• We have updated our Community Code of Conduct. Please read through the new rules for the forum that are an integral part of Paradox Interactive’s User Agreement.
Greetings!

Today I’d like to present a feature that is specifically tailored towards the ones among you who truly enjoy breeding potent dynasties - Legendary Bloodlines!

Legendary Bloodlines are modifiers that are passed down the generations from one specific character, the Founder - they work much like a dynasty, but with several more rules and caveats. They symbolize the widespread renown a certain character might have, and the staying power stories surrounding their feats are. Having a Legendary Bloodline in your character will convey a bonus based on who founded it, and there are many different Bloodlines to be found (and Founded). Bloodlines are accessed from the Character View:
DDBloodlines_BloodlineView.png

Unlike traits such as Genius or Strong, Bloodlines are not genetical - Bloodlines gain their power from perception and belief; if you were a superstitious medieval warrior, would you rather fight the big burly fighter who you knew were related to Charles the Hammer, or the one you knew were not?

That very same superstition, combined with the prejudices that were common in those times, causes Bloodlines to be either Agnatic or Enatic - to breed Bloodlines into your dynasty will require you to get clever, and plan ahead if you want more than one line to run within your direct line of heirs. If a Bloodline is agnatic, for example, a man will still pass it to his daughters - but they will not pass it on to their children, that will be exclusively reserved for his sons.
DDBloodlines_Patrilineal.png


Certain bloodlines, or certain effects of certain bloodlines, will only be active for characters who fulfill certain triggers - for example, Christian knights will only seek to serve a descendant of Charles the Hammer if he happens to be Christian.

It's also worth noting that Bloodlines do not give direct stat boosts like how artifacts do.

To facilitate the merging of several different Bloodlines into one direct line of characters, we’ve made it so that Matrilineal marriages transfer bloodlines that the parents wouldn’t normally be able to transfer - symbolizing that it’s less explicitly about gender, and more about who’s the dominant part in a marriage.
DDBloodlines_MatriTransfer.png


To see who’s a part of any given bloodline, you can view a list of the current holders by clicking a button next to the Founder in the Bloodlines View:
DDBloodlines_List.png


Though the easiest way by far is to enter the Bloodlines Ledger Page to see which bloodlines exist, how many members there are and, by clicking the entries, view who holds them.
DDBloodlines_Ledger.png


Bloodlines stem from many different sources, but the ones I’ll touch upon today are the Historical Bloodlines. As you might have already figured out, certain famous historical characters start with bloodlines, or found them at a certain point in their life. For example, if William succeeds in his invasion of England he’ll found a bloodline. As bloodlines come and go, you’ll have a different setup depending on what bookmark you choose to start in. Here’s a few examples of bloodlines you can expect to want to breed into your own line:
DDBloodlines_Examples.png


Note that there will be ways to get bloodlines apart from breeding them into your dynasty, but that will be the subject of a future DevDiary.
 
No release date ? It's gonna be the greatest extension ever for ck2 i can't wait !
 
@rageair
How will custom bloodlines work? Will there be a button or prompt that allows me to create my bloodline after specific character? Can I change bloodline eg sat my first character is infamous warrior and forms a bloodline but my fifth is a pious man gets a bloodline. After bloodlines based around negative or give negative modifiers? Say I am known satanist or known crusader will that give my bloodline negs to dealing with other Catholics or Muslims?

Thank you and I already giddy about This new dlc.
 
Sorry I already posted this but... could you please rework the Slovak/Northern Hungary region? There is lots of mistakes that could be easily corrected. In EU4 it is nicely done. As a Slovak it pains me every time when I see Spiš as a part of Chrobatia. You could just make duchy of Nitra with couties Nitra, Zemplín (Zemplen), Bratislava (Prespork), Spiš and Trenčín. It's in the middle of Europe but it's very inaccurate. Thanks for understanding.
 
He does. Brian mac Cennétig is on the list.

