History VideoGame / CrusaderKingsIII

* TheVamp: The Seduction lifestyle tree culminates with the Seductor/Seductress trait, providing a huge ''+40'' attraction opinion modifier[[note]]For perspective, Beautiful, an in-born trait, provides +30 - and you of course can have both, all while the scale ends at +100[[/note]]. The opinion is near-useless for males... but reaches game-breaking potential for female rulers. By just existing, a Seductress can easily do whatever she wants, since nobody will mind - the bonus alone can negate ''unlawful revocation of two titles'' as if nothing happened. And that's without the fact that she's irresistible in-game, as all the perks needed to even reach the Seductress perk make seduction schemes near-impossible to fail and allow you to ensnare ''everyone'', even if they happen to be homosexual. Oh, and the trait itself offers +3 Intrigue, so all types of backstabbing and scheming are even easier.

** The game uses TechnologyLevels, and each of those levels, known as eras, has a hard-coded starting date. Even if a culture manages to blitz through an era (which is likely in 867 starts), it is locked from further research until the game reaches the mandated minimal year to unlock the next era. In the most extreme cases, it is entirely possible to sit for ''almost a century'' without progressing the tech one bit. And if one changes or removes the minimal date or simply cheat,, the in-game tech still ends with the Late Medieval inventions.

* MedievalStasis: Downplayed (and technically "pre-medieval'' stasis) but periphery regions of the map like East Africa, West Africa, Central Asia, the Himalayas, Northern Europe, and the Eurasian taiga and steppe see little to no development or innovation gain between the 867 and 1066 start dates, while the core regions see significant advances and has mostly moved on to the Early Feudal era.

* MedievalStasis: Downplayed (and technically "pre-medieval'' stasis) in that it's neither absolute stasis nor global, but present between the start dates. In most of the periphery regions of the map, such as the north Eurasian taiga, Eurasian steppe, Central Asian desert, West Africa, and East Africa see little to no development growth in any counties and their cultures gain few or no innovations in the 199 years between the 867 start and the 1066 start, putting them far behind where they'd be if actually played from the 867 start to 1066 in actual gameplay. There's also the factor that being in the tribal era soft-enforces such stasis, as tribal realms get less benefit from development than feudal/clan realms, their buildings generate less development and lower taxes and have fewer levels, can't build new holdings to make more development, and their low levels of innovations make it harder to effectively promote significant levels of development with your council, all creating an environment where it's difficult to get the development ball rolling. Even ''further'' compounded by the unreformed pagan religions followed in most of these regions that see no development between start dates prevent advancing to the early feudal era until the religion is reformed or the rules convert to an existing organized religion and on top of ''that'', these areas are also often on development-unfriendly terrain like mountains, taiga, steppe, desert, jungle, or desert mountains. Western Europe, the Mediterranean, southern Scandinavia, India, and the Middle East by comparison see significant advances between the start dates are better situated to further improve their development.

** MedievalStasis: Downplayed (and technically "pre-medieval'' stasis), but present between the start dates, though ironically for the medieval setting, averted in actual gameplay where technology is allowed to advance just fine. In most of the periphery regions of the map, such as the north Eurasian taiga, Eurasian steppe, Central Asian desert, West Africa, and East Africa see little to no development growth and their cultures gain few or no innovations in the 199 years between the 867 start and the 1066 start, putting them far behind where they'd be if actually played from the 867 start to 1066 in actual gameplay. There's also the factor that being in the tribal era soft-enforces such stasis, as tribal realms get less benefit from development than feudal/clan realms, their buildings generate less development and have fewer levels, can't build new holdings to make more development, and their low levels of innovations make it harder to effectively promote significant levels of development with your council, all creating an environment where it's difficult to get the development ball rolling. Even ''further'' compounded by the unreformed pagan religions of most of these regions that see no development between start dates prevent advancing to the early feudal era until the religion is reformed or the rules convert to an organized religion and on top of ''that'', these areas are also often on development-unfriendly terrain like mountains, taiga, steppe, desert, jungle, or desert mountains.

* TheBlackDeath: With the standard setting, the bubonic plague can appear from the 14th century onward. With the Legends of the Death DLC, all plagues, but the Black Death specifically, are more fleshed out and deadly, possibly killing hundreds of nobles and desolating the realms they spread through.

