Deeds, Not Words

Legend of the Five Rings card from Gold Edition, The Dark Journey Home, Celestial Edition 15th Anniversary, Broken Blades

Card Type

Strategy

Gold Cost

0

Keywords

Political

Card Text

Open: Target another player. You call their virtue into question. They gain 1 additional Honor for each duel one of their Personalities wins, gain 1 additional Honor for each card destroyed during Resolution Segments where their army won or tied, and sources besides these which would cause them to gain Honor cause them to lose an equal amount instead.

Focus Value

2

Legality

Four Winds (Gold), Hidden Emperor (Jade)

Deck

Fate

Printings

Rulings

• Erratum: Reads, "Deeds, Not Words 0G 2FV Political Open: Target another player and "call his or her virtue into question." Until the turn ends, the player gains 1 extra Honor for each duel his or her Personalities win and 1 extra Honor for each opposing card he or she destroys during the Resolution Segment of battle, and whenever the player would gain Honor in another way, the player loses the Honor instead." [MRP, Broken Blades, 8 August 2002] Rules Archive, August 18, 2007, p. 12
• The honor loss retains its source and any restrictions against being canceled or redirected. [15 July 1999] Rules Archive, August 18, 2007, p. 12
• The affected player gains 1 honor from winning duels with no stated honor gain. [ZF, May 2000] Rules Archive, August 18, 2007, p. 12
• May be played against an opponent if you cannot cause your opponent honor losses. [JA, 9 July 2000] Rules Archive, August 18, 2007, p. 12
• A redirected honor gain from one of your won duels will cause an opponent targeted by Deeds, Not Words to lose honor. [JA, 31 May 2002] Rules Archive, August 18, 2007, p. 13
• Q: How does Deeds, Not Words work with cards that give extra honor for winning battles and duels, like Famous Poet and Omoidasu? A: Unless the card giving you the extra gain clearly says it's modifying the standard gain for the battle or duel -- and neither of those cards do -- the extra gain is a separate gain coming from the generating card. Deeds, Not Words will turn it into a loss. Legend of the Five Rings FAQ, May 21, 2003, p. 13
• Q: Can my opponents do anything bad to my honor? A: They can reduce or cancel your gains. They can increase losses you cause yourself. Deeds, Not Words will make your own cards turn against you. And you still lose honor if your Personalities die dishonorably, even when they're Ninja. The Imperial Herald, Issue 11, p. 26

