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, 24 September 2010
This ruling http://www.alderac.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=59&t=78646&p=1032389&hilit=throwing+knives#p1032389 for Throwing Knives seems contradictory to the explanation text on Awakened Blade.
Does the ruling on Throwing Knives require updating? If not, could the timing please be explained.
Throwing Knives Battle: Destroy this card: Ranged Attack with strength equal to this Personality's Force.
Awakened Blade Battle: Destroy this card: Destroy a target enemy card with lower Force than this Personality's Force (before destroying this card) and no Weapons or Armor.
A player, 24 September 2010
This ruling for Throwing Knives is correct. All you need is to understand how to take an action: announce it, choose its explicit performers and required targets (if any), pay its mandatory costs (if any), resolve it by activating its effects in order. Let's take a closer look at these Items.
Throwing Knives has no explicit performer but there is a required target for the Ranged Attack that must be an enemy Follower or Personality without Follower (see the Glossary), its mandatory cost is to destroy itself, its effect is a Ranged Attack with strength equal to the performing Personality's Force, which means that the targeted enemy card is destroyed if its Force is lower than or equal to the performer's Force. The performer's Force is checked when the effect is applied, which happens after the mandatory cost is paid, so the destroyed Throwing Knives no longer adds its Force modifier to the performer's Force at that time.
Awakened Blade has no explicit performer but there is a required target: an enemy card with lower Force than this Personality's Force, and no Weapons or Armor. The required target is chosen before the mandatory cost of destroying Awakened Blade is paid, therefore the Weapon still adds its Force modifier to the performing Personality's Force at that time, which explains the reminder text "(before destroying this card)".