Plains of Resolution and Final duty. Army total force?

L5R CCG Rules board, 1 February 2010

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, 1 February 2010

Hi, in a few games this question has been raised.

Plains of resolution: Open: Bow this card: Your target Samurai contributes force while bowed and will not have his force reduced by other players' cards.

Final Duty: Battle: If your current army has lower total Force than the current enemy army: Ranged 6 Attack.

Rulebook: An army's total Force is the sum of the modified Force of all unbowed Personalities and Followers in the army.

Two personalities are in battle, A is on my side, B my opponants. Personality A has been targeted by plains of resolution and In battle becomes bowed. Personality A has more force than Personality B . Can I play final duty, because according to the rulebook my army force only includes unbowed personalities? Or does plains of resolution mean that my Army total force includes my bowed personality because he still contributes force while bowed.

My interpretation is that in this situation because Personality A has been targeted by plains of resolution, it means that even though he is bowed he still adds his force to the army total when bowed and thus final duty wouldnt be legal to play.

However seeking clarity. Thankyou.

Dan Jacobson (rules official), 1 February 2010

My interpretation is that in this situation because Personality A has been targeted by plains of resolution, it means that even though he is bowed he still adds his force to the army total when bowed and thus final duty wouldnt be legal to play.

However seeking clarity. Thankyou.

Your interpretation is correct. Since Personality A still contributes to his army's Force even when bowed due to Plains of Resolution's effects, if Personality A has more force that the opposing army's Force he may not play Final Duty.