Kuro's Fire

Legend of the Five Rings card from Lotus Edition, Ambition's Debt, Diamond Edition

Card Type

Spell

Gold Cost

5

Keywords

Elemental, Fire

Card Text

Battle: Bow this Shugenja: Announce zero or more Ranged Attack actions up to this Shugenja's Chi, with a total combined base strength up to his Force plus Chi. Resolve these attacks consecutively in the order announced.

Focus Value

3

Legality

Age of Enlightenment (Lotus), Hidden Emperor (Jade), Rain of Blood (Diamond)

Deck

Fate

Printings

Rulings

• Erratum: Reads, "Kuro's Fire 5G 3FV Elemental Fire Battle: Bow this Shugenja: Announce a number of Ranged Attacks up to the caster’s Chi, with a total base strength up to his Force plus Chi. Target and resolve these attacks consecutively in the order announced." [MRP, Lotus Edition, 31 October 2005] Rules Archive, August 18, 2007, p. 64

Rules Q&A

• Q: Will a Kuro's Fire attached to a 4-C Shugenja suffice as condition for playing the Ring of Water if you make the 4 Ranged attacks with it?
  Similarly, do Wanton Destruction's duels count as two actions to the Ring of Water's condition?
  A: No. A "Duel" or "Ranged Attack" does not an Action make. These are examples of individual Actions that produce multiple effects, not multiple Actions. Martin Lund, "Rules for 20 January 2005", 24 Jan 2005
• Q: If I got Otaku with a follower in a battle, my opponent casts Kuro's Fire with Agasha Chieh and destroys the follower can I use Otaku's ability to kill Chieh ?
  Kuro's make consecutive ranged attacks so I think that Chieh must declare each one at the time, resolve it and go on.
  The problem is what if Chieh wanted (made) only 1 ranged attack ? Can I use the ability ?
  A: It won't change anything. The destruction is part of resolving the effects of the Kuro's Fire Action. That makes it part of "casting," and any Reactions before / when / after that destruction are still during resolution of the Action's effects, and thus Chieh is still casting. She's still at the battle for Otaku to destroy her.
  Of course, killing Chieh doesn't stop the rest of Kuro's Fire's Ranged Attacks from resolving if you have more coming your way. Martin Lund, "Rules for 20 December 2004", 25 Dec 2004
• Q: I am somewhat surprised this set of questions hasn't come up before. The cards involved have been around for more than 4 months!
  First situation: Fire Dragon is making a Ranged 10 attack using it's Innate ability, using City of Rememberence's ability to ignore the bowing part, and has a Kuro's Fire or Fires from Within. May he then bow to cast the spell, and add the two attacks together?
  A: Sure. Those are two Ranged Attack abilities on two different cards. You can combine them into a Ranged Attack Action. Just keep in mind that combining other attacks into Kuro's Fire is usually counter-productive, since you must still abide Kuro's Fire's action restrictions on this combined Ranged Attack Action (Force + Chi cap). Martin Lund, "Rules for 19 October 2004", 24 Oct 2004
• Q: What happens if you add Kuro's Fire to the situation? Can you combine two Kuro's Fire attacks in this way? How does that work?
  A: You can only combine two Kuro's Fire attacks if you have two Kuro's Fire spells in the same unit. The net effect, however, is zilch. Martin Lund, "Rules for 19 October 2004", 24 Oct 2004
• Q: Kuro's Fire was ruled that there is an infinite amount of RA strength you can target, just so long as there are sufficient traits in play to retroactively change the RAs to legal strengths.
  My question: Is this a ruling unique to Kuro's Fire, or can ANY illegal action be declared so long as there are non-optional traits in play that would make the action legal?
  A: Yes. You take all mandatory, known modifying effects into account in determining whether an action is legal. That is the very essence of the "Smart Cards" rule. Martin Lund, "Rules for 3 September 2004", 7 Sep 2004
• Q: For example, I have a Shugenja with 2 force and 3 chi. I announce a Kuro's Fire of 7, knowing that it will be reduced by an effect already in play that reduces all ranged attack strengths by 2. I announce the (currently illegal) ranged attack, choose targets, pay the costs and then resolve the effects of the (now legal) ranged 5 attack.
