Rules for August 22nd, Part Two

Hi folks!

During a battle duel, if a player used Strike of Flowing Water's reaction to discard all focused cards instead of focusing, and the other player plays Fall Upon Your Knees to cancel the reaction, can the player who played Strike of Flowing Water then focus since the reaction was canceled?

Following the general precedent that a canceled action doesn't allow you another opportunity to use the actions timing slot, I'd have to say no.

I'm not sure if this has been discussed before but here goes ...

Quote from the rulebook (p.65): "... as a Battle action once per battle per Tactician, target the Tactician and discard a card from his or her hand to raise the Tactian's Force by the card's Focus value until the turn ends."

Example of situation: 1) Akodo Ijiasu (or any other Tactician) is in battle A, uses Tactician trait to get a force bonus. 2) "Superior Tactics" (or any other "move to another province" effect) to battle B. 3)Akodo Ijiasu uses Tactitian trait abilitly again to gain a cumulative force gain from both bonuses.

Yeah, sure. That sounds perfectly fine to me. Matter of fact, I've got a really cool Shinjo Yokatsu story that revolves around just such a trick. But that's a story for another day...

At a province with Campfire attached (draw a card for each unit assigned to or moving into this provice to attack) I was attacked by 6 Unicorns. So, I draw 6 fate cards. This put me at 12, well over the 8 limit. My competitor demanded I discard 4 to reach the 8 limit. I said no, according to the rules (I think in the Gold Edition rulebook?) you don't get rid of extra cards until the end phase of your turn.

Is that a correct ruling?

Absolutely. You don't discard down to 8 cards except at the end of your end phase. You can have as many cards as you want in your hand at any other time.

I am trying to understand how the new targeting rules act with dueling cards like bend lika a reed, another time, and actions like double chi and Togashi Yoshi's bonus. I used to use these in a deck with Lessons of Honor to protect my personality. I am not clear on what is targeted with these actions anynmore and if they can be used in duels where my guy is bowed anymore. I looked at the archive and did not see anything under the actions or in the targeting section that helped me understand what exactly these actions targeted now that they are no longer untargeted by my reading of the targeting rules.

Well, Another Time is okay regardless. It's not an action, just a card that has a special effect when played as a focus. Bend Like a Reed, Double Chi, Oracle of Fire, Shosuro Technique, and Togashi Yoshi are all targeted now, so you can't use them to protect a bowed personality. Basically, something has to be specifically non-targeted by one of the rules in the Gold rulebook, otherwise it targets by default.

Not sure if this is covered in the archive (typing this one up offline)

I was just reading the Samurai bit in the Gold Rulebook and it specifically says a bowed samurai may commit seppuku. I was wondering if taking that into account you could hit one of your own bowed samurai with a Honorable Seppuku or does the fact that it is a reaction narf that idea or is the act of seppuku inherently different to a seppuku card??

The fact that Remorseful Seppuku is an action makes a *world* of difference. A bowed Samurai can commit seppuku using the rulebook effect because it's not an action, but a trait. You cannot Remorseful one of your own bowed personalities, because that's an action (even though it's a seppuku action).

I am frying my brrains in a discussion about the effectiveness of the Jade Throne over on the deathseeker trading board (not really an appropriate place to discuss that kind of thing but who cares...;) I have tried to explain that the new favor rules make the throne next to useless under the new rules (as far as I read into the rules and remember from previous discussions anyway) but I don't seem to be getting anywhere with him. Am I right in that the Jade Throne simply does not work under the new Favor rules and if so why (I know why but helps to have an official explanation ;). I think almost everyone on that board is trying to mess with my mind...

The Jade Throne no longer works in any way, shape or form. Having honor added to your total *during* a lobby attempt is quite useless now, because you cannot even begin a lobby attempt unless you have the highest honor. Isn't it quite appropriate, though, that the Jade Throne has become completely useless in this era of the Steel Throne?

BTW, you can buy a Poorly Placed Garden with the SH or a marketplace and a small farm.

related rules question: so fortifications are considered holdings?

Absolutely. Fortifications, just like Retainers, are a subset of Holdings in general.

Situation:

My personality is minding her own buisness at home, when she is challenged to a display of Iajitsu Arts.

I pay off the Oracle of Fire to play the top card of my deck as a focus, before the duel starts.

The question is now: since I've "focused" exactily once, must I now focus for real, or do I now have to strike?

You have focused, due to your handy bribe of the Oracle. You cannot focus again, because you have already done so exactly once. What option have you but to strike? None! You must show your opponent the inspiration that the Oracle has given you in the purity of your Iaijutsu, that he may go home and meditate upon the nature of his dishonor.

