_Legend of the Five Rings_(tm) Frequently Asked Questions
Version 3.1 / August 28th, 1996
Notes from the FAQ-Keeper:
The task of furnishing the lands of Rokugan with diminutive pasteboard
tablets has thoroughly enveloped those first chosen by the Emperor to
maintain this enlightening document. Accordingly, that task has fallen
upon my humble self, that they may be untroubled by the prospect of it
falling into obscurity.
-- Jeff Alexander, Phoenix Clan Scribe
A lot of things that used to be in the FAQ aren't here anymore.
Unclear rules have been reworded and incorporated into the booklet
you'll find in Emerald Edition Clan Decks, and errata to particular
cards have been moved either into the rulebook (for Shadowlands cards)
or onto the Emerald Edition cards themselves (for Imperial cards).
Even if you're well-versed with the rulebook from the Imperial
Edition, it's recommended that you read through the new version to
re-familiarize yourself, or if you have a question that this FAQ
doesn't answer.
Section One: The Fundamentals
Q: Rings? Oh, boy! Frodo and Gandalf!
A: No, you want I.C.E., next door.
Q: Where did *your* rings come from, then?
A: _The_Book_Of_Five_Rings_, by Miyamoto Musashi. Imagine warring clans in
feudal Japan, then throw in wizards, dragons, and all sorts of beasties.
Some of our other influences were Sun Tzu's _The_Art_Of_War_, the
_Tao_Te_Ching_, and a bookshelf of Japanese and Chinese history and
mythology.
Q: You mean like _Shadowfist_(tm)?
A: Not exactly. If _Shadowfist_ is John Woo, _L5R_ is Akira Kurosawa.
Q: How can I get some?
A: Find a Hobby Game store. The Emerald Edition of the Basic Set is
now on sale, and the Shadowlands expansion began shipping to
distributors on May 2nd. The Emerald Edition and Shadowlands are
available in 15-card Destiny Packs, which have random cards in them,
and in 60-card Clan Decks, which are semi-sorted.
Q: "Semi-sorted", huh? Sounds dangerous. I think I'll just go pick up a
bunch of boost--uh, Destiny Packs instead.
A: Bad idea. You need at least one Clan Deck. First of all, the Clan Decks
have a Stronghold on them, which you use in play to determine your clan
affiliation and to generate gold and whatnot. Second, the semi-sorting is
a good thing: 25 of the cards are predetermined in each Deck so that
they'll play well right out of the box. You also get 35 random cards in
each Clan Deck; your rares and most of your uncommons are random. Third,
the Clan Decks have rulebooks in them. Finally, the only way to get the
Ancestral Armors is to pick up Clan Decks; each one has an Armor in it.
You won't get an Ancestral Armor in a Destiny Pack.
Q: So does the semi-sorting mean you can play the game from just a Clan Deck?
A: Right. It's become a favorite method of play around the office. Break
the seal, sort your cards, and have at it!
Q: What's the rarity distribution like?
A: In the Imperial Edition, there were five levels of rarity. There
are 100 common cards, 100 uncommon cards, and 91 rare cards. There are
also 6 "rarer" cards; the rare cards were printed 2 to a sheet, and
the "rarer" cards were printed 1 to a sheet, making them twice as
rare. Also, there is a special rarity level for the Ancestral
Weapons. There is one Ancestral Weapon for each Basic Clan (Crane,
Crab, Dragon, Lion, Phoenix, and Unicorn). These cards only appear in
the decks of their appropriate Clan. In production quantities, the
Ancestral Weapons are rarer than the "rarer" cards, but they are easy
to get -- if you want the Dragon Clan Ancestral Sword, buy an Imperial
Edition Dragon Clan deck. You'll get one.
In the Emerald Edition, things are much simpler. There are 100 rare,
100 uncommon and 100 common cards. There are also six new Ancestral
Items, the Ancestral Armors. These are sorted into the decks just
like the Ancestral Swords were in the Emerald Edition. The Ancestral
Swords are not in the Emerald Edition.
