Creating a custom faith lets you legalise the marriage rules, crimes, and warfare bonuses that suit your dynasty — one of the most powerful long-term moves in Crusader Kings III. There are two routes: reforming an unreformed pagan faith, or creating a new faith from an organised one.
Reforming a pagan faith
Unreformed pagan faiths can be reformed once you:
- Are the faith's religious head (or create the title for it),
- Control or have a claim on the faith's holy sites, and
- Have enough fervor and piety.
Reforming lets you pick three tenets and set doctrines, turning a fragile pagan religion into an organised faith that resists conversion.
Creating a new faith
From an already-organised faith, open the faith screen and create a new faith for a piety cost. You can change a limited number of tenets and doctrines from the parent, and the further you stray the more piety it costs. Top up first with our piety guide if you're short.
Best tenets and doctrines
- For conquest: warfare tenets such as Warmonger or Armed Pilgrimages reward fighting and holy wars.
- For stability: Communion and similar tenets help with control and learning across your realm.
- For your dynasty: doctrines allowing plural marriage or concubines massively increase how many heirs you can produce.
Console shortcuts
After enabling debug mode, you can bolt tenets and doctrines straight onto your faith with add_doctrine:
Raise fervor so reformation and conversion go smoothly with change_fervor, or switch faith outright using set_faith.
Frequently asked questions
How do I create my own faith in CK3?
Open the faith screen and choose to create a new faith. It costs piety, and you can change a limited number of tenets and doctrines from your parent faith. Reforming an unreformed pagan faith works similarly but requires holy sites and high fervor.
What are the best tenets for a custom faith?
It depends on your playstyle: warfare tenets like Warmonger reward conquest, Communion helps with control and learning, and Human Sacrifice suits an aggressive ruler. Match doctrines to your goals — plural marriage and concubines for more heirs, for example.
Can I edit a faith with the console?
Yes. Use add_doctrine to add tenets and doctrines to your faith, and change_fervor to raise fervor so reformation and conversion are easier.