real world, for that matter), but they are a must if you join the Reaper career. Why? For one, your Sim will need to max out their Thanatology skill, and the computer is needed for two things: browsing Simpedia to get your Sim Focused to make building the skill faster, and reading theories online to build that skill. You’ll also need a computer to write the reaper manual. Yes, the office does have computers you can use, but having your own computer at home means your Sim can write these manuals at home, not just in their work hours.
- Gym equipment, a TV, or anything that builds Fitness: Fitness is a skill needed to get promoted in the Reaper career. You only need to get it to about the midpoint level, but owning your own gym equipment is handy. If these are too expensive or you don’t have the space for them, you can get a TV and workout with that instead. Alternatively, you can send your Sim off for a jog, send them swimming (there are plenty of swimming spots around Ravenwood), or send them to a gym that is bursting with workout equipment.
- A mirror: Charisma is another skill that comes up during your time in the Reaper career, so having a mirror to practice is very useful. They do have mirrors at the office though, just so you know.
Having a computer at home is useful for many activities related to the Reaper career.
All Levels in the Reaper Career
The first thing you should know is that the Reaper career is not one of those in The Sims 4 that eventually breaks into two different branches, taking you down two different career paths. There are just 10 levels in the Reaper career, no branches anywhere. This same system applies to other active careers like the Doctor career and Detective career. Let’s take a look at all 10 levels in the Reaper career and how your Sim can get promoted to the top.
Grimtern
Level: 1
Work Days: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Work Hours: 9am – 5pm (8 hours)
Salary: §25 per hour (§200 per day)
Ideal Mood for Promotion: Focused
Promotion Requirements: Attend 2 Active Work Days
You start off being hired as a Grimtern. At the very beginning, you’ll be taken through what to do and how the Reaper career works, what to expect in your day-to-day work activities. We’ll go more into this later in this guide. At the bottom of the Reaper career, you just need to attend two active days at work. When it’s time for your Sim to head into work, select Join and you’ll follow them to the workplace. Get through two work days, do well, and you should get that promotion in no time. It helps if your Sim is put into a Focused Mood, recommended for your Sim’s performance, but generally, having your Sim in any positive mood is a plus.
All Grimterns wear the same uniform.
Restceptionist
Level: 2
Work Days: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Work Hours: 9am – 5pm (8 hours)
Salary: §31 per hour (§248 per day)
Ideal Mood for Promotion: Focused
Promotion Requirements: Reach Thanatology Level 2
Promotion Rewards: §254
You’ve stepped up a level and are no longer at the bottom. You still have a long way to go though. The next promotion requires your Sim to reach level 2 of the Thanatology skill. This is the new skill that comes with The Sims 4 Life & Death. Thanatology is simply the study of death. It only has five levels, but still takes time to max out. Your Sims can gain this skill in a few ways:
- Reading theories online on any computer. There are four theories to choose from, and your Sim will take some time looking up each one. You can read up on all of them as many times as you wish.
- Reading up on historical deaths at any bookcase. This is a quick Thanatology-building task, giving your Sims a little boost.
- Reading Thanatology skill books. If skill books are your thing in The Sims 4, you can pick up the three Thanatology skill books and read through them. Beginners start at volume 1.
- Thanatology-related activities and socials. There are certain actions and socials that will boost a Sim’s Thanatology skill, depending on their current level. For example, Sims can ask other Sims about local hauntings, as well as gaining the ability to speak a dead language. Certain tasks in the Reaper career also give a little bump to the Thanatology skill.
Reading theories online is a good way to build up Thanatology.
Dust-to-Dust Buster
Level: 3
Work Days: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Work Hours: 10am – 6pm (8 hours)
Salary: §39 per hour (§312 per day)
Ideal Mood for Promotion: Focused
Promotion Requirements: Reach Thanatology Level 3, Release 3 Souls
Promotion Rewards: §380, Basic Reaper Uniform
At level 3 of the Reaper career, your Sim will need to get their Thanatology knowledge to level 3 also for their next promotion. That’s not all though. You’ll need to release 3 souls. This can only be done during an active work day in the Reaper career, so you’ll need to follow your Sim to work. What souls you get depends on the job. You might only get to reap one soul, or you may get lucky and have to deal with a Lot that has lost souls scattered around the place. Make sure to release them all into the Netherworld Portal once you’re done.
Get to level 3 in Thanatology to get promoted.
