Honored Sensei

Legend of the Five Rings card from Lotus Edition, Winds of Change, Twenty Festivals, Code of Bushido, Drums of War, Promotional–Twenty Festivals

Card Type

Holding

Gold Cost

2

Keywords

Retainer

Card Text

This Holding has +1GP, but only when it pays for a single non-Shadowlands Naga or Human Personality without your Clan Alignment; gain 1 Honor after he enters play.

Legality

A Brother's Destiny (Twenty Festivals), Age of Enlightenment (Lotus), Four Winds (Gold), Rain of Blood (Diamond), War of the Seals (Onyx Edition)

Deck

Dynasty

Printings

Rules Q&A

• Q: I am about to recruit Mirumoto Shikei (who is a naga) from my province. Can Honored sensei produce 3 gold for him and allow me to gain honor? He is a non-shadowlands naga afterall.
  Honored Sensei This Holding has +1GP, but only when it pays for a single non-Shadowlands Naga or Human Personality without your Clan Alignment; gain 1 Honor after he enters play.
  A: Not if you are a Dragon or Naga player.
  Per standard L5R wording conventions, there are 3 conditions that must be met for a Personality to trigger Honored Sensei's additional effects. He must be:
  1. non-Shadowlands 2. Naga or Human 3. without your Clan alignment
  In this case, if you are Dragon or Naga, Shikei will fail on point 3. If you're not Dragon or Naga, his Loyal trait will get in the way. Jon Palmer, "- Honored Sensei - Follow up question", 8 May 2015
• Q: I'd like to make an appeal argument regarding the ruling on Honored Sensei:
  viewtopic.php?f=59&t=113343
  Although Voitagi is a Shadowlands personaility, he is a Human personaility, since he lacks the "nonhuman" keyword.
  Honored Sensei specifically states the bonus is garnered from a "non-Shadowlands Naga or Human personality". Voitagi meets the latter requirements of being a Human personality.
  There is no restriction of "non-shadowlands personality", nor is there any comma separating the designations "non-shadowlands" and "naga". Therefore, the plain text on the card should be interpreted as such.
  If this was not the intent, please issue an errata to cease further confusion.
  A: The distributivity rules for adjectives and conjunctions have not changed in a very long time.
  On Honored Sensei, "non-Shadowlands" applies to both Naga and Human Personalities. Alex Jones, "Honored Sensei + Voitagi", 10 Apr 2015
• Q: Was wondering if the +1 gold production granted from Honored Sensei can be used to purchase Voitagi.
  Honored Sensei
  This specifically says "non-Shadowlands Naga or Human Personality", which is different than "non-Shadowlands, Naga, or Human Personality"
  Voitagi was ruled as being a Human Personality, he is not a Naga.
  viewtopic.php?f=59&t=112758&p=1459736&hilit=voitagi#p1459736
  A: Voitagi is Human, but he is not Non-Shadowlands, so Honored Sensei will not produce the extra gold for him, nor will you gain honor. Jon Palmer, "Honored Sensei + Voitagi", 10 Apr 2015
• Q: In the run-up to Twenty Festivals, I remember reading a rules change that said something like:
  "When producing gold, you may bow holdings one at a time until there is enough gold in the pool to pay the costs of the current action."
  I can't find a reference for this now.
  This came up specifically when discussing Honored Sensei and Otomo Terumoto.
  Can you bow 3 Honored Sensei's while Recruiting Otomo Terumoto and gain 4 honour total from the action and keep 6 gold in the pool?
  A: When making a payment, you may use as many of your holdings to produce gold as you want, or produce gold from other sources - you do not have to stop when you have sufficient to make the payment.
  See Action Sequence, Step B: During the Pay Costs step, if the action has a Gold cost (or if a targeting paradox makes it potentially have one), its player may produce Gold and then pay for the action using the Gold just produced and Gold in that player’s Gold pool. Any Gold produced that is not spent on the action goes to the player’s Gold pool.
  However, see also this paragraph under Paying Gold Costs: EXCEPTION: Some Gold production says it may only pay for a certain cost or type of cost, with wording such as “This Holding has +2GP if this only pays for a single Follower”. The choice to have the extra GP is taken at the point of producing Gold with that source. If the extra GP is taken, that Gold is tracked separately, does not enter the pool, and cannot pay for anything else than the action (including Recruit/Equip) for which the Gold was produced; excess production disappears after the Pay Costs step of the action.
