Legend of the Five Rings
Legend of the Five Rings Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
- Cardinal Rules
- What's New in Diamond Edition?
- Using These Rules with Older Cards
- Overview of Card Types
- How to Win
- Setup
- Bowing
- Bringing Cards into Play
- Sequence of Play: A Quick First Glance
- Card Types in Detail
- Bonuses and Penalties
- Abilities and Traits
- Costs and Effects
- Tokens
- Canceling Actions and Negating Effects
- Targeting and Redirection
- Actions
- Sequence of Play in Detail
- Special Situations
- Special Traits
- Allen, Bob, and Cindy Go to War: A Sample Attack Phase
- Optional Rules
- Glossary
- Rokugani Terms
- Errata and Clarifications
- Turn Sequence
Cardinal Rules
- If any card or Stronghold explicitly contradicts these rules, the card or Stronghold takes precedence.
- Play all cards and Strongholds by the wording of their most recent English printing.
- If a rule creates conflicting effects simultaneously, the player whose turn it is decides their order.
- After searching any deck for a card, reshuffle it.
What's New in Diamond Edition?
These are the changes to this rulebook since the advent of Gold Edition:
- Added the Tactical keyword.
- Added the Singular keyword.
- Made all Regions Singular and changed the way they enter play.
- Changed who goes first.
- Redefined targeting to make it easier to determine when and what a given effect targets.
- Removed the rule prohibiting a player from targeting his own bowed Personalities with his own actions. Added the simpler rule that bowed Personalities cannot perform challenge actions.
- Removed the Chi-based limit on how many Spells a Shugenja can attach.
- Made all traits removable by fealty effects.
- Added the Yu trait.
- Diplomat and Courtier are now equivalent.
- Sailor and Naval are now equivalent.
- Added rules for naval invasion.
Using These Rules with Older Cards
With this edition's improvement upon many existing Legend of the Five Rings rules and card text templates, the sections below should help you determine how to play cards that have old wordings.
Political Actions
For cards printed prior to the Gold Edition set, an action that changes a Family Honor gain or loss in any way, including canceling, preventing, or redirecting it, or that requires discarding the Favor as part of its cost, is Political. (Actions that cancel or negate other actions or Events in their entirety, that cause an Honor gain or loss themselves rather than modifying one caused by something else, and that involve the Imperial Favor in ways other than as a cost are not necessarily Political.) Cards printed from the Gold Edition set onward with Political actions always have the Political trait.
Tactical Actions
An action that "counts as a use of Tactician" is a Tactical action.
Terrains
All Terrains printed prior to the Gold Edition set are Delayed unless they say they take effect when played, in which case they're Immediate.
Overview of Card Types
The following pages include diagrams of all of the card types. Refer to them as you read the rest of the rules. Detailed descriptions of every type begin later in this rulebook.
Stronghold
- A. Name
- B. Province Strength (minimum 0)
- C. Gold Production (minimum 0)
- D. Starting Family Honor (minimum –19)
- E. Family traits, abilities, and flavor text
Your Stronghold comes in your deck box, but it is not considered a card. It represents your family's ancestral home.
Wind
- A. Name
- B. Traits, abilities, and flavor text
Winds represent which aspect of the Imperial Court you support most. A Wind allows you to discard the Imperial Favor to gain a benefit. You must reveal which Wind you are playing, if any, at the beginning of the game.
Sensei
- A. Name
- B. Province Strength bonus/penalty
- C. Gold Production bonus/penalty
- D. Starting Family Honor bonus/penalty
- E. Extra family traits and abilities, and flavor text
- F. Focus value
A Sensei modifies your Stronghold. It represents the person who was your teacher on your path to adulthood.
Event
- A. Name
- B. Effect and flavor text
These Empire-shaking occurrences can disrupt another player's strategy or create special conditions. But be careful; Events can be as dangerous to you as to other players!
Personality
- A. Force
- B. Name
- C. Chi
- D. Minimum Family Honor requirement to recruit
- E. Gold cost
- F. Personal Honor
- G. Traits, abilities, and flavor text
Personalities defend your lands and battle your enemies. Each Faction's Personality cards have a unique color.
Holding
- A. Honor Production
- B. Name
- C. Gold Production
- D. Gold cost
- E. Traits, abilities, and flavor text
Holdings—your primary financial resource—generally represent your economic enterprises. They may also produce Honor or grant special abilities.
Region
- A. Name
- B. Traits, abilities, and flavor text
Regions give your Provinces special traits and abilities.
Action
- A. Name
- B. Gold cost
- C. Traits, abilities, and flavor text
- D. Focus value
Actions grant bonuses or abilities. They can advance your cause or hinder your opponents!
Ancestor
- A. Force
- B. Name
- C. Chi
- D. Minimum Personal Honor requirement for the attaching Personality
- E. Gold cost
- F. Traits, abilities, and flavor text
- G. Focus value
Some of the Empire's people can call upon their ancestors to help them during battle and in their daily lives.
Elemental Ring
- A. Name
- B. Gold cost
- C. Play condition and Benefits
- D. Focus value
The Rings of Air, Earth, Fire, the Void, and Water are special cards that represent the five elements that make up all things. By understanding a Ring, you gain power over its element.
Follower
- A. Force
- B. Name
- C. Chi
- D. Minimum Personal Honor requirement for the attaching Personality
- E. Gold cost
- F. Traits, abilities, and flavor text
- G. Focus value
When a Personality leads Followers into combat, the unit can overcome larger opposing Provinces and armies.
Item
- A. Force bonus
- B. Name
- C. Chi bonus
- D. Gold cost
- E. Traits, abilities, and flavor text
- F. Focus value
Giving an Item of power, such as Armor or a Weapon, to one of your Personalities can have far-reaching effects—making the Personality a better Samurai or Shugenja, or allowing the Personality to take special actions.
Kiho
- A. Name
- B. Gold cost
- C. Traits, abilities, and flavor text
- D. Focus value
The Kiho is an Action card, but its effects are Spell effects. It represents a Monk's or Shugenja's ability to gather chi and unleash it in a controlled way.
Spell
- A. Name
- B. Gold cost
- C. Traits, abilities, and flavor text
- D. Focus value
Only the mysterious Shugenja can possess and use Spells. Each Spell creates a special and powerful action.
How to Win
The Legend of the Five Rings game has several paths to victory. For one, you can eliminate all your opponents for a Military Victory. A player loses, and is immediately removed from the game along with all cards he owns, if all of his Provinces are destroyed or if he ever has under –19 Family Honor. Any ongoing effects the player's cards created continue unchanged.
You can also win by starting your turn with 40 or more Family Honor. You gain control of the Empire through popular acclaim — an Honor Victory. Reaching 40 Honor or higher during a turn does not grant you victory.
Finally, you can master the elements, as represented by the philosophy of the Five Rings, by having one Elemental Ring from each element in play. You win the game immediately — an Enlightenment Victory.
Setup
Each player prepares two decks of at least forty cards each: one deck of Dynasty (black-backed) cards, one of Fate (green-backed) cards. Together, these decks make up your play deck. The cards you use can come from any Clan Deck or expansion pack. In fact, you will find that building a deck is one of the most rewarding parts of the game.
While you can have as many cards in each deck as you want, you cannot have more than three copies of any single card, except for these cards, of which you can have only one each:
- Any Event
- Any Elemental Ring
- Any card marked Unique
Unique cards include all Experienced cards and Ancestors.
Sometimes a card will be printed with the same title but different Experience levels: Experienced, Experienced 2, Experienced 3, and so on. (Inexperienced is a different level, too, and so is a card with no Experienced or Inexperienced traits at all.) Each Experience level only counts against itself in determining the number of copies you can put into a deck. It's legal, for example, to build a deck including three Bayushi Tai cards plus one Experienced Bayushi Tai.
Example: Hida Tenshu has the "Soul of Hida Amoro" trait. A deck containing one Hida Tenshu and two Hida Amoros is legal. A deck containing two of each is not.
Some cards and rules let you remove cards from your deck right before the game begins. Your deck needs to be legal before you take any cards out. It can be illegal afterward.
"Soul of…" Personalities
Many basic Personalities in the Diamond Edition set have the "Soul of…" trait, which is followed by another Personality's name from an earlier expansion. All Personalities with a common name or "Soul of…" name count together against per-deck card limits. The Experience level of the Personality himself may be different from the level of the Personality named in the "Soul of…" trait. When this happens, the level inside the "Soul of…" trait only matters for matching common names between sets. "Soul of…" characters don't count as their named Personalities for any game purposes except deck construction.
Preparing the Field
Shuffle your decks separately and allow another player to cut them.
Place your Dynasty deck face-down to your left. To the far left of your Dynasty deck, and empty for the moment, is your Dynasty discard pile. All of your discarded and destroyed Dynasty cards go into this pile, face-up, as the game progresses. Place destroyed cards in this pile sideways, as you may need to distinguish them from your discarded cards later. You may examine, but should not alter, any player's discard piles at any time.
The area of the table above your Provinces and decks is your home, where your cards enter play.
Gather a number of counters, such as beads, to use as tokens, which may be created during play. You also need a distinctive item to represent the Imperial Favor.
Finally, place your Stronghold, Sensei (if you have one), and Wind above your Dynasty deck.
Next come your Provinces, invisible areas in the middle of the table and to the right of your Dynasty deck. You begin the game with four Provinces. When a Province is destroyed, completely remove its space from the layout in front of you: destroy all cards attached to it, put all unplayed cards into the discard pile, and move together the Provinces that were to either side of it, which become adjacent.
Each Province holds one Dynasty card at all times. (Cards attached to a Province are no longer "in" the Province — slide any attached card forward to make the title visible.) Any time a Province holds no Dynasty cards, refill that Province immediately with the next card from your Dynasty deck, face-down. A Province that you can't refill still exists; mark it with a token of some sort to remind you and your opponents that it is still there. You cannot look at anyone's face-down Dynasty cards, not even your own. They are a mystery to you as well as to your opponents.
Place your Fate deck face-down to the right of your Provinces. You draw Fate cards into, and play them from, your hand. You have a maximum hand size of eight — if you have more cards than your maximum in your hand at the end of your turn, you must discard the extras. You may ask any player's current and maximum hand size at any time. To the far right of your Fate deck goes your Fate discard pile. Except for holding Fate cards, it behaves just like your Dynasty discard pile.
Your Stronghold
Your Stronghold represents the family castle, shadowy hideout, or ancient holy temple from which you advance your Faction's interests. You begin the game with your Stronghold in play and unbowed. It cannot be destroyed. Although represented by a card for reference, your Stronghold is not considered a card for game purposes (nor is it a Holding, even though it produces Gold like one).