Shadowlands is a bit more complex. There were 50 rare, 50 uncommon
and 50 common cards in Destiny Packs. Shadowlands contains two new
Clans, the Naga and the Scorpion. There is an Ancestral Item in each
of the new Clan Decks that only appears in those decks, just like the
Ancestral Swords from the IE. Furthermore, there is a Scorpion Clan
Personality, the Poison Master, who only appears in Scorpion Clan
Decks. Confusing matters further, there is a Common card, Defend Your
Honor, which appears on the Uncommon sheet as well. Thus, there are
48 uncommon cards that appear on the uncommon press sheet twice, plus
the Uncommon Defend Your Honor (which is identical to the common DYH).
To fill the last slot in the 100 card sheet, there is an Uncommon card
that appears only once (Levy Troops). This card is more rare than the
uncommons, but less rare than the rares.
Q; How many cards in each set?
A: Imperial Edition: 303 cards, six strongholds.
Shadowlands: 153 cards, two strongholds.
Emerald Edition: 306 cards (3 from Shadowlands), six strongholds.
Q: Does that include the promo sheet cards?
A: No. We ran a 100-card sheet (with about eighty different cards) in
early August of '95, so we'd have something to show at GenCon(tm).
Almost all of the promo cards ended up in the Imperial Edition; some
of them were changed (see Section Six). Promo cards were printed at a
lower line screen than the Imperial Edition, so they're a bit fuzzier.
Q: "Almost all," huh? How can I get hold of the others?
A: Aside from bribery or violence perpetrated against a Five Rings
Publishing employee, your sole recourse is to send us a self-addressed
stamped envelope. Include a note telling us that you're participating
in the Legend of the Five Rings Promo Card Giveaway. (And say
"please.") We'll stuff the cards in whatever you send us, so if you
want your promos protected from the depredations of the U.S. Postal
Service, include a card holder or something for us to put your cards
in. The address is: L5R Card Giveaway, 4045 Guasti Road, Suite 212,
Ontario, California 91761. It's also on the back of the rulebook.
Q: Have you made any other promo or special cards since then?
A: Why, yes, we have. "The False Hoturi" was printed en masse and
given away in card game magazines and at a few conventions during the
initial release of _Shadowlands_; it is also available from the above
address. A pre-release of Seikua, a common Personality from
_Forbidden Knowledge_, was given away at GenCon '96, among other
places. And each mailing of the Imperial Herald includes a new card
available exclusively to Imperial Assembly members.
Q: What's your release schedule(tm)?
A: Shadowlands started hitting retail stores the week of May 13th. It
is, for the most part, about the Shadowlands, creatures from which
have been out and about ever since the Crabs got distracted. It has
two new Clan Decks: the Scorpion and the Naga.
The Emerald Edition is now on sale -- it shipped the week of July 31st,
1996.
After Shadowlands, we'll have Forbidden Knowledge (circa August),
Anvil of Despair (circa November), Crimson and Jade (early '97), and
Time of the Void (GenCon '97). That last one is not an "Expansion
Set," but rather a "Conclusion Set," in which the story begun last
October in the Imperial Edition comes to an end.
Section Two: Magic
Q: I'm a little fuzzy on this whole magic thing.
A: OK. It works like this. Only the Personalities which have the trait
"Shugenja" get to do magic. Ordinary samurai and the like can't read the
scrolls.
You have to attach the spell scrolls (cards) out of your hand to the
shugenja. The more spell scrolls they have, the more versatile they
get. However, you can only give a shugenja as many spells as he has
Chi. (For instance, Isawa Tadaka, the Phoenix Clan's Master of Earth,
has a Chi of 3, so he only gets to carry three spells.) You can't cast
a spell straight out of your hand.
You have to bow the shugenja to produce any of those cool effects.
However, the spells don't go away unless they say so. Most spells
stick around the whole game, or at least the lifetime of the
shugenja -- which is often short.
Q: I have a spell card which doesn't specifically say to bow the
Shugenja it's attached to. Can I use it and then another spell on
the same Shugenja?
A: No. *All* spells bow the Shugenja who's using them. Most of them say
to do so, but some aren't clear, and some actually say to bow the scroll.
