emperor edition rulebook, l5r

7/29/2019 Emperor Edition Rulebook, L5R

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CreditsCEO John ZinserBrand ManagEr Nicolas Bongiu

LEad dEsignEr Bryan Reese

LEad WritErShawn Carman

Production Manager David Lepore

art dirECtiOn Steve Argyle and Adrian Burton

stOry tEaM Robert Denton, Yoon Ha Lee, Rusty Priske, NancySauer, Fred Wan and Brian Yoon

PLayEr dEsign tEaM Thomas Kwong, Duncan MacPhail and GalSchmidt-Clach

ruLEs tEaM Brook Cunningham, Zen Faulkes, Loc Hervier,Alexander Jones and Roger S.G Sorolla

ruLEBOOk Writing Roger S.G Sorolla

ruLEBOOk Editing Nicolas Bongiu, Shawn Carman, Loc Hervier,and Roger S.G Sorolla

graPhiC dEsign Hal Mangold

ruLEBOOk COvEr artistGemma Tegelaers

ruLEBOOk intEriOr iLLustratOrs Steve Argyle, Noah Bradley,Sergio Camarena, Conceptopolis, David Dietrick, RaymondGaustadses, Hector Herrera, Mark A.W Jackson, Jason Juta,

Alayna Lemmer, Jorge Matar, Malcolm Mc Clinton, MichaelPhilippi, Lee Smith and Joe Wilson

PLaytEstErs Gordon Anderson, Jesse Anderson, David Attali, JoshuaAyers, Britain Babione, Travis Baggett, Stephanie Beasley, DanielBenson, Geo Bergh, Julien Boles, Milton Bonano, Chris Braun,Julien Braun, Je Burke, Jean-Christophe Cahuzac, Ian Cameron,

Adam Carey, Mickael Charlet, Clement Chow, Kyle Christen, DeanCollin, Steven Collin, Jean-Baptiste Corbier, Mark Cruickshank,


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Ren Daszenies, Josh Davis, Douglas Dee, Lionel Delourme, MattDemand, Damien Desprez, Vincent Destombes, Kevin Donovan,

Wayne Duyvestyn, Chris Enns, Nate Evans, Marcus Finger, FlorentFournol, Aaron Frede, James Freeman-Hargis, Cdric Giroux, JeGollaher, Bruno Goube, Randy Green Jr, Gal Griot, Scott Hadsall,Thomas Haessle, Mitchell Hammond, Matt Harrison, Chris Harvey,Loc Hervier, Michael Hill, Allan Humphrey, Loig Jezequel, MikeJohnson, Nick Jones, Drew Kirkaldy, Sarah Koz, Thomas Kwong,

Yves-Marie Le Carrrs, Jean-Baptiste Laroche, Joshua Lindsey,

Timar Long, Rda Lounis, Damien Maisonneuve, Jean-BaptisteMasson, Jeremie Maurina, Blake McLean, Yann Miossec, BryanMurphy, Patrick Naayer, Rhda Nace, Chris Nicoll, Meik Nowak,Tony Oshmago, Julien Paumi, Scott Payne, Shane Pheeney, KalebPomeroy, Joris Poncet, Mal Poncet, Thomas Rissen, Olivier Rivera,Scott Rixson, Brandon Smith, Dean Stevens, Nathan Stone, DavidSzeto, Jrg Theirich, Charles Thorp, Soeren Tiekoetter, Patrick VanRooyen, Nicolas Vaurette, Anne-Laure Villien, Ben Wang, Diana

Wong, Greg Wong, David Wright

OriginaL COnCEPtand dEsign Ryan S. Dancey, David Seay, MattStaroscik, John Wick, Matt Wilson and John Zinser

LEGEND OF THE FIVE RINGSand all related marks are TM and

Alderac Entertainment Group, IncAll rights reserved. U.S.A. Patent#5662332 used under license rom

Wizards o the Coast.

Printed in China

Visit us at www.L5R.com and

http://www.acebook.com/legendothefverings


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Contentsa sagaOf COnquEst.............................................6COrE ruLEs ...................................................23thE Cards.........................................................23

Stronghold ...........................................................23Dynasty Card Types .............................................. 27

Holding ............................................................... 27

Personality ..........................................................27Event ...................................................................31Region .................................................................31Celestial ............................................................... 33

Fate Card Types ..................................................... 33Strategy ............................................................... 33

Ring ..................................................................... 35Attachments ...........................................................35

Follower ............................................................... 37Item ..................................................................... 37Spell .................................................................... 39

rEadingthE Cards ...........................................40

Stats ....................................................................... 40Text Box ................................................................. 40Keywords ............................................................... 41Traits ...................................................................... 43

Abilities ..................................................................44Flavor Text ............................................................. 46Border Text ............................................................. 47


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sEtting uP thE gaME .......................................48

thE turn sEquEnCE ...........................................541. Straighten Phase ................................................542. Events Phase ..................................................... 543. Action Phase ...................................................... 56A. Check Conditions ............................................61B. Announce ........................................................ 62

C. Choose Perormers ..........................................62D. Required Targeting .......................................... 63E. Pay Costs ........................................................ 64F. Action Resolution ............................................. 65G. Tidy Up ..........................................................65

4. Attack Phase (Optional) .................................... 715. Dynasty Phase ................................................... 836. End Phase .........................................................87

Winning thE gaME ...........................................88dECk COnstruCtiOn ...........................................89ruLEs gLOssary ................................................93OnLinE ruLEs ................................................. 119turn sEquEnCE ............................................... 120

sEquEnCEOf PLay: BattLE ................................ 122PLayEr aBiLitiEs, aCtiOn PhasE & gEnEraL ....... 124PLayEr aBiLitiEs rELEvanttO BattLE ................. 126Card tyPE iCOns ............................................. 128ruLEs-rELEvant kEyWOrds .............................. 130Card sEt ChECkList......................................... 132


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A Saga of

ConquestThe whispers among the members othe Imperial Court took on a hushed

but eager tone as the Seppun guardsmen

parted to permit the older man entrance intothe chamber. The mans walk was ever soslightly stooped, and his hair was a mixtureo grey and black, but his eyes were brightand steely, and they missed nothing. He took

his place on the dais, all eyes upon him. Heswept his straw hat rom his head, reveal-ing the long, owing locks o hair and thick,bushy beard that more beftted an Ikomathan a Matsu. The young Otomo courtier

beore the dais bowed very deeply, thenturned to ace the assembled attendants.Despite his obvious attempt at composure,he was clearly eager to ulfll his duty. Hon-orable guests, he said, a hint o excitement

in his voice, it is my great pleasure to pres-


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ent the venerable Turquoise Champion, thegreat poet and storyteller, Matsu Kasei.

Those in attendance bowed beore theChampion, who avored them with a nod othe head. Today is an important day in thehistory o our Empire, he said, his tone lowand rich. Twenty fve years ago today, the

age that the Ikoma and Miya historians havechosen to call the Age o Conquest began. Itwas on this very day, lo those many yearsago, that the assembled orces o the SpiderClan departed our Empire. But that is both

the beginning o a story, and the end o one.To truly appreciate the Festival o Departure,we must appreciate the circumstances lead-ing up to it. To truly celebrate, we must frstmourn as we remember the Destroyer War,

and the many fne brothers, sisters, athers,and mothers that we lost in glorious battleduring that terrible war.

Those among the courtiers old enough toremember those dark days invoked prayers


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o protection, while their younger counter-parts simply bowed their heads in respectand mourning. Those were evil days,with a demon-goddess rom a distant landleading a vast army o imprisoned soulsagainst the honorable people o Rokugan.The orces o the Empress stood valiantlyagainst them. At frst it was the Crab,then the Lion and Unicorn joined, but intime all o the clans loyal to the Empressjoined them, standing shoulder to shoulderagainst a single oe. The battle was horrible,but in the end there was victory. With theblessings o the Heavens upon the sacredsoul o our Empress, could there have beenany other outcome? There could not.

In the end, when the master o Jigoku had

been thrown down and another stood in herplace, even the Realm o Evil recognizedthe inevitability o the Divine Empressreign. In those moments, with wisdomnever beore seen in the mortal realm, the

Empress struck a treaty to ensure the saety


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and prosperity o her people throughout thecenturies. For the frst time since her ascen-sion, the Empress spoke, and mortal beingsheard her voice. She welcomed the Spideras a true Great Clan and children o one othe Kami, then said unto them the sevenwords that have changed everything weknow about Rokugan.

