Rulings for 21 January 2001
A rules digest from the L5R CCG rules team, copied from the mailing list archive for Oracle of the Void. The askers' names are left out. Rulings are as they stood on this date; later rulings, the rulebooks and the Rules Archive may differ.
Temples of the Crow question (Jeff)
I think I already know the answer to this but I want to double check. If I start with Hantei Sensei and then, later in the game after gaining some honor, bow my Stronghold to switch to Shoju Sensei, is my honor reduced by 2?
No. Once a game has begun, changes to starting Family Honor do not affect current Family Honor.
Cancellation and Political Mistake / Rules for 15 January 2001
I believe what happens is that all Political Mistake looks for is a Political action that was attempted but cancelled. While cancelling an action causes you to play as if that action never took place, the attempt at the action is still there. And that's what Political Mistake is looking for.
I agree with this 100 percent. However, consider this with a ruling by Jeff Alexander:
<snip> It would clarify things if there was a general rule that all of the following phrases were deemed equivalent:
"One attempt per turn" "Once per turn" "Useable once per turn"
So let them be deemed.
Jeff A.
So if a cancelled action still counts as attempted(and this would explain why the action slot was used - an attempt was made to use an ability), then the "one attempt per turn" has been used - even though it is not a cost.
Okay, I'll admit it: I was hasty back there. This answer is dependent upon the final Rules Team decision is on what happens to canceled actions and may or may not change as a result. (That "attempt" does throw a spanner into the works.)
Takao exp 2
Takao says " Battle : Bow Takao to destroy an opposing Ninja card." Does this mean holdings, regions, personalitys or items? Does it just mean anything with Ninja in it?
"Opposing" means in the opposite army from the one that Takao is in, and "Ninja card" means any card that has the word "Ninja" in its title or boldface traits area. If Takao is defending a Province, he can destroy any Ninja Personality, Follower, Item, or Spell that's attacking that Province, and vice versa if he's attacking. He can't destroy Regions or Holdings (not even Fortifications) since they're not parts of armies, and he can't destroy anything if he's unassigned.