Collections Agent
Level: 4
Work Days: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday
Work Hours: 2pm – 10pm (8 hours)
Salary: §54 per hour (§432 per day)
Ideal Mood for Promotion: Focused
Promotion Requirements: Reach Fitness Level 3, Reach Charisma Level 2
Promotion Rewards: §1,008
At level 4 of the Reaper career, you might notice a shift in your work hours. Instead of working during the day, you’ll now start in the afternoon and won’t finish until late at night. Don’t let this change in hours throw you off. The work days are also slightly different. Instead of Monday through Friday, you’ll now work Tuesday through Saturday.
Instead of working on Thanatology, the next promotion wants your Sim to focus on their Fitness and Charisma, getting them to level 3 and 2, respectively. However, do not neglect your Sim’s Thanatology skill. If they want to get to level 10 of the Reaper career, they’ll need it maxed out, so it’s a good idea to keep working on it even if the current promotion doesn’t request it.
Grimterns need to stay in shape.
Soul Slayer
Level: 5
Work Days: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday
Work Hours: 2pm – 10pm (8 hours)
Salary: §77 per hour (§616 per day)
Ideal Mood for Promotion: Focused
Promotion Requirements: Reach Thanatology Level 4, Release 5 Souls
Promotion Rewards: §1,472
You’ll need to turn your attention back to Thanatology, if you haven’t already, as you need it at level 4. Plus, you’ll need to release 5 souls. Make sure you follow your Sim to work every day and send them on a job. Saving escaped souls is a great way of releasing multiple souls, otherwise it may take a few reaping jobs before you hit your target number.
You’ll need 5 souls released for this promotion.
Spirit Expert (Extraction & Resolution)
Level: 6
Work Days: Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday
Work Hours: 11am – 7pm (8 hours)
Salary: §110 per hour (§880 per day)
Ideal Mood for Promotion: Focused
Promotion Requirements: Reach Charisma Level 4, Write Reaping Manual
Promotion Rewards: §1,472
The work hours have shifted at this level, changing back to daytime hours. Your Sim will still start off quite late in the day though, but will be home in the evening to relax after their day at work. The work days have also moved around a bit, giving your Sim Saturdays and Wednesdays off.
For your Sim’s next promotion, they need two things. One is to get their Charisma skill to level 4, so get schmoozing, or at least practicing in front of a mirror. The second requirement is to write a reaping manual. This appears under the Write > Genre Book menu, along with all the other books. Writing the manual is just like writing any other book in The Sims 4, and takes time.
You’ll need to write a manual to reaping for the next level up.
Nether-Tether
Level: 7
Work Days: Sunday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday
Work Hours: 5pm – 1am (7 hours)
Salary: §158 per hour (§1,106 per day)
Ideal Mood for Promotion: Focused
Promotion Requirements: Reach Thanatology Level 5
Promotion Rewards: §1,896
It’s back to the evening shift, but your Sim won’t finish until 1am, so make sure your Sim is well-rested before they head into work. Your Sim now gets Mondays and Tuesdays off.
Getting the next promotion is going to be quite tough, because your Sim needs to have their Thanatology skill completely maxed out. It will take time, but they will get there. Make sure your Sim is in a Focused Mood whenever they are doing something that builds this skill, like reading theories online or reading up historical deaths. If you want your Sim to get this promotion, make use of their Mondays and Tuesdays off to spend time working on their Thanatology.
You will need to maximize your Thanatology skill to level 5 if you want to make it far in the Reaper career.
D.N.R. (Death’s Negotiation Reporter)
Level: 8
Work Days: Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday
Work Hours: 2pm – 10pm (8 hours)
Salary: §223 per hour (§1,784 per day)
Ideal Mood for Promotion: Focused
Promotion Requirements: Reach Fitness Level 4, Reach Charisma Level 5
Promotion Rewards: §2,013, Grim Timeless Hourglass
The new work hours at this level have eased back a little, so your Sim will now be working from the afternoon into late at night. The days off have also changed to Mondays and Fridays.
For the next promotion, things are a little easier this time around. You just need to get your Sim’s Fitness and Charisma skills to level 4 and 5 respectively.
Use a mirror to build Charisma.
Graveling
Level: 9
Work Days: Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Work Hours: 10am – 5pm (7 hours)
Salary: §299 per hour (§2,093 per day)
Ideal Mood for Promotion: Focused
Promotion Requirements: Release 10 Souls
Promotion Rewards: §2,311
Phew! The work hours have gone back to daytime, and they’re reasonable as well, starting late morning and finishing in the evening. It’s still five days a week though, giving your Sim Tuesdays and Saturdays off work.
