Rules for 11 April 2003

Greetings,

Yesterday, I gave a flippant answer to the question of whether the old T-Shirt certificates could be used for the new T-shirts.

But truth is that I don't know the answer to that question. It's one for Ray Lau to answer. Anyone who wants to know should probably ask again, and flag it for Ray.

l5r rules question

[Ki-Rin] says nothing about being in play...

All effects are limited to cards in play (Gold Edition rulebook, pg. 25) unless they otherwise say so (e.g., they refer to cards someone "owns").

[H]aving a Ki-Rin in my dynasty deck, not even exposed or unexposed in any of my provinces, what keeps opposing personalities that have a personal honor of 0, 4, or 5 ever attacking my provinces until for some reason the Ki-Rin would be discarded or removed from play in some fashion?

The Gold Edition rules, page 25. "Cards in decks, in Provinces... do not affect play."

Rules for 10 April 2003

BTW, whats with the "redefine 'maho'" deal?

Oh, just referring to the post asking, "How can maho be 'forbidden by the Emperor' when there's no Emperor? Shouldn't the rulesheet not say that now?"

Rules for 10 April 2003

Lesser shrine card text (from legendary): [snip] I'm sorry Zen, but I don't see where i'ts writen that it blows when you cause an honor loss to yourself.

That's because you're not looking at the card. I was, and am. It says, "Destroy Lesser Shrine... if you ever take an action that causes *you* an honor loss." (One of the first lessons of scholarship is to find the original source material.)

It's unfortunate that people put as much so much credence to search engines and spoiler lists. They're useful tools, but they have errors. I saw about 3 different search engines and spoiler lists that all had the same error.

*sigh* Time to clear up misconceptions...

Rules for 10 April 2003

The person initating the Ia Challenge is not causing the honor loss by playing the card.

Wrong. The very first ruling in the Rules Archive (http://www.legendofthefiverings.com/rulings/) is "Decisions are not actions," which is one part of the issue. Another is that the source of effects is generally where it's written in ink, which is also in the Archive.

Building on that, Jeff just ruled that refusing the challenge doesnt blow up your own shrines either.

Two things.

First, Jeff didn't make the ruling; I did. For those of you who don't know me, my name's Zen. I'm a Deputy Rules Guy, and I maintain the Rules Archive. I can be readily distinguished from Jeff because Jeff invests in haircuts, whereas I'm more thrifty in spending money on my coiffure.

Second, the basis for the ruling is that Lesser Shines care about *self-inflicted* honor losses. Whether the loss comes from the action or the decision to refuse is moot.

Missing stats

It's player B's turn. Player A plays Plans Within Plans Player B attacks with Shiro Matsu. Both commit all their units to the same battle. At that battle, player B plays Sneak Attack + Arrival of the Emerald Champion. Is player A allowed to make an Egg of Pan'Ku of the Emerald Champion ?

[Zen wishes he could issue an erratum to Plans Within Plans to stop these long combo questions.] Yes.

Will the Egg be discarded at the end of the battle ?

No.

Now it's player A's turn. Imperial Census hits the table. What happens to the champion ?

This one:

he's considered to have a gold cost of 0, it bows.

The reason for this answer and the next two is the same. Gold Edition rulebook, pg. 32: "If something refers to a value that isn't specified or is missing, such as the Focus value of a Follower token or the Gold cost of an Event, consider that value to be 0."

As i have -10 honor, he would like to play I believed in you on my emerald champion :

This one:

- he's [Emerald Champion] considered to have an HR of 0

Now imagine the same situation with Bayushi Tai Exp's personality token. What are the missing stats of an Egg copying the token ?

Zero.

Training Grounds

what does an L5R Experience deck consist of, if I might ask?

Two 50 card decks, Crane and Scorpion, made up of common and uncommon cards. I don't have a checklist handy, but I'll make one for Steel and Iron soon.

Rules for 10 April 2003

Now I'm confused...

Hm. You're not looking at card text from a search engine, I hope. ;)

Since Stand contains each / all I thought it would be global and not targeting.

Stand Against the Waves has two effects, which are written as two sentences on the card. The first sentence, you'll note, does not use words like "each" or "all." Thus, it targets. The second sentence does say all -- but it's preceded by the word, "if." It only happens *if* the first effect can't resolve.

I don't see how Stand would necessarily target every time either.

That's because effects try to resolve in the order they're printed on the card. This is a fine point, but that's why we have the Rules Archive.

Maybe it's just me, but there seems to be some conflicting text?

Hey, I'm not into assigning "blame," dude. ;)

I am outta here

So which ones did you like from here again?

Don't you remember my infamous, "I want a Tim Tam!" before the finals of my last Melbourne tournament? ;)

I miss Yowies, too. But I have seen Violet Crumble in the U.S. once since I moved here... [Zen wonders what people who haven't been to Australia will make of all this...]