Your Stronghold has three numbers, and text describing its traits and abilities. The numbers indicate, from top to bottom, your Provinces' starting Strength, the Gold the Stronghold can produce when bowed, and your Starting Family Honor. More than one player may play the same Stronghold in a game.
Provinces are not destroyed if their Strength becomes 0.
Each player records the Starting Family Honor listed on his Stronghold. This represents the goodwill and history of your family at the start of the game. Keep your current Family Honor visible to the other players at all times.
Your Stronghold's Starting Family Honor does not affect your Family Honor after the game begins. Changes to Starting Family Honor during the game do not change your current Family Honor.
Determining Who Starts
The player with the highest Starting Family Honor takes the first turn. If there is a tie, the players tied for highest should determine who goes first with a uniform, random method such as dicing off or flipping a coin.
Once the starting player is determined, each player fills his Provinces with one Dynasty card each and draws five Fate cards to make his hand.
Bowing
To bow a card or Stronghold, turn it sideways. To straighten a bowed card, turn it back. Some cards and Strongholds can create effects without bowing. A card cannot bow for more than one purpose at a time.
While a card or Stronghold is bowed, none of its actions can be used, not even ones that don't require bowing to perform. (Exception: An action that straightens the card is still usable.) Also, a bowed Personality may not cast Spells, and may not perform actions that issue challenges. Bowing does not turn off continuous effects of a card, such as traits, Force and Chi bonuses, or effects that are not actions.
A Personality and his attached cards bow independently of one another; only an effect which bows a "unit" will bow all of them together. If a Personality has a bowed card attached, you can still use the Personality as usual. If the Personality is bowed, that unit cannot be assigned to attack or defend, although unbowed cards attached to him can still use their own abilities.
A Personality or Follower that becomes bowed during battle cannot fight as effectively (see the Attack Phase section for how bowing affects your army's total Force).
Bringing Cards into Play
Before using a card, you must bring it into play, observing all restrictions, choosing all targets (see "Targeting and Redirection"), and then paying all costs (see "Costs and Effects"). Cards in decks, in (not attached to) Provinces, in discard piles, and in hands are not "in play," do not affect play, have no controller, and cannot normally be targeted or affected by other cards.
The player who brings a card into play controls it unless an effect or rule specifies otherwise. If you gain control of another player's card, and the card is not one that attaches to a Province, it goes to your home, even if this means removing it from any battle or duel in which it was participating. This rule overrides any card text that prevents the card from leaving the battle or being sent home.
A Personality and all attached cards, if any, is called a unit. The controller of the Personality controls all of the cards and tokens in the unit.
When you bring into play a card with the trait "Lose X Honor," you lose X Family Honor. You likewise gain honor when playing a card that reads "Gain X Honor." Losses and gains that are not parts of a card's action apply only when the card enters play. Losses and gains that are part of an action only apply when you take that action.
The conditions for playing or attaching a card matter only while a player plays or attaches it. Once a card is in play, you do not destroy or discard it if you later fail to meet its original play requirements.
Example: Rachel attaches Spearmen, with an Honor requirement of 1, to Hiruma Todori. Later, Todori's Personal Honor becomes 0. Though Todori cannot now attach another Spearmen, the one he already has stays attached.
You cannot voluntarily discard or destroy cards or tokens.
You may sometimes move attached cards from one Personality or Province to another. Cards being moved are subject to the same restrictions as when they attach; you cannot move a card to something that could not attach it. Moving a card does not trigger entering-play effects.
You cannot bring a Unique card into play if a Unique card with the same name is already in play (although you might be able to overlay it atop another — see "Experienced Traits"). You may play a Unique card if another copy of it was in play earlier but is not currently. A card that "counts as [a Personality] for uniqueness" counts against all Unique versions of the Personality named, regardless of Experience level. Non-Unique cards do not impact the deck construction or play limits of Unique cards in any way, nor do Unique cards impact non-Unique cards in these ways.
Example: Jim builds a Phoenix Clan deck. He includes three copies of Shiba Tsukune (who is not Unique), one Experienced Shiba Tsukune, and one Experienced 2 Shiba Tsukune. He also includes Shiryo no Tadaka, who counts as Isawa Tadaka for uniqueness. Jim cannot include any Unique versions of Isawa Tadaka in his deck at all, no matter what Experience level they are, though he may still have up to three of the basic, non-Unique Isawa Tadaka.
You cannot bring a Singular card into play if you already control a Singular card with the same name. Unlike Unique cards, you may still play a Singular card if another player controls a copy, and you may put up to three copies of a Singular card into your deck.
Sequence of Play: A Quick First Glance
This section covers a turn's phases in very broad strokes. Much more detailed descriptions appear later.
1. Straighten Phase Straighten all of your cards and your Stronghold.
2. Events Phase Turn over the Dynasty cards in your Provinces from left to right. Resolve any Events and Regions as soon as they appear.
3. Action Phase Starting with you and going clockwise, each player either takes one action or passes. You may take Limited and Open actions, including attaching cards to your Personalities from your hand, moving cards you have already attached, and lobbying for the Imperial Favor. Everyone else can take Open actions only. This phase ends when everyone passes consecutively.
4. Attack Phase (Optional) If you wish, attack one other player of your choice. That player and you may both call for allies. All involved players assign troops anywhere they wish, to either attack or defend that player's Provinces. Each Province has its own Action and Resolution Segments, wherein whichever army has less Force at the end is destroyed — along with the Province, if the attacking army is strong enough.
5. Dynasty Phase Buy face-up Personalities and Holdings, bringing them into play from your Provinces, then discard any unwanted face-up Dynasty cards remaining.
6. End Phase Draw a Fate card and formally end your turn.
Card Types in Detail
Different card types have special rules for play, as described below in roughly the order you may use or encounter them.
Wind
Your Wind card selection reflects which aspect of the Imperial Court you side with most strongly. It determines what favors you may call upon from the Court in return. (See "Lobbying for the Imperial Favor.") You may select at most one Wind.
You reveal your Wind (or lack thereof) to the other players at the same time you reveal your Stronghold. Winds are neither Dynasty nor Fate cards and do not go in either deck.
Sensei
A Sensei card represents the person who was your teacher on your path to adulthood. Only a player of a Faction listed on a Sensei can play the Sensei.
A Sensei changes your Stronghold. Abilities and traits on a Sensei are considered to be on your Stronghold as well. A Sensei's numbers directly affect your Stronghold's corresponding numbers, though they cannot reduce your Province Strength or Gold Production below 0 or your Starting Family Honor below –19.
Each player may start the game with one Sensei in play, chosen from his Fate deck simultaneously and secretly after everyone has revealed their Strongholds but before determining who goes first.
Events
An Event resolves when revealed in its player's Events Phase. An Event revealed at any other time does not resolve immediately. It instead resolves during the player's next Events Phase at the time it would have if it were just revealed, provided it is still in the Province.
Events are special, once-in-a-generation occurrences. Accordingly, each Event can only resolve once per game, by title. If you reveal an Event during the Events Phase that has already resolved, discard your Event immediately without resolving it.
Regions
As you reveal your cards during your Events Phase, if any Regions are found, they immediately attach to the Province they appear in, if they can, otherwise they are discarded. Each Province can have only one Region. You must bring a Region into play if you legally can and if it has no costs.
All Regions are Singular.
Holdings
You buy Holdings during your Dynasty Phase. All Holdings except Fortifications enter play bowed.
A Fortification is a defensive structure permanently associated with a particular Province. You attach it to the Province from which it entered play. You can attach only one copy of each Fortification to each of your Provinces.
Personalities
You also buy Personalities during your Dynasty Phase. You can bring into play any Personality from any Faction, as long as your Family Honor meets or exceeds the Personality's Honor requirement. You can recruit a Personality with an Honor Requirement of "–" even if your Family Honor is below 0.
If you bring into play a Personality with your Faction's trait, you may either lower his Gold cost by 2 until he enters play or add his Personal Honor to your Family Honor immediately before he enters play. (The Personal Honor of a Personality who "enters play dishonored" is 0 for this purpose.) A player using a Shadowlands Faction Stronghold does not have these options; such a player must always buy Personalities without this discount and with no Honor gain.
If a Personality's Chi drops to 0, destroy the Personality.
Followers, Items, Spells, and Ancestors
You must attach these cards to your Personalities before you can use them. This attachment happens as a Limited action during your Action Phase.
You can attach a Follower only to a Personality whose Personal Honor meets or exceeds the Follower's Honor requirement. Followers typically increase the total Force of their unit without adding directly to the Personality's own Force. They may also have special abilities of their own.
Your Family Honor does not affect whether or not you may play Followers. Followers only care about the Personal Honor of the Personality you wish to lead them.
You may attach Items to any Personality, although each Personality can have only one Weapon and one Armor. Items may add Force or Chi bonuses to the Personality, allow him to take additional actions, or both.
You can attach Spells only to Shugenja Personalities. Spells allow a Shugenja to create powerful magical effects.
Ancestors represent the personal influence of long-dead heroes from Rokugan's past on the lucky few they bestow it upon. You may attach an Ancestor normally, or also as a Reaction when bringing a Personality into play during your Dynasty Phase. In either case, you must also bow the Personality as a cost.
Ancestors have an Honor requirement that works exactly like that of Followers. They also have a Faction restriction. You can attach an Ancestor only to a Personality of that faction. An Ancestor is destroyed if his Personality ever loses the appropriate Faction alignment, but otherwise cannot be destroyed while the Personality lives. Ancestors cannot be moved or stolen.
Actions
You play Action cards from your hand. After you play one, put it in your discard pile. You take actions at various times during your and other players' turns, depending on the types and text of those actions.
Kihos
A Kiho is actually an Action card, though it produces a Spell effect. For example, an ability that lets you search for or destroy a card treats Kihos as though they're Actions, yet a Shugenja who gains additional Chi while casting a Spell or who can change a Spell's target also works with Kihos. Like Actions, Kihos are played from your hand and then discarded. Like Spells, Kiho must be cast by one of your Personalities, though this is typically either a Shugenja or a Monk. Followers cannot cast Kihos.
Elemental Rings
You must meet the condition described on a Ring to play it. While in play, a Ring creates or makes available to you its beneficial effects. Any time you have a Ring from all five elements in play, you immediately win the game.
Bonuses and Penalties
Any time the current number on a card changes from one value to a higher value, that number is receiving a "bonus" — unless the reason for the increase is that a penalty expired or an existing penalty or bonus changed. Likewise, if a number decreases, it's receiving a "penalty."
