Archive:Greenwood's Grotto/2023-05/How far can money and status get you in Waterdeep?

{{SC }}
 * query     = I am wondering how far money and status can get you in Waterdeep. I have a player who is famous for helping save the world and has a ton of money and wants to live in Waterdeep. What could he accomplish? I assume he could buy a nice house, start or buy a business, become a patron of adventurers, and elevate the status of his middle class merchant family. Could he become a noble with enough money, or do you have to already be in a noble family? How much political influence could he have?
 * questioner = Genghis Sean#8108
 * answer    = Unless you marry into nobility, these days, entry into the official noble ranks is nigh-impossible. You can no longer buy a noble title (that was only a brief thing; see the GREAT novel by Rosemary Jones, CITY OF THE DEAD). However, Waterdeep is full of "wannabe nobles," who are rich and like to be treated like nobles. There are even "false nobles" who came to the Deep rich and pretended to have a title from somewhere far away (Chessenta, the Vilhon, the Border Kingdoms, and the Tashalar are all distant enough); so long as they spent like nobles, coin-loving Waterdeep socially treated them like nobles. But NOT legally (i.e. the special treatment genuine Waterdeep nobles get). So long as he didn't pratfall and become a ridiculed social buffoon, he could have a lot of political influence if he spent lavishly and didn't advocate policies that are obvious lunacy. All the "I assume" things you listed he could do readily, without any impediment so long as his business didn't compete with a guild's businesses without him joining or submitting to their rules. The Palace really only wants him to buy a business license (register with them) so they can tax him for each business. Beyond that, "coin is king, do your thing." ;}