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, 26 April 2008
Ring of Earth: Earth After you destroy one or more provinces or enemy units by winning a battle at a province: You may put this card into play from your hand. Battle/Open: Bow this card or discard it from your hand: Raise a target province's strength by 4; you may instead lower its strength by 3 if this card is in play.
Misdirection: Focus Effect: You may shuffle up to 3 Personalities from your discard pile into your Dynasty deck. Political Gozoku Reaction: Before another player would choose targets for one of his action’s effects during a battle, target one of your Courtier or Gozoku Personalities: You choose the targets instead.
If my opponent has Ring of Earth in play, bows the card, and chooses to raise the current battlefield province strength by 4, if react with Misdirection, can I choose to lower the province strength by 3 instead?
A player, 26 April 2008
If my opponent has Ring of Earth in play, bows the card, and chooses to raise the current battlefield province strength by 4, if react with Misdirection, can I choose to lower the province strength by 3 instead?
No. First you must play Misdirection before your opponent has chosen which province he targets for Ring of Earth's effects (card text), not after he has decided it would be the current battlefield's province. Moreover Misdirection only allows you to choose which province will have its strength either raised or lowered but that decision still belongs to your opponent: choosing targets for his action's effects doesn't mean you can also choose which effects get applied to those targets. If you just aim at preventing him from raising the current battlefield's province's strength, you can play Misdirection to make his Ring of Earth's action target any other province.
A player, 27 April 2008
regarding this: viewtopic.php?f=59&t=67511
Would the player playing misdirection actually be able to target another province? Because if he makes me target a province other than the one at the current battlefield, is it a legal action to take? If I can use the ring of earth to target a province I'm not at due to Misdirection's effects, do I have the option of reducing or raising the province strength of a non-current battlefield normally? Could I use ring of earth to increase my own province's strength even if I'm the attacker? I guess my question is, does ring of earth just ignore the rule of location completely?
Zen Faulkes (rules official), 27 April 2008
(D)oes ring of earth just ignore the rule of location completely?
It follows the Rule of Location precisely. But let's look at the actual rule.
http://rules.l5r.com/Battles#Rule_of_Location: "1. Any cards in units must be at the current battlefield to be legally targeted by a Battle action." Ring of Earth does not target a card in a unit, so the rule does not apply to it.
"2. If a Battle action is on a card in a unit (a Personality or attachment in play), the unit must be at the current battlefield in order to take that action." The action on Ring of Earth is not on a card in a unit, so the rule does not apply to it.
A player, 27 April 2008
regarding this: viewtopic.php?f=59&t=67511
It would probably have been more accurate to say that the rule of location ignores ring of earth...But my question (which I asked but wasn't answered in the previous response) is, if I am the attacker, do I have the option to use ring of earth at the current battlefield to lower the province strength of a province not related to the current battlefield? Am I allowed to target my own province and increase its strength with ring of earth as the attacker?
A player, 27 April 2008
if I am the attacker, do I have the option to use ring of earth [...] to lower the [...] strength of a province not related to the current battlefield?
Yes, for reasons Zen explained (see above). If you control at least one unit at the current battlefield, you can take your Ring of Earth's Battle action and target any province, be it yours or your opponent's.