CK3 Legitimacy Guide: Complete* Overview of Mechanics

Everything about Legitimacy in CK3* by Bread God. Guide to learn the mechanics on a deep level to make better informed decisions and strategies.

0:00 Intro
0:09 P1 What is Legitimacy
0:55 Vassal Expectation
1:59 Legitimacy Examples

2:25 P2 How to Gain Legitimacy
2:28 Win Wars
3:39 Activities
6:13 Create Legends
8:56 Release Landed Prisoners
9:23 Create Titles
9:38 Defeat Factions

9:45 P3 How to Lose Legitimacy
9:56 Exposed Secrets
10:18 Exposed Schemes
10:27 Marry Lowborn
10:48 Disinherit
10:55 Ask to Take Vows
11:21 Tyrannical
11:57 Excommunicated
12:04 Losing to Factions
12:17 Losing Battles
12:39 Break Truce
12:43 Plagues

12:55 P4 Legitimacy Modifiers

14:09 P5 How Legitimacy is Inherited

16:39 Conclusion

Game ver 1.12.2.1; DLC's Legends of the Dead, Tours & Tournaments, Wards & Wardens, Royal Court

[breadgodgaming]

*Disclaimer: This video was released close to the new update so values and methods may change drastically. Updates and comments listed here.
1) If your primary heir was already landed, they miss out on all the outlined inheritance bonuses, so it's best to leave them unlanded for the biggest legitimacy inheritance. IMO I always keep them unlanded anyways so I can ensure their survival and genetics.
2) *For predecessor rank, that is how I Interpreted the code, I am probably totally wrong since I don't code.
3) If Grand tours are fixed, and the feasts within can be espoused for legitimacy, then going on a 10-person tour spamming feasts will probably give massive legitimacy. So far I didn’t see any events in the “tour_general_events” or “tour_phase_host_a_dinner” code.

[AustinoM]

Really feels like this is just a mechanic to punish me for not buying DLC. I feel like I constantly lose legitimacy through all kinds of random events but rarely have the opportunity to gain it. Feels slimy.

[candle]

Finally there’s a point to holding court

[paulschumacher]

First game with legitimacy went like this.
1) Day 1 Setup
2) Marry low born with great traits
3) tank my legitimacy
4) Realize I've just put my game on hard mode

[arbikiuszelemelek]

I may or may not have married a lowborn as a custom byzantine empire emperor which tanked my legitimacy from almost level 4 to 0, so the explanation for legitimacy gain/loss sources is really apreciated, it can be pretty tough to manage early on imo.

[JudgeMagikarp]

I really hope they will fix the Legitimacy loss for taking vows, since they made some cultural tradition such as Monastic Communities unplayable... 😢

[Patrick]

Wow! Thanks this saves me time figuring all of this out. I like the effect of this mechanic in encouraging "unchilvaric" actions such as disinheriting, etc.

[Totidoful]

Great guides! One very minor correction for when you were talking about Legendary Palaces appearing in a random county. When you complete the legend, the game checks if your capital holding has a "special building" and, if not, the legendary building decision will be for that holding. If your capital already has a special building, then the legendary building decision will pick a random valid holding for the building decision, including from among your vassals. This means if you have the ability to move your capital (and want to use up your 1 move/life) you can determine which holding you want your shiny new building in. If you're doing this, a clever trick can be to make a secondary barony your realm capital, since it gains +1 building slot (in addition to the legendary building) and becomes a good as a normal county capital holding while giving bonuses to the whole county -- i.e. building a palace in a secondary castle in your capital county with lots of holding. Paradox limited holdings to only 1 special building at some point, which I recently learned the hard way by putting in the wait to build a glass monument in my capital - but couldn't! Drove me to test some of this stuff...

[ShayGamerD]

Best legitimacy guide out there bar none. Tremendous work, really. As for suggestions, would you make a video discussing legend types and various benefits they grant?

[jacobhealy]

it makes irish having multiple wives nearly impossible as noone marries a noble woman as a second wife

[otaconzz]

I've learned more from this video than from paradox who developed the mechanic.

Why paradox why

[jamesbandz]

I'm the most unluckiest guy apparently. I just started a new save today. I get hit with a plague, slowed down the plauge (hooray!), My character gets sick, I get raided and not only do I get raided the guy who raided me takes my wife so now I'm wifeless, and then I lose a battle. I also spent 50 coins on a physician I lost that physician in the raid. Then I got sick and I needed another 50 coins for a mediocre physician (Money I don't have). Like wow, I've never been this unlucky in my life.

[chrisrudolf]

Great overview, I was looking for something like this. A small correction at 14:00: The county in which the building slot for the legendary building will appear is not random. The building slot created by this decision is a special building slot and each county can have only one of those (no matter whether the special building slot was created by legend or was already there at the game start, like slots for universities, mines, grand temples etc.). If your capital doesn't already have a special building slot, it will appear in your capital, otherwise it will appear in the county in your personal domain that is closest to your capital and doesn't have a special building slot, so if you absolutely want the slot to be in a specific county, you can control this by moving your capital or (if your current capital has a special slot) giving away the counties that would be closer than your target.

[radordekeche]

The thing I don't like about legitimacy - is that you lose it for losing battles, but you don't gain it for winning them. And you also lose it from getting diseases in your realm, with no recourse.

[tsaiclone]

Great guide on legitimacy from the most legit CK3 guide!

[TheFlyingPilgrim]

If you played a drinking game where every time “legitimacy” is said, you’d be dead.

[mads...]

Thank you so much! Was thinking about it today and now you deliver😘

[TheMarionetteKitty]

I've been playing this game for years and I never understood confederate partition and succession until now. You deserve way more subs.

[breadgodgaming]

I also apologize for all the excel charts, I hope the information was not overwhelming. Let me know here if you have any questions or comments. If you can actually read the code I would love to be enlightened as I’m guessing for a few things

[bonog]

Congratulations on the 1k subs. Wow! I was lucky to be one of the first 20 or so :)