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, 15 February 2013
Hi Rules Team,
I tried searching for topics about Staging Grounds and about Base Gold Cost, but though I could find stuff relating to it, I couldn't find anything directly on this point.
Staging Grounds reads:
Bow this card: Produce 3 Gold, or 4 Gold if paying for a card with a base Gold Cost of 9 or more.
Now, I take Base Gold Cost to mean the cost printed on the card, e.g. 7 gold for Shinjo Byung. If I fail to meet Honor Requirements, however, I must pay 2 gold more than normal, per the rules. Does this increase in cost for failing Honor Requirements count as part of a Base Gold Cost? Or is it extra?
Put another way: if a given Personality costs 8 gold and I fail to meet Honor Requirements, am I able to bow Staging Grounds to pay 4 gold for them? I'm thinking "No", that it would only pay 3 gold, because this 2 gold tax is not part of the base gold cost. I don't actually know, though, and so I would appreciate a confirmation either way.
Thanks!
A player, 15 February 2013
Now, I take Base Gold Cost to mean the cost printed on the card, e.g. 7 gold for Shinjo Byung.
That's correct.
If I fail to meet Honor Requirements, however, I must pay 2 gold more than normal, per the rules. Does this increase in cost for failing Honor Requirements count as part of a Base Gold Cost? Or is it extra?
To follow your example, even if you fail to meet Shinjo Byung's Honor Requirement, the number printed in the card is still 7. If you choose to use clan discount, the number printed in the card is still 7.
You can increase or reduce gold costs with several means but base gold cost "will never change".
Put another way: if a given Personality costs 8 gold and I fail to meet Honor Requirements, am I able to bow Staging Grounds to pay 4 gold for them? I'm thinking "No", that it would only pay 3 gold, because this 2 gold tax is not part of the base gold cost. I don't actually know, though, and so I would appreciate a confirmation either way.
Thanks!
It would only pay 3 gold for the reason you gave.
A player, 16 February 2013
How much gold will Staging Grounds produce with The Heir's Wrath? Assuming that the targeted personality is 9G.
Limited: Target another player's Personality, pay Gold equal to his unit's total Gold Cost, and discard the Imperial Favor or bow a Personality with five or more Force: Lose 2 Honor and destroy the target; these effects will not be negated.
A player, 16 February 2013
It will produce 3, because you are paying for The Heir's Wrath, not for the Unit you're targeting.