Sympathetic Energies

Legend of the Five Rings card from Diamond Edition, Shadowlands, Promotional–CWF

Card Type

Spell

Gold Cost

2

Card Text

Repeatable Battle/Open: Bow this Shugenja to transfer a target token or created attachment on a target Personality to any other target Personality that could legally have it. This action has Remote if at least one target is at the current battlefield and may be taken even if other targets are not or, if this Personality is, all the targets may be at any location.

Focus Value

2

Legality

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

Deck

Fate

Printings

Rulings

• Erratum: Reads, "Sympathetic Energies 2G 2FV Open: Bow this Shugenja to move a target token from one target Personality to another target Personality who can legally have it." [MRP, Diamond Edition, 27 October 2003] Rules Archive, August 18, 2007, p. 67
• Erratum: the shugenja must bow to cast this spell. Text Change & Errata List, February 15, 2000, p. 8
• Q: Can I use Sympathetic Energies or Dance of the Elements to move Togashi Mitsu's +1F/+1C fire tokens onto any other Personality, or only onto another Mitsu? The spell says the new recipient has to be legal, and only Mitsu creates fire tokens. A: Here's the deal. Unless there is specific text to the contrary somewhere, any token may be placed on any Personality. Even if the token's original source couldn't generate the token on the card you're trying to move it to, if nothing forbids the possession of such a token, it's legal to move it. Example: Shosuro Hametsu can "give a Personality a Poison token if they do not have one". But nothing prohibits having more than one poison token, so you can place poison tokens on several different people and then move them all onto one. On the other hand, Akodo Kage says "No Personality may have more than 2 Sensei Tokens", so you can't do this trick with him. Legend of the Five Rings FAQ, Version 3.6.2, May 1998, p. 19
• Q: Can I use Sympathetic Energies to move Togashi Mitsu's +1F/+1C fire tokens onto any other Personality, or only onto another Mitsu? The spell says the new recipient has to be legal, and only Mitsu creates fire tokens. A: Here's the deal. Unless there is specific text to the contrary somewhere, any token may be placed on any Personality. This means that tokens which are always created on one particular card, such as Togashi Mitsu's and Shuten Doji's, can generally be moved to anyone, while tokens that give you a choice of where to put them, such as the Revered Sensei's and the Naga Stronghold's, can only be moved onto someone who could have been given them in the first place. Legend of the Five Rings FAQ, Version 3.4 & errata, June 1997, p. 16
• Changes/Reversals: Q: Can I use Sympathetic Energies or Dance of the Elements to move Togashi Mitsu's +1F/+1C fire tokens onto any other Personality, or only onto another Mitsu? The spell says the new recipient has to be legal, and only Mitsu creates fire tokens. A: Here's the deal. Unless there is specific text to the contrary somewhere, any token may be placed on any Personality. Even if the token's original source couldn't generate the token on the card you're trying to move it to, if nothing forbids the possession of such a token, it's legal to move it. The Imperial Herald, Vol. 2, No. 3 (Issue 7), p. 21