Everyone in the room had heard the storymany times, some even being in attendancewhen the momentous occasion took place.And yet one and all, they were held rapt by

the Champions story. The Empress lookedupon the sons o Fu Leng, the ollowers oDaigotsu, who had waged war to protect anEmpire they had once sought to destroy. Bat-tered, broken, and hopelessly ew in num-

ber, she could have ordered their destruc-tion. But doing so would only have allowedanother threat to grow in their place, andso instead the Empress commanded themto leave the Empire. Go orth, she com-

manded, and conquer in my name.


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Smiles and nods were in abundance in thosewatching. Some even laughed. Kasei seemedto take no notice. There were some in thosedays who dared to question the wisdom othe Divine Empress, he said, his voice heavyand solemn. They wondered at her choice,and insisted that the Spider should have beeneradicated. In her divine mercy, the Empressorgave these allegations. She knew then, aswe have come to understand in the manyyears since that day, that accepting the Spiderand permitting them to take their place in thegreat balance o the universe would preventanother evil rom rising in their place. For evilis inevitable, and will not be denied. Insteadthe Empress orced that evil to work toward anoble end, and deployed them to the distantIvory Kingdoms, once a proud nation o war-riors, brought low by the sinister hand o theDestroyer goddess, Kali-ma.

Since that time, the Empress wisdom hasbeen proven again and again. The eorts o

the Spider have paved the way or our people


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to establish the grand Second City in the Colo-nies, once the Ivory Kingdoms. The resourcesharvested as that wild land has been broughtto heel and properly domesticated have revi-talized the Empire, and allowed us to recoverrom generations o war and strie. Bless theEmpress or her wisdom, or her vision, andor her generosity, or in the light o her grandplan, she has imparted new wealth, glory,and honor to all those clans who uphold theiroaths o loyalty. Long may the Iweko Dynastyrule, and long may the Empire o Rokugan,avored o the gods, prosper.

* * * * *

Miya Shoin smiled wistully as he glancedaround the streets that adjoined the grounds

o the Imperial Palace. I will miss this beau-tiul city, he said, his tone sorrowul. I willmiss it very much.

A man o your distinction could easily askthe Brotherhood or a posting within the city,


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my lord, the middle-aged woman walkingon his right said.

No, no, I ear my presence in the city mightundermine my sons ascendance to my posi-tion, Shoin said. That would not do at all.A smooth, peaceul transition is the least Ican do or him.

Miya Nishio smiled. She was still as radiantas she had been in her youth. He is a fneman. You have trained him well, and serv-ing him will be an honor. I will miss you,however.

You are too kind, Shoin said. I know he isready, but he seems so young.

Nishio laughed. He is one year older thanyou were when you assumed the position oMiya daimyo and Imperial Herald, my lord.

Shoin scowled. My last act as daimyo couldbe to excommunicate you, you know. I amsure you would fnd a new lie in the Colo-

nies!


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Nishio seemed to consider it. It has beenquite some time since I experienced adven-ture, she acknowledged.

There will be much o it to come, Shoinsaid, his mood returning to normal. Thenew governor in the Colonies, I wonderregarding those motivations and capabili-

ties. I have never known the Empress tomake a mistake, but I am unsure i I trustthat one.

Not to mention the ongoing aair with theNaga, Nishio added.

Yes, precisely, Shoin agreed. It will be aninteresting time, this next little while. Do mea avor, old riend, and see my son throughit?

You need not even ask, my lord, Nishiosaid. I will stand by his side so long as hewishes it.

* * * * *


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The Seppun magistrate was intently review-ing a series o scrolls when the shoji screenslid open. Cursing himsel or losing track otime, the magistrate instantly rose to his eetand bowed deeply rom the waist. He heldthe gesture until he heard a womans voicespeaking rather sharply. Rise, please.

The magistrate did so at once, and wassurprised at the identity o the newcomer.I orgive me, Hakuseki-sama, but I wasexpecting the Emerald Champion.

The Champion is presently indisposed,Doji Hakuseki said. As the First Magistrate,I am the Champions designated representa-tive in matters o this nature. I will be receiv-ing your reports this morning.

O course, he said at once. What do youwish to hear frst, my lady?

Hakuseki smiled at the mans quickly adapt-able demeanor. How would you gauge theimportance o the matters at hand?


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The magistrate turned to the scrolls. Themost important is certainly the ongoingreports rom our magistrates in the feld con-cerning the activities o the Naga, he said.However, I suspect most o that inorma-tion, while important, is already known toyou.

Potentially, yes, Hakuseki said. I have alarge number o assets in the feld investigat-ing the matter already.

The man bowed his head. In that case, Iwould gauge the most important as thisreport rom the Unicorn Clan. It concernsthe overland escorts who took the Impe-rial Governor to the Second City, and theiralleged sighting o an unknown gaijin pres-ence in the distance during a storm that tookplace during the caravan.

What? Hakuseki said at once.

As I said, my lady, quite important.

Tell me everything, she said.


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WHAT ISLEGEND OF THE

FIVE RINGS?Legend o the Five Rings (L5R) is a collectiblecard game set in the Asianinspired antasyEmpire o Rokugan. Each player brings a cus-

tomized deck o cards to the game, which heor she develops through buying and tradingor new cards. A deck is based on a Strong-hold, which identifes you with one o theClans o Rokugan and determines what kind

o cards will work best in your deck.

TM


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WHATS NEWIN EMPEROR

EDITION?The rules o the L5R Collectible Card Game

have been updated to make play easier andreect the changes that have taken placeunder Empress Iwekos reign. Experiencedplayers will beneft rom this quick summaryo major changes to the rules:

DragonClanplayersnolongerstartwiththe Imperial Favor in play.

Death from 0 Chi will not be negatedexcept by eects that specifcally negate

Chi death. All required targeting is now listed in

the constraints block o an ability, andRanged Attacks targeting is no longerrequired (they can be made without a

target).


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Duelingruleshavechangedcompletely;

ocus pools no longer exist and cards areocused rom the hand or top o deck, upto our times per player. See p. 101-103.

TheDuelistkeywordworks differently;Duelists win tied duels against non-

Duelists and may discard a ocused cardto replace it with another ocus beoreFocus Eects resolve. See p. 130.

A new rules-relevant keyword, Con-

queror, works with a player ability thatallows straightening o one attackingConquerors unit ater battle. See p. 94.

MeleeAttacksworklikeRangedAttacksbut under a dierent name. See p. 112.

The Seppuku-relevant player ability isnow an Open action targeting your dis-honorable Personality, not a Reactionto honor loss. It may target Samurai,

Courtiers and Shugenja.


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A new player ability allows players to

equip Spells to Shugenja as a Battleaction under certain conditions. See p.69.

The Honor gain from bringing Clan-aligned Personalities into play is now a

player Reaction ability known as Pro-claim. It, and the other rules aboutcost reduction and Honor Requirementor in-Clan personalities, apply at anytimenot just in the Dynasty Phase.

See p. 85.

TheExceptiontotheRulesofPresenceand Location that lets you move units tothe current battlefeld now also covers

bringing units into play there. See p. 79. Overlayingisgreatlysimplied,so that

abilities rom the ormer card are notinherited. See p. 111.


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Dishonor and Enlightenment victories

are no longer immediate. See p. 88. Keywordsonabilitiesnolongerapplyto

the whole card.

Events no longer follow special deck

construction rules.

OVERVIEWOF THE GAME

Starting with your Clan Stronghold and oneor two Holdings, you have our provinces onthe table which act like a hand or cardsrom your Dynasty deck. Early on, you willbring out more Holdings rom your prov-

inces to increase your resources, and Per-sonalities to advance your cause.

From your Fate hand, drawn rom the Fatedeck, you will give your Personalities Fol-lowers, Items, and Spells, which help them

to attack and deend Provinces in battle.


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Strategies, also rom your Fate deck, give

your Personalities an edge in battle and canbe useul at other times in the game.

Throughout the game, you will gain andlose Honor in court and fght battles overprovinces. You can win through several

meansmilitary attack, proving yourhonor, dragging down the honor o others,or seeking mystical enlightenment. The di-erent amily strongholds o each Clan givedozens o ways to build your deck and seek

victory.

Initial GameSetup

dynastydECk

PrOvinCEs fatEdECk


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TIP: Learning to Play

The Core Rules section o this rulebookwill get you into the action o playing thegame. You should frst look over the cardsin your starter deck, using the guide tocard types ound on the next ew pages.

Ater explaining how to read the cards, therulebook shows you how to set up yourdeck at the start o a game, and explainsthe sequence each player ollows in a turn.

Once you understand these basics, you

can start a game with another player,consulting the Rules Glossary to under-stand the terms you fnd on cards.

The cards that come in your starter deckwill let you build a ully legal and play-able Emperor Edition deck. All the same,

you may soon fnd yoursel adding cardsto the deck or building a completely newone. Rules on how to build a deck comeat the end o the Core Rules.


