Fines, Hard Labor, Imprisonment and dealing with it IC

[Zaharra]

In the city of waterdeep there are several laws, several of which can mean spending the majority of the time in trouble with the law in Waterdeep. Most adventures include breaking these laws, and my good aligned noble has been jailed, and upon being released from jail is being sentenced to hard labor for essentially refusing to give up information that would have implicated one of the other PCs. Outside of the misery of the situation, I've paid out almost 1000gp in fines since arriving at the city, all for basically just following the party on our misadventures. The rest of the party has managed to evade most of the punishments but I never seem to leave an encounter with the watch without penalty, partly because I won't sell out the others

I'm trying to find a reason why my noble, who's not particularly keen on violence in the first place, should ever leave her room given that she can barely go three days between being punished by the city? I'm the only healer in the party, so I've been using that as a motivation, but the party rarely needs it and the party Wizard has told my character she's less useful than a potion

[Unoriginal]

In the city of waterdeep there are several laws, several of which can mean spending the majority of the time in trouble with the law in Waterdeep. Most adventures include breaking these laws, and my good aligned noble has been jailed, and upon being released from jail is being sentenced to hard labor for essentially refusing to give up information that would have implicated one of the other PCs. Outside of the misery of the situation, I've paid out almost 1000gp in fines since arriving at the city, all for basically just following the party on our misadventures. The rest of the party has managed to evade most of the punishments but I never seem to leave an encounter with the watch without penalty, partly because I won't sell out the others

I'm trying to find a reason why my noble, who's not particularly keen on violence in the first place, should ever leave her room given that she can barely go three days between being punished by the city? I'm the only healer in the party, so I've been using that as a motivation, but the party rarely needs it and the party Wizard has told my character she's less useful than a potion

First point: are you a Waterdevian Noble? 'cause if yes, you should have privilege which would avoid you things like jailtime and hard labor. In fact most cops should just tip their hat and wish you a good day.

Second point: how come you are the only one getting caught?

Third point: adventuring in Waterdeep does not actually require to break the laws, and even if you do something illegal you need to be spotted and then reported to the Watch, who then have to confirm the crime actually happened.


I'd need to know more to help more, though. Could you describe the recent crimes your party was involved in and how your character got in trouble with the Watch all those times, please? The more you can tell us, the more we can get a clear picture.

[Imbalance]

Bribery. Don't pay another fine or let them slip you into another set of bracelets without first trying to grease the wheels a bit.

[Unoriginal]

Bribery. Don't pay another fine or let them slip you into another set of bracelets without first trying to grease the wheels a bit.

That's actually not likely to work in Waterdeep. The fine against bribery is no joke.

That being said, having economico-political clout is a good way to avoid cop problems, by virtue of knowing or even being a bigwig.

[Vogie]

Bribery without money - It's time to establish contacts with the Guards and Watch. Maybe as a confidential informant, a relationship with the captain or commissioner, or pairing up with another noble house with a fundraiser to legitimately give the Watch a cash infusion. I hear the Cassalanters seem to be flush with cash recently...

[Zaharra]

First point: are you a Waterdevian Noble? 'cause if yes, you should have privilege which would avoid you things like jailtime and hard labor. In fact most cops should just tip their hat and wish you a good day.

Second point: how come you are the only one getting caught?

Third point: adventuring in Waterdeep does not actually require to break the laws, and even if you do something illegal you need to be spotted and then reported to the Watch, who then have to confirm the crime actually happened.


I'd need to know more to help more, though. Could you describe the recent crimes your party was involved in and how your character got in trouble with the Watch all those times, please? The more you can tell us, the more we can get a clear picture.

No, that wasn't allowed as an option, but I'm a noble with family ties to the city. The privilage hasn't extended to any kind of forgiveness, but did result in a death sentence being reduced to a less severe punishment.

My character didn't join any of the city factions that were made available, and doesn't have any leverage to claim to be working with the permission of anyone. One of the party members is part of the watch.

