post for 7 March 2003
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.
Tourney questions [Brand?]
What are they?
They are kits for the new promotional tournament format we're trying out after the "Season Of" line ends.
How can they be ordered?
The same way the Season kits were: from distributors and not from us directly.
For the Empire & Kyuden Doji.
Hi there, just a quick question for Jeff.
I am playing out of Kyuden Doji and I have a Voitagi and another samurai in play. I use For the Empire to initiate a duel between my Voitagi and my opponents samurai.
If I replace Voitagi with my non-shadowlands samurai, which of the winning benefits go I gain??
a) My non-shadowlands samurai won the duel therefore I gain 3 honor and +1 ph.
or b) Voitagi initiated the duel therefore I get +1f +1c.
c) Neither the Shadowlands Personality nor the Samurai originally targeted won the duel, so there is no reward. The loser still dies.
post for 6 March 2003
Can Deeds not Words be played during a battle?
No. It does not meet Relevance because it does not set up any new conditions that apply just to that one battle.
What about using a Ratling Conjuror during a battle? If the conjuror is at home, can it be used?
You satisfy Presence if you have a unit in that battle.
You satisfy Relevance if the Conjuror is in the battle or if he gives a Force bonus to a Ratling card in the battle.
If you don't satisfy both, the Conjuror is not legal.
I ask because it isn't there, it doesn't target, but it does affect cards at that battle. Since the third clause of Relevence is so vague, I thought I'd better double check :-)
The part that applies to the Conjuror is not vague at all. The only part not crystal clear is "affect the battle itself",
Sezaru's Mask!
-If my Shugenja with Sezaru's Mask participates in a ritual. eg. Purity of the 7 Thunders, is that personality's chi counted twice?
No.
Heaven and Earth Card List
Are there really all the cards that will be in the Heaven and Earth set?
Heck no! That list of thirty is just the ones we're going to give previews for. Heaven & Earth will be a full-sized set, with "over 150 brand new cards," as described in the very same article where you saw those thirty titles.
Battlefield of Shallow waters
ISOTF changes a number to a lower number. That makes it a penalty. However, the penalty is given to force _bonuses_ (card text) rather than to cards _receiving_ bonuses.
If Battle of Shallow Waters read "Negate all force penalties in this battle" then I imagine it would work against ISOTF. But since it only negates penalties for _cards_ in this battle, it doesn't work on penalties for _bonuses_.
Woah, woah, woah! STOP! I do not want to go down that road. I don't want there to be different rules for bonuses, and for penalties to bonuses, and for bonuses to bonuses to penalties, and for... Things will get insane that way.
There are bonuses, and there are penalties, and that's it. As far as those terms work within the L5R CCG, it doesn't go any deeper.
In Search of the Future causes a card number (current Force) to drop by reducing a bonus. [card text] That means it is NOT creating a penalty. [FOU rulesheet] That means Battlefield of Shallow Waters does not negate the change. [card text] And that's the real basis for the ruling.
Battlefield of Shallow waters
You know, this is one of the most counterintuitive rulings ever.
The ruling is a direct application of the rulebook and card text. The card text is all straightforward, and the key parts of the rules themselves were written to favor intuition. (*)
Then again... I'd have to ignore an awful lot of personal experience before I could once again believe that this arrangement was enough to guarantee intuitive rulings on everything. C'est la vie.
(*) Don't believe me? Start asking players of this or any card game whether a card that gets +2 to Force, or Wounds, or whatever until the end of the turn is getting a penalty when the turn ends. Make them answer without reading a rulebook first! You want their INTUITIVE answer. I'm betting the #1 response you get is, "It's not a penalty, they're just losing the +2."
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