Rules for 7 December 2004

Your Rules for Tuesday, December 7, 2004

Duelist trait rule withdrawn

Right now, even including upcoming cards from Web of Lies, we do not feel the effects of the rulebook Duelist trait are too strong. However, recent new playtest discoveries give us reason to believe it is stronger than it first tested out, and when combined with the number of new Duelist Personalities planned for the next two expansions, it is too likely to become a seriously disruptive issue.

We don't want to be barred from printing Duelist Personalities for two of the first three Lotus-legal retail expansions. We don't want to print Personalities without the trait now and then reprint them with the trait added in Lotus itself. Yet we don't want hand denial to be a dominant strategy in L5R during the final days of the Diamond environment (or, for that matter, at any time). As a result, we are officially REVERSING the recent rules addition regarding the Duelist trait. Effective immediately, it has no standard effect, and exists only for interaction with other cards.

This is not something we do lightly. We examined several possible solutions and feel this is the best one, and now is the best time to do it. I want to apologize now, both personally and on behalf of the L5R Player Design Team, for not adequately foreseeing the full impact of this rules change. On the one hand, it is a good thing this issue was identified before players grew accustomed to the new rule, but nothing changes the fact that it should have been seen far earlier. We are re-examining the current way we playtest cards to avoid repeating this sort of error, and have already made changes to our playtest teams and to their assignments to that same end.

Winning Raid battles

If you are unopposed in a raid battle and you have 1 or more force, you will "win" the raid battle even if you are unopposed according to the Aramasu's Pride stronghold.

The normal L5R definition of Winning a battle is to have greater army force than your opposing army and there is normally no "win" against an empty army.

1) Will actions/reactions that key off of winning battles be available to Mantis players who have 1 or more force in a Raid battle against no opposing units?

No. Only effects that specifically count battles versus empty armies in their own card or Stronghold text will be triggered by having 1 or more Force versus no units.

2) Do you "win" the Raid battle as an attacker when there are no opposing units at the battlefield if a) you have an army with unbowed units, but your army force total is 0 (Moshi Amika by herself in a battle)? b) you have an army with all bowed units so that your army's force total is 0?

No and no. An empty army has a total Force of 0. You need to exceed that to "win".

Eclipse,winds and senseis

Can a player cast "Eclipse"and target with it a sensei-or,for that matter,a wind?

Do you mean to ask if you can target a Sensei or Wind card with Eclipse?

If so, the answer is "yes."

Winds and Sensei are cards and they are in play. They are not Fate or Dynasty Cards, however.

Shosuro infiltrator text

Hi all, This has been asked before but never answered. Who exactly does the "original personality" on the card refer to if the infiltrator has been attached and discarded repeatedly during a single battle?

"Original personality," is defined for each use of the Ability when you play it. When the duration of all those uses of the ability expire, you'll have a bunch of simultaneous instructions to move the Infiltrator card somewhere. If you have more than one Personality you could legally return the Infiltrator to, the Active Player decides which instruction to follow first.

Once the Infiltrator is returned to play, all the other "return to play" effects pending would normally fail to resolve since it is already in play.

Shahai

I'm not sure if this was covered already but shouldn't Shahai be exp 2? rather than exp as listed on the WoL card?

"Is distinct from Iuchi Shahai (Experienced). [ZF, 6 June 2001] May not be overlayed on a non-Experienced Iuchi Shahai. [JA, 8 June 2001]" (Accumulated Rulings, "Shahai")

"Shahai" and "Iuchi Shahai" are distinct cards, just like Yasuki Hachi and Daidoji Hach are distinct cards. Just because Shahai counts as Iuchi Shahai for Uniqueness does not mean she is the same card.

"Shahai" is a Unique, Nonexperienced Personality.

Tsukimi exp and chi tokens

If Tsukimi negates the penalty generated by a token, does that penalty become reinstated at the end of the turn?

I'd like to confer with Jeff over this one, just to be able to make a clear and general ruling on similar effects.

Overwhelmed targeting

If Bob sends home both units, does Overwhelmed target both those units?