No values in the game except Family Honor and Honor requirements can drop under 0. Don't disregard excess penalties, though. They work against bonuses acquired later. If a value has any minimum or maximum values (including the minimum of 0 just mentioned), apply that limit last, after adding all current bonuses and penalties together.
Example: A Personality with 1 Force suffers a –3F penalty. Her Force becomes 0, not –2. If she later receives a +1F bonus, her Force will still be 0: 1 – 3 + 1, then a minimum of 0.
All adjustments that use a "+" or "–" sign or a word like "extra," "further," "bonus," or "penalty" are cumulative.
It is possible to set a card's value directly to a particular number. Do not apply any bonuses or penalties already in effect to this new number — in essence, they're already part of it. Do apply any later changes as you normally would.
Example: A Personality with 2 Chi attaches an Item that gives him +2C, for a total of 4. A player then plays a card that sets his Chi to 3. Now, if his Item is destroyed, his Chi will drop to 1.
Items add their Force and Chi directly to their Personality's stats. Followers and Ancestors add their Force and Chi directly to the Personality only when their own stats have "+" signs. Otherwise, they add their values to their unit's total instead.
Any reference to a value on a card refers to that stat's current total value unless it references the "base" or "printed" value.
If something refers to a value that isn't specified or is missing, such as the Focus value of a Follower token or the Gold cost of an Event, consider that value to be 0. Effects that try to change a value that a card does not normally possess fail — the value is always 0.
Abilities and Traits
An ability or action is text preceded by "Limited," "Battle," "Open," or "Reaction." Everything else in a card's text box is a trait, including Faction alignments, honorific titles, "Samurai," situational Force and Chi bonuses, and other game effects.
An ability of a card with the Shugenja trait is also known as an innate ability. (Abilities on other types of cards are simply called "abilities.") Although they're on Shugenja, innate abilities do not create Spell effects.
Traits do not stack. Trying to give a trait to a card that already has it is legal but produces no change; it does not make the trait more potent or more resistant to removal. (A card may possess any number of abilities, even if they are all identical.) Traits are always active, even when a card is bowed or not in play.
Many cards end with italicized flavor text telling the story of Rokugan. Flavor text has no impact whatever on the game. Some cards also have an italicized reminder in parentheses, like "(The Dishonored Personality has a Personal Honor of 0.)", within a trait or ability. This is a reminder of how the card interacts with the rules and not an actual effect of the card.
The Keyword Rule
Some effects, like "destroy a Terrain" or "bow a Forest card," refer to any card that matches a certain word. In general terms, a card is a "Keyword card" (or just a "Keyword") if it meets one of these conditions:
- It has the word "Keyword" in its title.
- It has the word "Keyword" in its boldface traits area.
- It is an Action card and "Keyword" precedes one of its actions.
The Keyword Rule does not apply to Sensei cards or to Strongholds.
The singular, plural, and possessive forms of a word (e.g. "Forest," "Forests," and "Forest's") are all equivalent. This is not true for other related words (for example, "Imperial" isn't the same as "Emperor") or words in foreign languages (a "Mizu" card is not a "Water" card). You cannot use a part of a word as a separate word (an "Onisu" is not an "Oni"). Faction alignments, hyphenated words, and restrictions like "Followers this Personality attaches must be Ninja" count as single words and likewise cannot be broken up. When something references a reserved game term (like "army," "bowed," "Defender," "Infantry," "Sensei," or "Stronghold"), it does not apply to cards with those traits; it applies only to things that meet the term's definition.
Example 1: A Personality with the traits "Scorpion Clan Spy • Ninja" is a Scorpion Clan card, a Spy, and a Ninja, but not a Clan.
Example 2: A Personality with the Toturi's Army trait is not an "army" and is not "in an army" unless truly at a battle.
Action Traits
When a player takes an action, the action carries with it all of the traits preceding the action type itself, as well as those of the card on which the action is printed. Actions that are not printed on a card do not inherit traits from any card.
Example 3: The Personality from Example 1 has the ability "Open Elemental: Bow this Personality to draw a card." Using that ability is taking an Elemental action as well as a Scorpion Clan action, a Spy action, and a Ninja action. If the Personality lobbies for the Imperial Favor, that action doesn't acquire any of these traits (although it would still be Political, for other reasons).
Implied Traits
Sometimes a card possesses traits that are not printed but are automatically present because of other traits.
- The Courtier and Diplomat traits count as each other in all ways.
- The Naval and Sailor traits count as each other in all ways.
- A Creature card is also Nonhuman.
A Personality or Follower is "Human" if it is not Nonhuman. A Personality or Follower is "Infantry" if it is not Cavalry.
Faction Alignments
Eight Great Clans — Crab, Crane, Dragon, Lion, Phoenix, Scorpion, Unicorn, and Yoritomo's Alliance — and several other groups with similar interests make up the populace of Rokugan and its surrounding regions. Fifteen such categories are considered "Factions" in the Legend of the Five Rings trading card game: the eight Great Clans, the Brotherhood of Shinsei, the Naga, the Ninja, Ratlings, the Shadowlands, Spirits, and Toturi's Army. Cards that refer to Factions or Faction alignments refer only to those in this list.
The Brotherhood of Shinsei uses Monk as its identifying trait. The Mantis Clan and Yoritomo's Alliance traits are interchangeable. The Monkey Clan and Toturi's Army traits are interchangeable outside of Storyline Simulation tournament formats. The Shadowlands Faction does not have a trait that signifies alignment; therefore, a Shadowlands player cannot get the usual Gold discount or Honor bonus for bringing aligned Personalities into play.
A Personality may be aligned with more than one Faction or none at all. A Personality is "Unaligned" if (and only if) it has the Unaligned trait. It is possible for a Personality to be Unaligned and have Faction traits at the same time.
Sometimes your Personalities will swear fealty and gain your Faction's trait. Each Faction is typically comprised of major families and other assorted individuals. The Crab Clan's Hida family, for example, includes Hida Kuon, Hida Reiha, and so on. The family name comes first. Some Personalities do not belong to families, including cards with single names that are not family names for any other Personalities (like Omen) and cards with occupation, Faction, or creature words as their first word, like Ninja Spy or Ogre Bushi. (Exception: "Tsuno" is a family name.) A single family can have Personalities in more than one Faction or none at all.
Experienced Traits
The Legend of the Five Rings storyline progresses over time, and cards in new sets reflect this. The Experienced series of traits represents changes that some Personalities undergo during the story. Some non-Personality cards may also be Experienced; these follow the same rules as Personalities.
This is the progression from early to latest versions of a Personality: Inexperienced, non-Experienced, Experienced, Experienced 2, Experienced 3, and so on. Most Personalities are non-Experienced: they do not have an Experienced trait. Some characters have many versions. A Personality with any of the Experienced or Experienced # traits is an "Experienced Personality."
If you have a card, bowed or unbowed, in play and a more-experienced version of it ready to play, you may instead overlay the more-experienced version over the lesser during the phase you would normally play it. The later version keeps the earlier one's attached cards, tokens, bowed and dishonored status, and all changes currently in effect, and permanently gains all its abilities. The later version's printed stats and traits override those on the earlier version.
Overlaying doesn't count as bringing a card into play; ignore all of the card's play restrictions and effects triggered by the card "entering play" or "joining a player."
You must still follow the uniqueness rule, however; you cannot overlay if that would result in two Unique cards with the same name in play. If the later version is only one level above the earlier one, overlaying doesn't cost anything. If they're more than one level removed from each other and the later version has a higher Gold cost, you must pay the difference.
Overlaying is not mandatory. You may bring an Experienced card into play normally even if you could overlay it, as long as doing so doesn't violate any other rules. You can't "underlay" less-experienced cards beneath later ones.
Some cards have the Experienced [Name] trait, to represent a character's name change; each of these cards is considered the Experienced version of the card named. For example, Akodo Ginawa has the trait "Experienced 4 Ginawa," so he can overlay Ginawa.
Example: Allen and Cindy each have two copies of the non-Experienced Kakita Kaiten in play. Allen has the Experienced Kakita Kaiten face-up in a Province. He brings the Experienced Kaiten into play, laying him over his Kaiten. The Experienced Kaiten has the earlier card's Jade Bow, Medium Infantry, and duel Reaction, as well as the +1F/+1C bonus and Unicorn Clan alignment from an Oath of Fealty played earlier, plus the Battle action on the Experienced Kaiten. If Cindy's copy of the Experienced Kaiten shows up, she cannot bring him into play, though she can still bring out a non-Experienced version. If Cindy destroys Allen's Experienced Kaiten in battle, she gains 8 Honor (2 for each card: Jade Bow, Medium Infantry, non-Experienced Kaiten, and Experienced Kaiten) and can bring her Experienced Kaiten into play during her Dynasty Phase.
When you have an overlaid card, none of the cards in the stack except for the top one count as being "in play" or affect play in any way, with one exception: if an overlaid card is destroyed in the resolution of a battle, the opposing player gains honor for every card in the stack. If an overlaid card leaves play, remove all cards but the top one from the game. Keep them handy for reference, though, since the top card still has the bottom cards' abilities.
Copying
Some cards can copy other cards' statistics or abilities. When copying a stat, set the copying card's stat to exactly the current value being copied (see "Bonuses and Penalties"). This happens instantaneously. If the copied stat changes later, the stat on the card that copied it does not change likewise.
If a copied ability is lost, remove from the game any tokens it created and end any effect it produced whose duration depends on its own card (like "while this card remains bowed"). All other effects created by copied abilities have normal durations.
No card may copy any aspect of itself.
Example: Shosuro Turaki can copy another Personality's Force, Chi, or one ability until the start of her controller's next turn. Allen's Experienced 2 Hoshi Wayan (3F/4C) has a Crystal Katana (+2C), so Wayan is 3F/6C. Bob's Shosuro Turaki (1F/1C) has a Naginata (+1F/+2C), so she is 2F/3C. Turaki can copy:
- Wayan's Force, becoming 3F;
- Wayan's Chi, becoming 6C;
- Wayan's ability to gain a Tattoo token, or
- Wayan's ability to destroy one of his Tattoo tokens to increase a Force bonus he receives.
If Turaki copies Wayan's Chi and then Wayan loses his Crystal Katana, Turaki's Chi does not also drop by 2. Regardless of what she copies, if Turaki loses her own Naginata afterward, she loses 1F and 2C from her new stats. If she copies and then uses Wayan's ability to gain a Tattoo token, that token goes away at the start of Bob's next turn when Turaki's ability to make them is lost.
