Wiki

effect · promote_character

Definition

  • Supported scope:COUNTRY, CHARACTER
  • Supported target:none

Description

promotes character to the head of their political party.If this is the ruling party, the character becomes country leader.if the character has several country leader role (i.e. several ideologies), then it is mandatory to provide the ideology to promote.

Example in country scope or scripted effects:
promote_character = GER_erwin_rommel
promote_character = {
  character = GER_erwin_rommel
  ideology = nazism
}


Example in character scope:
promote_character = yes
promote_character = nazism
promote_character = {
  ideology = nazism
}

Hands-On Notes

Hands-on notes are AI-generated and checked against the vanilla command vocabulary — treat them as a starting point, not authoritative reference. The definition above is the game's own documentation.

Hands-On Usage

promote_character is commonly used in national focus trees or events to elevate a character to party leader of the ruling party (and simultaneously to national leader if that party is in power). Typical scenarios include coup events, power transitions following ideology shifts, or storyline progression in DLC-style character roleplay mods. When a character holds multiple national leader roles across different ideologies, the ideology parameter must be explicitly specified; otherwise, the game cannot determine which role to promote.

# In a country scope event option, promote Rommel to Nazi party leader/national leader
country_event = {
    id = ger.101
    option = {
        name = ger.101.a
        promote_character = {
            character = GER_erwin_rommel
            ideology = nazism
        }
    }
}

# Promote directly within the character's own scope (no need to specify character name)
GER_erwin_rommel = {
    promote_character = nazism
}

Synergy

  • [add_country_leader_role](/wiki/effect/add_country_leader_role): Before promoting a character, ensure they already possess a national leader role for the corresponding ideology; otherwise the promotion will have no effect. These two effects typically appear in pairs.
  • [remove_country_leader_role](/wiki/effect/remove_country_leader_role): Used to remove the old leader's ruling role before promoting a new one, enabling smooth power transitions and preventing logical confusion from multiple leaders existing simultaneously.
  • [add_country_leader_trait](/wiki/effect/add_country_leader_trait): Immediately attach traits to the newly promoted leader to enrich their attribute profile; commonly seen in storyline mod power transition sequences.
  • [can_be_country_leader](/wiki/trigger/can_be_country_leader): Serves as a precondition check before executing promotion, confirming the character qualifies to become a national leader and preventing errors from triggering when conditions are unmet.

Common Pitfalls

  1. Forgetting to specify ideology for multi-ideology characters: If a character has been bound to multiple ideologies via add_country_leader_role, writing promote_character = GER_xxx without the ideology field will cause the game to error or behave unpredictably. Always use the block syntax and explicitly fill in the ideology field in such cases.
  2. Attempting promotion before the character has acquired a national leader role: The prerequisite for promote_character is that the character already possesses a national leader role for the corresponding ideology (declared through add_country_leader_role or in the character definition). If the character only has general or advisor roles without a leader role, this command will have no effect and produce no error, making debugging extremely difficult.