Remorseful Seppuku

Legend of the Five Rings card from Diamond Edition, Pre-Imperial Edition, Imperial Edition, Emerald Edition, Obsidian Edition, Jade Edition, Gold Edition, Pearl Edition, Shadowlands, Anvil of Despair, Crimson and Jade, Time of the Void, Scorpion Clan Coup Starter

Card Type

Strategy

Gold Cost

0

Card Text

Limited: Target a dishonorable Samurai: He commits seppuku.

Focus Value

2

Legality

Clan Wars (Imperial), Four Winds (Gold), Hidden Emperor (Jade), Rain of Blood (Diamond)

Deck

Fate

Printings

Rules Q&A

• Q: Does "Remorseful Seppuku" count as a "card effect" for the purposes of Loyal Yojimbo? I believe seppuku is normally a rulebook effect, but I didn't know if this was an exception to the rule.
  A: When a Samurai or Courtier commits Seppuku via the Rulebook Effect, it does not count as a card effect.
  When someone commits seppuku due to a card telling them to, it IS considered to be a card effect. Much like a Duel has procedures defined in the Rulebook, so does Seppuku.
  Loyal Yojimbo can Negate the destruction caused by a Duel from Iaijutsu Challenge, so it can Negate the destruction caused by a Seppuku from Remorseful Seppuku. Martin Lund, "Rules for 26 April 2004", 29 Apr 2004
• Q: Recently, when someone asked about "Remorseful Seppuku", Jeff said that the personality dies...
  "Dishonorably with an Honor loss."
  I was told, if the personality was dying due to seppuku, they did not incur the usual honor loss that a dying dishonorable personality would (because it's seppuku!).
  I guess I would like come clarification. Thanks!
  A: The exact question asked involved a Personality who could not be restored to Honor due to additional outside card effects. I was not giving a general ruling. Jeff Alexander, "rules for 22 March 2004", 23 Mar 2004
• Q: Second question is on the card Strange Alliance
  <snip> Strange Alliance Limited: Target a Dishonored Personality. Until the Personality leaves play, he may not be restored to Honor, and may neither be targeted by nor perform Political Actions. </snip>
  After I target a personality with Strange Alliance, could I then target them with Remorseful Seppuku?
  A: Yes. The Samurai fails the definition of "perform" for Remorseful Seppuku because it is not playable only on your own Personalities.
  Rule of thumb: if you can make other players' cards "do" it, it isn't "performing". Jeff Alexander, "rules for 19 March 2004", 20 Mar 2004
• Q: Am I correct in reading the MRP of the card that people now lose honor when you play it on their dishonored personality? The old version said "This personality is considered honorable dead but there are no honor gains or losses." However the Gold version does NOT have that text.
  A: The Gold Edition rulebook clarifies that any death by any seppuku effect is an Honorable Death, so there is no honor loss from dying dishonorably regardless of the new wording. Jeff Alexander, "post for 7 March 2002", 8 Mar 2002
• Q: Word of the Sword, Remorseful Seppuku (dishonored)
  A: Dishonored *Samurai*, but, yes. Jeff Alexander, "post for 19 February 2002", 20 Feb 2002
• Q: This seems to come up every year-and-a-half or so, I think.
  Remorseful Seppuku does not force the victim to undergo the rulebook definition of Seppuku (the latter isn't even an action).
  A: Not the built-in response that Samurai can choose, no, but there is more than one way to die from a seppuku effect. Jeff Alexander, "post for 13 February 2002", 14 Feb 2002
• Q: Remorseful Seppuku is used under entirely different circumstances. In addition, it specifically says there is no honor gain or loss, a reference to the usual result of a dying dishonored personality (honor loss equal to printed honor).
  A: It *used* to say that. The reason it doesn't anymore is that by explicitly stating there is no honor loss, it changes from "a reference to the usual result of a dying dishonored Personality" and becomes an additional effect of the card. I didn't like that. Jeff Alexander, "post for 13 February 2002", 14 Feb 2002
• Q: Seppuku is "bigger" than L5R rules, like the word "sensei". It gets used for a lot of things. Honorable Seppuku, Remorseful Seppuku, and I Believed in You are not the same thing as rulebook Seppuku, as many of them have completely different triggers.
  A: None of them equate exactly to the samurai-response-to-Honor- loss seppuku, no, but they all fall squarely under the "death by any version of seppuku restores the Personality to Honor first" rule. Jeff Alexander, "post for 13 February 2002", 14 Feb 2002
• Q: I've been asked a number of times now to rule on whether or not a dishonoured Personality targeted by this card is returned to honourable status before dying. My ruling has always been that he dies dishonourably. My understanding has always been that a samurai's ability to commit seppuku in response to an honour loss is specific to the case of honour loss, that the rulings for rehonouring apply only to that ability and do not translate across to "seppuku cards". There's nothing on Remorseful Seppuku to say that the Personality is rehonoured and I've always ruled that he dies dishonourably with the associated honour loss.
  A: It's in the Glossary. "A Personality who commits seppuku always dies honorably and becomes Honorable Dead." Jeff Alexander, "post for 2 October 2001", 2 Oct 2001
• Q: Looking for other cards like force of will, test of honor, and remorseful seppuku. Any other cards to p kill dishonorables?
  A: Judgement https://oracleofthevoid.com/#cardid=4061
  Also: https://oracleofthevoid.com/#cardid=982 and https://oracleofthevoid.com/#cardid=7973
  What do you mean by "with the old rules"?
  As of Ivory, you can ignore HRs when bringing Personalities into play if your opponent has caused you an honour loss. But that doesn't mean that I Believed in You stops working. Alex Jones, "Oracle of the Void #l5r", 17 Mar 2021