Character - CK3 Wiki (2024)

This article has been verified for the current version (1.12) of the game.

A character refers to any person, historical or generated, that is represented personally in Crusader Kings III. Every single character is an individual, living entity that will act individually and has the potential to change history. Characters can be either noble or lowborn, and landed or unlanded.

• Noble characters are members of a dynasty.
• Lowborn characters are not members of a dynasty. If they are landed with a playable government title they will become noble and found a dynasty.
• Landed characters own at least one holding.
• Unlanded characters do not own any holdings; a character who Leases holdings (e.g. a Realm Priest) is considered an unlanded character.

Appearance[edit | edit source]

Characters are depicted using a 3D portrait system. Every character's physical appearance is internally determined by a DNA system, which defines how they look: facial features, skin pigmentation, height, and hair color are all stored as DNA. This DNA is dynamically generated for courtiers, and can be directly edited with the Ruler Designer. DNA is stored as dominant and recessive genes and passed on to a character's children, affecting their appearance.

As Crusader Kings III covers a large portion of Eurasia and North Africa in its setting, characters can be from a diverse number of ethnicities: West/Central European, Northern European, Slavic, Arctic, Mediterranean, West African, East African, Arabic, Asian, North Indian, or South Indian.

Their appearance is further determined by age, weight, and certain congenital traits. Characters will age as years pass by, eventually growing old and withering away. Their appearance can also be adversely affected by illness or injury; battle wounds may scar their face, while disease can leave a ghastly impact on their visage.

Barbershop[edit | edit source]

Players can adjust the appearance of their ruler or ruler's family members via the Barbershop window. This allows hair and clothing to be changed, overriding the character's default appearance.

Sexual Orientation[edit | edit source]

A character's sexual orientation determines with which gender they will gain attraction opinion and can form lover relations. It is decided when the character is around 10 years old and cannot be changed. AI characters will never try to form a relation with characters that do not match their sexual orientation. Both the initial distribution of sexual orientation and the chance for children to gain a certain sexual orientation is determined by the sexuality distribution game rule.

If the child is played by a player, there is a 20% chance that the player will get to pick the gender preference.

Opinion[edit | edit source]

Each character has an opinion of every other character. The opinion the player character holds influences the success rate of certain actions that target another character while the opinion of AI characters also determines their behavior towards other characters.

When a character dies, their primary heir will temporarily inherit part of the opinion of vassals towards the late liege, shown as Opinion of Predecessor.

• Positive opinion towards predecessor: 25% of opinion is inherited.
• Negative opinion towards predecessor: 50% of opinion is inherited.

Attraction[edit | edit source]

Attraction is an opinion modifier that can only be held towards characters one's sexual preference allows. Male characters aged above 65 years and female character above 50 years are not affected by attraction.

Relations[edit | edit source]

When certain requirements are met, two characters can have one of three types of relations, with each type having three levels. Relations have a great impact on how two characters act towards each other.

• Childhood relations can only be held between two child characters and might evolve into their corresponding adulthood relations when the characters reach adulthood
• Adulthood relations can be gained and lost as a result of events
• Lifelong relations can only be obtained towards characters with an existing adulthood relation and each character can have only one of each lifelong relation

Relation	Childhood	Adulthood	Lifelong	Can be ended manually
Friendship	Friend +60 opinion	Friend +60 opinion +10 stress when character dies	Best Friend +120 opinion +10 stress when character dies
Love	Crush +60 opinion	Lover +60 opinion +25% fertility +10 stress when character dies	Soulmate +120 opinion +25% fertility +10 stress when character dies
Conflict	Bully-Victim -20 opinion	Rival -60 opinion -35 stress when character dies	Nemesis -120 opinion -35 stress when character dies

Tyranny[edit | edit source]

Tyranny is negative opinion gained by rulers who take unjust actions. It is felt by vassals and courtiers towards a liege. The maximum tyranny a character can have is 1000. Tyranny is not gained if the liege has a valid reason.