  A: It is not illegal. You announced an action that will, given the entire known state of the game at that time, have a final ranged attack strength of 5, which is within Kuro's Fire's bounds in that instance. Martin Lund, "Rules for 31 July 2004", 5 Aug 2004
• Q: Kakita Totani (with a +2F weapon) and Shinjo Xushen XP assign in the infantry phase. Some 4 stat shuggie with Kuro's Fire blocks. Shuggie makes a 8F ranged attack and targets Totani, 'knowing' that she will lower it by 2 and Xushen will lower it by 2 more. Then, as a reaction, the RA gets retargetted to Xushen.
  What happens? Does Xushen get: Hit by a RA8 Hit by a RA6 Hit by nothing, as the attack is now illegal.
  A: There is nothing illegal about it. It is just like if someone used Tsuruchi Technique to raise the value of the Ranged Attack above the maximum you could choose to produce.
  Beyond that, being able to redirect off of Totani is debateable. Once you declare the RA's starting strength, if Totani is the only target that makes the Action compliant, she's the only legal target. You can't redirect Actions to targets the original controller can't legally target with the Action. Martin Lund, "Rules for 13 Jul 2004", 15 Jul 2004
• Q: I really, really think it's time to just be sensible about this and not allow Kuro's Fire to produce illegally large RAs.
  A: There are plenty of good reasons to re-write Kuro's Fire to work the way you want it to. Regardless of that, Kuro's Fire works as it is written, which restricts your choices on Declaration based on your projection of what will happen on Resolution.
  Only Jeff can Errata or MRP Kuro's Fire. Until he chooses to do so, we're going to have to lump it. Martin Lund, "Rules for 13 Jul 2004", 15 Jul 2004
• Q: To understand this, I'll call upon our good friend Kuro's Fire
  A: As I've pointed out numerous times, Consecutive Ranged Attacks do not follow the default targeting rules because they have their own special ones from the rulebook. (Diamond Edition Rulebook, page 98) Martin Lund, "Rules for 29 June 2004", 2 Jul 2004
• Q: - My opponent has Agasha Chieh with Kuro's Fire in play, as well as a Ring of Air ; he casts KF, i react with Flee ; can he straighten Chieh with the Ring of Air ?
  A: Chieh is still bowing to pay the cost of casting the Spell, so he can straighten Chieh with the Ring. All the Ring cares about is why she bowed, not that she was successful. Martin Lund, "Rules for 28 June 2004", 30 Jun 2004
• Q: Timing question for you; Do you declare the strength of a ranged attack with Kuro's Fire before, after or when you declare the target of the ranged attack (or, more importantly, if the attack is re-directed can you choose to alter the strength after the redirection)?
  A: The initial Strength gets set at Declaration, before selecting targets. Redirection won't give you an opportunity to alter the declared strength. Martin Lund, "Rules for 31 May 2004", 2 Jun 2004
• Q: Second example: Kuro's Fire vs. Sozen (Razor's Stronghold) I don't target any opposing Personality before I have to pay the bowing Shugenja cost. Then, all the Ranged Attacks are in the "Effects step" (after costs are paid). I make a ranged attack from Kuro's Fire against Sozen. Have I to discard a card, or not?
  A: You still have to choose targets for the Ranged Attacks, regardless of whether the choice is made earlier or later. You are still targeting with the Action, since those those targeted effects are part of the Action. You'll still have to discard when you choose the target for the first Ranged Attack Kuro's Fire produces. Martin Lund, "Rules for 6 May 2004", 9 May 2004
• Q: 2) If I have a personality with Kuro's Fire in a battle, and my opponent moves someone out, can I use Taut Bowstrings to shoot with the Kuro's Fire? If so, is the ranged attack coming from the Kuro's or the personality?
  A: Taut Bowstrings says, "Reaction: Play after a unit moves into a Province or before a unit leaves a Province to make a ranged attack targeting it from your opposing cards in that Province. Your cards need not bow to produce this attack."
  You can produce one RA from Kuro's Fire combined with any other cards in that same unit and none of them need bow. The RA comes from the Kuro's Fire, but the caster need not bow. Martin Lund, "Rules for 30 April 2004", 3 May 2004
