Jade Bow

Legend of the Five Rings card from Gold Edition, Pre-Imperial Edition, Imperial Edition, Emerald Edition, Obsidian Edition, Jade Edition, Pearl Edition, L5R Experience, Shadowlands, Anvil of Despair, Crimson and Jade, Time of the Void, Hidden Emperor Starter, Scorpion Clan Coup Starter, Fire & Shadow, The War of Spirits, Broken Blades, Winds of Change

Card Type

Item

Force

+0

Chi

+0

Gold Cost

5

Keywords

Weapon, Jade

Card Text

Battle: Any number of times per turn, bow this Personality: Ranged 4 Attack.

Focus Value

2

Legality

Clan Wars (Imperial), Four Winds (Gold), Hidden Emperor (Jade)

Deck

Fate

Notes

Some of the Hidden Emperor versions of this card were printed with a different text alignment

Printings

Rulings

• Q: Since I can combine Ranged Attacks from cards in the same unit, can I put a Jade Bow on a Personality who also has a built-in Ranged Attack and fire them both at once? A: No. You cannot bow a card just once to generate two effects. Legend of the Five Rings FAQ, Version 3.6.2, May 1998, p. 8

Rules Q&A

• Q: Bowing does not affect Follower bonuses with a "+" sign, Item bonuses of any kind, or Chi.
  So if I gave a Jade Bow a bonus with Tsi Smith, and bowed it for a ranged attack, it would still contribute force to the personality?
  A: Sure, but the Personality is now bowed, so you'd have to find some way to straighten him to have his force count for the battle. Vaughn Derderian, "Post for June 16, 2003", 16 Jun 2003
• Q: Should a) or b) above be true, then what would be the effect if Personality C did NOT indeed have a Ranged 4 ability ITSELF, but did happen to have a Jade Bow attached. Would Eiji then be able to target the Jade bow?
  Because: 1. Use of Jade Bow's action bows Personality C. 2. Personality C becoming bowed triggers the two instances of Goshiu's effect on C. 3. Each of Goshiu's effects on C causes that personality to cause its controller (Y) a 2 point honour loss.
  A: Yes. Again, Eiji could only cause a 2-pt loss. Jeff Alexander, "post for 22 May 2003", 23 May 2003
• Q: I had a question about the Experienced Hataki's ability. Lets say my opponent attacks province 1 and 2 and I'm defending at province 1 with Hataki who has a Jade Bow attached. Say I kill his personality with the jade bow, the battle ends and Hataki goes home bowed (because of the bow). Now the battle at province 2 starts. Can I straighten Hataki and move him into the battle?
  A: Yes. Jeff Alexander, "rules for 9 September 2002", 10 Sep 2002
• Q: I heard a very disturbing rumor.
  Matsu Hataki (Exp.) can "Straighten if necessary and move into the battle being resolved if you are the Defender."
  My interpretation is that he can straighten if he's bowed, then move into the battle. Once he's there, he's nothing special beyond being a 4/4 personality.
  I've heard a rumor that after he has already moved into the battle, he can use his ability to straighten again if he gets bowed by another effect (Yogo Towers, Test of Might, bowing to perform a ranged attack with a Jade Bow, etc.).
  A: It's not a rumor. It's a natural result of the way the rules of the game work. Knowing that some or all of an action's parts will fail does not make using that action illegal. Hataki has two parts: move into the current battle, and straighten. If he uses it when he isn't bowed, he simply doesn't straighten. If he uses it when he's already in the current battle, he simply doesn't move. Jeff Alexander, "post for 11 June 2002", 12 Jun 2002
• Q: I don't understand this Rule: 'You cannot combine a ranged attack on an Item with one on the Personality carrying it if the Personality has to bow to make the ranged attack.' This is applied only to items like Jade Bow (the Personality has to bow to make the ranged attack OF THE ITEM) or it affects all items (like Fox Nagamaki + Tsuruchi)?
  A: Only to items like the Jade Bow. Jeff Alexander, "post for 31 May 2002", 1 Jun 2002
• Q: Hello, I think this is a question to be answered by the rules stuff. If I attach a Jade Bow to Matsu Hataki exp., and I am the defender, can I make a ranged attack, unbow him, make a second ranged attack..., an so on?
  A: Yes. Jeff Alexander, "post for 11-12 February 2002", 12 Feb 2002
• Q: Plus I know that Jade Bow will recieve the force bonus from Ambush Strategist, and in turn the personality it is attached to. But what about spells with ranged attacks that are attached to the personality. Like Cascading Fire. First will it recieve the force bonus because it's a spell, and will the personality recieve the force bonus?
  A: That's one for the Rules Team. Jeff Alexander, "post for 21 January 2002", 22 Jan 2002