The Crusader Kings 3 ruler designer is out now - here's how it works

Creating a customised ruler was something Paradox rolled out pretty quickly after the launch of Crusader Kings II, and the studio is wasting no time putting the same functionality into its latest grand strategy magnum opus, Crusader Kings III.

Unlike last time - when it was a paid piece of DLC - the ruler designer's latest incarnation is included in the free 1.2 patch which will release today. The new feature largely has the same functionality, although there have been a few changes and some omissions required in order to get it out sooner rather than later. We were given some early access to the new tool, and decided to have a play around with it. For science, you understand.

Firing up the custom designer is pretty simple - simply pick a start date, and then enter the expanded character select view. From there, you can choose anyone who is coded into the game at the start of that period, and then you can replace them with a character of your own design. There doesn't seem to be any limit on how many characters you replace via this feature, and it's worth noting that once you've replaced a character, you can't undo it without exiting to the main menu and starting again.

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