Witches are OP

TL:DR I'm getting 2 to 4 free lifestyle perks per year because my coven keeps inviting me to grand rite ceremonies so much.

So when I started the game as a lowly countess in Ireland, I gave myself the witch trait in the ruler designer. It seemed appropriate given that I named my character 'Mórrígan.'

Because I started with a custom (Ironman compatible) character, I had a dynasty of one. In order to make a witches coven you only have to convert a modest % of the adults in your dynasty. So I started converting once my kids started becoming adults. I was able to form the coven soon after, and my heir was also a witch. He continued creating witches, while also uniting all of Britannia and reforming insular Christianity to see everything as criminal EXCEPT witchcraft.

In historical Irish/ celtic mythology, Mórrígan was the Irish goddess, phantom queen, and foreteller of doom and death on the battlefield... it made sense to spread that far and wide. She herself was symbolized by the crow, as all witches in game are. It all seemed just so fitting...

So as more and more members of my dynasty attained glory and titles and courts of their own, they continued to spread witchcraft everywhere. The coven boost saw every child gain the trait when under the tutelage of a witch. Since it wasn't a punishable crime anymore in my domain, it spread like literal wildfire.

Then I realized that once you create a coven, you get a decision every ten years to hold a 'grand rite.' Cool i think. Nice perk.

I didn't realize that everyone who is a witch can choose to do that decision. While I can only choose it myself every ten years, I'm a little bit further on in the game now, my coven has hundreds of members, and I'm attending anywhere from 2 to 4 grand rites PER YEAR as a guest (the game automatically invites anyone who is known to be a witch by the person who chooses the decision... and since it's all in the open and legal, everyone knows about everyone's witchcraft).

This is utterly OP when you realize that EACH grand rite gives you the option to get a free (albeit random) lifestyle perk. So I've been getting up to 4 lifestyle perks every year. When normally you'd only get what... 1 every 1.5 - 2 years if you're lucky?

My 3rd player character (first being Mórrígan, second being her grandson) is only 47 right now and he already has more unlocked perks than my second character had... and he lived until he was 89.

I'm actually thinking that there might come a time in this playthrough where I unlock every perk on a single character this way. It might even be with this character if he lives long enough.

That's psycho.

EDIT 1:

One issue I neglected to mention: as a tribal ruler, cadet branches aren't allowed. So I currently have over 1100 HOUSE members, as my house and dynasty are one and the same. Covens are specifically a HOUSE bonus (not dynasty bonus, like legacy perks are)... so presumably, if / when I feudalize, I'll have a massive 'cadet-xodus' of people creating their own houses and MUCH of the strength of my coven will dissipate (as all of those witches would be 'leaving the coven').

I don't yet know if all those witches will be able to start covens of their own (depends on how the new cadet houses form and whether the 'form a coven' decision is even something the AI will do). Even if they can / do form a coven of their own, I'm not sure if their grand rites would invite known witches from other house Covens.

But honestly, between this, raiding from longboats (i converted Denmark and the northern isles to Irish culture), and the awesome tribal cb's, I'm actually considering potentially not feudalizing. Crazy, I know...

But anyways... that's all just something to keep in mind if you try this out as a feudal or clan ruler (or at a later bookmark / start date)... your mileage may definitely vary.

EDIT 2:

Woops. I actually have over 1600 house members. I hadn't realized i'd ballooned that much with the last generation coming of age, marrying, and starting to pop out kids.

EDIT 3:

Anyone wanting exact stats can look here