You’re so nearly at the top. If you really want to get there, there’s one last task you need to do, and it is a tricky one. You need to release 10 souls. Yes, 10. That is a lot. Even in the escaped souls scenario you sometimes get, you may not get 10 souls in one go – or you might, if you’re very lucky. You’ll need a big soul harvesting job to get that soul counter up to 10. Note that in those particular scenarios, you can catch more than 5 souls than the requested task asks. You can find other stray souls around the Lot waiting to be picked up. There’s no penalty for picking up extras, and they don’t vanish after you’ve found 5, so collect them all! Make sure you search every inch of the Lot for any escaped souls before you head back to the office.
Make sure you follow your Sim into work every single shift. Even if a job only allows you to harvest just one soul, it’s one more soul to the target number, and one more to that final promotion.
Some assignments give opportunities to collect lots of souls, perfect for reaching that soul quota or getting the last promotion.
Reaper
Level: 10
Work Days: Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday
Work Hours: 9am – 4pm (7 hours)
Salary: §421 per hour (§2,947 per day)
Ideal Mood for Promotion: Focused
Promotion Rewards: §2,666, Grand Grim Uniform, Grim’s Right Hand
You made it! You’re officially a Reaper. There are a lot of perks for being at the top of this career. You now only have to work four days a week, and you work reasonable daytime hours as well. The salary is very good too. Your Sim now wears a very cool uniform to work, making them stand out among the other reapers. This outfit is accessible in Create-A-Sim as well and is available in different swatches.
At level 10, your Sim earns a reward trait: Grim’s Right Hand. This does two things for your Sim. The first is that they’ll handle grief much better. The second is that if your Sim meets an untimely demise (say being electrocuted, drowning, freezing, etc.), the Grim Reaper may be more lenient and give your Sim another chance.
You also unlock some new abilities: Healing Hand and Death’s Order. With Healing Hand, you can restore plumbing objects, electronics, and appliances to their original brand-new state, meaning they won’t break down as often. This also gives the object a good clean if they’re filthy. It’s an excellent tool if your Sim isn’t good at fixing stuff and they want to save time. Death’s Order, on the other hand, does the opposite. Use this on any plumbing object, electronic, or appliance and you’ll make it dirty and broken. This might seem an odd tool, unless you want to be destructive. It’s useful if you want your Sim to learn Handiness.
Healing Hand is probably the best reward for reaching the top of the Reaper career.
Active Work Days in the Reaper Career
The Reaper career is an active career. You can opt to follow your Sim to work, or not. There’s no penalty for not going with your Sim, unless promotion calls it. But the Reaper career is such good fun and rewarding, not to mention interesting, that it’s hard to resist going into work with your Sim. Let’s delve deeper into what you can expect when you go with your Sim to work, and how to get the most out of your Sim’s work day.
Netherworld Department of Death, aka Home Base
The Doctor career has the hospital, the Detective career has the police station. The Reaper career has the hub of the Grim Reaper and his Grimterns, known as the Netherworld Department of Death, or N.D.D. for short. Simply put, this is your Sim’s work office when they’re not out on a job. This is where your Sim always starts at the beginning of a shift, and after completing a job.
The N.D.D. is on an isolated Lot, unreachable to those outside the Reaper career, and you cannot visit this place outside of work hours either. Beyond the building, there isn’t much to do. There’s a little space outside to go for a little wander, or a jog, and then there’s the souls portal, but your main focus is on the N.D.D. building itself.
At this building, it is home to all the other Grimterns working in the Reaper career, and none other than the Grim Reaper himself. There is also plenty to do at the work office, to help you with your day-to-day tasks or just a place to unwind after a busy day’s reaping. Let’s give you a whistle-stop tour of the N.D.D.
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- The N.D.D., home to the Reaper career.
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- The N.D.D. is in a very isolated place.
The building is made up of two floors. You’ll find plenty of bookcases, computers, and tablets for all your work tasks. There are also bathrooms if your Sim has a call of nature, mirrors, sinks, and even a shower upstairs. There are some specific features to note though.
On the ground floor on either side of the front entrance, you’ll find the scry bowls. These are used to receive your daily assignments. You only get one assignment per day. Scrying for assignments should be your first port of call when you come into work. You can also use these bowls to find and help lost souls, but you can only do this once per shift. Other Grimterns use these bowls as well and may get in your way, but just wait for them to finish and it’ll be free to use.
