Bad Kharma

Legend of the Five Rings card from Emperor Edition, Crimson and Jade, Promotional–CWF

Card Type

Strategy

Gold Cost

0

Card Text

Reaction: After another player with Family Honor of -1 or lower announces an action on a Strategy: He ignores the action's costs. Negate its effects.

Focus Value

3

Legality

Age of Conquest (Emperor), Clan Wars (Imperial), Hidden Emperor (Jade)

Deck

Fate

Printings

Rules Q&A

• Q: Also I was wondering on the timing of the honour loss on Ambush. Is it before or after the battle has taken place. So for example if I ambush the unit of a player on 3 honour, and Winds Truth the honour loss, will I be able to use Bad Kharma to cancel an action he then tries to play during that attack/ambush?
  A: It happens after the entire attack, by card text. You can't use Bad Kharma in your example. Jeff Alexander, "post for 10 October 2001", 11 Oct 2001
• Q: 4. I am trying to purchase a card and trigger the Profit's trait after the first successful gold production. Assume some interference occurs with my ability to produce enough gold to buy the card (I can think of several ways with Bad Kharma), or I simply choose to stop producing gold (Which I think I can do since rules say “Gold MAY be produced from any number of sources”). Can I still "reduce the total Gold Produced by 1" applying the effect "put a Wealth token on this card" at some point later that turn when the card might enter play. This depends on if the effect is considered delayed or not.
  A: The token creation effect is delayed until the card enters play, but only refers to entering play in the instance for which Profits triggered. Note that if you produce 0 gold, you cannot reduce the total produced by 1, since the total cannot be negative, so the delayed effect will not trigger. Alex Jones, "re: Profits", 14 Sep 2013
• Q: Hi Rules Team,
  As a Kotei player judge during this past weekend, myself, along with others discussed this at great length and I would like an official ruling as it seems many are confused by this interaction.
  Relevant text: Kitsuki Judgment Limited: Choose your performing unbowed Magistrate, target a Human Personality, and pay Gold equal to his unit's total Gold Cost, +8 unless he is dishonorable, Kolat, Ninja, or Shadowlands: He commits seppuku.
  Astonishing Accusation Reaction: After another player's Political action targets your Personality: Negate its effects.
  The way "Kitsuki Judgment" is read according to the rules of L5R is as follows: PERFORMER & COSTS: EFFECT "He commits seppuku." is the effect of the strategy Kitsuki Judgment.
  Seppuku reads, to my understanding, as follows (please correct me if I'm wrong): Player Ability: Order Seppuku Open: Any number of times per turn, target a dishonorable Courtier, Samurai, or Shugenja Personality you control: He commits seppuku. Rehonor him. Destroy him. This destruction will not be negated.
  Now my understanding of it, and our consensus on how it would be ruled should it come up, is that Astonishing Accusation does in fact negate the effects of Kitsuki Judgment, which according to how it is written is "He commits seppuku." If "He commits seppuku" is negated, the Personality is not destroyed, correct?
  EDIT*: If you are going to re-discuss this based on my presented argument, I believe you also have to re-visit the ruling regarding Bad Kharma as well.
  Please advise. Too many people are playing this card without full clarity on how it works.
  Thanks!
  Anthony Head Judge, Vancouver Kotei 2012, 2011 Player Judge, Burnaby/Vancouver Kotei 2013, Calgary Kotei 2012, Tacoma Kotei 2012, Portland Kotei 2012
  A: Conveniently, there's a whole thread about this already, where Donny tactfully used Remorseful Seppuku to ask the question about Kitsuki Judgment before questions about Kitsuki Judgment were allowed.
  "Commits seppuku" on a card is shorthand for “Rehonor him, then destroy him; these effects will not be negated.” from the rulebook, in the same way that "Ranged X" is shorthand for the rulebook definition of a ranged attack of that strength. Just read the card as if it had the full text of the seppuku definition instead of the shorthand used, and you will see that negation effects cannot stop the rehonoring and destruction from any action that orders a Personality to commit seppuku.
  Remember also that Kitsuki Judgment is not ordering anyone to take the Player Ability "Order Seppuku". What you really want to reference is the seppuku definition here. Jon Palmer, "Astonishing Accusation vs. Kitsuki Judgment", 10 Mar 2013
• Q: Greetings! Player A uses thunder dragon and his Kohaki (random non-human) to perform oblivious on my fragile courtier at home. Now, thunder dragon says that when he is chosen to perform actions, other players may not take reactions. I, however, want to play a reaction upon the announcement of the action .. Bad Kharma. Can you confirm that this is indeed legal since no performers have been chosen yet when he has announced the action?
  Thunder Dragon xp2 8 5 10 / 13 /4 Mantis Clan • Nonhuman • Dragon • Thunder • Shugenja • Cavalry • Hero • Naval • Experienced 2 • Loyal • Unique After the Thunder Dragon performs an action: Other players may not take Reactions until it ends. The Thunder Dragon inspires. Your Mantis Clan Personalities have +1F and the ability, "Battle: Target an enemy card without unbowed attachments: Bow it.
  Bad Kharma Reaction: After another player with Family Honor of -1 or lower announces an action on a Strategy: He ignores the action's costs. Negate its effects. 3FV