  If you use 3x Honored Sensei to pay for 1x Otomo Terumoto, you produce 9g, but 6g of that is lost; after he enters play you gain 4 honour. Alex Jones, "Paying Gold Costs in 20F", 9 Apr 2015
• Q: Your Past reads:
  Per Oracle, the holding Honored Sensei has the Sensei keyword.
  Would I be able to use Your Past to unbow a bowed Honored Sensei?
  Thanks!
  A: The text in the Oracle was incorrect, thank you for pointing this out.
  Your Past will not unbow an Honored Sensei. Alex Jones, "Your Past + Honored Sensei", 1 Apr 2015
• Q: Ah so because it doesn't recruit the personality it doesn't work, despite honored sensei not explicitly saying recruit.
  A: Right. Although it could be clearer, I interpret that paragraph as saying that the definition of "paying for" (per HS's wording) a card you're putting into play is tied to its own cost and comparison through Recruiting and Equipping. This was certainly a lot more cut-and-dried pre-Ivory, when paying for cards was just a thing you did because they had a Gold Cost, not tied to the Recruit/Equip action's own cost. Brook Cunningham, "Sun and Moon #rules-questions", 10 Mar 2024
• Q: Does Honored Sensei work for it's ability for Yobanjin Raids?
  A: I believe, since the action is only creating the Personality and not Recruiting it, that the Holding is only paying "for" the action, not paying "for" the card itself, thus you don't get the +1GP nor the Honor. Citation: CR, page 34, third paragraph, "Gold paid for a Recruit or Equip action, or for an action with a Recruit or Equip effect, is considered to pay both the cost of the action and the cost of the card Recruited or Equipped." Brook Cunningham, "Sun and Moon #rules-questions", 10 Mar 2024
• Q: Clarification- Consumed by Darkness.
  Does the personality gain shadowlands during recruiting or after it is in play? Looking at the interaction with Honored Sensei
  A: Ah, clever. Yes, you could pay for them with 3G from Honored Sensei. Effects happen in the order written, so first the Consumed granted ability Recruits,and then it gives Shadowlands. Simultaneous effects will be clearly explicitly so, not just linked by "and". Brook Cunningham, "Sun and Moon #rules-questions", 8 Mar 2024
• Q: Each Honored Sensei would produce 2+1 gold for Beiko. If using 3, could you specify spending only the 3x +1 bonus? Nevermind, doc already answered why
  A: you need to use the 3G for the specified condition or lose it Jeff Williamson, "Sun and Moon #rules-questions", 5 Feb 2024
• Q: I see now. Could you spend 3 on Beiko, then use the Honored Sensei for the Interrupt and gain the bonuses?
  A: ah, now that is fair Jeff Williamson, "Sun and Moon #rules-questions", 5 Feb 2024
• Q: Just want to clarify, honored sensei produces +1 gold but only when producing extra gold for a personality without your clan alignment.
  Lets say you have 3 in play, and you go to buy kitsune beiko.
  you produce 9 gold to buy beiko, that extra gold can't be used to pay the interrupt right?
  Also, once you pay for her, you have 6 extra gold floating, does it just vanish because it came from the honored sensei? Or does only 2 of it vanish from the honored sensei?
  A: So, you can't produce 9 Gold for Beiko and have any of the Gold go to any other cost whatsoever. The +1GP only happens when the Holding pays for Beiko and only Beiko, like other such Holdings, "Bamboo Irrigation" and "Colonial Temple". So, you could make 9 Gold for her pointlessly which could go to overpaying for her and no other payments, or you could use 1 Honored Sensei to pay her full 3, and put your other Honored Sensei to other uses for their 2G each. Brook Cunningham, "Sun and Moon #rules-questions", 5 Feb 2024
• Q: If the holding states "when paying for a single X" where X is a card type, then the extra gold disappears after the recruitment. If the hold states "when paying for X" the gold stays, I think.
  If Honored Sensei is the former, it can't be used for the Interrupt on Beiko Exp Hold on, let me fire up the old computer
  A: 20F printing Jeff Williamson, "Sun and Moon #rules-questions", 5 Feb 2024