Rules Q&A

• Q: Soshi Eiji + Deeds Not Words + Noh Theater Troupe?
  A: Works. See Rules Archive, Personalities, Soshi Eiji (http://www.legendofthefiverings.com/rulings/) Zen Faulkes, "Rules for 7 September 2003", 7 Sep 2003
• Q: My opponent casts The Wind's Truth to redirect the honor gain to himself [with Deeds, Not Words in effect]. Does he gain or lose honor?
  A: Lose. He didn't gain the honor via battle or duel. Zen Faulkes, "Rules for 22 April 2003", 23 Apr 2003
• Q: Since Jeff recently ruled that dying in a duel is dying from a player's card, regardless whether or not the duel specifies death (same for ranged attacks), I can assume that the honor loss is coming from Deeds, Not Words, although technically the source remains the same.
  A: Incorrect. Deeds, Not Words is never the source of an honor loss (Rules Archive). I don't see what connection you're trying to trying to draw with the ruling on duels. Zen Faulkes, "Rules for 29 December 2002", 29 Dec 2002
• Q: can i play imperial scrutiny if my opponent loses honor [from sending an allying unit while Deeds, Not Words is in effect]? In other words is the honor gain/loss due to the allying card or per rules as dying dishonored.
  A: Where is it physically printed in ink that you gain 2 honor for sending a unit as an ally? The rulebook. Imperial Scrutiny cannot be played. Zen Faulkes, "Rules for 28 December 2002", 28 Dec 2002
• Q: Does a honor loss caused by your Deeds not Words pop a Lesser Shrine?
  If it came from one of your actions (like bowing a Kabuki Theater Troupe for 1 Honor), yes. Buying a Personality at full price will not destroy it because that's not an action.
  Just to be picky you cannot play Deeds Not Words on yourself (card text)
  A: Correct. You can't. I had missed the subtle inclusion of the word "your" in the original question, which seems to be throwing other list members into confusion.
  The basic point was that Deeds, Not Words is not the source of any losses suffered during its effect that would normally have been gains. The source remains unchanged, so only if you take an honor- gaining action would your own Lesser Shrines be destroyed. Jeff Alexander, "post for 27 August 2002", 28 Aug 2002
• Q: Deeds, Not Words Political Open: Target another player and "call his or her virtue into question." Until the turn ends, the player gains 1 extra Honor for each duel his or her Personalities win and 1 extra Honor for each opposing card he or she destroys during the Resolution Segment of battle, and whenever the player would gain Honor in another way, the player loses the Honor instead.
  Ikoma Fudai Lion Clan Omoidasu * Poet * Gain 2 additional Honor when you win a battle with an army containing Fudai.
  If I played Deed, Not Words on my opponent and they declared an attack and won the battle then used Ikoma Fudaiís ability, would it be an Honor gain or loss for them?
  A: It would be a loss. The gain comes from Fudai. This is in the archive. Jeff Alexander, "post for 30 July 2002", 31 Jul 2002
• Q: Here's another one for you. Had two players slugging out an honor game today, and this question came up.
  Here's the scenario:
  Player 1 is at 41 honor, and it is player 2's turn, he is somewhere around 29 honor. during the action phase, player 1 plays Deeds, Not Words. Player 2 deliberately brings a personality into play for full cost, incurring a 3 point honor loss which he The Wind's Truth's over to player 1. Player 1 plays Slander in response to bringing the personality into play for full gold cost, trying to reduce the gain (and thus the loss) to zero.
  My take on this was that because the Deeds, Not Words was in effect, there was never an honor gain from bringing a personality into play, it was a loss, thus he couldn't play Slander. But, is there a window, between the paying full gold cost for the personality and the personal honor being lost that another player can react to the Gain before it turns into a loss?
  A: The gain is converted to a loss by the continuous ongoing effect of Deeds... before it can be negated by Slander. Slander can be legally played but will do nothing. Jeff Alexander, "post for 15 April 2002", 16 Apr 2002
• Q: From the Rules Archive: May bow Honor-producing holdings while Deeds, Not Words is in effect. [JA, 12 December 2001]
  First... Eiji does not BOW the holding...
  A: Um...yeah. Zen? Could you correct this please? Jeff Alexander, "post for 15 February 2002", 16 Feb 2002
• Q: New Scorpion clan Courtier in AoF:
  Scorpion Clan Courtier Political Limited: Bow Eiji and target a card which causes a non-variable Honor loss to its controller when one of its actions is used. Select one of those losses. Eiji causes the card’s controller an equal Honor loss.
  Now, my question is, let's say your a scorpion and playing against an honour running Kaiu walls deck with poorly placed gardens. You play Deeds, Not Words against the Crab during your turn.
  Now, since the poorly placed gardens have the ability to loose honour, can you use Soshi Eiji to cause an honour loss?
  A: Yes, because it's know beforehand that the Gardens will produce an Honor loss. Jeff Alexander, "post for 14 February 2002", 15 Feb 2002
• Q: Presumably, Yojiro's ability in unaffected by Deeds, Not Words and Loss of Face. Correct?
  A: True on both of those counts. Vaughn Derderian, "Rules for July 27th", 27 Jul 2001
• Q: Deeds, Not Words. Political Open: Target a player. Until the end of the turn, that player gains 1 Honor in addition to any other award when one of his Personalities wins a duel, and 1 additional Honor for each opposing card destroyed in the Resolution Segment of battle. Honor gains from any other source are counted as losses instead of gains for that player.
  Yoshi Sensei. All clans. Sensei. When a player pays full Gold cost for a Personality of his or her Clan, the player cannot gain over 1 Honor, regardless of the Personality's Personal Honor. Your card effects do not cause Honor losses for other players.
  How do these two cards interact? If I'm running Yoshi sensei and Deeds my opponent, what happens to his honor gains. Nothing? Are they cancelled? Does he lose honor?
  A: They're still converted into losses, because the ruling on DNW is that the source of the loss is the same as the source of the gain would have been, not DNW itself.
  Furthermore, by extension of the ruling that value minimums and maximums are always applied last, DNW would turn the gain into a loss before Yoshi Sensei would cap the gain to a maximum of 1. Your opponent would always lose the full honor. Jeff Alexander, "replies to 14 June", 20 Jun 2001
• Q: Deeds, Not Words. Political Open: Target a player. Until the end of the turn, that player gains 1 Honor in addition to any other award when one of his Personalities wins a duel, and 1 additional Honor for each opposing card destroyed in the Resolution Segment of battle. Honor gains from any other source are counted as losses instead of gains for that player.
  How does this interact with Moment Before the Strike, which says: Political Reaction: Play after a duel has been accepted but before the first focus. The winner of the duel will gain 3 additional honor. Only one Moment Before the Strike may be played per duel.
  Does the Deeds add one honor to the duel, and one to the moment, or does the winner gain one honor extra for the duel, and then lose three for the Moment? I could see it going either way. Thank you!
  A: Based on the current ruling for Brilliant Victory, The Moment Before the Strike increases the duel's honor gain by 3. That means it's not treated as a separate gain and would not be turned into a loss by DNW. You'd gain a total of 4 extra honor: 1 from DNW and 3 from TMBtS. DNW does NOT increase every separate duel gain component by 1. It is its own, self-contained 1-point gain. Jeff Alexander, "replies to 15 June", 20 Jun 2001
• Q: 2. How does Deeds, Not Words interact with Seppun? I was assuming that they wouldn't retroactively loose the honor from other sources like holdings,
  A: They don't anyway. Deeds, Not Words is not retroactive. It only affects gains that happen after it's played. Jeff Alexander, "Rulings for 15-16 April 2001", 19 Apr 2001
• Q: Konnichiwa,
  I've two questions regarding this [Seppun] sensei: 1) How do Deeds Not Words affect me while using this sensei?
  A: It hurts, lots. Because Deeds changes the way that honor is gained before the gain is actually created, it gets around Seppun Sensei. A card that normally creates a gain is not considered to create a gain under DnW. It creates a loss instead, not a gain that immediately gets turned into a loss.
  Essentialy, Seppun Sensei only stops things that would modify honor gains and losses after the fact (after they've been created). Anything that would modify them before their creation (i.e. a non-voluntary modification) still modifies them normally. Vaughn Derderian, "Rules for January 31st", 31 Jan 2001