Crusader Kings 3 keeps track of several resources. They include physical resources like Gold and Levies, but also influential resources like Prestige and Piety. Renown is part of that second category.
Renown doesn’t increase as fast as most other resources, but you use it to buy dynastic Legacies. Each Legacy gives your ruler (and everyone in the same dynasty) a permanent bonus that lasts for the rest of the game. So while Renown isn’t as immediately useful as other resources in Crusader Kings 3, boosting your Renown is always worth the effort.
How to Become a Dynasty Head
The easiest way to start the game as a dynasty head is to pick the ruler of a large kingdom or empire. With a few notable exceptions (such as the Karlings of Central Europe in the 867 starting date), most major rulers are the founders or current heads of their dynasty.
Another option is to create your own ruler. Even if your ruler is replacing a famous historical figure, created rulers are always the founders of a new dynasty.
Aside from a good start, the way you become a dynasty head is by meeting a couple of requirements:
- Your character must be the head of their dynastic house. The original dynastic line counts as its own house, and rulers can create cadet houses if they’re adults who are third in line or worse from the main house’s line of succession.
- Your character must command the largest army of any house head within the dynasty. This mostly involves counting levies, and the number that matters is your current troops, not your potential troops. If a war goes badly, you may temporarily lose your status as the dynasty head until your levies come back.
If you keep your dynasty inside your realm, it’s simple enough to meet this requirement and maintain your ruler’s status as the dynasty head. However, if your dynasty rules several independent realms, another branch of the family may eventually take that title from you. This can make life inconvenient, but the extra Renown you earn might just be worth the trouble.
The Best Sources of Renown
Renown grows slowly no matter what, but there are a few reliable sources that can get you the resource fast.
Independent Leadership
While many players of Crusader Kings 3 would like to conquer the world as a single unified empire, doing so will get you Renown slower than installing your dynasty on as many independent thrones as possible. Here’s the base Renown value of holding a title:
- Emperor: +2
- King: +1
- Duke: +0.5 (includes mercenary companies and holy orders)
- Count: +0.25
- Baron: +0.12
Bear in mind that only the ruler’s highest title counts: an emperor only contributes 2 Renown, not 3 for holding an empire and two duchies.
However, rulers only contribute Renown if they aren’t vassals to someone of the same dynasty. If your ruler ascends to a kingdom, and you make all your children dukes, those children won’t contribute anything to your monthly Renown. At least, not by virtue of being a ruler. So if you want to gain Renown quickly, you should gobble up neighboring territories, create their duchy and kingdom titles, give them to members of your dynasty, and then grant those members independence.
Another option is to marry into noble titles. If a member of your dynasty marries a ruler, your dynasty gets 80 percent of that title’s normal Renown value. This is true even if the dynasty member getting married also holds an independent title. However, the ruler being married must belong to a different dynasty.
Finally, your dynasty gets 0.02 Renown for each living non-ruler in the family. This number caps at 2 Renown, or 100 living members.
Mystical Ancestors
Several cultures on the map have the Tradition “Mystical Ancestors.” Dynasty and house heads who belong to such a culture can’t Disinherit other family members, but you get Renown each time you give a dynasty member a title:
- 50 for each county
- 100 for each duchy
- 150 for each kingdom
- 250 for each empire
This makes it much easier to gain Renown as an expanding empire, though it also makes unruly family members harder to handle.
Unlike many Traditions, you can’t add Mystical Ancestors by reforming your culture. The only way to have this Tradition is to start the game as the correct culture, or (if you have the “Royal Court” DLC) to hybridize with one. The cultures with Mystical Ancestors are:
- Akan (West Africa)
- Guanche (Canary Islands)
- Mon (Burma/Pagan)
- Han (Northeast Tibet)
- Malvi (Southeast Rajasthan)
- Rajasthani (Central Rajasthan)
- Hebrew (No starting location)
- Buryat (North Mongolia)
- Lhomon (Southeast Tibet)
Royal Court
The “Royal Court” DLC came with a free patch that adds inventory artifacts, many of which add a small amount of Renown each month. However, players who own the DLC can get access to many more artifacts that each provide Renown.
- Most small and large wall ornaments provide a Renown boost, including the dynasty and house banners you most likely started the game with.
- Furniture, pedestal items, and thrones are also good sources of Renown.
You can also get a small but steady amount of Renown by having a higher Court Grandeur than what you need for your realm size. This ranges from 0.15 for being 4 levels higher to 1.3 for being 10 levels higher, or down to -1.4 Renown for being 10 levels below.
Legitimacy
Legitimacy measures how much your subjects believe your ruler deserves to be on the throne. Much like Court Grandeur, each ruler has an expected Legitimacy level, and you get Renown bonuses for being above it or Renown penalties for being below it. The biggest bonus is 0.5, and the biggest penalty is -0.2 per month.
Legends
If you have the “Legends of the Dead” DLC, some of the Legends you can create provide you with Renown for as long as you keep spreading them. Specifically, Legitimizing Legends provide both a Renown bonus and a Renown percentage boost that increases with the Legend’s quality:
- Famed: +0.1 Renown and +5 percent Renown
- Illustrious: +0.25 Renown and +10 percent Renown
- Mythical: +0.5 Renown and +20 percent Renown
Events
Certain events come with decisions that will give you a lump sum of Renown on the spot. If a decision says “in memory of X,” or mentions your house motto, or otherwise suggests staying true to your family members, that decision will probably give you Renown. Because of the long-term benefits of Renown, you should probably choose these options when you can.
