I'm currently running a Dragon Heist campaign and one of my players (dragonborn artificer) possed an interesting question: Is the dragonward unnecessarily restrictive against dragons? She pointed out that other creatures that have attacked the city (orcs, trolls, etc.) are not magically bared from entering, and an evil wizard could theoretically do as much damage as an attacking dragon, yet wizards are free to enter as they wish.
It got me thinking that, since there are so many good or neutral dragons residing in the city (Aurinax, Jalanvaloss, Taraunramorlamurla, etc.), is the dragonward even necessary? Has anyone else delt with this question in their games?
Orcs and trolls aren't nearly the same magnitude of threat as a dragon, and the Blackstaff should be well equipped to shut down a typical dark wizard. Dragons hit the right balance of relatively common to the setting- relative to something like a lich or powerful fiend- and destructive potential, and the city's had several dragons take shots at the city, so it's not just a hypothetical concern.
That said, it's perfectly valid for dragons and dragonkin to take exception at the city having a magic defense tuned specifically to them.
Keep in mind that the dragon ward was put in place over 300 years ago with epic magic so it’s not exactly something you change easily. Further, in world caution is not real world racism. Dragons are at least as dangerous as tier 3/4 mages and archmages and the reality is there aren’t that many of them either but you can’t identify an archmages walking down the street unless they are showing off - and they are just human(oid)s like everyone else in the city so you can’t exactly ban them by species. What airaghairn (sp?) did was provide a way to feel like allow I can good dragons to bypass the wards and live ( in disguise ) in the city without scaring the citizens on a daily basis.
Mythals are a fun game mechanic to use. They are usually created by groups of wizards to change the Weave in an area, and in many cases required the lifeforce of the lead caster. Fun things that the DM can use with mythals is as permanent as they were meant to be, they require maintenance regularly. If no maintenance has occurred, or if forces want to corrupt it, this can lead to literally anything the story teller wants to create to push their story.
However, the Dragonward was created after Ranressa Shiard's heroic welcome which frightened a lot of residents. It causes an deep seated aversion to dragon types attempting to enter the city with a DC of 41 centered on Ahghairon's Tower. Areas outside include: Halls of the Mad Mage, The southern reaches of the Dock Ward, and the undercity. But to bypass the ward altogether you must touch the dragonstaff of Ahghairon and then be welcomed by it's welder. Realize Mythals are in line with lvl 9 spells, so there are reasons they are limited, and not repeated. That said, Ahghairon attempted genocide on trolls, but merely banished dragon types. The writing of these stories are well thought out in this regard!
There is about a page worth of info on this in "City of Splendors: Waterdeep" on page 20. You will find some interesting anecdotes there that would shed more light on your question! But I would say it is necessary. But it is also darn near impossible to pull off again, unless you can gather enough wizards or power together to put a new ward up.
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I am not sure what my Spirit Animal is. But whatever that thing is, I am pretty sure it has rabies!
I'm currently running a Dragon Heist campaign and one of my players (dragonborn artificer) possed an interesting question: Is the dragonward unnecessarily restrictive against dragons? She pointed out that other creatures that have attacked the city (orcs, trolls, etc.) are not magically bared from entering, and an evil wizard could theoretically do as much damage as an attacking dragon, yet wizards are free to enter as they wish.
It got me thinking that, since there are so many good or neutral dragons residing in the city (Aurinax, Jalanvaloss, Taraunramorlamurla, etc.), is the dragonward even necessary? Has anyone else delt with this question in their games?
Orcs and trolls aren't nearly the same magnitude of threat as a dragon, and the Blackstaff should be well equipped to shut down a typical dark wizard. Dragons hit the right balance of relatively common to the setting- relative to something like a lich or powerful fiend- and destructive potential, and the city's had several dragons take shots at the city, so it's not just a hypothetical concern.
That said, it's perfectly valid for dragons and dragonkin to take exception at the city having a magic defense tuned specifically to them.
Keep in mind that the dragon ward was put in place over 300 years ago with epic magic so it’s not exactly something you change easily. Further, in world caution is not real world racism. Dragons are at least as dangerous as tier 3/4 mages and archmages and the reality is there aren’t that many of them either but you can’t identify an archmages walking down the street unless they are showing off - and they are just human(oid)s like everyone else in the city so you can’t exactly ban them by species. What airaghairn (sp?) did was provide a way to feel like allow I can good dragons to bypass the wards and live ( in disguise ) in the city without scaring the citizens on a daily basis.
Wisea$$ DM and Player since 1979.
Mythals are a fun game mechanic to use. They are usually created by groups of wizards to change the Weave in an area, and in many cases required the lifeforce of the lead caster. Fun things that the DM can use with mythals is as permanent as they were meant to be, they require maintenance regularly. If no maintenance has occurred, or if forces want to corrupt it, this can lead to literally anything the story teller wants to create to push their story.
However, the Dragonward was created after Ranressa Shiard's heroic welcome which frightened a lot of residents. It causes an deep seated aversion to dragon types attempting to enter the city with a DC of 41 centered on Ahghairon's Tower. Areas outside include: Halls of the Mad Mage, The southern reaches of the Dock Ward, and the undercity. But to bypass the ward altogether you must touch the dragonstaff of Ahghairon and then be welcomed by it's welder. Realize Mythals are in line with lvl 9 spells, so there are reasons they are limited, and not repeated. That said, Ahghairon attempted genocide on trolls, but merely banished dragon types. The writing of these stories are well thought out in this regard!
There is about a page worth of info on this in "City of Splendors: Waterdeep" on page 20. You will find some interesting anecdotes there that would shed more light on your question! But I would say it is necessary. But it is also darn near impossible to pull off again, unless you can gather enough wizards or power together to put a new ward up.
I am not sure what my Spirit Animal is. But whatever that thing is, I am pretty sure it has rabies!
Thanks for the great replies! Helped clarify a few things and gave me some new resources to research.