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CORE RULES- The Cards -

The game uses two separate decks, the

Dynasty deck o blackbacked cards andthe Fate deck o greenbacked cards. Theseplus your Stronghold and starting Holdingsmake up your play deck.

StrongholdThis card represents your starting base ooperations. It does not go into your decks.You start with it in play.

Card titLE: At the top o the Stronghold in awhite bar is its title. All L5R cards have a title.

CLan MOn: To the let o the title is an insig-nia that shows you what Clan you are aplayer o, or no insignia i you are unaligned.


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- Stronghold -

BasEPrOvinCEstrEngth

gOLdPrOduCtiOn

startingfaMiLyhOnOr

CLanMOn

CardtitLE

tExt BOx


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BasE PrOvinCE strEngth: The topmost o

three icons at the right o your Strongholdshows your base Province Strength. HighProvince Strength means your lands canresist attacks more easily.

gOLd PrOduCtiOn: The middle o your

Strongholds three icons, the coin, showsits Gold Production. This shows how muchGold your stronghold produces to put othercards into play.

starting

faMiLy

hOnOr

: The bottom iconon a Stronghold shows its Starting Fam-ily Honor. It gives a starting value or yourFamily Honor score (Honor or short) thatmay rise and all during the game. Clans

known or noble and pure behavior have ahigh Family Honor, while clans known orvillainy have a Family Honor closer to zero.

tExt BOx: Like all other L5R cards, theStronghold has a text box (see Reading The

Cards, p. 40).


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- Holding -

gOLd COst


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Dynasty Card TypesHolding

These cards represent resources in yourlands. Holdings, like many cards, have aGold Costthe number in the round coin

iconthat you must pay to bring them intoplay. Holdings normally enter play bowed.

Personality

A Personality card represents one o thenotable characters o Rokugan. The title baro a Personality will have the insignia o hisClan alignment, or no insignia i unaligned.

fOrCE: A Personalitys Force, abbreviated

as F, is ound in the lighter colored iconat the top let.

Chi: Chi, or inner strength, is ound inthe dark colored icon at top right, and is

abbreviated as C. Special Rule: I a


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- Personality -

gOLd

COstPErsOnaLhOnOr

hOnOrrEquirEMEnt

ChifOrCE


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Personalitys Chi is ever zero, destroy him

immediately. This destruction will not benegated.

hOnOr rEquirEMEnt: Personalities mayhave an Honor Requirement, shown in theletmost o the three icons in the middle

(the square banner). A dash () in this iconmeans that the Personality has no HonorRequirement.

To bring a Personality into play, you usu-

ally need to have Family Honor equal to orgreater than his Honor Requirement. Person-alities aligned to your Clan can escape thisrequirementifyoupayextraGold;seeClanallegiance under Dynasty Phase (p. 84).

gOLd COst: Personalities have a Gold Cost,the middle o the three icons, which youmust pay beore you bring them into play.

PErsOnaL hOnOr: Personal Honor is ound

in the an, the rightmost o the three icons. It


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Event

Region


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stands or inner virtue and honor in the eyes

o society. Its abbreviation is PH.units: A Personality and any cards attachedto him make up a unit. I a Personality leavesplay (or example, by being destroyed), allcards in the unit leave play in the same way.

When a unit is targeted, moves or is assigned,this also targets, moves or assigns its Person-ality. See p. 41 or rules on unit keywords.

Event

Events represent important happeningsin Rokugan. They appear unpredictablyin your provinces and are discarded onceresolved.

Region

Regions identiy a province with a particulararea in Rokugan. They attach to their prov-ince during the Events Phase, and have spe-

cial traits and abilities.


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Celestial

Strategy

gOLd COst

fOCus vaLuE


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Celestial

Celestials represent the avors and bless-ings o powerul supernatural beingsClanounders, godlike Fortunes, heavenly Drag-ons and others. They enter play rom yourprovinces.

Fate Card Types

Strategy

Strategy cards are cards you play rom yourhand and then discard. A Strategy usuallyhas one or more abilities.

gOLd COst: Strategy cards have a Gold Cost,

the coin in the middle. This is oten zero, butsometimes a higher number. The Gold Costis part o the cost o any action on the card.

fOCus vaLuE: Like all Fate cards, Strategycards also have a Focus Value, in the black

circle at the bottom o the card.


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- Ring -

fOCus vaLuE


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Ring

The Rings show understanding o the fvemystic elements rom which Legend o theFive Rings takes its name. You may put aRing into play when you have ulflled itscondition or entering play. You can alsodiscard them rom your hand or a oneshoteect.

Attachments

Followers, Items and Spells are all attach-ment cards.

Attachment cards enter play by beingattached to a Personality, placing the cardunder the Personality with the title showing.Attachments may only be attached to a Per-sonality you control.

An attachments Gold Cost must be paidbeore it enters play.


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- Follower -

gOLd

COst

PErsOnaL

hOnOrhOnOr

rEquirEMEnt

Chi

fOCus vaLuE

fOrCE


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fOLLOWErs, itEMs and units: The total

Force o a unit is the sum o the Force o thePersonality and each Follower in the unit,whether these cards are bowed or unbowed.ItemsadddirectlytothePersonalitysForce;they do not contribute Force separately.

Follower

Followers represent troops, creatures, oradvisors. They have Force, in the icon atthe top let, which helps their unit in battle.

They also have an Honor Requirement, theletmost icon in the middle, which is theminimum Personal Honor a Personalitymust have to attach that Follower.

ItemItems represent special objects and artiacts.Unlike the separate Force o Followers,Items have a Force modifer in the upper let

hand icon that directly raises or lowers their


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Item

SpellgOLdCOst

fOCusvaLuE

gOLdCOst

fOCusvaLuE

Chi

MOdifiEr

fOrCE

MOdifiEr


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Personalitys Force. Items likewise have a

Chi modifer.I you need to check an Items Force or Chispecifcally, use the value o its modifer.

Spell

Spells represent magic scrolls used by aShugenja (a person trained in the magico Rokugan). Spells have no Force or Chibonus. They will only attach to a Shugenja.

You may not take actions on Spells thathave somehow become attached to a non-Shugenja Personality.


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Reading the CardsStatsForce, Chi, Province Strength and Gold Costare examples ostats, or number values.

Stats may gain bonuses or penalties romeects in the game, and eects may also givestats a minimum or maximum value. Mini-mums and maximums are applied on top oany existing bonuses or penalties.

Most stats have a minimum value o zero.Only Honor Requirement, Family Honor,and modifers with a + orsign can havenegative values.

Text BoxThe text box gives inormation about howthe card acts in the game. All cards shouldbe read under the frst Cardinal Rule o L5R:


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I the text o any card or ability contra-

dicts a more general rule in the rule-book, ollow the card or abilitys text,not the rulebook.

For example, the Battle action on the cardHeavily Engaged says it can be taken i you

control no Personalities. This contradictsthe general rule o Presence that you musthave a unit in play at the current battlefeldto take Battle actions (p. 78). In this conict,the card wins and the action is legal to take.

The text box may contain any, all or none othe ollowing our parts.

Keywords

Akeyword is a phrase o one or more wordsthat appears at the top o a text box, abovea dividing line. For example, a Personalitycan have the keywords Phoenix Clan andSamurai.


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Some keywords have meaning in the rules,

and others may work with eects on othercards but dont have meaning in the rules.A complete list o rules-relevant keywordsappears on p. 130.

Example:Cavalryis a special keyword

that works with the rules about assign-ing to battle (see p. 76). On the otherhand, Commander is a keyword thathas no special rule, but eects on othercards may do things or or against Com-

manders.

Keywords are separated rom each other bysoliddots(). Ifkeywordsappearonmorethan one line in a text box, the ones on di-

erent lines are separate as well.A keyword may be made up o multiplewords, like Dragon Clan, but it is treated asasinglephrase;aDragonClancardisnotaDragon card.


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Reerences to a units keywordor exam-

ple, A Cavalry unitmean a unit wherethe Personality and each Follower in it (iany) all have that keyword. For example, aunit with a Cavalry Personality and a non-Cavalry Follower would not be a Cavalry

unit because o the Follower.

TraitsAter a cards keywords come its traits:phrases in normal print that describe the

cards eects or restrictions.

Some traits start with a trigger, a phrasethat ends in a colon (:) and reers to some-thing happening in the gameor example,

Beore your turn ends: or Ater this Per-sonality enters play: A trigger can alsoinvolve costs, which must be paid or theeects to occur. Ater the colon, there willbe eects that happen whenever that trigger

occurs, such as Gain 2 Honor.


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In traits and abilities, a card may reer

directlytoitsowntitle;forexample,acardnamed Bayushi Rentatsu may read BowRentatsu: This reers to the card itsel, andnot to any other copy o the card with thesame name.