There are official corrections against all of these.
Section Three: Provinces
Q: OK, I've got magic. How about Provinces?
A: Such as?
Q: Well, first off, what are they?
A: A Province is an area on the table with a Dynasty card in it. You
start the game with four of them. They represent the resources you can
call upon as the Daimyo of your house.
Provinces have been described as "resource windows," and that's not a
bad way of looking at them. Assuming you live long enough, your entire
Dynasty deck will eventually show up in one Province or another, but you
can't always be sure that the card you want is going to be there at the
right time.
Q: If my opponent attacks one of my Provinces, what effect does the card
*in* the Province have on the battle?
A: None at all. Cards in Provinces aren't "in play", and cards not in
play don't have any effect on cards which are in play.
Q: When I bring out a card from a Province into play, does it stay
associated with that Province?
A: No, not unless it's a Fortification or a Region, which the rules
explicitly tell you to attach to the Province it came from (p. 42).
Personalities and Holdings other than Fortifications roam freely about
your Fief, defending any of your Provinces, beholden to none.
Q: So if my opponent destroys my Province, I don't lose all the cards that
came out of it?
A: Right.
Q: If my opponent attacks my Province with a zero force, and I defend with
a zero force, is everything destroyed?
A: Sometimes. If there are two actual armies engaged in combat, and
they've both been reduced to zero force (e.g. by becoming bowed), then yes,
it's a tie and both sides are destroyed. If, however, there's only one
zero-force army involved--the other side just doesn't show up--then the
army survives. Zero to nobody is not a tie: both sides have to show up to
a battle in order to kill each other off.
Q: My opponent is playing a Crane deck with a wimpy Province Strength of
5. I attack his Province with a Personality who has a Force of 5. If he
doesn't defend it, do I destroy the Province?
A: Not unless you've got some Battle or Open actions to pump up your
attacker. Once you've destroyed the defending army, the force left over
must *exceed* the Province Strength. There were no defenders here, but
your Force of 5 has only *equaled* the Province Strength. You should
Frenzy or Charge or something.
Q: I'm playing Dragon, and I've had a couple of my Provinces destroyed, so
they're at a Province strength of 9. The event Crysanthemum Festival pops
up, and everybody adds a Province. Does my new Province have a strength of
5 or 9?
A: Five. The Dragon ability refers to your "remaining Provinces." This
new Province wasn't around when your other Provinces got the bonus to their
strength, so it has the unadjusted Province strength of 5.
Q: I'm being attacked. Am I required to defend my Provinces?
A: No. You may stand aside and let the attack through. (Just don't do
it too often.) You are also free to defend unattacked Provinces.
Section Four: What's Legal in a Battle
Q: When can I do an Open or Battle Action?
A: Go get your Emerald rulebook and follow along. On pp. 34-35, we
have the dissection of the Battle Action Segment. You'll want to keep
these pages handy for this whole answer.
"If a player does not have a unit in the battle, he cannot
conduct any actions. The only exceptions are cards which specifically
allow you to bring your own unit into the battle, such as Superior
Tactics." Remember, also, that card text supercedes the rules, so any
card which says "You can do this even if you don't have any units in
the battle" is also OK. You can also always play a Reaction, if the
appropriate trigger event happens.
So the upshot is that if you don't send anybody to the attack or
defense of a Province, you don't get to play actions there, unless a card
says "Play me anyway!" or you're bringing in one of your units.
Furthermore, "While the battle at a particular Province is being
resolved, all Open and Battle actions must either be generated by a card
or token at that battle, target a card or token in that battle, target
the Province itself, or target a card which is then moved into that
battle." Basically, everything you do during a battle has to affect
that battle somehow.
Q: So I can't play a defensive Terrain card if I don't send any units?
A: No. Terrain cards are Battle Actions, too.
Q: What about a action that affects all my Provinces? Can I play that?
A: If you have a Personality in the battle, then yes. It's affecting
all your Provinces, so it's affecting the one in the current battle.
It's legal.
Q: Let's say I've got a card that can move a unit from one Province to
another. Can I use it to bring in a unit that I haven't assigned
anywhere?