Tyranny can be lost through certain events and most importantly through

Monthly Decay:

• By default tyranny decays by -0.25 each month
• The 'Soon Forgiven' Duty lifestyle Tree perk provides -0.15 monthly Tyranny
• The 'Venial' Guile Dynasty perk provides -0.05 monthly Tyranny

All tyrannical actions, events and the monthly decay can be affected by the following modifiers:

Source	Tyranny Gain
Natural Primitivism (Tenet)	+100%
Chivalry Tradition	+50%
Legalistic Tradition	+25%
Generic Artifact Modifier	+10% to +40%
General Modifiers	Varies
Zomorrodnegar (Historical Artifact)	-15%
Callous (Trait)	-20%
Diplomatic Court Grandeur Level 4 Perk	-20%
The Palace of Aachen (Special Building)	-20%
Pursuit of Power (Tenet)	-20%
Jewelled Danda (Historical Artifact)	-20%
Defender of the Faith Theology Lifestyle Perk	-25%
Easy Difficulty	-25%
Very Easy Difficulty	-75%
General Modifiers and Artifacts	Varies

With the Torturer lifestyle perk Malice Implicit, characters gain +0.5 dread per tyranny.

Legitimacy[edit | edit source]

Legitimacy is a measure of a ruler character's right to rule. Legitimacy can be gained by acquiring titles, releasing valuable prisoners, taking certain decisions, creating legends, holding court, attending activities and winning wars, especially against rulers of higher title rank. These gains can be further modified, positively by having the Living Legend or Venerated Ancestor traits, or negatively if the character is a Bastard or a Legitimized Bastard.

Legitimacy can be lost by losing titles, accepting faction demands, taking tyrannical actions, discovered hostile schemes, exposed secrets, excommunication, marrying Lowborn characters, plagues starting in the Domain, disinheriting dynasty members, and losing wars, especially civil wars - losses are also magnified for characters with a Disputed Heritage. When a ruler dies their heirs will inherit part of the Legitimacy depending on how close a relative they were to the previous ruler.

Every ruler starts with a certain amount of Legitimacy. This primarily scales with Dynasty Level of Splendor, as well as Court Grandeur if the ruler has a Royal Court. It is also increased by a a high Diplomacy skill and having the Just, Diplomat, Born in the Purple and Sayyid traits and reduced by having the Inbred trait or by being a gender that doesn't match the faith's View on Gender doctrine.

Legitimacy is calculated on a scale ranging from 0 to 2800 and goes through 6 levels. How much Legitimacy is required for each level depends on the primary title rank:

Primary Title Rank Level	County	Duchy	Kingdom	Empire
Aspiring	60	90	120	150
Recognized	140	210	280	350
Rightful	240	360	480	600
True	400	600	800	1000
Ordained	600	900	1200	1500

Each era will further increase the required Legitimacy for each level by half of the Legitimacy required for level 1.

A ruler will be expected to have a Legitimacy level at least equal to their title rank.

Being above expectations provides the following benefits.

• Reduced short reign duration
• Reduced cost for Claim casus belli
• Increased marriage acceptance
• Increased popular opinion
• Increased alliance acceptance
• Reduced claimant faction acceptance
• Reduced cost for swinging scales of power
• Reduced cost for creating a title (higher reduction for duchies and kingdoms, lower reduction for empires)
• Increased Monthly Renown

Being at and especially below expectations provides the following penalties.

• Increased short reign duration
• Increased cost for Claim casus belli
• Reduced marriage acceptance
• Reduced vassalization acceptance
• Reduced popular opinion
• Reduced alliance acceptance
• Increased claimant faction acceptance
• Increased cost for swinging scales of power
• Reduced Monthly Renown

What are the exact bonuses and penalties scale with the primary title rank. A king one level above or below expectations will be affected more than a count, one level above or below expectations.

Diplomatic range[edit | edit source]

The diplomatic range is the distance within which two characters can interact with each other. Neighboring realms are always within diplomatic range of each other, as well as realms separated by no more than three sea zones.

• The first Dynasty Legacy from the Adventure Legacy Tree from Northern Lords DLC increases Diplomatic Range by 30%.
• The Rock of Gibraltar increases Diplomatic Range by 20%.

Nicknames[edit | edit source]

Nicknames are epithets granted to characters and are displayed either before or after a character's name. They are mainly gained through decisions and events.

