Rules for 3 July 2004
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.
Your Rules for Tuesday, August 3, 2004
Directly Affects...
What does "Directly Affects" mean in the rules of relevance? In particular, does an open action that affects all of a particular type of card, such as the Ratling Conjurer's, directly affect cards in the current battle?
"Directly Affects" usually means that it alters the state of the card or token in some way. Changing Stats or Traits are direct affects - so that qualifies giving bonuses, penalties, reducing bonuses and penalties, moving cards or tokens, and removing or adding traits. I'll admit that it is pretty vague. If you have a specific example question, I might be able to get you a more precise answer.
Ratling Conjuror will definitely qualify, at any rate, so long as someone has some Ratling Cards at the current battle who will have their Force increased.
Seppun Jin
I discaard a focus 5 to gain a person with chi 5, but this chi is bigger than seppun's chi. Can i gain that person???? or the chi must be like seppun's chi and card's focus????
OK, the ability reads like this, "This cannot target a Personality whose Chi is greater than Jin's or greater than the discard's Focus value."
This means that if either A.) "Chi is greater than Jin's" OR B.) "Chi is great than the discard's Focus value," then you can not target that Personality.
If either of those two conditions are met, you CAN NOT use Jin's ability on the given Personality, as per the card text. In an OR construction in Math, English, or Computer Science, the evaluation is considered "true" if one or more of the options connected by OR are "true."
House of Tao and the Shadowlands Trait
If somehow I am able to give one of the opponents Personalities the Shadowlands trait, then kill them, will brining them back into play with my own Feign Death cause the destruction of all their rings?
Yes. Feign Death forces the previous controller of the dead Personality bring him or her into play. That player it the Personality's controller and suffers any "entering play" effects based off that card entering play, including Honor Losses or House of the Tao blowing up their rings.
On a similar note if I steal somebody with Yajindin, if I procede to give them the shadowlands trait via Suppun Jin (kill the personlity and then bring him back while still under my control), will he go back over to the opponent's side if Yajindin straightens / dies?
No one controls Personalities while they are in the Discard Pile. Effects that influence the control of a Personality are Negated when the Personality can no longer be controlled due to not being in play.
Anyway, you were the last player to bring the Personality into play (via Seppun Jin) thusly when all "gain control" effects have expired, you're the default controller of the Personality. He or she will revert to your control, not the control of their owner.
In relation to Yajinden, if the person he is controling dies and I feign death him, when Yajinden dies/straightens he goes back over to the opponent, correct, based on Yajinden's duration wording?
Again, Yajinden's ability is a moot point. Once you've brought the Personality into play under your control (via Feign), you are the default controller. Remove all "take control" effects from the equation and the Personality is still yours.
That should cover it for Tuesday. If I missed your question, please repost it with the flag [RULES] as part of a distinct and clear subject line. I'll get back to your at the first opportunity.