A: No. Units not committed to an attack or defense remain in your Fief,
and are not at any particular Province. They cannot be moved "from a
Province" or "to another Province". (They can switch places with
committed Units, though -- your Fief is still a "place".)
Q: Let's say that two of my Provinces, A and B, were attacked. My
defense at Province A was successful. The attacker is now resolving the
battle at Province B. Can I use my unit-moving card to move a used
defender from Province A into B?
A: Yes. Unlike attacking and allied units, the Defender's units do
not immediately bow or leave their assigned Province as soon as the
battle at their Province is resolved.
Q: How about if I move a unit out of the battle at Province B into the
battle at Province A, which has already been resolved?
A: It just sits there. You don't recompute Force Totals just because
somebody showed up too late to do anything but bury bodies. This *is*
a good way to save a valuable Personality whose army is about to become
dogmeat, though.
Q: Okay, we've finally resolved the battles at both Provinces A and B.
My opponent wants to resolve a battle at Province C now, but none of us
have any Units there. Is he allowed?
A: Yes. Each time you're attacked, there is a potential battle at each
Province. The attacker can resolve them all, and what's more, he even
gets to pick the order.
Q: Does a Personality need to be in a battle to use a Battle action?
A: Only if that action calls for a target in the "opposing" army
(including Ranged Attacks), or "another Unit in the current battle",
or has some other phrase which implies the user has to be there. The
only inherent difference between Battle and Open actions is that you
can't do Battle actions before battle starts.
Q: My opponent has played Accessible Terrain against me, and has
already moved one Unit into the current battle. Now he wants to
move another one in. Can he do that? The card says we can both
only bring in one Unit.
A: As long as Accessible Terrain is in play, both the Attacker and the
Defender have the ability to take a Battle action to move any Unit they
control (except bowed Units -- see p. 22) into the current battle. The
word "one" refers to how many Units can be moved by this single action,
not the overall total. You may both perform this action multiple times
if the terrain card is not destroyed.
Q: Is it really legal to use the Dark Oracle of Water to do something
like sending a single card-heavy Unit on a suicide attack against
yourself, so that you gain lots of honor by killing it?
A: No. The Dark Oracle of Water only lets you assign your troops
after seeing where everyone else's go. It does not let you assign
Units in ways that would be illegal without the Oracle (against
yourself, for example, or allying with both sides in one turn, or
entering a battle you weren't invited to).
Section Five: Rules Clarifications
"Who makes the rules? *Someone* *else!*"
"No Spill Blood," [Oingo] Boingo
Our crack squad of rules lawyers is perpetually busy hammering out general
applications of rules under which entire classes of questions can be
answered. These general rulings will make it into the next edition
Rulebook, but until then they'll be here. If you have a question, check
to see whether the same question about a similar card is here. -DJT
Q: The main rules say that Ranged Attacks can be used against any
Personality or Follower in the battle, but the Glossary restricts them
to opposing units. Which is right?
A: The Glossary. Ranged Attacks must be aimed at opposing Units.
Note that this doesn't apply to Fear...
Q: The rulebook implies that all face-down Destiny cards are revealed,
and then any Events are handled. Then it says that Events resolve as
soon as they're revealed. Which way is it?
A: You reveal Dynasty cards one at a time, fully resolving each Event
as soon as it appears. Remember that if a Dynasty card gets exposed
prematurely, you ignore it and pretend it's still face-down until you
get to it.
"Do I contradict myself? Very well then I contradict myself. (I am large,
I contain multitudes.)"
-Walt Whitman, "Song of Myself"
Q: Which Personalities are Unique? They all seem to have particular
names. Can I really have three of all of them?
A: Unique cards have the word "Unique" in their traits area. Though
almost all Personality cards depict specific individuals, most are
merely representative of their particular station in Rokugan and have
many peers, thus allowing you to put three in your deck. It'd also be
much less fun if you had to play cards like "Young Lion Samurai" or
"Mysterious Phoenix Shugenja."
Q: Can I overlay a Unique version of a Personality with a Unique,
Experienced version?
A: Yes.
