Dark Lord's Favor

Legend of the Five Rings card from Lotus Edition, Time of the Void, Tomorrow, Celestial Edition 15th Anniversary, Onyx Edition

Card Type

Strategy

Gold Cost

0

Keywords

Shadowlands

Card Text

You may only play one Dark Lord's Favor per turn.
You may not play this card if another player has lower Family Honor than you.
Battle/Open: Target a Personality: Dishonor him. Lose 7 Honor.
Limited: Target a player: He discards a card. Lose 7 Honor.
Battle: Target a card: Reduce its Force to 0. Lose 7 Honor.
Reaction: Before a player gains Honor: Negate the gain. Lose 7 Honor.

Focus Value

1

Legality

Age of Enlightenment (Lotus), Clan Wars (Imperial), War of the Seals (Onyx Edition)

Deck

Fate

Printings

Rulings

• Erratum: Reads, "Dark Lord's Favor 0G 1FV Shadowlands • You can play only one Dark Lord’s Favor per turn. You cannot play this card if another player has less Family Honor than you. Open: Target a Personality. Dishonor him. Lose 7 Honor. Limited: Target a player. He discards a card. Lose 7 Honor. Battle: Target a card. Reduce its Force to 0. Lose 7 Honor. Reaction: Before a player gains Honor: Negate the gain. Lose 7 Honor." [MRP, Tomorrow, 12 March 2007] Rules Archive, August 18, 2007, p. 11
• The Shadowlands Horde cannot produce the honor-cancelling Reaction since that's Political. [DW, email, 8/28/97] Accumulated Rulings, February 8, 2000, p. 22
• Can be played if you're tied for lowest honor. [FAQ 3.8] Accumulated Rulings, February 8, 2000, p. 22
• Q: If more than one player is tied for lowest honor, can any of them use Dark Lord's Favor, or is it like lobbying for the real Favor and none of them can play it? A: This card isn't worded like the rulebook entries about the Imperial Favor. Any of the tied players can use it. Legend of the Five Rings FAQ, Version 3.6.2, May 1998, p. 23
• Q: How does Dark Lord's Favor work on a Personality with a weapon? With Followers? A: Anything in L5R that just refers to a number on a card, without saying the "base" or "printed" value, refers to the entire current total for that number. From the rulebook, we see that the Force and Chi bonuses from all Items, and from Followers that use the "+" symbol, add directly to the Personality they're attached to. Since these are part of the Personality's current total Force, they'd also be lost to the DLF. Normal Followers add to their unit's total, not the Personality. Their contribution would be unchanged. The Imperial Herald, Issue 9, p. 10

Rules Q&A

• Q: Dark Lord's Favor
  Here's the setup.
  It's your opponent's turn. You have Toku on the table.
  Can you use Dark Lord's Favor to take the 7 Honor Loss, as an Open action dishonor Toku, and then seppuku him to knock the honor loss on the head?
  Yes.
  I am probably being nitpicky here, but the honor loss and being dishonored are two separate sentences, and as such, don't happen at the same time, correct?
  Correct.
  So the scenario runs more like this...
  1) Lose 7 honor. Does Toku commit sep? No, lose the 7 honor.
  2) Use the Open Action, Toku is dishonored. Does Toku commit sep? Yes, Toku dies honorably.
  Samurai cannot commit their inherent seppuku to becoming dishonored -- only to being involved in an honor loss. Toku cannot seppuku at step 2.
  Also, by the rulebook, samurai commit seppuku upon being targeted by an action, taking an action, or making a decision that will result in a loss. Toku has to seppuku as soon as he is targeted by Dark Lord's Favor, which is in plenty of time to catch and reduce the 7 point loss.
  So then Toku would commit seppuku before the "dishonor Toku" effect occurred, right? The 7 pt loss happens before the dishonoring, as it is printed first on the card.
  A: Yes, though it shouldn't matter. Seppuku also negates any dishonoring to the Personality coming from the same source as the honor loss. I *thought* this was in the Dark Allies rulebook. Apparently I'm mistaken. Jeff Alexander, "post for 11 November 2002", 12 Nov 2002
• Q: Dark Lord's Favor
  Here's the setup.
  It's your opponent's turn. You have Toku on the table.
  Can you use Dark Lord's Favor to take the 7 Honor Loss, as an Open action dishonor Toku, and then seppuku him to knock the honor loss on the head?
  Yes.
  I play Iaijutsu Challenge, choosing a samurai as the challenger, my opponent refuses, and redirects the honor loss to me. I have my samurai commit seppuku, which reduces the loss to 1, and prevents any loss from dying dishonorably, if he was. I have a samurai which is being targeted by an action which is causing me an honor loss, just as in Knevitt's post. Am I correct about all this?
  A: Yes. Jeff Alexander, "post for 11 November 2002", 12 Nov 2002
• Q: Dark Lord's Favor
  Here's the setup.
  It's your opponent's turn. You have Toku on the table.
  Can you use Dark Lord's Favor to take the 7 Honor Loss, as an Open action dishonor Toku, and then seppuku him to knock the honor loss on the head?
  A: Yes. Jeff Alexander, "post for 8 November 2002", 9 Nov 2002