Well, very interesting thread so far.. Enjoyed reading into it, and admittedly, was painful to read at other times.. I just wanted to basically add another little thing thats been on my mind.. But before I go into it, I'm just going to clarify a few things, that I'll be mentioning.
First, when I say ward, I mean the basic ward described in the core book. A basic, souped up block spell, that bounces back all force directed at it. It doesn't go into any elements or flavors, it is simply a magically reinforced threshold.
Second, when I say landmine, I'm refering to the traps set into a ward, when it is either breached, or under heavy duress. These are the fireballs, sleep spells, and general extra defenses of a ward.
Now, I'm normally for the heavy interpretation of law-breaking. It is not something that the wardens call you into court for, and slap onto you because you did something bad. It is a true, spiritual stain that is left on your soul, whenever your magic is used to break one of the laws. It is something that doesn't require your intent to effect you, nor will your noble actions protect you from it. When you use magic, and it breaks one of the laws, it becomes black magic, and it will leave a stain on your soul, whether you realize it or not.
Now, the thing is, is whenever I first read the thread, I immediately began thinking on the Archangel fortress, before its fall. ((btw, i haven't read past Small Favor yet, just to let you know)) It was stated that it was one of the greatest fortresses of mortal making every designed. And I'm not going to get into how its magical defenses where layered, prepared or anything like that. I'm just imagining to myself, a certain set of events. One doesn't really make a fortress to sit and look pretty in. They make it to protect themselves and their interests. Now the thing is, is they also don't make it, if they have no enemies. So, I would assume the Archangel would have come under assault under many occasions, from many different enemies. And, I would assume that the basic wards where among the most powerful ever crafted. Therefore, I would guess, that a decent number of would-be besiegers, many of which were probably fellow wizards, warlocks and or sorcerers, would have quite easily died at the hands of their own failed attempts to breach said wards. I mean, regardless of all the supernatural enemies out in the dresdenverse, or in any other supernatural setting, humanities own greatest enemy, will be others of it's own race. Simple as that.. So.. One would assume that the leader of the Archangel (whose name escapes me at the moment) would have technically fell very easily into lawbreaker status at one point, or another, in time...
Now, as I said before, I do believe strongly in a more stern interpretation of the laws. I won't be too much of a hard-ass on them to my players, but the point I'm making is this... I would normally consider the death of another by my own wards, regardless of whether the force that killed them was their own or mine, would be a breach of the first law of magic. But... with the idea of the Archangel and other magical fortresses in place, and the idea of how many people could have died upon them.. I really can't say for certain.. This, to me then, would have to fall under a very greyish kind of area in the law, something I really don't like to say... Whats for certain, is it DOES go into a very hard to pin down area on the law. So, in all honesty, I'd probably, in my own game, rule any death-by-ward on a case by case basis... Now, if the death isn't caused by the ward itself, but a landmine placed into the ward, well... That is a far easier matter in my own mind, and in the rules.. So... This is what I thought when I looked at the thread... Anyone who doesn't go TLDR, go ahead and give me your own input.. I'd like to see what other's think of, and how they may expand upon my own line of thinking...
