The idea of holding feasts is at least as old as Crusader Kings 2. It became a standard feature for every ruler starting in Crusader Kings 3, but now with the Lance (1.9) update players can plan out their feasts down to the last guest.
Feasts also make use of the new travel mechanic, although most player rulers won't have to travel far to host a feast. The usual benefits of a feast in Crusader Kings 3 are still around (opinion gain from guests, stress loss, weight gain), but now players can plan out the event in detail...and possibly murder the guest of honor.
Planning the Feast
Choosing to Host
To host a feast, check the new Activities menu on the right-hand side of the screen. It's just below the Decisions menu, and its icon is a yellow goblet. From here, players can plan a feast, a hunt, or a pilgrimage. They can also plan a Grand Tour, Grand Tournament, or Grand Wedding if they also have the "Tours and Tournaments" expansion.
Like before, feasts are sources of Opinion from guests, Prestige, Stress loss, and the Eager Reveler trait. Players can only host a feast once every 5 years, unless their ruler's culture has the tradition Frequent Festivities. This tradition makes Eager Reveler easier to get, increases Prestige, and cuts the cooldown time between feasts in half.
Location & Travel
After deciding to host a feast, players must choose between a regular feast or a murder feast (more on that later). Then they must choose a destination. The only options are counties that are in the player ruler's personal domain, and players must choose a county capital or a holding that has a suitable building in it. These buildings include "Manor Houses" and "Farms and Fields." Players can get a discount on the event cost depending on which buildings are present.
The next step is to manage the travel arrangements, although rulers probably won't be going very far even if players don't choose their capital.
Guest List & Intent
Rulers can have several Intents, and the options include Recreation, Murder, Seduce, and Befriend. Recreation is the standard Intent that focuses on stress loss, while the other three focus on performing the chosen interaction with a specific guest. Players can change their Intent while the guests are arriving and while the feast is underway.
Players can adjust their guest list and choose someone to be the Guest of Honor. The Guest of Honor gets extra Prestige and extra Opinion with the host, making it a good way to convince a powerful faction member to side with the ruler. Players can't choose to invite each individual guest, but they can choose from various guest categories. If players don't change anything, then by default the game will invite friends, close family members, the player ruler's liege, vassals, spouses, fellow vassals, courtiers, and court guests.
Keep in mind that each guest can choose to come or refuse the invitation, and the feast can't begin until every guest arrives. If players don't want to wait several months for the feast to begin, they should sort the guest list by estimated arrival time and uninvite the groups that will take the longest to arrive. However, the Gold cost of the feast won't change no matter how many or how few guests show up. The Guest of Honor will usually agree to come even if they would have refused normally.
Feast Activities
Finally, feasts have two activity options. Dish Complexity has three levels, and the higher levels cost more but give more Prestige to the host. Number of Courses also has three levels, and for extra Gold, players get more Opinion from the guests and even more Opinion from Courtly vassals.
Normal Feast: Playing the Good Host
Once the player ruler arrives at the feast location, they'll wait there until all the guests show up. During this time, players won't be able to start any wars or schemes, and any schemes currently active will pause. However, players can continue any wars they started before calling the feast, and if a war breaks out, players can choose to stop the activity or continue it and fight the war at the same time.
During this waiting period, random background events will sometimes occur. These can give the player ruler more Prestige and improve Opinions even before the feast begins. Once it does, players will see the usual set of random events that were a part of feasts even before the Lance update. At the end of it, players can toast or humiliate the Guest of Honor, and then everyone will go home.
Murder Feast: Playing the Evil Host
The Murder Feast option unlocks when players get the perk "Forever Infamous." This is on the Torturer tree of the Intrigue Lifestyle. Murder feasts are very similar to normal feasts, but they add the goal of killing the Guest of Honor. Because of this, players can't proceed until the feast has a Guest of Honor, and they can only choose the Recreation Intent. Most of the feast events are the same, but as it begins, players get one last chance to choose their intention from the following:
- Murder the Guest of Honor and everyone in their retinue (possibly including children)
- Murder just the Guest of Honor
- Murder the Guest of Honor in an "accident" (which raises the chance of failure)
- Call the whole thing off and host a normal feast instead.
Just like a normal murder scheme, a murder feast has a chance of failure and a chance of discovery. A feast can be much faster than a scheme, but in exchange the odds are hidden from the player. However, the game mentions that the odds of success go down when the target is the player ruler's liege or head of faith. The ruler's perks and traits also impact the success rate like usual. The murder feast cooldown timer is 15 years rather than 5.
Of course, player rulers can also attend feasts held by other rulers. Players will need to plan their route carefully like with other forms of travel. A regent is needed if the feast is in a foreign land, and players should be very careful who they accept invitations from when they get to be the Guest of Honor.
Crusader Kings 3 is available now on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.