Also on the ground floor is the practice dummy. This is what Grimterns use to practice their reaping skills. As your Sim is learning the ropes, they won’t be as flawless as the Grim Reaper, so it’s good to get some practice in. Also, more experienced Grimterns can mentor lower-level Grimterns if you see them practicing on the dummy.
Ground floor of the N.D.D.
There’s more upstairs. Here, you’ll find what appears to be a children’s toy box. This is actually where you claim rewards for meeting souls quotas. It’ll be greyed out and inaccessible if your soul quota hasn’t been met.
You’ll also find a crow that you can interact with and befriend. They do sometimes disappear off their perch for a time, but will eventually return, so keep this in mind. You can also give the crow gifts from your Inventory to boost your relationship with them. The crow may have gifts for you in return!
There’s also a kitchen upstairs. If your Sim gets peckish, they can make something up. There’s a fridge, stove, and microwave available, so your Sim can rustle up a hearty meal. The kitchen will also be needed if your Sim is asked to make Grimbrosia. We’ll talk more about this later.
Upper floor of the N.D.D.
Now you’ve got to know the workplace a little better, let’s move onto the actual work itself. We’ll begin with how reaping generally works.
Reaping Assignments
Reaping is the key job at any Reaper level. This is essentially what the Grim Reaper does in his job – and now you get to do it! Note that you only get to do it once per shift, and the type of job is randomized. You might only get to reap one soul, have someone plead for a soul, have multiple souls to deal with, or have to work with escaped souls. We’ll go into more detail about these different scenarios a little later. For now, let’s walk you through a general day-in-the-life of a Reaper.
When you arrive for your shift at the office, your first job is to report to the Scry Bowl and get your assignment. It’s a little like getting a new assignment in the Detective career. Your Sim swirls their hand in the bowl, and a message pops up telling you what the assignment is. You can then travel to the site to get down to business.
Your first priority upon arriving at work is getting your assignment for the day.
There are a few things you should do first before heading to your assignment. First, do some research on it. You can do this by choosing Research Assignment at any bookcase. This is a quick task. You should also consider Practicing Reaping. This doesn’t take long and gets you prepared. Finally, you should Perform Scythe Maintenance. This appears when you select your Sim as a self interaction. This too is nice and quick, so you can get to your assignment quicker. If you do these three tasks before heading out, you should be well prepared for any job that’s thrown at you. It’ll also give your Sim a confidence boost.
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- Before going off to your assignment, be sure to research the assignment…
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- Practice reaping…
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- …and do maintenance on your scythe.
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- Preparing for a reaping assignment ensures that your Sim goes off in a Confident Mood.
To travel to your reaping assignment, select the Scry Bowl and choose Scry for Travel. Before you head off, a message will appear reminding you that it’s advisory to do the preparation tasks first. It’ll also remind you that after completing the assignment, you’ll return to the office for the rest of the shift. If you’re ready, hit OK and the game will load the Lot where your Sim’s services are needed.
When you’re ready, select Travel on a Scry Bowl to head over to the Lot where the assignment is.
A random Lot will be loaded up for your assignment. It can be either a residential or commercial lot, but the type sometimes depends on the nature of the assignment. Anyhow, once you arrive, you’ll have work to do.
A new list of tasks will load. What tasks you get depends on the assignment. We’ll explain more about the tasks and their assignments a bit later. Usually, you have to interview a witness, then investigate the scene of the death, determine the cause of death, reap the deceased Sim’s soul, deal with any witnesses, then return to the office. The actual tasks depends on the assignment. Let’s talk more about the different assignments you might get while out at work.
Practice Reaping With a Dummy
When you’re brand-new to the reaping game, your first assignment will actually be a practice session. This means you won’t be thrown into the deep end right away and you can have a first go without feeling afraid of screwing up. It’s also a great way of showing you the ropes of reaping and what to expect in your assignments.
Instead of a dead body, you’ll have a training dummy in your practice assignment, which might make you feel a bit easier. The Grim Reaper himself is also on hand to guide you through and help you if you ever get stuck.
Your first assignment is just a practice one with a training dummy, which is quite reassuring.
