The gavelkind law is the most common law that you will encounter and nearly all Christian kingdoms and duchies start with it. An exception would be the Byzantine Empire.

Good to know, but what does it do exactly? Well, it is quite simple. With this law, the oldest child of the ruler will inherite the main title while his brother(s) will inherite other things. This law aims to keep a certain ''balance'' in the family, but it's quite a downer for the player. For example, if you have 6 counties before the death of you're character and he had 2 boys and then he dies, it means that you're oldest will get the capital and 2 more counties, whilst the other will get the 3 other counties. It will do the same thing with duchies, kingdoms and empires, so be careful! If you're max rank is ''duchy'' and you had two or more duchies, those who go to your siblings will become independant. Therefore, it can create dynastic war later on, which is somewhat fun.

However, it does give some nice boosts. It gives you a 30% boost to your max domaine

and a relation boost with you're vassals and you're dynasty (except for the oldest):

• +5 with distant dynasty and vassals
  
• +15 with second child to the youngest
  
• -5 with you're eldest son (or daughter depending on you're situation)

Whilst the bonuses are nice, I still think that you should change your succession law as fast as you can if you're a beginner or you just do not want to deal with all the plotting to regain your rightful land! I would honestly advice to go for primogeniture or, sometimes, ultimogeniture ( I will talk about them later in this guide). To change to primogeniture, here is what you need:

• If you have the Conclave DLC, you need:
  • Late feudal administration or more
    
  • All you're vassals need to have a positive opinion of you (which can be hard to achieve)
    
  • At peace
    
  • Haven't previously change the succession law ( it means that you have to wait until you're next character [ I cry everytime ]

• If you don't have Conclave, you need:
  • High crown authority or more
    
  • All you're vassals need to have a positive opinion of you (which can be hard to achieve)
    
  • At peace
    
  • Haven't previously change the succession law ( it means that you have to wait until you're next character [ I cry everytime ]

Here is a screenshot of what you need for primogeniture:

On the other hand, if you do not want to change you're succession law, there still is some ways to keep your lands during at the death of your character.

• Make sure you only have one child (obvious, but still worth mentionning)
  
• Order your children to take vows
  
• Giving bishoprics to your kids
  
• Killing your children is the last resort, but not the best

That's about it for gavelkind. Before I forget, if you do not have the absolute cognatic law, women will always be bypass by men (if there are any) and they will NOT divide your land if your heir is a male.

IMPORTANT: Gavelkind is only available to CHRISTIANS ( Catholics, Orthodox, and all the other heresies) , INDIANS and REFORMED pagans. Muslims do not get it.

This section will be shorter, don't worry.

Elective gavelkind seems complicated, but it's not. Just like gavelkind, it will divide your domaine between your children at your character's death. However, the major difference is that you have the hability to CHOOSE your next heir. And your choice is really large : all your dynastic members count (women are include if the gender law allows it)! Therefore, you can choose the best heir possible. However, your vassals will also vote (that's why it is called elective) and they may vote for another member of your dynasty.

DO NOT BE AFRAID TO HAVE A GAME OVER. THE ONLY POSSIBLE HEIRS ARE THOSE OF YOUR DYNASTY. It means that if a vassal X wants to be king, but he isn't of your dynasty, he cannot vote for himself. Basically, you are safe as long as you dynasty is alive.

The downside is obviously that your land will be divide,and sometimes, kingdoms or duchies might be created for younger children at the succession.
For example, if you were king of Sweden and you had conquered enough of the kingdom of Finnland, at the succesion, one of your youngest son might be granted for free the kingdom of Finnland (which can help you in the end). (I'd love to show you a screenshot of one my game, but I deleted it a while ago.)

The bonuses are:

• 30% more domaine (just like gavelkind)
  
• +15 of opinion with all your children (yes all)
  
• +5 of opinion with the rest of your dynasty and your vassals

IMPORTANT: Muslims can't have this type of law. Furthermore, all pagans start with this law and they cannot change their succession law before they reformed their fate and government.


ADVICE;
If you have this type of succession, I advise that you try to inherit with your nephew if possible WITHOUT having children of your own. It's risky, to be honest, but you won't lose land at each sucession that way.

In other words, it is called elective monarchy.


As you can see, EVERY VASSALS are a potential heir, and it's really dangerous, especially if they do not like you. The Holy Roman Empire starts with this succession law in the vanilla start.

Advantages:

• Ability to choose your heir.
  
• +10 of opinion with your vassals
  
• Can help you become the top ruler (if you were previously a vassal)

Drawback:

• -15 of opinion with your oldest child
  
• -5 with the rest of your dynasty
  
• You may lose your top-title to a non-dynasty member. It means if you really are unlucky, you can get a game over because of that.

