Diplomatic Apprentice

Legend of the Five Rings card from Samurai Edition, A Perfect Cut, Diamond Edition, Twenty Festivals, Promotional–Twenty Festivals

Card Type

Follower

Force

0

Chi

0

Gold Cost

5

Card Text

Crane Clan and Scorpion Clan players Equip this Follower for 2 less Gold. Before your Political action bows this Personality, you may bow this Follower instead, which fulfills the action's costs and conditions of bowing.

Focus Value

3

Legality

A Brother's Destiny (Twenty Festivals), Four Winds (Gold), Race for the Throne (Samurai), Rain of Blood (Diamond), War of the Seals (Onyx Edition)

Deck

Fate

Printings

Rulings

• Cannot bow to pay costs other than bowing its Personality. [JA, 14 December 2001] Rules Archive, August 18, 2007, p. 43
• Q: If I put a Diplomatic Apprentice on Shosuro Yasuko, can I bow the Apprentice and her together to stop two units from attacking? A: No. The rulebook says each printed instance of a Reaction can only be used once per trigger, and Yasuko's trigger is the declaration of an attack. That means each time someone announces an attack, each Yasuko's ability can be used once and once only. The Diplomatic Apprentice doesn't change that; even if you bow the Apprentice instead of Yasuko, it's still Yasuko's ability being used. Legend of the Five Rings FAQ, May 21, 2003, p. 8
• Erratum: Reads, "Diplomatic Apprentice 0F/0C 1HR 5G –PH 3FV This card has –2 Gold Cost if you are a Crane Clan or Scorpion Clan player. Before this Personality bows to pay the cost of a Political action: You may pay the cost by bowing this card instead." [MRP, Samurai Edition, 25 July 2007] Comprehensive Rules, Samurai Edition, with specific card rulings, final version, May 2009, p. 132