• Q: If I cast Kuro's Fire with a 4/4 Shugenja, I believe I can perform a single RA of 8, and then do 3 more RAs of 0 if I want to kill some follower tokens or something. Right?
  A: Sure, neither total (number of RAs or Strength) has been exceeded. Martin Lund, "Rules for 23 April 2004", 25 Apr 2004
• Q: Alternately, suppose Shugenja TFFW is 2/2. He is allowed to make (among other things) a ranged attack equal in force to twice his chi.
  A: How do you figure he's "allowed to make" anything? It isn't like Kuro's Fire. There are no decisions. The Fire from Within has 2 Battle Actions. Announce which one you want to play and follow the card's instructions.
  Using the second ability on the Spell, "Elemental Battle: Bow this Shugenja for a Ranged Attack with strength equal to twice his Chi." the Shugenja bows for a Ranged 4 attack on Xushen. Fires from Within produces a Ranged 2 attack due to Xushen's trait, just like it would produce a Ranged 5 attack if Higher Ground were in play, rather than Xushen. Martin Lund, "Rules for 22 April 2004", 25 Apr 2004
• Q: This would also mean that you need to add an extra point to Kuro's Fire, as RH would boost his force by one after you cast KF, but before the RAs resolved. Also, RH gains a bonus once for KF, *not* once per RA generated, as the boost is for casting a spell, not generating a spell effect, yes?
  A: Yes. It says, "is cast."
  Imagine how sick Reichin's would be if it got larger by each produced Effect of the spell and you had it on the Caster of Kuro's Fire? Yick! Martin Lund, "Rules for 20 April 2004", 22 Apr 2004
• Q: Why is it that a shugenja can use Kuro's Fire to produce an infinite strength RA, just so long as it is known that a trait will lower the strength of the RA down to something legal?
  A: Because Kuro's Fire only cares about the Strength of the Ranged Attack when it gets produced. The shugenja does not "produce an infinite strength RA." It produces the adjusted strength of Ranged Attack. Kuro's Fire takes outside modifiers into account (like targeting Xushen or having Higher Ground in play). Martin Lund, "Rules for 16 and 17 April 2004", 18 Apr 2004
• Q: How do these two cards work together?
  A: No Hiding Place says, "Play before producing a Ranged Attack from exactly one of your attacking cards to target a card in the Defender's home with a Ranged Attack. This Ranged Attack has -1 Strength."
  You can play No Hiding Place before any point in which you are required to choose a Target for a Ranged Attack produced by Kuro's Fire.
  Kuro's Fire is a bit tricky, though. It has an Action that produces Consecutive Ranged Attacks.
  The FIRST Ranged Attack Kuro's Fire makes has to have its target chosen when you play the Action itself - before you pay the cost of the Action or produce any effects.
  All the other Ranged Attacks Kuro's Fire makes have their target choosen immediately before producing the next Ranged Attack effect.
  Play No Hiding Place immediately before you choose a target for a Ranged Attack from Kuro's Fire. That Ranged Attack (and only that Ranged Attack) can be targeted against a card in the Defender's home.
  It gets -1 Strength, but that counts against the maximum total Ranged Attack Strength Kuro's Fire permits you to produce. You can just declare the number of the Ranged Attack's Strength as 1 greater to compensate. Martin Lund, "Rules for 12 April 2004", 13 Apr 2004
• Q: Will my Kuro's Fire Range attacks be allowed to target Units in my opponent's Home?
  A: Just one of them. Martin Lund, "Rules for 12 April 2004", 13 Apr 2004
• Q: In a message dated 3/9/2004 10:49:04 AM Pacific Standard Time, writes: To kill Xushen, the shugenja must produce a ranged 6 attack, which is higher than his total of 5... but that is then reduced to 4, so it's legal. Does Kuro's Fire use the smart card clause to somehow realize that its illegally-large initial ranged attack will be reduced to a legal level once it feels the effects of the Xushen reduction?
  Yes. I am lost. Jeff could you explain this in more detail. I don't see how a ranged 5 attack kills Xushen exp.. in this situation.