Self-Referential Cards
If a card's text refers to its card by name, it refers only to that one card, not to any other cards with that name in play. If another card copies an ability that refers to its card's name, the title in the copy changes to match the title of the card gaining the copied ability.
Costs and Effects
You can bow a Gold-producing card (a card that says it "produces" Gold) at any time to pay a Gold cost. You cannot produce Gold unless you are paying a cost. You can bow multiple cards consecutively to produce larger Gold amounts, but you cannot pay two or more Gold costs at a time with one Gold source. For example, the Silk Works, which produces 4 Gold, cannot pay for a 3-Gold-cost Item and a 1-Gold-cost Follower. You can bring only one card into play at a time; the Emperor taxes any excess Gold, and you lose it.
You may deliberately produce and pay more Gold than you need to pay a cost, even a cost of 0.
Many costs appear in action text. You pay an action's costs, then its effects happen. Any costs of the action will be described as costs or will be followed by "to" or "for". Everything else the action does is an effect. For the action below, "Bow one of your Personalities" and "discard a card from your hand" are costs, and "Bow another player's Personality" and "Lose 1 Honor" are effects.
Limited: Bow one of your Personalities and discard a card from your hand to bow another player's Personality. Lose 1 Honor.
An action with multiple targets creates one effect per target. For example, if an action creates multiple Ranged Attacks, each attack is one effect of the action.
If an effect does not say how long it lasts, it wears off when the current turn ends. Swearing fealty is permanent. Dishonor is permanent. Effects of Immediate Terrains last only while the Terrain is in play. Effects from tokens last as long as the tokens last, which is normally permanent. Effects that last until a certain card straightens also end if that card leaves play.
"Permanent" is just a shorthand way of saying "until the end of the game." It does not mean that the change can never be undone.
Effects on a card do not end prematurely if the card is destroyed, discarded, or even sent back into its owner's hand or deck. They last as long as they would have, had the card remained in play.
A duration that spans multiple turns (like "three turns from now") counts the current player's turns only.
Some actions are performed by cards in play as well as by a player. To determine who performs an action, follow the first rule below that applies:
- Actions on a Personality or Follower are performed by that card.
- Actions on an Item, Spell, or Ancestor are performed by its Personality.
- Actions which involve one or more Personalities or Followers in their cost, such as requiring them to bow or become dishonored, or which require targeting your own Personalities or Followers who meet certain conditions, such as being a Shugenja or a Tactician or having a Chi above 2, are performed by those cards.
- Actions which issue a challenge from one of their own Personalities are performed by the challenger.
- All other actions are performed only by their player.
Tokens
Many cards allow you to place tokens, which are permanent. Some tokens are described as "#F/#C," where "#" is a change to the Force or Chi of the card with the token. For example, a card with a +1F/+2C token gains +1 Force and +2 Chi, and a card with a –3F token has –3 Force and no Chi modifier. Other tokens, like "Lobby" and "Storage" tokens, simply have a name and do not grant any bonuses by themselves.
Some effects create Follower tokens. Follower tokens are considered cards as well as tokens in every way. No other type of token counts as a card.
If a card leaves play in any way, remove its tokens (including Follower tokens) from the game. Tokens never go into the discard pile.
The cost of an action that creates a token is a separate number from the token's gold cost itself, which is typically 0.
Example 1: Block Supply Lines sends home one attacking unit, bowed. Since there can be any number of attacking units, Block Supply Lines sometimes requires a choice. This means Block Supply Lines is targeted, even during battles where there is only one attacking unit and there is no real choice what to play it on.
Example 2: Along the Coast at Midnight gives a trait to all of your Personalities and Followers. Never is a choice involved, so it is not targeted.
Canceling Actions and Negating Effects
If an action or Event is canceled, the entire thing is stopped. It does not successfully resolve. The attempt to use it does not count against any maximum number of uses per game/turn/battle/etc., although for actions, the failed attempt still counts as its player's one opportunity to act before play passes to the left. No costs are refunded. A canceled Action card goes to the discard pile.
One or more of an action or Event's individual effects can also be negated. All effects of an action or Event are separate, and all the ones that are not negated still occur. (Exception: if a card is "sent home bowed" and the movement is prevented or negated, do not bow the card.) A card or action is still considered to have been successfully taken even if all of its effects are negated.
If all or part of the cost of using an action or bringing a card into play is prevented, the player trying to take the action or play the card may either use further resources to complete the payment or allow the attempt to be canceled. If canceled, the player returns the card to where it came from and does not receive a refund on any remaining costs, Gold or otherwise, already paid. If the action of attaching a card is canceled, the same thing happens: the player returns the card being attached to where he played it from and does not receive a refund for any costs paid for it.
If a card or action is canceled after it has already produced some effects, do not undo those effects. If a card is destroyed after all costs (if any) of its effects have been paid but before all its effects resolve, all remaining effects still occur.
Targeting and Redirection
Some actions are targeted, meaning some aspect of them is aimed at a particular recipient. Targeted actions can sometimes have their aim directed elsewhere or be prohibited from directing their aim at certain cards. An action targets something if it uses the word "target" or if any player sometimes has to choose what it affects. If no player, under any circumstance, has to choose what gets affected, the action is not targeted.
You can redirect an action or effect only to something else it could have targeted originally. On the other hand, you are free to choose any of its player's other original possible targets, ignoring restrictions on what you are allowed to target. Should you redirect an action, treat it as though it had been aimed at its new target all along. You cannot redirect untargeted actions or actions that give no choice for their target (such as a card that "targets your Stronghold"). You cannot redirect costs, either.
You cannot announce a targeted action if a legal target does not exist. You must choose all targets when you announce an action, before you begin paying any costs. (Delayed Terrains are an exception to this rule because they do not resolve right away.)
Cards not in play may not be targeted.
An action's costs or effects can make it targeted. Kihos, for example, target their casters. Targets for an action can sometimes be chosen by a player other than the one taking the action.
Deciding which action to use or which card to play is not a targeting decision.
An effect that targets a face-down card may target any such card, including one not in play. An effect that targets a unit also targets the Personality leading it, and vice-versa.
Actions
During the game, you (and some of your cards) can take actions. Action cards are the only cards from your hand that you play for immediate effect. You must bring all other types of Fate cards into play before you can use their actions, and you use their actions separately from bringing them into play. There are four types of actions: Limited actions, Open actions, Battle actions, and Reactions (see below).
Each action must completely resolve before any player may play another action (other than a specifically-worded Reaction). You cannot, for example, take an Open action to raise the Chi of a Personality as he enters a duel.
Limited Actions
You can use Limited actions (those with the "Limited" indicator) only during your own Action Phase.
Open Actions
You can use Open actions (those with the "Open" indicator) during any player's Action Phase and any Battle Action Segment. Open actions do not become Battle actions when played during battle. Not every Open action is legal in every battle — see "Battle Action Segment" for the rules on what actions you can use during the Battle Action Segment, and under what conditions.
Battle Actions
You can use these actions (those with the "Battle" indicator) only during a Battle Action Segment, though it can be on any player's turn. Not every Battle action is legal in every battle — see "Battle Action Segment" for the rules on what actions you can use during the Battle Action Segment, and under what conditions.
Reactions
Reactions (actions with the "Reaction" indicator) can interrupt other actions. They are not restricted to being taken in certain Phases like other actions; instead, a Reaction has a trigger to which it reacts, and you take it when that trigger happens. If you are going to take a Reaction, you must take it as soon as its trigger occurs.
Players may react to Reactions. All players may react to the same trigger in turn until everybody passes consecutively. You may react as many times as you like to any trigger, but remember that you can't take your second Reaction until everyone else has had a chance to take one, and that sometimes a Reaction changes the trigger in such a way that further Reactions aren't legal. Also, each printed instance of a Reaction can be used only once per trigger. (It's legal to use multiple identical Reactions if they all come from different physical cards.)
If more than one player wishes to take Reactions at the same time, first consider the exact wording of the Reactions. A Reaction taken "before" its trigger, for example, must always be played before one taken "after" its trigger. If the Reactions have the same wording regarding when they're taken, the chance to react first goes to the player to the left of the one who caused the trigger. For things like the beginning of a phase, treat the active player — the one whose turn it is — as the one who caused the trigger.
Taking a Reaction does not take up an "action" for determining players' order of acting during the Action Phase or Battle Action Segment.
If a Reaction changes an action's target so that the target no longer meets the action's targeting requirements, the action does not affect that target.
Sequence of Play in Detail
This section covers a turn's phases, summarized in "Sequence of Play: A Quick First Glance." They also appear on the back of this rulebook for easy reference.
1. Straighten Phase
Straighten your Stronghold and all of your cards in play.
2. Events Phase
Do the following for each of your Provinces, going from left to right:
- If there is a face-down card in the Province, turn it face-up.
- If the card in the Province is an Event, it immediately resolves if a copy has not resolved previously this game. Then, whether it resolves or not, discard it, replace it with your Dynasty deck's top card, face-down, and skip to the next Province.
- If the card in the Province is a Region, you may immediately pay any costs and bring it into play attached to the Province if the attachment is legal. If the Region is legal and has no costs (and most do not), you must bring it into play. If you do not bring the Region into play, discard it and replace it with your Dynasty deck's top card, face-down.
3. Action Phase
Starting with the active player and going clockwise, each player must either take a single action or pass. The active player may take Limited and Open actions; all other players may take Open actions only (and all players may play some Reactions — see "Reactions"). Players may take these actions both as Action cards from their hands and on cards in play. The following things are other Limited actions the active player may take:
- Attach an Ancestor, Follower, Item, or Spell to one of his Personalities. This targets the Personality.
- Move attached cards between two or more of his unbowed Personalities, bowing the Personalities first as a cost. This targets every card bowed and moved.
- Once per turn, lobby for the Imperial Favor (see "Lobbying for the Imperial Favor").
The Action Phase continues until all players pass consecutively. A player who passes may take an action later that phase if the opportunity reaches him again, but he cannot "go back" and take one last action if the phase ends before that point, because everyone else passed.
4. Attack Phase (Optional)
This phase has five segments:
- Declaration Segment
- Infantry Maneuvers Segment
- Cavalry Maneuvers Segment
- Battle Action Segment
- Resolution Segment
You are not required to attack. You can attack only once per turn, and you can attack only one opponent per attack. You can only attack a player's Provinces; you cannot attack a Stronghold or Personalities directly.
A section on Terrains follows the "Battle Action Segment" section, and a section about things that happen after a battle follows the "Resolution Segment" section. For an example Attack Phase, see "Allen, Bob, and Cindy Go to War: A Sample Attack Phase."
