The Cost of Pride

Legend of the Five Rings card from The Plague War

Card Type

Strategy

Gold Cost

0

Card Text

Reaction: After a Ranged Attack targets one of your cards: Give the Ranged Attack -3 strength.
Battle: Target a Personality whose Force is different from his base Force: Bow or straighten him.

Focus Value

2

Legality

Destroyer War (Celestial)

Deck

Fate

Printings

Rules Q&A

• Q: http://rules.l5r.com/CE_Glossary_B#Base ""Base" refers to a stat, keyword, ability, or trait that exists on a card or other entity as printed (following the most recent printing) or initially created, without modifications from effects. "
  The Cost of Pride "Battle: Bow or straighten a target Personality whose Force is different from his base Force. "
  Is a personality has a base Force of 5, an attachment with +2F, and an effect of -2F resulting in a current force of 5 able to be targeted by The Cost of Pride, since his current force includes modifications from effects? Or does different, when referring to stat values, only care about the actual value and not the reason for arriving at that value?
  A: "Without modifications from effects" in this case determines how the base force value is arrived at, not whether it qualifies as base force for comparison purposes. Therefore, the fact that the base force is 5 and the current force is 5 means that The Cost of Pride cannot legally target the card in your example. Jon Palmer, "Different and Base Stats", 11 Nov 2011
• Q: I'm opposing 4 Unicorn personalities with no Force bonuses other than the Shinjo's Guidance my opponent has in play, except for Moto Jin-Sahn getting +1F from a dead guy in my discard (and I'm defending).
  I target one of the other personalities with The Cost of Pride to bow him. My opponent tries to use the Guidance to redirect.
  What happens?
  a) he can only redirect to Jin-Sahn since after the Guidance is gone that's the only valid target b) he can redirect to anyone since he chooses targets for the Guidance's effect before paying its action costs (discarding), and... b.1) my TCoP fails because its new targeting is no longer valid b.2) my TCoP resolves as expected with the new target because I had a valid target when I announced the action c) he can discard the Guidance to attempt a redirect to another guy (not Jin-Sahn), since the Guidance doesn't have a restriction to being used, just a conditional effect. This effect (targeting change) then fails since the chosen personality is not a valid target for redirection, and... c.1) my TCoP also fails because its original targeting is no longer valid c.2) my TCoP resolves as expected with the original target because that was a valid target when I announced the action
  Relevant cards: Shinjo's Guidance Kami • Unique Unicorn Clan Personalities have +1F while opposed. Reaction: When another player's Battle action would target one of your Unicorn Clan Personalities, if you are a Unicorn Clan player, discard this card: Choose another one of your Personalities. The action targets him instead, if legal.
  The Cost of Pride Reaction: After a Ranged Attack targets one of your cards: Give the Ranged Attack -3 strength. Battle: Bow or straighten a target Personality whose Force is different from his base Force.
  A: c.3) your TCoP resolves as expected with the original target because that was a valid target when you chose the target.
  Note that he can choose Jin-Sahn, although he doesn't have to (I'm just being complete-ist: your description of "c" doesn't cover this option). Alex Jones, "Cost of Pride vs. Shinjo's Guidance", 11 May 2011