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, 20 July 2007
In reference to viewtopic.php?t=54559 (17/03/2007) which unfortunately seems to have disappeared : Houhou Limited: If Houhou is honorably dead: She rises from the ashes. Bring her into play, paying 4 less Gold. Gain 3 Honor. The question was: Bringing into play and honor gaining are both separate effects, so if I cannot or do not pay Houhou's cost, then bringing her into play fails, but I still gain honor, right? Zen Faulkes answered: Yes, but note that you cannot choose not to pay a cost. If you can pay, you must.
Unless I misunderstood something, the answer meant that assuming I owned an honorably dead Houhou, even if I had less than 3 Gold left, I could still use Houhou's ability in order to gain 3 Honor, although this didn't bring her into play.
This question was asked in March therefore under Lotus rules. Is it still true under Samurai rules please ?
Indeed, I read an odd sentence in the comprehensive rules that made me doubtful. It is written in the 'Optional costs' section of the 'Costs' part of the 'COSTS AND RESTRICTIONS' chapter : "If an action brings a card into play, being able to pay the card's cost is required under the good faith rule. However, the card’s Gold is not a cost of the action." (emphasis mine).
If this is irrelevant about Houhou, may an example be given where this rule can be applied, please ?
Thanks for reading.
Martin Lund (rules official), 20 July 2007
In reference to viewtopic.php?t=54559 (17/03/2007) which unfortunately seems to have disappeared : Houhou Limited: If Houhou is honorably dead: She rises from the ashes. Bring her into play, paying 4 less Gold. Gain 3 Honor. The question was: Bringing into play and honor gaining are both separate effects, so if I cannot or do not pay Houhou's cost, then bringing her into play fails, but I still gain honor, right? Zen Faulkes answered: Yes, but note that you cannot choose not to pay a cost. If you can pay, you must.
Unless I misunderstood something, the answer meant that assuming I owned an honorably dead Houhou, even if I had less than 3 Gold left, I could still use Houhou's ability in order to gain 3 Honor, although this didn't bring her into play.
This question was asked in March therefore under Lotus rules. Is it still true under Samurai rules please ?
Indeed, I read an odd sentence in the comprehensive rules that made me doubtful. It is written in the 'Optional costs' section of the 'Costs' part of the 'COSTS AND RESTRICTIONS' chapter : "If an action brings a card into play, being able to pay the card's cost is required under the good faith rule. However, the card’s Gold is not a cost of the action." (emphasis mine).
If this is irrelevant about Houhou, may an example be given where this rule can be applied, please ?
Thanks for reading.
By the very passage of the Costs and Restrictions section that you have quoted, in Samurai Edition you can not activate Houhou's ability without the capacity to pay the modified cost of Houhou.
You can't play an ability that puts a card into play unless you can pay all necessary costs of that card. This is meant to be implied under the part of the Good Faith Rule that says: "Additionally, if the action puts any cards into play, the player must be able to bring them into play legally to meet the good faith rule."
I'll talk to Roger about making this implication something more explicit in the Comprehensive Rules entry for the Good Faith Rule.