Now with the comprehensive rules change, can Strength of the Bamboo react to Isawa Fosuta's chi death effect (and therefore any chi death effect that targets a hero) and delay the destruction until the end of the turn?
Strength of the Bamboo + Isawa Fosuta
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.
Now with the comprehensive rules change, can Strength of the Bamboo react to Isawa Fosuta's chi death effect (and therefore any chi death effect that targets a hero) and delay the destruction until the end of the turn?
Chi Death from tokens is still coming from the source that created that token.
Yes.
According to the ruling here, Strength of the Bamboo can negate chi death by Isawa Fosuta XP.
Relevant card text Strength of the Bamboo: Reaction: After an action targets your Hero Personality: Negate his destruction from the action's effects. Give him +1F.
Isawa Fosuta XP: Maho Open: Bow Fosuta: Lose 6 Honor. While Fosuta remains bowed, you may negate his straightening and, at the start of each turn, you may target a Personality and give him a -1F/-1C Curse token. After the next time this game Fosuta straightens or leaves play, destroy all Curse tokens.
Strength reacts to an action. Fosuta's ability has already resolved, making his doling out curse tokens an effect not an action, so shouldn't the opportunity window to react have already passed?
According to the ruling here, Strength of the Bamboo can negate chi death by Isawa Fosuta XP.
Relevant card text Strength of the Bamboo: Reaction: After an action targets your Hero Personality: Negate his destruction from the action's effects. Give him +1F.
Isawa Fosuta XP: Maho Open: Bow Fosuta: Lose 6 Honor. While Fosuta remains bowed, you may negate his straightening and, at the start of each turn, you may target a Personality and give him a -1F/-1C Curse token. After the next time this game Fosuta straightens or leaves play, destroy all Curse tokens.
Strength reacts to an action. Fosuta's ability has already resolved, making his doling out curse tokens an effect not an action, so shouldn't the opportunity window to react have already passed?
You're confusing the triggers "before targets are chosen" and "after an action targets a XXX". The first is a trigger that occurs at a particular stage in the process of taking an action, namely Step B, Required Targeting; it doesn't care what is to be targeted or even if any targets are chosen at all. The second is a trigger that can occur at any time targeting occurs for an action: this can be during the Required Targeting step, during the Action Resolution step, or at any later time when an ongoing or delayed effect of an action requires a target to be chosen when that effect is applied.
See also this post.