The game also received console versions for the UsefulNotes/XboxOne and UsefulNotes/Playstation5, a first in the ''Crusader Kings'' series.

* AFormYouAreComfortableWith: One of the Legend events has your character, after becoming an ImmortalitySeeker, meet someone in a dream, stated in teh legend to be God or a god they believe in, who looks like an older version of themselves.

* TheConfidant: Finding a trusted confidant is a rare but highly effective coping mechanism - it comes with no stat penalties but reduces vassals' opinion of the player character. Presumably because they’re jealous.

* MachiavelliWasWrong: PlayedWith: the Dread mechanic allows you to pull this off [[note]]If your Dread is above a certain level of an AI character's Boldness, characters will be Intimidated and less likely to act against you. If it's high enough they'll be too Terrified to act against you at all. Certain traits like Brave increases AI Boldness however, making it harder for Dread to affect them[[/note]]. However, when they die and their heir takes over, most of the negative opinion of their prior ruler [[SinsOfOurFathers will be applied to the heir]], and since Dread is not inherited, those people might use that as an excuse to topple the heir.

* PowerCreep: The ''Struggle for Iberia'' DLC, while generally well-received, has been accused of causing this. Within the featured region, various gameplay options and abilities normally locked behind perks in the skill tree are inexplicably available for free, turning Iberian characters into powerhouses compared to the rest of the world. Identical thing happened with the ''Legacy of Persia'' DLC, which made Iranian cultures even stronger than the Iberian ones, even without going for the memetic stuff regarding [[BackFromTheBrink restoring Zoroastrianism]]. And judging from the announcements regarding '' Legends of the Dead'', it's going to follow the pattern, this time with the Byzantine Empire.

* PowerCreep: The ''Struggle for Iberia'' DLC, while generally well-received, has been accused of causing this. Within the featured region, various gameplay options and abilities normally locked behind perks in the skill tree are inexplicably available for free, turning Iberian characters into powerhouses compared to the rest of the world.

* EnlightenedSelfInterest: Could be argued to be the whole point of the game, as whatever you do will be done ultimately for your own benefit, or at least that of your heirs. In the process of your primary objective of maintaining your dynasty's power, you can also improve the quality of life for the common people by developing the land, reward the deserving with titles and power of their own, punish wrongdoers, and reform your religion and culture into being remarkably peaceful and tolerant [[FairForItsDay by medieval]] or even modern standards.

* EnlightenedSelfInterest: Could be argued to be the whole point of the game, as whatever you do will be done ultimately for your own benefit, or at least that of your heirs. In the process of your primary objective of maintaining your dynasty's power, you can also improve the quality of life for the common people by developing the land, reward the deserving with titles and power of their own, punish wrongdoers, and reform your religion and culture into being remarkably peaceful and tolerant by medieval or even modern standards.

* PreserveYourGays: While most faiths (as well as the most common faiths) either shun or criminalize homosexuality, a handful like Catharism, Messalianism, Adamitism, Muwalladism, Qarmatianism, Cainitism, Khurramism, Mozarabism, Hausa, Yoruba, Kordofan, Greco-Roman and all sects of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Taoism, and Tibetan pagan faiths accept homosexuality and put no stigma on it. When creating a new faith or reforming a pagan faith, this degree of acceptance can be chosen even when starting with a faith that does not normally accept homosexuality, though same-sex marriage is still out of the question unless activated in the settings.

* PreserveYourGays: While most faiths (as well as the most common faiths) either shun or criminalize homosexuality, a handful like Catharism and all sects of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism accept homosexuality and put no stigma on it. When creating a new faith or reforming a pagan faith, this degree of acceptance can be chosen even when starting with a faith that does not normally accept homosexuality, though same-sex marriage is still out of the question unless activated in the settings.

* PoliticallyCorrectVillain: It is theoretically possible to play as a warmongering tyrant while doing things like adopting gender-equal inheritance laws and reforming a religion to give women equal rights with men, end the stigma against same-sex relationships and encourage tolerance towards people of different faiths. And most of those are [[EnlightenedSelfInterest pretty profitable for variety of power-plays]].

* PoliticallyCorrectVillain: It is theoretically possible to play as a warmongering tyrant while doing things like adopting gender-equal inheritance laws and reforming a religion to give women equal rights with men, end the stigma against same-sex relationships and encourage tolerance towards people of different faiths.