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, 21 May 2012
Ok, here is the situation. I have Heir's Wrath, and I intend to destroy a card my opponent controls that costs 7 gold. I have all the gold ready, and I have a 5+ force personality to bow. My opponent is going to use Chugo Seido as a reaction, and redirect this to a 9 gold personality, instead of the 7 gold I initially targetted.
So, how much gold do I actually pay? What if I choose not to destroy the 9 gold personality, how much do I pay? When is it paid?
Also.... if I choose not to follow through, do I have the option to not pay costs, and thus never bow my 5+ force personality, or pay any gold at all?
We found a few older references, but none that specifically cover a card like this wording. The question is really do you pay the 7 gold cost up front, and then that is the lokced in amount that this action can target... so does this mean Chugo Seido can then ONLY redirect to a legal target, which means one that costs 7 gold or less? And if it DOES then redirect to a 9 gold target (if legal) do I have to bow any gold or personalities at all if I choose to just not pay enough costs for it to work?
The Heir's Wrath
Limited: Target another players Personality, pay Gold equal to his unit's total Gold Cost, and discard the Imperial Favor or bow a Personality with five or more Force: Lose 2 Honor and destroy the target; these effects will not be negated.
Chugo Seido
Reaction: When another player's action would target one of your Personalities, destroy this card: Choose one of your Samurai at the same location. The action targets him instead, if legal.
Brook Cunningham (rules official), 22 May 2012
Ok, here is the situation. I have Heir's Wrath, and I intend to destroy a card my opponent controls that costs 7 gold. I have all the gold ready, and I have a 5+ force personality to bow. My opponent is going to use Chugo Seido as a reaction, and redirect this to a 9 gold personality, instead of the 7 gold I initially targetted.
So, how much gold do I actually pay? What if I choose not to destroy the 9 gold personality, how much do I pay? When is it paid?
Also.... if I choose not to follow through, do I have the option to not pay costs, and thus never bow my 5+ force personality, or pay any gold at all?
We found a few older references, but none that specifically cover a card like this wording. The question is really do you pay the 7 gold cost up front, and then that is the lokced in amount that this action can target... so does this mean Chugo Seido can then ONLY redirect to a legal target, which means one that costs 7 gold or less? And if it DOES then redirect to a 9 gold target (if legal) do I have to bow any gold or personalities at all if I choose to just not pay enough costs for it to work?
The Heir's Wrath
Limited: Target another players Personality, pay Gold equal to his unit's total Gold Cost, and discard the Imperial Favor or bow a Personality with five or more Force: Lose 2 Honor and destroy the target; these effects will not be negated.
Chugo Seido
Reaction: When another player's action would target one of your Personalities, destroy this card: Choose one of your Samurai at the same location. The action targets him instead, if legal.
Per the steps of taking an action (here), required targeting comes before paying costs.
So, before you pay at all, you target the Personality you intend to kill. If you opponent changes that target, then he has changed the basis for the cost that you intended to pay when you Announced the action in Good Faith, so we refer to this section of the above:
"From the point when the action is announced legally to the point where the individual cost is required, if payment of any of an action’s mandatory costs is interfered with, the player taking the action may choose to pay the costs another way, or choose not to pay the cost....
Sometimes an action, trait or card has a mandatory cost with a variable value, and this value depends on an element of the game that another player’s' effect interferes with at some point between announcement and the point when the cost is paid.
Example: An action’s Gold cost depends on the total Gold cost of a target unit. After announcement but before costs are paid, a card is added to the unit or the targeting of the unit is changed.
When the basis for a cost that depends on targeting changes due to interference with targeting, this is treated the same way as interference with the payment of the cost."
So, since your payment was interfered with, you may choose to pay the new 9 Gold Cost or not, and choose to bow the Personalty/discard the Favor or not.