4.1. Declaration Segment
Declare which player you are attacking. That player is the Defender. You are the Attacker.
The Attacker and then the Defender may now invite other players to assist them in the upcoming battle, as attacking or defending allies. They may invite as many or as few of the other players as they wish, including players already invited by the other side.
During the Maneuvers Segments, a player invited to ally may assign any number of his own units to the armies of the inviting player. A player need not ally if asked. A player may ally only if invited and cannot ally with both the Attacker and the Defender in the same Attack Phase. When first invited, players need not state their intentions to send units; they may remain silent or may lie about their intentions.
A player who allies gains 2 Honor when he first assigns at least one unit during a Maneuvers Segment. A player may gain this Honor only once per Attack Phase. A player cannot gain this Honor by moving a unit into an army once battles begin.
4.2. Infantry Maneuvers Segment
There are two basic types of units: Infantry and Cavalry. Personalities and Followers are Infantry unless they have the Cavalry trait. A Personality and his attached Followers must all have the Cavalry trait for the unit to be Cavalry. Infantry units which do not assign during this segment may not assign at all.
Each Cavalry unit may also assign in this segment, or it can wait for the Cavalry Maneuvers Segment. Players cannot assign units led by bowed Personalities. Once a unit is assigned to a battle, it cannot voluntarily go home or move to another battle.
The Attacker declares which, if any, units attack and assigns them simultaneously to the Defender's Provinces in any combination.
Once the Attacker assigns units, other players may become attacking allies, if the Attacker invited them to do so during the Declaration Segment. Starting with the player to the Attacker's left and going clockwise, each invited player has one chance to likewise assign one or more of his units to attack the Defender's Provinces, simultaneously and in any combination, regardless of where the Attacker and other allies have already assigned their units.
Example: Allen attacks Bob; both invite Cindy and David to ally. Allen assigns two Infantry units to Province 1 and one to Province 2. Cindy joins the attack, assigning an Infantry unit to attack Province 3. She gains 2 Honor.
Next, the Defender declares which units defend and which Province each unit defends. Again, the Defender can assign units to his own Provinces in any combination, including no units at all and regardless of where players have assigned attacking units.
Once the Defender assigns units, other players may become defending allies, if the Defender invited them to do so during the Declaration Segment. Starting with the player to the Defender's left and going clockwise, each invited player has one chance to likewise assign one or more units to defend the Defender's Provinces.
Example: Bob assigns an Infantry unit to defend Province 1. David joins the defense, assigning one Infantry unit to defend Province 1 and one Infantry unit to defend Province 2. He gains 2 Honor.
4.3. Cavalry Maneuvers Segment
This segment immediately follows the Infantry Maneuvers Segment and follows the same process, except that players can assign only Cavalry units to attack or defend. This is the last chance for an invited player to ally and the last chance for any player to "assign" units; any units joining a battle after this point "move" into the battle instead.
Example: Allen assigns a Cavalry unit to attack Province 4. Cindy also assigns a Cavalry unit to attack Province 4. She already gained Honor for allying (see the example above), so she does not gain it again.
4.4. Battle Action Segment
Once players assign all of the chosen units to battle, the battles begin. One battle occurs at each of the Defender's Provinces, whether the Province has units assigned to it or not. (Card effects might allow units to enter unitless battles.) The last two segments of the Action Phase, Battle Action and Resolution, resolve separately for each battle; the Attacker determines the order in which battles are handled as the Attack Phase progresses.
Once the Attacker has chosen a battle to resolve, the Battle Action Segment begins. Starting with the Defender and going clockwise, each player must either take one Open action, take one Battle action, or pass (see "Actions"). The Battle Action Segment continues until all players pass consecutively.
Actions have extra restrictions during the Battle Action Segment. Even if an action is of an appropriate type to be played during the Attack Phase, it must satisfy all of the relevant restrictions below, or it is not legal. The exact same rules apply equally to both Battle and Open actions during the Attack Phase.
- A player can take a Battle or Open action only if he is involved in the current battle. This is called the Rule of Presence. To satisfy this condition, the player must either:
- Currently have at least one unit in the battle, or
- Gain a unit in the battle as an unconditional result of the action (for example, using Tireless Assault to move one of his own units from his home into the current, empty army).
- A player can take only Battle and Open actions associated with the current battle. This is called the Rule of Relevance. In particular, the action needs to satisfy at least one of the following conditions:
- It comes from a card or token at the battle.
- It moves or creates a card or token in the battle.
- It targets or directly affects a card or token in the battle, the Province under attack, or the battle itself.
- A player can take an action that refers to an "opposing" card or "this battle," or that includes an implicating phrase such as "another attacking card" or "the Province this card is defending," only if the card on which the action is printed is in the current battle. This includes Fear (see "Creating Fear") and Ranged Attacks (see "Making Ranged Attacks"). Players can take actions without such a phrase no matter where their cards are located, provided they meet all other restrictions. This rule applies to all action types.
- A Terrain cannot be played if a Terrain is already in play.
- A player can take a Battle action on a Fortification or Region only during a battle at its own Province.
Example 1: Earthquake, a Spell, reads: "Elemental Earth Battle: Bow this Shugenja to bow an opposing Personality." The caster must be at the current battle to take this action.
Example 2: Burning Smoke, a Spell, reads: "Battle: Bow this Shugenja to give a Personality –4F." The Spell does not say "opposing Personality," so its caster can cast it from outside of a battle. If the caster does so, however, he must cast it on someone in the battle, to satisfy the Rule of Relevance. If the caster wants to cast it on someone outside of the battle, he must be in the battle to do so.
Units may move into Provinces whose battles have already resolved.
A player can move units into another player's army only if (1) the second player invited the first to ally and (2) the first player has not had any units in the second player's opponent's army at any time during this Attack Phase.
Terrains
Terrains are a special type of Action card that reflect the ground over which the armies fight and the many tactics they employ to use it to their advantage. As such, only one Terrain can be in play for a battle at a time.
Terrains stay in play until destroyed, which can happen because of a card effect, because they get "replaced," or when the battle ends.
Terrains fall into two different categories: Immediate and Delayed. Immediate Terrains take effect when played, just like any other Action card, but their effects end when they are destroyed. Delayed Terrains, on the other hand, do not take effect until immediately before the Battle Action Segment ends (though they still prevent players from playing other Terrains) and their effects have normal durations (typically, until the turn ends). Since the battle doesn't end until all players pass, players typically cannot take Open or Battle actions after a Delayed Terrain resolves.
4.5. Resolution Segment
The Attacker and the Defender add up the Force totals of all of their units to determine the winner of the battle. These totals are calculated once and once only for each battle. Destroying or changing the Forces of cards in the battle after these totals are computed has no effect on the battle's outcome.
The Force of a unit is the Force of its Personality plus the total Force of all of its Followers. A partially or completely bowed unit fights at less than peak effectiveness. Its total Force might be lower based on the following rules. These rules hold true any time at which you need to know a unit's or army's Force total, not just during battle resolution:
- A bowed Follower does not add its Force to its unit.
- No cards add to the Force of a unit when the unit's Personality is bowed, giving the unit a total Force of 0.
- Being bowed does not affect any Follower or Ancestor bonuses with a "+" sign or Item bonuses of any kind, since these already add directly to the Personality's stats instead of to the unit's.
- Being bowed does not affect total Chi.
Being bowed does not change a card's own Force. It alters only unit and army Force totals. Effects that work with the Force of an individual card, such as ranged attacks, use that card's actual Force whether it's bowed or not.
If the Defender's Force total exceeds the Attacker's:
Destroy all attacking units. The Defender gains Honor equal to twice the number of cards just destroyed in the attacking army. Every card counts, including Follower tokens (but no other type of token, since only Follower tokens count as cards), "non-military" cards like Spells, and less-experienced cards under Experienced ones. Cards destroyed earlier in the battle do not count for this gain.
If the Attacker's Force total equals the Defender's:
If both sides have units left in the battle, destroy all units in the battle, even if the Force totals are both 0. (Do not destroy an unopposed army with a Force total of 0.) The Attacker and Defender each gain Honor equal to the number of cards just destroyed in the other's army.
If the Attacker's Force total exceeds the Defender's:
Destroy all defending units. The Attacker gains Honor equal to twice the number of cards just destroyed in the defending army.
If the attacking army's Force total exceeds (not equals) the defending Force total plus the Province's Strength, destroy the Province and all cards attached to it at the same time as the defending army. Put any cards that were in a Province into the discard pile and slide the neighboring Provinces together to close the gap. The Attacker does not gain Honor for destroying Provinces or the cards attached to them.
Honor gained from a battle is a single Honor gain, regardless of the number of cards destroyed. The gain always goes to the Attacker or Defender (or both, in a tie), no matter how much of the army consists of his own units and how much of it is allies'.
If, during the Resolution Segment, one side has no units left in the battle, the battle is not a "victory" over an opposing army. This is true even if the defending army is the one absent and the Attacker has sufficient Force to destroy the Province. There is no winner or loser, and the player with units gains no victory bonuses. Battle resolution is the only time the phrase "destroying an army" is satisfied.
The battle has now resolved. All surviving attacking and allied units (including defending allies) return to their controllers' homes, bowed. The Defender's units do not bow; they remain in their Provinces until the Attack Phase ends.
If this is the very last battle of the Attack Phase, any attacking and allied units that moved into other Provinces and are still there go home bowed now as well.
Other Battle Rules
- Some effects allow players to act before the Defender, including "before the Defender's first action," "before any other actions," and "immediately after a battle begins." The player to the Attacker's left has the first chance to take one of these, then other players may take them, going clockwise.
- A reference to "an opponent" in relation to a battle means "a player with units in the opposing army." A reference to "your opponent" or "the opponent" in this context means either "the Attacker" or "the Defender," as appropriate, regardless of whether or not the player has units present.
- An action which refers to "this battle" always refers to the battle currently being resolved. In addition, if the card it appears on is of a type which can be in battles (such as a Personality), the card must be in the current battle for the action to be legal.
After the Battle
The battle has now resolved, or perhaps a card's effect ended it without resolution. Either way, destroy any Terrain still in play for the battle (even indestructible Terrains). Players may now take Reactions to the resolution or end of battle.
If other battles have not yet resolved, the Attacker chooses one of them and another Battle Action Segment and Resolution Segment occur. Otherwise, the Attack Phase is over.