Advice:

For the beginners, I STRONGLY recommend you to not use this succession law. I mean, really, avoid it like the black plague and if you are stuck with it, change it PRONTO !
However, for those who are good and experienced players, the elective monarchy can be a great succession law, because you choose your heir.

My advice is if ALL your vassals are of you dynasty, go with elective monarchy, because you can't have a non-dynastic heir. Otherwise, don't bother with it.

In this section, I will describe the new succession law exclusive to the Byzantine and the Roman Empire(s): Imperial Elective. And don't worry, it's part of the free update that came with Holy Fury, but I assume that if you are reading this, you already knew this.

First of all, Imperial Elective is the ONLY available law for those empires. You can't do anything about, but don't worry, it's not hard to inherit or reclaim the empire with your future generations. And I'll be honest: I have a feeling that it is just a glorified elective monarchy, but oddly enough, easier.

Essentially, you, your commanders and your councilors vote for an heir, but not just of your close dynasty, but also amongst your commanders and your marshal. You should also know that includes some far claimants of your dynasty. I can't say yet if this includes adventurers, but I doubt it. But even if that is the case, adventurers won't be elected because there is no way that they will be liked enough to be elected.


As you see, there is a way to see who your vassals are voting for. The thumbs up (in green), mean they are voting for your prefered heir and the thumbs down (in red), mean that they are voting for someone else. It is really intuitive.

And you may ask: is there a way to know why they vote or aren't vote for my heir? Yes there is, look at the next picture:

When you are looking at the tool tip, you see all the reasons they are voting for this person. It is no longer hidden like it was in the past, and it is very detailed. To summarize how all the "points" scale up, imagine it as voting for a president or prime minister, or chancellor , or... you get the point. I'll use some metaphores to illustrate my points:
You will vote for this person if:
-You like him/her (aka the heir)
-You like his predecessor (aka you, or the reigning emperor/emperess)
-He/she can do the job correctly. It means that diligent will help, while slothful won't)
-If you can relate to him somewhat (aka the culture. A Greek isn't inclined to vote for a French for example)
-Born in the purple helps a ton (note that the minor titles "Despot" counts as Born in the purple)
-You are probably not inclined to elect a teenager (aka age mather)
-The compability (aka a clerk won't vote for a cynical person)

Seems like a lot of informations, I know. BUT you don't have to min-max to win, if your prefered heir is a decent character, he should be elected. Just make sure that he/she isn't a complete a*****e.

Finally, all the electors have a different weight in the election, with you having the most points.
Because the electors are either you, councilors or commanders, it will basically be determined like this:
-Is the vassal powerful or not? (probably if he is on the Council)(note that a duke has more power then a count, but less then a king)
-Is he a good commander (refering to his martial and combat skills)
-The more prestigious he is, the most valued his opinion is

And that's it. Seems complicated, but it's really not. Just make sure to be buddy-buddy with 2-3 of the electors (preferably the most powerful ones) and you are set. Not that you have the most points because you are the emperor.


Advice
Don't stress with this new law. Even if you just start playing the game, it's really not complicated. Give minor titles to your heir to make him a better heir and be sure that he has a good education. If a vassal on your council is disloyal or really mad, try to get him out and put someone who likes you WITHOUT BEING A TYRANT. And if you ever loose the Empire. Don't worry, it's not game over, you only loose the empire. You will keep all kingdoms and duchy you previously had and just make sure you become a commandant or councilor to reclaim your birthright. Another strategy is to make sure all the possible heirs and electors are of your dynasty, which means the Empire won't leave your family.

I personnaly like this law because I think it makes the Empire much more fun to play. And you can't lose a Civil War for Gravelkind, so that's a silver lining!

It's the most simple succession law possible: your oldest son (or first elligible children) will inherit ALL your territories while his siblings get nothing. And I do think that if you are a beginner at Crusader Kings 2, you should go for this succession law.

Advantages:

• You KNOW who will inherit, so you can choose his skills wisely
  
• Keep all your stuff after each death (unless you had viceroyalties [ If you do not know what viceroyalties are, it is basically a granted title for life to a character. When he dies, the title reverts back to his liege ] )
  
• +10 of opinion with your eldest
  
• Your vassals do not care ( no bonus to opinion )

Inconvenients:

• For each unlanded adult sons you have, there is a -1.0 prestige per month to your character

• -20 of opinion with your other child
  
• -5 of opinion with the rest of your family

This law is NOT available to muslims or unreformed pagans.

Advices:

The only advice I can give you is to make sure that your heir is of your dynasty, otherwise you will get a game over. Also, with this law, because of the prestige penalty, it is quite easy to boost the prestige of his family, unless you don't mind having the 1.0 prestige each (which is not thts big of a deal, honestly).

