post for 5 September 2002

Isawa Suma

His Chi loss is an effect, not a cost, of casting. If it's negated or he is unable to suffer it completely (say, due to The Emerald Armor), the spellcasting is not canceled.

Faith In My Clan / Rallying Cry

Apparently this happened at Gencon UK and was ruled legal, so I want to be sure.

Bob the Crab attacks Steve the Mantis. Steve has a Clan Champion out. Bob attacks province A. Steve defends province B, with his Clan Champion in the army. When battle A is resolved, can Steve play Faith In My Clan to cancel Bob's Rallying Cry?

Already answered. Yes.

And while I've got your attention, Solitary Engagement. Question about the wording of "during a battle." Are effects that happen outside but concurrent with a battle (IE, the duel created after Solitary Engagement resolves) considered to be "during" a battle?

Technically, yes.

post for 4 September 2002

So I gain 8 ia a single hit, IToW drops it to 5, what happenes to the rest of the gain?

Nothing. It's still an 8 point gain. But that gain can't raise your total past a certain amount.

So if I want to steal the loss, I still need an 8 Chi shugenja ? And assuming I lost 3 or more honor this turn, I would gain 8, and not 5 ?

Yes and yes, since you always DID gain 8.

Wow. Now I admit *that* comes as a surprise. Are you telling that excess Honor gained under a time of war works like excess Force Penalties on a 0F guy ?

Exactly like that.

But since Honor gains are permanent, what then is preventing the Honor total to be afterwise raised ?

It has nothing to do with being "permanent" or "temporary". Force penalties can be permanent too, if that's the distinction you're trying to draw. I'm not sure how to read your last sentence.

Example : We are under In Time of War and I have 15 honor. I play "Even More Beautiful Hanabi" to Gain 8 Honor. My honor total is raised by Five, to 20. Correct ? My opponent Deeds me. Being kind of stupid, I use my Fantastic Gardens and Lose 2 Honor. Since I had already three "excess honor", I would in fact stay at my current Honor total, 20, -with one "excess honor" still ? Correct ?

Correct.

Now since honor gains do not vanish at the end of my turn, during my opponent's turn he use the basic Yogo Tjeki on me for a 2 pt Honor loss. My honor : A) Drops by 2 and goes to 18, or B) Drops by one since I still had one of those magical invisible "excess honor" points and I end up at 19 ?

If the answer is A), where did the excess honor point go, and why did they vanish at the end of my turn ?

Interesting point. I'll see what the Rules Team has to say.

checking a ruling I made.

Well, I am almost positive I made the right call but I would like it confirmed.

In Search of the Future negates the force bonus derived from the tactician trait the Fan of Command confers to the personality, thus is not considered a bonus from an attached card. Right or wrong?

The Fan of Command does not give Force bonuses. It gives the Tactician trait. Using the trait to discard gives a Force bonus that comes from a basic game rule, not from any card. In Search of the Future will reduce it to 0.

In Search of the Future

If I give someone a permanent force gain (say, from a Plains Above Evil) ...is it still considered a force *bonus* for the rest of the turn? ...rest of the game?

If it's a bonus, it's a bonus. It doesn't stop being a bonus once it reaches a certain age.

More specifically, if I've got a guy from Plains Above Evil attacking my opponent, can he ISoF to reduce my guy's force?

Unless you've somehow attached the Region card to your Personality, he absolutely can.

In Search of the Future

If I give someone a permanent force gain (say, from a Plains Above Evil) ...is it still considered a force *bonus* for the rest of the turn? ...rest of the game?

More specifically, if I've got a guy from Plains Above Evil attacking my opponent, can he ISoF to reduce my guy's force?

In Search of the Future is a battle action. Therefore any force bonuses that you give a personality outside of a battle (Plains Above Evil, since it's giving the personality a permanent bonus when they enter play) cannot but the target of In Search of the Future.

You're reading In Search of the Future wrong. It says, "Lower all current Force bonuses for cards in this battle to 0, except bonuses to or from cards attached to them." You look at all cards in the current battle, figure out which of them have any bonuses on them *right now* ("currently"), exclude those bonuses that go directly between two cards attached to one another, and reduce all the rest to 0 until the turn ends.

1000 Years of Darkness math question

Hi,

The ads for 1000 Years of Darkness say that it has over 30 unique cards, and 60 other cards in triplicate. It also says that this adds up to 200 cards...which doesn't make sense to me. 3 x 60 = 180, and 180 + 30 or more is at least 210. So how many cards does one actually get for buying a set?

200 physical cards. That figure of 60 non-unique cards is high and is probably based on estimates we had to make before we'd worked the numbers out exactly.

post for 4 September 2002

Jeff, you're smoking that Void flavored Jell-O again! :)

Jell-O doesn't come in flavors. It comes in colors. (I like red.)

I got this email through the L5R-useful mailing list, so I can't tell if other people have already responded to this, but I'm guessing that you had Force of Will on the brain here. Face Me! will set the Chi to 0, but the Personal Honor remains 5. The challenging Personality dies instantly and the duel ends without resolution, but their personal honor is still 0 when they die.

Very true. Good catch.

Jeff, ANOTHER question about stands against the waves.... / Jeff??? Stand against the wave clarification....

This was my original post...

I know this has been discussed before, but I'm confused when reading the ruling....