5. Dynasty Phase
You may bring face-up Holdings and Personalities into play from your Provinces during this phase. You must satisfy each card's requirements and pay its costs. After you bring into play all of the cards you want, you can discard any or all face-up cards still in your Provinces, signaling the end of your Dynasty Phase.
Once you bring a card into play or discard one from a Province, immediately fill the Province with a face-down card from the top of your Dynasty deck. If you have no cards left in your Dynasty deck, place a marker in the Province to remind yourself and the other players that the Province has not been destroyed. If you somehow get cards in your Dynasty deck again, refill empty Provinces from left to right. You incur no penalty when you run out of cards — except, of course, that you can't bring any more into play! No player may take Limited, Open, or Battle actions during the Dynasty Phase.
6. End Phase
Draw the top card from your Fate deck and add it to your hand, unless the deck is depleted. If this puts you above your maximum hand size of eight cards, discard cards of your choice to bring you back down to your maximum hand size. To signal the end of your turn, it is honorable to bow to the next player and say, "The table is yours."
Special Situations
Many cards involve special effects. These include the following:
Dishonor
Some effects dishonor Personalities. Rotate such a Personality 180 degrees to indicate his shame. Dishonored Personalities have a 0 Personal Honor at all times; apply this change last, after all other modifications. Furthermore, Dishonored Personalities cannot bring Honor to their controller, including through battles or duels. A Dishonored Personality still creates Honor losses for his player normally.
If one or more Dishonored Personalities are involved in creating an Honor gain of at least 1 point for their controller, including winning a battle or duel (but excluding modifying a gain created by other cards), they reattain Honorable status instead of producing that gain. Other players involved in the situation with a Dishonored Personality are unaffected by the association and earn Honor normally. Special rules apply to the destruction of Dishonored Personalities (see "Destroying, Discarding, and Seppuku" below).
Example: An Honorable and a Dishonored Personality defend their Province during battle. The Defender wins the battle. The Defender does not gain Honor for destroyed cards, but the Dishonored Personality becomes Honorable.
Destroying, Discarding, and Seppuku
Destroyed and discarded cards leave play and go to their current controller's appropriate discard piles. A card that is "removed from the game" is completely removed and set far away in its own separate pile.
If a card is destroyed or removed from the game, do likewise to all non-token cards attached to it. If the main card leaves play in any other way, discard all those cards. In all cases, remove from the game all tokens that were on it.
If an Honorable (non-Dishonored) Personality is destroyed, he becomes Honorable Dead. Destroyed Dishonored Personalities become Dishonorable Dead. Some effects that deal with dead Personalities require that you know the distinction, so you need to keep track by storing them differently in your discard pile: store Honorable Dead sideways, like any other destroyed card; store Dishonorable Dead turned 180 degrees. Personalities discarded rather than destroyed are neither Honorable nor Dishonorable Dead.
Cards in your discard pile are never considered bowed. Destroyed cards are stored sideways only to differentiate them from discarded ones.
After a Dishonored Personality is destroyed, his controller suffers an Honor loss equal to the Personality's printed Personal Honor. If a Dishonored Personality is destroyed at the same time he is involved in an Honor gain (for example, when in an army at a tied battle), the gain restores him to Honorable status before he dies.
Sometimes Personalities may destroy themselves by committing seppuku. If this happens, the Personality dies honorably, with no Honor loss. Any dishonoring effect of the card or action that triggered the seppuku is negated, and the Personality becomes Honorable Dead regardless of whether or not he was Dishonored.
If one of your Personalities with the Samurai or Courtier trait causes you to lose Honor by performing an action, getting targeted by an action, or making a decision, you can order the Personality to commit seppuku in shame to lower the Honor loss to 1 point. This seppuku is not a Reaction; a Personality may do it even when bowed.
Challenging and Dueling
When you play a card that creates a challenge, choose one of your unbowed Personalities and another player's Personality to challenge. The challenged Personality normally may refuse the challenge with no penalty. If, and immediately after, the challenged Personality accepts, the two Personalities enter a duel. Two of your own Personalities can never challenge or become involved in a duel with each other.
Each player announces his Personality's current Chi. Starting with the challenged Personality, each Personality must either focus or strike. To have your Personality focus, place a card from your hand, called a Focus card, face-down. This card immediately grants your Personality a secret Chi bonus equal to its Focus value until the duel ends. Focus cards create no effects except the temporary Chi bonus. Play Reactions taken "instead of" or "as" Focus cards face-up.
The Personalities take turns focusing until one strikes. A player whose Personality cannot focus — perhaps because the player's hand is empty or because the Personality's own text forbids it — must strike.
To have your Personality strike, announce that your Personality strikes. Then resolve the duel by revealing all Focus cards and comparing the duelists' final Chi totals. The Personality with the higher Chi wins the duel. In case of a tie, both Personalities lose. In a standard duel, the loser dies. Discard all Focus cards when the duel ends.
Cards that create special effects when revealed as Focus cards don't resolve until someone strikes, even if they are focused or turned face-up during the duel.
If a duel ends without resolution, no one wins or loses and none of the duel's results occur. A duel ends without resolution if either duelist dies prior to resolution.
Sometimes a duel compares a stat other than Chi. During such a duel, focusing — and bonuses that add "as Focus cards" — add to the stat used for the duel. Effects that make no mention of adding as Focus cards always raise or lower Chi.
Casting Spells
Only Shugenja Personalities can attach and cast Spells. Shugenja cannot cast Spells while bowed, even if the Spell does not require bowing to cast.
For a Ritual Spell, a group of your Shugenja can bow together to weave the elements into powerful Spell effects. When performing a Ritual, the Shugenja with the Spell — the primary Shugenja — must participate in the Ritual. Any of your other Shugenja can bow to add any bonuses for casting the Spell. The primary Shugenja is the only Shugenja considered to be casting the Spell; he is the only one entitled to Spell-related bonuses and the only one targetable by Spell-related Reactions. All Shugenja bowing to perform a Ritual during a Battle Action Segment must be at the same location, whether it be at a battle or in your home.
Some Followers are Shugenja as well. Any card with the Shugenja trait can satisfy any card or rules reference to Shugenja, unless the reference specifically calls for a Shugenja Personality. For example, Shugenja Followers may bow to participate in Rituals but cannot cast Spells (because only Personalities can attach Spells).
Making Ranged Attacks
Some cards have the ability to make ranged attacks. A ranged attack must target a single card opposing the card or cards making the ranged attack: either a Follower or a Personality with no Followers. Ranged attacks cannot target Provinces or types of cards other than Followers and Personalities. A ranged attack destroys its target card if its strength (which may be 0) is greater than or equal to its target's Force. Excess strength yields no extra benefit. If the strength is less than the target's Force, nothing happens.
Two or more cards in the same unit can combine ranged attacks as a single action, adding their strengths together. The combined actions' types must all be the same, and the cards must all be able to make a ranged attack at that time and at the intended target. Each card may add only one attack to the total; a card cannot combine ranged attacks with itself. A combined ranged attack acquires the traits of all of the ranged attacks comprising it.
Example: Allen bows his Archers for their Ranged 3 Attack, which destroys Bob's 2F Light Cavalry. On his turn, Bob bows one of his Samurai for a Ranged 3 Attack and the Samurai's attached Spearmen for a Ranged 2 Attack, to create a Ranged 5 Attack that destroys one of Allen's Samurai, who has 4 Force and no Followers. Neither of Bob's ranged attacks could have destroyed the Samurai by themselves.
Creating Fear
Some cards can create Fear as a Battle action. Each Fear action can be taken once per battle and does not bow the card with the Fear ability. To create Fear, target another unit in the same battle as the card with the Fear ability. Each Follower in the target unit with Force less than or equal to the Fear strength (which may be 0) bows. Multiple cards cannot combine Fear strengths. Fear does not affect Undead cards.
Lobbying for the Imperial Favor
The Imperial Favor represents the efforts of the Emperor or the Imperial Court to exert influence on behalf of current court favorites. Once per turn, as a Political Limited action, you can lobby for the Imperial Favor. You can lobby only if you have more Family Honor than each other player (though you don't have to have more than 0) and if you do not already have the Imperial Favor. To lobby, target and bow one of your Personalities with over 0 Personal Honor and announce that you are lobbying. The Imperial Favor is now yours, and you can use it for effects that require you to discard it. Take the object you are using to represent the Imperial Favor and place it in front of you to remind everyone that you now have it.
Special Traits
Many cards have one or more of these special traits.
Double Chi
Some Personalities have tremendous strength of mind and spirit. Such a Personality has the Double Chi trait, which causes the Personality's Focus cards played during a duel to add their Focus values twice (even in a duel that does not involve Chi).
Naval
If every Personality and Follower in only one army has the Naval trait, then immediately after that battle is chosen for resolution, the Naval army's leader — either the Attacker or the Defender — may elect to make the battle a naval invasion. If so:
- If the attacking army is the Naval one, the Attacker gets the first option of playing a Battle or Open action (or passing), and play then proceeds in turn order from the Attacker, not from the Defender. (This rule does not apply if the Defender is the one making the battle a naval one.)
- Players with units in the Naval army may not play Terrains until after one of the other players passes or takes a Battle or Open action.
- No player may take actions (including Reactions) or bring cards into play between the start of the Battle Action Segment and the first Battle or Open action opportunity, except for Reactions to that action.
The decision to make a battle a naval invasion is made separately for each Province, and happens well before the Battle Action Segment. A naval invasion may not be declared by an empty army but may be declared against one. A naval invasion may not be declared if both armies are Naval.
Tactician
Some Personalities are masters of warfare, able to guide themselves and their troops to victory against the steepest opposition. Such Personalities have the Tactician trait, and are the only Personalities allowed to perform Tactical actions. A Personality may perform only one Tactical action per battle.
In additional to Tactical actions on cards, all players have available to them the following action:
Tactical Battle: Discard a card from your hand and target one of your Personalities to raise his Force by that card's Focus value.
Yu
The most capable followers of bushido are able to defeat their opponents even if it means their own death. This is represented in L5R by the Yu trait, which is always followed by a number.
If one or more cards with the Yu trait are in an army losing to another army during the resolution of a battle, each may destroy a Follower or a Personality with no Followers in the winning army with a Force less than or equal to the card's Yu value. Multiple cards may also combine their Yu values to destroy one card, but one card may not destroy multiple cards. This occurs immediately before the losing army is destroyed. Destroying cards in this way does not alter the outcome of the battle, and it does not earn the loser any Honor. Using the Yu trait is not an action. The Attacker or Defender makes all decisions for all Yu values in his army, and can use the traits in any order.
When giving a bonus to the Yu value of a card who does not have the trait, permanently give the Samurai "Yu 0" first, then add the bonus.
