A screenshot of the council screen.

The council is a group of 6 specialized Vassal or Courtier characters that help a landed character (Count-ranked and higher) rule their realm. Each council member is able to perform one task at a time. If a Councilor is also a Commander, it cannot lead troops while assigned to a task. A Councilor gains Lifestyle Experience for their position's primary skill as well as other ancillary benefits.

The Spouse position can be filled by either an unlanded spouse or one who's a direct vassal. If the Faith has the Polygamous Marriage Type Doctrine, the Primary Spouse will fill the position. It is possible to switch the Primary Spouse.

The Court Chaplain can only be changed if the liege's faith has the Revocable Clerical Appointment doctrine. Faiths with the Theocratic doctrine have a Realm Priest instead of Court Chaplain. Realm Priests Lease all Temple Holdings in the liege's Domain and receive a portion of the Taxes and Levies of every vassal's Realm Priest of the same faith. Realm Priests provide their Liege with Taxes and Levies the same way Clan vassals do; if they hold a negative Opinion of the Liege, they will not provide any. A higher opinion will provide a higher amount of Taxes, up to 50% at 50 opinion. Realm Priests provide all their Taxes and Levies regardless of Opinion if their liege has a Strong Hook on them.

Characters cannot be appointed Councilors if they have the Incapable trait. In addition a character with the Excommunicated trait cannot be appointed Court Chaplain or Realm Priest if faith has the Communion tenet unless the ruler has the same trait.

Council task[edit | edit source]

Each councilor can be assigned to one of a number of tasks. Current progress towards a councilor task is lost if the task is changed, except for Integrate Title and Increase Development/Control in County; progress is not lost if the councilor dies.

While a Councilor is performing a task, one event related to it can trigger each year, although they are prohibited from occurring in the first month of assignment. Positive events can take place if the councilor's skill is above 8 and negative events can take place if the councilor's skill is below 15.

Each task's effect scales linearly with the councilor's skill. Moreover, all tasks are performed 20% more efficiently if the councilor is a friend of the ruler, and best friends perform even better with a 30% bonus. Likewise, all tasks are performed less efficiently if the councilor is rival (-20%) of the ruler, or worse, a nemesis (-30%).

For the spouse tasks, note that they default to rounding down to the nearest whole number after taking 20% and 50% respectively. If the ruler has the Martial lifestyle perk Loyalty and Respect, however, it not only increases the spouse's contribution to 25% and 62.5% respectively, it also rounds up rather than down. For a spouse with 14 Diplomacy assigned to Assist Ruler, this means a change from 2.8 rounded down to 2, to 3.5 rounded up to 4, a doubling of the bonus.

