Master the Art of Feasting in Crusader Kings 3: Tips & Tricks for Hosting

Feasts have been a long-standing tradition in Crusader Kings 2, and now in Crusader Kings 3, every ruler can enjoy this standard feature. With the Lance (1.9) update, players can now meticulously plan their feasts, right down to the guest list. Although feasts also incorporate the new travel mechanic, most rulers won't need to venture far to host their event. While the usual benefits, such as gaining favor with guests, reducing stress levels, and even gaining weight, still apply, players can now take their feasts to the next level by planning out every detail, including potentially targeting the guest of honor for murder.

Planning the Feast

- Choosing to Host

Hosting a feast in the game is made easier with the new Activities menu located on the right-hand side of the screen. Easily accessible just below the Decisions menu, the Activities menu icon depicts a yellow goblet. By selecting this, players can conveniently plan out a feast, a hunt or a pilgrimage. For those who have also purchased the "Tours and Tournaments" expansion, they can also organize a Grand Tour, Grand Tournament, or Grand Wedding, making it a complete experience for players.

Feasts in the game serve multiple purposes such as gathering opinions from guests, earning prestige, reducing stress levels, and gaining the Eager Reveler trait. However, players can only host a feast once every 5 years, unless they belong to a culture that follows the tradition of Frequent Festivities. This tradition not only increases the chances of gaining the Eager Reveler trait but also reduces the cooldown time between feasts by half, thereby offering more opportunities to host feasts.

- Location & Travel

Once players decide to host a feast, they are required to choose between a regular feast or a murder feast (details on the latter are provided later). Subsequently, they must select a destination from among the counties that fall under their personal domain, where the only options available are county capitals or holdings with suitable buildings such as "Manor Houses" and "Farms and Fields." Depending on the presence of these buildings, players can receive discounts on the cost of hosting the event.

To proceed, travel arrangements must be managed by the player, but rulers need not go far from their capital.

Rulers can choose from several Intents, including Recreation, Murder, Seduce, and Befriend. The standard Intent is Recreation, which helps reduce stress, while the other three are focused on interacting with specific guests. Players have the option to switch their Intent during the arrival of guests and throughout the duration of the feast.

- Guest List & Intent

Players have the ability to customize their guest list by selecting a Guest of Honor who will receive additional Prestige and Opinion with the host. This tactic can be particularly effective in swaying powerful faction members to align with the ruler. While players cannot individually invite guests, they can select from various categories such as friends, family, liege, vassals, spouses, fellow vassals, courtiers, and court guests. It's worth noting that each guest has the option to accept or decline the invitation, and the feast cannot commence until all guests have arrived. To avoid lengthy delays, players can sort the guest list by estimated arrival time and uninvite groups that will take the longest to arrive. However, the cost of the feast remains the same, regardless of how many guests attend. Typically, the Guest of Honor will accept their invitation even if they would have declined otherwise.

Feasts offer two activity options: Dish Complexity and Number of Courses. Dish Complexity has three levels, with higher levels costing more but providing more Prestige to the host. Similarly, Number of Courses also has three levels, and for extra Gold, players receive more Opinion from guests and even more from Courtly vassals.

Normal Feast: Playing the Good Host

Upon arrival at the feast location, players must wait for all guests to arrive. While waiting, players are prohibited from initiating wars or schemes, and any ongoing schemes will be temporarily halted. However, players are allowed to continue any wars they started prior to the feast, and if a war breaks out, they can choose to either halt the activity or continue it and engage in the battle simultaneously.

During this waiting period, players may encounter random background events that can boost their Prestige and improve their Opinions even before the feast commences. Once the feast officially begins, players will be presented with the usual set of random events that have always been a part of feasts, even before the Lance update. At the end of the feast, players can either toast or humiliate the Guest of Honor, after which all guests will depart.

Murder Feast: Playing the Evil Host

When players obtain the "Forever Infamous" perk on the Torturer tree of the Intrigue Lifestyle, the Murder Feast option becomes available. Murder Feasts are similar to regular feasts, with the additional objective of killing the Guest of Honor. As a result, players must ensure that there is a Guest of Honor before proceeding, and they can only choose the Recreation Intent. While most of the feast events are the same, players have one final opportunity to select their intention from the following options: to murder the Guest of Honor and everyone in their retinue (which may include children), to only murder the Guest of Honor, to "accidentally" murder the Guest of Honor (which raises the chance of failure), or to cancel the event and hold a regular feast instead.

A murder feast, like any assassination plot, comes with the risk of failure and discovery. Though it can be a quicker method, the odds of success are not transparent to the player. The game acknowledges that targeting the player ruler's liege or head of faith reduces the likelihood of success, and the ruler's traits and perks also play a role. Additionally, the murder feast cooldown period is longer at 15 years compared to 5 for other assassination schemes.

Players can also attend feasts hosted by other rulers, but they must carefully plan their route and consider accepting invitations from trusted sources. If the feast is in a foreign land, a regent is required. The Guest of Honor should exercise caution when accepting invitations. Crusader Kings 3 is currently available on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.