AI Personality[edit | edit source]

AI characters will act based on the following attributes:

• Boldness: Characters with high Boldness are less affected by Dread and more likely to declare war on rulers of similar or higher strength, accept and propose Duels and take risks. Characters with low Boldness are more affected by Dread and more likely to declare war on weaker rulers, accept faction ultimatums and more reluctant to become an Agent in schemes, try to imprison Strong Vassals and take risks.
• Compassion: Characters with high Compassion are more likely to release prisoners (especially children), use the Promote Cultural Acceptance steward task, let people marry for love and make friends and more reluctant to harm others, use the Murder scheme, execute prisoners or torture prisoners. Characters with low Compassion are more likely to harm others, use Hostile schemes, become an Agent in schemes, execute prisoners or torture prisoners.
• Greed: Characters with high Greed will more often choose short-term gains, go on Raids, use the Collect Taxes steward task and betray other characters for and Titles and are more reluctant to pay ransom, send gifts, accept title revocations and end wars in White Peace. Characters with low Greed will more often spend Gold, pay ransom, send gifts, accept title revocations and host activities and are more reluctant to betray other characters for and Titles.
• Honor: Characters with high Honor are more likely to follow Laws and honor Alliances and more reluctant to blackmail characters with Secrets. Characters with low Honor are more likely to start hostile Schemes, blackmail characters with Secrets, use the Find Secrets spymaster task and betray their friends and spouses.
• Rationality: Characters with high Rationality are more likely to use the Disrupt Schemes spymaster task, peace out of wars when they last more than 6 months and start Murder schemes against a liege with Tyranny and try to fix debts and are more reluctant to gain Tyranny. Characters with low Rationality are more likely to gain Tyranny, get into inopportune wars and continue wars for more than 6 months.
• Sociability: determines how often the character will consider a character interaction.
• Vengefulness: Characters will high Vengefulness will more often seek to harm Rivals and cheating Spouses, join as Agents in schemes targeting characters who slighted them and request Excommunication to punish criminals and will less often forgive slights and transgressions. Characters with low Vengefulness will more often forgive slights and transgressions, refuse to punish prisoners and pardon criminals and do not start hostile schemes targeting Rivals and cheating Spouses any more than other characters.
• Zeal: Characters with high Zeal are more likely to join defensively against Holy Wars, pledge or donate to Great Holy Wars, convert counties or vassals, go on pilgrimages and take actions that grant Piety and more reluctant to convert to other faiths. Characters with low Zeal are more likely to ignore Faith in politics and use it as a tool and more reluctant to take actions that grant Piety or accept requests from rulers with Theocracy government.

Each AI character will have its personality described with an adjective and a noun based on the highest amount of the value of two attributes. Children who do not have any traits yet will instead be described as Balanced.

Legends[edit | edit source]

Legends represent important deeds that a character achieved in life. The story of the legend will be written in various events as the legend is being completed. Creating a legend costs 200 Gold if Count or Duke, 300 if King and 400 if Emperor, and it also has a monthly maintenance cost until it is completed. Legitimizing legends also cost 75 Prestige. A legend needs at least 5 years before it can be completed or abandoned. Each legend can only be created once.

Legends are created from Legend Seeds. The primary way of obtaining Legend Seeds is by employing a Court Chronicler with high Aptitude. They can also be obtained by doing certain deeds or being part of a certain dynasty.

When created, a legend can about either the ruler creating it or to one of its close or extended family members, living or dead, as long as they are at least 16 years old. If the protagonist is another character the ruler will gain +20 Legitimacy if the protagonist does not have a trait considered a virtue, and +50 if it does. Creating a legend also unlocks the Commission Legend Artifact decision.

Each legend while being created will have an Owner and may have Promoters as well. Both will gain bonuses depending on the legend type and unlock the Spread Legend intent for certain activities.

• Owner is the ruler who starts the legend and gains the most bonuses. If the character dies any member of the same dynasty can take ownership of the legend from the Chronicle screen.
• Promoters are rulers that promote the legend, gaining fewer bonuses but only paying half of the maintenance cost of owning it. Promoting a legend requires one of the following:
  • Know the language of the legend's creator
  • Neighbor with the legend's creator
  • Lover or Soulmate with the legend's creator
  • Friend or Best Friend with the legend's creator

Legends come in three types and three levels of quality, which together determine what benefits they give. When a legend is created it will start at Famed quality. Once it has spread to 100 Baronies it can be upgraded to Illustrious quality and once it has spread to 300 Baronies it can be upgraded to Mythical quality.

