TL;DR — what makes this run a legacy
Five rules carry the run; everything else is colour. If you only remember four bullets, remember these four. The full rule book is below; the lifestage checklist and ParaMaker scoring are how you avoid getting halfway through Gen 4 and realising you broke the chain.
- Found the family on an empty lot with SETMONEY 0
- Pick the heir as a Toddler, lock them with the resemblance score
- Keep one family heirloom in the house for all 10 generations
- No money cheats, no EDITCHARACTER trait swaps, single save file only
The five core rules
Tuned to what actually ships in Paralives Early Access 1.0. Anywhere a Sims 4 rule depends on weather, school grades or pets, it's marked 'paused' below and skipped.
- 1
Found the family
Generation 1 starts solo on an empty residential lot in Melino. Drop SETMONEY 0 in the console once, then never touch money cheats again. The founder buys the lot, builds the starter house, lands the first job, and earns the first heirloom themselves. Apply through the in-game newspaper, work the rabbit-hole shifts, save the Paradimes.
- 2
Heir rule
Pick an heir during the Toddler stage each generation. The heir must share at least one personality trait with the founder AND score 6 or higher on the ParaMaker resemblance system (see scoring table below). Spares can leave the household at Young Adult. If no toddler qualifies, the youngest qualifying child becomes the heir by default.
- 3
Family heirloom
Generation 1 picks one item that becomes the family heirloom: a painting (made by the founder), an instrument (used to level the founder's first skill), or a hand-built chair. It cannot be sold, replaced, or stored. It moves with the household across every generation. If it breaks, the current heir must repair it before the next lifestage transition.
- 4
No cheats, one save
Money cheats are banned except the SETMONEY 0 in step 1. EDITCHARACTER is allowed only after pregnancy and only to fix obvious clipping issues, never to swap traits or rebuild a face. One save file the entire run; no save-scumming after a bad event. Build cheats (rotate, free-place) stay legal because they don't change run economics.
- 5
Pets, seasons, school (paused)
Sims 4 rules that depend on pets, weather, school grades or specific career packs are paused until Paralives ships those systems. Track them on the roadmap; reactivate them in your run when the matching patch lands. This keeps your progress sheet portable across patches without breaking the chain.
Generation cadence
8 lifestages, 8 mini-quests per generation
Paralives ships eight lifestages between cradle and elder; Preteen joined the roster in late 2025. Each stage owes one small quest toward the legacy. Skipping any of them costs the generation a point on the final scoreboard but does not end the run.
Baby (0 to 1 in-game week)
The baby quest is simple: keep them alive. Don't let hunger or hygiene bottom out for more than one shift. The founder generation skips this stage; Gen 2 onward starts here.
Toddler (1 to 4 weeks)
Pick the heir before the toddler ages up. Run the resemblance check (see ParaMaker scoring), lock the choice in your progress sheet. The toddler must reach max bond with one adult household member before the Kid transition.
Kid (4 to 12 weeks)
The kid quest is the first skill milestone. The heir reaches level 5 in any one of: Charisma, Creativity, Logic or Motor. Track which skill becomes the heir's calling card; it usually carries into the career later.
Preteen (12 to 18 weeks)
Unlocks the heir's first Vibe. Don't suppress it with cheats. Whatever vibe emerges here becomes the parent vibe seed for Gen N+1 (vibe inheritance is described below). Take notes for the progress sheet.
Teen (18 to 28 weeks)
First relationship arc. The heir must reach 'close friend' with one Para outside the household and complete one Story Card with a long-tail outcome. Romance is optional until Young Adult; don't force it.
Young Adult (28 to 60 weeks)
Career launch and pregnancy window. The heir picks a career domain (the chosen calling card skill should match), works at least one season, then partners up and tries for the next-gen baby. Spares can leave the household here.
Adult (60 to 120 weeks)
Skill peak and heirloom maintenance. The adult heir reaches level 15 in their calling-card skill (level 20 is the cap, level 15 buys the perk that doubles its income). Repair or refresh the heirloom if needed.
Elder (120+ weeks)
Hand-off. The elder writes a memoir, paints the family portrait, or composes the family song (whichever fits the heirloom). They live until natural causes, then the next generation takes over with the heirloom intact.
ParaMaker scoring
ParaMaker resemblance rules
Paralives' resemblance system uses 12 specific feature sliders that pass measurable genetics from parent to child. To qualify as a Legacy heir, a candidate must score 6 or higher against the founder when you sum the feature points below. Run the check on the toddler before they age up; lock the heir in the progress sheet once they clear the threshold.
ParaMaker groups facial geometry into face (3 points), hair (3 points), body (3 points) and eyes (3 points), for 12 points total. A score of 6 is one feature carried in each of two groups, or two features in one group plus one in another. The cleanest legacy runs aim for 8 or 9, where the family line is visually obvious after Gen 5.
Important: Paralives does not auto-roll genetics from both parents the way Sims 4 does. The child's base is a weighted blend, but the toddler's actual sliders shift further during the Kid stage. Run the score at Toddler and again at Preteen if the heir's choice was borderline; the Preteen check is the more reliable one.
Resemblance scoring (out of 12)
- Face (3 pts)
- Cheekbones, jaw and brow ridge. Each slider within 15% of the founder's value counts as 1 point. Brow is the most heritable; cheekbones tend to drift.