AbilitiesBelow any traits, there may be one or moreabilities: blocks o text that describe actionsyou can take at certain points in the game.

An ability starts with one or more o theboldace terms Limited:, Open:, Battle:,or Reaction:. This term, the designator,tells you when in the game the action canbe taken.

An ability with two designators, such asBattle/Open:, can be used at either time,and is treated as both types.

Abilities have all the keywords o the card

they are on; so, a Battle: ability on a


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Ninja Personality has the keyword Ninja

and is a Ninja ability. A ew abilities specif-cally have keywords printed beore the des-ignator, such as Political Limited: Thosekeywords only describe the ability, not theoverall card.

Sometimes, ater the designator, there is textollowed by a second colon (:). For example:

Open: Bow this card: Gain 1 Honor.

The text between the designator and the sec-

ond colon tells you what needs to happen,or you to take the abilitys action. This textis known as the constraints block. For moreinormation on taking actions, see WhenCan I Take an Action? (p. 78)

The text ater the abilitys last colondescribes the eects the action has when itresolves, and is called the eects block.

Because Legend o the Five Rings tells a

story, abilities on some cards may have


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Border TextL5R cards also have a line o small text atthe bottom, with an abbreviation or thecards set, its number within the set, a sym-bol showing its rarity, and the artists name.

Some cards may have a line o small textdown the right side, showing that the cardwas designed as a result o a storyline eectand giving credit to the player responsible.This small text along the cards borders does

not have an eect on game play.


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Setting UpThe GameSeparate out any Strongholds, and anyHoldings titled Bamboo Harvesters or

Border Keep, rom your other cards. Thesecards do not go in decks. Then, separatethe rest o your cards into Fate (green) andDynasty (black) decks.

StrongholdsYou start with your Stronghold in play.

Going FirstThe player whose Stronghold has the high-est starting Family Honor takes the frst turn(see Turn Sequence, p. 120). I you aretied, choose at random which o you goesfrst.


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Starting HoldingsAlong with the Stronghold, each playerbegins the game with one special Holdingtitled Border Keep in play.

I youre not going frst, you also start the

game with one Holding titled Bamboo Har-vesters in play and bowed. I you are goingfrst, keep Bamboo Harvesters out o thegame.

Bowing and StraighteningA bowed card is turned 90 degrees to theright to show that it has spent its eorts.Costs and eects throughout the game may

bow an unbowed card, orstraighten a bowedcard, returning it to the unbowed state.

Paying Gold CostsYour Stronghold and most Holdings can

be bowed to produce Gold. The amount o


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Gold produced can be read rom a Strong-

holds Gold Production stat, or rom a Hold-ings traits and abilities.

Gold produced by a single source must allbe spent to pay or one cost. Extra Gold doesnot carry over to other purchases. How-

ever, you can add multiple sources o Goldtogether to pay a cost.

Example: Your unbowed Crane ClanStronghold has a Gold Production o 4.

You also have a Marketplace Holdingand a Border Keep Holding in play andunbowed. The Marketplace bows toproduce 3 or you and the Border Keepbows to produce 2.

I you now wish to buy a card that costsyou 8 Gold, you need to bow all three othese cards to produce 9. This is becausethe most you can produce rom any twoo them is 7. The extra 1 Gold is lost, and

may not be used to pay or anything else.


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Decks and Discard PilesShue your two decks separately, give youropponent a chance to cut or shue them,and put them in ront o you. The Fate deckgoes about where your right hand is; the

Dynasty deck about where your let hand is.The Dynasty cards you discard during thegame will go to a aceup discard pile to thelet o the Dynasty deck. Fate cards you dis-card will go to their own aceup discard pile

to the right o the Fate deck.

I a Personality in play is destroyed, he isdeadandnotjustdiscarded;eitherturnhim90 degrees sideways while in the discard

pile, or make a separate part o the discardpile or dead Personalities.

ProvincesNext, take the top our cards rom the

Dynasty deck and lay them ace down side


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your hand. These cards are considered acedown, but you may look at them.

Other Equipment

Bothplayersneedtokeeptrackoftheircurrent Family Honor. Paper and pencilor a set o dice will do.

TheImperialFavorrepresentsthegood

graces o the Empress. An object isrequired to show who has the ImperialFavor.


In your frst games, the Fate cards wontmatter much until you get some Personal-ities into play, so eel ree to put the handaside or a couple o turns.


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The Turn SequenceThe starting player takes the frst turn, ol-lowing each o the steps described below inorder. Once he or she has completed a turn,the player to his or her let takes a turn, and

so on, until the game ends.

1. Straighten PhaseAs the player whose turn it is, you straighten

all your bowed cards, including your Strong-hold. Note that Bamboo Harvesters has atrait that says it will not straighten on thefrst turn.

2. Events PhaseStarting with your letmost province, turn itscard aceup i it is acedown. Then:

IfthecardintheprovinceisaHolding

or Personality, nothing happens now.


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IfitisanEvent,takeitoutoftheprov-

ince. The Events eects resolve now,beore the province is reflled. Once anEvent has resolved, discard it. Eventsonly resolve in the Events Phase.

If it is a Region, it must enter play

attached to the province it was revealedin. Move the Region up partway in theprovince and resolve any o its enter-ing-play eects. When you refll theprovince with another card, leave the

Regions title visible, sticking out romunder the card. Regions only enter playin the Events Phase.

Provinces will not attach more than one

Region. Regions that ail to attach to theirprovince are discarded immediately aterbeing revealed.

Once a Region is in play, its traits apply toyou and you can use its abilities.


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If it is a Celestial, discard any other

Celestials you control, then put it intoplay in your home. Celestials enter playany time they are revealed in a province,not just the Events Phase.

Ater dealing with your letmost province, dothe same or each o your other provinces,moving rom let to right.

3. Action Phase

In the Action Phase, players take turns tak-ing Limited or Open actions. These actionsrepresent various kinds o intrigue and prep-aration or war.

As the player whose turn it is, you have thefrst opportunity in the Action Phase to takea Limited or Open action, or pass. The otherplayer then has a chance to take an Openaction or pass. I a player passes, he or shecan still take an action later on in the phase.


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The Action Phase only ends when bothplayers pass, one right ater the other.


I you are in the frst turn o your frstgame, you may skip ahead to section 5(Dynasty Phase)nothing usually hap-pens during the Action and Attack Phasesi you have no Personalities in play.

I you have any Personalities in play, yourgoal during the Action Phase should beto prepare or battle. Give your Personali-ties attachments, take actions to increase

your readiness and Honor, or take the

Imperial Favor i you have higher Honorthan your opponent. I you are thinkingabout spending Gold in the Action Phase,remember to look at your Provinces frst,to see whether theres something youd

rather buy with that Gold in the DynastyPhase later on.


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Taking actions in turn until both players

pass one ater the other is called an actionround.

When CanI Take An Action?You can normally take actions rom abilitieson Strategies and Rings in your hand, romabilities on your non-Strategy cards in play,or rom abilities granted to you by the rules

or card eects. For a list o player abilitiessee p. 124-127.

Limited actions are taken in the Action Phaseonly by the active player. Open actions aretaken in the Action Phase by any player.

Battle actions can only be taken during abattles Combat Segment.

Reactions will say at what point in timewhen they can be takenor example,


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beore your turn ends or ater another

player announces an action. This reerenceto a point in time is called the trigger.

I more than one Reaction can be triggeredat the same time, you decide the order inwhich they happen using a separate action

round. The active player has the frst oppor-tunity to take a Reaction to the trigger orpass, ollowed by the other player, and thenthe active player has another opportunity.The action round continues until both play-

ers pass consecutively on taking Reactionsto that trigger.

Normally, the conditions and game changesmentioned in between the two colons (:) o

an action are things that need to happenin order or the action to be legally taken.However, things listed ater the last colon oan action do not all need to happen or theaction to be legally taken.


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Example: In the ability Limited:Bow your target Personality: Gain1 Honor, bowing the Personalityhappens between the colons, so youneed to actually bow him to take theactionthat is, he must be unbowed.The ability Limited: Target yourPersonality: Bow him and gain 1Honor is dierent. Bowing the Per-sonality is ater the last colon, so youcan target a Personality whos alreadybowed and still gain 1 Honor. Finally,the ability Limited: Bow a Personal-ity and gain 1 Honor has only onecolon and no constraints at all, so youdo not even need there to be a Per-sonality in play to gain the Honor;bowing the Personality and gainingthe Honor are two independent andseparate eects.


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A. Check Conditions

Some required conditions may appear in anabilitys constraints block, such as I youcontrol a Shugenja... There are three otherlimitations on using abilities:

Abilities on bowed cardsmay not nor-mally be used.

