Crusader Kings 3 By God Alone: What It Adds and What Is Free

By God Alone is a $19.99 Core Expansion for Crusader Kings III, released on September 30, 2026, that adds the Christian Church Situation, playable theocracies (including the Pope), the College of Cardinals, Papal Bulls, Ecumenical Councils, Puppets, the Great Schism and a Grand Cathedral great project. A large share of the religion overhaul is free for everyone in update 1.20.0 “Crozier”: Rites, heresies, Spiritual Fulfillment, Personal Tenets, dynamic Holy Sites and the excommunication rework all arrive without the DLC.

Below we split the feature list into paid and free, then cover price, platforms and what the update means for your PC. Everything here is verified against Paradox’s launch changelog, the official dev diaries and the store listing. For the launch news itself, see our By God Alone release story.

What the Paid Expansion Adds

These are listed under “Expansion Features (Paid)” in Paradox’s changelog. You need By God Alone for all of them.

• The Christian Church Situation. A persistent Situation covering all of Christendom. Every Christian ruler of County tier or above takes part, sorted into six groups (Main Power, Secondary Powers and Heretics, each split Clerical and Secular). It moves through seven Chapters: Fragile Unity, Saeculum Obscurum, Conversion, Reform, Investiture Controversy, Crusade and Concord. Each Chapter changes religion, diplomacy, warfare and vassal modifiers differently for each group.
• Playable theocracies. Theocratic and Ecclesiastical rulers are now playable, from prince-bishops to archbishops to the Pope. Christian clergy use the new Ecclesiastical government with a church Treasury and clerical succession. Secular rulers can take the Adopt Theocratic Rule decision, and the Restore Temporal Rule decision reverses it.
• Clerical Titles and Archdioceses. A second map layer of Clerical Regions that ignores secular borders, with Lease Contracts deciding how much the clergy pays you and their Religious Superior.
• The College of Cardinals and the Papacy. Up to 70 Cardinals who elect the next Pope, a Papabile Score for candidates, and interactions to appoint, strip and order Cardinals.
• Papal Bulls. A Christian Head of Faith can permit a Tenet, forbid a Tenet, declare a Rite heretical, or proclaim the Age of Crusades.
• Ecumenical Councils. An activity with a 25-year cooldown where Innovators and Conservatives debate and vote on Core Tenets and Doctrines. The Investiture Council is a special version that settles who appoints the clergy.
• Puppets. Control your Court Chaplain, a cleric outside your realm, or even a secular ruler, and make them act for you. The Puppet pays the costs and takes the blame.
• The Great Schism as a tracked, playable event, with Cause, Prevent and Mend decisions.
• Monastic order management, Canonization and saints, relic extraction, Holy Myron, pilgrim badges and the Grand Cathedral great project in three tiers (Romanesque, Gothic and Flamboyant).
• Antipopes as clerical puppets, the Religious Study scheme and the Scholar lifestyle trait.
• Personal devotion decisions such as Take Confession, Stage an Act of Devotion, Sacrifice Wealth and Receive Last Rites.
• A new 867 bookmark, Fathers of the Faithful, with a Slavic Rite story cycle for Rostislav of Moravia.
• The Servants of God dynasty legacy, 10 achievements, six music tracks, a Christian UI skin and new clothing, buildings and animations.

What Every Player Gets Free in Update 1.20.0

The free “Crozier” update reworks religion for everyone, whether or not you buy the expansion.

• Rites. Every existing faith branch and school (Ambrosian, Mozarabic, Hanafi, Theravada and more) is now a Rite with its own Head of Rite, Tenets and map color. Characters can found new Rites. A Rite that drifts too far from its Faith’s mainline becomes a heresy or splits off as a new Faith.
• Heresies. They break out in Faiths whose Fervor has fallen below 40, with ten historical heresies added, including the Cathars, Waldensians, Lollards and Hussites.
• Spiritual Fulfillment and Personal Tenets. Characters now hold personal beliefs separate from their Faith, and a Spiritual Fulfillment meter tracks whether they live up to them. Paradox also added 26 new Tenets.
• Reworked Holy Sites. Eminent Holy Sites, up to nine Holy Sites per Faith, enshrined relics and the ability to create, adopt, elevate, demote or abandon Holy Sites.
• Monastic and Military Orders replace the old Holy Orders.
• Antipopes and holy war. Declare an Antipope, Proclaim Yourself Antipope, and the Challenge Head of Faith and Depose Antipope casus belli.
• An excommunication rework, where letters now tell you why you were excommunicated and by whom.
• The Study Faith scheme, new game rules for how often Rites branch and heresies break out, and balance, AI, performance and multiplayer fixes.

In short: if you want to play the Church from the inside, as a cleric, Cardinal or Pope, or steer Christendom through its Chapters, you need the expansion. If you mainly play non-Christian realms, much of what changes for you comes in the free update.

Price, Chapter V and Platforms

By God Alone costs $19.99 on Steam. It is also part of the Crusader Kings III: Chapter V expansion pass, alongside the Symbols of Authority clothing pack, the Songs of the Realm music pack and the Silk and Silver major expansion, which Paradox lists for Q4 2026. Paradox’s By God Alone page says buying it through Chapter V saves 20%.

The expansion is PC only. The Steam listing supports Windows, macOS and Linux, and Paradox’s page also sells it through the Microsoft Store. Crusader Kings III Console Edition exists on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, but Paradox’s official console page only lists content through Chapter III, and no console version of By God Alone has been announced.

PC Requirements After the Update

The base game’s Steam requirements did not change for 1.20.0:

The update should make the game lighter, not heavier. Paradox’s performance dev diary says streaming meshes and illustrations instead of loading them all at startup cut video memory use by between a third and a half, trimmed system memory a decade into a campaign by roughly a sixth, and brought one developer’s time to the main menu from 84 seconds down to 16. Those are Paradox’s own measurements, so your results will vary with your hardware.

Before You Load an Old Save

The changelog restructures the religion database, so religion mods will likely need updates before they work again. If you rely on mods, check each one’s Workshop page before starting a new campaign. If you are between campaigns and want another medieval sandbox, our Bannerlord mods list and Civilization 6 mods list cover two strategy games with deep modding scenes.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is By God Alone free? No. By God Alone is a paid expansion at $19.99, or part of Chapter V. The free 1.20.0 update that launched with it gives every player Rites, heresies, Spiritual Fulfillment, Personal Tenets and reworked Holy Sites.

Can you play as the Pope without the DLC? No. Playable theocracies, including the Pope, are listed as a paid expansion feature in Paradox’s changelog.

Is By God Alone on PS5 or Xbox? Not as of launch. It is on PC (Windows, Mac and Linux), and Paradox has not announced a console version.

Do I need Chapter V to get By God Alone? No. You can buy it on its own or as part of the Chapter V expansion pass.

Is the Great Schism in the free update? No. The Great Schism as a playable event is part of the paid expansion.