Armor of the Loyal Son

Legend of the Five Rings card from The Dead of Winter

Card Type

Item

Force

+3

Chi

+0

Gold Cost

4

Keywords

Armor, Unique, Cursed

Card Text

Before an action destroys this Personality, this Item, or both, if this Item is unbowed, destroy another of your Personalities with the same Clan Alignment as this Personality. If this destroyed a Personality, negate the action's destruction of this Personality and this Item.

Focus Value

4

Legality

Destroyer War (Celestial)

Deck

Fate

Printings

Rules Q&A

• Q: Armor of the Loyal Son is attached to my primary personality: If this personality is at a battlefield, can this trigger select a personality at any location, or does the sacrificial lamb have to be at the same battlefield?
  A: Any. Zen Faulkes, "Armor of the Loyal Son", 6 Feb 2011
• Q: If my personality received a chi penalty from an action, would I be required to destroy another personality (since this trait is not optional) and then chi death would end up killing my primary personality?
  A: Yes, that would be what happens. This was described here: viewtopic.php?f=59&t=88495#p1172122 Zen Faulkes, "Armor of the Loyal Son", 6 Feb 2011
• Q: I know this seems like a dumb question, but I'll ask it anyways just to clarify.
  Armor of the Loyal Son:
  Before an action destroys this Personality, this card, or both, if this card is unbowed: Destroy another of your Personalities with the same Clan alignment as this Personality. If this destroyed a Personality, negate the action's destruction of this Personality and this card.
  Is this an optional effect, or do you have to do it.
  A: It is not optional.
  See Card features, Triggered traits: Triggered traits are not optional – they must happen if the trigger occurs. Likewise, costs of triggered traits are not optional – they must be paid if the player can pay the cost. Alex Jones, "Armor of the Loyal Son", 29 Jan 2011
• Q: Since the announcement has disappeared, I think it's ok to ask about TDoW, right?
  A personality with the (unbowed) Armor of the Loyal Son receives a chi penalty token which unfortunately reduces his chi to 0 (all the chi penalties come from tokens). The trait is triggered, destroys a personality, and the death is negated until the end of the turn (due to negation now being an ongoing effect that lasts until the end of turn unless stated otherwise)
  If, at the end of the turn, the armor is unbowed, what happens? a) Negation ceases, chi 0 is checked and the personality with the armor dies because the turn ends and the negation can't save him now. (Perhaps killing him somewhat in a limbo between turns?) b) Negation ceases, chi 0 is checked over and over and triggers the trait again, again and again until it can't negate anymore and the personality is destroyed (perhaps killing everything in that player's side) because each negation effect ends right after it's applied but it doesn't stop the trait from triggering again. c) The trait is triggered only once at the beginning of each turn, destroying a personality every turn until the armor begins a turn bowed and isn't triggered (card text). The negation saves him once each turn. d) Any other (please explain)
  If the chi penalties came from temporary penalties that cease at the end of the turn (e.g. Bayushi Muhito XP2) , is this any different? Does the active player have a say in this?
  A: Armor of the Loyal Son's negation in not an ongoing negation, it is an instantaneous negation. As explained under Duration and scope of prevention effects, an instantaneous negation is insufficient to negate the destruction of the Personality with 0 chi:
  EXCEPTION: Special rules apply to the prevention of Personality destruction from zero Chi (see Chi death rule) and other continuously applied destruction effects. Effects that prevent one instance of destruction, such as the trait "Before this card is destroyed: Negate the destruction," will not prevent destruction from such an effect. Only a continuous or ongoing “parent” prevention effect (for example, "This Personality will not be destroyed" as a trait) can overcome the Personality's destruction. Alex Jones, "Armor of the loyal son and chi death", 21 Jan 2011