Lords of Waterdeep FAQ
108 questions players ask · Updated Nov 6, 2026 · Full rulebook
Setup and Components
- How much gold does each player start with, and do you get gold every round?
- Are active quests kept face up, and can I see my opponents' quests?
- Is there a limit on how many buildings can be in play, or that I can own?
- When do I get my extra agent, and do I keep it?
- What happens when the adventurer, quest or Intrigue supply runs out?
- Can players trade resources or make deals with each other?
Turns and Rounds
- Can I pass my turn or skip placing an agent?
- Can I place an agent on a space just to block it if I can't do (or pay for) its full action?
- Do I place all my agents at once, or one per turn around the table?
- Does the first player marker pass each round, and when does taking it take effect?
- Can Zoarstar, Bribe Agent or Recover the Magister's Orb take the first player marker from Castle Waterdeep?
- When does a round end, and what if nobody can place an agent?
- Can I put more than one agent on Cliffwatch Inn or Waterdeep Harbor, and when is the quest row refilled?
- When an effect says take a face-up quest, can I take one of an opponent's quests?
- If resources are placed on an action space, who collects them, and can I use them in that action?
- Do adventurers and gold stay in my Tavern between rounds?
Quests
- Can I complete more than one quest per round?
- Can I complete a quest when an agent is reassigned out of Waterdeep Harbor?
- If Accelerate Plans lets me place two agents, can I complete two quests?
- When in a turn can I complete a quest, and can I do it without placing an agent?
- Can I complete two quests on the turn I use Heroes' Garden?
- Can I complete one of the four face-up Cliffwatch Inn quests without taking it first?
- Does completing a Mandatory Quest use up my one quest for the turn, and must I do it first?
- Can I be hit by several Mandatory Quests at once, and who plays them?
- Do I score a quest's reward right away, and are unfinished quests penalised?
- Can I complete a quest even if I can't take its full reward?
- What is the difference between taking and completing a quest?
Plot Quests and Triggers
- What counts as 'taking an action' for a Plot Quest that says 'whenever you take an action that provides X, also take Y'?
- Can one Plot Quest's bonus trigger another Plot Quest?
- Does completing a quest that rewards X trigger a Plot Quest worded 'whenever you take an action that provides X'?
- If I play an Intrigue card that gives X, does a Plot Quest keyed to X trigger?
- Do bonuses for gaining a given adventurer fire when I choose that type from an 'any adventurer' space?
- Does a Plot Quest that scores for later quests of a type count itself or earlier quests?
- Does a Plot Quest like Bribe the Shipwrights fire when I gain resources from another player's action, such as an owner benefit?
- How many cubes does Produce a Miracle for the Masses convert?
- Do I get an owner benefit when Sample Wares puts me on a building?
Waterdeep Harbor
- Can I complete a quest both when I place an agent in the Harbor and when I reassign it?
- Can I reassign an agent from Waterdeep Harbor into another Harbor space?
- Can anyone place an agent in Waterdeep Harbor once reassignment has started?
- What happens if an agent in Waterdeep Harbor has no open space to be reassigned to?
- Must agents be placed on Waterdeep Harbor's spaces in numbered order?
- If I gain an agent while reassigning from Waterdeep Harbor, when do I place it?
- Can Recall Agent return an agent from any space, and can I place it again?
- If an effect pulls an agent out of the Harbor before reassignment, can another agent take the vacated space?
- How does Recover the Magister's Orb work in Waterdeep Harbor?
Buildings and Builder's Hall
- Does the owner benefit come from the bank or from the player using my building?
- After I buy a building, does my agent move onto it?
- What VP do I score for a building in Builder's Hall?
- Do buildings gather resources or run start-of-round effects while still in Builder's Hall?
- Does putting a building into play for free count as buying it?
- Is Builder's Hall refilled right away when a building is taken?
- How do buildings that accumulate resources (Spires of the Morning, Tower of the Order, The Waymoot) refill?
- If an agent is on an unbuilt building and someone buys it, what happens?
- Can the '?' cubes or 'any type' adventurers on a building be different types?
- Can more than one of my agents use the same building in one round?
- Can I use a space that needs three Intrigue cards if I hold fewer?
- How many adventurers does The Three Pearls exchange?
- If a Cliffwatch Inn space says take a quest and draw an Intrigue card, which comes first, and do I complete the quest immediately?
Owner Benefit and Copying Actions
- Do I get the owner benefit when I use my own building?
- When I use The Zoarstar or Bribe Agent on an opponent's building, does its owner get the owner benefit?
- If I use The Zoarstar on Waterdeep Harbor, is my agent reassigned at round end?
- Can Recover the Magister's Orb be used on a space holding a Sample Wares agent?
- When I use Sample Wares, do I get the main action or the owner benefit?
- What happens if I use Sample Wares on an unbuilt building?
- Can two Sample Wares cards in one turn place agents on the same Builder's Hall building?
- What counts as an unused agent for Sample Wares?
Agents and the Ambassador
- How does the Ambassador work?
- If another player already holds the Ambassador, can I take him by assigning to the Palace?
- If the Ambassador is placed on a building, does the owner get the owner benefit?
- Can I complete a quest after placing the Ambassador?
- If I'm first player and have the Ambassador, what's the order?
- When do I place the Lieutenant, and does he go first like the Ambassador?
- How does Accelerate Plans work with an agent in Waterdeep Harbor?
Intrigue Cards
- Where can I play Intrigue cards?
- Do Intrigue cards apply more than once?
- Does Change of Plans let every player discard a quest?
- Do I need an Intrigue card to complete the Prison Break quest, and must I play it?
- What does Real Estate Deal do?
- What happens with the Inevitable Betrayal promo card?
- In a 2-player game, does a 'choose an opponent' card just hit the other player?
Ending the Game and Scoring
Lords of Waterdeep: Scoundrels of SkullportExpansion
- Do I remove base game cards when adding Scoundrels of Skullport?
- Do I need the expansion to play with six players?
- Can Undermountain cards and buildings be mixed into the base game alone?
- What does Open Lord do, and does it also protect agents and buildings?
- Does Xanathar cancel the Corruption penalty?
- What happens when I must take Corruption and the track is empty?
- Where do Corruption tokens go when a building is discarded?
- If an agent is placed where Corruption sits, when is it taken, and does Bribe Agent take it?
- How does Manipulate treat the moved opponent?
- What are Demolish's limits?
- Do Caravan tokens raise the adventurer limit?
- Does Expose Corruption need all opponents to have more Corruption?
- Does Monsters Made to Order let me return fewer agents than the Corruption?
- Do Mandatory Quests count for Seize the Citadel of the Bloody Hand?
- When do I draw with the Hall of Many Pillars owner benefit?
- Does Scapegoat work if the target has no adventurers?
- How do I set up Lords with both modules?
- Must a Harbor agent go onto a Corruption-bearing space during reassignment?
- Can I play attack cards at the Harbor against Open Lord in 2 players?
- Can Rescue a Victim From the Skulls return several skulls?
- Does Shelter Zhentarim Agents work once per round?
- Can I discard the two cards I just drew at Trobriand's Graveyard?
- Does the Long Game give an extra agent?
- Does Special Assignment include expansion quests of the chosen type?