Rules Q&A

• Q: I'm aiming this mainly at Jeff, but allviews are welcome.
  I bring Konishiko into play, I attach Show of Good Faith from hand and give her that ability, next turn I attach Diplomatic Apprentice to her.
  When I bow the DA to preform the SoGF ability on Konishiko do I have to pay the 4 gold that I would normally have to play?
  A: That's a good question. I'll make Jeff answer it definitively. Martin Lund, "Rules for 8 November 2004", 12 Nov 2004
• Q: If a personality with a Diplomatic Apprentice is bowed can you bow the Diplomatic Appentice to pay the cost of bowing to perform a political action since it is bowed instead of the personality?
  A: Yes, provided said ability is not printed on the bowed Personality (can't use abilities on bowed cards or strongholds), does not involve the bowed Personality issuing a Challenge or casting a Spell, and it does not explicitly require the Personality to be unbowed (I don't think any bowing-costed Actions do this). Martin Lund, "Rules for 10 August 2004", 13 Aug 2004
• Q: If I use diplomatic apprentice to bow for quarantine, can it stay bowed for the card's effect, or must the personality it is attached to be bowed?
  A: Diplomatic Apprentice itself is now a Courtier as of Diamond Edition. You can have him perform "Quarantined" all by himself, including the staying bowed part. Martin Lund, "Rules for 19 May 2004", 22 May 2004
• Q: If a scorpion player has Bayushi Kaukatsu in play with a Diplomatic Apprentice on him, and causes himself an Honor loss of 4(from an honor loss that can be copied or redirected). Can he bow the apprentice to cause the opponent to lose the same 4 honor, and then bow Bayushi Kaukatsu to cause them to lose another 4 on top of the origional (making it a total of 8 honor loss for the scorpions opponent.)
  A: No. You may play any given Reaction ability only once per trigger. You are using the Reaction ability on Kaukatsu's card whether you pay its cost by bowing the Diplomatic Apprentice or Kaukatsu himself. You may only use the ability once on the given honor loss, no matter how you pay the cost.
  If you want to get multiple copies of the dishonor, you need a scheme to get multiple copies of Kaukatsu's ability, like playing the Egg of Pan-Ku. Martin Lund, "Rules for 17 May 2004", 19 May 2004
• Q: What exactly can they do?
  A: When you would bow the Personality they are attached to as part of paying the cost of a Political Action, you can bow the Diplomatic Apprentice to pay the cost instead.
  The Personality is still performing the Action, however. All other references on the Political Action will refer to that Personality, not the Apprentice. Martin Lund, "Rules for 8 May 2004", 11 May 2004
• Q: Can I use a Diplomatic Apprentice to Rhetoric an honor loss/gain if it's attached to a Courtier who has chi equal or greater than the honor loss/gain?
  A: Yes. Jeff Alexander, "rules for 12 March 2004", 13 Mar 2004
• Q: Is this legal?
  A: No. Zen Faulkes, "Rules for 17 December 2003, Part 2", 18 Dec 2003
• Q: I assume the Diplomatic Apprentice/Goshiu no Shiryo combo doesn't work, either.
  A: Could you be more specific? Zen Faulkes, "Rules for 15 December 2003, Part 2", 16 Dec 2003
• Q: If I have a Scorpion clan personality with Goshiu no Shiryo attached and a Diplomatic Apprentice also attached and I target one of my opponent’s personalities with Goshiu no Shiryo’s action and bow the Diplomatic Apprentices to pay the cost of bowing my person for the action on Goshiu while leaving my personality unbowed and I then bow the personality that I targeted with Goshiu's action, does the Goshiu no Shiryo’s effect make their bowed personality cause it’s controller the 2 point honor lose as stated on Goshiu no Shiryo even though the personality that Goshiu is attached to is unbowed?
  A: Wow. That's one long sentence.
  Parsing.
  Still parsing.
  Still parsing.
  No (http://l5r.alderac.com/rulings/#Bow). Zen Faulkes, "Rules for 14 December 2003", 14 Dec 2003
• Q: I was wondering if I could use a Diplomatic Apprentice to perform the bowing action on Bonds of Fate.
  A: Yes. Zen Faulkes, "Rules for 4 December 2003", 5 Dec 2003
• Q: I have a Konetsu (4 chi) with a Diplomatic Apprentice (0 chi) attached. A 4 point honor gain happens. Can I Play Rhetoric, announce that I'm using Konetsu to redirect the gain to myself but instead bow the Diplomatic Apprentice, or would I not be able to because the Apprentice has a 0 chi?
  A: Yes. Diplomatic Apprentice is not performing the action, it's simply taking the place of one part of the cost. Zen Faulkes, "Rules for 2 December 2003, Part 2", 3 Dec 2003
• Q: If you have Bayushi Kaukatsu in play with 3 Diplomatic Apprentices attached and play a Kolat Assassin (which causes you to lose 4 honor when played), can you have Diplomatic Apprentice and the 3 DA all react to the honor loss & cause you and your opponent to lose 16 honor?
  A: No (Diamond rules, pg. 75). Zen Faulkes, "Rules for 30 November 2003", 1 Dec 2003
