Adventurers are landless characters who have recruited an army to raid, to push their claims, or to carve out a new realm.
The Old Gods adventurers
When The Old Gods DLC is active, courtiers who meet certain requirements may announce their intent to become adventurers. These adventurers will start to recruit an army to push their claim over an independent ruler's title, and the targeted realm will be warned with a small icon displaying at the top of the game screen. The adventurer will start their attack exactly 2 years after announcing their desire to carve out their own realm, giving some time for the target to prepare and to try to disqualify them.
The adventurer will flee to another realm if they lives within their target's territory, often making assassination plots more difficult. All regular mechanisms to invite the adventurer to court will fail; all propositions will receive a disqualifying response of Preparing an adventure against me. However, a ruler might be able to regain control of the adventurer indirectly, by arranging a marriage or by quickly conquering the adventurer's sanctuary. This allows the ruler to arrest the adventurer (at risk of being seen as a tyrant) or grant the adventurer land (at the cost of weakening their demesne).
If nothing unexpected happens while they were preparing for his adventure, the character leaves their court to lead an army from the same location. They gain a duchy-level "Host" title and several courtiers to use as commanders, as well as the trait. They create an army whose size scales with the strength of the targeted realm, making them dangerous even to a large realm. However, the total number of troops in an adventurer's army will not exceed 30,000. These troops are considered event troops, making them immune to any form of attrition, but also impeding their reinforcement.
On success, adventurers become normal independent rulers, and keep their event troops until death. On failure, they are imprisoned by and become courtiers of the target, allowing the defender to banish them for wealth or execute them if they are still seen as a threat.
General requirements
- Male or liege's realm allows female adventurers (Full Status of Women, fully equal succession, Cathar, or Messalian)
- Age between 16 and 50 inclusive
- Not
- Not
- Not a ruler
- No spouse is a ruler
- Not heir to any title
- Diplomacy at least 7
- Health at least 4
- Not
- Not
- Not already planning an adventure
Claimant adventure
Title claimants may pursue an adventure for their title if they meet the general requirements and have a claim on a landed title:
- The claimed title is held (e.g. cannot pursue the Holy Roman Empire if it does not exist)
- The holder of the claimed title is independent (ensures targeting of top liege)
- The holder of the claimed title does not have any higher-tier title (exception: can claim kingdoms from emperors)
- If the holder of the claimed title is a merchant republic, the claimed title must not be one that (de jure) contains the capital
- If claimed title's holder is the adventurer's liege, the adventurer must be
. In this case, the planner will immediately flee to another realm in order to prepare safely.
The target ruler is chosen immediately, but the target title is chosen when the war is launched two years later. The war is an ordinary claim war, so it renews the claim.
MTTH for claimants
The mean time to happen for a claimant adventure is 50 years, modified by the following:
| Trait | Modifier | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Denied title | 0.2 | 10 years |
|
0.5 | 25 years |
| Demon child | 0.2 | 10 years |
 |
0.5 | 25 years |
| Diplomacy at least 12 | 0.75 | 37.5 years |
 |
0.75 | 37.5 years |
 |
0.75 | 37.5 years |
 |
0.85 | 42.5 years |
 |
0.85 | 42.5 years |
 |
1.5 | 75 years |
 |
1.5 | 75 years |
 |
2.0 | 100 years |
These effects accumulate with each other, for example a courtier who is , , and will have a MTTH of 50 years * 0.5 * 0.85 * 1.5 = 31.875 years of starting an adventure.
Conquest adventure
Other courtiers may attempt to carve out a duchy from a foreign realm. The planner must meet the general requirements, plus:
- Not eligible for a claimant adventure (with the exception of the requirement to be ambitious)
- Parent or grandparent is count tier or above, or were when they died
- Martial skill at least 9
- Any of:
- Culture group is North Germanic, West Germanic or Altaic
- Culture is Norman, Frankish, Breton or Catalan
- Culture is Hungarian and date is before 1066
- Demon child
They immediately pick a random target ruler, subject to the following requirements:
- Independent
- Not same culture as planner
- Not liege (or above) of planner
- Controls a province that is:
- Not part of e_scandinavia or d_bjarmia
- Either:
- Province neighbors the planner's realm
- Province is coastal and within 800 distance, and the adventurer is not Altaic or Hungarian
When launching the war, the adventurer chooses a specific province, subject to the same requirements except for distance. They then declare war for the duchy containing that province, using the special conquest CB duchy_adventure.