It is the opposite of primogeniture: the youngest child inherit everything and your land will not be divided upon succession.

Advantages:

• Long reign
  
• +20 of opinion with the yougnest child
  
• Keep all your stuff
  
• Your vassals couldn't care less

Inconvenients:

• Your dynasty doesn't like it
  
• You can have a ''surprise heir'', that's what I call them. And I mean by that that sometime, you are 55 years old, near your death and you have another child just like that.
  
• You are more at risk to deal with a regency

Unavailable to Muslims or unreformed pagans (unless you are the Mongol empire, but I need to check on that, it has been a while since I have played them).

Advices:

If you want my opinion, it is my favourite succession law when I play a Christian character. Your reigns are always long and you keep you domaine after each death. Also, if you are not happy with your current heir, there is always a chance that you will get a new one, unlike primogeniture where you are stuck with your heir.

However, it is still not the best succession according to the community, but it is my favorite nonetheless. I recommend it for everyone!

So this will be a quick section. There is now in the game a "designate your heir" buttom. It does exactly as it says: you have the ability to choose your heir now for some inheritance laws.
I will now show you an example. I used the primogeniture law.




It is important to note that it doesn't work for elective monarchy and such. It only works for primo., ultimo., gravelkind and open. Also, when using gravelking, IT WILL NOT PREVENT THE TITLE LOSS. You only have the ability to choose wich child will get the primary one.

Also, it doesn't work for the Christian it seems, even though the game doesn't mention it:


You can see that I do not have the option to designate my heir and I'm using primogeniture. However, Indian can use it and it is quite useful.

Conclusion: Do not become dependant of it, as you cannot use it often.

Only available to those of celtic culture ( like the Irish ), it basically like gavelking elective: your vassals and you will vote for your heir OF YOUR DYNASTY ONLY. However, you won't lose territories at your succession.



Advantages:

• Ability to choose your heir
  
• Game over because of succession is really hard to achieve
  
• +5 of opinion with the rest of your dynasty and your vassals

Inconvenients:

• -20 of opinion with your oldest child, and -10 with the other
  
• If your vassals hate you, they will not vote for your favorite heir
  
• Your vassals will ALWAYS favor older member of your dynasty

Just like the elective monarchy, the ability to choose your heir is nice, but because it is limited to the celtic people, you shouldn't be dependant of it.

It is the only possible succession law for the Muslims. It is quite simple: your strongest child (or grandchild) will inherit everything at your death. And by strongest, I mean the one who has the most powerful titles (counties, duchies, etc.)


Advantages:

• Your vassals could'nt care less
  
• No penalty with your family except with your oldest child
  
• Ability to choose your heir

I advise you to look at this screenshot to have an idea of what I mean:

Inconvenients:

• -10 of opinion with your oldest child
  
• Your dynasty WILL become really strong, so espect dynastic revolts during early to mid-game (after that, you will probably be strong enough so they will not want to fire)

It is quite simple to understand and to use, but it's the only one you will have until the end of the game. If you are a beginner, I STRONGLY adivise you to play a Christian before playing a Muslim, just to get to know the game better.

I nearly forgot about this one . Senority succession means that the oldest member in your dynasty will inherit everything at your death. Therefore, if there is somebody of 70 yeats old in your dynasty, he WILL be the next ruler one day. Your children will cry, I swear.

Advantages:

• You keep your stuff at your succession
  
• +10 of opinion with your distant dynasty
  
• You can easily unifiy your dynastic land

Inconvenients:

• Your children do not like it
  
• Your vassals are not a fan (-10)
  
• Small reign

I honestly can't remember the last time I used this succession law, and I have 500 hours in this game! So, I can't recommend it, but there is some stuff to it I suppose. I would prefer elective gravelkind to this one, if I had to choose. Feel free to talk about it in the comments.

If you cannot play republics, this part will probably not interessed you.

It is the law used by the republics and it is somewhat of an election. There is five patrician family and the heir of the ''doge'' (the liege) is the one with the more respect. ''Respect'' is determined by:

• The age --> The older you are, the better
  
• Prestige --> The more you have, the better
  
• Campaign funds --> The money you used to get elected. The more you used, the better

Here is a screenshot to help you understand:

As you can see, my son (the one on the far left) has less prestigne than the Mauro guy, so he won't inherit the duchy. HOWEVER, it doesn't mean game over. If I were to die right now, I would still play my son and I would control the family, but I won't explain how it works, because it's not the goal of this guide.

Because I have been asked in the comments, I will talk about the papal succesison. And before I start, you need to have the '' Sons of Abraham '' DLC if you want to have access to the College of Cardinals.