Q: Can I overlay a Personality with the Experienced version if my
Family Honor is below the Experienced version's minimum honor?
A: Yes, you can do this. Overlaying an Experienced Personality
represents that Personality going through some personal change. Since
you're not *really* bringing someone new into play, story-wise, you
don't need to meet that person's minimum tolerance.
Q: Can I give one of my Personalities multiple bonuses in a turn? For
instance, can I play Meditation on a Personality and then give him +2F
with the Retired General? What about 2 Meditations?
A: Sure. These are all legal.
Q: What about responding to an event with more than one Reaction?
A: That's also legal, though remember, you cannot play your second
Reaction until you've given everyone else a chance to play a Reaction of
their own. One of their Reactions (or even *your* first one!) could
make your second Reaction illegal or much less effective.
Q: Can I use an Open action at the start of someone else's turn, before
he does anything? I thought Open actions were usable anytime.
A: You can't do this. Re-read p. 30. The active player has the first
option to either perform one legal act (a Limited or Open action,
attaching or exchanging Fate cards, or lobbying for the Favor) or pass
during his or her own Action phases. This option then passes clockwise,
though everyone else can only use Open actions. This means that
whoever's turn just ended must always wait for everyone else to get
"first digs" before he can do anything himself.
Also, Open actions aren't usable at ANY time, just during any player's
Action phase and during battle. You can't use them during the Events
phase, for instance.
Q: Do Personality cards which I've discarded from my hand count as
Honorable or Dishonorable dead?
A: Neither one. They're discarded, not dead.
Q: I just discarded a Follower card. Can I use Animate the Dead to
attach him to a Personality?
A: Nope. Animate the Dead specifically says "...back into play," and
discarded Followers never made it into play in the first place. You only
get to Animate those cards which are authentically Dead.
Q: If I use Animate the Dead to bring back a dead Follower, do I still
have to meet honor requirements? It says I can attach it to "any
Personality I control".
A: The key word isn't "any", it's "attach". Any time you "attach"
something you need to follow all the same rules as if you were playing
the card from your hand.
Q: What if I'm using a special ability to move Followers around?
A: The answer is the same: the new recipient must be legally able to
attach the Followers normally or else he can't receive them, no matter
how they're being moved. Most moving abilities will use the word
"attach" to remind you of this.
Q: I've got a Personality with a Master Smith weapon token. Can I bow
him and another Personality to move the token between them?
A: No. The Moving rules on p. 23 only allow you to exchange cards.
Q: I'm targeting a 1F Personality with an effect that makes him lose 2F
until the end of the turn. Does he have a 0F or a -1F?
A: Zero. The only thing in the game that goes into negative numbers is
Family Honor.
Q: Explosives says "Destroy any one Holding." Does this include Retainers?
A: Yes. (Splat.) Retainers are a class of Holding -- look at the
border -- and are affected by anything that affects Holdings in general
as well as by things which only affect Retainers. Notice that this also
means they come into play bowed, and so won't typically be usable until
your next turn.
Q: Can I use Alliance on the Unaligned Personalities?
A: No. "Unaligned" isn't a clan. Neither is Toturi's Army. Yet.
Q: I have a Goblin Warmonger (2F/1C) with a Goblin Mob attached. My
opponent bows his Bayushi Kachiko and puts a -1C token on him. Does he
die?
A: Yup. Here's why. The rulebook says that a Personality with a zero Chi
dies. The token drops him to 0C, so ordinarily he would die right away.
The Warmonger, however, can't die while he has followers attached; they
die instead and he becomes bowed.
But now he's bowed, and doesn't have any followers attached, and
still has that -1C token. He's doomed.
Q: I have a bunch of questions about Blazing Arrows...
A: Fire away.
Q: The card reads (in part) "The gold cost of Blazing Arrows is 1G per
card...that can produce a Ranged Attack." Does this mean I have
to pay for every card that can do a ranged attack, whether or not I
intend to use them that way?
A: Yes. That's what it says.
Q: How about my shugenja with the Fury of Osano-Wo? Do I have to pay for
him too? And do I have to pay 1G for each counter on the spell?