The first thing you need to do is determine the cause of death of the deceased Sim. To do this, select the deceased, choose Investigate Cause of Death, and then pick any of the options that is presented. Note that Determine Cause of Death is greyed out. You need to use the Investigate option first before this becomes available. You can do the following:
- Check Pockets
- Check Position of Body
- Check Position of Limbs
- Check Pulse
- Check Temperature
- Check for Rigor Mortis
Use these options to determine the cause of death. You usually need to do 4 to 5 of these before your Sim is confident about the cause of death. Once that’s the case, select the deceased and this time choose Determine Cause of Death. Their cause of death is revealed in a pop-up message.
After your investigation is done, you need to Determine Cause of Death.
With the cause of death established, your next move is to collect the Sim’s soul. You’ve probably seen the Grim Reaper do this before. Now you get to do it! Select the deceased and you’ll see a few options. You can Collect Soul Lazily, but this isn’t ideal. Chance of failure is more likely and you don’t want that. Go instead with Collect Soul. You’re more likely to have success with this. If not, just try again.
You’ll have a few options for collecting a soul. Your best bet is to use Collect Soul.
When successfully done, the soul will appear in your Sim’s Inventory. Leave it be; you don’t want to delete it! This will be the final step in your reaping training, but note that in future jobs, there may be more to do. For now though, this gives you a good idea of what to expect. You can now return to the office by selecting your Sim and choosing this option.
Your Sim will look just like the Grim Reaper when they collect a soul.
Reaping a Soul
After you’ve had your first reaping training session, it’s time for the real thing, with real dead Sims! Eek! Don’t fear though, because the Grim Reaper isn’t going to let you off the reins quite so soon. In your first real job, he’ll come along to assist you.
When you arrive at the assignment, first look for the deceased Sim. It’s pretty obvious they’re dead as they’re lying still on the ground, but if you hover the cursor over them, it’ll tell you they’re dead, just to clarify. This is the soul you need to reap.
Recall everything you learned in your training session. If you don’t, don’t worry, as the tasks you need to do are always there listed to remind you. If this is your first real job and the Grim is there, your first task may be to ask the reaper for his expert opinion. After giving you some guidance, it’s down to you to get on with the task in hand.
The Grim Reaper is a good boss, helping his Grimterns out.
In many cases in a reaping, there will be one or two witnesses who saw the death. You’ll need to interview them as part of the investigation. You just need to talk to one of these Sims. Not every Sim on the Lot is a witness, so hover over them to check.
There should be two witnesses at a death scene.
In most situations when investigating a Sim’s death, you may have to investigate the deceased Sim’s surroundings, to help determined how they died. You usually need to do this twice to complete the task. Select any object that is close to the deceased and simply choose Investigate. After this, continue with investigating the Sim themselves by picking the various options. Do this 4 to 5 times until your Sim is happy with the cause of death. Make sure to select Determine Cause of Death.
You may need to investigate surrounding objects to help determine a Sim’s death.
Once a cause of death is established, it’s time to collect the Sim’s soul. You get a few more options this time, including Collect Soul Flamboyantly, Attempt to Collect Soul Like Grim, and Collect Soul Carefully. Collect Soul should do, but if this doesn’t work, try Collect Soul Carefully. At the early stages, it’s not recommended to use flamboyant methods or attempting like the Grim. You’re more likely to fail. It’s best to play it safe.
Despite the various options, until you become more experienced, you should stick with Collect Souls or Collect Souls Carefully.
After a soul is collected, you’re not quite done yet. There are a few things you need to do first. One is to request a reaping review, which you can do by selecting the new urn or tombstone that has appeared. This in turn may unlock a new task to hand the urn over to the household, which again is done via the urn or tombstone. The other task involves the witnesses. They’re probably distraught, so it’s good business practice to Soothe them. You might also get asked to Get to Know them before you leave them to it.
Give the deceased Sim’s urn or tombstone to their family after reaping their soul.
Once everything has been done that needs doing, the Return to the Office task will appear, and your Sim can head back with their newly-collected soul.
Don’t forget to comfort the witnesses before you go. Death can be pretty traumatic for those involved.
Sim Who Wants to Plead for Soul
You know when the Grim Reaper appears at an untimely death and you desperately want to plead with him to give the deceased Sim a second chance at life? That’s exactly what you sometimes have to deal with as well in the Reaper career.
When you arrive at the Lot, it’s the same scene and scenario, with one difference. Among the usual witnesses will be a Sim who is eager and waiting to plea to you. They’ll have Has Plea attached to their name. Choose this Sim and select the option Listen to Plea. You might as well hear them out. You’ll then have the option to accept their plea, or shoot them down and get on with the reaping. What you go with is ultimately your decision. This Sim’s fate is in your hands! You can choose to be lenient, or, if you’re desperate for more souls, either for promotion or the soul quota, make the decision to let the plea fall on deaf ears and reap ahead.
