Ideal health

Learn how to maximize your citizens' health in Crusader Kings III by understanding class caps, the impact of enacted plans, and recruitment thresholds.

Alright, let's talk about keeping your people healthy in Crusader Kings III. It might not seem like the flashiest stat, but trust me, especially for your fighters, having high health is crucial. You'll notice that when you train your citizens into different jobs, their base health can actually vary. It's not always a fixed number; there's a bit of randomness involved in that process.

On top of that, there are special 'plans' you can enact that will permanently boost the health of *everyone* in your realm. And here's a key thing: different classes have different maximum health caps. Since your fighters are going to be right in the thick of it, you absolutely want to make sure the folks in your combat squad have the highest health they can possibly get.

So, let's break down those health caps. Assuming your citizens aren't wearing any gear yet, here's what a grunt soldier can have for health: it's capped at 6 plus 'N'. Now, 'N' here is simply the total number of those health-boosting plans you've managed to enact. For your hardened soldiers, that cap goes up to 7 + N. Hunters, on the other hand, have a slightly lower cap at 5 + N.

As a general rule of thumb, you should really only be recruiting people who come with at least 5 + N hit points *before* you even give them any equipment. Since there are a total of 6 different health-boosting plans available in the game, you should aim to have all your troops sitting at a minimum of 11 HP (that's 5 + 6, the max N). If someone has less than that when you're considering them for a combat role, it's probably best to steer them towards a different job.