Imperial Ambassador
Legend of the Five Rings card from Promotional–Jade
Open in Oracle of the Void
- Card Type
- Holding
- Gold Cost
- 2
- Keywords
- Imperial, Retainer
- Card Text
- Political Repeatable Reaction, w: Before another player gains or loses Honor, decrease the gain or loss by 2.
- Legality
- Hidden Emperor (Jade)
- Deck
- Dynasty
Printings
Promotional–Jade
- Rarity
- Promo
- Flavor Text
- He who speaks with anger will be heard for his anger, but his words will be forgotten.
- Artist
- April Lee
- Publisher
- Wizards of the Coast
Rules Q&A
- Q: Here's the big problem I have with the Silence, Imperial Ambassador and Imperial Favor arguements in reference to force penalties (or bonuses) as extrapolated from Honor loss/gain issue - all of these examples are instantenous - they are played as reactions (or 'faster' in the case of Silence) and are not capable of being applied several actions after the original event occurs. The Imp Ambassador and Favor in particular *modify the gain/loss at the exact point of occurance* prior to the gain/loss actually being applied. Of course it doesn't create a new honor loss - it alters the original gain *AT THE TIME IT IS MADE and BEFORE IT IS APPLIED* (pardon the shouting). ISotF can be played well after the original modification and application has been applied (see the 'Test of Might' reference above) possible *WELL AFTER* the bonus was applied. No matter the semantics, a force reduction is occuring after the force increase, potentially well after the effects of the force increase have been felt. If you guys have ruled that it's not a force penalty despite the force reduction, we obviously have to accept that. It is, however, a very different situation from that used in the Ambassador/Favor/Silence example just by the fact of the timing.
A: True, but we're also talking about two completely different conceptual things. Honor gains/losses exist only instantaneously. They happen, modify your family honor, and then there is no more gain/loss. Force bonuses, on the other hand, stick around for a while. During their extended existence, they can apparently be modified. This is a new rule to me too, guys.
I'm definitely not happy with all the dirty rules bugs that have crawled out from underneath this particular rock, and I *really* wish that Battle of Shallow Waters had had a completely different coasterific effect, but making it so that a modification of a force bonus/penalty is not a new penalty/bonus seems to be the only way to make everything reconcile.
*shrug* Vaughn Derderian, "Rules for November 15th", 15 Nov 2000