HomeGuidesCrusader Kings III
Crusader Kings 3: How to disinherit or kill your heirIt’s the middle ages, everyone was doing it
It’s the middle ages, everyone was doing it
How do you get rid of an unwanted heir in Crusader Kings 3?InCrusader Kings 3nobody is immortal, which means that producing and training up an eligible heir is an important part of building a lasting dynasty. Of course, this method of hereditary rule doesn’t necessarily guarantee a successor who’s competent, or even likeable from the point of view of a player who’s about to step into their shoes for many in-game hours.
Yeah, it’s not a great look. Hear me out though. Sometimes your heir is just destined to be a rubbish ruler and you have to get them out of the way. With the medieval laws of CK3, you’re forced to pass your hard work down to your descendants and even play as that useless little kid if you’re unlucky. Wouldn’t it be nice then, if you could kill your offspring to make room for a more appropriate leader? Look, sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.
So, here’s how to disinherit or, yes, even kill your character’s child in Crusader Kings 3.
CK3: Northern Lords - Feature BreakdownWatch on YouTube
CK3: Northern Lords - Feature Breakdown
How to disinherit your child in Crusader Kings 3
So, let’s not get too ahead of ourselves. Maybe we can solve whatever dynastic or diplomatic issue you have together without bloodshed!
If you’re thedynasty head, you can disinherit all your heirs but one, which is often going to be a powerful ability if you have partition succession. Partition succession splits your inheritance amongst your children, so kicking them all out apart from your Player Heir will ensure you specifically keep control of your entire realm.
Of course, this’ll annoy them big time and cost you a bunch of renown and prestige. Here’s how to disinherit a child of yours:
How to kill your heirs and children in Crusader Kings 3
So how else can you, ahem, sort out your inheritance?
It’s fine. People did all sorts of stuff back in 1066. It’s a last resort, but there are a couple of ways to bump off your own heirs and kids.
Get the Sadistic trait
While you do have the freedom tocreate your own starting ruler, for dynasty-heading characters born in-game traits are unfortunately a matter of random chance. But if your character has the trait ‘sadistic’ as one of their three personality traits, you can engage in hostile schemes towards your own children. The trait also gives you extra dread, intrigue, and prowess.
Once you’ve got that all sorted, congrats! You killed your own child!
Put the heir in harm’s way
Maybe you aren’t sadistic. Maybe you just think it’s a bit callous to straight-up murder your own offspring. Well, fair enough. How about the cowardly method where you aren’t strictly culpable?
Your heirs can die in battle if they’re eligible to become knights. This is slightly limiting, as most cultures only allow adult men to become knights; but thanks to that very same patriarchal way of thinking, this is the demographic of heir you’ll most often be trying to bump off anyway.
Go to your Military tab (F3) and select ‘force’ on the heir you want to put into battle. If you don’t want to harm your actual useful courtiers and knights, click ‘Forbid’, because you’ll be throwing a lot of lives away with this method.
March the army into battle and lose. Remember,this is not a guaranteed method. Your heir might be so useless they can’t even die well, and could just end up injured, maimed, or imprisoned, so be wary with this strategy.
If you want to actually win battles, go check out our page onhow to raise and replenish levies in CK3, but for your purposes here you’ll be fine without a decent army.
Use console commands
You’re also able to useconsole commandsto remove the relation between you and your kin. It’ll disable achievements and is basically cheating, but if you’re really desperate then go for it.
After they magically stop being your child, you can do whatever. At this point they are, naturally, out of the line of succession, so you don’tneedto murder them any more. But, well, if they’ve annoyed you this much…
That’s all for our light and breezy guide on how to kill your kids in Crusader Kings 3! Or disinherit them, I guess. Check out ourCK3 beginner guidefor some basic info you’ll need to start your adventure. Or see our guide to thebest starting rulers in CK3to get your dynasty set up with a strong opening act that hopefully won’t produce a bunch of heirs you feel a burning need to bump off.
