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, 17 December 2009
Im sure this question has been answered before, but I couldn't find it in the search. I tried to look up the Rulebook at www.l5r.com, but I couldn't find the download link. So I apologize for the redundancy.
Basically, my question is how do I, as a player, determine who is performing an action? I had read that a Personality that is targeted by an affect performs the action. For example, if I Lobby for the Imperial Favor with a Personality, according the rulebook it is that Personality that is performing that action even though the action comes from me. does this hold true with other effect generators such as Holdings?
if a player targets a personality with Seiden Sanzo's limited action, is it the targeted Personality that performing the action? And what about another personality's ability which targets a different Personality? does the Personality that generated the action perform the action or does the targeted Prsonality perform it? or are they both prtforming it?
Thanks again for answering these questions. Im sorry to bring it up here again.
Zen Faulkes (rules official), 17 December 2009
(H)ow do I, as a player, determine who is performing an action?
A frequently asked question, which is actually covered in the Frequently Asked Questions page ( http://rules.l5r.com/CE_FAQ#What_performs_an_action.3F), from which the following is drawn. I think it deals with all your questions.
Actions are performed by Personalities or Followers. If you think you have an Item or Spell or Holding and so on performing an action, you've gone wrong somewhere. Actions on such cards can result in a Personality performing an action, however.
Personalities and Followers perform actions printed on them, and actions where they are targeted between the two colons of an action.
Actions on Items or Spells are performed by their Personality.
Nobody performs an action if it targets only as an effect (that is, isn't printed between two colons) or doesn't target.
Some actions are performed by multiple cards: either multiple Personalities, multiple Followers, or some combination of both Personalities and Followers.
Example: Yoritomo Sunagawa reads "Battle: Bow your target Follower: Ranged Attack with strength equal to the Follower's Force." Sunagawa performs the action because it is printed on his card. The Follower also performs the action because it is targeted as a cost.