Stand Against the Waves 1) The attacker / defender may bow allied units. [FAQ]

2) Initially targets another player, not their cards (Card text). May be played if you are a Yodin Sensei player, but if played against you in a multi-player game, you may not bow allied Personalities. [JA, 4 December 2001]

3) The first effect always occurs (or attempts to) and always targets Personalities (i.e., Reactions to an action targeting a Personality are always playable). It does not sometimes skip to the second, untargeted effect. [JA, 18 December 2001]

My specific question is, can I cancel this with Way of Shadow/Flee the Darkness/Ninja Tricks if its my personalities that would bow?

Part 2 says to me, it doesnt target my cards it targets me so I couldnt cancel it with those cards.

Part 3 seems to contradict that.

Read the first word: "initially". The only target chosen by the person playing Stand Against the Waves is the commanding player of the other army. Then THAT player targets cards in his or her own army for the bowing effects.

If Stand Against the Waves is played against you, you can cancel it with Flee the Darkness when you target your own Personalities, because Flee doesn't care which player is doing the targeting. Likewise with Way of Shadow. And Ninja Tricks can cancel it because Ninja Tricks doesn't care what the action targets -- Ninja Tricks can cancel any action card played by someone besides you.

You said I can cancel it because Flee/Way dont care who is doing the targeting. Going back to your 1st paragraph where I target my own cards to bow, WHAT if I have played a Test of Courage or an Inner Fire before the Stand was played?

1) Does it prevent Stands from being played?

2) Does it not matter because another player is forcing me to target my own personalities?

3) Are you ready to beat me with a big Ono yet?

If, for whatever reason, the opposing player cannot target and bow enough Follower-less Personalities, your Stand Against the Waves will bow all Follower-less Personalities in his or her army as an untargeted effect.

Shinjo Noriyori

I have a question with:

Shinjo Noriyori (Broken Blades) Unicorn Clan Magistrate. Samurai. Cavalry Reaction: After assigning Noriyori to an attacking army, he gains a 1F Cavalry Follower token.

Does the 1F Follower token stays in play after the battle? Or does it goes out at the end of the turn?

Tokens last forever. [p. 39]

Does he gets multiple 1F follower tokens, one each time it assigns?

Yes, if you choose to use his Reaction each time.

Rules question

This happened in a game recently and I want to make sure that I made the right call because it will come up again.

I attack my opponent with two personalities. He defends with one personality and his personality ends up bowed. One of my personalities ends up bowed. He plays Encircled Terrain (Delayed Terrain Battle: The Attacker and Defender each target one of their own units in this battle. Send all other units in this battle home without bowing.)

He may not target his bowed personality because Encircled Terrain is his action. I may target either the bowed personality or the unbowed personality because I may target my bowed personalities with other players actions.

Am I right here?

You are right.

The rulebook now says "you may not target your bowed personalities with YOUR actions" where it had said "you may not target your bowed personalities" or something similar prior to Gold Edition. This also means I can target my bowed personalities with things that aren't actions

The rulebook has always just included actions in that rule. You've been able to target your own bowed people with Events for years.

In Time Of War

This is straight from the accumulated rulings :

In Time of War Reads, "In Time of War For the rest of the game, no player's Family Honor may rise over 5 points from what it was when the turn began." [MRP, A Perfect Cut, 4 September 2001] Does not limit changes in honor total for increases that are not considered Honor gains (e.g., Experienced 2 Bayushi Yojiro). [Reversal, JA, 16 December 2001]

So, if I read it correctly, if I'm at -18, and In Time of War has resolved and I have Yojiro exp2 in play, I can go back to 2 Honor (assuming I'm playing with Yogo Towers or Shadow Stronghold of Bayushi). Am I right ?

Yes.

The Citadel of the Golden Dragon presents "Season of the Monkey!"

We will be playing with the optional Monkey Clan = Toturi's Army rule.

Check the BB rulesheet. That rule isn't optional any more. It's standard outside Four Winds storyline games.

Daigatsu and other peeps as choices for Wind

So if I am willing to give up using the Favor I could Name say Yoritomo Kitao as my Wind and support her for Empress?

Not unless a high-ranking Story Team member announces it beforehand. I mean, sure, you *could* say that, but it will just be recorded as "no Wind".

Rules Question (JEFF)

Hi Jeff, Question regarding the Oracle of Earth. Can I use it's ability to play a terrain in a battle where I have no presence if the terrain is allowed to be played in a battle in which I have no presence? Example: A battle is resolving at province 1 and no units are present. Can I play Accessible Terrain with the Oracle of Earth?

Current

Also, with regards to our ongoing discussion about "performing" vs. "taking" actions: Is a personality who is casting a Kiho or Spell "taking" the action?

Yes.

I want to know specifically with regards to The Wind's Truth as if the personality is indeed "taking" the action and not just "performing", they could be challenged via Enough Talk!. I would like to know the same with regards to lobbying for the Imperial Favour.

Yes.

Shoju Question

If I am not playing scorpion, and Shoju is in my discard pile, can i bring him into play with Return of the Fallen Lord... It doesn't specify whether you check entering play restrictions when you bring anyone in or not.

"Will only join" / "will not join" restrictions are always in effect, and Return of the Fallen Lord doesn't override them.