Rules for 10 April 2003

August 2003, which almost certainly means, "released at GenCon."

Zen, Gen-Con's in July. :>

Just this one time! Trust me, I've had chats to the AEG staff about how product releases are timed for release the major cons.

Missing Stats and Emperors

Umm April Fools is just ONE day. :)

Fools never get the calender recognition their numbers deserve, I reckon... ;)

Poor Zen. He backs up Jeff for a few days, and gets hit with Uber-Silliness. At least its not a Leon question.

It's cool. I can cope with sideburn boy. ;)

L5r-ccg digest, Vol 1 #252 - 14 msgs

I plead with Development to let the Naga be represetned in new card sets. Keep them around in some form. Quotes, regions, and more interestignly enough, followers.

I have to note that there is *already* one Diamond legal Naga: Zanshar, from 1,000 Years of Darkness. They have not been forgotten.

I think the L5R design team has shown repeatedly that they will provide some support to those players who enjoy the Open environment (e.g., 1,000 Years of Darkness). I know some people disagree with this and think there should be more -- and I respect that -- but there will always be disagreement over what constitutes "enough" representation, particularly for the legacy clans.

Tainted vs Corrupt [AEG]

why was the boundary for tainted vs corrupt decks set at 4 Shadowlands/Maho cards?

I have no real evidence, but I suspect it was because 3 cards allowed a player to use 3 copies of a particular card that fit very well with a given deck design. So it gave players a little room to maneuver.

It strikes me as a very small limit, compared to the amount of Taint you can accumulate in the RPG before becoming Lost.

The CCG and the RPG are two different animals. They need different mechanisms.

Personally, I'd like to see more Tainted wins, and to make it easier to build Tainted rather than Corrupt decks.

For what purpose? Do you really think that a bunch of tainted wins won't end up causing much the same effects in the story -- namely, the Shadowlands harming the Emerald Empire -- as a bunch of corrupted wins?

As Huey Lewis once observed, "Sometimes, sometimes bad is bad." (Wah-do-do-do-doo-wop, wop)

Rules for 10 April 2003

Zen, this is a very common question and it is certainly not easy to find in the rulebook. Is there any way that this could be added to either the FAQ or the Archive? Please?

The FAQ already has a question about Iaijutsu Challenge. Admittedly, it's about the interaction with Defend Your Honor, but the logic is the same. I think there are numerous other rulings in the Archive that relate to this.

H&E Question

when a person is being sent home via blocked supply lies, the favor, etc. When does the bowing part happen? If I cancel the bowing, do they go home unbowed, or remain in the fight?

The former: home unbowed. As other have observed, the bowing is negated, not "canceled." "Cancel" has a very specific meaning in L5R.

H&E Question

There was a ruling, a long time back, [snip]

This is not meant to sound snarky, but talking about a ruling from "a long time ago" is likely to cause more confusion on the list than clarity. It's all too likely that the ruling has changed since then.

newbie question

if a have a spell that lets me make range attacks at the shugenja's chi +2, is it the printed Chi value or the current Chi value[?]

Gold Edition rulebook, pg. 32: Current.

what if I am attacking with a range attack at 5 and the target has Force of 4 and a weapon that has +2F/+2C, I compare the attack to the original or total Force?

For the same reason as above: Current total.

And if he has followers I don't count their Force right?

Yes, *but*:

Gold Edition rules, pg. 63: You can't target a Personality with a Ranged Attack if he or she has a follower (unless the card making the Ranged Attack specifically says otherwise).

Gold Edition rules, pg. 32. Some followers add force directly to their Personality's, so they would count.

Newbie help

It just seems like the relative inflexibility gives the defender (and thus the passive honor decks) a big advantage. Couple that with the high cost of even an effective attack (a bowed out defense)...let alone the ruinous cost of a *failed* attack...and it seems hard to be aggressive.

Most new players think that. But the dynamic is more complex than it appears at first glance, as evidence by military decks winning every world championship.

(no subject)

Can someone tell me how the naval trait works? (and please don't send me to www.something.com)

Um. Why not?

Anyway, because I'm a guy, they go like this:

"If every Personality and Follower in only one army has the Naval trait, then immediately after that battle is chosen for resolution, the Naval army's leader may elect to make the battle a naval invasion. If so:

" * If the attacking army is the Naval one, the Attacker gets the first option of playing a Battle or Open action (or passing), and play then proceeds in turn order from the Attacker, not from the Defender.

" * Players with units in the Naval army may not play Terrains until after one of the other players passes or takes a Battle or Open action.

" * No player may take actions (including Reactions) or bring cards into play between the start of the Battle Action Segment and the first Battle or Open action opportunity, except for Reactions to that action.

"A naval invasion may not be declared by an empty army but may be declared against one. A naval invasion may not be declared if both armies are Naval."

to have a naval unit all personalities and followers have to be naval like to the cavalary trait?

Yes.