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.
When is an action 'being taken'? Specifically:
1. Does it begin to be taken before or after it is announced? 2. Does it stop being taken after its effects resolve, or before or after it is discarded in step E? Does step E occur if the action is not on a strategy card in hand?
When is an action 'being taken'? Specifically:
1. Does it begin to be taken before or after it is announced? 2. Does it stop being taken after its effects resolve, or before or after it is discarded in step E? Does step E occur if the action is not on a strategy card in hand?
This question would appear to relate to the following paragraph in the Comprehensive Rules, p15: An ability with two designators, such as “Battle/Open:”, can be used at either time, and is treated as both types except while the action is being taken.
This is perhaps misleading. The ability, as in, "the piece of text on a card," is always a "Battle/Open" ability; the action, as in, "the game procedure", taken using that ability is either a Battle action or an Open action, but not both.
Note that the word "action" is sometimes also used to mean the same as "ability" as described above; this is an older usage, before we started separating the two terms for clarity.