- Hair (3 pts)
- Base colour, curl pattern and density. Colour is a near-binary match; curl pattern carries cleanly; density depends on lifestage (toddlers and elders both trend thinner).
- Body (3 pts)
- Height, build and shoulder width. Height carries from either parent. Build (slim, athletic, soft) is the dominant body slider in genetics.
- Eyes (3 pts)
- Iris colour, eye shape, and lid weight. Iris colour follows real recessive-gene rules (browns dominate). Eye shape is the most stable across generations.
Total: 12 points. Heir threshold: 6. Visible-line bonus: 9+. Spare path: under 6 means the candidate is a spare, not a chain-breaker.
Vibe inheritance
How vibes pass from parent to heir
Vibes are long-lasting personality states that unlock at the Preteen stage. They are NOT inherited the way traits or facial features are, but the parent's active vibe at the time of conception biases the heir's first vibe roll. Five vibes ship in EA: Energetic, Gloomy, Jester, Overjoyed and Serious. Three more (Grumpy, Peaceful, Sensitive) arrive post-launch.
Conception window matters
The vibe carried by the pregnant Para at the moment 'Try for Baby' succeeds is logged in the save file. When the heir reaches Preteen, the system rolls their first vibe with a +25% bias toward that recorded vibe. Plan the timing if you want a thematic legacy (e.g. Gen 3 should be the Gloomy generation).
Branches diverge in adult
Gloomy can become Sadness Sponge or Share Burden, never both. Jester can become Pun Punisher or Crowd Warmer. Whatever branch the heir lands on as Adult locks for the rest of their life and becomes the next conception bias.
EDITCHARACTER can't move it
Unlike traits, the active vibe persists through EDITCHARACTER. Skip the cheat path entirely; the legacy point is that the family line carries an emotional fingerprint, not just a face.
Story Cards
Story Cards the legacy actually needs
Roughly 250 Story Cards ship across 5 themed packs (Life Goals, Moon, Social, Sun, Work). Most are flavour; four matter for legacy completeness. If they don't fire naturally, force them with GAINSTORYCARD between save points.
- Family Heirloom Crafted (Life Goals)
- Logs the founder's choice of heirloom into the save file. Without this card firing, Paralives won't track the heirloom across generations. Force it before the founder hits Adult if it hasn't fired naturally.
- Maternity Vacation (Social)
- Required for clean Gen N+1 transitions. Skipping it costs the pregnant Para career performance for the next two shifts, which can break a tight Gen 3 or Gen 4 budget.
- Generational Recipe (Sun)
- Optional but high-value: it locks a household recipe that grants +5 Cooking to every adult member who eats it. Pair with a kitchen-skill founder to compound the bonus across 10 generations.
- Heir's First Word (Moon)
- Fires the first time a toddler heir hits max bond with a parent. The card writes the parent's name into the heir's backstory automatically, giving the run an organic family tree without manual tracking.
Fail conditions (when the run is over)
Three things genuinely end a Legacy run, not 'I'm bored' but 'the rules say stop'. One soft fail costs a generation point but lets you continue.
The household line dies out before Gen 10
Every member of the current household reaches Elder and dies without a successor in the household. Hard fail. Cannot be recovered by adopting or moving in a relative.
The family heirloom is sold, lost or stored
The heirloom must remain placed in the active household lot at all times. Storing it in inventory for more than one in-game day counts as 'lost'. Hard fail.
Money cheat used after Gen 1
Hard fail. The SETMONEY 0 in step 1 is the only exception. PRINTMONEY, MAKEITRAIN, JACKPOT, SETMONEY (any other amount) all end the run.
Heir below resemblance threshold (soft fail)
If no toddler clears the score-6 threshold, the youngest qualifying child becomes the heir but the generation loses a point on the final scoreboard. Two soft fails in a row trigger a hard fail.
EA compatibility notes
These Sims rules don't map cleanly onto Paralives EA yet. Adjust freely.
- Pet clauses (must own a pet by Gen 3) paused until the pets update.
- 'Survive a winter' clause paused until weather and seasons land.
- Heir academic-grade requirements relaxed until school systems update.
- Per-generation career restrictions use current Paralives careers, not Sims 4 ones.
Starter Para generator
Roll once for the founder. Reroll until happy, or lock the first result for extra chaos.
- Name
- Cleo Marsh
- Career
- Painter
- Traits
- AmbitiousBookwormCheerful
- Backstory
- Grew up in Melino's east district, just inherited a derelict lot from a great-aunt no one remembers.
Progress tracker
Saves locally. No account, no login. Use 'Print or save as PDF' to keep a permanent record across patches.
| Gen | Heir name | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | — | — | — |
| 02 | — | — | — |
| 03 | — | — | — |
| 04 | — | — | — |
| 05 | — | — | — |
| 06 | — | — | — |
| 07 | — | — | — |
| 08 | — | — | — |
| 09 | — | — | — |
| 10 | — | — | — |
Keep exploring
Three places to go from here.
The heirloom often lives on the porch. Curved walls, half-levels and the foundation-height slider, in one tutorial.
Which cheats are allowed in a Legacy run (build, rotation) and which kill it (money, EDITCHARACTER traits).
100 Baby, Rags to Riches, Not So Berry, Black Widow. All rewritten for Paralives EA.