Example: It's the end of a battle where Sarah is attacking Jim. Sarah has three units: a 5F ogre, a 3F samurai, and a 2F shugenja with a 1F Follower. Jim has two samurai with Yu values of 3 and 2. Jim's army is losing this battle, so during resolution, he can: 1) Use his Yu 3 samurai to destroy Sarah's samurai and his Yu 2 samurai to destroy her shugenja's Follower. 2) Have his samurai work together to destroy Sarah's ogre.
Jim can also, of course, use his Yu values in less efficient ways, or only use some of them, or not use any at all.
One thing Jim can't do is use just one samurai to destroy Sarah's shugenja directly. He must use one to destroy the shugenja's Follower first, then destroy the shugenja with the other.
Allen, Bob, and Cindy Go to War: A Sample Attack Phase
When his Attack Phase begins, Allen declares an attack against Cindy. Both Allen and Cindy invite Bob to ally with them. During the Infantry Maneuvers Segment, Allen assigns his Ogre Bushi (6F/4C) to attack Cindy's leftmost Province, which has a strength of 6. Bob wants to help attack, but he holds back on assigning any of his Cavalry units so he can see how Cindy plans to defend first. Cindy assigns her Togashi Teijo (3F/3C), who has a Dai Tsuchi (+3F/+0C), and her Tamori Chieko (1F/3C), who has Ashigaru Archers (0F), to defend her leftmost Province. During the Cavalry Maneuvers Segment, Bob sees that Allen may have some trouble and decides to help by assigning his Shinjo Shirasu (3F/2C) with a Daikyu (+0F/+0C) and some Light Mounted Infantry (1F) to attack the same Province. Bob now gains 2 Honor for allying.
Now that all units are assigned, Allen, being the Attacker, decides which battle will be fought first. He chooses the one with all the units. The battle begins, with an initial total of 10 Force on the attacking side and 7 on the defending side.
The Battle Action Segment begins. Cindy, being the Defender, has the first opportunity to act. She begins by bowing her Ashigaru Archers for a Ranged 2 Attack against Bob's Light Mounted Infantry. The Light Mounted Infantry only has 1 Force, so the ranged attack destroys it. Since the Ashigaru Archers are bowed, they no longer add their Force to their unit — but since they have 0 Force to begin with, this is no real loss.
Allen sits on Cindy's left, so he gets the next action. The attacking army is still ahead, but Allen is greedy. He wants to destroy the Province as well as Cindy's army, so he plays Destiny Has No Secrets on his Ogre, raising it to an impressive 8F/6C. Allen also has to show the rest of his hand to play that action, and he does so, revealing that the one card left in his hand is another Destiny.
Bob is not as greedy as Allen. He sees the attacking army is ahead, and is comfortable with that. He passes.
Cindy does not pass. She plays Twisted Forest from her hand. Twisted Forest is a Delayed Terrain that will reduce the Force of Allen's Ogre to 0 just before the battle resolves. That will give the attacking army only 3F.
Play moves to Allen, who finds himself shy of options. He could play his second Destiny Has No Secrets on his Ogre, raising it to 10F, but that would still be reduced to 0 because of when Delayed Terrains resolve. If Destiny were playable on any Personality, he could play it on Shirasu and help his ally out, but Destiny's wording only allows him to play it on his own Personalities. Allen saves the second Destiny for another turn and reluctantly passes.
Bob, fortunately, has a trick up his sleeve. He bows his Daikyu for a Ranged 3 Attack at Togashi Teijo, then reacts by paying 1 Gold to play Tsuruchi Technique and raise that attack's strength by 3. This gives him a total of 6, which is just enough to destroy Teijo. Now, even if no one gets rid of Twisted Forest, the attacking army will still outforce the defenders by 3 to 1.
But Cindy is not out of tricks. She bows Chieko, who happens to be a Shugenja, to play the Kiho Fist of the Earth and "bow an opposing Follower or an opposing Personality without Followers" — in this case, Shirasu. Now neither unit will add any Force to their armies, which is a bigger loss for the 3F Shirasu than for the 1F Chieko.
It's back to Allen, who is still in as bad a position as he was before. Allen passes. So does Bob, and then Cindy, because they are out of useful actions. Twisted Forest resolves, reducing the Ogre's Force to 0, and then the Resolution Segment begins.
On the attacking side, we have a 0F Ogre Bushi and a bowed Shinjo Shirasu, who adds no Force to the army. On the defending side, we have a bowed Tamori Chieko, who also adds no Force. The battle is a tie! All remaining cards in both armies are destroyed. Cindy gains 3 Honor for the three cards in the attacking army at the end of battle, and Allen gains 2 Honor for the two cards in the defending army. Since the attacking army did not outforce the defending one by more than 6 points, the 6-strength Province is not destroyed.
The battle is now resolved. Cindy puts her Twisted Forest into her discard pile. If Allen or Bob had any surviving units, they would now return to their controllers' homes, bowed. If any of Cindy's units had survived, they would have remained at that Province until the entire Attack Phase was over.
After conducting very brief, uneventful battles at Cindy's other Provinces, the Attack Phase ends and Allen moves into his Dynasty Phase.
Optional Rules
Many standards of play include one or more of these optional rules.
Alternate Starting Method
Players add the Focus value of a random cut from their Fate decks to their Starting Family Honor before determining who will go first. In the event of a tie, the tied players continue to cut and add to their running totals until one player is highest. These increases are only used to determine who goes first; no actual Honor is gained.
Diamond Storyline Simulation
To play a game that echoes the events in the Diamond Edition storyline, follow these restrictions: Use only cards and Strongholds printed with the Rokugani symbol for "diamond" in the lower left corner. For the most part, this limits you to cards that appear in Diamond Edition, and later expansions. In the case of cards reprinted from earlier sets, you may use either old or new copies, but remember that the second Cardinal Rule is always in effect. In the case of "Soul of…" Personalities, copies of the original Personality or a different "Soul of…" with the same original may also be used; however, they are played by the latest incarnation's printing in all ways, including all changes to stats, abilities, and title.
Glossary
ability — Text on a card or Stronghold or from the rulebook prefaced by "Limited," "Battle," "Open," or "Reaction." Synonymous with "action."
active player — The player whose turn it is.
army — One or more units either attacking or defending a Province. All units on one side are one army, regardless of who controls them.
assign — Order to attack or defend a Province during a Maneuvers Segment. Different from moving.
bow — Turn a card sideways to indicate that it cannot use its sections or be assigned to battle.
caster — The Shugenja or Monk performing an action on a Spell or Kiho. For Rituals, only the primary Shugenja is the caster.
Cavalry — A unit in which the Personality and all attached Followers have the Cavalry trait. A player can assign a Cavalry unit to a battle during the Cavalry Maneuvers Segment (as well as during Infantry Maneuvers). If any Follower or the Personality does not have the Cavalry trait, the unit is Infantry.
challenge — Invite another Personality to duel. A duel does not begin unless and until the challenged Personality accepts the challenge. A player's own Personalities cannot challenge each other.
Chi — A Personality's inner strength. This value determines how well a Personality can duel and the strength of many magical effects the Personality can produce. A Personality dies if his Chi drops to 0.
conditional — Dependent upon another player's decision.
consecutive — Targeted and resolved one at a time. When effects such as ranged attacks occur consecutively, you wait until each one resolves before picking a target for the next.
controller — The only player who may use a card's abilities or assign it to battle. A card's controller is the player who brought it into play, unless a card or rule states otherwise. A Personality's controller controls all cards in that unit.
Courtier — A Personality adept at the politics of the Imperial Court.
Creature — An animal-like character. Cards printed with the Mujina or Ratling trait are Creatures. All Creatures are Nonhuman.
Diplomat — See Courtier.
dishonor — Invert to signify shame.
Double Chi — A trait causing cards focused by its Personality in a duel to add their Focus values twice to the duel's statistic.
draw — Take the top card of your deck into your hand.
Elemental effect — An effect closely tied to the five elements that make up the world. There are no special rules for creating Elemental effects.
Elemental Rings — Cards that represent the five elements that make up all things: Air, Earth, Fire, the Void, and Water.
Enlightenment Victory — Winning the game by having all five Elemental Rings in play.
face-down — The orientation of all cards in a player's Fate and Dynasty decks, as well as unrevealed Dynasty cards in players' Provinces and cards in players' hands. Some effects allow you to play cards face-down as well.
Faction — A group of families and other characters united by a common cause or leader. A Faction's alignment trait might not contain the word "Clan," and a trait with the word "Clan" might not be a Faction. See also Minor Clan.
Family Honor — Your running Honor total influenced by actions in the game. Family Honor represents the esteem in which the people of Rokugan hold your family. If you ever have under –19 Family Honor, you immediately lose the game. If you begin your turn with 40 or more Family Honor, you win the game by an "Honor Victory."
Fear — An ability of some cards to panic opponents in battle. Fear bows all Followers with Force less than or equal to the Fear strength in one other target unit in the same battle. A card with a Fear ability can use it once per battle and does not bow to use it. Undead cards are immune to Fear.
fealty — Loyalty to a Faction. An action that gives one or more Personalities your Faction's trait, regardless of your Faction, is called "swearing fealty." Swearing fealty is a permanent change.
focus — Concentrate and build your Chi during a duel to defeat your opponent.
Force total — For a unit: The sum of the Force values of the Personality and all of his Followers. A bowed Follower does not add its Force, and a bowed Personality stops all the cards in the unit from adding Force, giving the unit a Force total of 0. For an army: The sum of the Force totals for its units.
Fortification — A Holding attached to the Province from which it came into play. Typically, a Fortification makes a Province harder to destroy. You cannot attach more than one copy of each Fortification to each Province. Unlike other Holdings, Fortifications do not enter play bowed.
Gold-producing Holding — A Holding that can "produce" Gold. A Holding that can only lower cards' Gold costs, "pay the entire Gold cost" of a card, or "put a card into play without Gold cost" is not a Gold-producing Holding.
hand — Cards drawn from a Fate deck but not yet played. Such cards are considered face-down.
home — The area of the table above a player's Provinces, containing the player's Stronghold, Holdings, and unassigned units.
Honor Victory — Winning the game by having 40 or more Family Honor when your turn begins.
Human — A Personality or Follower who is not Nonhuman. Many traits implicitly make a card Nonhuman, including Creature, Naga, and Oni.
immune — Unaffected by a given effect, although such effects may still target it. For example, Fear effects do not bow Followers that are immune to Fear.
