Law of Darkness Dojo

Legend of the Five Rings card from Emperor Edition, Second City, Promotional–Emperor

Card Type

Stronghold

Province Strength

7

Gold Production

4

Starting Family Honor

1

Clan

Scorpion

Keywords

Dojo

Card Text

After another player loses Honor from your Battle action: He loses 1 Honor.
Battle: Even if this card is bowed, target an enemy Personality: Give him -4F. Bow him if he is dishonorable.

Legality

Age of Conquest (Emperor), Destroyer War (Celestial)

Deck

Pre-Game

Printings

Rules Q&A

• Q: Hi Rules Team,
  I searched for both of the relevant cards but didn't see rulings which lined up with this. As for my question...
  Let's say my opponent uses Relentless Conviction to destroy my dishonorable personality in battle, which causes me to lose honor equal to my guy's PH (let's call it 2). If my opponent also happens to be playing out of Law of Darkness Dojo, will I lose 2 Honor or 3?
  In short, we're unsure if a dishonorable personality's death during Battle causes LoDD's trait to activate, even if the card or ability used does not itself cause an honor loss.
  Thanks!
  Relevant Card Text:
  A: It does not.
  The honor loss from a dishonorable Personality's destruction is caused by the rulebook, not the action which destroyed the Personality. Therefore it will not trigger Law of Darkness Dojo's trait. Jon Palmer, "LoDD and Relentless Conviction", 15 Apr 2013
• Q: Relevant Text:
  Law of Darkness Dojo After another player loses Honor from your Battle action: He loses 1 Honor.
  Cowed and Defeated Battle: Choose your performing unbowed Courtier or Magistrate and target a Personality: Dishonor him. His controller loses 1 Honor. After the next time (this turn) another player's action resolves that targeted your performer or a battle resolves which destroyed him, the target's controller loses 2 Honor.
  In the case that the performing Courtier/Magistrate get targeted with an action or a battle resolves which destroyed him, does the opposing player lose a total of 4 (1 from the action itself, 1 from the trait on Law of Darkness Dojo, and 2 from the delayed effect of the action) or 5 (Law of Darkness' trait apply to both the initial honor loss AND the 2 from the delayed effect)?
  Thanks!
  A: Both the initial 1 Honour loss and the delayed 2 Honour loss will trigger Law of Darkness Dojo. If you play Cowed and Defeated out of Law of Darkness Dojo, your opponent will lose 2 or 5 honour. Alex Jones, ""Law of Darkness Dojo" and "Cowed and Defeated"", 24 Jul 2012
• Q: Now that you can no longer Sepukku in Battle, are the Honour Losses from Scandalous Rumours considered an honour loss individually, or as a host?
  A: The EE change to the Rulebook Seppuku action in no way affected the definition of "for each".
  The loss from Scandalous Rumors is still a single loss, and previous rulings as to its interaction with Law of Darkness Dojo still stand. Brook Cunningham, "Scandalous Rumors vs. Law of Darkness Dojo V2", 18 Jul 2012
• Q: I know the honor loss from a dishonorable death is a rulebook effect, but the battle action causing the death is directly responsible for the loss.
  A: The first part of the above statement is true, the second is not quite, because of the truth of the first.
  The Honor loss comes from the Rulebook, not from the Battle action. There are 3 exceptions to the definition of "from", but dishonorable-death-Honor-loss is not one of them (see here). Brook Cunningham, "Law of Darkness Dojo and Dishonorable death", 13 Sep 2011
• Q: RE: viewtopic.php?p=1244043#p1244043
  Scandalous Rumors makes the opponent target their own personalities, does this not count as being targeted for the honor loss?
  Wording: Battle: Bow your performing Courtier at any location: The Attacker may target any of his Personalities at the current battlefield and move them home. He loses 1 Honor for each of his Personalities there that this did not move, then dishonors them.
  A: Well, the trick is, you would have to target at least one Personality and send him home, then he could seppuku the loss for all the ones that stayed.
  But if you leave ALL your Personalities at the battle and lose honor for all of them, which I think is the scenario my colleague was assuming, then you've targeted none of them and there is no one who can seppuku. Brook Cunningham, "Scandalous Rumors and Law of Darkness Dojo", 11 Sep 2011
• Q: It's come to question whether the honor loss from Scandalous Rumors is one large loss or individual losses for each personality.
  A: http://rules.l5r.com/CE_Glossary_F#For_each: "Proportional effects using the term “for each”... should be interpreted as a single effect rather than numerous separate effects." (Emphasis added.) Zen Faulkes, "Scandalous Rumors and Law of Darkness Dojo", 11 Sep 2011
• Q: how would one seppuku that loss? can you?
  A: No, you cannot, as the personalities causing the honor loss were not targeted, which is a requirement for the player ability. Zen Faulkes, "Scandalous Rumors and Law of Darkness Dojo", 11 Sep 2011
• Q: And the big question is if they are individual losses does Law of Darkness Dojo increase each loss by one.
  A: Moot. Zen Faulkes, "Scandalous Rumors and Law of Darkness Dojo", 11 Sep 2011