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, 19 February 2014
This came up today in a discussion with a friend.
In which are force/chi bonuses and penalties calculated? if a 3f personality is given a 4f penalty the new force would be 0, because there cant be negative force values, but after the penalty a +3f bonus is applied. in this scenario would the penalty be still in effect for purposes of calculating force and reduce the bonus by 1 or would the calculation start at 0 and the new force would be 3?
which of these calculations would be correct?: 3f (base force) + 3f (force bonus) - 4f (force penalty) = 2 force 3f (base force) - 4f (force penalty)= 0 + 3f (force bonus) = 3force
sorry if i am not totally clear.
A player, 20 February 2014
The first calculation is correct. The rulebook minimum of zero is applied last, if needed. In general, you don't make "partials": you apply all bonuses, penalties and modifiers together, and only then you see if any maximum or minimum should apply (there are a couple of exceptions though).
See here:
To get a stat's current value at any given time, do steps A through D, below:
A: Apply all current bonuses and penalties that are not restricted by “to a minimum” or “to a maximum”.
B: Apply all current bonuses and penalties that are restricted by “to a minimum” or “to a maximum”; [...]
C: If the total is below 0, treat it as 0[...]
D: If the total is less than the highest minimum value in effect for that stat, or more than the lowest maximum value in effect, it becomes that minimum or maximum.
A player, 20 February 2014
After reading the last explanation about Force Bonus and Penalty, I feel confused because in the page 46 of the advanced rulebook I read the following example:
Example: If a card with 2 Force gets a -3F penalty, apply the penalty, then the basic minimum of zero. This means that the card’s Force is zero for all purposes, not -1. If it then gets a +2F bonus, apply the bonus, the penalty, and the minimum, so that it now has 1 Force.
The problem is that this example controvert the last explanation about Force Bonus and Penalty. Please, Could you confirm if the explanation in the adv. rulebook is correct?
regards,
A player, 20 February 2014
Example: If a card with 2 Force gets a -3F penalty, apply the penalty, then the basic minimum of zero. This means that the card’s Force is zero for all purposes, not -1. If it then gets a +2F bonus, apply the bonus, the penalty, and the minimum, so that it now has 1 Force.
2 -3 + 2 = 1
I don't see what's the issue. The explanation shows that you only check if the stat is equal or greater than zero after all bonuses / penalties / modifiers have been counted, which is exactly what I said. I honestly fail to see the contradiction.