Yes. Bob targets the units with Overwhelmed.

If Bob destroys the biggest unit, does Overwhelmed target that unit?

Yes. Bob targets the unit with Overwhelmed.

AW: [L5R-CCG]Rules Ronin Swordsman

Ronin Swordsman. The cards says when I enter the duel I can take that card into my hand and focus with it. Then I gain 2 honor if I win the duel. Does the card have to be attached to gain the 2 honor or not? I mean can I focus this card from hand and will gain the two honor before it was in play?

Reaction: Before focusing for this Personality in a duel, take this card into your hand: Focus with this card. Gain 2 Honor as an additional result if you win.

All those effects happen only if you use that Reaction, which you can only do if this card is in play.

And another Question:

Doji Saori. Bow Saori: Target a Duelist you control and a Personality another player controls. The Duelist issues the other target an unrefuseable challenge.

Can she target herself and make the duel or can she not.

Yes. Targets are chosen before costs are paid. Also, once an action has been legally announced, the rule that bowed Personalities may not perform challenge-causing actions can no longer make the action illegal.

(rules) WOL focus effect cards.

Hey,

I've been milling on this for the past few days.

As you all know, WoL saw some cards that have effects when revieled as focus cards eg: Weigh the Cost & Misdirection etc.

My question is, I focus away the above cards, I attach the spell 'The Kami Watch Over Me' to a random Shug & cast it, are these cards shuffled back into my deck or do they remain in my discard pile?

They are shuffled back. Only actions resolve, and cards focused in a duel are not "in play".

REsposting of the Raid Battle questions

I'm reposting these with the Rules keyword to get official rules attention/rulings.

I answered these questions form the first time you asked, I just had to catch up to that point in list to answer it. :)

Aramasu's Pride

Me and my friends were wondering about the bonus granted by Aramasu's Pride on abilities on holdings or conditional gold on holdings.

It won't affect any abilities, only non-Action effects.

For example: After winning a raid, can you target Barley Farm and bow it to produce 5 gold and does it's ability also get affected allowing you a non-bow for 5 gold on top of that?

The bowing effect produces 5. The Reaction produces 1.

Also, cards like Shrine to Ebisu or Roadside Shrine. Could you then bow the shrine and a personality for 8 gold? And Roadside Shrine does it produce 6 or 7 for cav and item?

Shrine to Benten could be bowed along with a Personality to produce 8 gold for buying a Personality. Roadside Shrine could bow for 6 Gold, or 7 for a Cavalry or Item card.

First Oni

This may have already been ruled on, but I checked the Archive and didn't find anything on The First Oni inexp.

The First Oni inexp says - "Limited: Once per turn, target an unbowed Personality you do not control, Lose 5 Honor. Declare an additional Attack Phase, creating a battlefield not associated with a Province. The First Oni assigns to attack there. The target assigns to defend there. After the Attack Phases, resume the Action Phase."

In any normal Attack Phase, there is a 1) Declaration Segment 2) Infantry Maneuvers Segment 3) Cavalry Maneuvers Segment 4) Battle Action Segment 5) Resolution Segment

There is no rulebook mechanic for assigning to any battlefields other than those at the defenders provinces, so we know that no other personalities can assign to the First Oni's battle unless there is a card that lets them do so.

I'm not sure about this. You should technically be assigned to "Battlefields" now, rather than "Provinces," if my understanding of the new terminology is accurate. I'll ask Jeff.

But The First Oni inexp does not say that battles do not occur at the defenders provinces and he does not say that personalities other than The First Oni himeself and his target cannot assign to those provinces, so...

1) Can you and the defender assign other personalities to attack and defend the defender's provinces?

Yes. Nothing says that you can't.

2) Can the First Oni inexp be moved into those other battles?

Yes. Nothing says that he can't.

3) Does the attacker still decide in which order the battles are resolved?

Again, nothing says otherwise, so you can.

That should cover everything for Tuesday. If I missed your question, please repost it with the flag [RULES] as part of your Clear and Distinct subject line. I'll get back to you at the first opportunity.