Infantry — The default maneuverability for Personalities and Followers. A card is Infantry unless it has the Cavalry trait. A unit is Infantry unless the Personality and all attached Followers have the Cavalry trait.
innate ability — An ability on a Shugenja card. Abilities on other cards are not "innate." Innate abilities do not create Spell effects.
in the game — All cards owned by all players who have not yet been eliminated, including those in play, in decks, in discard piles, and in hands. Excludes only those which have been "removed from the game" or "discarded from play".
in turn — In the order in which players would normally play, usually decided by seating position and the standard clockwise progression of the game.
join — Come under control of. A Personality who will not join a player of a given Faction will not enter play from that player's Provinces, and such a player cannot take control of the Personality from another player.
Kiho — An Action card that creates Spell effects.
Maho — An effect based on evil practices forbidden by the Emperor. There are no special rules for creating Maho effects.
Military Victory — Winning the game by being the sole player remaining.
Minor Clan — A trait that includes the word "Clan" but isn't one of the Great Clans, such as "Boar Clan." Minor Clans do not count as Factions.
move — For a battle: Change location while a battle is being fought. Different from assigning, which is done before the battle.
Mujina — Trickster animals that have plagued the Empire for years. Mujina are Creatures.
non-Experienced — Without an Experienced or Inexperienced trait.
numeral — A number written using digits. The entire number, including any "+" or "–" sign, is one numeral.
Oni — Terrible monsters from the Shadowlands that have little use for concepts like honor. All Oni are Nonhuman and Shadowlands.
opposing — For a card or unit: In the opposite army from the card or unit. For a player: "An opposing player" is any player who controls opposing cards. "The opposing player" is either the Attacker or Defender, depending on whether you are on the Defender's side or on the Attacker's side, respectively.
opponent — In the general sense, any player other than yourself. For a duel: the other Personality or player in the duel. For a battle: see "opposing".
owner — The player whose deck a card was in when the game began, regardless of whether it is in play or who currently controls it. Cards and tokens created during the game are owned by their creator.
permanent(ly) — For the rest of the game. This does not mean the effect can never be negated, modified, or overwritten.
Personal Honor — A Personality's intrinsic honor. Different from Family Honor.
play deck — A player's Dynasty deck and Fate deck together.
Political action — An action that influences Rokugani politics. There are no special rules for taking Political actions.
primary Shugenja — The Shugenja to which a Ritual Spell being cast is attached. The primary Shugenja is the Ritual's only caster, regardless of how many other Shugenja also participate in the Ritual.
Province — An area on the table representing a family's ancestral territory. The goodwill and favors from your Provinces' people give you the opportunities represented by your Dynasty cards.
Province Strength — The maximum strength attack that a Province can survive. If an attacking army's extra Force in a battle exceeds the Strength of the Province it is attacking, the Province is destroyed, along with all cards in it and attached to it. A Faction's Stronghold lists the starting Strength of its Provinces.
Ranged X Attack — In a battle, an attack for which you bow a card with a Ranged Attack to destroy an opposing Follower, or Personality with no attached Followers, with Force less than or equal to X.
Ratling — A race of rodent-people from the area of the Shadowlands. Though not renowned for prowess in battle, Ratlings fight for a low price. Cards printed with the Ratling trait are Creatures.
Region — A card attached to and defining the Province from which it entered play. Regions reflect aspects of their Provinces' lands and grant special abilities. Each Province can have only one Region. All Regions that are not Unique are Singular.
remove from the game — Utterly removed from play, never to return. A card "removed from the game" does not go to the discard pile; set it aside in a new, separate pile. Removing a card from the game is not considered destruction.
requirement — With respect to bringing Personalities or Followers into play, shorthand for "Honor requirement."
restriction — An effect governing whether or not a player may bring a card into play.
Retainer — A Holding that represents a special resident of your fief. Retainers are not Personalities. They enter play bowed, like most Holdings.
Ritual — A type of Spell which multiple Shugenja may participate in casting.
seppuku — Ritual suicide that absolves a person of any past misdeeds. A Personality who dies from any seppuku card or effect always dies honorably and becomes Honorable Dead.
Shadowlands card — A card with the Shadowlands trait. Shadowlands characters live apart from the Empire, recognizing no law or code of ethics. Unlike with other Factions, the Shadowlands trait does not signify alignment with the Shadowlands Faction.
Shugenja — A magician/priest. Mastery of magic requires years of study and a strong Chi. Only a Personality with this trait can have Spells attached.
simultaneous (ranged attacks) — Targeted all at once, then resolved. You must select all targets for simultaneous ranged attacks before resolving any of them.
"Soul of…" — A Personality card functionally identical to another card already in print but that represents a different Personality in the storyline. "Soul of…" cards count together with their older cards against any deck construction card limits.
Spirit — Immaterial being. A Spirit is not Nonhuman (nor does it have any other unprinted trait) unless the card says so.
Singular — Limited to one in play by each player.
straighten — Turn a card upright to indicate that it is ready to take an action.
Stronghold — The card representing your family's ancestral home. It is not considered a card or a Holding. It lists your Starting Family Honor and your Provinces' Strength. Your Stronghold can bow to produce Gold or create effects.
Tactical — See Tactician.
Tactician — A renowned master of the battlefield. Only Tactician Personalities may perform Tactical actions. A Personality may perform one Tactical action per battle.
Terrain — A Battle action that determines the kind of land on which a battle is fought. You cannot play a Terrain if there is already one in play. Immediate Terrains resolve when played. Delayed Terrains resolve when the Battle Action Segment ends.
turn — The sequence of events from the time a player becomes the current player to the instant the player yields the table to the next player. A reference to a duration of one or more turns counts only the current player's turns.
Unaligned — Not affiliated with any of the Factions that have a significant presence in the courts of Rokugan. Any Personality with the Unaligned trait is an Unaligned Personality, no matter what other traits he has. "Unaligned" and "not aligned with any Faction" are not equivalent.
unconditional — See conditional.
Undead — A card with "Necromancer," "Skeletal," "Skeleton," "Undead," or "Zombie" in the title or boldfaced trait text. If a card is Undead, it is considered to have the Shadowlands trait as well (but not necessarily Nonhuman). Undead cards are immune to Fear.
unit — A Personality and all of the Personality's attached cards.
variable — Not known until the time it is used or needed. For example, the Gold cost of a card that allows its player to pay any amount of Gold for it is variable, while the Force of a Personality that depends on the number of Followers she has is not.
your — Controlled by you. (Cards not in play have no controller.)
Yu — "Heroic courage." The strength to fulfill one's duty even in death. Cards with the Yu trait may destroy opposing cards during the resolution of a battle that their army has just lost.
Rokugani Terms
While exploring Rokugan and its surrounding areas, you may encounter terms unfamiliar to you. This section should help you understand the world in which you now have a stake.
ashigaru — Peasant soldier.
Battle Maiden — One of an all-female group of cavalry samurai of the Unicorn Clan.
bushi — A warrior who follows the code of bushido, wherein honor holds more importance than life itself.
daimyo — Clan or family leader.
daisho — The twin swords of katana (sword) and wakizashi (short sword), worn only by samurai.
gempukku — Coming-of-age ritual.
Hantei — Historical family name of the line of emperors before Toturi.
Jigoku — The spirit realm of pure evil, intimately connected with the Shadowlands. Incorrectly used by commoners to refer to all spirit realms and afterlives.
Kaiu Wall — Great wall between Crab lands and the Shadowlands. Also known as the Carpenter Wall.
Kami — The eight brother and sister gods who originally founded the Great Clans, and their evil brother, Fu Leng.
kitsune — Fox spirit. Also a Fox Clan family name.
maho — Blood magic.
mon — Faction or family emblem.
Mujina — See Glossary.
Naga — A race of foreign, ancient snake-people from Rokugan's forests, now mostly in hibernation.
Nezumi — Another name for Ratling.
oni — See Glossary.
Osano-Wo — The Fortune of Thunder. Once a mortal Crab Clan samurai.
Otosan Uchi — Rokugan's historical capital city.
ronin — A samurai who has no master.
samurai — A member of the ruling warrior class, in turn ruled by the Code of Bushido.
sensei — Teacher and mentor.
seppuku — See Glossary.
Errata and Clarifications
The most recent English printing of a card, Stronghold, or rulebook overrules all other printings, which are considered to read identically to said printing. Starting with Gold Edition, you can tell the set to which a card belongs by the abbreviation before the illustrator credit. The abbreviation for Diamond Edition is "DE."
1,000 Years of Darkness
Gifts and Favors: You search your deck and face-down Provinces, and play the first Gifts and Favors you find. You lose the game if you find none. [MRP]
The Fall of Otosan Uchi
Private Dojo: You must bow Private Dojo to use the Reaction. [errata]
Tsuruchi Hiro: His Chi of 4 is a misprint. It should be 3. [MRP]
Vengeful Dead: Replace "another player's card effect" with "another player's Ninja, Kolat, or Assassin action." [errata]
Heaven & Earth
Kanashimi: Replace "After a player draws a card outside his or her End Phase" with "After a player draws a card outside his End Phase due to his own card or Stronghold effect." [errata]
Noh Theater Troupe: This card is Singular. [errata]
Wholeness of Self: Its effect does not apply to focusing in duels. [errata]
Turn Sequence
A quick reference, as printed on the back cover of this rulebook.
- Straighten Phase: Straighten your bowed cards and Stronghold.
- Events Phase: Reveal face-down cards in your Provinces from left to right, resolving any Events when they turn up. Then attach all free, legal Regions.
- Action Phase: Do any of the following in any order:
- Take Limited actions.
- Take Open actions. (The other players may do this as well, in turn.)
- Attach Ancestors, Followers, Items, and Spells to Personalities.
- Once per turn, lobby for the Imperial Favor.
- Attack Phase (Optional) a. Declare an attack against a player. The Attacker and Defender invite allies. b. The Attacker, then attacking allies, assigns attacking Infantry. c. The Defender, then defending allies, assigns defending Infantry. d. The Attacker, then attacking allies, assigns attacking Cavalry. e. The Defender, then defending allies, assigns defending Cavalry. f. For each battle: i. The Defender takes an Open or Battle action. ii. The player to the Defender's left takes an Open or Battle action. Play goes clockwise until everyone has had a chance to take an action. iii. Repeat i and ii until all players pass consecutively. iv. Resolve the battle and go to the next one.
- Dynasty Phase: Bring into play any face-up Dynasty cards you want from your Provinces. Discard as many face-up Dynasty cards from your Provinces as you like. Refill empty Provinces.
- End Phase: Draw a card and tell the next player, "The table is yours."