Opinion represents how much a character likes each other. Having high opinion with someone will lead said character to have friendlier behavior and accept more requests in general. On the other hand, having low opinion may trigger the character to be more hostile, joining factions or plots against you.
Opinion is affected by a variety of factors that range from traits to succession law, from diplomacy to events, etc. Each different opinions modifiers, along with their reasons, are fully visible to players by hovering the mouse over the tooltip.
Viewing opinions
The character sheet for any character will show:
- Their opinion towards you (bottom right)
- Their opinion towards their liege, and vice versa (top right)
The opinion of a ruler toward another can also be seen using the "opinion" map mode:
- Select the "Opinion" map mode (shortcut: D)
- Click a province in one ruler's demesne
- Hover over the other ruler's demesne
It is also possible to see the opinion of an arbitrary character A toward another character B:
- Right-click on the portrait of character B
- Left-click on the "Explore Character Opinions"
button - Find character A in the list, it will indicate their opinion of character B.
Effects on vassal duties
Vassals' opinion of their liege will affect how well they fulfill their duties.
| Duty | Min | Max | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Liege tax | -100 | 0 | At -100 opinion the vassal will not pay any taxes at all. Having an opinion higher than 0 will not grant any additional tax revenue. |
| Liege levy | 0 | 100 | Both the min and max percentages are set by laws. Only vassals above (min levies) / (max levies) will provide more than the minimum. For example, with laws setting min levies to 20% and max levies to 60%, vassals with opinion above 33 will provide more than 20%.
|
| Piety to liege | 0 | 50 | Vassal has an upgraded hospital or temple. |
| Prestige to liege | 0 | 50 | Vassal has an upgraded hospital or is a Muslim close relative. |
Catholic clergy under free investiture who prefer a Pope to their secular liege will pay taxes to him instead, and not provide levies to anyone. A vassal pope who dislikes you will likewise pay no taxes and provide no levies.
List of opinion modifiers
Wrong government type
Vassals of count-tier and above who have a different government type from their liege will have a -20 to their opinion towards the liege due to "wrong government type".
- Non-feudal lieges may find it more difficult to maximize levies from feudal vassals.
Common opinion modifiers
For opinion modifiers based on the following, see the corresponding page:
Scaling opinion modifiers
| Name | Formula | Applies to |
|---|---|---|
| Prestige | +1 / 200 Prestige (max +10) | Everyone 10x effect when negative (-1 / 20) |
| Piety | +1 / 50 Piety (max +10) | Clergy of same faith |
| State Diplomacy | +1 / 4 State Diplomacy | Everyone who does not see personal diplomacy ↓ |
| Personal Diplomacy | +1.5 * (Personal Diplomacy - 4) | Own courtiers Council members Spouse |
| Short Reign | -2 * (10 - (Years Reigned [rounding up] + Majesty in capital province)) (max +0). | Vassals. Tripled for most unreformed pagans; waived for Buddhists and Jains. |
| Long Reign | +1 * (Years Reigned [rounding up] - 10) (min +0) | Vassals |
| Ruled too long | Vassals (of  rulers, usually)
| |
| Demesne Too Big | -10 / step over limit. 3 month grace period after new conquests | Vassals |
| Too Many Duchies | -10 / held duchies over 2. | Vassals (of king or emperor) |
| Elector titles held | -15 per held elector title beyond 1 duchy and 1 kingdom | Direct de jure vassals in a feudal elective kingdom or empire |
Ambition opinion
characters have an additional -25 opinion modifier toward characters they desire something from, stacking with the following negative opinion modifiers:
- Title claimant
- Desires <title>
- Direct de jure liege title is held by liege, and does not contain the liege's capital
- Direct de jure vassal title is held by liege
- Desires control of <title>
- "One of your vassals has, as their primary title, a title that is my direct de jure vassal"
- A vassal transfer will fix this and also add "vassal transfer: +10" for 10 years
- Too many held elector titles (more than one de jure duchy, or more than one de jure kingdom)
Ambition opinion is also active against a liege while a character is plotting to fabricate a claim on their liege's title. If a vassal is "-25 Ambitious" toward you and shows no reason to be, they are probably using this plot!
Modding
- Modifiers#Opinion_modifier_types for opinion effects of traits, character modifiers, artifacts
- Modifiers#Opinion_modifiers for timed opinion modifiers between specific characters