Crusader Kings 3: How To Manage Prisoners (Release, Ransom or Execute)

Game ZXC

Crusader Kings 3

By Andrew McLarney

Published Feb 6, 2024

Quick Links

Prisoners Tab

Ransom

Negotiate Release

Execute

With so many complex mechanics and different events taking place within the world of Crusader Kings 3, it can often be easy to overlook the management of prisoners, accidentally leaving innocents to rot and children to spend their entire lives in captivity. While there can be a number of advantages to holding prisoners, the real benefit is in releasing them, since this is where beneficial exchanges and acts of persuasion can take place.

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Most NPCs will not be best pleased to have been imprisoned, and will likely do whatever it takes to get out, even if they are only under house arrest. Dungeons and torture can be a good way to punish and pressure prisoners into accepting certain terms, but it will come at a diplomatic cost. Friends, family members and allies of a prisoner will lose opinion of the player for the longer and worse treatment they receive while in captivity. It is worth remembering that characters are more likely to contract illnesses and die in captivity, which will also affect opinion negatively.

Prisoners Tab

The Prisoners tab can be found under Courtiers on the right-hand side menu, along with the Court Positions and Your Courtiers tabs. From here, players are able to view all their currently held prisoners and decide what to do with them. Players can still interact with prisoners the way they would with other characters, though some Diplomacy and Scheme options will become impossible.

When selecting a character, players can decide whether or not to move them to Dungeons, and can also decide to torture them. This is not recommended for important prisoners unless absolutely necessary, since torture will often result in the injury and death of the prisoner.

Ransom

One of the best ways of dealing with prisoners, particularly in the early game, is the use of the Ransom option. Prominent characters will likely draw Ransom offers from their Liege or family members if they can afford it, but even less important characters can be ransomed if someone is willing to pay.

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Some prisoners can fetch prices over 100 Gold, but even those that cannot be ransomed for money, can still be ransomed in exchange for a personal Hook. This can be beneficial when dealing with deviant characters within the player's realm, such as troublesome vassals, as it will always give the player an extra bargaining tool when trying to manipulate them.

Negotiate Release

The ideal resolution for both parties in most cases is to use the Negotiate Release option. This will give the player will several options as to what they wish their prisoner to do in order to release them. This can range from revoking titles of powerful vassals to small favor hooks which can be used later on.

For prisoners of an opposing faith, players will get the option to demand their conversion. This can be especially helpful if the prisoner is a courtier, and in some cases, players can also invite prisoners to their court if they have a high enough opinion rating. For players of the same faith, depending on the crime, players can ask them to take vows and become part of the clergy, essentially removing them from many elements of politics and diplomacy.

Execute

The final option, which should be reserved for the most egregious of offenders, is execution. While this is a quick and easy solution to many problems, it can have negative long-term effects such as the loss of character opinion, and even psychological troubles for the leader who ordered the execution.

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Not all executions are lawful, and it will depend on the severity of the crime how the execution is generally perceived, but family members and friends of an executed prisoner will certainly not take kindly to the event. Even worse, if a relative of the player's own family is executed, they will recieve the Kinslayer trait and lose a level of religious devotion.