Dealing with a Sim who has a desperate plea is never easy.
If you choose to ignore the plea, you’ll proceed as normal with the reaping of the Sim’s soul. Otherwise, if you accept their plea, you’ll get a new task: to Revive the dead Sim. Do this on them and in a heartbeat, they’ll be back! With no soul to reap, you’ll then be able to return to the office and continue with your day.
You have the power to decide whether or not a Sim should be revived.
Reaping Multiple Souls
Sometimes, you’ll have a job where more than one soul is needed to be reaped. Examples include a comedy routine gone wrong, or a rogue Cowplant. When you arrive at the scene of the incident, instead of just one dead Sim, there will be multiple. You can have up to four dead Sims in one job! Bad for the Sims, but good news for your souls quota or your next promotion.
I think this Cowplant has been very naughty.
Escaped Souls
One job you might get is a little different from the usual reaping assignment. Instead of dealing with dead Sims, you might have to deal with wayward spirits at a property. The Lot will typically be vacant, allowing you to get on with the job in hand.
Lots with escaped souls can be either Residential or Commercial.
There are a few specific tasks you need to complete in this such job. One is to close a series of Netherworld Portal fissures, which look like blue glowing cracks in the ground. They can appear indoors or outside. There are usually four of these on the Lot, no more or less. They can sometimes be hard to spot, so take a good look around the Lot for them.
Look out for these blue cracks in the ground.
Once you find a portal fissure, you can do two things. One is to close it. However, another option available is to reach into the fissure, where you can extract a random item. These can be anything, including MySims figurines and elements. It’s worth doing this because you can keep these items for yourself, or sell them for some tidy cash. You might get something really valuable! Be aware that reaching into a fissure may give your Sim a negative moodlet, but this is usually minor and wears off after a short while, so don’t feel put off. You can only search a fissure once. Once you’ve done so, you can close it.
Before closing a fissure, considering reaching into it and seeing what your Sim comes up with.
Another task is gathering the escaped souls. These aren’t actual ghost Sims who create havoc by possessing objects and breaking them. These are just like spirit orbs, glowing and shimmering a blue and purple color. You’re usually asked to collect five of these souls, but there are more than five on the Lot, so don’t be shy in collecting every one you see. There’s no penalty for going over the counter. This is a very good way of collecting souls for meeting the quota or promotion requirements. To pick up these souls, simply select them and choose Pickup Soul. They’ll go with you without a fuss and appear in your Sim’s Inventory just like any other soul.
Look out for these bluish-purple orbs.
One final thing to do in this task is to harvest the Grimbrosia source. This is simply a plant that you can harvest just like any other, but it only appears during this job. Grimbrosia can sometimes be tricky to locate, but it’s usually found outdoors. It has green leaves and stems, pink flowers, and moves about. It’s quite distinctive-looking. Simply harvest it and it will go into your Sim’s Inventory. There can be two of these Grimbrosia plants on a Lot. You just need the one to harvest for this task, but feel free to pick the other. You might as well!
Last but not least, locate and harvest the Grimbrosia.
With all these tasks done and the souls dealt with, you can return to the office. That’s not the end of it though. Upon your return, you’ll have a unique task: to cook Grimbrosia. This dish is only available to make with the Grimbrosia plant. Select the fridge or stove and choose Cook, and you’ll see Grimbrosia at the very top. Anyone can make this dish. Unlike Ambrosia, you don’t need level 10 Cooking and Gourmet Cooking skills to make it!
Grimbrosia should be at the top of the list of recipes.
Once your Sim has cooked the Grimbrosia, put it into your Sim’s Inventory, then select the Grim Reaper and deliver the Grimbrosia to him. He’ll be very appreciative!
Hey, Boss, do you want some Grimbrosia? I made it just for you!
That’s pretty much it for this task, but if you do have any spare Grimbrosia plant left over, you can make up some more Grimbrosia. Instead of giving it to the Grim Reaper though, you can sell it for some decent cash.
Did you know that Grimbrosia is highly valuable? Why not sell it!
Broken Portal, Chaos at Headquarters
Sometimes when you head into work for the day (or night, depending on your hours), you may arrive to find the N.D.D. in absolute chaos. Portal fissures have opened up in the ground, there’s a ghost running amok, and the Scry Bowls are broken. Only you can fix this mess!
