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, 18 April 2008
If I play Hired Killer against personality A (who has no followers), can my opponent play Duty, to kill personality B instead (who does have followers) and then react with Few Against Many to stop the destruction? Does personality B need to die for Duty to work (his destruction comes before the colen)? Can player B Few Against Many in this situation? Is it Duty killing personality B (his own card effect, making Few Against Many unuseable) or is it the Hired Killer killing personality B (making it usable)? Thank you.
Hired Killer: Limited: Pay Gold equal to the target’s unit’s Gold Cost plus 2: Lose 3 Honor. Destroy a target Personality.
Duty: Bushido Virtue Reaction: Before another player’s card’s effect destroys one of your Personalities, destroy one of your honorable Samurai Personalities at the same location: Negate the first Personality’s destruction.
Few Against Many: Reaction: Before another player’s card’s effect destroys one of your Personalities, bow one of his Followers: Negate the Personality’s destruction.
Doruk Özaydın (rules official), 18 April 2008
If I play Hired Killer against personality A (who has no followers), can my opponent play Duty, to kill personality B instead (who does have followers) and then react with Few Against Many to stop the destruction? Does personality B need to die for Duty to work (his destruction comes before the colen)? Can player B Few Against Many in this situation? Is it Duty killing personality B (his own card effect, making Few Against Many unuseable) or is it the Hired Killer killing personality B (making it usable)? Thank you.
Hired Killer: Limited: Pay Gold equal to the target’s unit’s Gold Cost plus 2: Lose 3 Honor. Destroy a target Personality.
Duty: Bushido Virtue Reaction: Before another player’s card’s effect destroys one of your Personalities, destroy one of your honorable Samurai Personalities at the same location: Negate the first Personality’s destruction.
Few Against Many: Reaction: Before another player’s card’s effect destroys one of your Personalities, bow one of his Followers: Negate the Personality’s destruction.
If you Few Against Many your Duty, the Duty's effects are negated as you never paid the cost of Duty.
Hired Killer in this situation is irrelevant as it doesn't matter how your personality died.
A player, 18 April 2008
regarding this viewtopic.php?f=59&t=67288
can't you not few against many your own duty since the personality is being destroyed by your own card effect (the duty) and not by your opponent's action?
Alex Jones (rules official), 18 April 2008
regarding this viewtopic.php?f=59&t=67288
can't you not few against many your own duty since the personality is being destroyed by your own card effect (the duty) and not by your opponent's action?
It is true that you couldn't play Few Against Many to prevent B's destruction, for two reasons:
1. Duty isn't "another player's card". 2. The destruction is a cost, not an effect.
However, even if you used an action that didn't care about these things (eg, Ikoma Yasuko's Reaction), you would then be failing to pay the cost of Duty, so personality A would be destroyed.