Characters
Total War: Three Kingdoms has hundreds of characters in the game. Many of these, however, are your generic, non-historical additions. However, there’s still quite a number of actual historical officers who lived and ruled at the time. Characters that die in Total War: Three Kingdoms are gone for good.
Characters with a golden nameplate are considered legendary. They have slightly better stats, and they may even offer more perks when assigned to positions. The most important factor though would be resiliency. Legendary characters can suffer more “wounds” before they’re outright killed.
Characters also have a “satisfaction” mechanic. Basically, it’s their loyalty to you. Satisfaction may increase or decrease because of random events, length of time spent together in the same location or army, the need for higher positions in your government, or character traits. For instance, if there’s a big red “X” mark for two people in the same city or army, it means they’re not getting along well. This can lead to dissatisfaction for both.
Character Classes Or Archetypes
As mentioned, the philosophy of Wu Xing plays a major role, as the elements and color-coding are present:
- Commanders (earth/yellow) provide decent bonuses to melee cavalry, faction opinion, and peasant income via the focus on the Authority stat (character satisfaction and unit morale).
- Vanguards (fire/red) focus on shock cavalry, for the most part, speed, and blitzing through enemy lines. They also focus more on the Instinct stat (melee damage and recruitment cost discounts).
- Champions (wood/green) are your duelists who can be very tough to beat in straight up fights, with boosts to spearmen and food production. They focus on the Resolve stat (health increase and population growth).
- Sentinels (metal/grey) are front-liners who can take loads of damage while playing defensively. They focus on swordsmen and shielded infantry, industry boosts, and the Expertise stat (construction cost discounts and melee evasion).
- Strategists (water/blue) are tactical geniuses who handle commerce/trade assignments, with a knack for boosting archer units and siege weapons. Strategists should have a high Cunning stat (ammunition increase and military supplies).
Each character class in Romance Mode will have unique skills. For instance, Commanders can use a buff that blocks arrows, Vanguards have an AoE smite attack, and Strategists can improve (or debuff) ability cooldowns.