Use Repair on the broken Scry Bowls, just like any broken object in The Sims 4. Don’t worry if your Sim is lacking in Handiness; they’ll still be able to fix it. Also remember to deal with the portal fissures around the office. You’ll need to look downstairs, upstairs, and even outside. There should be four fissures to fix. Remember that you can stick your hand in to retrieve any uncommon or rare items before sealing the fissures.
Oh no. Not the Scry Bowl!
Don’t forget to go outside and fix the Netherworld Portal as well. This is the route of all this madness, after all.
Why did the Portal have to break?!
Finally, you need to expel the troublemaking ghost. They shouldn’t be too difficult to find. Just locate the floating possessed bookcase somewhere in the office. They’ll either be downstairs or upstairs. Select the floating bookcase and choose Expel Ghost, and your Sim will send them packing.
Be gone, ghost! You’re not welcome here!
Phew! That’s all done. You can now get back to business.
Releasing Souls
So after a good day’s work reaping souls or collecting escaped souls, just what exactly do you do with them? You have to release them! This is done at the office, more specifically outside where the Netherworld Portal is.
The Netherworld Portal can be found outside the office. It’s easy to find.
You have three options with this: releasing just one soul, releasing multiple souls, and checking the quality of the Netherworld. If you only have one soul on you, just release the one. If you have more than one, gathered from collecting escaped souls or reaping multiple souls, use the release all souls option. With this one, your Sim will automatically send soul after soul into the Portal, stopping once their Inventory has been emptied of souls.
Releasing souls is a key role in being a Reaper.
Checking the quality of the Netherworld sends your Sim into the Portal. Don’t worry, it’s totally safe! Your Sim will go off for a while, then you may get some options presented to you. These can have consequences, so choose carefully. It’s nothing that will cost your Sim their job though, so don’t stress about it too much.
Releasing souls is an important part of being a Reaper. Remember to do it after a reaping job. You need to release souls to get certain promotions, including the last one, so don’t forget!
Tasks to Do at the Office
Your Sim isn’t away reaping all day while at work. Reaping probably takes up half a Sim’s work shift. So what do they do for the rest of that time? They’re not just going to hang around until their shift ends. There’s always something that needs doing at the office. Here are the tasks that you typically have to do at the office. Note that these contribute towards your Sim’s daily performance meter:
- Socialize with Coworkers: There are plenty of other Grimterns working at the office, about half a dozen. They usually keep themselves busy, but they have time to chat too. Simply use any social interactions with them.
- Plan Reaping Schedules: Some tasks, such as this one, requires you to use a tablet. There are a lot of these around the office. Seriously! There’s probably about at least a dozen just lying around, unused. All the usual tablet interactions are available such as playing games and reading ebooks. It’s a shame you can’t take them home with you. Surely no-one would notice! Seriously though, these cannot be put into your Sim’s Inventory and taken home with them. Still, whenever you do need them, there’s plenty to go round.
- Recalibrate Grim’s Tablet: This is another tablet task, and an easy one at that, and might appear in your Sim’s to-do list.
- File Death Certificate: This task usually appears after releasing a soul, and is part of the reaping process. Simply head to any computer at the office and choose this interaction. There are a few computers around the office, so even if the other Grimterns are using them or sitting in the way, there should be at least one computer free.
- Order Office Supplies: This is another task available via the computer. There’s a chance your Sim may mess up an order and get a short-lived Embarrassed moodlet, but it shouldn’t impact too much on your Sim. Everyone makes mistakes, right?
- Analyze Death Trends: This is a computer-based task, but a little different from the others. This is where you have to intervene. During this task, you’ll get a pop-up message a bit like a chance card. You need to read what it says and make a choice between two options. Either option can have consequences, good or bad, and can impact on things like your Sim’s overall work performance and even their relationship with the Grim Reaper.
- Practice Reaping: Sims only get better at reaping when they practice. Fortunately, there’s a training dummy at the office that allows you to do just that. If another Sim is practicing, you’ll have to wait for them to finish and step aside… or…
- Mentor Coworker: If you see another Sim practicing on the training dummy, you can mentor them. You’ll need to do it as soon as you see them practicing. This action doesn’t take long and it’s easy to lose your chance. If this appears as a to-do task, keep an eye on the dummy and wait for a Sim to start practicing. As soon as they are, go and assist them.
