Alternatively, share your favorite mods for CK2, preferably ones that don’t rely on DLCs since I have only been playing for a few months and haven’t bought any

In case of mods, full overhaul would be ideal, but that’s a lot of work, so here’s my order of importance:

1. map
2. races
3. religion
4. cultures

I also have vanilla Europa Universalis IV, but I haven’t tried it out yet

Another thing worth pointing out: I’m NOT looking for a 4X, I don’t like the military / conquer focus of the genre

What I like in CK2:

• micromanaging marriages to (hopefully) get good stats and claims or land
• I can lose a lot without a game over
• personal feel of playing a dynasty instead of a country (but that’s okay, too)
• keeping a realm stable and vassals loyal
• “how have I become the king of X?”, sometimes caused by forgetting my own plans
• “England, it’s the 11th century, you shouldn’t be creating a colonial empire yet!” - probably won’t apply to a fantasy world, but I think it’s still worth mentioning
• staying alive is simple enough to try funny plans, like turning Byzantine Empire heretic
• interesting achievements
• working native Linux version
• overall interpersonal relationship management

After seeing my friend play Victoria III and Europa Universalis V, I think I’d enjoy a game with a more economic focus. I’ll probably buy EU5 if it gets a fantasy mod with world generator, but that’s probably gonna take a looong while.