Schemes

Introducing CK3 #04 - Schemes. One Proud Bavarian walks us through schemes in Crusader Kings 3. Understanding how to engage in cloak and dagger activities is essential to master the game!

Intrigue is one of the two paths to victory used in both the middle ages and the Crusader Kings series. It is the more indirect one, focusing on defeating other characters through subterfuge.

Schemes

Any character can be targeted with a scheme in accordance with the plans of the schemer. Each character can run one hostile scheme and one personal scheme at the same time, but a character cannot be targeted by a hostile scheme and a personal scheme simultaneously. Ongoing schemes can be canceled at any point.

Each scheme has a scheme power and each target of a scheme has a scheme resistance. Both are determined by the skill of the schemer and its target and both their spymasters. Every month a scheme has a chance of progressing one step, with the odds determined by the schemer’s scheme power and the target’s scheme resistance. Once the scheme finishes progressing it is executed with the current success chance, which determines whether the scheme succeeds or fails.

Hostile schemes

Hostile schemes are executed in secret and have a secrecy value which determines whether the schemer will avoid being discovered when the scheme is executed or not. A high success chance increases the scheme's secrecy.

A character can run a second hostile scheme simultaneously if they have the Twice Schemed perk.

Scheme	Skill used	Agents	Success effect	Secrecy effect	Required perk
Murder	Intrigue		Target is killed	Character only gains the Murder secret	None
Abduct	Intrigue		Target is imprisoned	Character is not accused of the Crime of kidnapping	Kidnapper
Fabricate Hook	Intrigue		Gain a Hook on the target	Can execute the Scheme again	Truth is Relative
Claim Throne	Stewardship		Gain Pressed Claim on the Liege's Primary Title	Do not lose a large amount of Prestige	Meritocracy

Being at war with someone grants -50 Success Chance to Murder schemes and -200 Success Chance to Abduction schemes.

Hostile schemes can have agents - characters who are close to the target and increase the scheme power based on how close they are. Agents may join a scheme if they stand to gain something or dislike the target. They can also be bribed with  Gold to slightly increase their acceptance and a  Weak Hook will greatly increase it. Characters who are terrified of the scheme target will never become agents except through the use of a  Strong Hook. Agents will grant the following amount of success chance depending on their closeness to the target and their  Intrigue.

Closeness	Success chance
Spymaster	+75
Spouse	+50
Guardian	+50
Best Friend	+50
Friend	+30
Lover	+30
Concubine	+30

Closeness	Success chance
Court Physician	+30
Councilor	+25
Close Family	+20
Powerful Vassal	+15
Extended Family	+15
Nemesis	+15
Any other	+10

A scheming character is protected from discovery while the scheme progresses but its agents are not. If an agent is discovered the target will gain a +5 hostile scheme resistance modifier for 2 years.

Personal schemes

Personal schemes do not use secrecy or agents. A failure usually prevents the scheme from being used again on the same character, and some may have "critical failures" which carry harsher penalties.

Scheme	Objective	Success factors	Consequences	Base success chance	Min success chance	Requirements
Sway	Gain +25 opinion with the target	Diplomacy Skill Rank difference Whether the target is in a different realm	None	50%	20%	None
Seduce	Lay with the target	Target opinion Trait compatibility Target's opinion of their Spouse if Married	With mutually compatible sexualities, Target becomes a Lover In a heterosexual pairing, high chance of Pregnancy	5%	0%	Target's sexuality is attracted to your gender
Romance	Gain prestige through courtship	Target opinion Trait compatibility Whether the target is the character's Spouse	Target becomes your Soulmate	0%	0%	You and target have mutually compatible sexualities
Befriend	Develop friendship with target	Diplomacy skill Rank difference Diplomacy education trait Target opinion Trait compatibility	Target might become a Friend	5%	0%	Befriend Perk
Elope	Target joins your court and you get married	Intrigue skill Target Intrigue skill Target liege's Intrigue skill Whether target is unimportant	If either party is already married, they will be divorced. If the existing marriage is polygamous, they will be divorced from all spouses even if there is room for an additional spouse Opinion penalties with family members of both parties Depending on the religions of each party, you may lose a level of devotion and/or get excommunicated	25%	5%	Target is your Lover or Soulmate Target is unlanded Target is not at your court

Secrets

Characters acquire secrets when they do something that is a crime or frowned upon. Secrets can be discovered through random events or via the Find Secrets spymaster task. If a secret is discovered, the character who uncovered it has two options. One option is to expose the secret, which will apply various negative effects upon the target based on how serious the Secret is. The other option is to blackmail the target. If the target agrees to the blackmail, the character will gain a  Weak Hook if the secret is Shunned and a  Strong Hook if the secret is Criminal. If the target refuses, the secret will be exposed.