Acardmustnormallybeinplay,orbeaStrategy or Ring played rom your hand,to use its abilities. Abilities that breakthis rule will say or imply that they canbe used from an out of play area; forexample, Reaction: Ater this card isdestroyed: implies that the card is in thediscard pile, so the action is legal to take.

Each separate card ability and playerability may normally only be used onceper turn. Abilities on two dierent cardswith the same title, though, can be used

in the same turn.


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B. Announce

To take an action rom an ability, announcethe card and the ability youre using to youropponent. I it comes rom a card in yourhand (such as a Strategy or Ring), show thatcard.

C. Choose Performers

An action may mention a perorming cardin its constraints block: or example, Bow

your perorming Samurai with 3 Force orhigher. In this step, you must choose allperormers mentioned in the ability, in theorder mentioned. Perorming cards mustnormally be in play.

Whether or not the ability mentions choos-ing perormers, an action on a Personality orFollower is always perormed by that card,and an action on an Item or Spell is alwaysperormed by the Personality its attached to.


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For example, i a Personality may not per-

orm actions, this means he cannot use hisown abilities, or abilities o Items or Spellsattached to him, and may not be chosen toperorm actions on other cards.

D. Required TargetingChoose required targets o the action, in theorder mentioned in the constraints block.You must be able to choose all legal tar-gets mentioned in order to take the action.

Targeting is not required i it uses the wordmay;forexampleYoumaytargetaShu-genja.

Note that targeting mentioned in the eects

block is also not required. This targeting isdone during the actions resolution, not now.

Normally, cards must be in play to be legaltargets.


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E. Pay Costs

In this step, you must pay any costs o theaction, in the order each cost is mentioned.Anything in the constraints block that tellsyou to change the game state is a cost otheaction;forexample,BowoneofyourSamurai:

The Gold Cost on a Strategy card is a costo all o its actions and is paid beore anyothers.

To pay a cost, the change must actually,ully happen. For example, i a Personalityhas a Chi o 4 and a minimum Chi o 1,you cant use him to pay the cost o giv-ing him 4C, because he will only actuallylose 3 Chi.

Only cards in play can normally pay yourcosts. Cost payments are not eects.


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F. Action Resolution

I all targets are met and costs are paid,apply the actions eects in the order theyare mentioned. Once resolution starts, alleects will be applied no matter what hap-pens to the card they came rom.

I an action brings a card into play, you mustpay the cards costs at that point, or it willnot enter play.

Some eects may be prevented rom hap-pening beore they are applied, or whilethey are ongoing. For example, a Personalitymight have the trait Negate all eects thatbow this Personality. I an eect is pre-vented, the whole action is still legal to take,and the actions other eects still happen.

G. Tidy Up

Finally, i you took the action rom a Strategy

card in your hand, discard it unless it is in play.


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Traits and EffectsTraits can also have eects. A triggered traitislikeaReaction;ithasaconstraintsblockbeore its colon with conditions, triggers,and costs that must happen or the eects

ater the colon to be activated. There areour main dierences between a triggeredtrait and a Reaction.

A triggered trait is not optional; youmust apply the eects whenever the trig-

ger is met.

Atriggeredtrait,unlikeanaction,canbeused when its card is bowed.

Atriggeredtrait,unlikeanaction,isnot

restricted to once per turn.

TriggeredtraitshappenbeforeanyReac-tions to the same trigger can be taken.

A trait without a trigger on a card, such as

Your Samurai each have +1F, has a con-


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tinuous eect that is always on while the

card is in play and while all conditions othe trait are met. While out o play, non-triggered traits only aect the card they areon;forexample,aSamuraiwiththetraitAll Samurai have +1F would still give

himsel, and nobody else, +1F while outo play.

How LongDo Things Last?Some costs or eects are instantaneous, andmarked by physical changes to the gamecomponents, such as bowing cards, addingtokens, and changes to Family Honor. These

changes do not wear o by themselves.Other costs or eects involve changes thatare ongoing. That is, they last until a certainpoint in the game, and are not physicallymarked by the game components.


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These include changes to stats such as

Give a target attacking Personality +2F, aswell as changes to abilities, traits, keywordsand conditions o things in the game, suchas giving a card the trait, Negate this Per-sonalitys bowing.

All ongoing costs or eects last until theend o the current turn, unless they givea dierent duration.

Finally, non-triggered traits have continuous

eects that apply while all conditions on thetrait, i any, are met (see previous section).

Actions Available ToPlayers In The Action PhaseThere are several Limited and Open actionsthat all players may take in the Action Phase(player abilities). Each o these has its owndescriptive term.


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Equip

Limited: Any number o times per turn,choose your perorming Personality andtarget an attachment card in your hand:

Attach it to him, paying all costs.

There is a second Equip ability that may beused to attach Spells during battle.

Battle: Any number o times per turn,choose your perorming unbowedopposed Shugenja and target a Spell in

your hand: Attach it to him, paying allcosts. You may take an additional actionto use a Battle ability on that Spell.

Lobby

This player ability represents your diplo-matic eorts in court, vying to win the avoro the Empress by reminding her o youramilys high and noble standing:


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Political Limited: I you have higher Fam-

ily Honor than each other player, bow yourperorming Personality with 1 PersonalHonor or higher: Take the Imperial Favor.

Imperial Favor

The Imperial Favor is controlled by oneplayer at a time, and gives great politicaladvantage to those who call upon it. It startsthe game uncontrolled. Discarding (givingup control o) the Favor is a cost o certainactions, including the ollowing two Favorplayer abilities:

Favor Political Limited: Discard theImperial Favor and a card: Draw a card.

(Discard a card is short or Discard a Fatecard rom your hand.)

Favor Political Battle: Discard theImperial Favor and target an attacking

enemy Personality: Move him home.


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Finally, during the Action Phase a player can

order his or her dishonorable Personalitiesto commit seppuku (ritual suicide; see p.114), cleansing with their death the shamethey have brought upon their Clan. Thisaction is known as Ordering Seppuku;

note that it is not perormed, according tothe rules on perorming (p. 62):

Open: Any number o times per turn,target a dishonorable Courtier, Samurai,or Shugenja Personality you control: He

commits seppuku.

4. Attack Phase (Optional)The active player may now optionally cre-ate (declare) an Attack Phase. An AttackPhase has several segments in order.

A. Declaration Segment

The player declaring the attack is the

Attacker, and the other player is the


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Deender. Create battlefelds associated witheach o the Deenders provinces. Battlefeldsare locations in a battle, with two sidesattacking and deending. One or more unitson the same side make up an army.

B. Infantry Maneuvers Segment

In Inantry Maneuvers, the Attacker frst

simultaneously assigns any number o his or


At this point, check to see i you havePersonalities and Followers in play withtotal Force greater than your opponentsProvince Strength, or Battle Actionsthat will get your Force to that amount.

I you cant get that much Force, theresno point in attacking right now. Concen-trate on bringing in more Holdings andPersonalities in your Dynasty Phase, andmore attachments in your Action Phase.


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Ater a couple o turns, Roger declares anattack on Bryans second to rightmost prov-ince. He assigns his army, composed o

three units, led by Bayushi Irezu, BayushiKahoku and Bayushi Mitsuo respectively.

attaCking arMy

BattLEfiELd

unitunit unit


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Bryan declares he is deending with twounits, respectively led by Hida Bushotsuand Kuni Shinoda. A battle (see p. 76) willbe ought at the battlefeld associated with

that province (see p. 72).

dEfEnding arMy

unit unit


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Then the Deender assigns units rom home

to the deending side at battlefelds, in thesame way.

Assigning a unit places it at that battlefeld,and is dierent rom moving between loca-tions. A unit led by a bowed Personality may

not be assigned.

C. Cavalry Maneuvers Segment

In Cavalry Maneuvers, the Attacker and

then the Deender assign any o their Cav-alry units as in the Inantry Maneuvers seg-ment. A unit is Cavalry i its Personality, andall its Followers (i any), have the Cavalrykeyword (see Keywords, p. 41).

D. Fight Battles

The Attacker chooses a battlefeld, and a bat-tle is ought there. When that battle is over,the Attacker chooses a new battlefeld and


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another battle is ought there. This repeats

until all battlefelds have been ought at.Exactly one battle happens at each battle-feld, even ones with no units. There is nourther opportunity or a battle at a battle-feld that has already been ought at, even i

some units fnd their way there.

BattlesMost battles will happen as part o an Attack

Phase, but some eects create battles sepa-rately. Battles have a Combat Segment, thena Resolution Segment.

Combat Segment

The Combat Segment is an action round oBattle actions, starting with the Deender.For a list o player abilities relevant to bat-tles, see p. 126.