Quality	Benefits	Heroic	Holy	Legitimizing
Famed	Owner	+10% Prestige +100 Legitimacy 50% chance unlocks the Clear Grounds for a Legendary Building decision	+10% Piety +100 Legitimacy 50% chance unlocks the Clear Grounds for a Legendary Building decision	+0.1 Monthly Renown +5% Renown +200 Legitimacy Get an Unpressed Claim on every title de jure of the primary title 50% chance unlocks the Clear Grounds for a Legendary Building decision
	Promoter	+2% Prestige +1 Martial	+2% Piety +1 Learning	+0.01 Monthly Renown +1 Stewardship
	County	+5 Popular Opinion +5% Stationed Men-at-Arms Damage	+5 Popular Opinion +0.1 Monthly Control	+5 Popular Opinion +1% Development Growth
Illustrious	Owner	+15% Prestige +1 Diplomacy per Level of Fame +200 Legitimacy 50% chance unlocks the Clear Grounds for a Legendary Building decision Unlocks the Launch a Legendary Adventure decision	+15% Piety +1 Diplomacy per Level of Devotion +200 Legitimacy 50% chance unlocks the Clear Grounds for a Legendary Building decision Unlocks the Evangelize to the Realm decision	+0.25 Monthly Renown +10% Renown +400 Legitimacy Get an Unpressed Claim on every title de jure of the primary title's kingdom 50% chance unlocks the Clear Grounds for a Legendary Building decision Unlocks the Expand the Kingdom decision
	Promoter	+6% Prestige +2 Martial	+4% Piety +2 Learning	+0.04 Monthly Renown +2 Stewardship
	County	+10 Popular Opinion +10% Stationed Men-at-Arms Damage	+10 Popular Opinion +0.15 Monthly Control	+10 Popular Opinion +2% Development Growth
Mythical	Owner	+25% Prestige +2 Diplomacy per Level of Fame +300 Legitimacy Unlocks the Clear Grounds for a Legendary Building decision Unlocks the Launch a Legendary Adventure decision Unlocks the Demand Local Submission decision	+25% Piety +2 Diplomacy per Level of Devotion +300 Legitimacy Unlocks the Clear Grounds for a Legendary Building decision Unlocks the Evangelize to the Realm decision Unlocks the Reassert Holy Mission or Evangelize Pacifism decision	+0.5 Monthly Renown +20% Renown +600 Legitimacy Get an Unpressed Claim on every title de jure of the primary title's empire Unlocks the Clear Grounds for a Legendary Building decision Unlocks the Consolidate the Kingdom decision
	Promoter	+10% Prestige +4 Martial	+10% Piety +4 Learning	+0.1 Monthly Renown +4 Stewardship
	County	+20 Popular Opinion +20% Stationed Men-at-Arms Damage	+20 Popular Opinion +0.25 Monthly Control	+20 Popular Opinion +6% Development Growth
Sources		Having a skilled Chancellor Having the Crusader trait Having the Mujahid trait Having the Warrior of the Faith trait Defeating a commander with the Greatest of Khans trait Killing the animal of a Legendary Hunt Having an Accolade and a Feast Forming a new empire Winning a great holy war Winning a defense battle against a higher title rank ruler Raiding a barony that has a special building Winning a duel against an Emperor or Head of Faith Winning 3 Grand Tournaments	Having a skilled Chancellor Having the Crusader trait Having the Mujahid trait Having the Warrior of the Faith trait Having the Theologian trait Having the Sayyid trait Completing a Pilgrimage while the Pilgrim trait has enough experience Holding a holy site title Reforming or creating a faith Reaching the Religious Icon level of devotion Constructing a temple holding	Having a skilled Chancellor Heroic Bloodline dynasty legacy Royal Court events Grand Wedding events

Completing a legend ends the Owner and Promoter bonuses but allows a new legend to be started. A county can receive bonuses from multiple legends.

Decision legend seeds[edit | edit source]

The following legend seeds can only be obtained by decisions.