MTTH for conquerors
The base MTTH is 100 years, modified by:
| Trait | Modifier | Result |
|---|---|---|
|
0.5 | 50 years |
| Norman culture before 1250 | 0.5 | 50 years |
| North Germanic culture group before 1066 | 0.5 | 50 years |
| Denied title | 0.2 | 20 years |
| Demon child | 0.2 | 20 years |
| Diplomacy at least 12 | 0.75 | 75 years |
| Martial at 12 | 0.75 | 75 years |
|
0.75 | 75 years |
|
0.85 | 85 years |
|
3.0 | 300 years |
|
3.0 | 300 years |
|
3.0 | 300 years |
| Any liege of planner is human | 3.0 | 300 years |
| Top liege of planner is emperor | 3.0 | 300 years |
These modifiers are cumulative.
Horse Lords adventurers
Raiding adventurers
With the Horse Lords expansion, several groups of landless characters can begin raiding adventures:
- Altaic-culture characters from nomadic realms
Pagans- characters who have 15 martial and 12 diplomacy (and are allowed to loot)
They can recruit additional troops using wealth gained from raids. Eventually, they may seek to gain land:
- By spending 150 wealth to purchase a dynast's extra county, becoming a vassal if purchasing from a higher-tier ruler.
- By negotiating with the rulers they target. (Rulers can also initiate negotiations with raiding adventurers in their territory.)
- By declaring war for a duchy with the "duchy_adventure" CB. If the adventurer was denied a title, he has a chance to target his previous liege (at the capital). But usually, he will target a realm he has recently looted.
Landless clans
A nomad who loses his last county will convert his clan title into a landless adventurer title. All of his manpower is converted into reinforcing raiding troops.
Landless nomads can recruit additional mounted troops for 75 wealth, up to an era-defined soft cap.
Landless clans disband upon ruler death.
Muslim adventurers in India
Occasionally, a Muslim courtier may announce their intent to invade a kingdom in India. The courtier must be , have 250 prestige, live in the vicinity of India, and meet other conditions common to all adventurers.
The adventurer selects a non-player realm in India to invade. Two years later, they get 1.5 times the target's army size in event troops and declare war for an entire de jure kingdom within the target's realm. Upon success, all titles within the de jure kingdom targeted are usurped, and the adventurer receives the corresponding Realm-tier title. If this title already exists, and is not held by the target or any of his vassals, the Muslim adventurer creates one anyway as a nominal title, usually following the template Dynasty Name Kingdom Name. Note that the Kingdom name used is the common, and not de jure name. For instance, if a Ghurid adventurer invades successfully an independent ruler for the de jure Kingdom of Malwa held by a Pratihara ruler, the kingdom title created will be [Ghurid Pratihara Sultanate]
This can only happen once in 50 years and will happen less frequently if powerful Muslim realms have already been established in India.
Jade Dragon Adventurers
Rebel Generals
When a civil war in China concludes with a victory for the sitting emperor, a rebel general may appear on the map as a pretender Chinese adventurer seeking to conquer land for himself. He declares war on a target in China's invasion range, favoring targets of a higher tier with more land, using a special CB: if successful, he takes or vassalizes the top tier title and usurps counties from the defender until his demesne limit (often high due to having Taoist religion and being emperor tier) is full, and if he fails, the defender is awarded 2500 prestige. White peace is not possible. He has a random Chinese leadership trait and is accompanied by two fellow commanders who also have Chinese leadership traits. The army does not take pagan homeland attrition, and can even reinforce in hostile territory.
Displaced Princes
When a civil war in China concludes with a change in dynasty, a son of the previous emperor may appear on the map to raid and eventually claim land of his own. Unlike a defeated rebel general, the imperial prince does not have special capabilities or Casus Belli, and his troop rarely exceed 5k soldiers, making it a relatively easy adventurer to dispose of with an average realm. It will act as any regular pillaging adventurer, as we can find commoner examples with Pagans or Nomads.