Whether players choose a feudal, clan, or tribal ruler, leadership is a hereditary position in Crusader Kings 3. Unfortunately, not every player heir will be the best character for the job. Perhaps, they have negative congenital traits, perhaps they have bad stats, or perhaps their Personality Traits make them a terrible person or prone to high Stress.
Regardless, there are ways for players to adjust who becomes the next player heir. Some are clever, some are harmful, some of them require mid-game or late-game innovations, and some of them are outright cheating. Still, when it comes to ruling an empire in Crusader Kings 3, sometimes players will need to crack a few eggs.
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The Basics on Heirs and Partitioning
Every realm, independent and vassal, has a succession law in place. This determines where the realm's titles will go once the current ruler passes, and it'll also decide which character the player will control. In general, the player will control whoever gets the primary title from the current player ruler, assuming that person is in the same dynasty. If the player ruler dies without a dynastic heir, the player will jump to the highest ranked character within the dynasty. If the dynasty is wiped out, the game will end (although players can always switch to a new character from the main menu).
Crusader Kings 3 features six succession laws and five gender laws. To change any of them, players will need some Prestige to spend and a positive relationship with the realm's top five vassals.
- Confederate Partition. Every realm starts with this succession law in the 867 start. All children of the right gender inherit the ruler's titles equally. If the ruler could create a duchy, kingdom, or empire title through their holdings and vassals but hasn't, the game will create these titles and hand them out equally. If the children would inherit an unequal number of titles, Confederate Partition will favor the older children.
- Partition. A Culture must have the Hereditary Rule Innovation to unlock this succession law, and the government must be feudal or clan with at least Crown Authority 2 (Limited). This works identically to Confederate Partition, but it won't create any new titles when the current ruler dies. This is useful for keeping expansive kingdoms or empires together.
- High Partition. A Culture must have the Heraldry Innovation to unlock this succession law. This works like regular Partition, but the primary heir will always receive at least half of the ruler's titles.
- Primogeniture. A Culture must have the Primogeniture Innovation, and the government must have at least Crown Authority 3 (High). The firstborn child of the correct gender will receive all the current ruler's titles.
- Ultimogeniture. This one also unlocks with Primogeniture and Crown Authority 3. The last-born child of the correct gender will receive all the current ruler's titles.
- House Seniority. This law unlocks along with High Partition. All the ruler's titles go to the oldest member of the ruler's House, no matter how remotely they're related.
The gender laws are as follows:
- Male Only. Only male heirs can inherit or be granted titles, and men can have concubines or extra spouses depending on their Faith and Culture. The government must also have Crown Authority 3.
- Male Preference. All titles will go to male heirs, and only go to female heirs if no valid male heirs are available. Women can be granted titles only if they hold at least one already. Men can have concubines or multiple spouses.
- Equal. This option is only available to Faiths and Cultures with the Equal Doctrine or Equal Inheritance Tradition. Men and women are considered equally for inheritance, both can be granted titles, and both can have concubines or spouses.
- Female Preference. Along with the Equal Doctrine, this option is available to Faiths with the Female Dominated Doctrine or Cultures with the Matriarchal Tradition. It works like Male Preference but with the genders reversed.
- Female Only. This is only available to Female Dominated Faiths and Matriarchal Cultures, and to governments with Crown Authority 3. It's a full reversal of the Male Only gender law.
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Special Succession Rules
On top of all this, duchy and higher titles can have special laws attached to their succession status. These can include gender laws and Election Laws that include the following:
- Feudal Elective. The ruler and all de jure vassals of two ranks below (barons and counts for a duchy, counts and dukes for a kingdom, dukes and kings for an empire) get to vote for their new ruler. Candidates include the ruler's close family and voting vassals.
- Princely Elective. This option is exclusive to the Holy Roman Empire. The emperor and seven specific vassals get to vote for the next emperor, assuming they're all Christian. Candidates are the emperor's legitimate children or siblings and the five major vassals.
- Saxon Elective. The ruler and adult de jure vassals of up to two ranks below can vote. Candidates are the ruler's legitimate children, title claimants, and the single most powerful voting vassal. Saxon Elective is only available to cultures with the Witenagemot Tradition.
- Scandinavian Elective. The ruler and all de jure vassals above barons can vote. Candidates are anyone in the ruler's close or extended family and all title claimants. Each elector gets more voting weight based on their counties' Development level and Popular Opinion. Scandinavian Elective is only available to cultures with the Ting-Meet Tradition.
- Tanistry Elective. The ruler and all de jure vassals can vote. This includes barons in ducal elections, but not for higher titles. Candidates include any member of the ruler's dynasty, and voters tend to prefer distant, older relatives unless they really like the current ruler. This method is only available to cultures with Goidelic or Brythonic Heritage (Breton, Irish, Welsh, Cornish, Gaelic, and Cumbrian, plus any new cultures that arise from them).