Legend seed	Type	Decision	Description
The Sovereignty	Legitimizing	Dynasty of Many Crowns Strengthen Bloodline	Either through fate or by design, power falls into [dynasty name] hands. Our lands are many and our deeds great, and our dominion over the thrones of the world is preordained.
A New Caesar	Legitimizing	Restore the Roman Empire	Rome, once diminished to a distant memory, now rises again with a new Caesar, ready to bring civilization once again to a new age.
The Empire of the Slavs	Legitimizing	Unite the Slavs	The Slavic peoples spread far and wide across Europe, but now [protagonist name] stands as the first Tsar of all Slavs!
The Holy Blood	Legitimizing	Consecrate Bloodline	[protagonist name]'s blood flows through all members of the [dynasty name] family. Our devotion to [high god name] is absolute and our deeds done only in His/Her name.
The Prophecy Fulfilled	Holy	Restore the Faith High Priesthood	The diaspora was thought to be eternal, but under [protagonist name], a new High Priesthood has emerged to lead the Jewish people into a new and brighter age.
Reigniting the Flames	Holy	Restore the Magi	The Zoroastrian faith was lead by the great Magi of the past, but the order was dismantled. By the grace of Ahuramazda, Anahita, and Mithra, [protagonist name] restored the Magi.
African True Hero	Heroic	Unite Africa	There is nay a soul in Africa that does not know the name of [protagonist name] and his/her accomplishments.
Britannian True Hero	Heroic	Reclaim Britannia	There is nay a soul in Britannia that does not know the name of [protagonist name] and his/her accomplishments.
Dominion of the Sea	Heroic	Secure the High Kingdom of the North Sea	The North Sea has been the dominion of the Danes, and now under the rulership of [protagonist name], an empire rises above the waves.
Ganges Plain True Hero	Heroic	Take Stewardship of the Sacred River	There is nay a soul in Ganges Plain that does not know the name of [protagonist name] and his/her accomplishments.
Great Deed for Empire of Francia	Heroic	Restore Carolingian Borders	Throughout all history, among all rulers of Empire of Francia, none has achieved so much, none shall be spoken about before the great [protagonist name].
Great Deed for Kingdom of Burgundy	Heroic	Unify the Burgundies	Throughout all history, among all rulers of Kingdom of Burgundy, none has achieved so much, none shall be spoken about before the great [protagonist name].
Great Deed for West-Slavia	Heroic	Unite the West Slavs	Throughout all history, among all rulers of West-Slavia, none has achieved so much, none shall be spoken about before the great [protagonist name].
Italian True Hero	Heroic	Unify Italy	There is nay a soul in Italia that does not know the name of [protagonist name] and his/her accomplishments.
The Greatest of Khans	Heroic	Become Greatest of Khans	All that is under the sky belongs to the greatest of all Khans. With the Mongol people united behind one Khagan, wolves howl and eagles cry as Genghis Khan burns his/her name across the world.
The New Kaiser/Kaiserin	Heroic	Restore the Holy Roman Empire	A new Kaiser/Kaiserin rises from the ashes to bring prosperity under his/her benevolent rule.
The New King/Queen of Israel	Heroic	Restore Israel	Israel, a Kingdom for God's chosen people, subjugated by Assyrians, Babylonians, and Romans. Our exodus from the Promised Land has sent our people on a journey across the world, but now a new Kingdom of Israel rises and God's people inhabit its lands once again!
The Pirate King/Queen	Heroic	Elevate the Kingdom of Mann & the Isles	Across the waves of Britannia, sailors tell stories of a great and dreadful pirate King/Queen, the terrifying [protagonist name]. Even the mightiest of warriors turns pale when they see those boats appearing on their shores. Surrender would be the only option, if only the King/Queen would accept such a thing.
The Fate of Hispania	Heroic	Iberian Foothold Ended the Iberian Struggle	The squabbling of the Iberian nobility is over, and [protagonist first name] emerges as its savior. The [primary title tier] victorious.
The Fate of The Persian Empire	Heroic	Ended the Iranian Intermezzo	The Iranian Intermezzo is at last at an end, and [protagonist name] emerges as the hero to usher in a new age for the region.

Historical legend seeds[edit | edit source]

Historical legend seeds can only be used once per game, regardless of character. They are restricted to certain dynasties, cultures or faiths.