A: Yes, and no. He is ranged attack-capable, so you have to pay for
him, but Blazing Arrows doesn't care how many attacks he can make, only
whether he can make them, so you only have to pay 1G.
Q: What if I don't have any ranged attack cards in my army when I play
Blazing Arrows, and so don't pay any gold, but then I bring a new
ranged attack guy in with (say) Superior Tactics? Does he get the
Blazing Arrows bonus for free?
A: Sure. Point out to your opponent what a brilliant and thrifty
general you are.
Q: The Ring of Fire says I can only play it if I win a duel against an
opponent who had a higher Chi before being challenged. Does that mean
I can't play the ring unless my Personality is the challenger?
A: No. You can play the Ring of Fire no matter who issued the
challenge.
Q: Why isn't the Phoenix Clan Champion "Unique"?
A: This is semi-intentional, based partly in story reasons and partly
in the rush to get the cards to the printers. According to our story
continuity folks, there are tales that the Phoenix Clan Champion has
been seen talking to himself. Some people have been concerned that
there are play-balance considerations; we don't think there are, but
we have some folks trying to make a degenerate Phoenix deck based
around him. If it's possible to break the game with him, he's likely
to be errata-ed, but until then play him as he's written.
Q: The Event Rise of the Phoenix just came up, and two players both
want to bring back the same Unique Personality. Who wins?
A: It goes around the table clockwise from the active player (the one who
just turned up the Event). This is also true for Unexpected Allies.
Q: My opponent has a Personality in play that won't normally join my
Clan. Can I play Kolat Master on it and steal it?
A: No. Coming under your control from someone else's still involves
joining your Clan, which that Personality cannot do.
Q: Can I copy him with the Egg of P'an Ku, too? Or can I put him in
my Dynasty Deck anyway and hope for a lucky Unexpected Allies to bring
him out?
A: The Egg will work, as you're not asking the real person to join
you, you're creating a copy already in your service. Unexpected
Allies won't, though, since the Personality would still be joining
your clan (he's just not asking for compensation).
Q: My Crab Clan Oni gains a +1F/+1C for every Crab in play. Does this
include itself?
A: Yes. Cards may gain bonuses from themselves. It's a Crab, so it
gives itself a +1F/+1C.
Q: What happens if I play Oath of Fealty in a non-Naga deck and
convert some Naga Personalities to my clan? Do they stop receiving
Naga card bonuses?
A: It depends. Remember, "any card with 'Foo' in the title or trait
area is considered to be a 'Foo' card" (p. 28). The *Naga* trait acts
like a Clan affiliation (p. 58), so it gets added/removed by Oath of
Fealty, but card titles don't change. A card with the word "Naga" in
its title will always be a "Naga card", irrespective of its allegiance.
Q: So if I'm playing a Naga deck, and I Oath some two-leggers, they
now get Naga card bonuses?
A: They have the *Naga* trait now, so they fully count as Naga cards.
Q: Can I use Sympathetic Energies to move Togashi Mitsu's +1F/+1C
fire tokens onto any other Personality, or only onto another Mitsu?
The spell says the new recipient has to be legal, and only Mitsu
creates fire tokens.
A: Here's the deal. Unless there is specific text to the contrary
somewhere, any token may be placed on any Personality. This means
that tokens which are always created on one particular card, such as
Togashi Mitsu's and Shuten Doji's, can generally be moved to anyone,
while tokens that give you a choice of where to put them, such as the
Revered Sensei's and the Naga Stronghold's, can only be moved onto
someone who could have been given them in the first place.
Q: Since I can move fire tokens onto anyone, what happens if I move one
onto a bowed Personality? Does he have to remove the token instead of
straightening?
A: Only if he's another Togashi Mitsu. You see, the only things
written on Mitsu's fire tokens are the +1F/+1C bonus and the word
"fire". If a token with the word "fire" winds up on a Personality who
has special text regarding fire tokens, then the two interact.
Otherwise, all the token does is bestow its +1F/+1C bonus. For
example, you could not move a sixth fire token onto a fully-loaded
Mitsu, since his card says he "may not have more than five fire
tokens". On the other hand, you can move as many as you like onto
someone who doesn't say this (which is everyone else). Likewise, fire
tokens will not cause anyone but Togashi Mitsu to stay bowed during
the Straighten Phase, or to bow even after defending in a battle.
Note that if the token is something universally meaningful, such as a
Follower or Item rather than a "fire" token, you're more likely to run
across a rule in the rulebook or on the cards that makes moving the
token illegal. You can't move a Master Smith token onto someone who
already has a weapon, for example, nor could you move a Follower token
onto an Ogre Bushi, or a non-Cavalry Follower token onto Otaku Kamoko.
Q: If I end up with NO Personalities with plague tokens while Rampant
Plague is out, can I become immune by killing "all" of them?
A: You sure can. Destroying all your plague-bearing Personalities
is easy when you don't have any. (Point of interest: Plague Zombie
Followers generate plague tokens too. You'd need to destroy anyone with
these tokens as well if you want to become immune to Rampant Plague. On
the other hand, once you do, Plague Zombies won't give you plague tokens
anymore either!)
Q: I just played Iaijutsu Challenge on my opponent's Personality, and he
refused the duel. Can I play Court Jester to double his honor loss to
14? It was his refusal that made him lose honor.
A: It may have been his decision to refuse the duel, but the action
causing the loss is your Iaijutsu Challenge, so you cannot use Court
Jester to double the loss. For the same reason, your opponent *can*
use Defend Your Honor against this honor loss.
Q: Speaking of Defend Your Honor, what if I play it and step forward a
samurai when my opponent has no Personalities? Is he forced to refuse
the challenge, since he has no one to accept it?
A: Yup.
Q: Can I use Bayushi Goshiu to duplicate an honor loss at an opponent,
then use another reaction to reduce my own loss?
A: That would be nice, wouldn't it? Unfortunately, you can't. Read
Goshiu's card carefully. His ability can only be used "after you have
lost Family Honor". After you've actually taken a loss, you can't
change the amount.
Q: The Marsh Troll says it "destroys one card in its unit". Since it
doesn't say "one *other* card", can I have it destroy itself?
A: No.
Q: If I use my Ninja Shapeshifter's copy-ability to copy the *Unique*
ability, are all my opponents' Shapeshifters destroyed?
A: Check out the new definitions on p. 28. "Unique" is not an ability,
it is a trait, and the Shapeshifter cannot copy traits. Only Limited,
Open, Battle, and Reaction actions are "abilities".
Q: But the Emerald Edition Shapeshifter says he can copy traits too.
A: Yeah, we know. That was a MISTAKE. He can't copy traits, only
abilities. This is Very, Very Official. Spread the word!
Q: I have a Ninja Shapeshifter, initially 2F/2C with a +2/+2 weapon
token, and I want him to copy an Ogre Bushi's Force of 6. That means
the Ninja becomes a total 8F/4C creature, right? Six for the Ogre, plus
two from the weapon?
A: Actually, no. Check out pp. 28-29 again:
"If a card copies a value from another card, the current value of the
card being copied replaces the current value of the copying card."
The important phrase is "current value", which is the base value plus
all modifiers. The current value of your Ninja's Force before the
shapechange is 4: a base of 2 plus 2 for the weapon. After the change
it's 6, since that's what the Ogre's current Force is. Since this 6 is
now the Ninja's current Force, we don't add anything to it -- "current
value" already includes all bonuses.
Q: Are there any other cards that work with current stat values like
this?
A: Several. Every card that refers to or alters another card's stat
and doesn't mention "base value" works with the total current value.
For example, Energy Transference "switches the current Chi and Force
of any one Personality". A base 1F/4C Personality with a Wakizashi
(+0/+1) who has Meditated (+1/+2) would become 7F/2C, not the 5F/4C
you'd get if only her base stats were swapped.
Q: Can I use Mamoru or Investigation to stop a ninja from being
assigned to attack me?
A: No. These cards can only stop an action which targets you, your
Stronghold, or one of your cards (which includes a Shapeshifter trying
to copy something, by the way). Being assigned to attack you is not
an action.