• Q: Can I use the follower Diplomatic Apprentice with Bonds of Fate to bow a Personality?
  A: Currently, yes. Zen Faulkes, "Rules for 11 September 2003", 12 Sep 2003
• Q: 3) A friend tried a combo on me a while ago where he bowed a Diplomatic Apprentice that was attached to Doji Nagori to increase an honor loss I was taking from Suspicions, then bowed that same Nagori to increase the same loss again. I went with it, but it seems to me that Nagori's ability had already been used, the cost was just changed. I don't think it should have worked. Am I wrong?
  A: You are not wrong. Also from the FAQ:
  ] Q: If I put a Diplomatic Apprentice on Shosuro Yasuko, can I bow the ] Apprentice and her together to stop two units from attacking? ] ] A: No. The rulebook says each printed instance of a Reaction can ] only be used once per trigger, and Yasuko's trigger is the ] declaration of an attack. That means each time someone announces an ] attack, each Yasuko's ability can be used once and once only. The ] Diplomatic Apprentice doesn't change that; even if you bow the ] Apprentice instead of Yasuko, it's still Yasuko's ability being ] used. Jeff Alexander, "post for 25 February 2003", 26 Feb 2003
• Q: Can you bow diplomatic apprentice instead of the personality to gain control of the imperial favor?
  A: Absolutely! Lobbying is a Political action that requires bowing the Personality as a cost -- and that's exactly the sort of thing the Apprentice was made to work with. Jeff Alexander, "post for 18 February 2003", 19 Feb 2003
• Q: If Diplomatic Apprentice is able to pay the cost of bowing for a political action for it's personality why couldn't it continue to pay that cost (by staying bowed) until your next straighten phase?
  A: Atoshi's effect specifies when it ends. It has nothing to do with the (one-time) cost payment. Zen Faulkes, "Rules for 28 November 2002", 29 Nov 2002
• Q: Atoshi bows. To fetch the favor, use his ability, pick up an ancestor, whatever. The Attached Diplomatic Apprentice bows to use Atoshi's ability.
  A: Illegal. Dark Allies rules, pg. 24. Zen Faulkes, "Rules for 28 November 2002", 29 Nov 2002
• Q: Attached Diplomatic Apprentice bows to use Atoshi's ability. The question here is, "Who performs the ability in this instance?"
  A: Atoshi. Broken Blades rulesheet, rule 1 on "performing." Zen Faulkes, "Rules for 28 November 2002", 29 Nov 2002
• Q: I was looking at the ability of Kyuden Doji and the question came up. Could I bow an attached Diplomatic Apprentice to have a samurai accept a duel?
  A: Yes. Jeff Alexander, "post for 26 November 2002", 27 Nov 2002
• Q: 2 - Is a Diplomatic Apprentice is attached to Shosuro Yasuko, can I react to the Declaration of an attack and forbid one peep from attacking, bowing Diplomatic Apprentice, and then react to forbid another one bowing Shosuro Yasuko?
  A: From the upcoming FAQ (scheduled to be posted to our website by Friday):
  Q: If I put a Diplomatic Apprentice on Shosuro Yasuko, can I bow the Apprentice and her together to stop two units from attacking?
  A: No. The rulebook says each printed instance of a Reaction can only be used once per trigger, and Yasuko's trigger is the declaration of an attack. That means each time someone announces an attack, each Yasuko's ability can be used once and once only. The Diplomatic Apprentice doesn't change that; even if you bow the Apprentice instead of Yasuko, it's still Yasuko's ability being used. Jeff Alexander, "post for 29 October 2002", 30 Oct 2002
• Q: So a Diplomatic Apprentice (don't have the card in front of me to reference, sorry) on a bowed personality could not lobby for the favor in place of the personality?
  A: Correct. It could not. Jeff Alexander, "post for 25 September 2002", 26 Sep 2002
• Q: Can a bowed personality use a Diplomatic Apprentice to perform an action?
  A: No. The Apprentice only pays for the action. Jeff Alexander, "post for 23 September 2002", 25 Sep 2002
• Q: This came up in a game.
  I was wondering if a Diplomatic Apprentice attached to a Nagori could bow to use Nagori's effect, and then the Nagori could bow himself to use it a second time. I didn't see it in the archive about it, and the rules book didn't disallow multiple reactions.
  A: The rules do disallow multiple uses of the same printed Reaction, on page 48. Bowing the Apprentice instead of Nagori does not change the fact that it's Nagori's Reaction being used, and each individual Nagori's Reaction can only be used once per loss/gain. Jeff Alexander, "post for 27 August 2002", 28 Aug 2002
• Q: Just out of curiosity,
  How would the following scenario work out...
  Can a shugenja or monk bow an attached Diplomatic Apprentice instead of him or herself when performing The Wind's Truth?
  A: It's a Political action. [card text] The Personality is bowing as a cost of playing it. [card text] Yes. Jeff Alexander, "post for 3 June 2002", 4 Jun 2002
• Q: Quick question - can I bow the Apprentice instead of a Shugenja when casting Wind's Truth?