Secret	Severity	Description
Attempted Murder	Depends on who was the target	This character has attempted murder.
Murdered	Depends on who was the target	This character is a murderer.
Is a Cannibal	Depends on whether faith has the Ritual Cannibalism tenet	This character consumes human flesh.
Is a Deviant	Depends on the Deviancy crime doctrine	This character has a predilection for socially unacceptable acts.
Is a Sodomite	Depends on the Same-Sex Relations crime doctrine	This character engages in sexual intercourse with other men.
Is Incestuous	Depends on the Consanguinity marriage doctrine	This character has sexual relations with close family members.
Is a Non-Believer	Always Shunned	This character believes in a false god, or none at all.
Is a Witch	Depends on the Witchcraft crime doctrine	This character practices witchcraft.
Is the illegitimate child	Depends on the Bastardry marriage doctrine	This character is a bastard.
Lover	Depends on the Adultery crime doctrines	This character is someone's illicit lover.

The Is the illegitimate child secret is removed if the real parents eventually join in marriage or concubinage.

Hooks

A hook represents that a character owes you a favor or that you can coerce them in some way. Hooks can be gained in a variety of ways and can be used to force a character to do something you want. They come in two varieties: weak and strong.

• A weak hook can only be used once, and is then spent.
• A strong hook can be used multiple times, with a cooldown between uses. It also prevents the character from taking hostile actions (such as joining a faction) against the one holding the hook. Unlike weak hooks, strong hooks can be used to force a character to become an agent in a murder scheme.

Hook	Strength	Duration	Source	Can be fabricated
Blackmail (Weak)	Weak	10 years, or until the secret is exposed	Blackmail character interaction over a secret which is a shunned practice
Favor	Weak	10 years	Random events Ransoming an imprisoned character for a favor Negotiating to release an imprisoned character for a favor Faction members who helped put claimant on the throne receive a hook on new liege Winning a war to gain a title for a character
House Head	Weak	Permanent	House Head over when a child is born
Indebted	Weak	10 years	Random events
Manipulation	Weak	10 years	Random events
Threatened	Weak	10 years	Random events
Blackmail (Strong)	Strong	Until the secret is exposed	Blackmail character interaction over a secret which is a criminal practice
Fabrication	Strong	10 years	Fabricate a Hook scheme
Loyalty	Strong	Permanent	Random events
Threatened Life	Strong	10 years	Fabricate a Hook scheme

Spending hooks

Hooks can be spent (used) in a variety of ways.

• By spending a hook, you can make it much more likely that a character will accept a marriage proposal, join your council, come to your court, join a faction of your choice, or vote for your preferred candidate in elective successions.
• A liege can use a hook on a vassal to negotiate a feudal contract in their favor without incurring tyranny.
• A vassal can use a hook on their liege to negotiate a feudal contract in their favor at all.
• A vassal who has a hook on his liege can use the Demand Council Position character interaction.
• A vassal with a hook on his liege can declare war on other vassals of their liege, even if their crown authority would normally prohibit this.
• Though it is very difficult to get a hook on your Head of faith, doing so would ensure the head of faith agrees to any one request you might make (such as granting you a divorce or a claim on a title).
• A strong hook can be used to force the person to join a hostile scheme, such as a murder scheme, though weak hooks cannot do this.
• The tier 1 stewardship lifestyle perk "Golden Obligations" allows demanding payment for hooks, assuming the person you have a hook on has the money to pay for it.

Passive effects from hooks

While hooks are primarly made to be used, they can carry a passive effect.

• Having a strong hook on your Realm Priest causes them to pay the maximum contribution, as if they had 100 opinion of their liege.
• Having a strong hook on a character prevents them from using most "hostile actions" against the hook's holder. This includes declaring war, imprisoning and demanding a religious conversion.

Mechanics