Crusader Kings 3 added a few new mechanics with the "Scythe" update, which came out alongside the Legends of the Dead DLC. One of them is Legitimacy, which measures how much a ruler's subjects respect their right to rule.
In general, successful wars and social activities improve a ruler's Legitimacy, while failed wars and diseases reduce Legitimacy. More important rulers need more Legitimacy, while counts and dukes only need a little. Many actions become harder when your Legitimacy is too low in Crusader Kings 3, but extra Legitimacy can be surprisingly powerful.
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Legitimacy Values and Thresholds
You can check your ruler's current Legitimacy at any time by checking the crowned head icon in the lower-left corner of your screen. This icon doesn't open up a menu, but you can see your current Legitimacy level by hovering your cursor over it.
The Legitimacy bar always has five levels, and the names of each level are always the same. However, the Legitimacy level your ruler needs and the amount of Legitimacy you need to reach each level depend on a few factors:
- How powerful your vassals are, and how much they like you. Close family members and nobles you personally empower need less Legitimacy than nobles with claims on your titles or rivals.
- How many of your vassals belong to your de jure titles, and how many belong to "foreign" titles.
- How long your vassal's house has served your ruler's dynasty.
- The rank of your primary title. Counts and dukes need less Legitimacy than kings and emperors.
- Your ruler's rank and cultural era also increase your Legitimacy needs. A Tribal count only needs 60 Legitimacy to reach level 1, "Aspiring," while a High Medieval emperor needs 210 to reach the same rank.
Regardless of your rank or vassal demands, the highest Legitimacy level any ruler needs to meet is 4, "True." This means that every ruler can get the extra benefits that come from reaching level 5, "Ordained."
Crusader Kings 3 applies several bonuses or penalties depending on whether your ruler is above or below their expected Legitimacy level. Some of these bonuses are the same no matter how close you are to your expected Legitimacy, while others scale based on how close you are to the expected number.
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High-rank rulers also get a bonus to their Vassalization attempts if they exceed their expected Legitimacy level.
If your expected Legitimacy level is 1, and your current level is 0, your penalties will look like you're two levels away instead of one. Likewise, reaching level 5 when your expected level is 4 will give you something between the one and two-level bonuses. This means a count can benefit more from high Legitimacy, and an emperor may suffer more from low Legitimacy.
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How to Gain and Lose Legitimacy
The moment a new ruler takes power, they get a set amount of Legitimacy based on a few factors.
- Birthright traits like Bastard, Legitimized Bastard, Born in the Purple, and Sayyid.
- Congenital traits like Beautiful and Inbred.
- Their Dynasty's Level of Splendor.
- Their personal Diplomacy skill, and diplomatic traits like Just and Diplomat.
- Their Court Grandeur, and whether it's below the expected Grandeur level.
- Whether they're the wrong gender for a culture or faith with Male Dominated or Female Dominated traditions or doctrines.
- The previous ruler's Legitimacy.
- How recently the last ruler changed the succession laws.
- The current ruler's age.
- The current ruler's dynastic connection to the previous ruler.
This number can then go up or down, depending on your actions and certain random events. Actions and events that make Legitimacy go up include:
- Letting valuable prisoners go free for nothing, instead of demanding ransoms or other concessions.
- Winning wars, including civil wars.
- Creating titles.
- Hosting feasts, hunts, and pilgrimages.
- Holding court (Royal Court DLC).
- Hosting grand activities (Tours and Tournaments DLC).
- Spreading legends (Legends of the Dead DLC).
Actions and events that make Legitimacy go down include:
- Getting captured.
- Losing wars.
- Losing titles.
- Accepting faction demands.
- A plague that starts in your ruler's personal domain.
- Doing nothing when a plague reaches your ruler's personal domain.
- Performing a Tyrannical action.
- Having a hostile scheme discovered by your target.
- Having a damaging secret go public.
- Getting excommunicated.
- Marrying outside the nobility
- Disinheriting dynasty or house members (denouncing is fine).
The amount of Legitimacy you gain or lose for each action doesn't change, but the amount of Legitimacy you need to change levels goes up as you gain ranks and enter new eras. This means that it takes more Legitimacy actions to improve your standing late in the game, but it also takes more disasters and tyrannical actions to reduce your standing. This effectively means that Legitimacy swings wildly in tribal nations, but tends to be more stable in large, late-Medieval empires.
Crusader Kings 3
- Released
- September 1, 2020
WHERE TO PLAY
- Developer(s)
- Paradox Interactive
- Publisher(s)
- Paradox Interactive
- Platform(s)
- PS5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, PC
- Genre(s)
- RPG, Grand Strategy