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When Can I Take

A Battle Action?

Battle actions ollow these additional rules:

Rule of Presence

To legally take any Battle action, you mustcontrol one or more units at the currentbattlefeld.

Rules of Location

To legally take a Battle action from acard in a unit, the unit must be at thecurrent battlefeld.

TolegallyperformaBattleaction(seep.

62), the perorming card must be at thecurrent battlefeld.

TobelegallytargetedbyaBattleaction,any cards in a unit must be at the cur-

rent battlefeld.


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Exception: Battle actions that say they

move a unit or Personality to the currentbattlefeld, or bring a Personality into playthere, are legal to take i the rules o Pres-ence and Location would be satisfed withthe unit or Personality there.

Example: A player has no units deend-ing a battlefeld, but has an unbowedFollower in a unit at home with the abil-ity, Battle: Move this cards unit to thecurrent battlefeld. Gain 1 Honor. The

Follower may perorm the action eventhough it is at home and even thoughthe player has no units at the battlefeld,because the action says it moves the unitthere, where the action would be legal.

I an eect rom another card preventsthe units movement to the battlefeld,the action is still legal to take; all theException cares about is what the abilityitsel says.


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No Second Battle

There is one additional rule restrictingeects during a battle. A Personality whohas already been in an attacking army dur-ing a battle resolution in the current Attack

Phase will not move to a battlefeld.Once both players have passed consecu-tively, the Combat Segment ends.

Resolution Segment

The Attacker and Deender total theirarmies Force at the battlefeld. An armysForce is the total o the Force o allunbowed Personalities and Followers in it.

Remember that Items modiy their Person-alitys Force directly, whether or not theyare bowed (see p. 49). A side with no unitshas zero Force.

The side with the higher Force wins.


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I the Attacker wins, he or she destroys all

units in the deending army. I the attackingarmys Force was greater than the deendingarmys Force plus the Province Strength othe battlefelds province, the Attacker alsodestroys the province.

When a province is destroyed, discard anycards in it, and any Regions attached to it.Push together the other provinces and thetwo decks to show the shrinking o theirowners lands.

I the Deender wins, he or she destroys allunits in the attacking army.

I two armies have equal Force, the battle isa tie. I the battle is tied and there are one or

more units on both sides o the battlefeld,the Attacker and Deender each destroy allunits in the enemy army. I the battle is tiedon zero Force and either or both sides haveno units, the battle has no outcome.


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The winner o a battle also gains Honor

equal to twice the number o cards in theenemy army that were destroyed by resolu-tion. I the battle was tied, each player gainsHonor equal to the number o cards in theenemy army they destroyed.

The battles resolution ends. In its atermath,a number o things happen.

All attacking units at that battlefeld bow,then return home, as eects o battle reso-

lution. This return ater battle is not move-ment. Deending units stay at that battle-feld, and return home only at the end o theAttack Phase. They do not bow.

Discard any Terrain cards at the battlefeld

(see p. 117). The battle itsel then ends.

Once the last battle has ended, the AttackPhase ends. Battlefelds cease to exist. Anyunits still at battlefelds bow i they were

attacking, and return home.


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5. Dynasty Phasea. Bring Cards IntoPlay From Provinces

During the Dynasty Phase, in any order you

like and as many times as possible, you canbring aceup Holdings and Personalitiesinto play rom your provinces.

To bring a Holding into play at any time, payits Gold Cost. Unlike other card types, Hold-ings always enter play bowed.

To bring a Personality into play at any time,your Family Honor must be equal to or higherthan his Honor Requirement, and you must

pay his Gold Cost. There are three optionsi the Personality has your Clan alignment,which may combine with each other.

Clan discount: I a Personality has yourClan alignment, at any time you bring him


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into play, you may pay 2 less Gold or him

to enter play. This is known as buying thePersonality with Clan discount. It is notapplied to Personalities who are createdduring the game (see Created Cards, p. 97).

Clan allegiance: I a Personality has your

Clan alignment, at any time you bring himinto play, you may pay 2 more Gold or himto enter play and ignore his Honor Require-ment. This is known as buying the Personal-ity with Clan allegiance.

Clan discount can also combine with Clanallegiance. For example, i your Honor is at3, and you a 6 Gold Cost Personality romyour Clan has an Honor Requirement o 6,

too high or your Honor. But you can add2 gold to invoke Clan allegiance, ignoringHonor Requirement, and subtract 2 Goldor Clan discount. In the end, you pay 6Gold and can bring him into play.


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Proclaim

All players have the ollowing Reactionability, known as Proclaim, allowingthem to gain Honor rom bringing Person-alities into play:

Reaction: Ater you bring a Personalityin your province with your Clan align-ment into play without Clan discount, iit is your turn: Gain Honor equal to hisbase Personal Honor.

Proclaim may be combined with Clan alle-giance, paying 2 more Gold than normal toboth ignore Honor Requirement and gainHonor.

b. Discard FaceUp CardsBeore your Dynasty Phase ends, once youare done bringing cards into play, you maydiscard aceup cards rom your provincesone by one, reflling the province ace down

each time beore continuing.


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Its important to learn how to developyour Holdings and Personalities in theDynasty Phase. In each Dynasty Phase

you should have a goal or next turnsDynasty Phase. Bring out cards, or dis-

card them, to support that goal.

In your frst turns Dynasty Phase, yourpriority will usually be to buy two Hold-ings. Even i you can buy a cheap Per-sonality, Holdings are necessary to start

building your Gold structure.

In a real game, most players preer to buytwo Holdings on their frst turn, or a cheapPersonality and a Holding, so that theirGold production will develop more strongly.

Regardless o what your goal is, discardcards ruthlessly rom your Provinces

when you are done buying things. Leaveonly those cards that you want to buy

and will be able to buy next turn.


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6. End PhaseIn the End Phase, you draw a Fate card.Then, i your hand is above the maximumhand size o eight, discard cards down untilyou are at the maximum hand size.

The turn ends when the End Phase does. Itis customary to bow to the other player andsay, The table is yours. The other playernow takes his or her turn.


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Winningthe GameThere are our ways to win a game o L5R.

Military Victory: Your opponent loses

immediately when his or her fnal prov-ince is destroyed.

Dishonor Victory: I a players FamilyHonor ever becomes 20 or below, the

player loses the game at the beginningo his or her next End Phase, even i heor she returns to -19 or higher FamilyHonor. This represents being expelledrom Rokugani society or oenses

against honor. Honor Victory: You win i you start

your turn on 40 Family Honor or higher,gaining victory by securing control o theImperial Court.


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Enlightenment Victory: You win i

you start your turn controlling fveRings with fve dierent element key-words (Air, Earth, Fire, Water andVoid), each o which last entered playby its own text. You have seen the emp-

tiness behind the so-called victory inwar and court, and become an enlight-ened master.

Deck ConstructionYou can expand and change your starterdeck by trading or or buying other cards.Follow these rules to build a legal play deckin Emperor 40/40 ormat:

TheDynastyandFatedecksmusteachhave at least 40 cards. Your Strongholdand the Starting Holdings titled BorderKeep and Bamboo Harvesters do notcount toward this minimum, and copies


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o those cards may not be included in

the Fate or Dynasty decks. Beyond the basic versions of Border

Keep and Bamboo Harvesters, thereare more experienced versions (seeExperienced, p. 105). You need to

choose which version o each card youare using, along with your Stronghold,when you build your deck.

All cards in the play deck (including

the Stronghold) must be Emperor Edi-tion legal, having the Emperor Editionsymbol ( ) in the lower let hand cor-ner o their most recent printing (MRP).Older printings o the cards may be used

(see also Soul o , p. 116), but inall L5R ormats, cards are considered tohave the stats and text o their MRP inEnglish. I you use older cards, youreresponsible or knowing these dier-

ences.


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A good player will usually build decks notmuch bigger than the 40 card minimum,to improve the chances o seeing the bestcards in the deck. In the Dynasty deck, tryto include between 13 and 17 Holdings, andonly a ew Celestials, Events or Regions. Mosto the remaining cards should be Person-alities aligned to your Clan that you can buywith your Stronghold or your Stronghold anda Holding. Feel ree to include a ew moreexpensive Personalities or mid-game muscle.

Only include out-o-Clan personalities thatare worth the higher amount youll pay orthem.

The majority o your Fate deck should usuallybe cards that cost no GoldStrategies andRings. Too many attachments or Strategies with

a Gold cost will clog your hand and intererewith your Dynasty development. You shouldonly run Spells i you have six or more ShugenjaPersonalities in the deck. The same advice goesor other Fate cards that only work with a spe-cifc kind o Dynasty card.


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Youcanhavenomorethanthreecopies

o any card, by title, in your decks. You can have nomore than one copy

o each Unique card, by title, in yourdecks.

