Rules for 1 May 2004

Rules for Saturday, May 1, 2004

Rules questions: Modified, Rule of Presence

A) Petty Insults read (in part): "YOu and that player each lose Honor equal to the Gold you spent on th is card or the Coutiers' total Personal Honor, whichever is less. Your loss cannot be copied or modified."

What does Modified mean? Can it be redirected with Rhetoric? What about negated and then switched with Dirty Politics?

Modified means changed in anyway. No redirection, increase, decrease, or negation is allowed.

B) I'm reading the Rule of Presence, and scratching my head a bit. The rule of Presence says only one of three qualifications must be met. They are: 1) Be from a card at the battle, 2) Move or create card/token in battle, 3) Target or directly affect car or token in battle.

You're confusing the Rule of Relevance with the Rule of Presence. What you mention above is the Rule of Relevance.

The Rule of Presence simply states that you have to either control a unit in the current battle, or be taking an action that has you gain a unit in the battle as an unconditional effect of the Action.

So, I have Doji Jotaro. I read the Rule of Presence as saying that he meets the third qualification - he targets a card (personality) attacking one of your provinces. Therefore, he could be at Home and do this.

You can use him from your home, but only so long as you control another unit at the current battle.

However, then I read the example in the DE rulebook about Earthquake. It says clearly that the Shugenja casting it must be in the battle. So, that leads me to think that Doji Jotaro must be in the battle to use his ability.

Earthquake's ability uses the word "opposing" to describe its target. That means that the target of Earthquake must oppose the personality casting Earthquake. This can only happen if both the target and caster are in armies opposed to one another in battle.

Are there any instances where Battle Actions on personalities do not require the personality to be at the battle (EXCEPT for obvious instances like Agasha Chieh)?

Just about every Battle Action that fulfills the Rule of Relevance without using the words "opposing" or "in this battle" will qualify.

Q: Rhetoric/Dirty Politics vs. Shadowlands?

Shadowlands players cannot gain or lose family honor as per their stronghold's text.

What is the effect, if any, of Rhetoric OR Dirty Politics against Shadowlands? I assumed no effect (as in, both cards are unplayable). However, I noticed today that both cards say "Before a gain/loss . . . . "

You can't alter any of their gains or losses, because they can't occur. They are Negated and never cause triggers.

So, does that "before" timing make it possible to, say, redirect the honor loss from refusing Iaijutsu Challenge with Dirty Politics to the challenger's benefit?

You can't affects the Hordes gains or losses. They never happen. You can redirect non-Horde player's losses and gains to a Horde player. If such a redirection effect successfully resolves, the gain or loss in question will vanish without a trace.

Ruling Questions:

#1: Will Northern Provinces of the Moto buy the Demanding Gunso with Cavalry (that is: Does my choice to give Demanding Gunso the Cavalry Trait) happen in time to let the NP produce 7.

Yes, it will happen in time to let Northern Provinces of the Moto produce 7 for the card.

#2: Why is it *not* the case that: If bowing a personality to produce a Range N attack against a personality in Shinjo Xushen Exp's army; that I must declare the attack to be N+2, because it is the only way I can actually produce the Range N?

You don't get a choice about the declared strength of a Ranged Attack unless the card itself gives you a choice. When the Ranged Attack is produced, on resolution of the effect, it will be produced at a Strength based on the base strength plus or minus any ensuing modifiers.

OK, that looks like everything for Saturday, May 1, 2004 that wasn't handled in-thread. If I missed your question from this day, please let me know by reposting your question with the flag [RULES] in the subject line. I'll get to it at the first opportunity.

Thanks folks,