Crusader Kings III: Royal Court — Artifacts and inspirations guide

Crusader Kings III: Royal Court has new artifacts that you can collect. After going through an event chain, you’ll have an item that you can either equip or place in your keep. In turn, you’ll receive several boons. Here’s our Crusader Kings III: Royal Court guide to help you obtain artifacts via character inspirations.

Note: For more information, check out our Crusader Kings III guides and features hub as well as our beginner’s guide/the things to do before you unpause.

Crusader Kings III: Royal Court artifacts and inspirations guide

How to obtain artifacts in Crusader Kings III: Royal Court

Most rulers that own a kingdom or empire-level title at the start of the campaign in Crusader Kings III: Royal Court tend to have artifacts already. In general, you’ll find banners associated with your house and dynasty (if you’re the dynastic head). Additional examples include those that come from history (which I’ll get to in a while).

As for amassing more artifacts, you’ve got these methods:

• Artifact War – If you have a claim on an artifact, you can start a war to retrieve it (don’t do this if you’re just trying to grab banners because that’s just ridiculous).
• War Spoils – When capturing a county, especially capitals, you have a chance to grab the artifact as well (the previous owner will have a claim).
• Schemes – If you right-click on a character with an artifact, you can plot to steal it.
• Gifts – You can gift a character with an artifact to increase their opinion of you. It might also be possible to be gifted one, though I’ve never seen it happen.

• Commission a Local Artisan – This is a decision that you can enact once every five years if you have assigned the Antiquarian role. You’ll pay 100 gold to receive the item after an event chain (I’ll discuss event chains in a bit).
• Commission Epic – If you have the “Writing History” perk, you can pay 200 gold (or more due to event choices) to receive an epic related to your family/dynasty.
• Inspirations – This is what we’ll primarily discuss.

Funding artifact inspirations in Crusader Kings III: Royal Court

Inspirations or inspired characters in Crusader Kings III: Royal Court are low-born guests that arrive in your realm. When they appear, you’re prompted with a notification that allows you to fund their inspiration. These have a few variants. The first is the Adventurer Inspiration, where a character says that they want to travel to another region of the known world.

Upon funding this expedition, you can tell that person what kind of artifact they’d want to obtain for you (i.e., banners, stuffed animals/trophies, and more). Soon, they’ll be beset with many dangers (i.e., bandits, disease, and wild animals). Several choices are presented, with outcomes that can prove to be successful or detrimental to progression. If the inspiration is completed, the artifact will be delivered to you. Additionally, they could get wounded or killed in the attempt, causing an abrupt failure. Conversely, it’s possible that the NPC goes on a wild goose chase, further draining your coffers to no end. Sometimes, you might want to cut your losses prematurely as opposed to seeing things through.

Note 1: Apart from success chances and progress, the choices presented to you will also inform you if the artifact will be of a slightly higher quality or not.

Note 2: Inspired characters can be recruited and given Artificer roles. This will keep them around longer, as well as trigger new Inspirations in the future.

The second general variant includes gear-type artifacts and inspirations in Crusader Kings III: Royal Court. Basically, the inspired individual could say that they want to create a weapon, armor, accessory, and the like. Similar to adventures, you’ll also need to fund these and get through the event chain. Here are a few possible scenarios:

• Dedications – You can dedicate an artifact to your spouse, a relative that has recently passed away, or a friend. It’s also possible to befriend others if the option pops up to dedicate this item to them (you’ll still own it, but it’s just an added opinion bonus). If you don’t want to dedicate it to someone, you could pick another option to gain piety.
• Creative Freedom – From time to time, the inspired individual might have conflicts with another character that’s close to you (i.e., your spouse) while they’re crafting the item.
• Out with the Old – In some situations, the NPC would let you know that an artifact that you already own can be destroyed to improve the quality of the one that’s being made. This is somewhat risky. As mentioned in our official review, I’ve encountered moments when I’d pick a masterwork/green item to get destroyed, but I’d still receive equipment of the same rarity.

Note 1: Just like adventurer expeditions, these multiple-choice event chains can cost quite a bit of gold. If you’re unlucky, the whole process can seem fruitless or wasteful, especially since you won’t know the kind of item you’ll receive, as well as its benefits.

Note 2: If you have someone assigned to the Artificer court position, they may have another inspiration down the line. They’ll also stay in your court since you’ve given them a responsibility already. Otherwise, they might leave and go off elsewhere.

Equipping, reforging, and repairing artifacts in Crusader Kings III: Royal Court

Several types of artifacts can be equipped by your character (just click on the Inventory button next to their portrait on the lower-left corner of your screen). These include crowns, weapons, armors, regalia (i.e., scepters), and four slots for trinkets/accessories.

Apart from the buffs that you’ll receive, you’ll also notice a duration lasting many years. This represents how the artifact will degrade over time. You can spend gold to repair it if you assigned the Antiquarian court position to one of your followers. Alternatively, you can choose the reforge option. This will turn an artifact that’s equippable by your character into an item that’s placed in your abode. In turn, this will help you increase your Court Grandeur.

Default artifacts when you start your campaign

As mentioned earlier, Crusader Kings III: Royal Court has a few artifacts that already belong to a nation when you begin a campaign. These tend to have certain requirements to gain the full benefits, such as having a particular religion or culture. Here are some examples of illustrious artifacts found in the 1066 A.D. start date:

Crusader Kings III: Royal Court is available via Steam. For more information, check out our guides and features hub.