A topic from AEG's L5R CCG Rules forum, copied for Oracle of the Void from a copy of the forum saved in October 2015, so pages it didn't save are missing. Players' names are left out; the rules officials are named. Rulings are as they stood on these dates; later rulings, the rulebooks and the Rules Archive may differ.
A player, 30 November 2012
We had a situation where Nerve Strike was used on a Moshi Rukia which had a Scouring Flood attached. That unit had not performed any actions yet that turn.
I used a different copy of Rukia's battle action to return that opposed attachment to its owner's hand (mine).
I then attached that copy of Scouring Flood to the second Rukia and used its battle action to send a defender home.
So, is this a legal move? Can the Scouring Flood's action be used now that it is no longer a card in the Nerve Striked/Stricken/whatever unit? Or does the card retain its inability to use its action throughout the process of going back to my hand and attaching to a different personality?
Jon Palmer (rules official), 2 December 2012
We had a situation where Nerve Strike was used on a Moshi Rukia which had a Scouring Flood attached. That unit had not performed any actions yet that turn.
I used a different copy of Rukia's battle action to return that opposed attachment to its owner's hand (mine).
I then attached that copy of Scouring Flood to the second Rukia and used its battle action to send a defender home.
So, is this a legal move? Can the Scouring Flood's action be used now that it is no longer a card in the Nerve Striked/Stricken/whatever unit? Or does the card retain its inability to use its action throughout the process of going back to my hand and attaching to a different personality?
Per the Tracking Rule, once a card has gone face down and out of play (and entering a player's hand is face down and out of play), it forgets all ongoing effects upon itself. Therefore, if you reattach a card, it may perform its action again later this turn.
Note that Nerve Strike only prevents the cards from performing actions, and Scouring Flood does not perform any action (the personality it's attached to performs Scouring Flood's action). However, this could be pertinent if it was a follower that was returned to your hand, as only followers and Personalities may perform actions.