  A: Easy. It's 5 *after* Xushen's strength reduction. Jeff Alexander, "rules for 24 March 2004", 26 Mar 2004
• Q: Here goes:
  I'm attacked by a player who has say 6 peeps one of which is Ashura. I block with Danjuro and leave Chieh at home. For my first action I go crazy with Chieh and Kuro's Fire for 20+ points. With one of my ranged attacks I kill Ashura who then targets and destroys Danjuro. I have some number (let's say 10) of points left to assign as ranged attack. Do I get to continue my action or is Chieh finished because I don't have presence?
  A: Presence and Relevance are required to take the action, and Chieh only needs another unit there when she casts the Spell. Once that is done, its effects are set in motion. The rest of the Spell proceeds as normal. Jeff Alexander, "rules for 24 March 2004", 26 Mar 2004
• Q: This came up at a tournament recently and I'd like someone to clear this up. Crab was attacking Phoenix with Hida Sozen. Agasha Cheih XP, who was outside the battle, had Kuro's Fire, Isawa House Guard and more force in its unit than Sozen's. If Cheih cast Kuro's Fire, could it kill Sozen? A few questions arose from this. Is Cheih, although in the army, considered opposed to Sozen?
  A: Only while casting it. Jeff Alexander, "rules for 24 March 2004", 26 Mar 2004
• Q: First, I want to get a clarification on wording issues. This is a result of the recent ruling on CotW and Kuro's Fire.
  From looking at page 71 in the diamond rulebook I see the following rules:
  <snip> 2.) Actions on an Item, Spell, or Ancestor are performed by its personality. 3.) Actions which involve one or more Personalities or followers in their cost, [...], are performed by those cards. </snip>
  And from the CotW: <snip> Once per turn, one of your Mantis Clan Personalities need not bow to produce a single or combined Ranged Attack that targets opposing cards. </snip>
  So my question is on the difference between "perform" and "produce."
  A: "Produce" means "create and be the source of the effect".
  "Perform" is a game term whose definition only matters when the word "perform" appears on a card. Jeff Alexander, "rules for 19 March 2004", 20 Mar 2004
• Q: Does each ranged attack from Kuro's Fire count as a seperate Battle action?
  A: No. Jeff Alexander, "rules for 19 March 2004", 20 Mar 2004
• Q: So, what was the final answer on this? Shujen does something about Kuro's Fire or not?
  A: Effectively, no. Jeff Alexander, "rules for 17 March 2004", 18 Mar 2004
• Q: This question came up at a tournament this past weekend, and I'd like to verify that the ruling that was made was correct:
  If Shinjo Xushen xp is in a battle, and has assigned as infantry (lowering the strength of all ranged attacks by 2), does this have any effect on the total strength allowed to the caster of a Kuro's Fire?
  No. Kuro's Fire applies to the total adjusted strength, as it does not say anything about using base values.
  That is, if a 4/4 shugenja has Kuro's Fire attached and targets Xushen with the first ranged attack, does that attack use 6 or 4 of the total force that the shugenja can cast for?
  If he hits Xushen with a final strength 4 ranged attack, it uses up 4.
  Additionally, if the shugenja were a 2/3, could they target Xushen at all?
  Sure, he can target Xushen. He can always target Xushen.
  Now, if you're asking if he can produce a ranged attack large enough to kill Xushen, the answer is still "yes".
  This is a bit confusing to me. Kuro's Fire basically allows you to totally ignore Xushen's ranged attack reduction totally? I can understand how you are reading the card, but I don't think that's the only interpretation that could be drawn by reading the text on both cards.
  A: It's not the only interpretation. Unfortunately the other is only consistent overall if Kuro's Fire is played as though it said it counted its total BASE ranged attack strengths, before other cards modified them. Jeff Alexander, "rules for 8 March 2004", 9 Mar 2004
• Q: To kill Xushen, the shugenja must produce a ranged 6 attack, which is higher than his total of 5... but that is then reduced to 4, so it's legal. Does Kuro's Fire use the smart card clause to somehow realize that its illegally-large initial ranged attack will be reduced to a legal level once it feels the effects of the Xushen reduction?
