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 November 2009
My SearchFu has failed me, sensei.
Is Hida Suteru required at a battlefield in order to use his ability?
Battle: Transfer your target Follower at any location to your target Personality. Straighten the Follower if it transferred.
It is a battle action, and it doesn't say he can be anywhere. So, my question is really this: Can Hida Suteru use his Battle ability when he is at home, to transfer a follower to a unit/personality that is at the current battlefield (I believe the unit/personality being attached to must be at the current battlefield because of targeting).
Please advise.
A player, 18 November 2009
Is Hida Suteru required at a battlefield in order to use his ability?
Yes, he must be at the current battlefield, because he is a Personality so he is always a "card in a unit" and his controller can't use an ability on a card in a unit unless this card is at the current battlefield, per the second part of the Rule of Location (see below). Because Suteru's action moves nothing, the exception does not apply (see Move and Transfer in the Glossary).
Rule of Location: "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."