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, 13 January 2010
Regarding this
http://www.alderac.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=59&t=77065&p=1012539&hilit=fire+token#p1012539
What would be the force of my Togashi Shintaro with 3 fire tokens after he performs Hundred hand strike.
A.) 2 (Shintaro has a base force of zero, gets a force penalty from hundred hand strike, and get +3f from his 3 fire tokens) B.) 3 Shintaro gets a -1f penalty from performing hundred hand strike. After performing the action, the tokens reassert themselves (just like poison tokens) and brings shintaro's force back to 3.
Thanks.
A player, 13 January 2010
What would be the force of my Togashi Shintaro with 3 fire tokens after he performs Hundred hand strike.
2, for the reasons you gave in A). To apply a Force penalty is not the same effect as to negate a Force bonus. See also Calculating stats in the comprehensive rules.