  A: Yes. Jeff Alexander, "rules for 8 March 2004", 9 Mar 2004
• Q: The obvious follow up question is how does Kuro's Fire interact with Tsuruchi Technique? Do the extra 3 points count towards Kuro's "total attack strength"? If so, can you use Tsuruchi to boost the last of your attacks above what Kuro's could normally produce on its own?
  Yes and yes.
  Ok, now this makes less sense. In the case with Xushen, Kuro's Fire is smart enough to say it can over-produce because its total strength will be lowered by Xushen. In this case, Kuro's Fire has lost its smart-card ability and suddenly is able to produce a higher total ranged attack than its shugenja's force+chi because of Tsuruchi technique.
  A: Yoee'trr makes a Ranged 3 Attack. By your argument, Tsuruchi Technique can't be used to increase it to 6, because Yoee'trr clearly says he makes a Ranged *3* Attack and Tsuruchi Tech. would make it illegally high.
  Same thing here. Tsuruchi Tech. is boosting the final strength above what Kuro's Fire is normally capable of producing because that's what ranged attack modifiers DO. But you don't get that boost without it counting against how much strength you've produced so far. Jeff Alexander, "rules for 8 March 2004", 9 Mar 2004
• Q: I cant see how the Kuro's player should/would be allowed to over-declare the RA just b/c they know in advance Xushen will reduce it. You still produced a range 5, it just got modified by Xushen.
  A: If it got modified to strength 4 or 3, then it was a ranged 4 or 3 attack and not a 5. And you know what the reduction will be before you cast the Spell. Jeff Alexander, "rules for 8 March 2004", 9 Mar 2004
• Q: My follow-on question is on what keeps a theoretically infinite RA from being declared as the last RA from Kuro's. Because we now know that the upper bound of KF is violatable, what keeps Agasha Seruma with Kuro's Fire from killing Hida Kuon by declaring a RA10, letting it resolve, then end the KF effect by having gone over the limit?
  A: If nothing known is going to reduce it into a legal range, you can't declare it that big to begin with. Jeff Alexander, "rules for 8 March 2004", 9 Mar 2004
• Q: The obvious follow up question is how does Kuro's Fire interact with Tsuruchi Technique? Do the extra 3 points count towards Kuro's "total attack strength"? If so, can you use Tsuruchi to boost the last of your attacks above what Kuro's could normally produce on its own?
  A: Yes and yes. Jeff Alexander, "rules for 5 March 2004", 6 Mar 2004
• Q: I know this has probably be asked but can range 0 attacks from Kuro's Fire destroy 0F followers?
  A: A normal ranged 0 attack from anything can destroy a 0F target. [DE p. 90] After all, zero does meet or exceed zero. Jeff Alexander, "rules for 4 March 2004", 5 Mar 2004
• Q: This question came up at a tournament this past weekend, and I'd like to verify that the ruling that was made was correct:
  If Shinjo Xushen xp is in a battle, and has assigned as infantry (lowering the strength of all ranged attacks by 2), does this have any effect on the total strength allowed to the caster of a Kuro's Fire?
  A: No. Kuro's Fire applies to the total adjusted strength, as it does not say anything about using base values. Jeff Alexander, "rules for 2-3 March 2004", 4 Mar 2004
• Q: That is, if a 4/4 shugenja has Kuro's Fire attached and targets Xushen with the first ranged attack, does that attack use 6 or 4 of the total force that the shugenja can cast for?
  A: If he hits Xushen with a final strength 4 ranged attack, it uses up 4. Jeff Alexander, "rules for 2-3 March 2004", 4 Mar 2004
• Q: Assuming that there is a legal way to generate a ranged attack from a card that is not at the battle (I don't know that there is one, the only thing I can come up with is Agasha Chieh casting Kuro's Fire) could that ranged attack be used by a CoW player to reduce the enemy's province strength?
  A: Not if it is not making a ranged attack as though it were in that battle, no. Jeff Alexander, "rules for 27 Feb. 2004", 28 Feb 2004
• Q: If she then cast Kuro's Fire, what's the total RA strength and how many can she make?
  A: Up to 7 attacks with a maximum total strength of 11. Jeff Alexander, "rules for 24 Feb. 2004", 26 Feb 2004
