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, 20 July 2011
My opponent has a 2f personality with a +1f/+1c Tsi Mokotsu Weapon token. He has foolishly attacked me and I defend with all my personalities, who have five element keywords between them. I have three Unstoppable Powers in hand.
If I play them one after the other and target the personality, I assume the personality would 'only' lose 3f and I would gain 3 honor, correct?
If I target the Tsi Mokotsu Weapon token, would it become a a -14f/+1c item? Would it count as losing 5f for each Unstoppable Power, and therefore I would gain 5 honor for each copy of Unstoppable Power I played?
Thanks, Mark
Relevant card text:
Unstoppable Power
Battle: Give a target enemy card a Force penalty equal to the number of different element keywords in your army. Gain Honor equal to the amount of Force it lost. You may take an additional Battle action.
Relevant rules text:
Items
Force and Chi bonuses or penalties to an Item affect the modifier; for example, a +1F Item that suffers -2F now has a -1F modifier.
Brook Cunningham (rules official), 20 July 2011
My opponent has a 2f personality with a +1f/+1c Tsi Mokotsu Weapon token. He has foolishly attacked me and I defend with all my personalities, who have five element keywords between them. I have three Unstoppable Powers in hand.
If I play them one after the other and target the personality, I assume the personality would 'only' lose 3f and I would gain 3 honor, correct?
If I target the Tsi Mokotsu Weapon token, would it become a a -14f/+1c item? Would it count as losing 5f for each Unstoppable Power, and therefore I would gain 5 honor for each copy of Unstoppable Power I played?
Thanks, Mark
Relevant card text:
Unstoppable Power
Battle: Give a target enemy card a Force penalty equal to the number of different element keywords in your army. Gain Honor equal to the amount of Force it lost. You may take an additional Battle action.
Relevant rules text:
Items
Force and Chi bonuses or penalties to an Item affect the modifier; for example, a +1F Item that suffers -2F now has a -1F modifier.
Just so you know, I hate to say this as much as you hate to hear it:
Under discussion.
Thanks in advance for your patience....
Brook Cunningham (rules official), 20 July 2011
Whew! Short discussion. The GenCon pressure must be getting to us in a positive way.
Credit to Loïc for the answer upon which we agreed:
1) One Unstoppable Power with 5 different element keywords in the army targets a +1F Item and gives it a -5F penalty. The rulebook says: "Force and Chi bonuses or penalties to an Item affect the modifier; for example, a +1F Item that suffers -2F now has a -1F modifier." As a consequence, the Item has a -4F modifier now. All right.
So far so good on your theory, Hinomura. However...
2) Unstoppable Power checks "the amount of Force it lost". It is the difference between its previous "Force" and its current "Force", which is a subtlely different thing from its "Force Modifier". But, not to worry, for the Rulebook explains how to interpret the latter when checking the former. Ibidem the rulebook reads: "If something in the game needs to check an Item’s Force or Chi separately from its Personality’s stats, use the value of its modifier (minimum zero)." (much emphasis added). As a consequence, its previous Force was one and its current Force is zero therefore "the amount of Force it lost" is 1 - 0 = 1 so the player of Unstoppable gains only 1 Honor.
And there you have it. Sorry that it didn't turn out to be the Honor-dumping droid you were looking for.