The Code Legal

Punishment for a crime can include one or more of the following, based on the nature of the crime, who or what the crime is committed against, and the criminal record of the convicted:

• Death
• Exile (for a number of years or summers)
• Flogging (a set number of strokes)
• Hard labor (for a period of days, months, or years depending on the seriousness of the crime)
• Imprisonment in the dungeons of Castle Waterdeep (for a period of days or months depending on the seriousness of the crime)
• Fine (payable to the city; inability to pay the fine leads to imprisonment and/or hard labor)
• Damages (payable to the injured party or victim's kin; inability to pay damages leads to imprisonment and/or hard labor)
• Edict (forbidding the convicted from doing something; violation of an edict can result in imprisonment, hard labor, and/or a fine)

I. Crimes against Lords, Officials, and Nobles

• Assaulting or impersonating a Lord: death
• Assaulting or impersonating an official or noble: flogging, imprisonment up to a tenday, and fine up to 500 gp
• Blackmailing an official: flogging and exile up to 10 years
• Bribery or attempted bribery of an official: exile up to 20 years and fine up to double the bribe amount
• Murder of a Lord, official, or noble: death
• Using magic to influence a Lord without consent: imprisonment up to a year, and fine or damages up to 1,000 gp
• Using magic to influence an official without consent: fine or damages up to 1,000 gp and edict

II. Crimes against the City

• Arson: death or hard labor up to 1 year, with fines and/or damages covering the cost of repairs plus 2,000 gp
• Brandishing weapons without due cause: imprisonment up to a tenday and/or fine up to 10 gp
• Espionage: death or permanent exile
• Fencing stolen goods: fine equal to the value of the stolen goods and edict
• Forgery of an official document: flogging and exile for 10 summers
• Hampering justice: fine up to 200 gp and hard labor up to a tenday
• Littering: fine up to 2 gp and edict
• Poisoning a city well: death
• Theft: flogging followed by imprisonment up to a tenday, hard labor up to 1 year, or fine equal to the value of the stolen goods
• Treason: death
• Vandalism: imprisonment up to a tenday plus fine and/or damages covering the cost of repairs plus up to 100 gp
• Using magic to influence an official without consent: fine or damages up to 1,000 gp and edict

III. Crimes against the Gods

• Assaulting a priest or lay worshiper: imprisonment up to a tenday and damages up to 500 gp
• Disorderly conduct within a temple: fine up to 5 gp and edict).
• Public blasphemy against a god or church: edict
• Theft of temple goods or offerings: imprisonment up to a tenday and damages up to double the cost of the stolen items
• Tomb-robbing: imprisonment up to a tenday and damages covering the cost of repairs plus 500 gp

IV. Crimes against Citizens

• Assaulting a citizen: imprisonment up to a tenday, flogging, and damages up to 1,000 gp
• Blackmailing or intimidating a citizen: fine or damages up to 500 gp and edict
• Burglary: imprisonment up to 3 months and damages equal to the value of the stolen goods plus 500 gp
• Damaging property or livestock: damages covering the cost of repairs or replacement plus up to 500 gp
• Disturbing the peace: fine up to 25 gp and edict
• Murdering a citizen without justification: death or hard labor up to 10 years, and damages up to 1,000 gp paid to the victim's kin
• Murdering a citizen with justification: exile up to 5 years or hard labor up to 3 years or damages up to 1,000 gp paid to the victim's kin
• Robbery: hard labor up to 1 month and damages equal to the value of the stolen goods plus 500 gp
• Slavery: flogging and hard labor up to 10 years
• Using magic to influence a citizen without consent: fine or damages up to 1,000 gp and edict

Guild Law

Separate from but linked to the city's laws are the private laws drafted and enforced by the Guilds of Waterdeep

. These laws, which vary from guild to guild and may dance the line between established tradition and codified rule, typically concern enforcement of quality standards (including safety and quality inspections), rules for the accreditation of apprentices, journeymen, and master crafters, the payment of guild dues, and so on.

Guilds take their laws seriously, as do members of the City Watch and the Magisters. If you flout a guild’s traditions, you can expect not only public scorn but also a visit from enforcers of the law. Many guilds have codes that entwine each other, complicating matters further. For example, in the construction of a building, the Surveyors’, Map-, and Chart-makers’ Guild must be consulted upon designation of the plan, then brought in to draw or approve the construction plan. The Cellarers’ and Plumbers’ Guild must then clear and prepare the site, only after which will you be able to hire members of the Carpenters’, Roofers’, and Plaisterers’ Guild to erect the structure.

The intertwining of guilds' laws can also extend to serious infractions between members of two separate guilds, such as instances of sabotage or slander leveled from a member of one guild to a member of another. The convoluted body of guilds' laws and the complicated web that forms as one guild overlaps with another means that it isn't uncommon for solicitors unaffiliated with any guild to be hired to guide the process.

More serious cases pursued under guild law may be transferred to the Court of Waterdeep (with or without the consent of the guild(s) involved) if the matter is deemed appropriate for the Common Court or the Lords' Court.