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, 9 October 2009
Im new to l5r and this may be a dumb question.
With Overwhelming Pressure can I play this card even if there is no attachment to destroy to do the bow effect?
Since the cost is targeting my samurai. Effect is destroying an attachment with an optional bow effect. Or does the optional effect not happen because the original effect doesnt go off?
Overwhelming Pressure cost 4
this card has -1 gold cost for each samurai you control.
Battle: Target your unbowed samurai: Destroy a target enemy attachment. You may target and bow an enemy Personality with chi lower than or equal to your samurai's chi.
If this has been gone over before sorry for the repost. I used search and couldnt find anything.
Zen Faulkes (rules official), 9 October 2009
With Overwhelming Pressure can I play this card even if there is no attachment to destroy to do the bow effect?
Looks like a variation of a more general question, "Is an action legal if an effect can't happen?" And it's in the FAQ here: http://rules.l5r.com/CE_FAQ#Is_an_actio ... _happen.3F
Now, contained in that entry is an important qualifier:
(Costs and mandatory targets are another matter, though. Those have to happen.)
Not clear what a mandatory target is? This is also in the FAQ, oh most wondrous thing that is is: http://rules.l5r.com/CE_FAQ#What_are_re ... targets.3F
If there are not enough legal targets, you can't play the action. Although the destruction of the attachment does not have to occur, the targeting of the attachment does have to occur.
A player, 14 October 2009
Hi, is it legal to play overwhelming pressure against an opposing personality even if there's no target attachments?
Overwhelming pressure
This card has -1 Gold Cost for each Samurai you control. Battle: Target your unbowed Samurai: Destroy a target enemy attachment. You may target and bow an enemy Personality with Chi lower than or equal to your Samurai's
Dan Jacobson (rules official), 14 October 2009
Hi, is it legal to play overwhelming pressure against an opposing personality even if there's no target attachments?
Overwhelming pressure
This card has -1 Gold Cost for each Samurai you control. Battle: Target your unbowed Samurai: Destroy a target enemy attachment. You may target and bow an enemy Personality with Chi lower than or equal to your Samurai's
No.
An attachment in the enemy army is required targeting for this Strategy.