Rules for

Hi everyone! Be sure to read the note at the end of this!

What would happen if a person were to shot one of my personalities with mukami (non-experianced) and then i flee the darkness the action. Will mukami still get to move out of combat from his action.

Nope. Flee cancels the action entirely, not just the parts of it that target your guys. Mukami gets stuck where he is.

1. Shinsei's Riddle & Blessings of Isawa & Night Medallion

If Shinsei's Riddle is to become attached to a personality by the Blessings (my fav event ;), how does the 'discard this card' clause interact with this attachment? If the attachment is legal, again how is the 'discard this card' clause handled when using the ability - ie: is the attached Kiho card then discarded?

No, the personality is. Once the Kiho becomes an ability of the personality, the 'this card' part of it becomes self-referential, hitting the personality instead of the kiho. So, upon the next use of Shinsei's Riddle, the caster goes off to look for the solution.

On that same thread an attached Bloodstrike on a night medallioned personality looks absolutely hideous...!now there is an idea!

Well, it is a hideous combo, but not in the way you think. See, -1 is considered a numeral. Adding two to -1 makes it +1, not -3. So, the Night Medallioned/Blessings/Bloodstrike would be able to bow to give all personalities in the opposing army +1 Chi. Hideous.

2. Oni no Pekkle & His Most Favored (an Oni being your tie to the imperial line, hmmm........)

I think I know the answer to this one but it doesn't hurt to ask, If the Oni is His Most Favored then destroyed, is the honor loss considered two lots of 10 or one lot of 20 (for winds truth purposes, what else??)? At a guess I'd say two lots of 10.

Two seperate 10 point losses.

3. Remember What You Have Seen & spirits

Since Spirit is now considered a clan, spirits are no longer a legal target for a remember what you have seen, true or false? (easy one)

True.

My opponent Attack resolves.. I Counterattack. After the Counterattack resolves, is it possible to use Tsuko Sensei?

Sure.

This is about Scared Temple of the Phoenix... in the AR it says.. :

When producing 7G, the shugenja does not gain the Shadowlands trait until he or she enters play. [FAQ 3.0.1]

Producing 7G for an originally non-Shadowlands shugenja counts as "bringing a Shadowlands card into play". [REVERSAL]

These seem to conflict to me. It doesn't make much sense... If it's not shadowlands until it's in play, then why does it count as bringing shadowlands into play?

Ummm...magic!

I honestly don't know. Both of those rulings are so old that you'd probably have to ask Dave about them. Jeff?

Attacking Player has two units

Defending Player has one unit

Defending Player plays Come One At A Time,

Can the attacking player use A Test Of Courage to cancel the terrain, because he is stopping the "Go home" effect of COOAT?

You can play ToC in response to sending one of your units out of the battle, but that won't cancel the whole terrain, just the action that's sending your guy home. You also can't play ToC when the terrain is played, because there's nothing valid to play it in response to...yet.

The answer to this seemed obvious to me, but questions arose in Monday's mini-tournament, and the rulebook is not helpful in resolving the issue:

If an effect targets a dishonored Samurai, and that effect destroys them, are they permitted to commit seppuku in response to the effect?

Nope. A samurai has to be currently doing something that's causing you an honor loss in order to commit seppuku. His honor/dishonor status is irrelevant, though.

Example (pretty close to actual gameplay): I have used Secrets on the Wind on Akodo Quehao. I pull out Kolat Assassin, targeting him. Quehao is being destroyed while dishonored, and is due to cause his controller 3 points of honor loss.

QUESTION 1: Can his controller announce that Quehao will commit seppuku in response to the Assassin, reducing the honor loss to 1?

Nope. His death is not a valid trigger for seppuku.

QUESTION 2: That being the case: can a Samurai commit [rulebook] seppuku if they are merely dishonored, as opposed to involved in a loss of Family Honor?

Nope. You have to be granted permission to commit seppuku, and unless your dishonor is going to stain the honor of your lord, he'd probably forbid you from commiting seppuku.

In other words, only in response to an honor loss. Nothing else.

Given the new wording for iajutsu duel, is it considered a targeted effect? What about Luring Tactics? thanks.

Umm...both of them are targeted. You're welcome!

CITY OF TEARS...Elemental Battle Terrain: If you have the Ring of Water in play, you may destroy this Terrain, then get a Terrain from your Fate deck or discard pile and immediately resolve it. Shuffle the deck if the Terrain comes from it.

He wants to know if he can fetch a Terrain during the battle action phase (as a Reaction when the city is played or as a Battle action). I see no indication that this is not supposed to take effect at Terrain resolution and that is what I am ruling at the moment. I still see it as being a useful terrain, even if Deadly Ground can't effectively be used with it (which was his hope), for the card fetching and surprise factor alone (Narrow Ground and Encircled Terrain spring immediately to mind).

You're exactly right. City of Tears only fetches another terrain during terrain resolution phase, not any time you want.

I looked in the AR and didn't find anything. Imperial Census says that the personalities bow and cannot straighten during their controllers next events phase. Will The Otaku Palaces override this?

Using the reaction on the Utaku Palaces is not straightening during their controllers straighten phase, so it's perfectly legal during Imperial Census (and Peasant Revolt, too).

Going along with that thought, I have another question:

Imperial Census bows each Human Personality with Gold cost less than the Gold Production of his or her controller's Stronghold plus 3. In the case of The Otaku Palaces, that means anybody who costs 7 and below. Now, in the case of magistrates, namely Shinjo Tashima, they will join for one less gold off the Palaces. So, for example, his printed gold cost is 8, but he joins for 7. Does Imperial Census check for that? Or only printed cost?

Imperial Census checks current gold cost, counting all current modifications. However, the mod from the Utaku Palaces only applies when the personality is coming into play ('will join you for 1 less gold'). Once they are in play, their gold cost is no longer being modified by the Stronghold, so they would be unaffected by the Census. Clans like Fox and Palaces TA, though, have modifications that always apply, so those modifications would be taken into account when checking the Census.

The ruling I got from Vaughn stated that Kyuden Kitsune and Otaku palaces alterations were always in effect, and thus they would bow to Census.

Not quite. Kyuden Kitsune, yes. Utaku Palaces, no. Palaces of *Otosan-Uchi*, yes. Things that say 'XXX cost 2 less for you' are always in effect. Things that say 'XXX will join you for 2 less' only apply when the XXX's are joining you.

So, with a little bit of relief and a little bit of regret, this will be my last rules post for the forseeable future. Jeff's going to be taking back his ancestral duties, and I'm going to be one of the happiest people out there to see him back. This is, no fooling, a pretty tough gig, and I hope that I didn't do too horrible of a job. It's been a heck of a blast, and I've been glad to be able to take some responsibility as part of the L5R community.

On the upside, though...I can finally start reading the list without worrying about rules, meaning that I can finally start getting involved in some of the manaic conversations that have been going on while I've been occupied.

Did someone say something about going first? ;)