  A: Yes, and for the same reason. Despite the fact that you "know" the Thunder Dragon will be performing, you haven't reached Step B of the timing procedure, which is when it "performs" the action, and therefore the Thunder Dragon's restriction isn't in effect yet. Jon Palmer, "Thunder Dragon xp2 + Bad Kharma", 21 Feb 2013
• Q: Hey guys,
  I think I know the answer to this but I just wanted to ask to make sure!
  In dynasty I am at -1 honour. I Proclaim a Rengetsu, but I use a Temple Fortress to pay for him entering play.
  My opponent attempts to Rhetoric the gain, and I play Rhetoric to redirect back to me. My opponent wants to play Bad Kharma to negate MY Rhetoric. Am I at -1 honour or 0 honour when I try and Proclaim?
  A: The gain from Temple Fortress triggered as soon as you bowed it, while you were paying for your Personality.
  You can't Proclaim until after she enters play, which occurs after paying, so at that time you would be at 0 Family Honor, in your scenario. Brook Cunningham, "Temple Fortress + Proclaim", 4 Oct 2012
• Q: So this came up in a game the other and I just wanted to double check that we played it correctly. Player A (Spider, go spider!) announces an action, in this instance it was A Brave New World. Player B (dirty dishonor player) reacts to announcing with Bad Kharma. Player A then reacts to the Bad Kharma with my copy of Inexorable. Do I now get to resolve my Brave New World without paying the cost of discarding a card? Bad Kharma tells me only to ignore the costs but doesn't negate anything anymore due to my Inexorable. We played on without me having to discard, which seems pretty great but wanted to check we played it correctly.
  Relavent Text:
  Bad Kharma- Reaction: After another player with Family Honor of -1 or lower announces an action on a Strategy: He ignores the action's costs. Negate its effects.
  Inexorable- Reaction: After another player announces a Reaction during the Combat Segment: Its effects will not negate other effects.
  A Brave New World- Battle: Choose your performing Personality and discard a card: Move your Personality to the current battlefield. Straighten his unit if he moved.
  A: You played it correctly.
  Inexorable would cause the negation from Bad Kharma to fail, but its effect letting you ignore the action's cost still happens. Brook Cunningham, "Bad Kharma vs Inexorable", 10 May 2012
• Q: I have a single Ninja at the current battlefield. My opponent announces an action on a Strategy, I react with Ninja Tricks. He reacts with Bad Kharma to my Ninja Tricks. Can I announce another Ninja Tricks, reacting to the Bad Kharma, even though I won't be able to meet the costs of the original once I pay for the second copy?
  A: Yes, you could do that. No rule prevents it.
  Then, the first Ninja Tricks would need to be dealt with per the Rules on Interference with Mandatory Costs. Brook Cunningham, "Multiple Ninja Tricks", 6 May 2012
• Q: Definition of effect
  Bad Kharma
  If he announces a reaction like iron will or another bad kharma, and I try to bad kharma it. Is "ignore costs" and "negate effects" technically an effect? It doesn't change any numbers or stats nor does it create a card or other thing. It doesn't add a restriction or permission to the procedure. Iron will creates an additional action, which is obviously negated. I guess it removes an instance of game procedure (paying costs), but that example isn't given. But I can't tell if 'negating' actually falls under the above definition of an effect.
  A: Yes, both "ignore costs" and "negate effects" are themselves effects.
  "Ignoring" a cost "adds... permissions to the game's procedures" and negation is a type of "Prevention Effect" (see here). Brook Cunningham, "negate a negate effect?", 7 Feb 2012
• Q: quoted below are cards not really relevant to the question, but is a Kolat Edition legal example.
  Bad Kharma
  Reaction: After another player with Family Honor of -1 or lower announces an action on a Strategy: He ignores the action's costs. Negate its effects.
  One Koku
  Reaction: When paying a Gold cost: Produce one Gold
  I announce I am bringing a personality into play (say from your clan needs you), and I use one koku to pay without the clan discount. But if then my gold payment is interfered with by another player negating the action's effects. Am I forced to find another source of money to pay without clan discount, or is it past the point where I can choose his cost for entering play?
  A: Contrary to what you said, this seems to be a very relevant, separate question to me.
  And the answer is that you can choose the Clan discount at any time during the "pay costs" Step (its nicely un-rigid in that regard), so should your One Koku be negated, you can find another source OR opt for the discount at that point (note that nothing already paid in excess of the discount, like a Small Farm before that One Koku, will be refunded for choosing it). Brook Cunningham, "KE - entering play cost / cost interference (and proclaim)", 4 Jan 2012
• Q: Can I negate the reaction of Sneak Attack by using Bad Kharma?
  A: Bad Kharma says, "Reaction: Play this card when an action card is being played by a player with a family honor below zero. The action is canceled and its effects are negated." (Crimson & Jade)
  Sneak Attack is a Strategy, ie what used to be called an action card, so yes. Alex Jones, "Bad Kharma and Sneak Attack", 21 Dec 2011