The Lance (1.9) Update of Crusader Kings 3 reintroduces several features from the franchise into the latest game. One of these features is the vassal stance, which represents what a vassal expects from their liege and what sort of actions would make them happy.
Vassal stances are somewhat based on a vassal's personality, but in general players should expect their vassals to hold a variety of stances. These stances don't make it harder to rule a realm in Crusader Kings 3, but they do make it harder to please every vassal with the same set of actions.
The Vassal Stance List
First, keep in mind that the only characters with vassal stances are the direct vassals of player rulers. Other characters may have opinions on how the ruler is doing, but this particular game mechanic only applies to player vassals.
Vassal Stance | What They Like | What They Dislike |
|---|---|---|
Courtly | Court positions New titles Being invited to feasts and other activities | Lowborn characters getting titles Rulers marrying lowborn characters Disinherited heirs |
Parochial | Constructing more holding buildings Becoming guardians of the ruler's family members The Domestic Affairs Chancellor action | High Crown Authority Declaring major wars |
Glory Hound | Partition succession Winning offensive wars Being invited to hunt activities and Grand Tournaments | High Crown Authority Losing or white peacing wars |
Zealot | Building and upgrading Temple holdings Lieges who learn new languages Virtuous Traits Lieges who go on pilgrimages | Lieges who ask their head of religion for Gold Sinful Traits |
Minority | The Promote Cultural Acceptance Steward action (when it targets their culture) | Lieges who convert the Faith or Culture of a county High Crown Authority |
Minor Landholder | Low Crown Authority | High Crown Authority Lieges who revoke baronies |
Note that any vassal can have one of the first four stances, but the last two have special requirements. To be a Minority vassal, the vassal must belong to a Faith or Culture that are different from their liege's, specifically a Faith that considers the liege's Faith to be Hostile or Evil or a Culture with 30 acceptance or less. Only baron-level vassals can be Minor Landholders, and they can never hold a different stance.
Crown Authority is something all vassal stances react to, and they each react differently. For example, a liege with High Crown Authority (level 3) has an Opinion penalty of -5 from Courtly vassals, -10 from Zealots, -15 from Glory Hounds and Parochial vassals, and -20 from Minority and Minor Landholder vassals.
How to Use Vassal Stances
For the most part, the usual ways to improve vassal Opinions are still effective. Vassal stances simply make some of them more effective on certain vassals than on others. For instance, every vassal enjoys being invited to a liege's feast, but Courtly vassals enjoy it even more. Glory Hounds enjoy Great Tournaments (assuming players have the "Tours and Tournaments" expansion), and Zealots appreciate lieges who go on frequent pilgrimages.
Most vassal types also like heirs who are good with certain skills. Courtly vassals like Diplomacy, Parochial vassals like Stewardship, Glory Hounds like Martial, and Zealots like Learning. Every vassal type prefers certain personality traits, especially the trait Compassionate. Vassals also prefer adult rulers over underage children. If leadership of the realm passes to an heir the vassal type doesn't like, that heir will start their reign with Opinion penalties from every vassal whose stance didn't prefer them.
There are also ways to increase the likelihood of certain vassal stances. The Early Medieval innovation Manorialism makes Parochial vassals more common, while the Spiritual Expansionism innovation makes Zealots more common.
In the end, vassal stances don't make vassals harder to handle. Instead, all they do is encourage players to engage in a wide variety of activities instead of focusing on the same action over and over again.
Crusader Kings 3 is available now on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.