Crusader Kings II: Ruler Designer Review (Lucabaduka)
I really don't think that price point is the direction to go on a review about this content, nor do I agree with the strategy of solely talking about Paradox's DLC practices, nor do I agree with the strategy of just saying "crap" and voting it down, because I feel like this lures people into thinking that users are just bandwagoning and this content could actually be good.
It is truly not.
Ruler Designer is a DLC for CKII that allows you to design the traits and appearances of the first ruler that you select when starting a game. Like a good old RPG, you can adjust your desired characteristics with your trait points, which happen to be measured by age here. You start out at 16 and can select any traits, positive ones that cost years or negative ones that give some back, and end up with any combination you fancy, so long as it totals 50 years or less. You also have the option to set your family crest, which is useful if you play a character where you are not the top liege. You can also set your culture and religion if you would like to do something very unhistorical.
One downside is that this is obviously a custom character generator and, therefore, does not fit into Paradox's very strict set of circumstances to where you can earn achievements. But more importantly, it does not allow you to have an extended family. You can expend some points to have a wife and child, which are easy enough to come by in gameplay unless you are setting yourself past childbearing age. But still yet, if anything happens to you, the game ends. This is not the case in most situations normally. You typically have siblings or extended relatives who can take the throne if someone happens to assassinate you and your household; however, that's not the case here. Instead of simply replacing the character you selected and giving you their family, it inserts you into their territory as a new family since you are, yourself, a different person now.
Since I've personally seen two people, who are new to this game and received DLC as a part of a bundle, leap immediately into using this on their first game, I can't possibly recommend it. Without the ability to continue playing after you die, it adds a pointless amount of difficulty for players who don't know any better. Surely the odds of survival get better when you're more experienced, but when you're not, you could go decades without adding anyone to your family. And, unless you are playing one of those theoretical playthroughs that asks "how would Norse culture be treated in India?", I'm not sure what benefit it gives to more experienced players either. Best to just play the game normally with that goal in mind, so you can at least get the achievement.
My review is negative.