Position	Primary Skill	Tasks	Effects	Possible positive events	Possible negative events
Spouse	All	Assist Ruler	20% of all Councilor's Skills are added to the Ruler's	Gain Prestige Gain Dread Gain Opinion with a Dynasty member Gain Opinion with Head of Faith Two children stop being rivals Player Heir befriends a sibling Gain a Favor Hook on a Courtier	None
		Court Politics	50% of Councilor's Diplomacy Skill is added to the Ruler's 0.75% monthly chance to gain a +1 Diplomacy modifier May replace the modifier with the Diplomat trait after getting it twice
		Chivalry	50% of Councilor's Martial Skill is added to the Ruler's 0.75% monthly chance to gain a +1 Martial modifier May replace the modifier with the Strategist trait after getting it twice
		Manage Domain	50% of Councilor's Stewardship Skill is added to the Ruler's 0.75% monthly chance to gain a +1 Stewardship modifier May replace the modifier with the Architect trait after getting it twice
		Court Intrigue	50% of Councilor's Intrigue Skill is added to the Ruler's 0.75% monthly chance to gain a +1 Intrigue modifier May replace the modifier with the Schemer trait after getting it twice
		Patronage	50% of Councilor's Learning Skill is added to the Ruler's 0.75% monthly chance to gain a +1 Learning modifier May replace the modifier with the Scholar trait after getting it twice
Court Chaplain	Learning	Religious Relations	+0.05 Piety per Councilor Skill +0.5 Same Faith Theocratic Ruler Opinion per Councilor Skill	Increase Vassal Opinion	Loss of Piety Loss of Vassal Opinion
		Convert Faith in County	At 100% progress, County changes Faith to the liege's	Increase County Development Increase County Levies Increase County Opinion	Loss of County Opinion Resistance to Conversion
		Fabricate Claim on County	At 100% progress, gain an Unpressed Claim	Claim on Duchy	Loss of Piety Upset Target Vassal Opinion Loss
Chancellor	Diplomacy	Foreign Affairs	+0.05 Prestige per Councilor Skill +0.5 Independent Ruler Opinion per Councilor Skill	Shorten Truce	Enemy Claim Neighbor Opinion Loss Shorten Enemy Truce
		Domestic Affairs	+0.5 Direct Vassal Opinion per Councilor Skill +1% Tyranny Loss	End Internal War Force Partition for Vassal Improved Feudal Contract Increase Vassal Opinion	Lowered Vassal Opinion Worsened Feudal Contract
		Integrate Title	At 100 progress, the targeted title becomes de jure part of the Primary Title	Task Boost	Task Setback
		Bestow Royal Favor	+0.5 Vassal Prestige +0.02 Prestige per Councilor Skill +0.5 Vassal Opinion per Councilor Skill	End Internal War Increase Vassal Opinion	Lowered Vassal Opinion Worsened Feudal Contract
Steward	Stewardship	Collect Taxes	+0.5% Domain Taxes per Councilor Skill	Extra Taxes	County Corruption
		Increase Development in County	−1% Building and Holding Construction Time per Councilor Skill +0.175 Monthly Development Growth per Councilor Skill At 100%, increase Development by 1	Efficient Taxxation Increased Control	Loss of Control Loss of Opinion Slow Construction
		Promote Culture	At 100%, County changes Culture to the liege's	Improve County Opinion Increased Levies Increased Taxes	Loss of County Opinion Resistance to Settlers
		Promote Cultural Acceptance	+0.01 Cultural Acceptance per Councilor Skill +0.05 Cultural Acceptance per Councilor Skill if Independent	Cultural Acceptance Boost Increased Development Growth Increased Opinion	Reduced Development Growth
		Convince De Jure Territory	The target County requires its ruler to hand it over to its De Jure liege.	Prestige Gain	Prestige Loss Diplomatic Blunder
Marshal	Martial	Organize Army	−1% Army Maintenance per Councilor Skill +1% Garrison Size per Councilor Skill +1% Levy Size and Reinforcement Rate per Councilor Skill	Increased Military Presence Well-organized Service	Insufficient Guards Levy Desertion Unused Farmland
		Train Commanders	+1% Knight Effectiveness per Councilor Skill +1% Men-at-Arms Damage per Councilor Skill +1% Men-at-Arms Toughness per Councilor Skill +0.5% Monthly chance to improve or find a Commander per Councilor Skill	Commander Gains Commander Trait Knight improved	Commander Killed Commander Maimed Commander Wounded
		Increase Control in County	+0.2% Monthly chance to remove County Corruption per Councilor Skill Targeted County cannot gain Corruption	Baron Opinion Increase Increase County Opinion	Baron Opinion Loss Lose County Opinion Loss of Control
		Manage Royal Guards	+2% Knight Effectiveness per Councilor Skill −0.5% Enemy Hostile Scheme Success Chance per Councilor Skill	Knight Improved Hostile Scheme Disrupted	Disorganized Royal Guards Knight Wounded
Spymaster	Intrigue	Disrupt Schemes	+5 Hostile Scheme Resistance +0.5 Hostile Scheme Resistance per Councilor Skill +10 Scheme Discovery Chance +1 Scheme Discovery Chance per Councilor Skill	Hostile Scheme Disrupted	Courtier's Secret Revealed Your Secret Revealed
		Support Schemes	+10 Hostile Scheme Power +1 Hostile Scheme Power per Councilor Skill +5 Hostile Scheme Success Chance +0.5 Hostile Scheme Success Chance per Councilor Skill	Secret Discovered	Loss of Piety Loss of Prestige Scheme Failure
		Find Secrets	+5% Chance to discover a Secret at court (if any) per Councilor Skill With Truth is Relative perk, a Hook will be fabricated if there are no Secrets	None	Find Secrets Discovered

Benefits from being a councilor[edit | edit source]

Each councilor will gain various benefits depending on both the exact position and the title rank of its liege.

Liege Title Rank	Chancellor effects	Marshal effects	Steward effects	Spymaster effects	Court Chaplain effects
Count	+0.5 Monthly Prestige +5 Fellow Vassal Opinion +5% Diplomacy Lifestyle Experience	+1 Prowess +5% Levy Size −5% Army Maintenance +5% Martial Lifestyle Experience	+0.5 Monthly Gold +5% Domain Taxes −5% Building Construction Cost +5% Stewardship Lifestyle Experience	+10 Natural Dread +5 Hostile Scheme Power +2 Hostile Scheme Success Chance +5% Intrigue Lifestyle Experience	+0.5 Monthly Piety +5 Popular Opinion +5% Learning Lifestyle Experience
Duke	+1 Monthly Prestige +10 Fellow Vassal Opinion +10% Diplomacy Lifestyle Experience	+2 Prowess +10% Levy Size −10% Army Maintenance +10% Martial Lifestyle Experience	+1 Monthly Gold +10% Domain Taxes −10% Building Construction Cost +10% Stewardship Lifestyle Experience	+20 Natural Dread +10 Hostile Scheme Power +4 Hostile Scheme Success Chance +10% Intrigue Lifestyle Experience	+1 Monthly Piety +10 Popular Opinion +10% Learning Lifestyle Experience
King	+2 Monthly Prestige +15 Fellow Vassal Opinion +15% Diplomacy Lifestyle Experience	+3 Prowess +15% Levy Size −15% Army Maintenance +15% Martial Lifestyle Experience	+2 Monthly Gold +15% Domain Taxes −15% Building Construction Cost +15% Stewardship Lifestyle Experience	+30 Natural Dread +15 Hostile Scheme Power +6 Hostile Scheme Success Chance +15% Intrigue Lifestyle Experience	+2 Monthly Piety +15 Popular Opinion +15% Learning Lifestyle Experience
Emperor	+3 Monthly Prestige +20 Fellow Vassal Opinion +20% Diplomacy Lifestyle Experience	+4 Prowess +20% Levy Size −20% Army Maintenance +20% Martial Lifestyle Experience	+3 Monthly Gold +20% Domain Taxes −20% Building Construction Cost +20% Stewardship Lifestyle Experience	+40 Natural Dread +20 Hostile Scheme Power +8 Hostile Scheme Success Chance +20% Intrigue Lifestyle Experience	+3 Monthly Piety +20 Popular Opinion +20% Learning Lifestyle Experience