One of the main draws of Crusader Kings 3 and its predecessor is the flexibility and power that characters have to write their own stories. While the game does throw random events and the malice of the AI at players, they have some very useful tools at their disposal to affect the world in the ways they want.
Intrigue has long been a favorite of the series, featuring the juicier game options such as assassination and seduction. To that end, the three perk trees tied to the Intrigue Lifestyle are filled with nefarious powers that can seriously alter (or shorten) the lives of the characters the player encounters on their journey through the medieval ages.
Updated April 16, 2022 by Ryan Bamsey: Embracing an Intrigue-focused life is one of the most fun ways to play Crusader Kings 3. You can alter the realm however you like, seducing who you want, killing who you want, and making everyone fear the ground you walk on. We've taken another look at this glorious perk tree and added more of our favorite picks.
12 Smooth Operator
If you like roleplaying as the grand lothario of the middle ages, Smooth Operator is a necessary perk to take. It adds a nice 25 percent bonus success chance to your seduction schemes, meaning you're able to rack up the lovers like no tomorrow.
If you have the Royal Court DLC too, this perk also adds one to your foreign language limit, meaning you can more easily seduce even foreigners. And if you decide seduction isn't your thing anymore, knowing more languages certainly doesn't harm you.
11 Malice Implicit
Racking up your Dread is a fine way to get your vassals to toe the line - they'll be too terrified to do anything. And if that's a playstyle you enjoy, you might find yourself becoming something of a tyrant - unlawful imprisonment, altering vassal contracts willy-nilly, torturing your prisoners, all of these things increase your tyranny.
Malice Implicit will give you a rare upside to go with the many downsides of tyranny by increasing your passive Dread gain. This scales with your tyranny, so if you want to make it worth the perk point, you'll have to start being incredibly awful.
10 Court of Shadows
It is quite the phenomenon that even the craftiest of scheming players will feel personally offended when they find themselves the subject of a scheme. Doubly so when the schemer in question resides within the player’s realm.
Court of Shadows is a perk that aims to buff the ‘Disrupt Schemes’ task that can be set to a Spymaster. With this perk, the schemes being whispered around the player’s kingdom have a far lesser chance of firing and the ruler can sleep easy in their bed without fear of assassination or the like.
9 Thriving In Chaos
Stress is quite the malleable mechanic in Crusader Kings 3. It accrues whenever a character does something that conflicts with their personality traits and it is supposed to help players get into the role-playing mood. Thriving in Chaos, however, does something of the opposite.
This perk enables a risky style of gameplay where out-of-character actions are encouraged, increasing stress, and benefitting from the perk’s main draw. For every stress level that the character ‘achieves,' they gain a very hefty boost to their Martial, Intrigue, and Prowess. The negative effects of stress are ever-present, including the risk of early death, but just look at those benefits… they'll make duels a breeze.
8 Like Weeds In A Garden
While having lots of children (that can be dressed up like little crusaders!) can be something of a curse for rulers whose kingdom gets split up after death, rulers who only have a single heir will love Like Weeds in a Garden.
The large bonus to Fertility will ensure the production of a veritable brood of children as long as they are married to a member of the opposite sex, are actively seducing members of the opposite sex, or both. This perk can also simply be great for offsetting some of the Fertility reductions a character can suffer but is less useful for players who wish to make full use of same-sex relationship mods.
7 Mortal Adoration
One of the risks that players face when sinking their teeth too heavily into the Seducer perk tree is finding themselves with a collection of untrustworthy Lovers. The thing about these Lovers is that they grant quite a bonus to any schemes that target their partners – and just think about how many aggrieved husbands or wives may wish to start a murder plot against the seducer of their partner.
That is where Mortal Adoration comes in. Players who take this perk can rest assured that their Lovers have a much lower chance of joining murder schemes against them. Not only that, but the perk grants the character a small chance to survive a successful murder scheme at the cost of one of their Lovers, who dies in their place.
6 Truth is Relative
Secrets and Hooks are the cornerstones of some of the more devious methods of diplomacy in Crusader Kings 3. Having a Hook on a character means they are at the beck and call of whoever has the Hook, and this can be a very powerful tool when used within a council, for alliances, or extorting money.
Truth is Relative not only unlocks the ‘Fabricate Hook’ scheme to make it easier to force a character to do the schemer’s bidding, but it also covertly upgrades the Spymaster’s Find Secrets task. Find Secrets is generally only useful if there are secrets to be found, but with Truth is Relative the Spymaster will suddenly be able to Fabricate Hooks of their own, passively adding tools to their liege’s toolbox.
5 Kidnapper
This perk unlocks the ability to concoct an Abduction Scheme. This scheme is probably a little more powerful than simple Murder Schemes as upon success it transports the target directly to the schemer’s prison. If the goal is ending their life it can be done in the prison at will, but having a target in prison is a ripe opportunity for gaining Hooks, banishment, or indulging in possibly the darkest aspects of the Intrigue Lifestyle: torture.
This perk was indirectly nerfed after players found that Abducting the war leader of their enemies was an instant win. This allowed incredibly unlikely scenarios such as tiny Welsh provinces suddenly owning all of England and the like. Even with the nerf, Kidnapper is an excellent perk.
4 A Job Done Right
Sometimes a simple boost to success chance is all that is needed to make a perk extremely powerful and useful. A Job Done Right grants a 25 percent bonus to the success chance of any Hostile Scheme that you undertake.
Hostile schemes include Murder Plots, Abduction Plots, Hook Fabrication, and the rare but powerful Claim Throne scheme. As murder plots are so universally useful for getting rid of troublesome characters, A Job Done Right is vital for any character that you decide to play as ‘underhanded’.
3 Forever Infamous
Forever Infamous is one of those extremely powerful traits that are best when used by a player who understands how to ‘game the system’ as it were. This perk seemingly halts Dread decay completely, and this is a fantastic ability for rulers who have managed to accrue a lot of Dread.
Dread has really brilliant bonuses for players when interacting with characters who have a lot less dread than them. It allows them to rearrange their realm, arrange any marriage they like, negotiate alliances and demand religious conversions easily, among other powerful diplomatic options.
2 Prison-Feudal Complex
Twinned with Forever Infamous at the bottom of the Torturer perk tree, the Prison-Feudal Complex is a perk that has a fantastic effect that requires a lot less setup. It simply gives a 50 percent chance bonus to the Imprison action.
This perk is very useful for avoiding uprisings, dealing with outlaws, and really, shooing away any inconvenient character if the player doesn’t mind potentially taking a tyranny hit. This perk plus Forever Infamous are extremely good at synergizing with the rest of the Torturer tree and can make the player feel almost untouchable.
1 Twice Schemed
In Crusader Kings 3, the only thing better than being able to have one hostile scheme on the go is being able to have two hostile schemes on the go. Twice Schemed is a simple perk with a grand effect. With this, players can have two Murder Plots at the same time, or an Abduction Plot on the go while they also plot to Claim their liege’s Throne.
For characters with high Intrigue skill Twice Schemed effectively doubles the output of chaos that they can inflict upon the world, and that can be a very attractive prospect.