Rules Q&A

• Q: I was wondering if I could destroy the item "Family Token" with the spell Tengoku's Gate or move it with Sympathetic Energies, per the foo rule.
  A: What is this "foo rule" of which you speak? I see no "foo rule." ;-)
  I do see a Keyword Rule on page 64 of the Diamond Edition Rulebook, and it says:
  "When something references a reserved game term (like "army," "Defender," "Infantry," "Sensei," or "Stronghold"), it does not apply to cards with those traits; it applies only to things that meet the term's definition.
  "Token" is a reserved game term. Martin Lund, "Rules for 4 October 2004", 6 Oct 2004
• Q: Can anyone tell me what happens to a bowed personality (other than Jusai) when they get a fire token from Jusai moved on to them by the spell Sympathetic Energies? Do they have to remove the token instead of straightening OR do they simply get a +1/+1 bonus while the token is on them?
  A: Currently, with Togashi Mitsu, the latter. The effects are specific to Mitsu. Zen Faulkes, "Rules for 9 October 2003", 10 Oct 2003
• Q: Does this mean that Sympathetic Energies can be used to move fire tokens from a bowed Mitsu (or other Dragon Tattooed guy) to an unbowed personality
  A: Yes. Jeff Alexander, "post for 17 June 2002", 18 Jun 2002
• Q: "Effects that target a token on a card also target the card (e.g., Sympathetic Energies)"
  - [JA, e-mail, 16 December 2001]
  This one weirds me out because if you use Ninja Thief to steal an item token, you'd wind up targeting the personality, but not if you stole a non-item token.
  A: That's a relic of the "every card targets every thing mentioned anywhere on it" guideline that was found to have too many problems to be correct.
  Zen, could you please remove this entry from the archive? It is not accurate. Jeff Alexander, "post for 14 June 2002", 15 Jun 2002
• Q: I hate to tell you this, but that is altogether untrue. Since SYmpathetic Energies was printed, the ability to shift fire tokens to other personalities without the inhibition of getting bowed for all eternity has been possible. It has been a long-standing rule, that unless the card text specifies otherwise, a +1/+1 fire token was just a bonus token, with no other meaning aside from that, it didn't restrict or inhibit the personality in any way. So, essentially, this reverses a rule that has been in place for some 5 years now, and it IS a big deal. It severely changes the way certain decks work, both open and restricted.
  A: It does not reverse that ruling. The inability to straighten has not been changed to be a property of the tokens. It's a permanent effect of making them, not a side-effect of possessing the ability to make them. Jeff Alexander, "post for 1 April 2002", 2 Apr 2002
• Q: I've got Gaijutsu no Shiryo with a Dragon Tattoo on Samurai A.
  Samurai A gets 3 fire tokens.
  Gaijutsu no Shiryo moves to Samurai B.
  Samurai B gets 3 fire tokens.
  I move 1 fire token from Samurai B to Samurai A using Sympathetic Energies.
  Samurai A has 4 fire tokens. Samurai B has 2 fire tokens.
  On my next turn, I move Gaijutsu no Shiryo back to Samurai A.
  Samurai A now has the "may not have more than 3 tokens" restriction.
  What happens to the 4th token?
  A: Nothing. It's like having four Spells on a 4C Shugenja and then giving the Shugenja -1C. Jeff Alexander, "post for 1 February 2002", 2 Feb 2002
• Q: Scenario the Second*
  As the above, but Bantaro has a Conspiracy token (more old school). a) You could choose to move the Conspiracy token, but the user of Sympathetic Energies would choose the target to receive the token. b) The user of Sympathetic Energies, noting that Bantaro is a "target" but is not clearly defined to be a specific target, laughs (making you feel small) and moves the -2F token onto Bantaro.
  Obviously, this sort of thing can come up with the Ring of Air, too.
  A: Bantaro gets to change one targeting decision. Sympathetic Energies targets one token and two Personalities under Gold Edition rules; in general, Bantaro could change one of those two Personality targets. By the nature of Sympathetic Energy's effect, though, he can't swap himself in as the source of the moving token, so he can only be the new recipient. He also can't change which token gets moved. Jeff Alexander, "post for 22 January 2002", 23 Jan 2002
• Q: 2) When one destroys Plague-infested Personalities in order to satisfy Rampant Plague's conditions for immunity, this makes one unable to be "targeted with plague tokens." Obviously, this means they can't get anymore tokens from the Plague event. However, also under these circumstances, what of the following applies?
  2a) Can Sympathetic Energies transfer a Plague token to a Personality controlled by an "immune" player?
  A: No. Jeff Alexander, "replies to July 3-5", 17 Jul 2001
• Q: When one destroys Plague-infested Personalities in order to satisfy Rampant Plague's conditions for immunity, this makes one unable to be "targeted with plague tokens." Can Sympathetic Energies transfer a Plague token to a Personality controlled by an "immune" player?
  A: Er. No. Zen Faulkes, "Rules for 14 July 2001", 15 Jul 2001
• Q: One of my questions is "If you bow Mizuochi and target one of your own unbowed personalities, giving them a wanted token, then Sympathetic Energies the token to someone else, does the original unbowed personality (Mirumoto Foo) have the ability to remove the token?"
  A: I couldn't find any applicable rulings for Shosuro Hametsu, and both of his versions have abilities that are tied to the tokens, not to the people who have them. Maybe an LBS version of Hametsu?
  Anyways, the personality with the Wanted token is the personality who can bow to remove it. The guy who used to have it doesn't have it now, so can't bow to remove something he doesn't have. Vaughn Derderian, "Rules for December 18th", 18 Dec 2000