Crusader Kings 3 - The Ultimate Lifestyle & Character Build Guide

Crusader Kings 3 returns with a deep dive into the brand new lifestyle system, so let's figure out which perks are amazing, which trees are best avoided, and how to build the perfect character for your Empire...

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License

[ManyATrueNerd]

If you're looking for a guide on a particular lifestyle;

Diplomacy - 3:44
Martial - 30:02
Intrigue - 49:20
Stewardship - 1:05:30
Learning - 1:18:13

[tobiasparke]

"Honestly in my experience it doesn't take too long to seduce someone" Alright Casanova Jon, you sure you want to be saying that in a video Clare has edited.

[qweasdy]

"When has anyone ever been threatened by a non vassal peasant uprising"

Me, mid reconquista, dealing with with repeated 200% religious inspired peasant uprisings like clockwork: "..."

[DanieleCapellini]

You can actually get more than 35 xp per month, the rate is affected not only by the level of education, but by some inheritable traits as well, such as quick, intelligent and genius.

[Maren]

Lifestyle perks such as "diplomat" don't just give you what they say, they also give you extra options in events!

"Meritocracy is brilliant... Of course, not for everyone". Quote of the year

[thomaswood]

You can't just "roleplay" away all the stress. If you're shy or paranoid, you need stress reduction. Shy gets you stress on a ridiculous amount of things, and paranoid gets you a whopping 20 stress just for inviting someone to court.

[PuristPlays]

I love to think that Jon was still a bit salty about being left out of the pre-release tutorials, so he just made his own.

[Skycroft]

Seducer is in general a lot more powerful if you are a female ruler in a male-dominated society (or vice versa, I suppose, that is quite possible in the game now) since the attraction bonus will apply to most of your vassals.

[davidbodor]

I have 100+ hooks in my current playthrough and have gotten about 5000 gold already from Golden obligations just from 1 character's lifetime. It's OPAF. I didn't even fabricate any hooks, just released prisoners for hooks occasionally and have a large ass family. The key to using this is just to not ever think about hooks, just let the game progress naturally and every time the popup comes up for 'you can demand payment' just use it.

[Naruku]

I think the Close family perks help more if you're dealing with siblings especially those that might be gunning for your territory so in that way it's more useful when all your spares try to turn on you as the heir.

[ArawnNox]

I'll be honest, I dont agree with Jon on a lot of these points. I feel the ones he thinks are "trash" are just ones that don't apply to his playstyle. I feel every bonus is still a bonus. There's some neat synergies that I'm sure some really clever players could really exploit.
Now, what I did learn from this is the use of Romance and Elope. Thats really cool and I didn't know that was a thing. I romanced my wife in my game and had no idea you could use it to bypass marraige restrictions.

[SaintDaisley]

Jon: *trashes the idea of using fabricated hooks for money*
Spiffing Brit: Let me show you how to break the game over your knee by using fabricated hooks for money.

[MrDankstar]

Wait "i dont see why you would want to seduce a close family member" the steam reviews seem to imply that is THE ONLY THING Crusader kings is about.... that and getting your horse on the council.

[TheBlackBrickStudios]

I love that Paradox took focus away from stuff like managing holds and technology by streamlining it in a way similar to Stellaris, and put the real in-depth stuff on the character development and interactions. The game makes me feel much more connected to the world around me and especially the stress system is great at not just having every play through devolve into having a baby-eating, world conquering, lunatic that most of my builds in the last game usually became.

[sebastianwilson]

The selling titles decision is a trade of prestige for gold, not actually selling landed titles

[KittenCritters]

Just want to add that the "Sell Titles" decision doesn't actually give away duchy/count/kingdom titles, it only gives away minor titles that doesn't exist or change anything for you in exchange for gold/prestige/renown/opinion. It's nearly strictly a positive trait

[kabobawsome]

Jon, the Architect tree is GREAT, most good building take YEARS to build, Architect HALVES that. I feel like you're too hung up on what's interesting to really consider what's good.

EDIT: And yeah, Chancellors should always be kept on Foreign Affairs, because that has the only event that matters: the one that can instantly end truces early.

[Le_R]

Jon has this magical power to get me invested in anything, I didn’t care about Stellaris, now I have hundreds of hours in it.
2 months ago, I didn’t care about Crusader Kings, now I’m sat here at 11pm watching something about a game I’ll probably never play

[Durmwind]

Also John. In regards to Detailed Ledgers.
All Burghers and Mayors are counted as Republic Vassals, so that sould give you 15% from ALL your city holdings.