Legend seed	Type	Dynasty	Culture	Religion	Title	Level of fame/devotion	Other requirements
New Troy	Heroic		Any	Any	County of Middle Seaxe	Illustrious
Heirs of Vercingetorix	Heroic		Brythonic heritage	Any	Byzantine Empire Holy Roman Empire Roman Empire	Illustrious	Realm capital is in the Francia region
Sons of Scota	Heroic		Goidelic heritage West Germanic heritage	Any	Kingdom of Scotland	Illustrious
Trojan Scion	Heroic		Cornish Cornish descent	Any	Duchy of Cornwall	Exalted Among Men
The Cellar of Plenty	Heroic	Piast	Any	Any	Any	Illustrious
Heirs of the Dragon Goddess	Heroic	Pagan	Any	Any	Kingdom of Pagan	Illustrious
Descendant of Bahram Chobin	Heroic	Mihran	Iranian heritage	Zoroastrianism	Any	Exalted Among Men
Sons of Loðbrók	Heroic	Sigurdr	Any that can raise runestones	Any Pagan	Any kingdom Any empire	Illustrious
The Song of El Cid	Heroic	Osorio	Any	Any	Any kingdom Any empire	Any	Rodrigo de Vivar
Blood of the Naga	Holy		Kashmiri Kashmiri descent	Any	Kingdom of Kashmir	Devoted Servant
Shibi Chakravarti	Holy	Chola	Any	Any	Any	Paragon of Virtue
The Holy King	Holy	Cerdicing	Any	Any	Any	Devoted Servant	Pagan independent rulers in the Britannia region
Sceafa, Grandson of Noah	Holy	Cerdicing	Any	Any Abrahamic	Any kingdom Any empire	Devoted Servant
Edward the Martyr	Holy	Cerdicing	Any	Christianity	Any duchy Any kingdom Any empire	Devoted Servant
La Prise d'Orange	Holy	Toulouse	Any	Christianity	Duchy of Toulouse	Devoted Servant
Kings of Semien	Holy	Gideon	Any	Judaism	Duchy of Gondar	Paragon of Virtue
Sons of David	Holy	Solomonid	Any	Any Abrahamic	Any kingdom Any empire	Paragon of Virtue
Roman Heritage	Legitimizing		Any	Any	Kingdom of Rum Byzantine Empire Holy Roman Empire Roman Empire	Illustrious
Gothic Kings	Legitimizing		Byzantine heritage North Germanic heritage Visigothic Codes tradition	Any	Any kingdom Any empire	Illustrious
Hunnic Heritage	Legitimizing		Magyar heritage Mongolic heritage Turkic heritage Hunnic heritage	Any	Any kingdom Any empire	Illustrious
The Blood of Cadell	Legitimizing		Brythonic heritage	Any	Duchy of Powys	Illustrious
The Legacy of Arthur Pendragon	Legitimizing		Brythonic heritage West Germanic heritage	Any	Any	Illustrious
The Red Hand of Ulster	Legitimizing		Irish Irish descent	Any	Duchy of Ulster	Illustrious
Gur Lineage	Legitimizing		Iranian heritage	Zoroastrainism	Duchy of Kesranid	Exalted Among Men
The Heirs of Charlemagne	Legitimizing	Capet Karling	Central Germanic heritage Frankish heritage	Any	Kingdom of France Empire of Francia Holy Roman Empire	Illustrious
From Peasant to Basileus	Legitimizing	Makedon	Any	Any	Byzantine Empire	Distinguished	Basileus Basileios
Přemysl the Ploughman	Legitimizing	Přemyslid	Any	Any	Any duchy Any kingdom Any empire	Illustrious
Sons of Rurik	Legitimizing	Rurikid	Any	Any	Any kingdom Any empire	Distinguished	Rurik Rurikid is alive
The Glittering Visitor	Legitimizing	Borjigin	Any	Any	Any duchy Any kingdom Any empire	Illustrious
Blood of Brahman	Legitimizing	Pallava	Any	Hinduism	Any	Paragon of Virtue
The King of Turan: Afrasiyab	Legitimizing	Karakhanid	Turkic heritage	Any	Any kingdom Any empire	Illustrious
Heirs of David	Legitimizing	Bagratuni	Georgian Georgian descent	Any Abrahamic	Kingdom of Georgia	Distinguished
Blood of Yazdegerd III	Legitimizing	Ghaznavid	Iranian heritage	Zoroastrainism	Any kingdom Any empire	Illustrious
Hieros Gamos	Legitimizing	Yngling	Norse	Norse	Any	Illustrious