Obviously, you want your children to end up with the best level of education available in the game which is level 4. This listicle won’t discuss how you are going to achieve that – instead we’ll cover which line of education is best for your heirs and future characters. Each offers certain advantages over the others. The main way each education will be judged is the lifestyle it is associated with. The raw attributes provided are secondary to the lifestyle experience bonus each one gives. Of course, this guide will rank the five level 4 traits. The comparison stands for every tier of education, when compared to each other at that level.
5. Grey Eminence (Diplomacy)
Diplomatic education is obviously the weakest of the bunch. Its direct bonuses are translated to up to +8 general opinion and extra monthly prestige. It also boosts your diplomatic lifestyle experience accumulation. The diplomatic lifestyle’s bonuses are not the strongest overall. Its provided casus-bellis are outshined by others in different lifestyle paths. The +25 vassalization acceptance can come in handy, but usually only when you have already established yourself as a powerful ruler. The various bonuses to personal schemes, option to propose alliances regardless of marriage ties, and extra prestige all have their uses. In general, a diplomatic education is mostly aimed at holding a large, unstable realm together. This can be achieved by other means as well, especially if you handle your vassals correctly from early on. If you choose to play with the game rule making all realms more unstable, then a diplomatic education becomes slightly more appealing to go for. In any case, there are other priorities, especially in the early stages of a campaign. While it has its niche uses, diplomatic education falls short of the competition.
4. Elusive Shadow (Intrigue)
An education focused on intrigue has a variety of applications in a character’s lifetime. A “jack of all trades, master of none” kind of lifestyle. The direct bonus is up to +8 scheme success and scheme discovery chance depending on the level of the education. This makes you safer from hostile schemes, while helping you carry yours successfully. The intrigue lifestyle has 3 distinct paths, all focusing on very different things. This gives you versatility, which is a big advantage, especially if you are unsure about what the future holds. The central path, focusing on seduction, is especially strong if you are a woman. In a world dominated by men in positions of power, being able to seduce them can help you immensely. The rightmost path aims at locking your dread at 100, the maximum possible, and allows you to rule through intimidation. If you find yourself with a bunch of coward vassals, this path can make your life as a tyrant trivial. The leftmost path is the scheming one and the main one you will be going the intrigue route for. This path aims to make you a beast in scheming, raising your success chance and making it easier to find accomplices. Finishing it allows you to have two schemes running simultaneously! Unlocking the option to abduct characters can also come in handy in a variety of situations. An intrigue education should be pursued when you anticipate the need to murder your way into inheritance or protect yourself from ambitious schemers. The inherent risks associated with being outed as a murderer make an education of this kind less appealing.
3. Midas Touched (Stewardship)
A stewardship education provides arguably the best direct bonuses. Every 5 points of stewardship raise your domain limit by +1. Stewardship provides up to +8 stewardship at a level 4 education. While it doesn’t sound like much, during the early game when domain limit is hard to raise, two extra counties can massively boost your income and levies. The stewardship lifestyle aims primarily at making you more money. Plain and simple: most of the perks you can unlock give you new ways to gain gold or raise your domain’s development. The highlight is the penultimate perk of the middle branch which gives you a flat +2 domain limit. The rightmost tree also provides some bonuses that can help you manage your vassals, increasing their opinion and outright making them less likely to join independence factions. The Meritocracy perk which allows you to fabricate a claim on your liege’s title via scheming is excellent to move up the ranks inside a large realm. However, it is the first perk in its tree. You can always briefly switch to a stewardship lifestyle without having the relevant education just to unlock it. After you have settled on which provinces you are going to keep long-term for a given campaign, having a character educated on stewardship can work wonders for developing your lands!
2. Brilliant Strategist (Martial)
A martial education is the most straightforward regarding what it aims to do. You’re making your military capabilities outright better with the direct bonus to your martial attribute. The associated lifestyle also primarily aims at outpowering your enemies in the battlefield. And the three lifestyle paths help you make the most out of your troops. The leftmost path gives bonuses to your armies, especially men-at-arms which becomes more valuable as the game progresses. The middle branch is all about raising and maintaining control of your domain’s lands. If you are going to rapidly conquer new land and keep it for yourself, this branch is invaluable. A county with low control will provide you with next to zero levies and taxes. The rightmost branch is the bread and butter of the early game. Direct bonuses to your advantage when leading an army, more and better knights, and easier peace deals help you overpower your enemies early on. The bonuses to marriage acceptance are also clutch when asking for a princesses’ hand! Especially when leading your own armies yourself, a military education is almost mandatory when attempting to carve a realm in the early game!
1. Mastermind Philosopher (Learning)
Maybe to the surprise of less experienced players, a learning education takes the top spot on this list. Why is that you may ask? Cultural innovations! In most campaigns, you’ll eventually end up as the Cultural Head of your Culture. This means that your culture’s innovations will be directly affected by your player character. It cannot be overstated how important advancing Cultural Innovations is. Well, the main way you impact the progress towards innovations as the Culture Head is through your learning attribute. The best way to raise this attribute is by following a learning lifestyle, which is a lot easier if you have a learning education. Inside the lifestyle’s three branches you can find a multitude of perks with niche uses. The left branch aims at prolonging your lifespan and can lead to some centenarian characters with correct planning! The perk “Celibacy” available very early on can help you simplify the inheritance in the early game by making sure you only have a single heir. The second branch focuses on progressing cultural advancements faster and helps with the opinion of different cultures. The final three perks of the tree are all exceptional. The “Buy Claim” perk is arguably the strongest single perk in the game. The interaction simply exchanges piety for a claim on any title. Using it to expand your realm or to break up a large vassal of yours, it finds use at any stage of the campaign! And the third branch focuses on religion. It makes it easier to convert counties to your faith and makes your religious vassals adore you. The “Prophet” perk is almost a necessity when trying to reform a faith.
