Children are the future in a very real sense in Crusader Kings 3. Unlike other Paradox Interactive grand strategy games, this game is all about building a powerful dynasty that can keep its grip on power throughout the many centuries of the medieval era. It's not enough to design one all-powerful ruler, players must also build a family.
That's what makes education so important in Crusader Kings 3. A good education is effectively a free stat boost, and certain types of education may come with side benefits thanks to cultural traditions. The education system in CK3 isn't complicated, but new players still might have trouble understanding how it works.
Childhood Traits and Education Focuses
Once children reach the age of 3, they get a childhood trait. These traits are temporary, and they go away once a child becomes an adult. Until then, they determine the best and worst kinds of education the child can receive.
Every child in the entire game gets an education focus. These focuses match up with the five main skills: Diplomacy, Martial, Stewardship, Intrigue, and Learning. When they become an adult, this focus will become an education trait that adds to the focus skill and gives them an XP boost to the same type of Lifestyle Focus. This trait ranges from 1 star (+2 to the skill and +10 percent XP) to 4 stars (+8 to the skill and +40 percent XP).
A better education is always a good thing, and the first step to getting that better education is to make sure the child is getting the kind of education they're interested in. Each childhood trait is good for two education focuses, bad for one focus, and neutral for the other two.
Childhood Trait | Enjoys | Hates |
|---|---|---|
Rowdy | Martial, Intrigue | Learning |
Charming | Intrigue, Diplomacy | Stewardship |
Curious | Diplomacy, Learning | Martial |
Pensive | Learning, Stewardship | Intrigue |
Bossy | Stewardship, Martial | Diplomacy |
Players can see this in action when they choose an education focus for one of their children or grandchildren or for any wards they may have (more on that later). On a child's character display, one of the buttons to the left of their picture is called "Education Focus." This button is brown if the player ruler has permission to change a child's education focus, and it's gray if they don't.
Clicking the button will bring up a new menu that makes it nice and clear which options are good and which one is bad based on the character's childhood trait. Children who like their education focus have a better chance of getting a good education trait, and those who hate it have a better chance of getting a worse education trait.
Players can change a child's education focus as often as they like when the child is between 3 and 5, but once they turn 6, they can only change their focus once. Fortunately, if players forget to check their children's focuses, the game automatically chooses one of the two good options.
Guardians and Diplomacy
Every child between the age of 6 and 16 needs a guardian. Children will keep growing with or without supervision, of course, but a child without a guardian will get random personality traits and has a much higher chance of getting a poor education. In particular, the best guardian for a child is one who has a lot of skill points in the same skill as the child's education focus.
Each adult character can handle up to two wards. If player rulers have more than two children ages 6 through 15, they'll have to look elsewhere to find guardians for all of them. Players can always assign spouses or courtiers as guardians, but another option is to give their children to other rulers to raise, either inside their realm or beyond. This represents a great deal of trust, and so the ruler will get a sustained +15 opinion towards the player ruler for each ward. This doesn't change even if players choose one of the ruler's courtiers to be the actual guardian.
Players can also ask the guardian to convert the ward's culture, religion, or both. This is useful when players want to convert their dynasty to a new religion or culture or when players have plans for a child that, for some reason, started out in a foreign kingdom. However, the odds of a successful conversion are much higher when a child is young when the guardianship begins.
Something else players can do is send a child to a university. Universities are special buildings that rulers can only build in provinces where real medieval universities existed, such as Cambridge, Oxford, Montlhery, and Pataliputra. Most of these universities don't exist at the start of the game, and to build them, the owner needs level 4 fame (Exalted among Men) and 30 development in the county.
If a university exists, players get an extra option when choosing a ruler who controls it (or any of their courtiers). This option is "Send to University," and while it costs over 1000 gold, it all but guarantees the child a good education. Players will have to spend this money even if their ruler owns the university holding personally.
Shaping a Personality
The other thing a guardian does for a child is help to decide their personality traits. During a child's education, random events will fire where a child will choose between three actions and get one of three personality traits. Their guardian then has an opportunity to override the child's decision at the cost of some stress.
If the player ruler is a guardian, players will see these events and get a chance to react. These events are mostly random regardless of which education focus the child is on, and each personality trait usually shows up in a couple of different events. Each personality trait has positives and negatives attached, so it's up to players to decide how they want a child to develop (although it helps to check the player ruler's religion to see which personality traits are virtues and vices).
For their part, AI guardians tend to let children decide for themselves, except when they have a chance to give them the same personality traits they have. This means players should look for guardians who aren't just good at the child's field of study, they should also be virtuous in the eyes of their faith.
When the child of the player ruler (or a ward) grows up, players will get a notification about the child's education type and quality. Once this happens, their education quality is set in stone, but the check for education quality happens almost at the last minute. If players want another chance to get a good result, they may want to save the game a month before the event and reload until the child gets a 4-star education. Cheating with console commands is also an option.
Crusader Kings 3 is available now on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.
