A topic from AEG's L5R CCG Rules forum, copied for Oracle of the Void from the Wayback Machine (its copy), so posts 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, 24 March 2005
Ok, I try again for 3º time to know how to play with umasu in duels. Please, whe have a kotei soon and I want to know how to play in it.
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From the Rulebook:
To have your personality focus, place a card from your hand, called a focus card, face-down.
This card immediately grants you personality a secret chi bonus equal to its focus value until the duel ends.
From Umasu Sensei:
Personalities you control may not receive Force bonuses from cards or Strongholds while they have no Followers attached. You may assign Personalities even if they are bowed. Battle: Bow a Follower you control: Once per Personality per battle, straighten its Personality if his Force is less than or equal to twice the Follower's.
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Player,s Question:
Focusing in duels (when not having a follower) of force yields values higher than 0 because this increase in force is due to a rulebook effect, correct?
Zen's said:
No. Rules Archive, General rules, Duels. Umasu Sensei doesn't say "card effects," it says "from cards," and the Rules Archive entry is broadly worded.
From: Jeff Alexander <jalexander@alderac.com>
Date: Mon, 14 Mar 2005 11:58:29 -0800
Subject: Re: Umasu sensei
To: <xuanra2002@gmail.com>
If I receive a Force duel, my sensei is Umasu and I don't have any
follower in the personality receives the duel. If I focus, do I count
the focus value for the duel resolution or not?.
You count it. The bonus from ordinary focusing is not an effect of
the focused card. The size of the bonus is determined by the card,
but the bonus itself comes from a game rule.
Jeff Alexander
Lead Designer, L5R CCG
Alderac Entertainment Group
NT: more info:
http://www.alderac.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=182756
Martin Lund (rules official), 24 March 2005
Ok, I try again for 3º time to know how to play with umasu in duels. Please, whe have a kotei soon and I want to know how to play in it.
-------------------------------------------------
From the Rulebook:
To have your personality focus, place a card from your hand, called a focus card, face-down.
This card immediately grants you personality a secret chi bonus equal to its focus value until the duel ends.
From Umasu Sensei:
Personalities you control may not receive Force bonuses from cards or Strongholds while they have no Followers attached. You may assign Personalities even if they are bowed. Battle: Bow a Follower you control: Once per Personality per battle, straighten its Personality if his Force is less than or equal to twice the Follower's.
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Player,s Question:
Zen's said:
No. Rules Archive, General rules, Duels. Umasu Sensei doesn't say "card effects," it says "from cards," and the Rules Archive entry is broadly worded.
From: Jeff Alexander <jalexander@alderac.com>
Date: Mon, 14 Mar 2005 11:58:29 -0800
Subject: Re: Umasu sensei
To: <xuanra2002@gmail.com>
If I receive a Force duel, my sensei is Umasu and I don't have any
follower in the personality receives the duel. If I focus, do I count
the focus value for the duel resolution or not?.
You count it. The bonus from ordinary focusing is not an effect of
the focused card. The size of the bonus is determined by the card,
but the bonus itself comes from a game rule.
Jeff Alexander
Lead Designer, L5R CCG
Alderac Entertainment Group
NT: more info:
http://www.alderac.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=182756
If you want any official ruling other than the one Zen gave you, you need to Email Jeff Alexander and ask him to come in here and post his ruling himself.
Zen Faulkes (rules official), 24 March 2005
Nothing has changed from the last time this question was asked (here). Because nobody has provided a public source for anything from Jeff Alexander, and nobody on the Rules Junta has told me to reverse the ruling, the last ruling stands unless or until you hear otherwise. That is: For a Personality without followers, Umasu Sensei negates focus bonuses in a duel of force. (Edit: Minor correction.)
Jeff Alexander (rules official), 24 March 2005
Zen is correct in pointing out that the rulebook says bonuses for focusing in a duel come from the card focused, therefore they are "from a card".
He is slightly incorrect to say they are reduced to 0 by Umasu Sensei in the given situation. They are actually negated entirely, which is subtly different. This does not matter in most cases, though.