I'm almost certain that there is only a single character in the title history for k_ireland, and that's Áed Uí Néill. For instance, if you play as Brian's grandson in 1066 start, you'll see that your grandfather doesn't have a king-tier portrait.
 
How the hell wouldn't he heard about him? The Viking Raids partially started because of what Karlings did to their Saxon brethren, and the fear that they might come after them next.
And in general, any enemy will learn about it. Nobody goes into wars blind, and thus are bound to hear about someone's legendary ancestors.
Eh they should get a combat bonus against the Karlings the viking age started because of the blood courts of Verden and the Burning of the irminsul. Well it may have happened otherwise too but the viking love to go after churches is related to that. Norse pagans hate the Karlings
Poor example on my part, but the point still stands. Unless you're involved with the realms behind the bloodline you wouldn't be affected. This goes with relations as well, why would some lord far away care if your great-great-grandmother funded artists in France? It's simply not how things work.

The Mongols and Ragnar Rodblok. Europeans and Indians. Different religions unless the rulers are very prominent. etc. They couldn't care less.
 
This looks great but isn't +8 kinda high for a single combat modifier compared to other combat modifiers in the game?
Not any more:
As I mentioned in the Diary itself, it's because a superstitious medieval warrior would be more intimidated fighting someone they know was related to a great hero than someone who was not. Note that the Personal Combat Skill values have been heavily revised in HF, 5 skill is very low - but it can give you that edge you need. More on this in a future DevDiary!
 
Question: How will the descendants of the Prophet Mohammad be handled? Many people back then adhere them (which is counted as superstition), especially the patrilineal line, which are already represented with 'Sayyid' and 'Mirza' traits in the game, will they use this feature or not?
 
Poor example on my part, but the point still stands. Unless you're involved with the realms behind the bloodline you wouldn't be affected. This goes with relations as well, why would some lord far away care if your great-great-grandmother funded artists in France? It's simply not how things work.

The Mongols and Ragnar Rodblok. Europeans and Indians. Different religions unless the rulers are very prominent. etc. They couldn't care less.
Because having an anscestor famous for something may well inspire you to work a bit extra on that skill.
 
I'm almost certain that there is only a single character in the title history for k_ireland, and that's Áed Uí Néill. For instance, if you play as Brian's grandson in 1066 start, you'll see that your grandfather doesn't have a king-tier portrait.
You are right in that Brian is not king tier (neither is Aed but Maelseachlainn mac Mael Rúanaid is). What I was referring to was the fact that you can see that Brian will have a bloodline.
 
upload_2018-6-1_16-32-59.png

Is this a typo? I mean, no offense for those who prefer British English but since the majority of the in-game text is written in American English, let's keep it consistent, ok?
 
Not a fan of stats/personal combat being influenced by bloodlines (regardless of how small the effect is or if it is a placebo or not), to be honest (particularly not many generations down the line; I can understand people fearing Temujin's son and grandson in personal combat, but perhaps not his great-great-great-great-grandson, at least not to the same extent, unless the grandson has proven that he is worthy of being feared in personal combat), but I suppose it will be simple enough to mod out.
 
This looks interesting. I'm glad to see you guys looked outside of just Europe for these bloodlines. It's nice to see the Middle East, Iran, and India represented as well!

Not a fan of stats/personal combat being influenced by bloodlines (regardless of how small the effect is or if it is a placebo or not), to be honest (particularly not many generations down the line; I can understand people fearing Temujin's son and grandson in personal combat, but perhaps not his great-great-great-great-grandson, at least not to the same extent, unless the grandson has proven that he is worthy of being feared in personal combat), but I suppose it will be simple enough to mod out.
I can certainly see where you're coming from as well though. Especially for people with large numbers of descendants (pretty much all European nobility descends from Charlemagne in some way, and Mohammad has tens of thousands of descendants.) Plus, the whole system does feel a little... gamey in how you're encouraged to collect as many important lineages as possible.
 
Last edited: