Accumulated Rulings
Last Updated February 8, 2000
What's What
This document is a list of rulings culled from various electronic
forums. This document is quasi-official, being a compilation of
direct statements from recognized FRPG rules-making staff, so it
should suffice in settling disputes, being authoritative, objective,
and (hopefully) unambiguous. I do miss things sometimes, plus rulings
do change with each edition and depending on which member of the Rules
Junta you talk to, so if you see something that looks wrong, take it
with a grain of salt and drop me a
note.
I've tried to minimize redundancy, too. If you're having problems
with an obviously tricky or broken card that isn't listed here,
chances are very good that it's already been covered in the latest
rulebook, the FAQ, or the Text Change and Errata List. This document is a
catch-all for everything that slips through their cracks.
Who's Who, Where's Where
DJ -- D.J. Trindle, rules editor and original FAQ maintainer
DW -- David Williams, lead designer
RD -- Ryan Dancey, original design team member
Mouse -- Mindy Sherwood-Lewis, resident rodent
ZF -- Zen Faulkes, Crab Clan Scholar and Official Deputy Rules Guru
netnews -- Usenet newsgroups, almost exclusively
rec.games.trading-cards.misc
l5rinfo -- FRPG's own L5R mailing list
FAQ -- rulings in current or previous versions of the FAQ
MRP -- the Most Recent Printing of the card
What's New
At'Tok'Tuk Sensei
- Ratling Personalities fully acquire your Clan's trait.
[REVERSAL].
- This effect applies continually to all Ratling Personalities under
your control and in your deck, Provinces, and discard piles. A card
which changes controllers or traits may gain or lose your alignment.
- This effect is not considered swearing fealty.
- Shadowlands faction players are excluded from the "pay 2g
less or gain honor" option when purchasing Personalities. [rulebook]
- With respect to the Heart of the Shinomen Forest Stronghold:
- Does not allow you to build a deck with 4 copies of Ratling
cards. Your deck must be legal before Sensei are chosen. [l5rinfo,
2/3/2000]
- Note that only cards with the printed Naga trait are
automatically Nonhuman. [
Ibid.]
Kage Sensei
See At'Tok'Tuk Sensei.
Rise from the Ashes
- Is Political by rulebook definition. [DW, personal
correspondence, 2/4/2000]
Celestial Gift
- You use this card's focus instead of the discard's focus
but you must still make the discard. [card text, and l5rinfo,
1/24/2000]
Shooting Star Strike
See Celestial Gift.
Hirariko
- Her trait should read "Items provide no bonuses or special
effects against Hirariko in a duel." [l5rinfo, 1/24/2000]
Will of the Emperor
- The "if able" clause applies to both assigning a unit and
declaring the attack. [l5rinfo, 1/27/2000]
Yori Sensei
- May be played to full effect by a Clan which cannot gain honor, as
the sensei changes your fundamental benefit from winning/tying
battles. [DW, email, 1/2000]
Evil Portents
- The effect is instantaneous, affecting only those cards in play
at the moment. [DW, l5rinfo, 12/25/96] [REVERSAL]
- As with all Open actions,
may be played during battle provided
you have a unit in the battle and this action affects the stats of at
least one card in the battle. [l5rinfo, 1/30/2000]
- The word is "portents", meaning "warnings" or "omens". It's
not "portence" (which isn't a word) or "potence" (as in "Necro-").
At the beginning of the game, Sensei cards are chosen in secret and
revealed simultaneously. [DW, l5rinfo, 2/2000]
Isawa Taeruko
- May use her ability even if no retrievable cards exist in
the Dynasty deck. This still counts as a successful use. [l5rinfo,
2/1/2000]
Kyoso no Oni
- The destruction of a Holding is worded as an effect of coming into
play, not a cost. If you control no Holdings, she can still enter
play. [l5rinfo, 2/2/2000]
- May target and destroy a bowed Holding. "You may not target your
own bowed Personalities with actions", but Holdings are not
Personalities and this isn't an action. [Ibid.]
False Tao
- The Ring is completely ignored. It does not count towards an
Elemental Victory, Prayer Shrine gold production, etc. [l5rinfo,
11/27/99] It cannot even be targetted. Pretend the Ring isn't there
at all. [DW, l5rinfo, 2/5/2000]
Roshungi
See The False Tao.
A Personality's Minimum Honor must be met both before and after
his payment is produced. If it's not met to begin with, you cannot
even start to pay for him. [partial REVERSAL]
Eternal Halls of the Shiba
- All existing alignments are kept. [DW, personal correspondence, 2/13/99]
- Your human shugenja Followers also gain the trait. [REVERSAL]
- May not retrieve a kiho which goes somewhere other than the
discard pile (for example, attaching to a Personality instead due
to the Blessings of Isawa). [Stronghold text]
- May retrieve Kiho Terrains immediately following their
destruction. [l5rinfo, 2/5/2000]
Doom of the Alliance
- While in effect, personalities swearing fealty to Yorotimo's
Alliance gain the "Mantis Clan" trait instead. [l5rinfo, 2/5/2000]
A Personality technically enters play before any side-effects of her
being played occur, such as honor gains/losses. [l5rinfo, 2/5/2000]
If a card lets you do something like "get an XXX card from your deck"
but does not require that you reveal it, you do not need to. Your
opponents may, however, call upon a neutral party to confirm its
legality. [l5rinfo, 2/5/2000]
Bend Like a Reed
- Though its focus value is added normally, playing this card is not
considered focussing. It may be played by a Personality who cannot
focus. [DW, l5info, 11/4/96]
- When played for effect, the bonus of 2 is affected by things
that alter the focus values of cards when played "in a duel", such as
the Double Chi trait and Toshimoko Sensei. The bonus of 2 is not
affected by things which have already changed the card's actual focus
value, such as Touch of Amaterasu. [l5rinfo, 2/6/2000] [partial REVERSAL]
Strike with No-Thought
See Bend Like a Reed.
General Rulings
Actions/Abilities
"Action" and "ability" are synonymous, and refer to anything with a
"Limited", "Battle", "Open", or "Reaction" keyword. Anything else
printed on a card, except for flavor text, is a "trait" (although once
you get past the boldface area, individual words don't count as traits
by themselves -- only entire phrases do). Anything a card or
Stronghold does, whether it be by trait or ability, is an "effect".
Decisions are typically not actions. [summary of other rulings]
Only an ability printed on a shugenja (or copied from another card)
is as an "innate ability". Actions such as lobbying, performing an
action via an attached card or a card from hand, or discarding for
a Tactician bonus, are not innate. [DW, l5rinfo, 8/3/98, and person
correspondence, 12/17/98]
If a player passes her action during the Action Phase or a Battle
Action Segment, she is NOT locked into passing for the remainder of
the phase/segment. She is free to either act or pass every time the
turn sequence comes around to her. [netnews, 7/2/99]
Attaching and Moving Cards
"Attaching a card to a Personality is a Limited Action." [DW, l5rinfo,
5/10/97]
- Attaching a card which "can only be attached to a Foo
Personality" is an action which targets only Foo cards [extension from
Kitsuki Kaagi's Journal].
- If the attaching action is cancelled, the card goes back to where
it came from. [DW, email, 2/17/99]
When several cards are moved from one Personality to another, they are
moved simultaneously, not sequentially. If some of those cards
require that others be already attached to the new Personality for
their own attachment to be legal (example: Traveling Poet), they
cannot be moved at that time. [DW, personal correspondence]
The controller of a Personality is the controller of all cards
attached to that Personality, regardless of who owns or attached
them.
Battle
It is legal to play a terrain even if it would have no effect, or
a detrimental effect on your army.
An ability which lets you replace an existing terrain can be used
in a battle in which you have no units if the new terrain is
one which can, itself, normally be played in such a situation.
[DW, l5rinfo, 6/10/96]
Reactions which require you to destroy the opposing army may be played
if the result of the battle is a tie. [DW, l5rinfo, 4/17/96]
Reactions which require you to "destroy an opposing army", "destroy an
army in battle", or "win a battle" require that there actually be at
least one opposing unit on the board during Battle Resolution.
Eliminating all opposing cards during the Battle Action Segment
doesn't count. [extension from Ring of Water, DW, l5rinfo, 9/3/96]
Cards which cause an honor gain or loss as a result of winning or
losing a battle, or destroying a Province, cannot be played so as to
affect allies. Only the Attacker and Defender can normally receive
honor bonuses or penalties as a result of the outcome of a battle.
You are not allowed to assign or move troops into a battle unless you are
the Attacker, the Defender, or an invited ally, or you use a card which
specifically allows you to do so. [DW, email, 1/8/97]
If you are invited as an ally but commit no units during the Maneuvers
Segment, you are still allowed to use actions which bring units into
battle on that side during the Battle Action Segment. You will not
gain 2 honor for doing so, however.
It is legal to aim a Ranged Attack at a target which is too large to
be killed by that attack. [DW, l5rinfo, 10/29/96]
Attacking and allied units bow after the resolution of each individual
battle they're present at, not all at once at the end of the Attack
Phase. [l5rinfo]
All cards in allied and attacking units bow upon battle resolution,
not just the Personalities.
Strength 0 Ranged Attacks and Fear effects are legal and will affect
Force 0 cards as appropriate. [DW, 7/9/97]
The Force of a Follower that uses a "+X" notation instead of just "X"
is still X, and requires at least a strength X Ranged or Fear attack
to be affected (although Fear is pretty useless, since its +X bonus is
still added to its Personality while bowed).
The honor gain from destroying cards at battle resolution is one
single gain.
The phrase "this battle" is not synonymous with "current
battle". "This battle" refers to the battle that the card with this
phrase is in. [DW, l5rinfo, 2/13/98]
"Sending a unit home bowed" is one single effect. If a unit cannot be
sent home, it does not become bowed in place. [DW, personal
correspondence, 9/29/98]
References to "an opposing player" during battle mean "someone
who has units in the opposing army". References to "the
opposing player" or "your opponent in the battle" mean either
the Attacker or the Defender, as appropriate, regardless of whether he
has units present. [DW, personal correspondence, 10/22/98]
"Opposing army" is now defined as "one or more units involved in
the attack or defense of a Province". Cards referring to the
total Force or Chi of the opposing army, such as Crushing Attack
and Flattery, can no longer be played if there are no opposing units.
[DW, personal correspondence, 2/13/99] [REVERSAL]
The terms "assign" and "commit" are synonymous and refer only to unit
placements made during a Maneuver Segment, or via Reactions that take
place during or immediately after one. Cards that enter a battle via
Battle or Open actions are never "assigning" or "committing", regardless
of whether one of those terms is used on the card. [DW, email, 4/8/99]
Switching the positions of units counts as movement, with the
explicit printed exception of Way of Deception.
All units being assigned by one player during one Maneuvers Segment
enter the battle simultaneously. [DW, email, 4/8/99]
If, during battle, the Province under attack is somehow destroyed (the
Defender reveals a Blackmail, for example, or brings Oni no Akuma into
play with The People's Hero), the battle continues normally. The only
difference is that the Province cannot be destroyed during resolution
(obviously). [DW, l5rinfo, 7/10/97] Even effects that move cards
into/out of/between "Provinces" are still legal until the battle
ends. [netnews, 7/1/99]
The strength of a strengthless special ranged attack, such as Nogoten's
Bow's chi-reducing token, is considered to be 0 by effects which refer
to its strength, but effects which modify its strength have no effect
on it. It will remain strengthless. [DW, personal email, 8/99]
You cannot destroy a Province by reducing its strength to zero. It
will still require an attacking army with a total Force of at least
1 if undefended or 1 greater than the defending army's Force.
Bowing & Straightening
An effect which prevents cards from straightening "until" some future
time prevents those cards from being straightened in any way
during the meantime, even if they are only prevented from
straightening "as normal". [DW, l5rinfo, 10/18/96]
On the other hand, an effect which prevents cards from straightening
"during" a particular period does not prevent those cards from being
straightened during other periods. [ibid.]
As with Followers, abilities on Items which do not require the
attached Personality to bow can still be used when he is bowed,
provided the Item itself is not. [DW, email, 2/7/97]
The rule about bowed Personalities and Followers not contributing to
the total unit/army Force is used any time that particular
total is needed, not just during battle resolution.
The Force of a card is not affected by bowing -- only the Forces
of units and armies are. Even if a unit is just a Personality with no
other cards attached, an effect that refers to his Force must be
double-checked to determine whether it refers to a "card's" or
"Personality's" Force or whether it refers to a "unit's" Force. Only
in the last case will the value always be zero.
There is no rule prohibiting Regions and Fortifications from bowing.
They may be bowed as the cost or effect of other cards. [DW, email,
6/27/97]
Battle actions on Regions and Fortifications can only be used during
the Battle Action Segment of a battle in that Province. [DW, personal
correspondence, 12/2/98]
Cards in discard piles are never considered bowed. [l5rinfo,
7/14/99]
Cancelling
An effect which is cancelled in its entirety is considered not to have
even been attempted. [DW, l5rinfo, 12/1/97] This is NOT true of an
action which has "all its effects" cancelled but does not get
cancelled itself.
When an action is cancelled, no costs are refunded. This
includes, and is not necessarily limited to: gold, Fate cards,
discarding the Favor, and bowing and/or destroying cards in play.
If a card says "Do X to do Y", the X is probably a cost,
though not always (example: honor loss is never a cost, except when
necessary to prevent obvious infinites). And this should not be taken
to imply there is never a cost if the card is phrased differently.
Copying
Cards cannot copy themselves. [DW/DJ, l5rinfo, 9/20/96]
Only the copied ability itself, tokens created by it, and effects
whose durations depend on the originating card (for example, "until
this card straightens") disappear at the end of the turn. Non-token
changes with set durations (like "permanent" or "until your next
Straighten Phase"), changes in state (bowing, destruction, etc.), and
changes to Family Honor persist normally. [rulebook, and DW, l5rinfo,
3/11/97. also l5rinfo 2/99]
Destruction and Elimination
The destruction of a card does not remove any effects or alterations
to that card that aren't marked with tokens. Such effects persist
for their normal duration, and are fully active in the dead pile.
All cards controlled by an eliminated player are removed from the
game completely and returned to their owners. [DW, l5rinfo, 8/29/96]
[REVERSAL of an erroneous entry]
Tokens and effects caused by eliminated players persist for their
normal duration. This includes effects which will wear off during
some future turn of that player. Just pretend it's that player's turn
for a brief moment. [DW, l5rinfo, 3/3/97]
A destroyed card goes in the discard pile of whoever controlled it at
the time. If someone else owns it, the card does not change
piles when the change-of-control effect would normally wear off. [DW,
l5rinfo, 12/2/97]
An attachment card which grants you some bonus effect when destroyed
(example: Lesser Oni) must be destroyed directly to collect the
reward. Destroying it indirectly by destroying the Personality
doesn't count. [DW & RD, personal email, 4/16/98]
Being discarded from play or removed from the game does not count as
destruction. Reactions to destruction may not be used. [5/24/99]
Dishonor
Dishonor is a "permanent change", and will affect overlayed
Experienced Personalities and the Egg of P'an Ku, among other
things. [l5rinfo]
If several dishonored Personalities are involved in the same
honor-gaining event, such as winning a battle, they are all restored
to honor.
Dishonored Personalities in a tied battle are restored to honor before
they die.
If a dishonored Personality gets reshuffled into your Dynasty Deck, he
will still be dishonored when he reappears in one of your Provinces.
If he's aligned with your Clan, paying full price will gain you 0
honor and not restore him to honor. [extension of Akodo Toturi ruling,
netnews, 7/15/99]
Drawing
If you need to "draw and discard" a Fate card, you must discard the
card drawn. [5/28/99]
A "draw" happens any time you take the top card(s) off a deck,
regardless of whether the term "draw" is used. Going through your
deck to retrieve a specific card is not "drawing". [DW, email]
Dueling
When one Personality steps in for another in a duel, the duel's
results will apply to the new Personality as if he were the
original. [DW, l5rinfo, 3/11/97]
You cannot, by any means, end up controlling both Personalities in a
duel. [DW, personal correspondence, 10/22/98]
A challenge always preceeds the duel itself, timing-wise.
Personalities with built-in reactions to "entering a duel" cannot
use them if they had to bow to issue the challenge. [DW, personal
correspondence, 12/2/98] [REVERSAL] (Built-in reactions to the
challenge, such as Matsu Seijuro's, are still legal.)
Effects which put restrictions on or otherwise influence stat bonuses,
such as Monsoon and the Ancestral Sword of the Hantei, do not affect
focussing unless they specifically say so. [DW, email, 7/17/97]
[REVERSAL of a short-lived ruling on the Naga Guard]
If there are multiple conflicting effects that change
the values of focus cards (for example, Ninja Mystic and Lord Moon's
Blood), the active player decides which effect applies
first. [l5rinfo, 3/10/99]
Events
An Event which resolves but does nothing still counts as having
happened for purposes of the optional "each Event can only happen
once" rule. [DW, l5rinfo, 8/12/96]
Experienced Personalities
An Experienced Personality on top of an original only counts as
two cards for the purposes of honor when killed during the resolution
of a battle. It counts as one card for all other purposes. [RD,
netnews, 1/25/97]
If you overlay, the original card's title is lost, just like traits
and stats are. [DW, l5rinfo, 2/25/97]
A permanent change in Clan affiliation will apply to the overlayed
Personality as well. [DW, l5rinfo, 2/28/97]
When you overlay, the Experienced Personality permanently gains
the abilities of the card underneath. For example, an Egg of P'an Ku
would copy both cards' abilities, and the Experienced Personality card
would retain all abilities if it dies and is returned to play with the
original version no longer underneath. [RD, l5rinfo, 2/26/97]
You may overlay a bowed Personality, since overlaying is not an
action. [DW, l5rinfo, 5/15/97]
An inexperienced Personality need not be already in play when the
Experienced version is first revealed in order to overlay. [old FAQ]
Restrictions against joining certain Clans are not checked when you
overlay, just like minimum honor isn't checked. [RD/DW]
A card which is not a Personality but which counts as some Personality
for purposes of Uniqueness will preclude all Unique versions of
that Personality from the deck, regardless of their Experience
level. [RD, l5rinfo, 6/24/98]
Gold
You cannot generate gold for no reason [RD, l5rinfo, 9/5/96], although
you can deliberately generate more gold than is necessary for an
actual purchase, including a card or action with a printed cost of 0.
[DW, l5rinfo, 2/18/97]
You must generate the entire amount of gold for an action at the time
you perform the action. You may not generate some gold, perform some
Limited/Open/Battle actions, then generate the rest. [rulebook]
Non-variable costs cannot be paid multiple times to generate multiple
effects in a single action. [extension from Gaijin Mercenaries, DW,
netnews, 3/11/96]
Holdings which provide extra gold based on the number of a particular
other type of Holding in play count all such Holdings, regardless of
who controls them. [card text]
A "gold-producing Holding" is one which lets you do something "to
produce (or, on one or two old cards, 'provide') X gold", even if X
is sometimes zero or depends on outside factors. Holdings
which "pay the entire cost", "reduce the cost", or "put a card into
play without gold cost" are not gold-producers. [DW, l5rinfo,
9/2/98]
You may deliberately pay 2g less for an aligned Personality to avoid
gaining honor even if you have produced enough to pay the full
price [DW, l5rinfo, 5/19/97] -- unless the Personality costs 0g,
or you're using a Holding that "pays the entire gold cost". [DW,
email, 3/99]
An action or card with no printed gold cost, such as an Event, cannot
have its gold cost raised. [DW, personal correspondence, 2/13/99] You
also cannot produce gold to pay for using/playing it.
Putting a card into play "without gold cost" is not the same as
reducing its cost to zero. The card still has its original cost --
you are simply not paying it. This means you will not gain honor for
playing an aligned Personality in this way. [DW, email, 2/4/99] This
ruling does NOT apply to Holdings which "pay the entire cost".
Honor
If you suffer multiple losses or gains of honor simultaneously, you do
not merge them into one big change. Each change must be dealt with
individually. [summary of other rulings]
Exception: the honor gain from winning or tying in a battle is a
single amount. [rulebook]
Preventing or cancelling an honor loss or gain does NOT count as
reducing it to zero. [REVERSAL] [l5rinfo/netnews, 1/99] The
loss/gain no longer exists and cannot be further modified.
The reverse is also true: reducing a loss or gain completely to zero
does not eliminate it completely. It still exists as a 0-point
loss/gain, which can be increased by other reactions.
Take heed, though, of these two Common Sense rulings:
- A loss which "cannot be cancelled" may not be reduced completely
to zero.
- A 0-point gain will not restore a dishonored Personality to
honorable status.
As the rulebook doesn't use the word "base" or "printed", you only
need to pay the full current gold cost of a Personality
from your Clan to gain his Personal Honor. If you reduce his cost,
you only need to pay the reduced amount. This is true even if his
cost is reduced to (or is naturally) zero.
Honor gains/losses for players which cannot gain or lose honor (or gain
or lose further honor) do not happen in the first place and so cannot
be redirected to another player.
Imperial Favor
May be given up to prevent a loss of honor to any player, not
just to the one holding the Favor. [RD, l5rinfo, 10/17/96]
Giving up the Favor to play a card is a non-gold cost and must still
be done if you're playing the card "without gold cost". [extension of
Hida Yakamo (Hero)(Exp), DW, l5rinfo, 5/7/97]
Giving up the Favor to play a special card can also be countered. If
it is, the playing of the card is countered, and it returns to where
it came from, with no refund of other costs. [extension of specific
rulings, DW, l5rinfo, 9/30/96]
The rulebook implies you must always either give a gift or bow at
least one additional Personality to gain the Favor if you lobby for it
in a situation where you do not automatically gain it. This is not
true. You will gain the Favor if your effective family honor is
sufficiently high at the end of the lobby attempt, regardless of
whether you took any measures to raise it.
Neither giving a gift nor bowing to add Personal Honor once a lobbying
attempt has started are actions. [rulebook]
Provinces
Any face-up Dynasty card can be purchased during your Dynasty Phase,
including cards which weren't exposed until after your Events
Phase. [DW, l5rinfo, 10/25/96]
Rings
An Elemental Victory requires at least one of each Ring, not five
Rings total. [DW, l5rinfo, 1/29/98]
Elemental Rings are no longer actions in any way. The cards
themselves are not Action cards and neither playing nor using them are
Reactions anymore (though they work with the same timing as
before). [FAQ 3.10, errata]
An Elemental Victory is achieved by having all five Elemental Rings in
play at once, not necessarily by "playing" all five or having all five
in play at some point during the game. [FAQ 3.10]
Seppuku
A Samurai may be ordered to commit seppuku in any instance where he is
involved in a loss of honor to your family (for example, refusing an
Iaijutsu Challenge). It is not limited only to losses which arise
from actions that you initiated.
It's not a Reaction, so it's not an ability. [RD, l5rinfo, 1/15/97]
It is, therefore:
- not a Political ability.
- legal for a bowed samurai to do.
All seppuku effects restore the Personality to honor before
killing him.
Targetting
An effect which has more than one target can have any one of
its targets changed by a single retargetting effect. [RD, l5rinfo,
1/16/97]
When you redirect an effect, you are only bound by the effect's
original controller's targetting requirements. [RD & DW, email,
6/27/97] [REVERSAL]
If a non-action effect requires you to destroy a Personality you
control as part of its usage or play cost, you may select
a bowed Personality. [extension from other rulings, 7/1/97]
[REVERSAL of an out-of-date ruling]
Reactions that get played after one of your Personalities dies can be
played even if that Personality was bowed when he died, since he is
actually in your dead pile when the reaction is played and dead cards
are not considered bowed. [DW, email, 3/18/97]
An action is targetted if there is ever a time when you need to
choose what it will affect. Actions don't flip between "targetted"
and "untargetted" based on the current situation. [DW, l5rinfo,
8/5/97]
Example: Block Supply Lines can only be played against one attacking
unit, so it is a targetted action, even in a battle where there is
only one attacking unit.
All targetting decisions are made before any cards are bowed or gold
is generated. Thus a Personality with a targetted ability that
requires bowing may use that ability on himself.
The rulebook says that when redirecting an action, consider the action
to have been targetted there in the first place. This is true for
non-actions as well. [DW, l5rinfo, 1/29/98]
All effects which target face-down cards are exceptions to the rule
that you may only target cards in play. You may target any face-down
cards in any player's Provinces, hand, and both decks. [Glossary] You
are not limited to just the top card when targetting cards in decks.
Action cards, including Kiho, which require you to "bow a (foo) you
control" target that card. [DW, l5rinfo, 1/99] This is a cost,
though, not an effect, so it cannot be redirected with the Ring of
Air.
Reactions that cancel other actions typically do not target. Since
there are no simultaneous actions in L5R, there is never a choice of
which action to cancel.
Timing (ugh)
Whenever there is any contention over who gets to act or make a
decision first after a particular event, start with the current
player -- or the player to the left of the one who just acted, if
that action is the trigger event [rulebook] -- and go around the table
in turn order. Each player may make one action or pass. (Examples:
Rallying Cry vs. Counterattack after the last battle, multiple
Poisoned Weapons after a duel, Unexpected Allies and multiple Unique
Personalities.)
If some effect is supposed to happen "during" one of your Phases, you
can have it happen any time in the Phase that you want. [DW, l5rinfo,
12/9/96]
During battle resolution, you do not get honor for cards whose
destructions are prevented, or for cards which pre-emptively destroy
themselves to prevent the destruction of other cards. [RD, l5rinfo,
12/27/96]
"Permanent" just means "until end of game", not "irreversible".
Permanent changes simply do not wear off at the end of the turn. They
can be undone or further altered by later effects.
"Battle resolution" includes only the destruction of the losing army
and, if necessary, the Province. The bowing of attacking and allied
units happens immediately after resolution, in a separate step. [DW,
netnews, 7/3/97, and l5rinfo, 7/11/97]
Each card draw during your End Phase is separate. You may take
actions between them or give up individual cards that are part of
multiple-card draws to pay for abilities such as Kyuden Hitomi. [DW,
email, 8/18/98] [REVERSAL]
"After" and "immediately after" are equivalent. Reactions played
merely "after" something occurs cannot be held and played at an
arbitrary time later that turn. [DW, personal correspondence, 2/99]
[REVERSAL of some specific rulings]
Timing-wise, a reaction will always go after a continuous effect.
(Examples: Tetsubo vs. Kakita Technique, Kolat Geisha vs. The Wind's
Truth.) [ZF, l5rinfo, 11/23/99]
Tokens
An action which targets something like "a token on a Personality"
targets only the token and not the card it's currently on.
You may target tokens on your own bowed Personalities. [DW, l5rinfo,
10/8/96] On the other hand, an action which affects "all tokens (or
'all tokens of a particular type') on a Personality" does
target the Personality.
A Plague token is a Plague token. Anything that refers to them refers
to all of them, regardless of their original source. [DW, l5rinfo,
1/3/97] [This extends to all token traits, not just "plague". -- jwa]
Follower and Item tokens are considered to be "on" the Personality
they're attached to.
Traits and Bonuses
A card either has a trait or it doesn't. You cannot have a card with
the same trait multiple times. An effect which would give an existing
trait to a card is still legal, though. Just ignore the extra
instance. [summary of other rulings]
This ruling does not apply to abilities.
Traits are always active, even if a card is bowed. [DW, l5rinfo, 9/12/96]
This also applies to the stat bonuses provided by all Items, and by
those Followers that use the "+X" notation.
Unlike Followers, Items always add their stat bonuses directly to
the attached Personality, regardless of whether they say "X" or
"+X". [rulebook]
A Personality with an attached card that boosts his stats only
"receives a bonus" from that card when he attached it and if its bonus
increases. He is not continually "receiving a bonus".
The singular, plural, and possessive forms of traits are equivalent.
"Deep Forest", "Deeper Forests", and "Forest's Deepness" are all
"Forest" cards. [RD, l5rinfo, 12/27/96, and ZF, netnews, 10/99]
"Corrupt" and "corrupted" are equivalent. [DW, personal
correspondence, 12/17/98]
"Emperor" and "Imperial" are not equivalent. [DW, personal
correspondence, 2/13/99]
Individual abilities carry their cards' traits as well as their own.
Casting "Elemental Ward" is an Elemental action, for
instance. [DW, l5rinfo, 2/18/97]
Any card which can alter an honor gain or loss is
Political, even if it doesn't always do so. [DW, email,
6/27/97] Example: Legendary Victory.
There is nothing special about effects that multiply, divide, or swap
stats. These are still "increases", "bonuses", "penalties", etc.
[summary of other rulings]
Hyphenated traits are single words. You don't count the halves separately.
[DW, l5rinfo, 11/4/97]
Clan alignments are inseparable, too. A member of the "Dragon Clan"
is not necessarily a Dragon, and a member of the "Shadowlands
Horde" (there are ways of accomplishing this) is not necessarily a
Shadowlands card. [DW, private email, 6/5/98]
Swearing fealty is a permanent change. [HE4 rulebook]
Losing former alignments is a special effect of cards such as Oath
of Fealty, not a result of swearing fealty in general. [DW, email,
2/17/99]
Anything with the Creature trait is not human, and therefore
Nonhuman as well. [DW, personal correspondence, 12/2/98]
(This does not work both ways.)
Clan Champion status is separate from clan affiliation. It is
based on the original printed traits of the card and cannot be
changed by changing alignment. You also cannot acquire a Clan
Champion by changing alignment. Example: if a Crab Clan Champion
swears fealty to Phoenix, her traits will change to Phoenix Clan *
Clan Champion. She will be a Phoenix Clan Personality and a Clan
Champion, but not a Phoenix Clan Champion. [DW, personal
correspondence, 2/99]
Besides words in their titles and traits areas, Action Cards also
share all the traits of the individual actions printed on them. This
rule does not apply to any other type of card. [DW, personal
correspondence, 2/99]
There is no rule against having multiple cards in play or in your
deck with the same honorific title, such as "Crab Clan Champion" or
"Oracle of Earth". [5/26/99]
Undead cards are not automatically Nonhuman. [FAQ
3.10]
Only the card on which the action is printed determines the traits of
the action. For instance, if a Ninja Personality plays an Iaijutsu
Challenge, that is not a "ninja action". [l5rinfo, 7/20/99]
Furthermore, if an action is not actually on a card, it
does not acquire any traits from any cards involved in performing
it. [REVERSAL] This includes actions such as attaching a card from
your hand or lobbying for the Favor. Actions added to a card via
copying or by an effect such as The Yogo Towers count as being "on the
card". [FAQ 3.10]
Personal Honor is not, as a general rule, limited to a maximum of
5. [DW, personal correspondence, 1/9/99]
Any effect that uses a "+" or "-" sign or uses a word such as
"bonus", "penalty", "extra", "reduced", "additional", or "further"
is cumulative. [l5rinfo, 8/5/99]
Versions
Cards which have multiple versions in their most recent printing
are played according to the actual version played.
Tournaments
If there is a tie in a tournament even after going to the point
method, the round is considered a loss for both players. [DW, l5rinfo,
11/24/97]
Goblin Sneaks are Jade-legal. Apparently, they made it into Pearl
Edition Shadowlands Horde clan decks without getting the Jade
kanji added.
All Siege of Sleeping Mountain cards and Strongholds are Jade-legal,
although the SSM version of a card is never considered the Most Recent
Printing unless it's the only printing.
Miscellaneous
You may play Reactions which do nothing so long as they are otherwise
legal (for example, Rallying Cry after losing the battle and having
your army destroyed, or even if you never had any units in the battle
in the first place). [DW, l5rinfo, 12/3/96]
"In the unlikely event that a non-Shugenja Personality somehow manages
to get a legally attached spell, the spell cannot be used but has no
other unusual effect. It can be destroyed, stolen, Scribed, moved,
etc." [RD, l5rinfo, 1/15/97]
If an effect requires the destruction of a card as part of its cost
and that destruction is prevented, the same thing happens as in any
other situation when a cost is interfered with: if the cost cannot be
satisfied some other way, no effect is generated, the card being paid
for (if any) is returned to where it came from, and all other costs
get consumed with no return. [DW, personal correspondence]
Kiho are a subset of Action Cards, just like Weapons are a subset of
Items, Black Scrolls are a subset of Spells, etc. [rulebook]
Any single card or action which brings a card into play and gives it
the Shadowlands trait is considered to be "bringing a Shadowlands card
into play" regardless of the exact relative timing of the two effects.
The term family name does not include races or professions,
such as "Ninja", "Naga", "Ratling", "Mujina", or "Oni".
A name is not a family name if it is possessed by only a single
Personality with a one-word name ("Sanzo", "Suana"). On the other
hand, if a name is made a family name by other cards, a Personality
with only that name as a one-word name is considered part of that
family ("Hitomi", "Yoritomo").
Dishonor is still an immediate loss. The Ambition's Debt
rulebook is incorrect. [FAQ 3.10]
Playing a card from your hand counts as "bringing a card into play",
even if that card just has an immediate effect and goes straight into
your discard pile. [l5rinfo, 1/2000]
Specific Cards
Abandoning the Fortunes
- If your Dynasty deck is not empty, its effect doesn't
trigger. [DW, personal correspondence, 12/2/98]
- If your deck is empty, every unfilled Province counts against you
regardless of why it's unfilled. [Ibid.]
Accessible Terrain
- The Attacker and Defender are the only ones who can bring units
in, and they may only select units they control. [DW, l5rinfo, 6/4/96]
- Players may repeatedly take the terrain's Battle action to move
units in as long as the terrain remains in play. They are limited to
moving one unit per action, not one unit total. [previous FAQs]
Agasha Gennai
- You may play and/or activate the Ring of the Void between
discarding and drawing because Gennai's effect isn't a single,
self-contained "discard and redraw" effect. [DW, l5rinfo, 11/7/97]
- See also Timing.
The Agasha Join the Phoenix
- All existing alignments are kept. [DW, personal correspondence, 2/13/99]
- Should read "All your Personalities from that family in your deck
and Provinces swear fealty to your Clan." [errata]
- Will not remove restrictions against joining your
Clan. [l5rinfo, 8/19/99]
Air Dragon
- May attach spells. [DW, email, 3/1/99]
Akiyoshi (Exp)
- May bow to save herself. [DW, l5rinfo, 10/10/97]
- Only the topmost card is reshuffled. Any underneath are discarded
from play. The topmost retains all abilities and permanent changes it
had when it left play when it enters play again, but is now just a
single card. [DW, personal email, 2/19/98, and FAQ]
Akodo Dagger
- Truly is not a Weapon. [DW, l5rinfo, 10/29/98]
Akodo Hall of Ancestors
- Cancels only the dishonoring and/or gaining of the Shadowlands
trait. [DW, personal correspondence, 12/2/98] [REVERSAL]
- If a single effect is worded such at multiple Personalities are
dishonored/tainted at once (ex: Stale Wind, Doom of Toturi), all of
the Personalities will be spared.
Akodo's "Leadership"
- Due to wording, will always be usable before Mercy Shrouds the
Earth can be played but will not beat the Ancient Halls of
the Akodo Stronghold. [l5rinfo, 12/99]
Alhundro Cornejo
- May bring in another Alhundro Cornejo for free. ["Foo" Rule]
Ambush
- Is considered to be declaring an attack. [DW, personal
correspondence, 11/5/98]
- The two units are considered to be assigning. [Ibid.]
- The unit chosen as the attacker must be one currently able to be
assigned as a solitary attacker (i.e. unbowed, no attack-prohibiting
effects in play such as Emperor's Peace, etc.) [summary of other
rulings]
- However, the unit chosen to be attacked does not have to be one
which can legally defend. It can be bowed, inherently prohibited from
defending (such as Kakita Yoshi), and so on. [FAQ 3.2]
- Target must belong to another player.
- Your unit is the attacker.
Ancient Sage
- You may wait until you see the card's focus value before deciding
whether to use the Sage. [netnews, 7/12/99]
Ancient Spear of the Naga
- Receives bonuses from effects which boost "Naga cards",
since it is one. [DW, l5rinfo, 10/10/96, and the "Foo" Rule]
Ancestral Sword of the Hantei
- Does not reverse upper or lower limits on Force or Chi, just
bonuses and penalties. [l5rinfo, 12/99]
- See also Imperial Favor.
Ancestral Swords
- All six Ancestral Clan Swords can be played by any player, and can
be attached to any Personality. Furthermore, they still grant their
player 4 honor and cause all opponents matching the sword's Clan to
lose 6, even if the sword's Clan doesn't match its Personality's or
its player's. The only restriction on the Ancestral Swords is that
they don't give their extra bonuses if not held by someone of their
Clan. [card text]
Ancestral Weapon of the Mantis
- Cloak of Night does not pay the gold costs for the extra features
[DW, l5rinfo, 9/28/97], though you can pay for them yourself when it
is revealed.
Animate the Dead
- Can attach a Follower to an opponent's Personality if the
Follower normally allows it. [DW, email, 9/8/97]
- Followers are bound by their normal attachment restrictions. [card
text]
Annexation
- You must make the decision to purchase the extra Province as soon
as this Event resolves.
- You only need to discard the Favor if you buy the Province.
[DW, l5rinfo, 12/4/96]
Another Time
- Since this card causes the duel to be cancelled as soon as it is
revealed, it will nullify Kharmic Strike and prevent Poisoned Weapon
from being used. [card text, and DW, l5rinfo, 11/8/96]
- Will not stop a poison token from Shosuro Hametsu from giving
its -2C penalty, though. [DW, l5rinfo, 8/2/96] This penalty is
applied when a strike is declared, and that still happens.
Architects of the Wall
- "It resolves every time it reveals including for multiple
players." [DW, email, 9/25/97]
- Its reduction of the Fortification's cost applies before all other
cost-reducing effects. [FAQ 3.5]
Armor of the Golden Samurai
- In determining whether a card can be legally focussed, use its
focus value prior to focussing. Don't apply things like Double Chi or
Strength of Flowing Water. [5/17/99]
- Does not count as a samurai.
Armor of Earth
- Will work against Encircled Terrain (negating all its
effects) but not Entrapping Terrain. [DW, l5rinfo, 2/2/98]
Armor of Osano-Wo
- You may not use the Reaction unless you are the Attacker. The
Attacker is the only player destroying the Province. [l5rinfo, 3/10/99]
Armor of Sun-Tao
Arrival of the Emerald Champion
- May be used in a battle in which you have no units. [DW, l5rinfo,
12/11/96]
- Once created, the Champion acts like any other Personality. It
can be shot with ranged attacks, sent home, etc. [ibid.]
- See also Imperial Favor.
- Can be duplicated by the Experienced Doji Yosai. [RD, l5rinfo,
12/1/97] [REVERSAL]
Arrival of the Unicorns
- Does not affect units already assigned. [DW, l5rinfo, 3/2/98]
Because of this, it cannot be played during battle since it doesn't
target or affect anything in it.
- Multiples are cumulative, since they provide a "bonus". [l5rinfo,
8/4/99]
The Arrow Knows the Way
- May be used if the Personality is contributing to a combined
Ranged Attack. [DW, 9/25/96]
Arrows From the Ranks
- You may not combine ranged attacks, as it must come from
"one of your cards in play" [card text]. Cards like
Coordinated Fire and Mukami Exp. won't change this.
Asahina Dorai (Exp)
- His loss of Chi is a cost. If it's prevented, so is his ability.
Asako Hosigeru
- His action is one action which produces multiple simultaneous
ranged attacks. [card text]. An effect which cancels an action will
cancel all of them. An effect which cancels a ranged attack will
only cancel one.
- His action targets every relevant card even though there
is no choice involved. [card text and rulebook] Furthermore, because
each attack's target is mandated, none of them may be redirected, not
even with an effect which allows redirection back to the firer's army.
There is never "another" legal target.
- May be combined with his own Followers or using Coordinated Fire.
- Normal ranged attacks will only combine with single attacks
of his.
- With Coordinated Fire, may combine with other Hosigerus for
stronger attacks against everything.
- May be used even if there are no opposing cards. [l5rinfo, 7/21/99]
Asako Togama
- Cannot retrieve spells with a restriction against being copied by
Scribes, such as Wheel of Fate. [DW, email, 9/25/97]
- Retrieved spells go through all the usual come-into-play
effects. [DW, l5rinfo, 11/25/97]
Ashigaru Archers
- Were supposed to have a Force of 0, but since the error is
not earth-shattering, there is no errata at this time. Play them as
written. [DW]
Awakening Shakoki Dogu
- The first sentence should read, "All units at this battle MAY
return to their fiefs." [errata]
- Selecting which units stay and which go is a case of targetting
with an action. A Test of Courage may be played to cancel the
terrain's effects entirely during its resolution. [l5rinfo, 7/15/99]
- The active player is the first one who has to decide which of his
units leave the battle. He makes all his decisions at this time.
Then the choice goes around the table, once, in turn order. [l5rinfo,
7/15/99]
Avoid Fate
- Under the optional "each Event only happens once" rule, Avoid Fate
cannot be played in reaction to the second or later appearance of an
Event which has already resolved. [DW, l5rinfo, 9/3/96]
Bakeneko
- May only issue its challenge once per battle. [errata]
Basher's Club
- Includes bonuses from terrains, reaction cards, and kiho, as they
are also Action Cards.
- Does not include bonuses received by attaching an Item or
Follower. [DW, personal correspondence, 10/98]
Battlefield of Shallow Graves
- Artist is really Tom Cadice, not Matt Wilson.
- Is Political because it alters honor gains.
Battlements of Matsu Castle
- Allows actions which target attacking cards to be played on
defending Lions. [DW, l5rinfo, 9/16/96]
Bayushi Aramoro
- Only affects unplayed cards in the Province, not cards attached to
the Province. [l5rinfo, 3/16/99]
- Targets the card, not the Province. [card text] Will only affect
one card in a multi-card Province.
Bayushi Baku
- Cannot be used as the attacker with Ambush. [DW, l5rinfo, 9/20/96]
- Two or more Bakus can be assigned together, without any other
Personalities. [ibid.]
Bayushi Goshiu
- Can be used to fork any loss of honor you suffer, even if you caused
the loss yourself. [card text, and DW, l5rinfo]
- Does not duplicate any special restrictions of the original honor
loss, just the amount. [DW, l5rinfo, 6/13/96]
- Does not count as modifying the original loss.
Bayushi Goshiu (Exp)
- When an honor loss is redirected away from a player, that player
is no longer losing honor and so cannot be affected by further
loss-modifying effects. You cannot, for example, use Goshiu and a
Ninja Shapeshifter to copy a loss from Player A to Player B twice.
Bayushi Goshiu (Exp2)
- His effect is permanent. It will continue even if Goshiu leaves
play. [DW, email]
- He can do it every time he enters play. [card text]
- The loss comes from Goshiu, since that's the card the text
is written on. [ZF, netnews]
Bayushi Kachiko (Exp 2)
- Bringing Kachiko into play gives you the ability to win an Honor
Victory. If you've given up this victory to Return of Fu Leng,
bringing her into play, either normally or by copying or stealing her,
restores it. Conversely, if a Clan which can't win by honor brings
her into play, that Clan may renounce this ability if RoFL appears.
- Her "all Shadowlands cards have their gold costs increased by two"
effect applies to the cost in the central diamond only.
Bayushi Kyoto
- May be used on a face-down Province since he targets a
Province, not a face-down card. [card text] The card will stay
face-down next turn.
Bayushi Shoju (Inexp)
- His ability works with the same timing as all other "before the
first normal action" effects. [Imperial Herald/FAQ]
- His ability may only be used against players who have opposing
cards in the battle. [FAQ]
- Cards played by him go into their owner's discard pile. [DW,
l5rinfo, 12/97]
- Cards played by him that stay in play, stay in play until they're
destroyed normally. [FAQ]
- The honor loss applies to every card that leaves your hand
to produce or pay for some effect. [FAQ]
- The honor losses are always separate, even when multiple cards are
discarded at once. [general ruling on multiple simultaneous losses]
- You re-swap your entire hands again immediately after the battle,
even if one or both hands contain cards of mixed ownership. [card
text, and DW, personal correspondence, 9/14/98]
Bayushi Shoju
- Cannot be overlayed normally over the Inexperienced Shoju since he
heads for the dead pile immediately upon appearing in a Province. [DW,
l5rinfo, 12/16/97]
Bayushi Tangen
- You do not necessarily need to control the Scorpion you want
Tangen to substitute for [card text], but remember you cannot ever
duel yourself and cannot normally move a unit into an army you weren't
invited to ally with.
Bayushi Tomaru
- There are two versions of this card. The one found in the
preconfigured section of Scorpion Clan Decks has a Personal Honor of
1, while the one found elsewhere has a 0. These are played as
written.
Bayushi Yokuan
- Reactions also cannot be played against the results of refusing a
challenge. [DW, l5rinfo, 12/18/97]
- Reaction that specifically get played after the resolution of a
duel are still legal. [ibid.]
- Reactions played before or with the challenge-causing action
are still legal, in particular, those which cancel it. The challenge
has not yet begun.
- Bowing to refuse his challenges is an additional cost, not an
alternate way of refusing his challenges.
- No Personalities need to bow to refuse a challenge made
against a player, such as Defend Your Honor or Test of the Emerald
Champion. [5/16/99]
Bayushi's Labyrinth
- The 1-pt honor loss is a rare example of a cost instead of an
effect. If the loss is cancelled, the effect is also, and if you
can't lose honor you can't use the ability. [DW, l5rinfo, 2/98]
Berzerkers
- Only check for self-destruction if their ability has been
used. [DW, l5rinfo, 4/9/98]
Betrayal
- Cannot be used if you have no units in the battle because it is
not guaranteed, in all cases, to give you one there. [extension from
Yogo Asami]
A Black Scroll is Opened
- The Chi penalty is continually recalculated for the rest of the
turn. [DW, l5rinfo, 12/25/96] [REVERSAL]
Blackmail
- Revealing this card is an action taken by its original target,
but the loss is caused by the Blackmail itself. [card text] This
means the blackmailer can avoid the loss with Defend Your Honor, and
the revealer can double it with Court Jester. [DW, l5rinfo, 10/31/96]
- If you steal a Fortification, it stays attached to its original
owner's Province, although you now control its abilities, if any. [RD,
email, 5/8/97] [REVERSAL]
- See also Battle.
Bleeding the Elements
- You may bow any Bloodspeaker in play, not just your own. [card
text, and DW, email]
Blessings of Isawa
- The ability keeps the traits of the kiho, including "Kiho".
- If the next kiho is cast by a Follower, it is discarded and the
Event's effect is wasted since the kiho cannot attach "to a
Personality". [DW, email, 2/23/99]
- If the attached kiho is somehow destroyed, the ability is
lost. [DW and ZF, email, 1/2000]
- If a kiho has multiple actions, only the action used is gained by
the Personality. [DW, email, 8/19/99]
- The ability gained is considered an innate ability if the
Personality is a shugenja. [netnews, 8/13/99]
- The kiho becomes castable only by the Personality it's attached
to. [9/22/99]
- The kiho is attached instead of discarded. A kiho which is not
discarded (for example, because of being removed from the game
instead) cannot be attached and will waste the Event's effect.
- A kiho which is completely cancelled will not attach because
it was not performed. [l5rinfo, 1/2000]
The Blood Feud
- The honor loss for refusing the challenge is caused by the
original Blood Feud action card. Defend Your Honor can be played
against it. [DW, email, 4/14/97]
Blood Oath
- Counts as swearing fealty. [DW, l5rinfo, 12/9/96]
- Is played "after" the Personality comes into play [card text], so
you don't get the options of paying less gold or gaining honor.
Bo Stick
- In determining whether a card can be legally focussed, use its
focus value prior to focussing. Don't apply things like Double Chi or
Strength of Flowing Water. [5/17/99]
Bog Hag
- May accumulate multiple copies of the same ability. [FAQ 3.2]
Breach of Etiquette
- In the case of a tie, the active player decides who loses honor
first. [l5rinfo, 12/2/99]
Brilliant Victory
- Generates a separate honor gain rather than increasing the gain
from winning the battle. Thus, it is not Political. [DW,
email, 6/27/97]
- See also Battle.
The Bronze Gong of the Hantei
- Cannot be used if you have no one in the battle. The phrase
"during any battle" does not override the normal restrictions on
Battle Actions. [DW, email, 2/7/97]
Burning Your Essence
- Chi loss also occurs if used for an ability, immediately after the
resolution of the ability. [l5rinfo, 10/29/97]
- Treat the card's base focus value as a 6, when appropriate. This
happens before any other changes. [5/17/99]
- May be focussed for a Tactician bonus. [DW, l5rinfo, 8/99]
Call to Arms
- All your Personalities who can straighten must do so,
including those who may remain bowed. [DW, l5rinfo, 6/5/96]
- Affected units become bowed during the resolution of the last
battle. This means they'll always bow before you can play
Counterattack, since that is played "after the last resolution
segment". [DW, l5rinfo, 10/22/96]
- Must be played before any unit assignments are made. [DW, l5rinfo,
11/15/96, and rulebook] Units are assigned during the Maneuvers
Segment, but Call to Arms is played in the Declaration Segment, which
happens first.
- May be played in response to Ambush. [DW, l5rinfo, 5/15/97]
Catching the Wind's Favor
- Treat ranged attacks that do not have a strength as strength 0.
[FAQ 3.8]
The Celestial Pattern
- The discarded event cannot be saved with Avoid Fate. [DW, l5rinfo,
12/25/96] Avoid Fate is played immediately before an Event resolves
[card text], but the discarded Event doesn't resolve.
Change of Loyalty
- Feign Death will not prevent the destruction of the original
Personality. [DW, l5rinfo, 5/24/96] The original Personality will
find another card with its title already in play when it attempts to
return, and will be destroyed again by the Uniqueness rule.
- Cannot be used to destroy an existing Egg-Personality in order to
play a new Egg of P'an Ku. [DW, l5rinfo, 6/5/96] Can only be used to
bring a Unique Personality into play [card text], but until it's in
play, the Egg is an Action card. [Note that it can be used to
destroy an existing Egg if you're playing the False Hoturi, regardless
of whom the Egg is copying. -- jwa]
- If there are multiple conflicting Personalities with the same name
and experience level (say, due to One Life, One Destiny), they are all
destroyed. [DW, personal correspondence, 2/13/99]
Climbing Gear
- The effect is automatic. It does not take an action to activate it.
Cloak of Night
- No costs need to be paid when the card is revealed. [RD, l5rinfo,
5/6/96]
- Effects produced by a card when it is attached occur instead when
it is revealed. [DW, l5rinfo, 2/28/97]
Code of Bushido
- Is not Political. [DW, l5rinfo, 3/17/97]
Concealed Archers
- May be played in a battle in which you have no units. [DW,
personal email, 6/23/98]
Concede Defeat
- In a result such as "If duelist A wins, XXX happens to the loser,"
effect XXX is an "effect of duelist A winning" and not an "effect of
the other duelist losing". It will still happen.
- Has no effect on reactions to winning or losing a duel unless
those reactions specifically modify the effects of losing, such as
Fatal Mistake.
Confusion at Court
- The Shadowlands Horde may play this. Reactions that involve the
Imperial Favor are not automatically Political. [FAQ]
Contemplate the Void
- Can be used even if you have no Fate cards, since you can still
discard "all" of them. [l5rinfo]
Contested Holding
- If the challenged player controls no unbowed Personalities, he
must refuse the challenge and lose the Holding.
- If the duel is fought and tied, the challenger is still the only
Personality who dies. [card text, and DW, email, 5/4/99]
Cornered
- May be used even if the battle which the target unit it leaving is
not the current battle, since it's a Reaction. [DW, email, 4/23/97]
Counterattack
- Will nearly always be played after Rallying Cry.
If it's not the very last battle to be resolved, RC clearly goes
"first" because Counterattack can't be played at all. If it is, the
general rule when two reactions to a game event have the same timing
is to give the first reaction to the active player, which will
typically be the Attacker (unless the Attack Phase that just happened
was, itself, the result of an earlier Counterattack). [DW, netnews,
3/22/96]
- May be played after an Ambush. [RD, l5rinfo, 2/17/97]
- Multiples may be played as reactions to the same attack. [general
rule on multiple reactions]
Counterfeit
- When used to destroy an item, the "cost of the item" is the
cost to its player. For instance, the cost of the Ancestral Weapon of
the Mantis includes the extra costs for any upgrades. [DW, email,
7/30/97] Exception: an item brought into play "without gold cost"
still has its full cost. See Gold.
[partial REVERSAL]
Courier
- Cannot move Followers. [card text]
- May only move cards if both Personalities are unbowed. [REVERSAL]
[card text, and DW, email, 7/30/97]
The Coward's Way
- Opponent may either focus or strike first, not just focus. [DW,
l5rinfo, 9/16/96]
- The second Personality does nothing beyond contributing a Chi
bonus and sharing the consequences of losing. He's not considered a
participant in the duel, so effects that apply to duel participants
cannot be used on him. That phrase about him "joining the duel" is
"color text" and is not part of the actual game effects of this
card. [DW, l5rinfo, 3/21/97]
Crane Tattoo
- May be activated if the Personality was bowed when he died because
it is used after the death, when the card is in the discard pile and no
longer considered bowed.
- "In a battle or duel" means "during a battle or
duel". May be used against deaths from ranged attacks, etc.
- The targetting restriction does not prevent the Personality from
using built-in abilities which only affect himself (for instance,
Togashi Mitsu's fire tokens), as those are not targetted. [netnews,
3/99]
- It does prevent the Personality from casting kiho.
Creating the Monkey Clan
- Affects the next two Personalities turned face-up in your Provinces
who have the Unaligned trait, regardless of whether they already
have your alignment as well. Those already aligned to you are
unaffected, though they still use up one of the two uses of the Event.
[netnews, 8/11/99]
Crushing Attack
- May not be played if there are no opposing units. See
Battle. [REVERSAL]
Crystal Arrow
- Read this card literally. It can be used by any Personality with
any sort of Ranged Attack at all. The actual characteristics and
targetting requirements of that Ranged Attack are irrelevant -- only
those of the Arrow are used. [DW, l5rinfo, 9/25/96]
Cultists
- Will make a Ritual they bow to participate in Maho.
[l5rinfo, 8/3/99]
Daikua
See Sanado.
The Daimyo's Command
- Any Clan Champion may bow, including Toku (Exp2). [card text]
Damesh
- His effect is continual. [card text] He constantly resets his
Province's strength to the lowest of any in the game as long as he's
in the battle. Effects which boost Province strength will be
immediately overridden, though their effects will be seen, modifying
the strength the Province would typically have, if Damesh is killed or
removed from the battle. Effects which reduce the Province strength
will have full effect since it will still be the lowest of any in
play. [netnews, 9/21/99]
Dark Lord's Favor
- The Shadowlands Horde cannot produce the honor-cancelling Reaction since
that's Political. [DW, email, 8/28/97]
- Can be played if you're tied for lowest honor. [FAQ 3.8]
A Dark Moment
- Will also give the Shadowlands trait to cards which were brought
into play from that Province earlier that turn. [card text]
Dark Oracle of Water
- Does not target the Personalities you commit. It only provides
you with an extra assignment step during the Maneuvers Segment.
[DW, l5rinfo, 6/23/97]
Dead Eyes
- The reduction to 0 Personal Honor is permanent. [errata]
Deadly Ground
- Prevents the playing of all non-terrain-destroying actions
within the Battle Action and Resolution Segments [card text],
including Reactions played "when" or "after" a card is destroyed.
Does not prevent Reactions played "after resolution" or "after
the Attack Phase". [DW, email, 6/2/97] [partial REVERSAL]
- For an action to be legal, it must directly destroy Deadly Ground.
Actions which destroy the terrain in a roundabout way, such as by
cancelling the battle, aren't legal. [DW, l5rinfo, 10/10/96]
Death of the Ki-Rin
- Prevents players from destroying an opponent's last Province
if the player himself does not meet one of the three criteria.
- "This event does not affect...clans normally unable to win an
honor victory." "Normally" means you judge by what's originally
written on your Stronghold, not whether you can currently win that
way.
Deeds, Not Words
- The honor loss retains its source and any restrictions against
being cancelled or redirected. [l5rinfo, 7/15/99]
Defend Your Honor
- Works only against Action cards played and actions taken, not
against other things, such as Events. [DW, l5rinfo, 12/19/96]
Delicate Calculations
- The two targetted players may call on each other as allies. [DW,
l5rinfo, 9/10/96]
- There is still only one Attacking side and one Defending side.
Third-party players may not ally with more than one. [DW, l5rinfo,
9/13/96]
- Neither targetted player may ally with the Attacker against
the other. [DW, email, 6/28/97]
- Will not allow you to attack on someone else's turn when combined
with Plans Within Plans. [DW, email, 9/25/97]
Desperate Measures
- The Province this Event appears in is destroyed first, then the
other one. If it appears in your last Province, you are immediately
eliminated and no further effects are generated. [RD, l5rinfo,
5/19/97]
Doji Hoturi
- May make any duel a Duel of Honor, even one which is not a Duel of
Chi to begin with. [DW, l5rinfo, 11/19/96]
- When making a duel a Duel of Honor, the original duel results are
replaced by the ones on his card. [DW, l5rinfo, 12/19/96]
- The option to commit seppuku upon losing to avoid being
dishonored is available to all Personalities, not just samurai.
[RD, l5rinfo, 3/14/97]
Doji Hoturi (Exp)
- If overlayed on the original Hoturi, he may not
react to his own challenge and make it a Duel of Honor, as he is
now bowed and therefore cannot perform actions. [DW, personal
correspondence, 12/2/98] [REVERSAL]
The Doji Plains
- Doubles the amount the Holding "normally would" produce -- i.e.,
without any other card effects. So two Doji Plains on one Holding
would still only make it produce double, not quadruple.
The doubling is also applied before other production-modifying
effects, such as Bountiful Harvest. [DW, email, 2/28/97]
Doji Reju
- If two Reju face each other in a duel and tie, they both
win. [card text, and DW, l5rinfo, 5/15/97]
- If they tie in the duel started by Fight for My Favor, the Favor
stays where it is.
Doji Satsume
Doji Yosai
- Will not prevent the playing of The Perfect Gift. [DW, email,
9/8/97, and the exemption of special game terms from the Foo Rule]
Yosai prevents discarding cards as gifts, not "playing gift cards".
Doom of the Brotherhood
- With the new definition of "discarded from play", any Rings
this Event affects are irrevocably gone. [DW, personal correspondence,
11/99]
Doom of the Dark Lord
- A single Defenders of the Realm will only stop this from
destroying Provinces for the rest of the current turn. [DW, private
email, 6/5/98] [REVERSAL]
- Won't trigger if a player can manage to avoid needing to draw from
his Fate deck, such as by using Kyuden Hitomi's ability. [DW, l5rinfo,
8/19/98]
Double Agent
- The action is retargetted as though you had played it. [DW,
l5rinfo, 7/28/98]
Dragon Clan Charter
- Cards focussed in a duel are discarded from hand. [DW, email,
4/7/99]
The Dragon's Heart
- May freely duplicate challenges arising from actions which may
only be used a limited number of times per turn/battle, such as Hitomi
Exp3's. [DW, email, 8/21/98] [REVERSAL]
- Costs are also duplicated (for example, Hitomi Kokujin
Exp.'s). [DW, l5rinfo, 8/26/98]
The Dragon Pearl
- Similar to the Egg of P'an Ku, the Dragon Pearl also copies
permanent effects played upon the copied item.
Dragonfly Tattoo
- Does not prevent targetting by actions which may or may not send
the bearer home, such as Stand or Run. [l5rinfo, 7/24/99]
Dripping Poison
- Once you've placed a poison token on a Personality, you lose honor
if any effect kills that Personality by reducing his Chi to 0 --
even if he has no poison tokens on him at the time. [DW, l5rinfo,
9/12/96]
The Edge of Shinomen Forest
- You also choose which ally if you choose to have an ally do the
bowing. [5/18/99]
Egg of P'an Ku
- Though an Action card, it has an Item border in the Imperial
Edition. This is a misprint.
- The Unique trait on the Egg always refers to just the Egg
itself. It does not create a Unique copy of the Personality it
copies. In fact, an Egg-copy of a Unique Personality will not prevent
another of that Personality from being played if the original dies.
[netnews]
- Is considered a Personality card once in play. [DW, netnews, 4/5/96]
- Is also considered a Personality after it dies. [RD, l5rinfo, 4/8/96]
It can be brought back during Rise of the Phoenix, for example.
- Understandibly, it goes into your Honorable (or Dishonorable) Dead
pile when killed, not your Fate card pile. [RD, l5rinfo, 8/27/96]
- If sent back to your Dynasty Deck, it actually goes in, despite
being a green-backed card. [DW, l5rinfo, 11/14/97] When it shows up in
a Province, it follows all the normal bring-into-play restrictions
such as minimum honor and clan restrictions.
- Does not copy any temporary changes affecting the card it's
copying, or the effects of any attached tokens or cards. However, it
does copy any permanent, non-token changes. [DW, l5rinfo,
11/4/96]
- If it copies a bonus-producing trait, such as the Crab Clan Oni's,
it copies only the trait itself, not the trait plus the
existing bonus.
- Though a Personality once in play, it still counts as the Egg as
well. You cannot play a second Egg and claim that the first "isn't an
Egg anymore". [DW, l5rinfo, 11/4/96]
- Does not cause an honor loss or require the payment of non-gold
costs, even when used to copy a Personality which does. [DW, l5rinfo,
5/6/97]
- If used to copy a Personality and later overlayed with an
Experienced version, that version retains its identity and sole
Uniqueness as the Egg. [DW, email, 9/29/97]
Elemental Ward
- Can only counter an action which explicitly targets you or your
cards, not one which merely affects them. [card text, and EE rulebook]
[REVERSAL]
- Can counter the use of the Ring of Air against one of your spell
effects. [DW, l5rinfo, 6/9/97] [This is an apparent contradiction... -- jwa]
Emergence of the Masters
- Earlier effects are not cumulative multiple times. For example,
bowing three shugenja does not let you give two followers +3F and
three Personalities +1F. [l5rinfo, 3/9/99]
Emperor's Protection
- The loss of 7 honor is in addition to any other duel results. [DW,
l5rinfo, 12/19/96]
- See also Imperial Favor.
Encircled Terrain
- It's an action, so players may not select one of their bowed units
as the one to stay. [DW, personal email, 1/29/98]
- Only targets the units selected to stay and fight. [card text]
Enlightened Tutor
- Overrides the restrictions on Personalities who may not refuse
duels, such as Kakita Toshimoko. [DW, email, 2/17/99]
Essence of Air
- Allows you to purchase more than one card from a Province during
your Dynasty Phase. [DW, l5rinfo, 2/3/98]
- Once you've started discarding unwanted Dynasty cards, you can no
longer purchase any. [rulebook]
- Only cards replaced face-up due to Essence of Air's own effect
count towards its limit. [card text]
Exile's Road
- May copy of Unique Region, perhaps even more than once. [FAQ 3.10]
The Eye of Shorihotsu
- Can only be used to increase a ranged attack Ritual if attached to
the primary shugenja. [DW, email, 4/29/97]
- If the spell or ability produces multiple consecutive ranged
attacks, the Eye can only add +4 to one of them, not increase an
arbitrary number by a total of +4. [ibid.]
The Face of Fear
- Since it causes a Personality to be affected by Fear "as if he or
she were a Follower" [card text], it will have no effect on a
Personality belonging to a unit or Clan whose Followers are immune to
Fear.
- Will modify all Fear effects when played on something that
generates more than one simultaneously, such as Strength of the Dark
one. [5/11/99]
Facing Your Devils
- If cast by a monk or shugenja Follower, treat it as a Personality
for the duration of a duel. If it has 0 Chi it dies immediately and
the duel is aborted without conclusion. [DW, personal correspondence,
11/10/98]
- If the caster gets Chi bonuses for casting spells/kiho, they
apply to the duel. [DW, personal correspondence, 11/11/98]
Fallen Lion Fortress
- A Lion player who has brought Shadowlands cards into play loses
only 6 honor, not 12. [FAQ 3.10]
Farmlands
- The ability's cost can be paid for by gold sources which can only
pay for Followers, such as Bushi Dojo. [DW, l5rinfo, 9/24/96]
- The ability's cost is reduced by effects which reduce the cost of
attaching Followers, such as Hida Tsuru's trait. [DW, email, 4/8/97]
Fatal Mistake
- Can kill Isawa Tsuke and Asako Yasu. [DW, email, 10/17/97]
Feign Death
- Does not prevent the death, but rather returns the dead Personality
to play immediately. [card text] Anything which would normally happen
as a result of the Personality dying will still happen, such as the
destruction of all attached cards and tokens.
- May be played if the Personality was bowed when he died because it
is played after the death, when the card is in the discard pile and no
longer considered bowed.
Festival of the River of Stars
- "Corrupt" and "corrupted" count as the same word. [DW, personal
correspondence, 12/17/98]
- See also Gold.
Fight to the Setting Sun
- Does not bow the units directly, but rather changes which rules
govern whether they bow. Rallying Cry and similar effects will prevent
bowing as usual, even if multiple FttSS's are played. [DW, l5rinfo,
2/18/97]
Final Charge
- Unlike Rally Troops, this cannot save Followers from an effect which
destroys the entire unit, since it gets played "when", not immediately
before, the leader is destroyed. [DW, email, 2/7/97]
- This unit no longer has a Personality. Effects that target or
affect Personalities may not be played on it. [DW, personal
correspondence, 1/10/98] [REVERSAL]
Finding the Balance
- A stat which is already 0 can be chosen as the one to be reduced.
Treat this as any other case where a stat has penalties that reduce it
below 0: its effective value is 0 but any subsequent bonuses will be
counterbalanced by the leftover penalties. [DW, l5rinfo, 9/3/98]
Finding the Harmony
- Rings put into play via this kiho count towards an Enlightenment
Victory. [FAQ 3.10]
Fires of Retribution
- When reacting to an innate ability, the -2C does not occur until
after the ability is fully resolved. [DW, l5rinfo, 2/20/98]
- Cannot be used to destroy a kiho, as it destroys a "spell
card". [card text and FAQ 3.8]
The First Scroll is Opened
- The second effect should refer to "spells", not "scrolls". [DW,
l5rinfo, 12/16/97]
The First Shout
- Will still force the opponent to focus again when played as a
striking focus with a Garrote. [DW, l5rinfo]
- Takes priority over Iaijutsu Art. [DW, l5rinfo, 1/29/98]
- The random focus is picked only from those cards which can be
legally focussed. [FAQ 3.2]
Flatlands
- Players may only move units which they control. [DW, l5rinfo,
9/12/96]
Flattery
- You must discard either enough total focus to end the battle or
your entire hand. [DW, personal correspondence, 10/22/98]
- You may discard more than the minimum necessary number of
cards. [DW]
- You may not play the Ring of the Void in the middle of
discarding.
- To play this card without a unit in the battle, you must be either
the Attacker, the Defender, or an invited ally. Allies may play it
against either side if, and only if, they've been invited by both
primary players and have not assigned any troops anywhere.
- You may not play this card if there are no opposing units. See
Battle. [REVERSAL]
For the Empire
- A Shadowlands samurai may challenge either a samurai or a
Shadowlands Personality, with the appropriate results. If the
Personality challenged also has both traits, you decide who will get
which bonus upon winning when you play the card.
Force of Will
- Switches the current total Chi and Personal Honor values. [DW,
l5rinfo, 5/31/96] This will kill any dishonored Personality, as his
effective Personal Honor will always be zero.
Forced March
- The bowing of the unit happens as a direct result of Forced March,
not as a normal result of battle. It cannot be prevented by cards
like Rallying Cry. [card text]
Forest Fire
- The forest may belong to any player. [card text]
- Destroying the forest must be done if possible. If it cannot be
done, the remaining effects of the card do not happen. [errata]
Forgotten Tomb
- Its effect can be used immediately, while the Tomb is bowed, since
it is a trait and not an ability.
Freezing the Lifeblood
- Tokens only prevent straightening the turn after the kiho is cast
(multiples in one turn are not cumulative) and only for the
Personality it was originally cast on. [card text and DW, email]
Fresh Horses
- The Stables you bow does not generate any gold. You must produce
the 3g using other means. [DW, l5rinfo, 4/30/97]
Frenzy
- May be played on any Personality, not just your own. You still
suffer the 2 pt honor loss, though. [card text]
Fu Leng's Horde
- Counts as an army once assembled. [DW, l5rinfo, 12/9/96]
- Forces of individual units are not checked until the Horde is
formed. [DW, l5rinfo, 12/11/96]
- Horde units removed from the battle return to their controller's
Fief. [ibid.]
- Sending a unit to the Horde is not "assigning" it. [card text]
Units which have restrictions on attacking can be sent freely.
- Artist is really Tom Biondollilo, not Matt Wilson.
Fury of the Earth
- Because of the "to a minimum of zero" clause, any excess penalty
is lost. [DW, l5rinfo, 2/9/98]
Gaijin Mercenaries
see Gold Payments
Garrison
- The imaginary unit that Garrison creates doesn't contribute to the
defending forces in any way. It cannot be targetted or affected by
other cards. It has no stats and does not count as an army when it's
by itself. The only time it matters is when you're deciding whether
a certain action can be played. [DW, personal email, 2/20/98]
Geisha Assassin
- Can be affected like a true Personality by effects that involve
duels, such as Togashi Yoshi, Poisoned Weapon, and various kiho. [DW,
email, 9/8/97]
- If only 0 or 1g is spent, the resulting 0 Chi Personality
immediately dies and the duel is aborted. [DW, l5rinfo, 4/18/98]
Genzo
- This card was referred to as "Norio" in Imperial Herald #5,
and also refers to itself as "Norio" once in its own text box. [RD,
l5rinfo, 4/23/97] These are both errors.
A Gift of Honor
- Both players lose 1 honor in a tie. [RD, l5rinfo, 1/15/97]
A Good Day to Die
- May be put into play by an Armor of Sun-Tao or the Oracle of
Earth, though you must still bow a corrupted shugenja. [DW, l5rinfo,
10/17/97]
- There must still be an army on both sides for the battle to be a
tie. An unopposed army will not be destroyed. [DW, l5rinfo, 4/8/98]
Gust of Wind
- The new target must be legal, as though the attack had come from
your army. [DW, l5rinfo, 6/6/96] You can't redirect a normal attack
to a Personality with Followers attached, for instance.
Hammer of Earth
- May be used to play the Ring of Earth immediately following False
Alliance if (and only if) the conditions are met at that time. [DW,
l5rinfo, 3/3/97]
Hasagawa
- He gains the additional affiliation after he's brought into play.
Clans besides Yoritomo's Alliance cannot gain his personal honor by
paying his full price plus the extra 2g. [DW, l5rinfo, 1/19/98]
[REVERSAL]
Hate's Heart
- The honor loss is not a cost, but the dishonoring is. A
Personality who is already dishonored cannot cast this kiho.
- "Discarded from play" now means "removed from the game". [AD
rulebook]
Hazardous Ground
- Applies fully to extra actions granted by such cards as Sneak
Attack and Kitsu Motso. [card text, and DW, email, 9/25/97]
Heart of the Inferno
- Because it targets "all Personalities and Followers [in the
opposing army] that have a Force of 2 or less", it cannot
be redirected. [RD, l5rinfo, 6/9/97]
- The word "fiery" in this card's text counts as "fire" for purposes
of cards that look for elemental keywords outside the title and boldface
traits areas, such as The Way of Water. [RD, email, 6/11/97]
Heartbeat Drummers
- The +1C action can be used during either the Action Phase or the
Attack Phase, but only lasts until the end of that phase. [card text,
and DW, l5rinfo, 2/12/98]
The Heavy Shadow of Fear
- Distinct Fear effects give a cumulative bonus. Single Fear
effects which can be used more than once do not. [DW, personal
correspondence, 9/19/97]
- Its effect is continuous. The bonus is recalculated if the
strength or number of Fear effects changes.
Hida Amoro
- Is destroyed only if he is present during resolution and his
army's total Force is <= twice the opposing army's at that
time. [DW & RD, email, 8/98] [RE-REVERSAL]
Hida Amoro (Exp2)
- Should be Shadowlands. [errata]
Hida O-Ushi (Exp 2)
- Her ability is Fear. Fear is usable once per battle. [rulebook]
- When Heavy Shadow of Fear is in play, calculate her Fear strength
once, then add it to her Force once, then stop so you don't go into an
infinite loop. Normally she'd be 10F with Fear 5. After a Frenzy
she'd be 16F with Fear 8. Etc.
Hida O-Ushi (Exp 3)
- A Personality who both has less Force than her and is bowed will
count twice. [card text]
- See also Bowing & Straightening.
Hida Technique
- Applies to traits as well, such as Hida Tampako's and the Crab
Armor's. [card text]
- Does not combo with The Citadel of the Hiruma. It only works
with card effects, and Strongholds are not cards. [card text/rulebook]
Hida Yakamo (Hero) (Exp 2)
- Is considered an allied unit after using his ability to enter a
battle, even if he wasn't invited. [DW, email, 12/9/97]
- May enter a battle on the side of a The Shadowlands Horde player.
[ibid.]
Hida Yakamo (Hero) (Exp 3)
- Counts himself as both a Crab and a Naga unit in his army, so his
Battle action will always give him at least +2F.
- Is Nonhuman. [rulebook & card text]
Hida Yakamo (Oni)
- May be moved into a battle with other units, and vice versa,
during the Battle Actions Segment.
- Cannot be moved into a battle by any card which allows you to
"assign" or "commit" units during the Maneuvers Segment, before battle
actions start. [extension of ruling on Dark Oracle of Water, DW,
l5rinfo, 9/10/96]
- Cannot be committed to battle with the Experienced Crab Clan Oni.
Both cards' restrictions on committal must be obeyed. [DW, l5rinfo,
12/9/96]
The Hidden Emperor
- Prevents troops from assigning during a Counterattack. [DW,
l5rinfo, 6/14/98]
The Hidden Heart of Iuchiban
- The Personality does not get returned if it loses the Shadowlands
trait. Only straightening or destroying the Heart will work. [card text]
Hirariko (Exp)
- May only issue her challenge once per battle. [errata]
His Most Favored
- The original player of this card loses the honor when the underlying
Personality is destroyed. This may not be the controller of the
Personality at that time. [RD, l5rinfo, 9/22/96]
Hisa
- Though Unaligned, he has a Scorpion Clan border.
This is not a misprint.
Hitomi (Exp 3)
- If she ties, no effects happen. The clause about the loser going
to Hitomi's controller's fief bowed and getting tattooed is part of
the "if Hitomi wins ..." effect. [DW, l5rinfo, 7/98]
- If she wins versus a Personality who will not join your clan, all
her other duel results happen except the transfer of control.[DW,
l5rinfo, 8/3/98]
Hitomi Kazaq
- Clarifying his ability: he targets any one opposing unit and destroys
all Followers in it whose individual Forces are not greater than his.
Hitomi Tashima
See Sanado.
Hizuka
- There must be at least one attacking unit for him to come into
play for free. [DW, l5rinfo, 9/19/97]
- You do not gain honor for bringing him into play by his action.
Honor can only gained this way during the Dynasty Phase. [DW, l5rinfo,
12/3/97]
Hojatsu's Blade
Honorable Seppuku
- Can actually be used as a reaction in any instance where your
Personality is involved in a loss of Family Honor (to any player) (for
example, being targetted by Martyr), or becomes dishonored. It is not
limited only to occasions which arise from actions you initiated. [DW,
email, 2/7/97, and OE card text]
- Cannot be played as a reaction to Poisoned Weapon. [DW, l5rinfo]
- Can be used in response to bringing a samurai into play who
causes an honor loss. [DW, l5rinfo, 10/25/96]
- Cannot be used in reaction to an honor loss caused by the death
of a dishonored samurai. The samurai is already dead at that point.
The Hooded Ronin (Exp)
- May be used to bring Purity/Courage of the Seven Thunders
into play for free. [Foo rule, and DW, email, 5/21/97]
Hoseki
- Disharmony will still cancel a Ritual cast by her, as it only
refers to a "ritual" and not a "spell". [card text]
- Her spell card is always a spell card. It is only the act of
using it that is considered performing a ninja action instead of
casting a spell. [netnews, 7/28/99]
- May have one spell attached at any given time. If she
loses it, she may attach another. [l5rinfo, 9/27/99]
- Benefits from effects involving attaching spells to shugenja,
such as Minor Oni Servant. [card text, 9/29/99]
Hoshi Eisai
- Counts as copying her target's Force. [DW, l5rinfo, 12/98]
Hoshi Wayan
- Any increase in a stat is a bonus.
- May react to focussing (though note that Wayan's reaction is only
usable during battle). [DW] Wayan's controller will not know how much
of a bonus he got until the focus is revealed.
- The duration of Wayan's bonus is the same as the one he's copying.
- Does not receive a double bonus while The Courage of Osano-Wo is
in effect. The token is not providing the bonus.
Hoshi Wayan (Exp)
See Hoshi Wayan.
Hyobe
- Only he himself does not bow when returning home as an attacker.
Cards attached to him still bow. [card text]
I Believed in You...
- Will work on Personalities whose honor requirements were ignored
for purposes of coming into play (such as the original Toturi's Army
stronghold) but not those ignored continually (such as Naga's).
[partial REVERSAL] [DW, email, 4/7/99]
Iaijutsu Art
- If you play this in a situation where your opponent has no option
but striking, the duel resolves immediately and you do not get
to focus yourself. If you never got a chance to focus, you weren't
"able". [card text]
- You may not use a Reaction that's played "instead of
focussing" [DW, l5rinfo, 4/18/98], regardless of whether you have
already focussed.
- You may not use a reaction that gives you an additional focus if
you have already focussed. [card text] Reactions which only add as
though they were focussed, such as Bend Like a Reed, are legal.
Ikoma Kaoku
- Does not need to be in the battle to use his ability. [DW,
l5rinfo, 3/11/97]
Ikoma Ken'o
- His ability's strength depends on his own Force, not his
unit's. [card text]
Ikoma Ryozo
- The Armor of Earth [and Cornered -- jwa] cannot prevent Ryozo
from being sent home if the Favor is used on another unit, as it is
his own trait sending him home, not the action of the Favor. [DW,
email, 5/29/97] [REVERSAL]
- Something which only negates the effects of the Favor, such as
Confusion at Court, will not stop Ryozo from leaving because the Favor
still targetted someone. On the other hand, something that completely
cancels the Favor action, like A Test of Courage, will stop
Ryozo's trait from triggering because a cancelled action isn't
considered to have been used. [DW, l5rinfo, 2/13/98]
Ikoma Tsanuri
- If she is placed in Fu Leng's Horde, the Defender cannot play
terrains even if he is her controller. [DW, l5rinfo, 12/9/96]
- Prevents terrains in the battle she's currently in, not the one
she was originally assigned to. [FAQ 3.3]
- Will not destroy an existing terrain if she's moved into a battle
with one. [ibid.]
Ikoma Tsanuri (Exp)
- Cannot be assigned to attack a Clan Heartland since her trait does
not apply until she's in the battle. [DW, l5rinfo, 10/17/97]
Ikoma Ujiaki
- The word "opposing" is relative to the Lion Personality who was
destroyed, not Ujiaki. Ujiaki himself need not be in the current
battle. [DW, l5rinfo, 8/26/98]
Immortal Steel
- Doubles all Force and Chi bonuses which the weapon provides,
including those due to tokens or that affect Personalities other than
the wielder. [DW, l5rinfo, 3/11/97]
Impassable Terrain
- You are not forced to discard cards to make up the difference if
you have fewer than three unbowed Personalities/Followers in the
battle and allow them all to become bowed. [DW, l5rinfo, 5/29/96]
- If you want to keep any of them unbowed, however, the number of
cards you do bow, plus the number of cards you discard, must equal
three. [DW, l5rinfo, 7/26/96]
- All bowing/discarding decisions are made by each player before the
other makes any. Go in normal player order, starting with the active
player.
Imperial Funeral
- The honor gains/losses occur in separate packets. [DW, l5rinfo]
Imperial Quest
- You gain the honor every Straighten Phase where the Personality
would normally straighten but you choose not to. [DW, l5rinfo,
12/9/97]
- The Personality is dishonored if he straightens for any reason
before three of your turns go by. [DW, l5rinfo, 12/13/97]
Imperial Standard
See Imperial Favor.
Imperial Taxation
- The payment is not mandatory. The Holding's controller may
elect to destroy the Holding even if he can afford the cost. [DW,
l5rinfo, 5/1/97]
In Search of the Future
- Will even reduce Force bonuses cards grant to themselves, such
as Hida Yakamo (Oni) and Otaku Tetsuko. [card text]
- An Item with variable Force will have any bonus to itself reduced
before its total Force is added (normally) to the Personality. For
example, an Ancestral Sword will only add +0/+X to itself, making it a
0/(X+1) weapon.
- Will not reduce bonuses the Personality grants to his attached cards.
[ZF]
- The attachment must be direct. For example, a Follower will
not receive a force bonus from an Item in its own unit.
- Affects all force bonuses, including things like
Oath of Fealty and The Spawning Ground. [l5rinfo, 12/2/99]
- Only applies once, when played. Subsequent Force bonuses will
be added normally. [ibid.]
In Time of War
- The limit to five points affects all honor gains throughout the
turn, not the net change. [DW, personal correspondence, 1/10/98]
Investigation
- Can not be used against Mamoru if he tries to cancel one of
your actions. Mamoru's ability is technically not targetted -- since
there is, at most, one Ninja/Kolat action being performed at any time,
Mamoru's controller's only choice is whether to use him, not
what to use him on. [DW, email] [REVERSAL]
The Iron Citadel
- All abilities and traits of your original Stronghold are lost,
including Scorpion's ability to stay in the game below -19 Honor. [RD,
l5rinfo, 9/8/96]
- Functions normally on a Scorpion player who temporarily dipped
to -20 Honor and had his base Province Strength reduced to 0, but
has since brought his honor above -20. [DW, l5rinfo, 11/26/96]
Isawa Norikazu
- Cannot counter actions from cards in play or Action cards which
aren't played from the hand. [card text]
- The action must directly affect the battle or target a card.
He cannot cancel an untargetted reaction that cancels the last action
played. (Note that most action-cancelling reactions are untargetted.)
- Some examples of actions which "affect the battle":
- Terrains [card text].
- Anything that affects something (including a terrain) in the battle.
- Anything that sets up a special condition for just that one
battle, such as Mercy, To Avenge Our Ancestors, Sneak Attack, and The
Great Silence.
Isawa Norikazu (Exp2)
- His effect cannot be used on any player more than once per game,
period. Not even by copies of him or his ability. [card text,
7/18/99]
- Will not affect cards in Provinces or anywhere else other than
the "appropriate deck and Fate hand". [card text]
- "All versions" includes all different Experienced/Inexperienced
levels. [l5rinfo, 9/23/99]
Isawa Osugi
- Will negate the gold as well as the Shadowlands trait if
the Phoenix Stronghold is bowed to produce 7g to pay for her or for a
spell for her. [card text, and DW, l5rinfo, 12/11/96]
- Her reduction of the spell's gold cost to zero lasts until the end
of the turn. [DW, personal correspondence, 1/10/98]
- See also Scribe.
Isawa Suma
- Works normally on spells that say they cannot be copied by
Scribes. [DW, l5rinfo, 2/12/98]
- His effect does not apply to scrolls destroyed because of
Norikazu's Ravings, as they are not destroying themselves. [REVERSAL]
[card text, and DW, email, 4/5/99]
Isawa Tadaka (Exp 2)
- Has the Shadowlands trait. [errata]
Isawa Tsuke
- Surviving a duel is not the same as winning it. Tsuke is still
considered to have lost in a tied duel -- he just doesn't die. [card
text]
- Playing the initial face-down card is not an instance of
focussing. Reactions played with a focus or instead of focussing
cannot be played in response. [l5rinfo, 8/11/99]
Isha (Exp)
- Once he's become Qamar, Lessons From the Past may be used to play
either an inexperienced Isha or an inexperienced Qamar under him. [DW,
l5rinfo, 9/24/97]
- "Isha must be in the battle to use his Reaction/terrain ability."
[DW, l5rinfo, 11/25/97]
Island Wharf
- Does not produce +1g per Marketplace. Island Wharfs only have the
Port trait -- they do not function exactly like the card titled
"Port".
- They do not count towards the number of cards titled "Port" you
can have in your deck, either.
- Gold production is reduced by Black Markets and Bandit Hideouts,
however.
Issut
- Cannot move into an empty Province since there is no army
there. [glossary]
- Hida Technique will not allow him to change Provinces while
attacking since he still has to move into an army defending one of
your Provinces, and there are none. [ZF, card text]
Iuchi Katta
- Which cards he affects is fixed when he first bows and doesn't
change if his Chi changes while he's bowed. [DW, personal
correspondence, 1/10/98]
Jade Arrow
see Crystal Arrow
Jurojin's Touch
- The card is removed from the game in addition to being destroyed,
not instead of. [DW, l5rinfo, 2/9/98]
- Will not negate the effects of cards that destroy themselves when
used, like Events or some spells. [DW, l5rinfo, 2/13/98]
Judgement of Toshiken
- Applies to all card effects which alter Chi, focus values, or how
the resolution of the duel is handled. This includes Togashi Yoshi
and the Double Chi trait. Does not apply to Toshimoko
Sensei because Sensei text is considered to be on your Stronghold and
Strongholds are not cards.
- Applies for the entire duration of the duel. (In other words,
cards played after it, such as Poisoned Weapon, will still be
affected.)
- Does not apply to bonuses/penalties which were already in place
before the challenge was issued, such as Touch of Amaterasu.
- Does not change a non-Chi duel to a duel of Chi. [ZF]
Kachiko's Kiss
- The second effect happens the second time this event appears,
period, not the second time it appears for the original revealer.
Under the optional One-Time Events rule, it is then a resolved Event.
[DW, l5rinfo, 5/10/98]
- Only causes an honor loss the first time it resolves. [l5rinfo, 3/98]
Kage (Exp3)
- "Requirements" covers all requirements and restrictions, such as
"Will not/will only join XXX Clan". [l5rinfo, 7/15/99]
The Kaiu Forge
- The tokens do not count as cards. [DW, email, 7/19/99] [REVERSAL]
Kaiu Pass
- The weapon or armor must be a card that is in your hand. [RD,
netnews]
Kaiu Suman
- May reposition Regions which count as Fortifications. [DW,
l5rinfo, 9/13/96]
- May be used to bring a Region/Fort into play which appears in a
Province which already has a Region if you move it to one which does
not. [DW, l5rinfo, 11/6/96]
Kakita Ichiro
- Only lets you lobby again if you've lobbied exactly once. [FAQ 3.8]
- You may not take his extra lobby attempt first and your one normal
attempt second. [FAQ 3.8]
Kakita Shijin
- Can be used after any death, even to things like your own
Sacrificial Altar. [RD, l5rinfo, 1/15/97]
Kakita Technique
- The last one played takes precedence.
- Always takes precedence over a Tetsubo, as it's always played
"after" the Tetsubo's continuous effect.
Kakita Yinobu
- You cannot discard more cards than are necessary to reduce the
loss to zero. [DW, l5rinfo, 9/3/96]
Kakita Yoshi
- His action lets you simply
take the Favor, regardless of who currently has it or what your Family
Honor is relative to the other players. [card text]
- His ability does not count as lobbying for the Favor. [card text]
- Cannot bow to take the Favor during an attack if he is not in the
current battle. [rulebook]
The Kami Watch Over Me
- Does not reshuffle cards which were "discarded from play".
Even though they are discards and not considered dead, they were
once in play. [card text and netnews, 9/11/99]
Kamoto
- This card was mistakenly identified as Uncommon in
Imperial Herald #4.
Kappa
- The phrase "always has a 0F/1C when bowed" sets its actual stats
to 0/1. It's not a +0/+1 bonus. [card text]
- This setting is absolute, overriding all other bonuses and
penalties. [DW, l5rinfo, 1/13/98]
- Except, of course, focussing. [DW, l5rinfo, 3/12/98]
Kemmei
- Multiples have a cumulative effect. [card text, and RD, l5rinfo,
12/2/96]
Kharmic Strike
- This card was mistakenly identified as Rare in some early
lists.
- Cannot be used to put the Ring of Fire into play. The Ring
requires that you "win a duel" [Emerald Edition card text], and
a tied duel is a loss for both duelists [rulebook].
- Doesn't necessarily kill both duelists -- it only makes both
suffer whatever would normally happen to the loser. [card text]
- Changing one duelist's Chi with Poisoned Weapon or poison tokens
will not break the tie (although it could kill one of them
prematurely). Kharmic Strike forces a tie result regardless of
stats. [card text]
Ki-Rin's Shrine
- Will prevent a Personality from having his Chi reduced further
even if it's already below his Personal Honor. [DW, l5rinfo, 8/19/98]
- Exchanging Chi and Personal Honor will kill someone with a
pre-swap Personal Honor of zero, as his Chi will drop briefly to this
value. [netnews, 11/99]
Kisada's Funeral
- Adds additional conditions to scoring an Honor
Victory, rather than rendering players unable to achieve this victory.
In particular, it will not force someone to lose a Province to Return
of Fu Leng. [DW, l5rinfo, 7/30/98]
Kitsu Motso
- He must be assigned to the battle to use his double-action
ability. [DW, l5rinfo, 11/4/96]
- Is not a Samurai. This is an oversight, but there is no
official correction against it. [DW, personal correspondence, 1/10/98]
Kitsuki Iyekao
- May reshuffle a destroyed card, as there is only one discard
pile. [DW, email, 2/17/99]
Kitsuki Kaagi
- The challenge happens before any consequences of refusing the
duel. [l5rinfo, 2/99] For instance, if someone refuses an Iaijutsu
Challenge, Kaagi's duel starts before that person can commit seppuku
to avoid the pending 7-pt honor loss -- and if the refuser dies in
Kaagi's duel, he cannot commit seppuku when the loss finally occurs.
Kitsuki Kaagi's Journal
- Attaching cards from your hand is an action. You may not attach
cards to someone with the Journal unless they are cards which can only
attach to ninja, such as the Night Medallion.
- Bowing to exchange cards among two or more Personalities is an
action which targets every card being moved and every Personality
receiving one or more cards. So, no cards can be moved from the
Journal's unit, and no cards can moved to it except, again, ninja-only
cards.
- Holder may be targetted to perform actions that say "bow one of
your ninja Personalities to...", such as Night of a Thousand Fires.
- Holder may no longer cast kiho. Kiho target their caster.
- Cannot be selected for an action by any player [card
text]. This includes things like Encircled Terrain, The 12th Black
Scroll, and Yogo Asami, where the Personality is not chosen by the
person taking the action. [DW, personal correspondence, 12/2/98]
Kitsuki Yasu
- Alters the challenge by making it unrefusable. This means he will
be overridden by cards that allow refusing unrefusable duels, such as
Enlightened Tutor. [DW, personal correspondence, 10/9/98]
Kitsune Diro
- Does not gain his trait until he actually starts entering play,
so you cannot pay for him with a School of Wizardry or reduce his cost
by 4g with a Hiruma Dojo. [card text, and DW, l5rinfo, 7/28/98]
Know the School
- Only cares about the name on the card in question, not the names
on less-experienced versions. [DW, l5rinfo, 8/31/98] [REVERSAL]
- Morito falls under both the Morito and Shinjo families. [DW,
l5rinfo, 12/1/97]
Koichi
- Allows you to discard either type of card, Fate or
Dynasty. [l5rinfo, 5/19/98]
Kolat Geisha
- When more than one are placed on the same Personality, the
most recent one takes priority. [DW, personal correspondence, 10/6/98]
- Her Personality must be involved in the creation of the
honor gain. Modifying it doesn't count. [6/10/99]
Kolat Master
- Refers to the Minimum Honor of the Followers, not their
Personal Honor. Followers do not have a Personal Honor stat.
- Does not change the Clan affiliation of the targetted
Personality. [DW, email, 7/1/97]
Kolat Recruiter
- You are bound by all coming-into-play restrictions of the
Personality, including minimum honor. [DW, email, 3/18/99]
- The honor loss caused by Kolat Recruiter itself does not occur
until after the Personality is in play. [card text]
- Effects triggered by coming into play are not waived. [card
text] This includes Oni no Akuma, which will still destroy the
Province it comes from.
- You do not gain honor if the Personality belongs to your
clan. [6/9/99]
- Can be countered by something like Way of the Shadow, since
Kolat Recruiter targets a card, but, if the countering card
needs to be played as soon as Kolat Recruiter is announced, you
can't wait for KR to flip over the Dynasty card and then play it
now that you know it's legal. [9/10/99]
Kuni Utaga
- Will receive corruption tokens from his own Black Scrolls
because that effect is not targetted. [card text]
Kuni Wastelands
- The two cost reductions are not cumulative. [DW, l5rinfo, 11/19/96]
- Affects all Shadowlands cards played by you. That means
Fate cards as well as Dynasty. [card text]
Kusatte Iru
- Its ability can be copied by cards such as the Ninja Shapeshifter
and Mask of the Oni. These cards need to be assigned to a losing
battle as well, though, since copied abilities which refer to their
own cards change to reflect the copying cards instead. [rulebook]
- Cannot produce a tie game since its ability is used after
your Provinces are destroyed. Your opponent will still win a Military
Victory even if you destroy his last Province as well, since he destroyed
yours first. [FAQ 3.3]
Kyojin
- Is dishonored/destroyed if any Yogo Junzo in play is
challenged/destroyed. [card text]
Kyudo
- If used in conjunction with a Jade or Crystal Arrow, the strength
of the second attack is based on the ranged attack you selected to
enable the use of the Arrow. [DW, l5rinfo, 5/6/98]
- Allows two Jade and/or Crystal Arrows to be fired. [DW, l5rinfo, 5/18/98]
Lady Kitsune
- Can reduce honor requirements to negative numbers (negative
requirements are not the same as a "-"). [DW, l5rinfo,
10/17/97]
Let Your Spirit Guide You
- Treat the card's base focus value as PH+2, when appropriate. This
happens before any other changes. [5/17/99]
Levy Troops
- The ashigaru tokens do not gain +1F per Small Farm like the
Ashigaru Follower card does. [DW, l5rinfo, 5/23/96]
- You only lose 1 honor the first time a token is removed. [DW,
l5rinfo, 5/29/96]
- Is an Action Card which creates Followers. So,
- You cannot spend gold which is spendable only on Followers.
- It does not benefit from Follower-cost-reducing effects.
- It will not trigger any effects which happen when you put a
Follower into play from your hand. [7/27/99]
Lies, Lies, Lies...
- The clause "Honor gain above your starting family honor is lost"
applies to your new total, not the gain. If you're at or above your
starting honor when you play this, you gain nothing. If you're below,
you gain 8 or whatever it takes to get you back to your starting
value, whichever is less.
- The gain that you lose is not an "honor loss". An effect that
prevents honor loss will not stop the gain from being reduced if
it would take you past your starting honor. [l5rinfo, 1/98]
- Should be read "if you have no cards in play that cause
yourself an honor loss to put into play, ..."
- Events which cause an ongoing honor loss, such as Suspicions, are
not necessarily in play for the rest of the game. They need to
explicitly say "this card remains in play". [DW, l5rinfo]
Lieutenant Sukune
- May bow instead of his current Personality to move himself onto
another. (The second Personality must still bow, of course.) [5/29/99]
- May not bow instead of his Personality if he, himself is also
bowing from an effect which bows the entire unit. [5/29/99]
Lieutenant _____
- Unless they say otherwise, these do not count as the original
Personalities for deck construction or Uniqueness.
Lions Attack the Crane
- Has no effect if revealed during Emperor's Peace. [DW, personal
email, 1/29/98]
The Longest Night
- Prevents Mamoru's ability (even though it should prevent itself
from preventing Mamoru's ability...) [DW, email, 9/29/97]
Lord Moon's Blood
- Its Unique trait only interacts with other Unique cards
that count as the Obsidian Mirror. You may have one Lord Moon's Blood
and three original, non-Unique Obsidian Mirrors in your deck. [DW,
personal correspondence, 2/13/99]
Makashi
- Actions targetting him behave in all ways as though he were
aligned with every Clan. [DW, personal correspondence, 12/2/98]
- May cast kiho as a Monk, as kiho target their caster.
- May attach Clan-specific cards such as Ancestral Armors and
Ancestors.
- Continual effects are not targetted actions and will see his
alignments for what they truly are. Most Ancestors will immediately
self-destruct, most Ancestral Swords will not provide a bonus beyond
+0/+1, etc.
Mamoru
Mantis Fleet
- Does not affect the Cavalry trait of any individual cards in the
unit. [l5rinfo, 11/27/99]
Mantis Shugenja
Mara
- Gains Cavalry if she has any change token, not
necessarily one of her own. [DW, l5rinfo, 11/4/96]
Martyr
- Multiples may be played as reactions to a single death (though not
simultaneously). [DW, l5rinfo, 6/6/96, and card text]
- May not be played against an opposing Personality after a tied
battle or duel, since it is played after your Personality dies, at
which point the card which killed him is no longer in play either, and
so may not be targetted. [DW, l5rinfo, 2/26/97 & 3/11/97]
- If your Personality died as a result of a battle or duel, Martyr's
only legal target is an opposing Personality. You cannot target
something like a terrain, focus card, Kharmic Strike, or the card that
started the battle or duel. [DW, email, 7/14/97]
- If killed by an action (other than a duel-causing one), Martyr's
target is the card that performed the action, and so Martyr cannot be
used if that card is immediately discarded (example: Kolat Assassin).
In the case of a Spell or Item, this is generally the Personality
holding that card and not the card itself. [DW, personal
correspondence, 1/10/98] [REVERSAL]
- May be used if the action created or moved a token that killed the
Personality. [DW, email, 3/29/99]
Mask of the Oni
- Which ability gets duplicated is not set until it's actually used.
[DW, email, 4/7/99]
The Master of Five
- An action that's cancelled does not count. [l5rinfo, 7/14/99]
- All "Oracle" cards count, including Dark Oracles and oracle
Personalities. ["Foo" rule]
- See also Traits.
- Treat it as though it said "...any player who produces an Earth, Air
(or Wind), Fire, Water, and Void action..." [netnews, 8/26/99]
Master's Tactics
- The phrase "this card" in the second-to-last sentence refers to
the terrain card, not Master's Tactics itself.
- Will not override an effect which prohibits you from
playing terrains, such as Secluded Ravine or Ikoma Tsanuri. [DW,
l5rinfo, 7/28/98]
- Will make the terrain uncounterable by generic card-countering
effects, such as Mujina Tricks. (However, Master's Tactics can
usually, itself, be countered instead.)
Matsu Hiroru
- He does not bow when destroying Retainers. [card text]
- His extra focus happens "before the duel". [card text]
- Since focus cards add to Chi as soon as they're played [rulebook],
he does not die instantly if he uses his ability while wielding
a Tetsubo, provided he takes his free first focus and plays a card
with a focus value greater than 0.
- Reactions to entering a duel, such as the Double Chi kiho,
occur after this focus.
Matsu Seijuro
- May use his reaction against challenges he bows to
issue. [l5rinfo, 12/9/98]
Mercy
- Cannot effectively be used in conjunction with Mists of Illusion.
Mercy only gives you 3 honor per card you spare, and if the Mists
have been used, nothing can be spared since nothing is going to
be destroyed. [DW, netnews, 3/11/96]
- "You can play multiples, but you still only gain 3 per card." [DW,
l5rinfo, 12/2/97]
- Is not Political. [DW, l5rinfo] [REVERSAL]
Mikio
- This card was mistakenly identified as Rare in Imperial
Herald #4.
- Becomes dishonored/commits seppuku if any Toturi in play is
challenged/destroyed. [card text, and DW, l5rinfo, 2/26/97]
Mikio (Exp)
- Can only direct actions to himself that could have targetted him
in the first place. [rulebook]
Minor Oni Servant
- You must lose honor when attaching spells to this shugenja.
You cannot choose to spend gold anyhow. [DW, l5rinfo, 5/31/96] This
is a trait, not a Reaction, so it is always active.
- See also Scribe.
Minor Shugenja
- Is a shugenja, but is not a Personality. It cannot attach
spells, but it can be given the Shadowlands trait by the Phoenix
Stronghold, sacrifice itself under Not This Day, gain Fear 4 from
Fearful Populace, be purchased by a School of Wizardry, be bowed by
Summon Faeries, etc. [RD, l5rinfo, 12/19/96]
- Can naturally bow as a shugenja, without using its special ability,
to assist any of your Rituals, including ones not cast by the Personality
it's attached to. This contributes its actual Chi to the Ritual instead
of the 1C that its ability would give. [DW, email, 4/23/97]
Mirumoto Daini (Experienced)
- Cost reduction is cumulative with Alliance. [DW, l5rinfo,
11/19/96]
The Daini
- His printed Human trait overrides the Nonhuman trait
that being Naga would normally give him.
Mirumoto Satsu
- His reduction of Hitomi's cost to 0 lasts until it's used, not
until the end of the turn. [DW, l5rinfo, 2/9/98]
Mists of Illusion
- Only prevents units from being destroyed by the resolution of the
battle. [DW, l5rinfo, 12/9/97] [REVERSAL]
Mizu-do
- Only copies bonuses gained after it's played. [RD, l5rinfo, 6/26/98]
- Force bonuses gained through Mizu-do last until the end of the
battle, even if the card the gain was copied from is removed from the
battle. [card text, and ibid.]
A Moment of Truth (TotV)
- This card is distinct from the Anvil of Despair card of the
same name. You may have three of each in your deck. [DW, l5rinfo, 9/16/97]
- Can not be played along with another card which has an
illegally low focus value to make it legal. [DW, email, 10/10/97]
[REVERSAL]
The Monstrous War Machine of Fu' Leng
- The "Force = 0 if it has no Followers" clause is absolute,
overriding all other cards and tokens. [netnews]
- The "Force = 0" clause is active even when the card is not in
play.
Moto Sada
- Is not Undead. He has not been reprinted with the Undead
trait, and the traits of more-experienced versions of Personalities do
not apply retroactively to all less-experienced versions.
Moto Soro
- The active player -- in this case, always Soro's controller --
decides whether Soro's check for 0 Chi is done before or after the
expiration of effects which last until the end of the turn. [DW,
personal correspondence, 10/22/98]
Moto Tsume
- His refusal to join you if your family honor is positive is
technically not an "honor requirement". [DW, l5rinfo] It cannot be
waived by Unexpected Allies or Mountain of the Seven Thunders.
- Is not Undead. He has not been reprinted with the Undead
trait, and the traits of more-experienced versions of Personalities do
not apply retroactively to all less-experienced versions.
- Will not cause himself to bow upon assigning if his Personal Honor
is raised above 1. The implied phrase is "in the same army as himself",
which requires two different Personalities. [netnews, 8/10/99]
Moto Tsume (Exp)
- Is not Undead. He has not been reprinted with the Undead
trait, and the traits of more-experienced versions of Personalities do
not apply retroactively to all less-experienced versions.
Moto Tsume (Exp2)
- His assignment restrictions apply and refer only to his own army.
[DW, email] He may assign opposing non-Shadowlands units and vice-versa.
Mountain Goblin
- There are two versions of this card. The one found in the
preconfigured section of Scorpion and Junzo's Army Clan Decks has a
Personal Honor of 1, while the one found elsewhere has a 0.
- All versions are played with a Personal Honor of 1 regardless of
printed value. [MRP] [REVERSAL]
Mounts
- Since this card affects Followers specifically, it does not
affect Ancestors. [rulebook] It will not allow Otaku Kamoko to attach
non-Cavalry Ancestors.
Musubi
- Is not targetted, even if there are multiple opposing
Personalities tied for highest Force, since all that matters is the
number. [DW, personal correspondence, 12/9/98]
- Bowed cards provide their full Force because Musubi refers to
"Personality", not "unit", Force.
Mystic Ground
- Reactions are actions. Its reaction cannot be used during Deadly
Ground or, possibly, Night Battle.
- You are not forced to bow someone and play this Region as soon as
it appears. You can choose not to pay the cost and leave it in your
Province. [7/30/99]
Mystical Terrain
- Does not count as a Terrain itself ["Foo Rule" exception], though
the token it creates does. In particular:
- May not be combined with the Armor of Sun-Tao.
- The spell may not be destroyed by cards such as Superior
Tactics. [DW, l5rinfo, 4/9/98]
Naga Abomination
- The Abomination's base Chi is now "the number of other Naga cards
in play" by MRP. Shapeshifting will switch that entire
number. [netnews, 2/99] [REVERSAL]
- Token Naga Followers will also boost his Chi since they count
as cards. [Anvil rulebook]
Naga Spies
- Must be in the current battle to use their reaction. [ZF]
Naka Kuro (Exp)
- His "cannot perform any kiho more than once per turn" restriction
refers to each kiho by wording/effect. [DW, email, 8/19/99] [partial
REVERSAL] He cannot produce the exact same kiho effect more than once
per turn even if it comes from a different source, and he can
cast the same kiho by title more than once provided it has more than
one action on it and he uses a different one each time.
Nemesis
- This effect ends if the nemesis leaves play. [DW, email, 9/25/97]
Night Battle
Night Medallion
- Adds to abilities on both cards when placed on an overlayed
Experienced Personality. [DW, l5rinfo, 12/11/96]
- Adds to the number physically printed. You do not treat all
losses as negative numbers -- a number is only negative if there's an
actual "-" sign on the card. [FAQ 3.4, 4/4/97]
- Does not apply to abilities copied from other cards. [ERRATA]
[change accidentally left off the Jade Edition version]
- Will raise the base strength of ranged attacks which cannot be
increased. [DW, l5rinfo, 11/26/96]
Ninja Kidnapper
- Is eliminated if the kidnapped Personality is destroyed.
[DW, l5rinfo, 11/19/96]
- See also Blackmail.
Ninja Questioner
- The "stay bowed" result of fire tokens on Togashi Mitsu or
someone with a Dragon Tattoo, and of sleep tokens from Freezing the
Lifeblood, originates from the generating card and not the token
itself. Ninja Questioner is legal against them. [l5rinfo, 3/10/99,
and DW, email, 3/99]
Ninja Shapeshifter
- The Shapeshifter does not count as using an innate ability
when he uses an ability copied from a shugenja. An "innate
ability" is, by rulebook definition, something only a shugenja
can possess, and the Shapeshifter is not a shugenja.
- When he copies an ability which refers to the copied card by its
own name, consider the text to refer to the Shapeshifter instead. [RD,
l5rinfo, 4/30/96, and rulebook]
- Can repeatedly copy an ability which is usable only once per game,
because at the end of the turn he forgets that he's used it. [RD,
l5rinfo, 7/8/96]
- See also Copying.
Ninja Stronghold
Ninja Thief
- Can steal item tokens since it moves items, not cards. [DJ; RD,
l5rinfo, 4/21/96]
Ninube Ogoku
- She follows all the normal rules for assigning. Specifically, she
can assign somewhere by herself. There does not need to be an army
already present for her to "join". [DW, email, 3/1/99]
- Her presence in an army will not change your overall role
(Attacker/Defender/ally) in the attack. You also are not considered
an ally if you assign her where you are not invited.
- Putting her in the other army will not allow you to take battle
actions twice as often.
- Cannot assign if there is no attack.
- Effects that move units between Provinces cannot move her from one
side of the battle to the other.
- Units that aren't allowed to break the normal presence-in-battle
rules cannot be swapped with her or moved in to join her. This includes
Way of Deception. [DW, email, 3/99]
- The clause "You never gain Honor when Ogoku joins an army." refers
only to the 2-pt gain for allying.
- Cannot assign with another unit during an Ambush. [l5rinfo, 7/18/99]
Nishiko (Exp)
- Must replace a Dynasty card. [card text] Cannot move herself into
an empty Province. [l5rinfo, 11/27/99]
Nogoten's Bow
- The Chi penalty of the tokens is not affected by cards that change
the strength of ranged attacks. Example: Kyudo allows the Bow to
place two -2C tokens.
- When giving a -2C token, you may target a Personality with
Followers. [card text]
Norikazu's Ravings
- Spells with continuing
effects will still persist for their normal durations. [DW, l5rinfo,
8/27/98]
- The spells are destroyed by the event, not by
themselves. [card text]
- Other things the spell does to itself, such as self-destruction,
discarding from play, or removal from the game, take place first.
Norikazu's Ravings doesn't take effect until after the entire
casting, and only if the spell is still there. [card text, 7/13/99]
- See also Isawa Suma.
Norio
see Path to Inner Peace
Not this Day!
- The ability is also gained by shugenja who come into play
later. [DW, l5rinfo, 9/12/96]
Oath of Fealty
Offer of Fealty
- The phrase "a duel where the loser is killed" refers to the
actual outcome of the duel, not the normal outcome. Cards such as
Fatal Mistake, Utter Defeat, and Katana of Fire will affect whether
this card can be played. [DW, email, 10/17/97]
One Koku
- Yes, it's worth one koku. [FAQ]
One Life, One Action
- "Any copy" includes the original card, should it be recycled
somehow. [l5rinfo, 8/22/99]
- Will not prevent the attaching of a kiho to a Personality by
Blessings of Isawa. Will not prevent its use once attached either,
since that does not involve "playing" the kiho again. [l5rinfo, 1/2000]
One Life, One Destiny
- Does not destroy any Personalities already in play. It just makes
them all Unique. [DW, personal correspondence, 11/3/98]
- The clause "(players may not bring a Personality with that name
into play)" is just a reminder of the effects of Uniqueness and is not
an effect on its own. If all copies of the now-Unique Personality leave
play, a new one may be brought in. [Ibid.]
- Multiple Unique Personalities may all be overlayed independently
with different Experienced versions since overlaying is not bringing a
card into play.
- The person playing it may target any Personality in play,
including his own. [card text] Thus it can be redirected by Shinjo
Technique.
- The second choice of Personality is made by the controller of the
first Personality affected, but must be someone controlled by the
person who played the card. [card text]
- The second choice is optional. [card text]
Oni no Chi
- You can use "any number" of shugenja in the ritual [card text],
including zero. This produces a 0F/0C oni which will immediately die
unless some continual effect is in operation which boosts its Chi
(for example, the +1/+1 from The Spawning Grounds). [DW, 11/99]
- You can use the Kitsu Tombs's reaction to waive the cost (i.e.,
bowing and destroying shugenja) of bringing Oni no Chi into play, but
this also waives the "coming into play" effect determining the oni's
stats (i.e., the number of shugenja destroyed). The result is, again,
an initially 0F/0C oni. [ZF, 11/99]
Oni no Mizu
- May also not target an unresolved battle in which any of the
would-be opposing units are controlled by a player with a Ring of
Water. [DW, l5rinfo, 9/12/96]
Oni no Ogon (Uncommon/Jewels)
- Only forces the use of Holdings and the Stronghold to make the
payment. [DW, l5rinfo, 7/31/96] Other means are optional.
- Only forces you to try to make the payment, not to produce as
much gold as you can. You can deliberately use a variable-output
Holding in a less-than-productive manner, for example. [ibid.]
- See also Gold-Producing Holdings and Gold Payments.
Oni no Kamu/Oni no Ogon (Rare/Headless)
- Also prevents triggered effects such as the Dragon Stronghold's,
but does not inhibit continuous effects. [DW, l5rinfo, 12/25/96]
- Since the side effects of bowing your Stronghold and preventing it
from generating effects are both part of the same sentence, if Oni no
Titsu is brought into play by Unexpected Allies, both side effects are
negated. [DW, l5rinfo, 6/9/97]
- Its three-turn lifespan only counts your full turns. [FAQ 3.1,
8/28/96]
- Any time it enters or returns to play, such as with Feign Death,
its three-turn timer resets. [ibid.]
Oni no Shikibu
- Cannot choose itself as the Personality to destroy when it's
brought into play. [DW, l5rinfo, 12/13/96]
Oni no Ugulu
- Will not prevent an out-of-play Personality card from moving into
the battle from the Province being attacked. [6/4/99]
Oracle of Fire
- The Oracles of Fire and Water were accidentally given each other's
abilities in the Imperial Edition. This has since been corrected.
Oracle of Water
- Double Chi affects the Oracle's Focus card normally. [ibid.]
- The Oracles of Fire and Water were accidentally given each other's
abilities in the Imperial Edition. This has since been corrected.
Osari Plains
- Does not change the duration of terrain effects. Bonuses that
last all battle or all turn will persist if the terrain is destroyed.
- Effects which do not apply until after resolution, like those of
Suspended Terrain, do not happen immediately. They are scheduled
immediately and will occur at their normal times regardless of whether
the terrain is destroyed.
Oseuth
- The way the Glossary is worded, you may choose not to benefit from
the Double Chi trait in a duel. This will prevent Oseuth from losing
it. [rulebook, 7/12/99]
- Loses the appropriate trait regardless of whether it's his native
trait or he acquired it from some other card. [netnews, 8/16/99, and
card text]
Otaku Kamoko (Exp 2)
- Is Unique. [rulebook/errata].
- Cannot bow to destroy a Personality when Entrapping Terrain
resolves. Entrapping Terrain terminates the battle before it sends
units home, so no one is technically leaving the battle. [card text,
and DW, email, 9/25/97]
Out of the Shadows
- Since you are spending money "to put this card into play" [card
text] and Out of the Shadows is an Action card, you cannot spend gold
which is spendable only on Followers and do not benefit from
Follower-cost-reducing effects.
- Is also not a Ninja card [card text], so there's no 2g discount
either.
Overconfidence
- Can be used when some attaches a Follower with a "+" Force
bonus or an Item. [ZF, netnews, 10/99]
The Path Not Taken
- Copies only the text of one particular action, not the whole card.
[card text] Restrictions, costs, and traits outside the copied
action's description do not apply. Examples:
- With Superior Tactics, you would not need to target a Personality
with 3+ Chi.
- With Night of a Thousand Fires, you would still need to bow a
ninja as well as the kiho's caster.
- With Kolat Master, you would not need to spend 10g but you would
lose 4 honor.
- With the Egg of P'an Ku, you may have more than one Egg in play
provided no more than one has the Unique trait, whether by being the
actual Egg of P'an Ku card or by being a copy of a Unique Personality.
- When copying from a card with more than one action on it, one must
be choosen when the original Path Not Taken is cast. [DW, personal
correspondence, 3/1/99]
- May be used to copy the put-into-play reaction of an Elemental
Ring, though this is largely pointless. The kiho itself would not
count as the Ring, nor would it copy its Benefit Reaction.
The Path to Inner Peace
- Targets the Personality, not the tokens, unlike most other
token-related cards. It cannot be used on one of your own
bowed Personalities. [card text]
Peasant Revolt
- Any bowed Personality or Follower who has a Force of 3+ and tries
to straighten in any way while Peasant Revolt is in effect is prevented
from doing so, regardless of whether it was initially bowed by the
Revolt or whether it was even in play or 3F+ at that time. [DW, l5rinfo,
11/4/96]
- The bowing effect only happens when Peasant Revolt is revealed.
Cards brought into play or raised to 3F+ while the Revolt is active
do not automatically become bowed as well. [card text]
The People's Champion
- The reduction of honor to 39 is an ordinary honor loss.
It can be prevented with things like the Imperial Favor.
- The reduction of honor occurs after the duel's resolution. It
will occur after any honor-gaining Reactions played during the duel.
- Can be played by The Shadowlands Horde since it only causes an honor
loss if the challenge is refused or lost.
The People's Hero
- If an effect is used that cancels the movement of a unit into the
battle, the chosen Personality is shuffled back into the Dynasty
deck. [DW, l5rinfo, 6/22/98]
- Is not restricted to the current battle. [7/27/99]
Personal Champion
- If used to step into a duel caused by Show Me Your Stance and the
duel is lost, the Champion becomes bowed and the rest of his unit is
sent home as-is. [DW, l5rinfo, 9/11/98]
- See also Geisha Assassin.
The Phoenix Is Reborn
- Will not restore an Honor Victory to someone who renounced
it to Return of Fu Leng. This is a one-time change and not an ongoing
effect. [DW, email, 9/25/97] [REVERSAL]
- Will stop someone from gaining honor from A Soul of
Thunder. [l5rinfo, 7/15/99]
Plague of Locusts
- Destroys all Holdings which entered play with a gold cost of 0,
regardless of their current cost, why their cost was 0, or whether
gold was paid anyway. [FAQ 3.10]
- Will not destroy a Ninja Stronghold brought into play by another
Ninja Stronghold. [DW, 11/99, personal correspondence]
Plague Skulls
- Artist is really Tom Biondollilo, not Matt Wilson.
Plains of Desperate Evil
- The "this" in "destroy this card" refers to each Shadowlands card
itself, not the spell or the terrain it creates.
Plains of Otosan Uchi
- If the Region is destroyed directly, no honor is lost and the
Region's controller must discard one of the two Dynasty cards of his
choice. [DW, l5rinfo, 3/6/97]
Plains of the Emerald Champion
- Takes precedence over effects which grant multiple actions, such
as Blackened Sky. [DW, l5rinfo, 11/10/98]
Poison Dartgun
- Is not a Weapon.
- The ranged attack originates from the Dartgun, not the
Personality. It may be combined with other Dartguns or a ranged
attack from the Personality. [DW, personal correspondence, 2/19/99]
Poisoned Weapon
- Note that cards focussed in a duel add their focus values to Chi
immediately upon being played. [Emerald Edition rulebook] This
means Poisoned Weapon no longer instantly kills low-Chi Personalities
regardless of their focussing. [REVERSAL]
- Is not considered an action taken by the Personality in the duel.
You cannot react with Honorable Seppuku, for example. [DW, l5rinfo,
9/24/96]
- May be played even if no one focussed.
Political Distraction
- If the strength of an effect depends on how much honor you lose,
or calls upon you to "Lose X honor to blah blah blah...", then
the honor loss is actually a cost instead of a side-effect. Political
Distraction will render the effect unusable unless the card also says
the loss can't be cancelled or changed. [DW, l5rinfo, 2/13/98]
Possession
- The phrase "Personality you control" applies to both the
oni and the non-oni. [DW, l5rinfo, 3/11/97]
- The phrase "all abilities and attached cards remain" means what it
says. Attachment restrictions are not checked since the cards are
being retained, not re-attached. This will allow multiple weapons,
spells on a non-shugenja, and so forth. [card text, and DW, email,
5/16/97]
Pressure
- Negates costs of refusing, too, such as the discard to refuse Facing
Your Devils. [DW, personal email, 8/30/99]
A Pure Stroke
- If the item is providing any bonus beyond what's printed at the
top of the card, A Pure Stroke has no effect.
The Purity of Shinsei
see Path to Inner Peace
Purity of the Seven Thunders
- The "Any surviving Shugenja may not straighten during your next
turn." clause refers only to those involved in casting the Ritual.
Qamar
Qamar (Exp)
Rally Troops
- Rally Troops can be used as a reaction to any event which would
kill the leader, even one which would kill the Followers as well, such
as Heart of the Inferno. All Followers moved to a surviving
Personality are saved. [netnews, 2/25/96]
- Ignore the "this turn" restriction on the card. You can move
the Followers to any unbowed unit(s) not currently
assigned to a battle. [DW, email, 4/25/97]
Rallying Cry
- Only prevents cards from bowing as a result of resolving combat.
It will not straighten any cards which have already been bowed
(say, to use an ability, or which have been sent home bowed by
an earlier effect).
- Will prevent Togashi Mitsu from becoming bowed. [card text]
- Will nearly always be played before Counterattack.
If it's not the very last battle to be resolved, RC clearly goes
"first" because Counterattack can't be played at all. If it is, the
general rule when two reactions to a game event have the same timing
is to give the first reaction to the active player, which will
typically be the Attacker (unless the Attack Phase that just happened
was, itself, the result of an earlier Counterattack). [DW, netnews, 3/22/96]
Rampant Plague
- You may still destroy "all" your plague-bearing Personalities
if you have none. [FAQ 3.0.1]
Ratling Thief
- May not attempt to steal an item which it may not attach. [DW,
l5rinfo, 6/5/96]
Reflective Pool
- The duplicated action does not need to be specified until it is
actually used. [similar wording to Mask of the Oni] [REVERSAL]
The Return of Fu Leng
- The inclusion of Junzo's Army as one of the Clans which must
lose a Province is not an error. [DW, l5rinfo, 4/10/97]
- "RoFL lists Naga, Scorpion, and Junzo as the three Clans
which cannot normally achieve an Honor Victory, but they are only
examples. Any player who finds itself permanently unable to
score an Honor Victory must lose a Province to this event, even
if he isn't one of these three Clans. Likewise, any player who
can score an Honor Victory can renounce it to spare his
Province, even if he is one of these three." [l5rinfo, 9/29/97]
- Does not automatically destroy everyone's Province if some
other card, such as Duty to the Empire, is temporarily prohibiting
Honor Victories. "Players have 'the ability to achieve an honor
victory' still intact. They're just not allowed to win that way for 2
turns." [DW, personal email, 1/29/98]
- If anyone wants to react with Defenders of the Realm, they must do
so immediately after the first part of this Event, which is "All
players have their rightmost Province destroyed." If anyone does, no
one loses a Province and so no one can give up their honor victory to
avoid losing a Province. [DW, l5rinfo, 2/19/98]
Ride Until Dawn
- Read "is not assigned" as "is not currently assigned". [DW,
l5rinfo, 2/18/97]
Ring of Air
- You are bound only by the caster's original targetting
requirements. [RD & DW, email, 6/27/97] [REVERSAL] For example, you can
redirect a spell to one of your bowed Personalities, or a spell which
targets out-of-play cards to a different out-of-play card.
- "A monk using a kiho is considered one of the 3 spell effects
necessary for putting the Ring of Air into play." [DW, l5rinfo, 5/6/97]
- That last ruling only holds for Kiho. Monk abilities are not
"innate". [DW, l5rinfo, 5/15/97]
- Once played, three new innate abilities/spell effects must be
produced to play it again. [ZF, 11/99]
Ring of Earth
- Can be played even if a sufficiently-large army is initially
assigned to a Province but some units are moved away by actions before
that Province's battle is even started. [DW, email, 4/23/97]
Ring of Fire
- You always compare the pre-challenge Chis of the two Personalities
who are in the duel at its resolution. Which Personalities originally
issued and received the challenge are irrelevant. [DW, l5rinfo, 11/19/96]
Ring of the Void
- Since it's activated "during your end phase", it may be combined
with effects that give you extra Fate cards "during" that phase (like
Glimpse of the Unicorn) but not ones that give you cards "at the
beginning of" that phase (like Enlistment) because you must take those
draws first and likely will not have the empty hand required to
activate the Ring. [card text]
Ring of Water
- Units which assign after cavalry deployment (ex: Shinjo House
Guard, Dark Oracle of Water) will still assign after your
cavalry. [DW, l5rinfo]
- See also Battle.
- Only allows the Attacker to assign his infantry after all
other infantry, not after defending cavalry as well.
- Its benefit reaction can just be used again if it's cancelled.
[DW, email, 4/8/99]
Rise Again!
River Delta
- The Followers produced are tokens. [l5rinfo, 1/13/98]
Ronin Dojo
- Is not swearing fealty. [DW, personal correspondence, 10/9/98]
The Shadowlands Horde may use it freely.
- May give either "Yoritomo's Alliance" or "Mantis Clan".
Ruined Keep of Fu Leng
- Changes its Province's base Strength to twice its
current Strength. Any bonuses, such as from Fortifications or
permanent changes, are then applied yet again, resulting in a new
total Strength which is more than twice the old total if there
are any bonuses present. [DW, l5rinfo]
Sacrifices For Our Futures
- All draws during your End Phase may be refused, not just one. [DW,
personal correspondence, 9/21/98]
- See also Drawing.
Sacrificial Altar
- Is a Gold-Producing Holding. [DW, personal correspondence,
10/6/98]
A Samurai's Fury
- May not be used after Deadly Ground/Night Battle, even to take
a terrain-destroying action. The extra action's effect is not part
of A Samurai's Fury's effect, and Deadly Ground/Night Battle prohibit
all actions during the battle, including Reactions. [DW, l5rinfo,
5/26/97]
- May only be played after a terrain which resolves at the end of
the battle. [FAQ]
- If used to take a terrain-replacing action such as the Go Master,
the new terrain will not resolve since the time for terrain resolution
has passed. [RD, email, 5/31/97] It does still count as playing a
terrain for that battle, though. [FAQ 3.5]
- If you take an action which gives you more extra actions, such as
Mushin, you get those too. [5/26/99]
Sanado
- His Reaction is not cumulative with any other effects which give
you "one" general action at the beginning of a battle, including other
Sanados, but it is cumulative with similar effects that provide
only particular types of actions (ex: playing a terrain). [FAQ]
- If you are the Defender, you'd get two actions in a row:
the extra one as soon as you react and then the first normal one in
the Battle Action Segment. In the case of Sneak Attack, you'd still
get the extra action first, then the Attacker would get the first
normal action and you'd get the second normal action. [l5rinfo,
1/20/2000]
Scout
- Enables the Attacker to use any effect which puts a terrain into
play. [DW, l5rinfo, 6/10/96] You are not limited to playing one from
your hand.
- The Scout's effect may be used after a Sneak Attack, since the
Defender still has not taken his first action. [card text, and DW,
l5rinfo, 3/11/97]
- Refers only to itself, not all "scout" cards by the Foo Rule.
[DW, personal correspondence, 2/13/99] [REVERSAL of a private email
ruling]
Scribe
- Can save spells which are being destroyed in any way, not just by
being cast. [DW, l5rinfo, 8/27/96]
- Can save any spell, regardless of ownership. [ibid.]
- Cost to re-attach a spell with the Scribe is affected by
everything that would affect the cost of attaching it from your hand.
[summary of other rulings]
- Cannot save a spell if his own shugenja is bowed, since you can't
attach cards to bowed Personalities. [rulebook, and DW, l5rinfo,
1/3/97] This means the Scribe usually can't save his own shugenja's
spells.
The Second Shout
- Any number may be played after just one First Shout. [FAQ 3.2]
- May not be played even as a face-down normal focus if the First
Shout requirement is not met. [ibid.]
- Does not have to be played the same way the First Shout
was. [ibid.]
Selection of the Chancellor
- If some of the Personalities voted for have died, the chancellor
is chosen from those still living. [DW, l5rinfo, 7/24/98]
Seer
- One Event may be delayed several turns by multiple Seers. [card
text, and DW, l5rinfo, 12/2/97]
- If an Event is sent back into the deck after being delayed once,
you still cannot use the same Seer on it when it shows up again. [DW,
personal correspondence, 1/10/98]
Seikua (Exp)
- Ability is usable only once per battle. [DW, email, 9/25/97]
Seppun Baka
- His Personal Honor counts as 7 during a lobbying attempt even if
he is dishonored. [DW, email]
Seppun Hotaitaka
- The extra draws are not taken until your next End Phase. [errata]
- The Followers must be attached from your hand to trigger the
draw. [errata]
Seppun Mashita
- Since he says "You may use one as your first Focus card in
the duel", you may choose to keep it and focus one already in your
hand instead. [netnews, 11/99]
Severed from the Emperor
- Can be used by a Clan which cannot achieve an Honor Victory. "The
card doesn't require you to renounce an honor victory in order to
establish the rest of the effects of the card - it just lists not
being able to win through an honor victory as one of the effects."
[DW, l5rinfo, 4/15/97]
Shadow Beast
- If given a Night Medallion, its text will change to "each other
Shadowlands Personality has +1C, to a minimum of 3". This will raise
1C Shadowlands Personalities to 3C, not 2C. [netnews, 11/99]
Shady Dealings
- Can only help pay for the cost in the Fate card's center
diamond. [l5rinfo, 1/2000]
Shiba Odoshi
- Target shugenja gains a force bonus equal to Odoshi's force and a
chi bonus equal to Odoshi's chi, respectively. [11/99]
Shiba Tetsu
- His action targets the shugenja. [5/16/99]
Shiba Ujimitsu
- Keeps all attached cards and tokens when reincarnating,
including those which he could not normally attach. You may move
these cards off him using the normal exchanging rules.
- Also acquires all permanent, non-token changes which have been
made to the pre-reincarnation Personality, such as the Phoenix
Stronghold's Shadowlands trait. [DW, l5rinfo, 9/13/96]
Shinjo House Guard
- Will enable a qualifying unit to be assigned after cavalry
assignment to a Province defended by Earthworks or Swamplands.
[card texts]
Shinjo Morito
- Artist is really Anson Maddocks, not Doug Shuler.
Shinjo Mosaku
- Gains his Force bonus "during the Attack Phase", not "while
attacking". He gets the bonus during any battle, regardless of
whether he's attacking or defending. [card text, and DW, l5rinfo,
12/19/96]
Shinjo Sanetama
- Can be used against any unit-moving effect, not just actions.
[card text]
- Can be used even if the battle he's in is not the one currently
being resolved. [DW, l5rinfo, 9/16/97]
Shinjo Technique
- May not redirect the action to a third player's Personality --
just one belonging to the action's original player. [card text]
- May only redirect an action to someone it could have been played
on in the first place. [card text and rulebook] Among other things,
any action which targets only an "opposing" card cannot be redirected
with Shinjo Technique.
Shinjo Yasoma
- Can take control of a terrain which you could not legally have
played yourself. [DW, l5rinfo, 12/11/96]
Shinobi
- Its effect wears off as soon as the ninja action begins. [DW,
personal correspondence, 9/16/98]
- If a Shinobi-violating action is cancelled, Shinobi's effect
reinstates itself since cancelled actions aren't considered to have
happened.
Shinsei's Shrine
- Takes precedence over Plains of Otosan Uchi if they both end up on
the same Province. [DW, personal email, 2/19/98]
- If moved to another Province, its cards are immediately
discarded. [l5rinfo]
Shireikan
- Cannot attach cards which cannot be moved, such as the Porcelain
Mask or Ancestors. [DW, l5rinfo, 7/28/98]
- When he becomes a Personality he stops counting as a Follower.
- See also Attaching and Moving Cards.
Shiryo no Ikoma
- The honor requirement of the Personality is waived, not of the
Ancestor. [DW, l5rinfo, 2/3/98] (Yes, this effect is somewhat
retroactive, and goes against the general rule that you can't take an
illegal action and then make it legal afterwards.)
- Artist is Heather Hudson.
Shiryo no Isawa
- The text about allowing the attached shugenja to carry a
number of spells unlimited by Chi will not override any non-Chi
limits, such as Isawa Osugi's. [DW, l5rinfo, 12/9/96]
Shiryo no Togashi
- If the attached Personality issues a challenge to a player rather
than to a specific Personality, that player must accept the challenge
with one of his legal Personalities if he has any. [DW, l5rinfo,
1/3/97]
- Makes the challenge a "normal" unrefusable challenge. [l5rinfo,
1/2000]
Shosuro
- Works even if the Personality was face-down. [l5rinfo, 3/16/99]
Shosuro Chian
- Multiples have a cumulative effect. [DW, l5rinfo, 12/1/98]
Shosuro Hametsu
- If the -2C kills the opponent, the duel is cancelled without a
winner or loser. [FAQ 3.2]
- If a non-experienced version of Hametsu has ever been in play, any
poison token on your Personality at all can be destroyed to perform
his printed reaction, regardless of what created that token. [FAQ 3.5]
- See also Another Time.
Shosuro Hametsu (Exp)
- If this version has ever been in play, any poison token on your
Personality created by any version of Hametsu can be used for
his printed reaction. [FAQ 3.5]
Shosuro Ikawa
- Only affects unplayed cards in the Province, not cards attached to
the Province. [l5rinfo, 3/16/99]
Shosuro Nishiko
- Shuffling her back into the deck is an effect of her action,
not a cost. If her action is cancelled, not only does she stays in
play, she is allowed to use her action again as it is not limited
to once per turn or battle. [l5rinfo, 12/99]
Shosuro Taberu
- There are two versions of this card. The one found in the
preconfigured section of Scorpion Clan Decks has a gold cost of
<9> and lacks the Political trait on his ability
(though it's still Political by rulebook definition),
while the one found elsewhere costs <8> and has a clearly
labelled ability.
- All versions now have a gold cost of <8> regardless of
printed value. [MRP]
Shotai
- Ability is usable only once per battle. [DW, email, 2/17/99]
Shrine of Osano-Wo
See Asako Hosigeru.
Shuriken of Serpents
- The ranged attack is an ability of, and originates from, the
Shuriken and not the Personality. [card text] For this reason:
- The attack produced by the Shuriken can be combined with one which
the Personality itself generates and/or with other Shuriken.
- Carrying a Shuriken will not enable a Personality to use a
Crystal or Jade Arrow, or The Arrow Knows the Way.
- See also Bowing and Straightening.
Shurin Storms
- The Province is destroyed after all cards are. Reactions on
cards in the battle, such as Mystic Ground, cannot be used to save
the Province. [l5rinfo, 9/25/99]
The Sight of Death
- Will only return the Personality to play once. [DW, l5rinfo,
2/3/98]
- The stipulations that "your" cards will still kill the target and
that he'll return to "your" fief are set when the kiho is cast and do
not change if the Personality changes control. [DW, personal email,
2/19/98]
Solar Eclipse
- Any spell which produces an ongoing effect or permanent
modification to the game or a card in play, such as Immortal Steel and
Summon Nightstalker, will be "suppressed" while the Eclipse is in
effect. The results of spells which create, destroy, or replace
things, such as Summon Undead Champion, Touch of Death, and The Iron
Citadel, are unaffected. [RD, l5rinfo, 4/8/96 and 5/19/97]
NOTE: The Iron Citadel ruling has REVERSED several times. This is the
latest one and it appears to be stable.
- Changes in state, such as becoming bowed or dishonored, are also
not supressed, although permanent and "until end of game" changes to
stats and traits are. [DW, email, 5/29/97]
Sorrow's Path
- A player may mix bowed and unbowed cards. [ZF, netnews, 10/99]
Soshi Bantaro
- Determine whether he is a legal target for redirection
before bowing him to use his ability. [DW, l5rinfo, 6/8/96]
- There are two versions of this card. The one found in the
preconfigured section of Shadowlands Scorpion Clan Decks has a
Personal Honor of 1, while the one found in Shadowlands Destiny
Packs and in SCC Scorpion decks has a 0.
- All versions are played with a Personal Honor of 0 regardless of
printed value. [MRP] [REVERSAL]
Soshi Jamyako
- The 1-pt honor loss, like nearly all honor losses, is not a cost
of her ability. Cancelling it will not cancel her action. [netnews,
7/12/99]
Soshi Taoshi
- Cannot be used in conjunction with Mujina Miners on a corrupt
mine because you're not bowing the mine to produce gold. [l5rinfo,
1/10/98]
- Cannot be used on a Holding affected by Bayushi Goshiu Exp2
because Goshiu, not the Holding, causes the loss. [l5rinfo, 12/99]
[REVERSAL]
A Soul of Thunder
- The current player may gain the seven honor before checking for an
Honor Victory since both happen at the start of the turn. [DW,
l5rinfo, 9/19/97]
Stars Scatter
- An indefinite number of 0-strength ranged attacks may be
produced. [DW, email, 7/99]
- If multiple ranged attacks are being produced simultaneously,
Stars Scatter can only modify one of them, not the entire
action. [netnews, 7/12/99]
Stifling Wind
- The second ability is not missing the word "opposing".
[MRP] This means that the casting shugenja need not be
committed to the battle to bow an eligible Personality, and that if
he is, he can bow any Personality in play. [card text, and DW, email,
2/7/97]
Storehouses
- The amount "necessary to bring a card into play" depends on how
you're playing it. For example, you only count the 2g discount for an
aligned Personality if you're not gaining honor. [DW, l5rinfo, 1/29/98]
Storms of War
- The additional bowing is not considered a cost of the action to
be performed. [DW, email, 3/18] In particular, Steep Terrain will not
prevent it.
- The additional bowing is done prior to any aspect of the action
it preceeds, including targetting. [card text]
- Multiples are not cumulative. [l5rinfo, 12/99]
A Stout Heart
- Only counters one use of Fear. Does not make the unit immune to
Fear for that turn. [DW, l5rinfo, 5/20/96]
Street to Street
- While in effect, Followers are not considered to be in units.
[DW, 3/5/98] This means:
- They cannot be targetted or affected by cards that refer to units.
- Any traits or abilities they have that refer to "this unit" do
not function.
- If all your Personalities are removed or killed, you no longer
have a unit in the battle and your actions will be restricted
accordingly, even if you still have unattached Followers.
- They do not contribute to your army's total Force. [l5rinfo, 7/15/99]
- Remember that attaching cards requires an unbowed Personality,
above and beyond the normal targetting rules. You cannot reattach
any Followers if all your Personalities are bowed.
- If the Akodo Stronghold's Reaction is used, this terrain, like any
terrain, has no effect since it's cancelled before it can do
anything. [Stronghold text] [REVERSAL]
Stress
- May not be played during Test of the Jade Champion. [netnews, 7/16/99]
Strike of Flowing Water
- Is cumulative with Double Chi. [DW, email, 5/7/97]
- Since you "Play this card as a focus" to use its first effect, it
goes face-down and also adds its own focus value to the duel.
Strike Without Striking
- You can only return cards to your hand which came from your
hand. [DW, 10/97]
- You cannot retrieve cards which only add as though
focussed. [netnews, 6/24/99]
Suana (Exp)
- His reaction only applies to the normal use of Tactician.
[netnews, 10/99]
Sunken City
Superior Strategist
- May be used to fetch and play a terrain-destroying card against
Deadly Ground/Night Battle, since the playing of the retrieved card is
part of Superior Strategist's effect. [DW, l5rinfo, 5/24/97]
- For the same reason, you may not use a separate Battle or
Open action to put that card into play (example: the Oracle of Earth
with a terrain).
Suzume Yugoki
- Is not Toturi's Army, Yoritomo's Alliance, or Unaligned. [FAQ 3.8]
Sympathetic Energies
- See Tokens.
- Does not care about the targetting requirements of the
token's source. Only cares about restrictions against possessing the
token. [DW, email, 7/9/97] [REVERSAL]
Tactical Maneuvers
- Allows complete rearranging of all your assigned
Tacticians. [l5rinfo, 11/27/99]
Takuan
- His bonus is continually recalculated, and only applies during
an Attack Phase. [DW, l5rinfo, 6/19/97]
Taquar
- His reaction can only be used once per spell. [DW, personal
correspondence, 9/19/97]
Tchickchuk
- The phrase "A Ratling Follower can be attacked to Tchickchuk
when he performs this action." only means he is allowed to use his
action on a Follower being attached to himself without making that
attachment illegal. It does not allow you to attach a Follower to him
at the same time as he's reducing the cost of another Ratling card
coming into play elsewhere. [l5rinfo, 1/2000]
Temple Guard
- Does not count as a Temple. ["Foo Rule" exception]
The Temples of Shinsei
- The "which have been returned to play by a spell" clause applies
only to "Shadowlands cards". The region prohibits attacks from all
"oni, skeletons, zombies," and "undead cards" regardless of origin.
[DW, l5rinfo, 2/12/98]
A Test of Courage
- Is not targetted at all. More than one may be played to keep the
same unit in the battle.
- The saved unit may still perform actions which do not require
targetting or bowing the Personality, such as discarding for a
Tactician Force bonus or having a Follower bow to make a Ranged
Attack. [card text]
- Must be played as soon as the hostile action's target is
picked. [card text] Thus, it cannot be played against actions where it
is initially unknown whether a unit will be sent home, such as Show Me
Your Stance.
- If played against an action which targets and sends home more than
one unit, it cancels the whole action and all the units that would
have been sent home become untargettable by you. [DW, personal
correspondence, 9/30/98]
Test of the Emerald Champion
- Since the card doesn't specify otherwise, each challenge may be
declined by the appropriate player. [rulebook] Each refusal is
"a challenge survived" for purposes of satisfying the Test, but no
one gains 3 honor since there is no winner of a duel.
- Your challenger needs to "survive" all the challenges, not win all
the duels, to gain the extra Province. Any method of achieving this
will successfully complete the Test, including effects which cancel
a duel without resolution, prevent the death of a Personality (NB:
Feign Death does not do this), or allow one Personality to duel
in another's place. [card text, and summary of other rulings]
- The extra Province is added on the left.
Test of the Jade Champion
- Effects referring to duels or opponents are not usable. This
includes the Double Chi trait. [glossary] [REVERSAL]
The Third Shout
- Any number may be played after just one Second Shout. [FAQ 3.2]
- May not be played even as a face-down normal focus if the Second
Shout requirement is not met. [ibid.]
- Does not have to be played the same way the Second Shout
was. [ibid.]
Time of the Void
- If you're close to 10 honor and bring out a Personality who will
put you over 10, you gain the full amount. [card text, and DW, email,
8/28/97]
To Avenge Our Ancestors
- Doubles all honor gains and losses that occur during or in
reaction to resolution, such as Martyr and Kakita Shijin. [DW,
l5rinfo, 12/2/97]
To Do What We Must
- If the unit's Followers are moved away with Rally Troops, they
won't count towards the strength of the effect since they're removed
before the leader is destroyed. [DW, email, 2/7/97]
To The Last Man
- Requires the winning player to destroy cards & tokens with a
total Force no less than half that of the defeated army, not
every individual card/token with that Force or higher. [DW, l5rinfo,
6/19/97]
- Allies' cards and tokens may be destroyed. [card text]
- Does not force any destruction if the losing army's total Force
was 0, since half of 0 is still 0. 0 does not round up to 1.
[elementary school math]
Today We Die
- The Personality must be presend during, and survive, resolution to
gain +1/+1. [DW, email, 9/25/97]
- This effect resumes if the Personality dies and is returned to
play later. [ibid.]
Togashi Gaijutsu
- Since you must forgo the honor gain to get the stat bonus, his
ability cannot be used outside a Dragon Clan deck. [DW, l5rinfo,
12/25/96] [REVERSAL]
[Actually, you can use it in a Toturi's Army deck when
bringing out a Dragon Clan * Toturi's Army samurai -- jwa]
- This also means you cannot use copy-effects to gain multiple stat
bonuses on the same samurai, since you can only forgo the honor gain
once.
- If you're buying a 0PH Samurai at full price there is still a zero
point honor gain. It can be foregone -- again, once -- to pay
for Gaijutsu's ability. [l5rinfo, 9/98]
Togashi Mikoto
- Only focus cards are discarded if a duel is restarted. Other
duel-related effects, such as penalties from poison, are
retained. [DW, l5rinfo, 11/4/96]
- There is no winner or loser of the first duel if he uses his
ability. No duel results are applied to either participant.
Togashi Mitsu
- Does not lose fire tokens if he isn't bowed. [DW, l5rinfo, 6/5/96]
- Will not lose a fire token if some additional effect also forces
him to remain bowed during the Straighten Phase. [DW, l5rinfo, 8/27/96]
- Cannot be straightened by any means while bowed with fire
tokens. [RD, l5rinfo, 9/9/96, and EE card text]
- Only loses a fire token if something tries to straighten him
during the Straighten Phase. Trying to straighten him any
other time has no effect at all. [card text]
- If given a Dragon Tattoo, will be limited to three tokens since
both fire token restrictions must be observed. [DW, email, 2/17/99]
Togashi Mitsu (Exp)
- Copies the old bowing restrictions as part of the old ability when
overlayed. These restrictions apply if he has any type of fire
token on him. [DW, l5rinfo, 4/29/97]
Togashi Yama
- The ability to send units home is part of the tokens. Once
created, Yama does not need to be in play for this ability to be
used. [DW, l5rinfo, 1/3/96]
Togashi Yokuni (Exp2)
- The restriction "May not attach armor or items." is a known
redundancy. It should be followed as written.
Togashi Yoshi
- The extra card is not treated as a Focus. It simply
provides a turn-long bonus to the duelist's Chi equal to the exposed
card's focus value. This bonus is not affected by Double Chi,
and cards which affect duels when played as Focus cards produce no
effects when exposed in this manner. [card text]
- The bonus always applies to Chi, regardless of what the duel is
based on. [FAQ]
- This ability is not targetted.
Togashi's Daisho
- Should say "Dragon Clan Personality", not "Dragon Personality".
[l5rinfo, 9/27/99]
Token of Jade
- Will keep the taint away in the case of overlaying with a more
experienced Personality with the Shadowlands trait. [DW, personal
correspondence, 9/16/98]
Toku (Exp)
- There are two versions of this card. One cannot perform any
action more than once per turn, the other cannot perform any action
other than his own straightening action more than once per turn.
- Both versions get played as the second. [TotV rulebook]
Tomb of Iuchiban
- Can be used in any instance which results in a Personality card
being created or returned to play under your control. This includes,
among other things, Unexpected Allies, Forgotten Tomb, Feign Death,
and Summon Undead Champion, and does not include Kolat Master or
overlaying an Experienced Personality. [11/7/97] [partial
REVERSAL based on FAQ 3.5]
- Also works with the original Phoenix Stronghold when spending 7g
on a shugenja. [l5rinfo, 1/10/99] [REVERSAL]
- May be used multiple times on a Personality who manages to enter
play more than once. [card text, and DW, email, 2/7/97]
Toturi
- Though Unaligned, he has a Lion Clan border in the Imperial Edition.
This is not a misprint.
- If revealed by Unexpected Allies, he does not cause an honor
loss but still enters play dishonored. [DW, l5rinfo, 12/9/96]
- Since he enters play dishonored, the honor gain for a Toturi's
Army player for paying full price for him is 0. [FAQ 3.3]
Toturi (Exp)
- If overlayed onto an original Toturi who has been restored to
honor, he keeps the original's +2/+3 bonus since that's a permanent
change. [rulebook, and RD, l5rinfo, 1/16/97]
Toturi (Exp 2)
See Toturi (Exp).
Touching the Void
- Your hand must be empty to receive the four extra draws, too.
[netnews, 10/99]
The Towers of Isawa Castle
- This trait applies to any shugenja using a spell
or innate ability during a battle at this Province. The shugenja need
not be defending, or even in the battle at all. [card text, and DW,
email]
Trading Port
- May not be used to retrieve an Ancestor. [rulebook, 7/25/99]
- The gold cost of tokens is 0.
Treacherous Terrain
- An effect which gives a bonus based on how many of a certain
type of card is in play, such as an Ancestral Sword or the Crab
Clan Oni, gives its full bonus under this Terrain. All that
matters is that the card providing the bonus is in the unit.
The cards that the bonus is based on may be anywhere. [DW,
email, 4/9/97]
Tribute to Your House
- Is not considered an honor loss or gain. [l5rinfo, 7/11/99]
- Will not stop a player from temporarily increasing his honor
during a lobbying attempt. [l5rinfo, 7/11/99]
The True Lands
- Second effect should be a Reaction. [DW, l5rinfo, 1/29/98]
Tutor
- Each Tutor bowed allows you to replace a single card draw
-- including one from a multiple draw effect such as the Ring of
the Void or even another Tutor -- with a "draw three/keep one/discard
or return" sequence. [card text] Thus you can always bow multiples,
even if you're only expecting one draw in that End Phase, and they
will all have some effect. (No matter how many you use, you'll never
end up keeping more cards than if you'd used no Tutors at all.)
The 12th Black Scroll
- Is truly an Item, not a Spell. It may be attached to a
non-shugenja. [RD, netnews, 9/12/97]
- Ends the battle without resolution. [netnews, 9/20/99]
Twenty-Seven Days of Darkness
- Limits all gold-producing Holdings to a maximum production of 3g,
even variable ones such as Merchant Caravan. [ZF, netnews, 10/99]
Unexpected Allies
- You may not overlay the revealed Personality atop a
less-experienced version. That option is only available
during the Dynasty phase. [DW, l5rinfo, 1/3/96]
- Effects that happen "when" a card is brought into play are
prevented, but things you have to do "to put this card into play"
are costs, and if they don't involve gold they're not waived.
If you are unwilling or unable to pay, the Personality goes back
to the top of your Dynasty deck.
Unrequited Love
- May target a bowed Personality. [DW, personal correspondence,
12/2/98] [REVERSAL]
- May be played by The Shadowlands Horde, even on a bowed Personality, as it
is still technically a conditional loss. [ibid.]
The Unquiet Grave of Hida Amoro
- The restriction against non-Undead cards applies only to
Personalities. Other types of cards may be played normally from
its Province. [netnews, 6/30/99]
Utter Defeat
- You still do not gain honor from events the dishonored
Personality participates in, despite the fact that he will not be
restored to honor. [rulebook]
Valley of Shadow
- The effect works even if the battle destroys this Province. [DW,
l5rinfo, 12/11/96]
A Vision of Truth
- If someone plays the Ring of Air after three appropriate actions,
you cannot play Vision of Truth if he does three more that turn. You
must wait for another turn. [DW, personal email, 2/20/98]
- Players are limited to one of each Ring in their deck but not to
one of each in play, so you may play A Vision of Truth if a player
satisfies a Ring condition an additional time after having satisfied it
once and actually playing the Ring then.
Void Strike
- The revealed card is discarded. [DW, l5rinfo, 9/29/98]
Walk Through the Mountains
- May be played even if the action doesn't send units home
immediately (ex: Show Me Your Stance, Encircled Terrain). Only
effects of that action from that point on are cancelled.
Warstained Fields
- Followers can be moved both ways during the one exchange. [DW,
email, 2/17/99]
Wasp Archers
- Any change to their ranged attack is a alteration, including the
+1 strength from being attached to Tsuruchi. [DW, email]
Water Dragon
- Can repeatedly copy an ability which is usable only once per game,
because at the end of the turn it forgets that it's used
it. [extension of ruling on Ninja Shapeshifter]
The Wave Men
- Looks for people with no Clan alignments at all, not just those
with the "Unaligned" trait. "Monk", "Ninja", "Naga", "Toturi's Army",
and "Mantis/Yoritomo's Alliance" are all Clans. Personalities who are
both Unaligned and a member of one of these Clans are not eligible.
[card text & rulebook, 7/15/99]
Way of Air/Earth/Fire/Water
- Each of these cards can counter the playing of further instances
of itself since each contains its own target keyword in its text. [RD,
email, 6/11/97]
- When a Personality is performing an action via an Action card, the
words on the Action card are the only ones that matter. [DW, personal
email, 5/6/98]
- The Personality gains the Adept of ____ trait.
Way of Death
- Will increase the entire effect of Strength of the Dark One. [5/17/99]
Way of Deception
- May be played during an Ambush. [DW, l5rinfo, 12/25/96, and OE
card text]
Wedge
- Is not a Force bonus. It makes the unit add its Force to
your army twice, which is a very different effect.
- Multiples are not cumulative.
- The unit is destroyed immediately after the battle is over
regardless of whether it is still in the army. [card text]
- Since it only prohibits you from targetting the unit with further
actions "in this battle", you may target the unit with cards
such as Feign Death if it survives resolution and is destroyed by
Wedge's own effect "after this battle is over". [card text]
West Wall of Otosan-Uchi
- Will prevent bonuses such as Matsu Gohei and Otaku Kamoko's
inherent bonuses. [DW, l5rinfo, 4/9/98]
When Darkness Draws Near
- If an ally re-honored some Personalities instead of gaining 2
honor, those Personalities are re-dishonored instead of 2 honor being
lost when the last one is sent home. [DW, l5rinfo, 12/9/96]
- The loss of the 2 pt bonus is not a loss of honor, but a
retroactive cancellation of the original gain. Thus it cannot be
reduced, prevented, or redirected. This also makes this card
a Political action. [DW, email, 7/1/97]
The Wind's Truth
- "Another player" refers to a player other than the one suffering
the gain/loss, not a player other than the kiho's caster. [l5rinfo,
7/15/99]
- The source and amount of the gain or loss remain
unchanged. [l5rinfo, 7/12/99]
- See Honor.
- See Deadly Ground.
- Is Political. [Glossary]
- The Ring of Air can redirect it, but only to another "another
player", so you can't send the gain/loss right back to the player it
was just taken from. In a two-player game, the Ring cannot be used on
it. [netnews, 9/2/99]
Winning Kachiko's Favor
- You may pay gold to increase your honor as often as you wish
during this one lobbying attempt. [DW, l5rinfo, 6/3/97]
Wounded in Battle
- A 3C+ samurai still survives until the end of battle if
Wounded in Battle is used first, then some other action reduces his
Chi below 1. [DW, l5rinfo]
Writings of Kuni Yori
- "Fear 0" is not considered to be a higher Fear effect than
no Fear at all. [DW, email]
Yasuki Taka
- Cannot be used to enable a single Holding to generate gold twice
during a single purchase. There is no "gold pool" -- generated
gold must immediately be spent. [rulebook]
- Cannot be used between Dynasty card purchases because Open actions
are not allowed during the Dynasty Phase. [DJ, netnews, and rulebook]
- See also Gold-Producing Holdings.
Yasuki Taka (Exp)
- Does not remove the restriction that all gold generated must be
spent on one thing. That restriction is in the rulebook. Taka only
removes restrictions on the holding itself.
- Allows Jade Works to produce 5g for anything. [DW, l5rinfo]
Yasuki Taka (Exp 2)
- Also does not affect Holdings which cannot pay for variable-cost
cards. [ZF/DW]
Yogo Asami
- "She has to be in the battle to use her ability [during the Attack
Phase, but] the opposing player can choose anyone to bow, whether they
are in the battle or not." [Mouse, l5rinfo, 4/22/97]
Yoritomo (Exp)
- Does not give himself the +2F bonus. "With him" implies
another person. [DW, l5rinfo, 10/17/97, and FAQ 3.8]
Yoritomo (Exp2)
- The clause "You may not gain more than one Province per turn in
this fashion." is absolute. You may not gain two in one turn by using
the Egg of P'an Ku. [DW, personal correspondence, 10/29/98]
- Works for you even if you are an ally to the Attacker. [card text]
- His +1/+2 bonus for each weapon applies directly to himself, not
to the weapon. [card text]
Yoritomo Chujitsu
- His wording does not exclude non-Mantis Yoritomo's Alliance
Personalities. He may assign with them as well. [card text]
Yoritomo Furikae
- Returns to play in your fief. [ZF, netnews, 10/99]
- Returns to play if killed in battle at any time.
Yoritomo's Armor
- "Mantis Clan" does not count as a Minor Clan since it's equivalent
to "Yoritomo's Alliance". [DW, l5rinfo, 3/12/98]
Yoshun
- Effects which change the number on the card, such as Night
Medallion and one effect of Shiryo no Tetsuya, will increase his Chi.
[netnews, 9/8/99]
- Does not benefit from Chi bonuses at all. A single -1C
from anywhere will kill him even if he's already experiencing other
plusses. [9/29/99]
Yuki no Onna
- There are two versions of this card. The one found in the
preconfigured section of Naga Clan Decks has a gold cost of <5>,
while the one found elsewhere costs <6>. These are played
as written.
- See also Traits.
Zokujin
Sensei
The list of allowable Clans on Sensei cards is not a list of traits.
The Foo Rule does not apply to it. [DW]
The Sepulcher of Bone and The Spawning Grounds may use Shadowlands
Sensei.
You may not voluntarily discard a Sensei or play a Sensei without a
card effect except at the beginning of the game. [FAQ 3.10]
Sensei cannot reduce Starting Honor below -19 or reduce Gold
Production or Province Strength below 0. Strongholds with a -19
Starting Honor may begin the game with an Honor-reducing Sensei
without immediately losing. Once the game begins, they may still
freely play such Sensei because changes to Starting Honor do not
affect current Honor. [FAQ 3.10] The reduction in Starting Honor is
not considered an honor loss. [REVERSAL]
Specific Sensei
Hiruma Sensei
- Does not allow defending players to ignore their actions' own
legality, costs, and listed playing conditions. It only overrides other
card effects which prohibit or impose additional costs or requirements
on otherwise legal actions. [ZF, netnews, 10/99] Some examples of
things Hiruma Sensei does not allow:
- Taking a Limited action.
- Playing a Terrain when there is already one in play.
- Taking an Open action which says "You may not perform this
action during battle."
- Applies to all extra requirements placed on actions, not just
true costs. In particular, it defeats Storms of War.[ZF]
- Applies even to additional restrictions/costs imposed by a
defending player's own cards. [card text]
- Does not override targetting restrictions. [l5rinfo, 1/2000]
- Does not make defenders' actions uncancellable or
unmodifiable.
Ikoma Sensei
- Does not affect what Clan your Personalities are considered to
be -- just what you, as a player, are. [card text] For example,
you will still need to bow a Monk to play Dharma Technique. [ZF,
l5rinfo, 11/21/99]
Kaede Sensei
- Once the ability is used, your Honor Victory is gone.
Effects which destroy or discard a Sensei card will not restore it.
[8/99] Effects which prevent a Sensei card from affecting play,
however, will restore it briefly. [netnews, 9/99] [REVERSAL]
Nio Sensei
- The Shadowlands Horde has zero gold production. [ZF, Stronghold text]
Norikazu Sensei
- Applies fully to Events which only modify existing victory
conditions. [ZF]
Shoju Sensei
- If the Personality leaves play in any way, the effect ends, even
if he comes back immediately (Feign Death). [l5rinfo,7/15/99]
- Does not prevent anyone from cancelling actions which target the
selected Personality. [card text]
- If played by a Shadowlands Horde player, will not change his
honor at all or drop a Sepulcher of Bone's honor below -19. [DW,
l5rinfo, 7/27/99]
- Does not actually remove the path of Honor Victory from any
individual player. For example, it will not force everyone to
lose a Province to The Return of Fu Leng. [netnews, 9/99]
- Effects which destroy or discard a Sensei card will not end
its effect. Effects which prevent a Sensei card from affecting play
will temporarily suppress it. [netnews, 9/99]
Yokuni Sensei
- Events which get delayed may not be voluntarily discarded in the
Dynasty Phase. [netnews, 7/29/99] They may, however, be discarded
using other card effects. [netnews, 8/19/99]
- Only delays Events which actually resolve. [card text] Will not
delay an Event which was prevented by Avoid Fate or which does not
resolve because it's the second or later occurance of the same Event
under the optional One-Time Events rule. [netnews, 7/30/99]
- Affects all Events which "discard" or "destroy" themselves the
turn they resolve, including Inheritance. Does not affect
Events with more unusual handling, such as those which refer to
staying "in play" (not just in effect) for more than one turn
(Monsoon, Sacrifices For Our Futures), or which get reshuffled back
into the deck upon resolving. [netnews, 8/23/99]
- Delayed Events do not resolve again next turn. [l5rinfo,
12/99]
Yoritomo Sensei
- Only cards whose gold cost was reduced now have a minimum cost of
1. It does not make 0G holdings cost 1G. [ZF]
Yoshi Sensei
- Affects the gain from just the Personality. In other words, if
honor loss also occurs (say, from using corrupt holdings), do
not add those losses and the Personality's gain and then apply
the one-point maximum to the total. [l5rinfo, 1/2000]
Strongholds
Strongholds are not Holdings. They're not even cards. Consider this
errata to the Pearl Edition Strongholds and rulebooks.
Stronghold abilities are not usable when bowed unless they
say otherwise.
Specific Strongholds
The Ancient Halls of the Akodo
- The terrain-nullifying Reaction can be used on Deadly Ground and
Night Battle because it's used as the terrain is played, not after it
takes effect. [DW, l5rinfo, 2/13/98]
Ancient Temples of the Naga
- Naga Followers as well as Personalities ignore honor
requirements. [text]
The Dark Path of Shadow
- Stronghold ability is usable even if prohibited by a card effect
(ex: Deadly Ground) or with no units in the battle.
- Takes priority over The Secret Entrance. [5/5/99]
- Stronghold ability can be cancelled (ex: Armor of Earth, Storms of
War). Cancelling is different from prohibiting.
- Stronghold ability is not usable if you do not have a chance to
perform Open/Battle actions (ex: Crushing Attack).
- Stronghold ability does not target the army or anything in it.
Effects that deal only with targetted go-home actions, such as A Test
of Courage and Doji Kuwanan Exp2, will not work against it.
- The clause "You cannot lose Honor from opponents' card effects"
refers to all cards, not just actions. [text] However, they can still
modify losses you cause yourself.
- Will lose honor if one of their ninja Personalities dies
dishonorably. [DW, personal correspondence, 2/10/99]
- Can only send home the army in the current battle. [errata]
- Being bowed does not stop a card from adding its Chi to the army.
- Makes you immune to even unpreventable honor losses. [DW, email,
4/8/99]
Honor losses you cannot suffer never exist, not even briefly. They
cannot be redirected to another player before the Stronghold squelches
them. [l5rinfo, 12/99]
- If an honor loss which you cannot suffer is redirected from
another player to you, it ceases to exist. It may not subsequently be
modified. [l5rinfo, 12/99]
- The Stronghold ability is not a Ninja Action. [text]
- There is no limit to the number of times the ability may be
used per battle. [text]
Heart of the Shinomen Forest
- Naga Followers as well as Personalities ignore honor
requirements. [text]
- Does not count as a forest. The Foo Rule only applies to cards
and Strongholds are not cards. [FAQ]
House of Tao
- Cards referring to the Brotherhood of Shinsei also apply to it.
[DW, email, 3/99]
The Iron Fortress of the Daidoji
- The "sent home bowed and dishonored" result of refusing the
challenge is all one effect. If a unit cannot leave the battle, none
of these results happen. [extension of ruling on "sent home bowed"]
- Reduces Daidoji honor requirements in the 0-to-4 range to negative
numbers, not a "-". Honor requirements may be negative. [FAQ]
The Kitsu Tombs
- The Reaction cannot be used when it's bowed. [DW, netnews, 10/99]
- It can, however, be used immediately before bowing the Stronghold
for gold for the Oni. [l5rinfo, 11/99]
- The Shadowlands trait applies continually to all Lion
Clan shugenja under your control and in your deck, Provinces,
and discard piles. A card which changes controllers or alignment may
gain or lose this trait. [FAQ 3.10]
- Oni no Kamu's self-destruction after three turns is not an effect
of coming into play. It's simply a duration. It will not be
prevented by using the Stronghold. [ZF, 11/99]
Kyuden Hitomi
- Cards under your Stronghold are not in your Fate deck. You may
not, for example, use Walking the Way to retrieve one. [DW, l5rinfo,
8/19/98]
- You may activate your Stronghold's ability even if you have no
cards remaining under it. [DW, l5rinfo, 8/21/98]
- You give up one draw and bow your Stronghold to get one
card. [Stronghold text] Thus:
- You cannot give up multiple draws to get multiple cards at once.
- You cannot use the ability if you have no draws left.
- You can give up one single draw from a series.
- See also Timing.
Kyuden Yoritomo
- See Yoritomo's Alliance (except ruling #1).
- May be bowed as part of the cost of an action, such as Daikua's.
However, it may not be destroyed. Yoritomo Nodoteki will have to use
some other port.
Mountain Keep of the Dragon
- Any new Provinces you gain start with your Stronghold's printed
base strength of 5. The +2 bonus when a Province is destroyed applies
only to your other Provinces that exist at the time. [FAQ 3.0.1]
The New Akasha
- Paying 2g less for aligned Personalities is not a cost reduction.
It will combine with the 2g discount for Crabs when buying a
Personality who is both Crab and Naga.
- A dual-aligned Crab/Naga Personality will satisfy the
requirement for the +1/+1 bonus. [netnews, 11/99]
Ruins of Isawa Castle
- May be used during Deadly Ground/Night Battle to fetch and play a kiho
which will destroy the terrain. [extension from Superior Strategist,
6/12/99]
- May be used in conjunction with the Oracle of Earth to play a
Kiho Terrain from your deck. [l5rinfo, 1/2000]
Sacred Temples of the Phoenix
- When producing 7g, the shugenja does not gain the Shadowlands
trait until he enters play. [FAQ 3.0.1]
- Producing 7g for an originally untainted shugenja now counts as
"bringing a Shadowlands card into play". See Miscellaneous. [REVERSAL]
- See also Permanency.
- See also Traits.
- Effects which alter the gold production of Strongholds alter
only the basic "3" on the box and do not affect the amounts its
abilities produce. [l5rinfo, 12/99]
Sepulcher of Bone
- Cannot achieve an Honor Victory. This is implied by
the fact that its honor can't rise above 0.
- Cannot legally play the Breach of Etiquette packed into the
pre-sorted section of their own Clan Decks. Oops.
The Spawning Grounds
- The +1/+1 bonus applies continually to all appropriate cards
under your control and in your deck, Provinces, hand, and discard
piles. A card which changes controllers may gain or lose
this bonus. [FAQ 3.10]
The Walls of Kaiu Castle
Yogo Junzo's Army / The Shadowlands Horde
- May not play a Clan Sword if there is a player of that Clan.
[DW, l5rinfo, 1/7/96]
- Since you cannot gain honor, you cannot re-honor a dishonored
Personality by having him perform an honor-gaining feat. [RD,
l5rinfo, 1/20/97]
- Cannot achieve an Honor Victory. This is implied by
the fact that its honor can't rise above -19. It's not stated
outright because there's only so much room on the box and there
were a lot of other things that needed to be included as well.
- May hire Yoritomo's Alliance Personalities, as they are not
"allying" with Junzo. [DW, l5rinfo, 5/9/97]
- Cannot play Investigation or pay off an opponent's Blackmail, as
these are actions that cause another player an unconditional honor
loss. [card text]
- Can, however, pay ransom to a Ninja Kidnapper, as the honor loss
is not a direct result of paying the gold. [card text] [REVERSAL of an
incorrect ruling]
- Effects that cause an honor loss or gain do not generate the
change in the first place for Junzo, so there's nothing to redirect.
This overrides stipulations on losses that can't be changed, such as
the Dark Oracles. [DW, personal email, 2/20/98]
- May fully participate in a contested lobbying attempt by giving a
gift and/or bowing Personalities. These activities are not actions.
Yoritomo's Alliance
- The Stronghold effect cannot be used if your Family Honor is
already 0 or below. "'You cannot use this ability if it would reduce
your Family Honor below zero.' If you are trying to go from -3 to -9,
then you *are* reducing your family honor below zero. Even further
below zero. You are not reducing it *past* zero which is what you are
thinking." [DW, l5rinfo, 5/6/97]
- The Minor Clans within Yoritomo's Alliance may not be selected as
affiliations for cards like Alliance. They are not "Clans" in game
terms. [RD, l5rinfo, 5/31/97, and DW, email, 6/9/97]
- Personalities swearing fealty gain only the "Yoritomo's Alliance"
trait, not "Mantis Clan". [DW, email, 4/7/99]
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