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, 27 June 2015
This question is concerning the interaction of the final maximum handsize, because the multiple meanings of "maximum" here are confusing.
Your maximum hand size is equal to 6 plus the number of Temples you control, to a maximum of 10.
Other players have -1 maximum hand size.
Minimums and maximums are applied on top of any existing bonuses, penalties, or modifiers.
My understanding is that If the Brotherhood Sensei player controls 5 (or more) temples, their "maximum hand size" stat is set to 11 (or more), then gets -1 from the Scorpion stronghold, then the final number has a maximum of 10 applied to it. If this is not correct, could you explain the interaction?
Thanks.
Alex Jones (rules official), 30 June 2015
This question is concerning the interaction of the final maximum handsize, because the multiple meanings of "maximum" here are confusing.
My understanding is that If the Brotherhood Sensei player controls 5 (or more) temples, their "maximum hand size" stat is set to 11 (or more), then gets -1 from the Scorpion stronghold, then the final number has a maximum of 10 applied to it. If this is not correct, could you explain the interaction?
Thanks.
It's more the other way round, but essentially you're correct: the Brotherhood Sensei player's maximum hand size is 6 (basic) + -1 (Scorpion Stronghold) + 5 = 10, with a maximum of 10 then applied.
See here for a fuller explanation.