• Q: What is the logic in it? A card says can cast spells as if it was in the battle and the other says: "When a Shugenja IN your army...." how can they interact?
  Bowing is part of casting a Spell. Chieh can cast a Spell as if she were in an army.
  So, by that standard, if I am attacking and Chieh exp has Kuro's Fire attached and sitting at home, I can play break the line and target her?
  A: You can't play it for its Battle action and target either her or her Spell. She is not in the middle of casting a Spell just then, so her trait doesn't apply.
  You can play it for its Reaction when she casts that Spell on cards in your army, but that has nothing to do with Chieh's trait. Jeff Alexander, "rules for 9 Feb. 2004", 10 Feb 2004
• Q: Test of Magic Kiho Reaction : Bow one of your shugenja when another shugenja casts a spell or kiho to challenge that shugenja to an unrefusable duel. If your shugenja wins, cancel the spell or kiho.
  Kuro's Fire Elemental Battle : Bow this shugenja to make a consecutive ranged attacks up to the shugenja's chi. The ranged attacks total strength cannot exceed the shugenja force plus chi.
  So, when agasha seruma casts kuro's fire, and then i test of magic that personality, a duel is created. What if the duel ended as a tie and both shugenja dies, does the previously cast kuro's fire still go off?
  A: Yes. [DE p. 72] The number and total strength of the attacks will be based on the Shugenja's stats now that he's in the discard pile with nothing attached. Jeff Alexander, "rules for 9 Feb. 2004", 10 Feb 2004
• Q: Two quick questions here that came up during games today..
  1. Do the ranged attacks produced by Kuro's fire count as separate battle actions.
  A: No. There is one action: casting it. Jeff Alexander, "rules for 9 Feb. 2004", 10 Feb 2004
• Q: Chieh XP has a Jade Yari and Kuro's Fire attached. Since she can cast Kuro's Fire outside of a battle, can she boost one of the ranged attacks by combining it with the Yari?
  A: No (Diamond rules, pg. 90). Zen Faulkes, "Rules for 18 December 2003", 18 Dec 2003
• Q: Can a player who controlls a Shugenja that has Kuro's Fire attached, along with a follower or an item that can bow itself to produce a ranged attack, "combine" the first ranged attack from Kuro's Fire with that of the follower, and use the Stronghold trait to prevent himself from bowing, then go on to make more consecutive ranged attacks from Kuro's Fire and remain unbowed throughout the duration the spell?
  A: No (Archive, http://l5r.alderac.com/rulings/#Stronghold_boxes). Zen Faulkes, "Rules for 2 December 2003, Part 2", 3 Dec 2003
• Q: under this logic, a player who's made ranged attacks using Kuro's Fire whose total strength = Force+Chi, could go on to produce a final ranged 0 attack, pump it up with whatever cards he has available to do so, thus increasing the ranged attack's strength above 0, and by doing so that player will have exceeded Kuro's Fire's limit, even though Kuro's Fire specifically says that the total strength cannot exceed Force+Chi. Is this the case?
  A: That's what Jeff said. Zen Faulkes, "Rules for 2 December 2003", 2 Dec 2003
• Q: 16:36:32 -0800 Subj: Re: [L5R-CCG] Kuro's Fire\CoW Clarification
  Kuro's Fire counts up the total (not base, since it doesn't specify base) strength of all the ranged attacks you've produced so far, including modifications to their strengths.
  A: Whoops. Another entry for the Archive, then. Zen Faulkes, "Rules for 1 December 2003, Part 2", 2 Dec 2003
• Q: I have a shugenja with 2 force and 7 chi, and Kuro's Fire. He's in an army opposing a large number of 2 force targets. Higher Ground is in play. If it's my Higher Ground, each of my Ranged Attacks is at +1 strength because of the Higher Ground, so I only need to make Ranged 1 attacks to destroy those targets, but they count as Ranged 2 attacks when I'm counting up the total for Kuro's Fire. I make 4 attacks, using 8 points of my allowance of 9. I have one point left over, so I make another Ranged attack at strength 1, which, boosted to 2 by the Higher Ground, destroys a 5th target. Correct?
  A: Yes. Zen Faulkes, "Rules for 1 December 2003", 1 Dec 2003
• Q: Player A has a Phoenix shugenja with Kuro's Fire and the Isawa House guard. Player B has Fall on your Knees.