Hello,

I checked the Archive, and I missed the answer (if there was one). So...

If you use Crossroads and Kosaten Shiro, how does that work?

Badly. Kosaten Shiro reduces the cost of all your holdings by one, but locks out any further modifications. Crossroads *is* a further modification (albeit a fairly nice one). The Crossroads have no effect - though rumor has it that if you wait there long enough, Fu Leng will come out of the night to make a deal for your Soul...

Is Hiruma Dojo 0 gold cost coming out of a Crossroads?

Is Fantastic Garden 4 gold?

Is Large Farm 0 or 1?

No, no, and 1.

If I'm right, with the new MRP, cards like Luring Tactics may be cancelled by "A Test of Courage". i.e. I play Luring Tactics over my tactitian to move him and an opponent unit to an adjacent battle. My opponent may play A Test of Courage to cancel my action, can't he?

Sure. When *wasn't* this legal?

Does Snow Crane Tatto target the card focues of the personality focusing?

Snow Crane Tattoo targets the card whose focus value it is increasing, not the personality in the duel. When trying to figure out what something targets, first determine what it affects. Unless it's one of the exceptions listed in the 4 targeting rules, the main thing that the card affects is probably the target.

Can the ratling house pay 2 less gold to bring the ratling personalities into play in the strict Gold format?

Sure. The Warrens box is now a Ratling faction Stronghold, and the Ratling faction trait is now Ratling. They can be bought cheap, paid for full to gain honor, and etc. It's worth noting, though, that the Warrens have been given errata to remove the across the board 1 gold reduction that they used to have. It's now a reduction that only affects non-personality Ratling cards.

1) If there are only a Toku in play when an "Imperial Levying" appears in my province what's happen? he is destroyed even with 0 force? Or "0" isn't force for this purpose?

Toku, being the highest force personality in the whole Empire, is summoned to serve the Emperor. However, due to his current lack of military prowess (but great potential!), the Emperor neglects to speak of you as highly as he might have, should you have contributed a greater force to his cause. In other words, Toku vanishes and you gain 0 honor. This is an actual 0 point gain, and can be Reacted to.

2) If I lobby for the favor with less honor than my opponent, does he need to negate it? Or he can simply allows me to take the favor? If he says "no", is it a political action? And if so, it means that if I use an "Emperor's left hand" I'll take the favor?

Lobbying for the Imperial Favor with less honor than your opponent is now completely impossible. You can only lobby for the Favor now if you have the highest honor, in which case you automatically get the Favor. Contested lobby attempts are a thing of the past.

1. Can a dishonor personality refuese a Iajutsu Challenge?

Sure. Dishonoring yourself is not a cost of refusing the challenge. Refusal (almost) never has a cost, only penalties. The only time where there is a cost to refuse a duel is when Bayushi Yokuan is involved.

2. Can a shadowland player refuse a iajutsu challenge made to one of his dishonored personalities.

As above. Sure.

3. my personality is dueling a 1/3 personality in a Iajutsu Art he focus, I focus, he says strike, I play poisoned weapon.

a) the duel resolves and his person gets -3 chi form the poisoned weapon, and dies dishonored after the duel ends. b) he dies before duel resolution honorably.

Because you both should have focused in the Art, it's unlikely (but possible) that his personality will die from Chi loss before the duel's resolution. If, after focus values are revealed, his total Chi is more than 3, he will survive to lose the duel and become dishonored, at which point the Chi bonus from the focus will wear off, and if he has 3C or less, he'll die dishonored.

4. Can a dishonor personality refuse an Asahinas Breath?

Sure.

5. My oponent attacks and sends all of his personalities. They become bowed after destroying my province. he is at 0 honor right know with 11 bowed personalities. At the beginning of my turn imperial funeral shows up, i bow all of my persons and win 6 honor. Does he loses 33 honor? and lose the game?

Yes, he loses. Due to rewording in Gold, Imperial Funeral causes an honor loss for each of your bowed personalities, in addition to the honor loss it causes for straightened personalities who refuse to bow.

I attach some Goblin Sneaks to a personality. That personality is killed. I use the Sneaks' trait to reattach them to another personality. The second personality is revealed as a Kolat Duplicate and the Sneaks are shuffled back into my fate deck. I draw the Sneaks. I discard them because I have too many cards in hand.

Can I now reattach them from my discard pile, since cards in L5R 'remember' what has happened to them? Or does only the way they last got into my discard pile count?

No, they remember that at some point this game they were destroyed. You would probably want to mark the reshuffled/destroyed Goblin Sneaks in some manner so that you'll remember which of the ones in your deck it is that's been destroyed this game.