post for 8 November 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.
Targeting in duels [rules dudes]
Quick question about dueling reactions. I know that some target, they're easy.
Poisoned Weapon, Doubt, Shosuro Technique all target (the first two target the opponent, the last targets both the opponent and yourself).
Poisoned Weapon targets nothing due to its own text.
Which of the following cards target and who do they target if they do target:
Rights of the Challenged
Your Personality.
Bend Like a Reed
Your Personality.
Judgement of Toshiken
Nothing. It has a global effect.
More arguing with Vaughn! Now mint-flavored!
It always has been, it always will be. And slowing the game down means a deck based on a defensive principle (the typical honor deck) automatically gets an advantage over a deck based on an offensive one (a military deck) because every turn the attacker can't attack is a turn the defenders gets to build up, draw extra Fate cards to deal with his opponent, et cetera.
You're forgetting that the honor-gaining process has also been slowed by the reduction in availability of cheap Personalities. Furthermore, with the split Favor, an honor deck that can send people home is AT BEST drawing just as many Fate cards with those extra turns as it was drawing without them before Gold Edition -- and an honor deck that can draw extra cards has fewer reliable ways of sending units home.
Now explain to me, even feasibly, why a 2/3 shugenja who isn't gamebreaking in his power - and is a friggin' KUNI for god's sake - should have an HR of 6. Two force doesn't win you a speed military victory!
A deck full of 2F first-turn-boxable people most certainly does help you consistantly win speed military victories, particularly in a Clan that has not one but two different zero-gold +3F action cards available to it. (The supposedly unbeatable Shadowlands speed decks rely in part on first-turn 1F people -- one of whom can come in off the Stronghold but many times not just one Holding!) This guy has sweet stats alone for his gold cost: 2/3 for 5. Add to that the shugenja trait and a limited-target PK ability. Tell me that combination is not worth more than Hiruma Masagaro and I won't believe you.
Bollocks they are. I can name half-a-dozen ways to keep the environment from speeding up. Easiest and most obvious is additional costs.
So can I. There are lots of ways to keep new Personalities from being the basis of speed decks besides making them 0F (which doesn't even work for some clans, like Crane and Scorpion) or 7+ gold. 7+ gold gets boring after awhile, and besides, not every Personality is going to have stats that warrant that high a cost. We can only make so many 4/4 Courtiers before people begin to notice.
Honor Requirements are being used right now mainly because they're an established mechanic that players already understand. You should be happy to know I've actually already been thinking of more ways since I feel high HRs are next in line to become stale after high gold costs.
post for 7 November 2001
"Tsuno" is a family name, yes.
Great. In this case, can we make use of The Agasha Join the Phoenix?
"The Agasha Join the Phoenix Choose one family name from another Clan. For the rest of the game, Personalities from that family that you bring (or are bringing) into play are considered members of your Clan. (In Rokugan, a Personality's family name is first)."
The only objection I can see is that the Shadowlands isn't a Clan (now the term is Faction) per se.
There are no Tsuno Personalities from any Factions, so they can't be chosen for Agasha Join the Phoenix.
post for 7 November 2001
On Wednesday, November 7, 2001, at 07:53 PM, Jeff Alexander wrote:
Kiho cards are Action cards, not Spell cards, although their effects are treated as Spell effects.
-snip-
No. According to the rulebook, anything that interacts with casting or targeting spells works with kihos as well.
I write to ask whether these two statements combine to tell us that kiho cast by monks may count towards playing the Ring of Air.
Sure. The Ring of Air mentions spell effects, not spell effects from shugenja.
Umm...Not a rules question about Gaijutsu no Shiryo
Ok, hypothetically speaking (having nothing whatsoever to do with a certain recently spoiled Dragon Clan ancestor about whom rules questions would be premature) if a personality gained a Dragon Tattoo, got some tokens, and then lost his Dragon Tattoo, would he keep the tokens?
Yes.
Would the restriction against straightening leave with the rest of the text of the tattoo, or is the straightening restriction a continuing effect set up when the fire-token-gaining ability is used?
It would leave with the text.
On a related note, could a follower with the ability "Limited: Bow ~this~ to move it to another personality" use that ability if its currently attached personality is bowed?
Yes.
last gift question
I have a dishonored Hachi, I use last gift to increase his personal honor in one, what would be his personal honor after I use last gift?
0. Dishonored Personalities have their Personal Honor reduced to 0 after all other modifications, as per the rulebook. If you restore him to honor, you'll see the +1.
Shosuro Gardens Fun (a Shosuro gardens question)
My opponent targets one of my peps. I use shosuro gardens to redirect the action to Shosuro Furuyari (Scorpion Clan Villain * Samurai * Unique Reaction: When an Action card targets Furuyari, discard a card from your hand with a Focus value greater than or equal to the Action's, to cancel the action.) Is the action cancel?
You can use Furuyari's reaction to cancel it, yes.
Also if my new target is Isawa Ijime (Phoenix Clan Maiden * Shugenja * Unique Reaction: Once per phase, when an action targets Ijime, redirect it to another target.) can I use her reaction to redirect to my opponents peps ?
Yes.
(this may sound silly but, the target must be legal right?
Always, barring explicit card text to the contrary (such as Isawa Nakamuri Experienced has).