Additional Tips to Keep in Mind
- In a Preference system, a ruler with no children of the right gender will divide their titles between children of the wrong gender according to the succession law.
- If a ruler has non-dynastic children thanks to marrying into a non-dynastic family, their titles will go to those children unless they can also produce a dynastic heir.
- If a ruler dies without any living descendants, their titles will go to their oldest sibling.
- If a ruler dies without any descendants or siblings, their titles will go to their parent, assuming they're still alive.
- Failing that, the titles will go to the closest living member of the house or dynasty.
- If the dynasty is about to expire, the titles will go to a non-dynastic claimant.
- If an inheriting child dies but has children of their own, their portion of the inheritance will go to their children.
- During a partition, the game will take into account every child's (or sibling's) current holdings and titles. If a ruler holds a kingdom and two duchies, and if all their eligible children hold two duchies each aside from the player heir, then the player heir will get all the player ruler's titles.
- Unless a title has its own succession law, every title owned by a ruler will follow their realm succession laws.
- Newly created vassals start with Confederate Partition and their realm's default gender law.
- Usurped titles keep their special title succession laws. Players can spend Prestige to remove them.
Inheritance also follows a few rules that players can't change with succession laws. However, there are ways to take advantage of them.
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Designating an Heir
The Early Medieval Era includes an Innovation called Royal Prerogative. This unlocks Crown Authority 3 and 4, also known as High and Absolute. High Authority is required to enact primogeniture and male/female only laws, but Absolute Authority provides its own benefit: a designated heir.
With Absolute Authority, player rulers can choose any of their legitimate children to be the player heir no matter when they were born. The ruler's titles will still be split between every child according to the realm succession laws, but the designated heir will get the top title as if they were the firstborn. Player rulers can even choose a child of the "wrong" gender in a realm with male or female preference. However, they can't choose grandchildren to be a designated heir even if their parents die.
The downside of choosing this method is that vassals get big Opinion penalties under Absolute Authority. Most vassal stances get a -40 penalty, Minority vassals get -50, and even Courtly vassals get a -15. Vassal tax and levy contributions go way up, making it harder for vassals to overpower their liege, but players should keep this in mind if all they want to do is choose an heir.
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Dynasty Powers
Another way to narrow down the field of heirs is available to the head of a dynasty. Under the Hostile interactions, player rulers who are also dynastic heads will see "Disinherit" and "Denounce." Disinheriting a dynasty member will prevent them from receiving any titles from parents or siblings, and their children won't get this inheritance, either. However, players can still grant titles to disinherited children and dynasty members, and their children can freely inherit their titles when they die.
There are two major downsides to this approach. First, the player ruler will get the modifier "Disinheritor," which is a -20 General Opinion penalty that lasts 5 years. Second, the Disinherit action costs a lot of Renown, Renown that players could spend on Dynasty Legacies.
One thing players can't do is attempt to murder their children. Crusader Kings 3 doesn't allow parents to start murder schemes against their children, even if the parent has the Callous or Sadistic Personality Traits. Siblings, parents, and grandchildren are all valid targets, but never children. So keep that fact in mind when considering what to do to make sure the right heir gets the job.
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Crusader Kings 3 is available now on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 90 /100 Critics Rec: 99%
- Released
- September 1, 2020
- ESRB
- T for Teens: Drug Reference, Language, Mild Violence, Suggestive Themes
- Developer(s)
- Paradox Interactive
- Publisher(s)
- Paradox Interactive
WHERE TO PLAY
Your legacy awaits. Choose your noble house and lead your dynasty to greatness in a Middle Ages epic that spans generations. War is but one of many tools to establish your reign, as real strategy requires expert diplomatic skill, mastery of your realm, and true cunning. Crusader Kings III continues the popular series made by Paradox Development Studio, featuring the widely acclaimed marriage of immersive grand strategy and deep, dramatic medieval roleplaying.
Take command of your house and expand your dynasty through a meticulously researched Middle Ages. Begin in 867 or 1066 and claim lands, titles, and vassals to secure a realm worthy of your royal blood. Your death is only a footnote as your lineage continues with new playable heirs, either planned… or not.
Discover a sprawling simulated world teeming with peasants and knights, courtiers, spies, knaves and jesters, and secret love affairs. An extensive cast of historical characters can be romanced, betrayed, executed, or subtly influenced.
Explore a vast medieval map stretching from the snowswept Nordic lands to the Horn of Africa, and the British Isles in the west to the exotic riches of Burma in the east. Claim, conquer, and rule thousands of unique counties, duchies, kingdoms, and empires.
- Engine
- Clausewitz Engine
- Multiplayer
- Online Multiplayer
- Franchise
- Crusader Kings
- Platform(s)
- PS5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, PC
- Genre(s)
- RPG, Grand Strategy
- How Long To Beat
- 70 Hours
- X|S Optimized
- Yes
- PS Plus Availability
- Extra & Premium
- File Size Xbox Series
- 11 GB (November 2023)
- OpenCritic Rating
- Mighty