  "A" Kuro's fire the army of "B", then uses the Isawa House Guard's reaction to straighten the personality. B uses Fall on Your Knees to cancel the reaction.
  The argument from A is that since it was cancelled, he can immediately use the reaction again because it was considered to not have happened at all.
  A: Providing the cost for bowing is waived, it can. Zen Faulkes, "Rules for 22 November 2003", 23 Nov 2003
• Q: If I use Taut Bowstrings Reaction to somebody leaving or entering the battle can I make extra ranged attacks using Kuro's Fire or The FIre From Within targetting other cards[?]
  A: No ("*A* Ranged Attack...").
  Zen Faulkes! * Crab Clan Scholar * Unaligned Deputy Rules Guy Zen Faulkes, "Rules for 8 October 2003", 9 Oct 2003
• Q: If I'm able to cancel an action that produces multiple consecutive ranged attacks (i.e. Forward Guard to cancel Kuro's Fire) are *all* the ranged attacks canceled or just the first one?
  A: If you cancel an action, you cancel the *whole* thing (Gold Edition Rulebook, pg. 45) -- i.e., every Ranged Attack created by it. A Ranged Attack is not an action (though they are usually generated by actions). Zen Faulkes, "Rules for 10 September 2003", 10 Sep 2003
• Q: Does each range attack count as a seperate battle action?
  A: Currently, no. Zen Faulkes, "Rules for 30 August 2003", 30 Aug 2003
• Q: If I have a Moshi Ehime with a Kuro's Fire or Fire's from Within on her can I use it in combination with CotW to:
  A: Sorry, what does Card of the Week have to do with this? ;)
  Please avoid acronyms when asking questions. Zen Faulkes, "Rules for 17 August 2003", 17 Aug 2003
• Q: If Higher Ground is in play, or Arrows from the Woods is used, do these count for the total strength of the Ranged attacks, which must be less than the caster's force+chi?
  A: This is one for the Junta. I can see it being read either way: applying the Chi as a limit only to the initial splitting or to their total strengths until they're all resolved. The latter is the more literal, but it leads to undefined cases when their strengths start getting decreased and increased in a series of reactions. Jeff Alexander, "replies to 6-9 July 2001", 19 Jul 2001
• Q: Two heroes personalitys without follower against elemental dragon with Kuro's Fire. Player A use action form Kuro's Fire and kill first hero personality. Player B react with You Die With Me! and kill Elemental Dragon. Does rest (in this scenario second) of range attack occur?
  A: Rules Archive, Ranged Attacks: "Destroying the source of a Ranged Attack between two consecutive Ranged Attacks can prevent later Ranged Attacks from resolving, because the destroyed card no longer opposes anything." Zen Faulkes, "You Die With Me! vs Kuro's Fire", 7 Jun 2007
• Q: Kuro's Fire specifically limits the total strength of the ranged attacks granted by it to the Force + Chi of the shugenja casting it.
  A: Kuro's Fire specifically limits the total strength of the Ranged Attacks produced by its Action.
  If you modify the strength the Action produces, it still counts against the total produced by the Action. Martin Lund, "Kuro's Fire and Tsuruchi Technique", 27 Mar 2005
• Q: Example: I have Sezaru with a Kuro's Fure attached. I bow the spell to produce up to 5 ranged attacks with a total strength of 9. I perform 1 ranged 2 attack, killing a 2F follower. I then target a ranged 3 attack, killing a 3F follower. Finally, I target a ranged 4 on a 4F personality. My opponent reacts with Shi-Tien temple, giving his personality +1F, bringing him to 5F. Could I play a tsuruchi technique to raise my ranged attack to a Ranged 7, even though this would increase the Ranged attacks beyond the limit of 9 total strength imposed by Kuro's Fire?
  A: Yes.
  Kuro's fire restricts the strength of Ranged Attacks you can declare based on non-optional effects like the continuous effect of Higher Ground or Shinjo Xushen XP ("Smart Cards" Ruling). It can not restrict you from playing additional Reactions to modify the strength after the declaration is already made like Tsuruchi Technique.
  Just keep in mind that it DOES count against your total, so if you use it on any RA other than the last one produced by Kuro's Fire, it will cut into your total for further RAs. Martin Lund, "Kuro's Fire and Tsuruchi Technique", 27 Mar 2005