"Those darn ninjas. They're wacky."
- The Tick, issue #3
Section Six: Cards. "Oops."
Into every 300-card set a few errors must fall...
_Imperial Edition_ cards:
Evil Portents, Fan of Command, Yogo Junzo: Well, it finally happened.
With the release of the Emerald Edition, there are no longer multiple
versions of these cards, as all cards get played by their most recent
wordings.
Oracle of Fire, Oracle of Water: These cards are exempt to the "play
by the most recent wording" rule. However, you cannot have both the
Imperial Oracle of Fire and the Emerald Oracle of Water in your deck,
and vice versa.
_Shadowlands_ cards:
Q: It looks like some Oni are stealing names again! What's up with
the Oni no Ogon?
A: Those Oni! They never grew out of the "let's fool the substitute
sensei" phase. The two versions of the Oni no Ogon are considered
different cards. Arcane sources tell me that the one that bows your
Stronghold when played is really named "Oni no Titsu", and has the
following official correction: it is *Unique*. Also, as a clarifi-
cation, it is not destroyed until the end of your third *full* turn
after coming into play (and anything that causes it to return to play,
like Feign Death, resets the timer).
Q: I've noticed a lot of minor differences between the semi-sorted
Personalities in my _Shadowlands_ Clan Decks and the ones I got in
Destiny Packs. Do these all get played as written?
A: *sigh* Yes. Note, though, that one in particular is not as
different as you might think. The costlier version of Shosuro Taberu,
the Scorpion Clan Manipulator, lacks the *Political* trait on his
ability, but since his ability alters an honor gain, it is Political
anyway (Glossary, p. 58).
Corrupted Iron Mine: this card does not count as an "Iron Mine" card
with respect to increasing the gold production of Blacksmiths. It will
just give a -1g penalty, and not a +1g bonus as well.
_Emerald Edition_ cards:
Ninja Shapeshifter: This card can NOT copy traits.
Q: Why are there two different Hida Yakamos?
A: The Crab Clan Oni swiped the name. "Hida Yakamo" is the Crab Clan
Hero, the guy with the claw where his left hand used to be. The Crab
Clan Oni has been misidentified as Yakamo; that's not its original
name. It's an Oni; it may not have one. At any rate, for game
purposes these are distinct cards.
Night Medallion: The +2 gets added to the actual value of the
number, not to the magnitude. For example, a "-2" would change to
a "0", not a "-4".
Bayushi Togai: In addition to being able to attach poison cards
without gold cost, he can attach any poison card regardless of that
card's restrictions. You must still pay any non-gold costs.
Promotional cards:
Promotional cards, like all cards, get played by their most recent
wording (p. 62). Any promo card which underwent a spelling fix or
minor title change is considered the same card as its Emerald Edition
counterpart. For the most part, the correlation will be obvious. Two
that might not be are Inversion of Energies, which is considered the
same card as Energy Transference, and Motto Seiki, who is considered
the same as Yotsu Seiki.
Also, Matsu Turi is no longer a distinct card. He is now considered
to be Matsu Gohei.
Section Seven: Contact Information
On the World Wide Web, visit the Official L5R Home Page at:
http://www.frpg.com/
A list of promotional card differences, and several other lists,
may be found at:
http://www.zzz.iipo.gtegsc.com/jwa/l5r
Send email to l5r@lightside.com if you have rules question or any
questions or comments about the game in general.
Comments about this FAQ itself should be sent to jwa@zot.iipo.gtegsc.com.
Keep an eye on the newsgroup rec.games.trading-cards.misc, as we post
there fairly often and monitor the traffic for questions and comments.
You can sign onto the L5R electronic mailing list by sending email to
majordomo@frpg.com . Use a blank "Subject:" line and include this
command as the only line in the body of your mail:
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Section Eight: Obligatory Legal Boilerplate
Legend of the Five Rings, Empire of Rokugan, Fu'Leng, Shadowlands,
graphic design elements and all character names and their distinctive
likenesses are TM and (C) 1995, 1996 by Five Rings Publishing Group,
Inc. All rights reserved.
