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Health is an attribute that affects life expectancy. Healthy characters are less likely to fall prey to diseases and more likely to fully recover from them (as well as respond well to treatment by a court physician). They are also less likely to die in any month. High health is key to a long life.

Base health is hidden and can only be observed with the charinfo console command. Traits and event modifiers that affect health are visible.

Strong and weak [ edit ]

The traits Strong , Brawny , Weak , and Frail are more important than their tooltips suggest. They not only affect health directly, but also affect:

Likelihood of "general illness" ( Ill , random symptom with )

, random symptom with ) Severity of diseases ( mild / normal / serious / bedridden)

mild / normal / serious / bedridden) Likelihood to fully recover from many diseases

Likelihood of successful treatment by a Court Physician ( )

) Likelihood of pregnancy complications

To improve basic vitality:

Breeding and Selecting your heir for Strong

With Way of Life : Lose Weak Frail Gain Brawny

: With Conclave : Educate children toward Brawny Brave Rowdy Educate children away from Frail Idolizer Kind

:

Stressed and depressed [ edit ]

The traits Stressed and Depressed each reduce health by 1. They also increase the likelihood of "general illness". If you find your character stressed or depressed, there are several ways to make recovery more likely.

Content vassals on the council [ edit ]

Content rulers can soothe other members of the same court. Content rulers on your council become members of your court, letting them target you or your courtiers who are depressed.

In addition to being on your council, the vassal must be: playable tier (count+ or patrician), at peace, accessible, and not leading troops.

More likely if the content character is also Diligent Patient

Remove other stressed/depressed adults from your court. This ensures the content characters heal you rather than healing someone else. Usually possible with some combination of marriage and title grants. With The Reaper's Due , you can ask characters to leave your court.

rather than healing someone else. With Conclave, the Humility childhood focus can lead to Content

Focus [ edit ]

With the Way of Life DLC, several focus choices can help you remove stressed or depressed.

Carousing focus . Each party you host has a 30% chance to remove stressed/depressed, not only from you but also from guests. As long as you are at peace, you can hold 3 parties every 2 years.

. Each party you host has a 30% chance to remove stressed/depressed, not only from you but also from guests. As long as you are at peace, you can hold 3 parties every 2 years. Theology focus . A mystical experience can leave you feeling energized. More likely if Zealous

. A mystical experience can leave you feeling energized. More likely if Hunting focus . Your hunting dog can make you happier. Does not require continued hunting focus once you have a dog.

. Your hunting dog can make you happier. Does not require continued hunting focus once you have a dog. Seduction focus . Each lover may randomly offer you a chance to get away from an unhappy marriage. Your spouse must have a negative opinion of you. This can be arranged by legitimizing bastards, or by granting and revoking honorary titles. It is best if you have multiple lovers, and if the lovers are also Kind Diligent These conditions also allow your spouse to plot against your life, if they are not Honest Kind

. Each lover may randomly offer you a chance to get away from an unhappy marriage.

Loving marriage [ edit ]

Being your spouse's lover can trigger an event removing stressed or depressed. You must both be free and not leading troops. The Family focus can help you become your spouse's lover, and also halves the event's MTTH.

Great works and private conversations [ edit ]

If you are an independent ruler and your character is stressed, consider building a Great work with a feature that enables Private Conversations. If you have a Lover in the same realm (or better yet, a Lover-Spouse!), then you can invite them to a Private Conversation and receive a 30% chance to lose your stress each time. Private Conversations are on a 6 month cooldown, so you can try to lose stress twice per year in this manner.

If you do not have a Lover, then you can also attempt to Seduce characters using the Private Conversation mechanic -- even your spouse! Consider constructing the Magnificent Gardens and add the Vineyard feature to it, as this unlocks both Private Conversation and Send Alcohol Gift mechanics, letting you gift a bottle of fine wine to your lover to accompany your tryst! This can be a very reliable method of de-stressing your character, but sadly if you are a vassal then you cannot make use of Great Works.

Less stressful lifestyle [ edit ]

Ditch extra jobs. Not being on a council and not leading troops brings the MTTH of event 6041 down to 56 years. This can only remove stressed, not depressed.

Societies [ edit ]

With the Monks and Mystics DLC, if you are in the Hermetic Society, you can brew a potion of eudaimonia to cure stress and depression.

Pets [ edit ]

Some pets obtained through events provide a health boost:

Pet Cat (+1 health, +1 intrigue): During an epidemic, peasants may suspect cats as the cause. You can spend money to investigate the cats and to keep some cats for observation. You can then choose to keep one as a pet. Note that refusing to expel cats from your realm may increase revolt risk in your capital; this is mitigated by having 15+ diplomacy or 15+ intrigue. A pet cat may also be obtained by a random event where "a small kitty demands your attention", or from Shieldmaiden events.

Hunting dog (+1 health, +1 martial): A gift while you have the Hunting focus.

If you have both a pet cat and a hunting dog, you will see them fight. You may give one of them away, or keep both in the hope that they will get along. If you choose to keep both, there is a 50% chance that one will kill or chase away the other, forcing you to accept either a 75% chance of depressed or also getting rid of the remaining pet.



Pet Owl (+1 health, +1 learning): A pet owl can be obtained through the "Worship the ancestors" pagan decision, as a possible outcome of wishing for wisdom.

Pet Rat (+1 health): Imprisoned children may befriend a rat.

Pet Hedgehog (+0.5 health): Characters following Mazdan religions may get a hedgehog through an event.

Taking it easy [ edit ]

Your court physician may recommend that you take it easy, for +1 health but -1 to all skills.

Requirements:

You are not slothful

You are not tribal or nomadic

You are stressed diligent wroth

Your court physician is either a character who was generated to be a court physician, or has the Renowned Physician

The event is more likely to fire if you are diligent, if you are stressed, and if your court physician has a learning skill of 16+.

Choosing to take it easy removes the diligent trait if you have it, but does not prevent you from regaining the trait.

Religion [ edit ]

Some pagans: Ancestor Worship — Making a sacrifice can increase your health in several ways

Some pagans: Ancestor Worship — Making a sacrifice can increase your health in several ways Buddhists and Jains can select a sect that improves health

Buddhists and Jains can select a sect that improves health Bön pagans and Khurmazta both have a patron deity that provides a health boost

Bön pagans and Khurmazta both have a patron deity that provides a health boost Taoists following the "Quanzhen School of Complete Perfection" receive a health boost

Taoists following the "Quanzhen School of Complete Perfection" receive a health boost With Monks and Mystics, the leader of the demon worshippers may "absorb lifeforce", sacrificing their child in order to gain +1 to +3 health for 10 years.

Diseases and Infections [ edit ]

Main article: Diseases

Strategic placement of your capital and/or character can help you avoid contracting epidemic diseases. A good Court Physician who has high opinion of you can help you recover from diseases.

Note that getting Infection from being Wounded is particularly dangerous as your Court Physician cannot treat this symptom; you may have to find other ways to make up for the health loss.