The watch most recently raided the manor where we are and took us all in for questioning regarding something we didn't even do, but because a couple of the other PCs like to sneak around and do questionable things I tried to lie during interrogation and was considered to be hampering justice.

Assaulting a noble happened because we got involved in a fight between some members of the zhentarim and some nobles and I failed to negotiate with the zhentarim and the family blamed me for the incident and wanted me charged with murdering a noble. No one else was in the room other than me, the later killed zhentarim member and the dead nobles who accused me of being responsible when questioned with speak with dead.

I've been charged with hampering justice for being tight lipped about a few incidents, I'm just not willing to sell people out as part of being chaotic good. Silence under a zone of truth spell is generally considered bad. So mostly now it's a reputation with the city as a criminal. In terms of character ability, I'm playing a lore bard focused on support and social interaction.

[Zaharra]

Bribery without money - It's time to establish contacts with the Guards and Watch. Maybe as a confidential informant, a relationship with the captain or commissioner, or pairing up with another noble house with a fundraiser to legitimately give the Watch a cash infusion. I hear the Cassalanters seem to be flush with cash recently...

Because one of the party members decided to go off and tell the wrong people our plans, the Cassalanters are targeting the party.

[Corran]

In terms of character ability, I'm playing a lore bard focused on support and social interaction.

So mostly now it's a reputation with the city as a criminal.
Why not improvise and work a new approach with what you said above in mind. That is, you have the potential I presume to be persuasive and/or intimidating, and you already have a reputation. This is something that can potentially be used in various ways when interacting with the NPC's of the world. Granted, it is something that can backfire if you don't handle this smartly (or rather, in a way that the DM would think it would be smart), but it also has potential for profit (eg use these traits to create friends with bad apples for which it might be good for your party to have information).
Though to be honest, the whole situation seems more like a ooc problem to me.

[VonKaiserstein]

Have your servant (you do have a servant, don't you?) find you a lawyer or barrister, and put them on retainer. Perhaps your family connections can recommend one. Then, see about getting yourself declared a diplomat from another town.

Alternatively, have a cutout acquire forged diplomatic papers for yourself.

If you are too good for lawbreaking( and it sounds like you might be) then become too good to be punished.

Playing by the rules is for mundane folks- as a noble healer, perhaps there's some sort of religious exemption, or you could commute your sentences to community service. Especially preemptive community service. Preach on the street corners and open a soup kitchen. Whenever you're caught, blame it on trying to help one of your flock.

[Man_Over_Game]

Talk to the DM, maybe you sit the next scenario out and focus on building relationships in Waterdeep while the party goes out and murders things. Maybe the DM throws a few majorly hard encounters their way to make them feel the necessity of a healer, and get them crawling back.

A tank is no good without a healer. A party of clerics isn't going to do much damage without a Rogue or two. In this case, you're taking the brunt of the group's legal punishment with no support, which isn't much different than a Fighter running headfirst without backup. This is really starting to impact (and even slow down) the game, and it's the DM's job to control the narrative and balance of all things. So talk to him.

[Pez5150]

You really should tell your DM how much it's bothering you. I mean it sounds like your DM doesn't play politics well. Like your characters family should be backing you up not trying to plant the murder of a noble on you. More importantly it's the DMs job to make it fun for everyone and shouldn't be having someone feel singled out. This comes with caveat though. If you got into this problem of fines and everything else through your own agency and he gave you opportunities to fix it that a chaotic good player can take, then it's up to you fix it. Even then, you still need to voice your concerns to your DM.

RP-wise, as a nobility you have to learn to play politics, shore up relationships and learn to flex your nobility. This also requires the DM to actually allow you to do so and to give you opportunities to do so. I hope he does that.

The other thing to consider is maybe a chaotic good character doesn't fit in well with the play group. It's like playing a lawful good character in a group of chaotic evil players. Just food for thought.