Note that Experienced cards (p. 105) are anexception to the last two rules. Also, somecards and Strongholds may explicitly over-ride these rules o deck construction.


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RulesGlossaryThis section collects rules associated withspecifc game terms that have not been

explained in the core rules.aCtivE PLayEr: The player whose turn it is.

aLLy: A term used in the multiplayer rules(see Online Rules, p. 119).

arMOr: A keyword ound on some Items. APersonality will not attach more than oneArmor.

BasE: Reers to a stat, keyword, or other

game text as printed on the most recentprinting o the card, without modifcation. Ithe card is a created card, base reers tothe text it was created with.

ChaLLEngE: A challenge is an eect that

creates a duel between two Personalities


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(see Duel, p. 100). One Personality will

be the challenger, and the other will be thechallenged;theymustbecontrolledbydif-erent players. A duels B is shorthand orA issues an unreusable challenge to B.

Some challenges will oer the opportunity

to be reused. I the challenged Personalitysplayer chooses to reuse the duel, then theduel doesnt happen. There may be conse-quences o reusing. Otherwise, the chal-lenged player accepts, and the two Person-

alities enter a duel (see Duel, p. 100).

CLan aLignMEnt: A keyword ending inClan that reers to one o the nine majorClans: Crab, Crane, Dragon, Lion, Mantis,

Phoenix, Scorpion, Spider, and Unicorn.COMParE: See Ranged Attacks and Melee

Attacks (p. 112)

COnquErOr, COnquEst: Conqueror is a

keyword on Personalities. It is relevant to


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the ollowing ability that all players have,

known as Conquest:Reaction: Ater a battle resolution ends,choose your perorming attacking Con-queror Personality at that battlefeld:Straighten his unit. It will not bow rom

the battles resolution.COntriButE: A Personality or Followercontributes Force when its Force is addedinto its armys total Force. This is part oa battles resolution, but can also happen

when an armys total Force is calculated orother reasons.

COntrOL: You gain control o a card whenyoubringitintoplay;onlycardsinplayare

said to be controlled. You will normallykeep control o it while it remains in play.There are two exceptions:

an attachment is always controlled byitsPersonalityscontroller;


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a Region is always controlled by its

provinces owner.Some eects may change control o a cardbetween players. Immediately ater a playersuccessully takes control o another playerscard:

if the card is aPersonality at a battle-feld, it goes to the new players side othebattleeld;

ifthecardisanattachment,itistrans-

erred to one o the new players Person-alities at any location who may legallyattachit;

otherwise, it enters the new players

home.COPy: Some eects may copy a keyword,trait, or stat rom one card to another. I astat is copied, set the copying cards stat tothe current value o the copied cards stat

(see Set, p. 115).


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A card will not copy its own text or stats.

COurtiEr: Courtier Personalities can beordered to commit seppuku using an Openactionavailabletoallplayers;seeSeppuku(p. 114) or details.

CrEatEd

Cards

: Some eects may createcards in addition to the cards included indecks. You may use pieces o paper, acedown spare cards, or other objects to keeptrack o these. Ofcial proxies or created

cards may also be ound in L5R boosterpacks.

I an eect that creates a card gives no valueor a stat the card type normally has, thatstats base value is zero. Exception: Created

Personalities have a Honor Requirement.

Created attachments and Regions attachto a Personality or province as part o theircreation eect. Other cards you create enter

play in your home, unless otherwise stated.


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When a created card leaves play, remove it

rom the game.dEad, dEstrOy: When an eect destroys aPersonality, he enters the discard pile in thedead state. Turn the card 90 degrees to theright, or put the card apart rom the others in

the discard pile, to show this.

disCard: To put a card in its Dynasty or Fatediscard pile. Discard a card by itsel meansdiscard a Fate card rom your hand.

Exception: I a cost or eect requires youto discard the Imperial Favor, this meansthat you give up control o the Favor and itbecomes uncontrolled.

disCardEd

: The state o a card that is in adiscard pile and is not dead.

dishOnOr: Some things can dishonor aPersonality, disgracing him in the eyes oRokugan. Turn the Personality card 180


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degrees upside down to show this dishon-

orable state.A dishonorable Personalitys PersonalHonor has a maximum o zero. Ater aPersonality is destroyed while dishonor-able, the player who last controlled him

loses Honor equal to the Personalitys basePersonal Honor. A destroyed dishonorablePersonality remains dishonorably deadeven in the discard pile.

When dishonorable Personalities areinvolved in gaining one or more points oHonor, the Honor gain does not happenand they are rehonored (restored to hon-orable status) instead. Specifcally, this

happens: Before a player gains Honor from an

action or trait that targeted, came rom,or was perormed by one or more o hisor her dishonorable Personalities.


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BeforeaplayergainsHonorfromattach-

ing a card to one o his or her dishonor-able Personalities.

Before a playerwith oneormore dis-honorable Personalities in his or herarmy gains Honor rom destroying

enemy cards in battle resolution. In atied battle, all dishonorable Person-alities in an army are rehonored beorebeing destroyed, and their armys leadergains no Honor.

dO nOt, dOEs nOt, WiLL nOt: Thesephrases in a card eect means that anothereect ails to happen.

draW: To put the top card o your Fate deck

into your hand.

duEL: A duel is a conrontation that comesrom a challenge between two Personalities(see p. 93).


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Duel Overview

Players take turns ocusing up to ourtimes with Fate cards taken rom theirhand or blindly rom the top o the deck.The Personality with the higher Chi (nor-mally) plus total Focus Value o ocused

cards wins the duel. There may be con-sequences or the winner and/or loser.Discard the ocused cards.

Follow these steps in a duel:

1. The challenged player has the frstoption to focus or strike; if A duels B,then Bs player is the challenged. To ocus,

you either choose a card rom your hand,or take the top card o your Fate deck(without looking), and put it acedownin a special ocused cards area in ront o

you. Focusing is not playing the card.

Once a card is in your ocused cards area,you may look at it and the other cards

- continued on next page


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there. You may not look at another playersace-down ocused cards.

I the challenged player ocused, the otherplayer then chooses to ocus or strike.The players continue to take turns ocus-

ing until one o them chooses to strike. Aplayer who has ocused our times may notocus any more in that duel (Exception: seeDuelist, p. 103). Traits and actions usedinstead o ocusing count against theseour times. A player who cant ocus muststrike.

2. Once a strike has been called, turnall ocused cards aceup. Any traits onocused cards with the special triggerAs a Focus Eect: resolve. The player

whose turn it is chooses the order. Ignoreany traits on ocused cards that arenttriggered by As a Focus Eect:. Abili-ties on ocused cards may not be used.

- continued on next page


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duEList: I your Personality in a duel hasthe Duelist keyword, he has the ollowingadvantages:

IftheduelendsinatieandtheotherPer-

sonality is not a Duelist, the Duelist wins.

3. The duel now resolves. Each playertotals the Focus Values o his or herocused cards, and adds his or her Per-sonalitys duel stat to this total. The duelstat is Chi unless another stat is given.The higher total wins the duel, and the

lower total loses. Further eects may giveconsequences or the loser or winner.

I the two totals are equal, the duel is atie;bothplayersloseandtakethelosersconsequences.

The duel ends when duel resolution ends.

4. Discard all ocused cards and end allchanges to their Focus Value.


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Before Focus Effects resolve, youmay

discard one o your ocused cards andocus one additional card. This happensprior to any Reactions timed to beoreFocus Eects resolve. I two Duelistsace each other, the active player does

this frst.ELEMEnt kEyWOrd: One o the fve key-words or the mystic elements o Rokugan:Air, Earth, Fire, Water, and Void.

EnEMy

: Reerring to the player on the oppos-ing side to you during a battle (the enemyleader), and to cards in units he or she con-trols. Cards not in units, such as Holdings orRegions, are not enemy cards.

EngagE: The point in time when a battlebegins.

EntEringPLay: An eect that is triggered byits own card entering play.


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ExChangE: When an eect exchanges two

stats, note their current values. Then, simul-taneously set each stat to the noted value othe other one.

ExPEriEnCEd: Some Personality cards havethe Experienced keyword, which is some-

times ollowed by a number representing thePersonalitys experience level. A Personal-ity with Experienced and no number hasexperience level o one. A Personality with-out Experienced has experience level zero.

Any number o single Personalities with thesame title but dierent experience levelsmay be included in a deck.

During the Dynasty Phase, you may bring

an Experienced Personality into play nor-mally, or you may overlay him onto one oyour Personalities in play with the same titlebut lower experience level. When you over-lay, you do not need to meet Honor Require-


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ments or pay costs o entering play, but you

do need to meet other requirements andrestrictions, including Loyal.