  A: Yes. Jeff Alexander, "post for 15 April 2002", 16 Apr 2002
• Q: Heh heh heh. Evil thought... If you're playing Open, and Moon and Sun allows Suspicions to resolve a second time, then you can use Nagori + Diplomatic Apprentice. Nagori reacts and the Diplomatic Apprentice bows for one instance, and then Nagori reacts and bows for the second. Nasty.
  A: Perfectly legal. Jeff Alexander, "post for 29 January 2002", 30 Jan 2002
• Q: If Nagori has the Diplomatic Apprentice attached to him, can he and the Apprentice bow to cause a 3 point honor loss from Suspicions? (1 from Suspicions, 1 from Nagori, 1 from the Apprentice)
  A: Each printed Reaction is usable once per trigger. [AOF rulebook p. 48]. A Diplomatic Apprentice does not allow the same Political Reaction to be used multiple times against one singular circumstance. You have to use the Diplomat alone on the first trigger, then use the Personality (or another Diplomat) on another one later. Jeff Alexander, "post for 28 January 2002", 29 Jan 2002
• Q: That's a subtle nuance I didn't catch the first time. You're absolutely right. The combo actually isn't legal. This is a REVERSAL.
  Yeah, the 'cannot react twice to the same trigger' affects quite a number of things in APC (most notably Acquiring Favor and the Diplomatic Apprentice.
  A: And yet, it's not a new rule. Weird. Jeff Alexander, "post for 9 October 2001", 9 Oct 2001
• Q: I'm sorry if this has been questioned before and I don't think I'm the first person to see this, but I thought I'd run it past you anyway.
  It appears to me that the combination of Kakita Atoshi and Diplomatic Apprentice could be trouble. As I understand it, When Atoshi bows to keep a personality bowed, the Diplomatic Apprentice could be bowed instead.
  A: If this is done, the effect ends immediately since Atoshi is unbowed. Jeff Alexander, "replies to 21 September 2001", 24 Sep 2001
• Q: Is District Governors action consider political?
  A: No. But the general rule about bowed Personalities applies. Zen Faulkes, "Diplomatic Apprentice and District Governor", 8 Jun 2008
• Q: Would that Hired Killer cost 2 less gold because the Diplomatic Apprentice was attached to a scorpion players personality or would it cost 2 less gold because it was a crane player performing the Hired Killer?"
  A: http://rules.l5r.com/Physically_marked_ ... es#Control: "A card’s text (such as, “Lose 3 Honor” or “You can not take Political actions”) is to be read from the perspective of its controller while the card is in play."
  Sorry for missing it. Zen Faulkes, "Hired Killer on a Diplomatic Apprentice", 19 Mar 2008
• Q: An interesting question came up last night, a scorpion player had a Diplomatic Apprentice attached to one of his personalities. A crane player tried to Hired Killer this personality and wanted to claim the 2 gold cost reduction a Diplomatic Apprentice gives scorpion and crane players in the cost of the hired killer. Was he right in this assumption? Would that Hired Killer cost 2 less gold because the Diplomatic Apprentice was attached to a scorpion players personality or would it cost 2 less gold because it was a crane player performing the Hired Killer?
  A: http://rules.l5r.com/Glossary_G: "Gold Cost, when referred to as a card’s stat, is a stat that initially determines the amount of Gold needed to pay to bring the card into play."
  The Diplomatic Apprentice text refers to a Gold Cost stat, so it always applies, not just during attachment.
  (Clarified.) Zen Faulkes, "Hired Killer on a Diplomatic Apprentice", 18 Mar 2008
• Q: You may bow Diplomatic Apprentice instead of this Personality when he would bow to pay the cost or part of the cost of a Political action.
  A: So when you have a cost to bow the Personality, you can bow the Apprentice to pay the cost instead (card text).
  With Lies, it would be perfectly acceptable to target your 4 Chi Courtier Personality as the Courtier who would pay the cost, and then pay the cost with the Apprentice. It would dishonor someone of 3 Chi.
  Lobbying is a Political Action. Your Personality would perform the Action, and the Apprentice would bow to pay the cost of bowing the Personality.
  Alternate methods of paying costs typically have explicit text that states they pay the cost in some alternate method. They don't just say "negate X" where X is the cost of some other Action. Martin Lund, "RE: Decoy", 5 Mar 2005
• Q: Oh ok, thanks for the heads up. There's actually another follower I'll throw in then. I thought about diplomatic apprentice but it's not political so that won't work Haha Probably good anyway because the dishonor military was running rampant last night I checked Kemp's drop box but didn't see something like this: Is there a good source for trait lists definitions? Like once spot I can find trait definitions easily?
  A: An action is anything preceded by boldtype "Limited", "Reaction", "Open" etc. A trait is basically anything else in card text that's not. Brook Cunningham, "Oracle of the Void #rules", 13 Jun 2021