First of all, just like in real life, the Pope in CK2 is elected among the cardinals of the Catholic faith. And more importantly, it means that the Pope can be your puppet, I may say, if it's because of you he is elected.

For starters, to access the College's tab, you need to go in the religion tab and just above the current Pope's head, there is a button. Click on it and there you go! Here's a screenshot:



And you should see something like that:



That's the College of Cardinals and this is where you will work if you want your cardinal to be elected.

We will start to explain what you are seeing:

First, there is the current Pope... Yes, it's as simple as that.

Secondly, there is the '' Preferatus '' and it is the expected heir to the Papacy. You are aiming for that position ( not directly you're character, but one of your cardinal )

Thirdly, there is the college. All the faces you see are the cardinals and they are the possible heir to the Papacy.

Lastly, there is '' Our best cardinal candidate '' and the '' Expected next cardinal ''. Just like the names say, you want your vassals ( Bishop ) to be there, no one else. And the number under the portrait is the key to victory ( called '' Cardinal Appointement Score ) . It represents the chance to be selected and you can alter it in many ways. The easiest way is to pour in campaing fund. The more money there is, the better. Another way is to give to your best cardinal titles. Yes , titles, like a county or a duchy ( I prefer duchy because it gives my cardinal more influence ). The stronger he is, the greater his chance to become a cardinal. Lastly, the cardinal must have virtues, it will give him points as well as age. Look at this screenshot to get a better idea:



Then the bad part begins: If you best candidate is selected, you have to hope that he becomes the Preferatus and it can be hard. You see, it is basically the same thing as the Cardinal Appointement Score, but now, you CANT pour money to help him! Your cardinals must win by ''himself''.



Otherwise, it is the same concept : Virtues, opinion with the Pope and the age are the main factor. An important factor can also be the special '' holy '' traits, such as Crusader. They wil, give you nice boost and increases your chances of winning. On the other hand, if your cardinal has sin, it will decreases his chances to win.
WARNING: The culture bonus is based of the culture in Rome ( the county, not the Pope). Therefore, if the culture changes to Anglo-Saxon, the bonus will be for the the Anglo-Saxon culture, and not Italian.
Now you know everything. If your cardinal becomes Preferatus, good job! There is nothing more you can do.And if he becomes Pope, if will love you and you will basically be immunated to excommunication and such things (unless he hates your face for some reasons).

ADVICE: If you are a begginner in CK2, don't mess with the College, it is complicated and you don't need it to have a great time and a powerful empire. However, if you really want to have the Pope as your puppet, here is my piece of advice: create an anti-pope and declare war on the ''legitimate'' Pope. If you win, your anti-pope becomes Pope and it's like if you had won the election.

I know it was a long part of the guide, but it's is complicated to explain, but nice to understand.

Now that we have covered everything, I will talk about the gender laws.

Basically, they tell you if women are allowed to inherit something or not.
There are 3 gender laws (without mods):

Agnatic:

• Only men can inherit.
  
• You can't grant titles to women
  
• [edit thanks to comments] Women who have claims on your titles which follows this law cannot declare war on you

Agnatic-cognatic:

• Women can inherit when there is no elligible men to inherit
  
• You can't grant titles to women

Absolute cognatic:

• Perfect equality between men and women
  
• You can grant titles to women

That's about it. Usually, you will be at agnatic-cognatic, but if you want, you can try to go for absolute cognatic, but it's not really simple.

Here is a screenshot to show you the requirements for absolute cognatic:

I don't think it is worth all the trouble. There are laws that are more important in my opinion. Therefore, agnatic-cognatic is just fine.

That's the end of my guide. I hope you enjoyed it, because it was quite long to write everything and test everything ingame. English is not my first language, so I hope I didn't make to much mistakes for you. If you see any, please tell me in the comments so I can correct it, that would be very appreciated, as well as some feedback....... But if you do not want to, that's fine, I won't be insulted.

If you have any questions, refer to the FAQ and if you don't find your answer there, ask in the comment and I will answer as quickly as possible.

And now, young nobles, you are ready to make the right choice for your succession, but be cautious, because your choice will affect your kingdom for the next couple generations.

• Do you plan to translate this guide to another language?

I plan to translate it to French in the near future, but do not expect other languages.

• Other guides in progress?

I honestly don't know. Maybe I will do one on the Byzantine Empire for those who want to reform the great Roman empire. But for that, I will have to do another game.

• Your guide is full of mistakes man!

Yeah, like I told you in the conclusion, English is not my first language, so yeah... But if you are talking about the content, I tested nearly everything ingame and I have the most recent version to date.So I doubt that I have made mistakes about that. But correct me if I was wrong, I won't be mad about it.

• You didn't talk about the Papacy, the theocracies and mercenary bands!

I know, I chose to not to because you can't play them, so why bother?