An overlaying card is put on top o its lessexperienced version without entering play,and the less experienced card is removed

rom the game. On overlaying, the new cardkeeps all states, ongoing eects, attach-ments, and tokens o the old card, and isconsidered to be the same card.

Some eects on cards may overlay one Per-sonality onto another one who is not a lessexperienced version, ollowing the aboverules.

Experienced cards that are not Personalities

ollow the Experienced deck constructionrules, but do not overlay.

faiL: When a cost or eect is activatedby the game text but does not happen, it

ails. This can be because o negation (see


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p. 110), other orms o prevention (such as

Will not wording, see p. 100), or lack osuitable object (or example, Bow a Shu-genja when no Shugenja are in the game).

fOCus, fOCus EffECt: Terms used in duel-ing. See Duel, p. 100.

frOM: Some things check to see i othereects, actions, or targeting come rom agiven source. The source is the card that theeect, action or targeting is printed on, or the

rulebook i it is printed there.There are three exceptions:

Targeting and destruction by RangedAttacks and Melee Attacks come rom

the card that created the Ranged Attackor Melee Attack, not the rulebook.

APersonalitysdestructionforhaving0Chi comes rom the eect that last gavethe Personality a Chi penalty, or rom

the rulebook i there was no such eect.


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Effects of traits and abilities given to

other cards, copied rom other cards, oron created cards, come rom the cardthey are on.

hOME: The location in ront o a playersprovinces where cards normally enter play,

as opposed to battlefelds.

hOnOraBLE: A Personality not in the dis-honorable state. Honorably dead reersto such a Personality who is dead. See Dis-

honor, p. 98.huMan: This term reers to a Personality orFollower who does not have the Nonhumankeyword. It is not itsel a keyword.

ignOrE

: When a cost or requirement isignored, it is no longer a cost or requiremento whatever you were doing.

infantry: This term reers to a Personalityor Follower who does not have the Cavalry

keyword. It is not itsel a keyword.


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kEnsai: A Kensai Personality can attach two

Weapons.LEadEr: The Attacker or Deender in a battle.Youarethefriendlyleader;theotherplayeris the enemy leader. This term has greaterrelevance in multiplayer rules (see Online

Rules, p. 119).

LOCatiOn: An area holding cards in play.Each battlefeld and each players home is aseparate location.

LOOk: To inspect a acedown card withoutshowing it to anyone else or changing itsposition (or example, in a deck).

LOyaL: A Personality with the Loyal keyword

will not be controlled by a player who doesnot share a Clan alignment with the Person-ality.

MaynOt: This phrase orbids a choice youmightmake;forexample,totargetaparticu-

lar card, assign a unit, or take an action.


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Unlike Do Not/Will Not (p. 100) or

Negate (p. 110), when something is orbid-den with May Not, it cant be chosen inthe frst place.

MELEE attaCk: See Ranged Attacks (p. 112).

MOvE

: To change the position o a unit romone location to another. Eects that move aunit to a battlefeld always move it into itscontrollers side there.

navaL: The Naval keyword allows you to

take the ollowing action available to allplayers, known as Naval Invasion:

Reaction: Ater engaging, once per bat-tle, i you are the Attacker and your cur-

rent army has more Naval cards than theside opposing it, choose your perorm-ing Naval Personality: You have the frstopportunity to take a Battle action, whichhe must perorm.


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nEgatE: A negation eect is one that uses a

orm o the word negate, such as Negateall Force bonuses on him. While a negationeect lasts, it makes another eect or typeo eect ail to happen whenever it wouldoccur. Negation prevents both new eects,

and existing ongoing eects, unless it saysotherwise.

On: You can determine whether an abil-ity or eect is on a card the same way aswhether it is rom a card. See From,

p .107. However, abilities given to playersare on the player but are rom their cardor rulebook source.

OPPOsEd: A card, side, or army is opposed at

a battlefeld i there are one or more units inthe enemy army.

OPPOsing: Opposing reers to cards at thesame battlefeld, on dierent sides.

OvErLay

: See Experienced, p. 105.


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OWn: You own all cards that were originally

in your play deck and that you brought intoplay rom outside the game, including cardsyou created. Cards you own can never gointoanotherplayersdecksordiscardpiles;they always go to yours instead.

PErfOrM: SeeActions, p. 56.

PErManEnt: A permanent eect reers toan eect whose duration lasts until the endo the game. Permanent eects can still

be negated, ended, and changed by othereects.

rangEd attaCk, MELEE attaCk: A RangedAttack represents a military eect thatdestroys at a distance, such as archers

arrows or a magical fery bolt. Ranged XAttack, where X stands or a number, isshorthand or the text Target a Follower ora Personality without Followers in the cur-rent enemy army. I its Force is equal to or

less than X, destroy it.


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I a Ranged Attack eect ends up being

compared against a dierent stat thanForce, compare that stat against the RangedAttacks strength instead to determinewhether the target is destroyed.

The targeting in a Ranged Attack is not

required;ithappensaseffectsresolve.Thismeans you do not have to have a valid targetor the Ranged Attack to announce a RangedAttack action (an action with a RangedAttack as one o its eects).

Melee Attacks are not considered RangedAttacks but ollow the same rules, represent-ing destruction rom close-range combat.

rECOnnaissanCE: A special state that a

player can have at one or more battlefelds.Reconnaissance is granted by effects; forexample, You have Reconnaissance at thecurrent battlefeld.

rEhOnOr

: See Dishonor, p. 98.


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rEMOvE frOM thE gaME: When a card is

removed rom the game, set it aside. It existsoutside all areas o the game, and will notcome back into the game.

rEvEaL: To turn a acedown card aceup.

saMurai

: Samurai Personalities can beordered to commit seppuku using an Openactionavailabletoallplayers;seeSeppuku(p. 114) or details.

sEarCh: To look through a deck or other

area or a card o a specifed kind. Ater yousearch a deck, you must reshue it ater youtake any card(s) you searched or.

sEPPuku: An act o ritual suicide. I an eect

directs a Personality to commit seppuku,apply the ollowing eects: Rehonor thePersonality,thendestroyhim;theseeffectswill not be negated.

Additionally, all players have the ollowing

ability, known as Ordering Seppuku:


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Open: Any number o times per turn,

target a dishonorable Courtier, Samurai,or Shugenja Personality you control: Hecommits seppuku.

sEt: When a stat is set to a particularvalue, give it a bonus or penalty such that itreaches that value.

shOW: To display the ace o a acedowncard to all other players, then return it to itsacedown state.

shugEnja: A person trained in the magic oRokugan. Only Shugenja Personalities canattach Spell cards. Shugenja Personalitiescan be ordered to commit seppuku usinganOpenactionavailabletoallplayers;seeSeppuku (p. 114) or details.

singuLar, uniquE: A player will not bringinto play or take control o a Singular orUnique card i he or she already controls

a Singular or Unique card with the same


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title (but see Experienced, p. 105). I a

player takes control o a unit with a copyo a Singular or Unique attachment heor she already controls, discard the newattachment.

The Unique keyword also restricts deck con-

struction. See Deck Construction, p. 89.

sOuLOf : This is a keyword that includesanother, older Personalitys title, showingthat the current character is a descendant

or disciple o the older character in thepresent generation. Soul o Personalitiesare equivalent to the older card or deckconstruction purposes. In a game, you mayuse the older card as a proxy or the Soul

o version, but you must inorm the otherplayer o any dierences in stats or wordingbetween the two.

sWitCh: When an eect switches the loca-tions o two units, each one simultaneously

moves to the location o the other. I one


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movement is negated, the other one is also

negated.taCtiCaL, taCtiCian: An action with theTactical keyword may only be perormedby a Tactician Personality (see Perorming,p. 62). Each Tactician may only perorm one

Tactical action per turn.

All players can take the ollowing TacticalBattle action, known as Tactical Advan-tage. Keep in mind that, due to the above

rule, it can only be perormed by each indi-vidual Tactician once per turn:

TacticalBattle: Any number o times perturn, discard a card and choose your per-orming Tactician Personality: Give him aForce bonus equal to the Focus Value othe discarded card.

tErrain: A Strategy with the Terrain key-word represents the ground on which a

battle is ought. Most Terrains have a Battle


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ability that puts them into play at the cur-

rent battlefeld i no Terrain is already inplay. Ater a battle ends, discard any Terrainat its battlefeld.

tOkEn: A marker in the game. You mayuse beads, pieces o paper, or other dis-

tinct objects as tokens. Tokens may havea keyword (such as Corruption). They mayalso give a stat bonus or penalty (such as1C) to whatever they are on. This bonusor penalty is considered to come rom the

emperor edition rulebook, l5r

Documents