No Legal Heir

[Gojak_v3]

What does that mean for me when my king dies?

[Blue Knight™]

a random person will take over , or a PU

[Sims]

Countries from your royal marriages may fight for succession as well. Not sure what happens at that point, I haven't had it actually get there but I've had the warning a lot of times.

[Gojak_v3]

So, does my game end?

Can I still get an heir since my king is alive?

[Sims]

Yes, and thats what usually happens. The more royal marriages you have the better chance you have of an heir. Usually what happens if I don't get an heir through normal means, a random event pops up where I find a kid hunting or in the river and I adopt it.

[Sims]

But then due the weak claim I can end up with noble rebels fighting for someone else with a strong claim so be careful.

[Banana Tiger]

A few things can happen depending on situation.
The most complex PU Guide in the Internet: https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/index.php?threads/guide-to-royal-marriages-personal-unions-and-claim-throne.788829/
This guy is PU Genius, 6 big PUs in 1566.

The "best" PU I accomplished was going in PU UNDER Austria, my hier died, few weeks later ruler died. :(

[Aaelar]

Originally posted by Gojak_v3:

So, does my game end?

Can I still get an heir since my king is alive?

Your game almost litteraly never ends until the end date of 1821 (or whenever). Litteraly the only way for the game to stop early is if you are annexed by another country, which doesn't happen immediatly from a PU.

You will still have a chance to get an heir until your current monarch dies; more Royal Marriages increases that chance.

If you have no heir, there is a chance that another royal family will take their place on your throne. You will still control your nation as usual, but your new ruler may have very low legitimancy, so that will cause problems.

If your ruler does die and you get involved in a Succession War, you will be forced to fight for one side. It doesn't matter if you win or lose the war as either way you will be a subordinate member of a Personal Union; the war just decides who you're subordinate to.

You will still play the game as usual with a new ruler however you will be restricted since you're in a PU. The only way that you can lose the game is if they annex you and the only way for THAT to happen is if it has been many years. You will recieve a pop-up warning you that they are about to annex you, so you will always be able to declare an independence war before then (preferably with the help of enemies of your master nation), however if you lose that then you most likely have lost overall.

Being in a PU doesn't lose you the game, however it will be much, much more difficult for you to expand as you will have to sit in the shadow of your overlord until you declare your independence.

[CEO of Spearfighting]

You can hover on your Ruler's Name in the first tab to see what happens if he dies, IIRC.

Depending on your Prestige, your royal marriages, and the Prestige of the nations you got a Royal Marriage with, those can happen:
-A noble from your country takes the throne. Lowers your legitimacy hard.
-A member of the dynasty of a country who you got a royal marriage with takes the throne. Lowers legitimacy, but on the other hand being the same dynasty as another nation gives you a diplomatic bonus, and if you're lucky, might allow you to claim their throne if things go wrong for them.
-You become a Junior Partner in a Personnal Union with a country you got a royal marriage with. Which means your country will be ruled by the same monarch as that country and you'll be acting as a vassal, kind of. You can declare independance war as soon as you want, and can ask for other countries to help you fight for it (might require a DLC, not sure...).

... Either way, if you get a few royal marriages here and here, and DO NOT send your kings and heirs into battle, you SHOULD usually have a suitable heir for the throne, unless you're very unlucky...

[Tayip]

if you're at war and your king dies, you can't become a junior partner in a PU. you'll get someone from the dynasty of a country you have a royal marriage with.