Crusader Kings 3 – How to Increase Character Stats

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There is nothing cooler than having a character with amazing stats in Crusader Kings 3.

With great, high stats, you can achieve almost anything you want, and you will get many bonuses along the way.

Recommended Read: How to Spread Religion in CK3

On the other hand, if your skills are low, you will get a lot of debuffs that will make this hard game even harder.

So, to make sure that you have the necessary tools to conquer the world, here is how you can increase your character stats in Crusader Kings 3.


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How to increase character stats in CK3

There isn’t a simple method that you could use to increase your character stats in CK3. There are, however, perks in some of the skill trees that can significantly boost your stats.

The main way you would make sure that you have high stats in CK3 is by properly raising your children to have these incredible skills.

Since you only need around a decade to raise a proper heir, you normally don’t have to worry too much about your weaker character.

However, we can also try to increase the stats of your current character, and all we need to do is spend a bit of time following a lifestyle that might not be your first choice.

Otherwise, your best bet would be to get married to a Genius. This will boost your stats by a lot, no matter what expertise they have.

It would also help to get genius councilors in your court since their skill also boosts your personal stats.

The best way, on the other hand, to increase your character stats in CK3 is to follow some of the lifestyle trees.

Family Hierarch (Diplomacy lifestyle)

Not only does the Family Hierarch Diplomacy lifestyle tree make sure that your children will have higher stats than normal, but it will also greatly increase some random stats once you get two specific perks.

The Friendly Counsel perk will give your character +2 random skill points (up to 5) for every friend that you have.

Next, the Sound Foundations perk, which is the last one in the tree before the Patriarch/Matriarch trait, will give your character +1 random skill point (up to 5) for every living child that you have.

Torturer (Intrigue lifestyle)

For this lifestyle tree, you won’t have to go too far to get some stats. All you need are the Dark Insights and Thriving in Chaos perks.

The first one will increase your Intrigue or Prowess by +1 for every prisoner you torture. This can help you very quickly gain some stats, as it is one of the first perks you can get for this lifestyle tree.

The Thriving in Chaos perk is incredibly powerful if you like to live on the edge. You will get +4 Martial and Intrigue per stress level, which can be incredible if you can try not to explode at stress level 2.

Learning lifestyles

There are also some Learning lifestyle trees that can help in increasing your Learning stat based on your levels of devotion.

These can be useful for some dedicated to learning a lot of traditions and getting the upper hand over their neighbors.

Otherwise, your best bet to increase your character stats in CK3 would be to just complete lifestyle trees and get the traits that you think offer the best stats for your character.


How to increase the stats of your children in CK3

Your best bet when it comes to increasing your stats in CK3 would be to raise your children in such a way that you won’t ever have to think about skills again.

When choosing a guardian, you should pay attention to three things:

  • Their education trait level
  • Their intelligence traits
  • Their Learning stat

Education trait level

So, when you have a child, you will always have to decide which direction they will go (Martial, Diplomacy, Stewardship, Learning, Intrigue).

You will choose the focus when they reach 6 years, and this will influence their education trait for when they reach adulthood.

Based on this choice, you will have to look for a teacher who has 4 stars in the selected category’s education trait.

For example, if you want to raise your child to master Martial, you will need his tutor to have the 4-star trait Brilliant Strategist.

You should never choose someone with an education trait lower than 4 stars, and you shouldn’t select someone with a primary attribute different from your child’s focus.

Intelligence traits

The next very important factor when deciding your teacher for your heirs is their intelligence traits.

You should choose someone who has the Genius, Intelligent, Quick, or Shrewd traits. This will make the base stats of your heirs higher than normal, making them more powerful from the get-go.

The Genius trait is incredibly valuable to have in a tutor as it can make a character with horrible stats be as good of a teacher as someone with 30 in every stat.

This is why, in many ways, having a Genius tutor is maybe the most important factor, besides them following the same focus.

Also, if you don’t find someone who has one of the intelligence traits, at least make sure they don’t have the opposite ones (Slow, Stupid, Imbecile).

If the guardian has one of those stats, there is a chance that your child will gain it as well and also learn one of the worst education traits in their focus.

Learning stat

The last important factor when choosing a guardian for your child is their Learning stat. This skill is very important in deciding if your child will get a high level in their education trait.

However, if your tutor already meets the criteria we discussed before, their Learning trait isn’t that vital.

If the choice is between two candidates, always choose the one with more points in Learning.


That’s everything you need to know about how to increase character stats in Crusader Kings 3!

Have any input or suggestions for this guide? Let us know in the comment section below.

Adrian Oprea

Based in London, United Kingdom, Adrian Oprea is a Guides Writer. As a professional single-player RPG player, Adrian has often been stigmatized. He has decided to pour his frustration into writing guides!

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