Guide to the City of Waterdeep

System of Wards

Since the Year of Falling Stars (1035 DR), Waterdeep has been divided for the purposes of governance and security into a system of wards or civic districts. Although no formal boundaries mark their borders, the six recognized wards of Waterdeep are Castle Ward, Dock Ward, North Ward, Sea Ward, Southern Ward, and Trades Ward. The City of the Dead is nearly a seventh ward unto itself, and Deepwater Harbor and the surrounding islands form an informal eighth ward.

Waterdeep Structures

Buildings in the city are detailed in the following format:

Map Key: Name (usage, building class, # of floors)

Building Class

Building class is an artificial categorization of structures into one of four groups (described below).

Class A Buildings
Class A buildings are always unique and distinctive landmarks of any scale. Most, however, are of a large and grandiose nature, almost built as much for show as for use. Examples include the city’s public structures, major temples, and the nobles’ villas.
Class B Buildings
Class B buildings cover the larger, more successful and elaborate single buildings within the city. They have up to six stories, and might have extensive cellars (usually connected to the sewers at some point). Most inns and guildhalls fall into this class. Examples include grand houses and mansions, prosperous businesses, large warehouses, and the guildhalls.
Class C Buildings
The great majority of buildings in Waterdeep are Class C—the tall row houses that line the streets to heights up to five stories. Row houses usually have shops on the ground floor, with offices or apartments above that. While not always multi-story row houses, this class includes many of the better-kept taverns and rooming houses in the city as well.
Class D Buildings
Class D buildings are lesser buildings, usually one-story wooden buildings used as small warehouses, individual homes, and storage sheds for Waterdeep’s lower classes. Such buildings are mainly found in Dock Ward, southernmost Castle Ward, and, in smaller numbers, in Southern Ward and Trades Ward.

Sea Ward

Waterdeep’s wealthiest ward is notable for the many-spired, grand homes of the nobility, the gleaming edifices of the city’s leading temples, and the imposing towers of the city’s premier wizards. Other notable landmarks include the Field of Triumph ($77), the lush Heroes’ Garden ($70), and the Sea’s Edge Beach.

Sea Ward Structures

Alleys

Like North Ward, Sea Ward'’s “dangerous places” are minuscule compared with the ink-black alleys of Dock Ward. More distinctly, the alleys here contain more intrigue due to the gossip-mongers within them than any skulking thief, as the nobles do love their sport. Some of the more interesting alleys and byways are:

North Ward

Waterdeep’s quietest ward is also one of its wealthiest. North Ward is home to most of the middle class and lesser noble families. This ward has few notable landmarks other than the Cliffwatch, and it all but shuts down at dusk. This placid reputation belies the intrigues and scheming that goes on behind closed doors, and the volumes of smuggled goods that lie in cellars beneath the city streets.

North Ward Structures

Alleys

Comparatively speaking, the alleys in this ward are nearly as safe as a hallway in one’s own home. They are, at their worst, quiet places for drunken nobles and turned-out guests to sleep off the night’s revelry without fear of interruption. However, the backstreets do contain some items of interest and threat:

Castle Ward

Castle Ward lies in the heart of Waterdeep, wrapping around the eastern slopes of Mount Waterdeep. This ward is home to the city’s administrative buildings and buildings of state. The ward’s most prominent landmarks include Ahghairon’s Tower (C79), Blackstaff Tower (C6), Castle Waterdeep (C76), Piergeiron’s Palace (C75), the Market, and Mirt’s Mansion (C52).

Castle Ward Structures

Alleys

The last of the safer places to visit at night, Castle Ward’s alleys have almost all become proper streets. With the abundance of important folk and their bodyguards to say nothing of the frequent guard and watch patrols, thieves have little interest in skulking about here. Some of the places of local lore and interest are the following:

Trades Ward

Trades Ward lies in the eastern half of Waterdeep, encircling the western and southern walls of the City of the Dead. Given over almost entirely to commerce, Trades Ward lacks the feeling of community found in the more residential wards, but retains the hustle and bustle of a marketplace throughout the day and night. Notable landmarks of Trades Ward include the Court of the White Bull, the Plinth (T38), and Virgin’s Square.

Trades Ward Structures

Alleys

Given the quick turnover of most merchandise, the alleys of Trades Ward are almost constantly filled with refuse, empty crates, damaged or spoiled goods, and other garbage. The narrow alleys are reduced even further by makeshift middens and dumps; many heroes have been brought low by the limited room that hampers many weapons. Thieves tend to lurk within the alleys, using abandoned crates and wrecked carts for both cover and impromptu weapons, tumbling them upon passersby (whom they swiftly rob). The more noted (or notorious) alleys and danger spots are:

The City of the Dead

This walled enclosure on the eastern edge of Trades Ward is the general cemetery for the City of Splendors, and its size nearly makes it a ward in and of itself. Many citizens visit the City of the Dead’s parklike green lawns and white marble tombs during the day, for it is one of the few places dominated by greenery that the citizens of Waterdeep can share within the city walls. A Watch contingent keeps the cemetery peaceful, and various members of the Guild of Chandlers and Lamplighters keep torches lit around and inside a number of the tombs. The grounds are off-limits after dusk, and the gates are locked. Nevertheless, many individuals still hold clandestine meetings at night in the City of the Dead, despite the slight risk of undead escaping from a warded tomb to prowl the sprawling cemetery.

