Cultists
Legend of the Five Rings card from Hidden Emperor 6
Open in Oracle of the Void
- Card Type
- Follower
- Force
- 0
- Chi
- 0
- Honor Requirement
- 0
- Gold Cost
- 0
- Personal Honor
- -
- Keywords
- Shugenja
- Card Text
- Before this Follower bows to perform a Kiho action, its effects are considered Maho.
- Focus Value
- 1
- Legality
- Hidden Emperor (Jade)
- Deck
- Fate
Printings
Hidden Emperor 6
- Rarity
- Common
- Flavor Text
- "Half-baked sorcerers, cultist and clairvoyants. Everyone wants to be the new Uikko. Bah. There's no profit in fortunetelling." - Yasuki Taka
- Artist
- Paul Carrick
- Publisher
- Wizards of the Coast
Rulings
- Will make a Ritual they bow to participate in Maho. [JA, 8/3/99] Rules Archive, August 18, 2007, p. 43
Rules Q&A
- Q: Cultists can not (and hopefully will not ever again) cast Kiho.
So the rule of obvious legality requires you to know if a card was printed before or after a rules change? Try to explain that to a newbie, doesn´t seem that obvious to me.
A: It has nothing to do with reprints or rules changes. The Shugenja trait on a card does have effects on the game beyond the ability to cast kihos. That ruling applies to things like Gifts and Favors and Mushin -- cards with abilities that do nothing or aren't ever legal under any circumstances under a strict reading of the rules. Jeff Alexander, "post for 16 September 2002", 17 Sep 2002 - Q: Has the text on Cultists been changed at all? If they can't cast kihos then their trait is meaningless, and I don't see why the text would have been left on.
A: It's been left on because we don't have a way to magically erase it from all the copies people already own. It hasn't been reprinted. Jeff Alexander, "replies to 1-2 July", 5 Jul 2001 - Q: No, it is incorrect. Cultists and other followers are no longer able to cast kiho. Yes, this makes cultists rather pointless, but it was necessary in the design team's opinion.
Why? It seems to neutralize all shugenja and monk followers for no real reason (that I can see). Was the practice of followers casting kihos so bad that it needed this rule to stop abuse?
A: Yes. The easy, free or nearly-free addition of kiho to any deck was deemed to be undesirable. Jeff Alexander, "replies to 1-2 July", 5 Jul 2001 - Q: ie, can Cultists participate in Shiba Technique? Can Tsunami Legion be bought off the original Phoenix box?
A: Yes, and yes (with the Shadowlands trait, too!). Vaughn Derderian, "Rules for July 3rd", 3 Jul 2001