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 December 2007
I find myself confused when it comes to the Ruined City, and if this has been settled already please provide a link to the judgment.
Your Spider Clan Personalities have the ability, "Battle: Bow a target unit with zero total Force or with the lowest non-zero total Force (including ties) among all units at the current battlefield."
Citing the rules: http://rules.l5r.com/Card_features#Specific_stats A bowed card in a unit retains its own Force stat; its own Force is not reduced to zero from being bowed.
Also citing the rules: http://rules.l5r.com/Glossary_U#Unit A unit’s Force is the total of the Forces of each unbowed Personality and Follower in the unit, or 0 if all Personalities and Followers in it are bowed.
So here's the situation: I'm being attacked by a Spider player using The Ruined City. Let's say he's attacking me with a 5 force personality and a 4 force personality. I defend with a 3 force personality and a 4 force personality.
Battle actions (no reactions) 1. I as the defender pass (for the sake of argument) 2. He uses the Ruined City's ability via his 4 force personality, bowing my 3 force personality. 3. I pass (again for simplicity)
Now, can he bow my 4 force defender using the Ruined City's ability since my 3F defender's "unit force" is now zero, or must the action target the bowed 3F defender because the card's force is 3?
Zen Faulkes (rules official), 21 December 2007
I find myself confused when it comes to the Ruined City, and if this has been settled already please provide a link to the judgment.
Your Spider Clan Personalities have the ability, "Battle: Bow a target unit with zero total Force or with the lowest non-zero total Force (including ties) among all units at the current battlefield."
Citing the rules: http://rules.l5r.com/Card_features#Specific_stats A bowed card in a unit retains its own Force stat; its own Force is not reduced to zero from being bowed.
Also citing the rules: http://rules.l5r.com/Glossary_U#Unit A unit’s Force is the total of the Forces of each unbowed Personality and Follower in the unit, or 0 if all Personalities and Followers in it are bowed.
So here's the situation: I'm being attacked by a Spider player using The Ruined City. Let's say he's attacking me with a 5 force personality and a 4 force personality. I defend with a 3 force personality and a 4 force personality.
Battle actions (no reactions) 1. I as the defender pass (for the sake of argument) 2. He uses the Ruined City's ability via his 4 force personality, bowing my 3 force personality. 3. I pass (again for simplicity)
Now, can he bow my 4 force defender using the Ruined City's ability since my 3F defender's "unit force" is now zero, or must the action target the bowed 3F defender because the card's force is 3?
viewtopic.php?f=59&t=59871 viewtopic.php?f=59&t=60022 viewtopic.php?f=59&t=60426 viewtopic.php?f=59&t=61462
I guess this one's going into the wiki...
A player, 21 December 2007
So, then the ability is essentially worded as:
Your Spider Clan Personalities have the ability, "Battle: Bow a target unit with zero total [unit] Force or with the lowest non-zero total [unit] Force (including ties) among all units at the current battlefield."