• Q: When Saemon reacts to him being targeted by a ranged attack from Kuro's Fire, that makes the ranged attack fail (illegal target). Does that also cancel the whole action of Kuro's Fire ?
  A: No (Diamond rules, pg. 75, bottom). Zen Faulkes, "Saemon and Kuro's Fire", 26 Mar 2005
• Q: We have some trouble with hte timing between Kuro's Fire and the Temple.
  I play Kuro's Fire, make a first ranged attack with no reaction.
  Then I create a second ranged targeting a 3 Force personality.
  Here we have two choices and we don't know which one is good :
  A - My opponent uses the Temple, the guy has 4 Force, and I decide to make a ranged 4 attack so I kill him
  B - I must first announce the strength of my ranged attack, and then my opponent can react or not. In that case, if I say 3, the ranged attack has no effect. If I say 4, my opponent will probably not react and I will have wasted one point of ranged attack.
  What is the good answer ?
  A: Each Consecutive Ranged Attack after the first one mimics an Action in how it is played out. First you announce what you are doing, making the choice of how much strength Kuro's Fire does this time. Then you choose a target.
  Reactions to that Targeting can then happen. You can't back up to make a different choice about the Strength of the Ranged Attack, so if someone gets a Force Bonus due to you targeting them, it is too late to decide to put a little extra "oomph" on your RA from Kuro's Fire without an outside effect of some sort. Tsuruchi Technique would help get the job done in that case. Martin Lund, "March 2005 Ruling Archive", 26 Mar 2005
• Q: When Asako Yogo casts Kuro's Fire,
  can you discard a card for each ranged attack?
  Discard four cards to kill the opponent's hand?
  Or can you only do that once?
  Thanks!
  A: Asako Yogo says, "After the resolution of an action you took ..."
  "After the resolution" means after you've completed the entire "resolve effects" step of the Action on Kuro's Fire.
  That's only true once all the Consecutive Ranged Attacks of Kuro's Fire have been made. Once it is true, you can't make any more because you are done resolving Kuro's Fire's Action.
  That trigger only happens once per Action, no matter how many Consecutive Ranged Attacks (which are effects) it produces. Martin Lund, "Asako Yogo + Kuro's Fire", 26 Mar 2005
• Q: One note here, that I just saw. This refers to actions. By the time Saemon is even targeted with the Ranged Attack from Kuro's Fire, it means Kuro's Fire is beginning to produce ranged attacks, which means the action is beginning to resolve, rendering this text irrelevant. The effect of the ranged attack isn't covered by this, as effects and actions are different. Should this rule be considered updated to include effects as well? If not, the attack targeting Saemon would not be negated, and Saemon wouldn't be uber-hard to kill via Kuro's Fire.
  Sorry, I want Saemon to be strong, lord knows Scorpion can always use a bit of help, but I want to make sure all the bases are covered here.
  A: Targets for the first of a series of Consecutive Ranged Attacks from an Action (like that of Kuro's Fire) are chosen during the Declare Targets Step of the Action.
  The rest of the Consecutive Ranged Attacks function in their own bizzare little Rules Singularity that tries to follow the rules for Actions as much as they can without actually being separate Actions, as per the note on Consecutive Ranged Attacks in the Diamond Edition Rulebook. Martin Lund, "Saemon and consecutive ranged attacks", 18 Feb 2005
• Q: In short, can Shosuro Saemon use his Reaction each
  time Kuro's Fire targets him with one of its
  Consecutive Ranged Attacks, or only the first time?
  I'm leaning towards "every time," on this one.
  Reaction: After another player's action targets
  Saemon:
  Me too. Each targeting is a new and chronologically separate
  trigger. There is no issue of multiple uses of one printed Reaction
  to one trigger.
  --
  Jeff Alexander
  Lead Designer, L5R CCG
  Alderac Entertainment Group
  A: - Marty Lund
  Deputy Rules Monkey Martin Lund, "Saemon and consecutive ranged attacks", 16 Feb 2005