- Make Cold Calls: This isn’t a very common task, but you might be asked to make a few cold calls. You can do this via your Sim’s phone under Business.
- Scry for Lost Souls: At the Scry Bowls, aside from Scry for Assignment and Scry for Travel, you can also Scry for Lost Souls. This presents you with a multi-choice scenario that may or may not have consequences. Usually not, but it’s something to do.
- Check Souls Quota: There’s just one final thing you’ll want to know about, and this is how to monitor your souls quota. If you gather and release 35 souls per week, you’ll earn a special reward. You can track your progress by checking in on the computer with this interaction.
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- Lots of tasks can be done on the computer.
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- The tablet also has a few tasks available.
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- Hello. Were you planning on dying anytime soon?… Hello?
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- You can find out where you are in your progress of meeting the soul quota.
End of the Work Day
As you approach the end of your Sim’s shift, an hour to be exact, you get a warning notifying you. This reminds you to wrap up anything you’re doing and complete any outstanding tasks. Remember that you can only access the Netherworld Department of Death during work hours, so make the most of it!
An orange pop-up notification will warn you that your shift is soon coming to an end.
As soon as your shift ends, you’ll get a pop-up message telling you how much you got paid that day and how well you did. If you reached the requirements, you may also get notified of your new promotion, listing your new position, bonus pay, and any other rewards.
Once you hit the OK button, the shift will officially end and your Sim will return home.
You also have the option to extend your Sim’s work day, or finish it early. The work day gets extended by two hours beyond their usual ending time. Note that this can only be done once per shift, so make your extra time count. Be aware that if you opt out of work early, it might negatively impact your overall work performance, so be sure that you really want to do this.
If you want, there’s an option to stay late or leave work early.
Rewards in the Reaper Career
With all this hard work you do for the Grim Reaper, what rewards do you get? As it turns out, quite a few! It’s especially worth it to get to the very top of the Reaper career. Here’s the complete list of everything you can unlock in this career:
- Basic Reaper Uniform
- Grim Timeless Hourglass (Level 8)
- Grand Grim Uniform (Level 10)
- Grim’s Right Hand Reward Trait (Level 10)
- Healing Hand and Death’s Order Object Interactions (Level 10)
At level 10, you unlock a seriously cool outfit.
Studying for the Reaper Career
If you send your Sims to university with The Sims 4 Discover University Expansion Pack and want them to study to be a Reaper, there are one or two degrees that might help you out there. Although none of the courses has your Sim learning Thanatology, they can learn other skills such as Charisma, Fitness, and Writing. Consider signing up for these:
- Art History – Charisma, Painting, Writing
- Communications – Charisma, Logic, Writing
- Drama – Charisma, Comedy, Fitness
- Language & Literature – Charisma, Research & Debate, Writing
Final Tips for the Reaper Career
Before we wrap up this guide for the Reaper career in The Sims 4 Life & Death, let’s leave you with some parting words of wisdom that’ll make life easier in this career:
- If you want to get promotions or meet the souls quota, go into work with your Sim at every opportunity you get. You don’t gain much from staying behind.
- Before you head off to any assignment, make sure you do the necessary preparations, including researching the assignment, practicing reaping, and performing scythe maintenance. Doing all this puts your Sim into a Confident Mood that will last for the whole shift!
- When arriving at an assignment, first pause the game and take in the scene. Locate the deceased Sim (or Sims in some cases), as well as any possible witnesses. This will help you feel more prepared for doing the job. You can also select your Sim and use Locate Deceased Sim if you want to find them right away.
- You may find that when you first arrive at an assignment, you cannot approach the witnesses to interview them. You might need to give it a minute or so for them to settle. You should then be able to speak with them as normal.
- When dealing with a Sim’s plea, consider whether you want to meet quotas or need that soul for promotion. If you find that you don’t want to reject them, remember that there will always be other assignments where you’ll have more opportunities to get souls, even if it means waiting until your Sim’s next shift.
- Remember to release any souls in your Sim’s Inventory after a job, especially a big one. You’ll need to do this to contribute towards the souls quota and any promotions.
- Here’s a special tip for the Cowplant assignment: you can reap the Cowplant’s soul, even though they’re still alive! Note that this instantly kills the Cowplant.
- When dealing with any fissures, remember that you can reach into them to find special items.
- With Grimbrosia, if you have more than one plant, you can make extra to sell them for money.
- After an assignment has been completed, make sure to complete any tasks in the office if you want to finish the day on a gold rating.