Although it has only been in its current form since the Year of the Riven Skull (1250 DR), the area has served as the city burial ground for centuries. The cemetery ran out of room in the Year of the Stranger (1064 DR), prompting the city to build a low wall around it and replace the individual graves with magic tombs linked by portals (constructed primarily by the mage Anacaster) to infinite demiplanes. Two years later, the high number of undead prompted the Lords to erect higher, defensible walls around the cemetery and to lock and ward the magic tombs. There have been few incidents since.

City of the Dead Structures

Dock Ward

Waterdeep’s most notorious and colorful ward is also the oldest. Traveler’s tales portray it as a lawless, brawling place of drunks, smugglers, roaming monsters, and fell magic, which is not all that far from the truth. The bustling harbor scene and its attendant activities dominate this ward.

The Warrens

Beneath the heart of Dock Ward lies one of Waterdeep’s lesser-known neighborhoods. Reachable through narrow winding tunnels leading off various dark alleys, the Warrens have been centuries in the making, starting with ancient stone houses built along hilly streets. From time to time a higher fl oor has been added to a building, or a walkway built to add living space or to connect houses, even those across a street from each other. Over time, parts of streets have been completely hidden from the sun, and the lowest floors of many buildings have become cellars. Subsequent rebuildings have shored up the lowest inhabited floors and worked from there. The slow result of Waterdeep’s reach for the grander and larger and taller is the forgotten layer known as the Warrens, home to many of Waterdeep’s small folk. Many gnomes, halflings, and even the occasional dwarf have found congenial and discreet housing amid the dark cellars and narrow tunnels, for stout halfling warriors guard most entrances, keeping the Warrens free of humans and their ilk.

Dock Ward Structures

Alleys

Dock Ward boasts the most colorful and dangerous alleyways and courtyards in the City of Splendors. Tourists are advised to be very sure of their personal defenses before walking any of these by night, even if not alone.

South Ward

Once known as Temple Ward, Southern Ward lies in the southeastern corner of Waterdeep, bounded by Trades Ward to the north and Dock Ward to the west. "Caravan City", as this oft-forgotten ward is sometimes known, is a homely, friendly, busy, and largely poor area of Waterdeep. Notable landmarks of Southern Ward include Caravan Court, the Adventurer's Quarter, and Waymoot.

South Ward Structures

Alleys

There are lurking dangers within South Ward, as in Dock Ward. When out and about at night, be sure to have a lantern and a party of no fewer than four (unless you’re looking for trouble!). South Ward'’s winding alleys and high buildings can distort sounds to make it difficult for the watch (or any Samaritan) to find the trouble.

Deepwater Harbor

The naturally sheltered, deepwater basin that gives Waterdeep both its name and its wealth is a bustling place. Its chill waters are kept fairly clean by the diligent work of the Guild of Watermen and the merfolk of Tharqualnaar. The mariners of the Guard control access to the harbor above the waves, using the retractable chain-nets and walls of the defensible harbor to bar entrance or exit by particular ships.

Deepwater Harbor is divided into two smaller harbors—the Great Harbor, through which commerce and transportation flows, and the Naval Harbor, restricted for the use of the navy. Two major islands, Stormhaven and Deepwater, enclose the harbor. Notable landmarks include Boatscrape Cove, where ships are beached to be cleaned of barnacles and worse; Deepwater Beach, where mermaids often come to sun and flirt with the guards; the Sea Stacks, sharp rocks that deter the close approach of sailing ships; and Umberlee’s Cache, the subsea depression that leads to flooded caverns in the depths.

Waterdeep’s sewers empty into the harbor at places covered with extremely large and strong gratings, regularly patrolled by bands of merfolk. The merfolk use catch-nets on poles to scoop and gather the debris into large tow-globes for transport far out to sea. The harbor’s rocky, sloping bottom is thinly covered with mud, especially at the southern end of the harbor. It is kept free of plants and litter by the merfolk. Due to the

cleanliness of the harbor and the undersea lighthouse known as Deepwater Beacon (H7), there are no penalties to Spot checks beneath the harbor’s surface.

Deepwater Harbor Structures

Communities Within

Although Waterdeep is a city in its own right, it contains

three settlements within its borders suffi ciently distinct to be

considered communities of their own.