Unstoppable Power

Legend of the Five Rings card from Celestial Edition, Khan's Defiance, War of Honor, Shattered Empire, Samurai Edition Banzai

Card Type

Strategy

Gold Cost

0

Card Text

Battle: Target an enemy card: Give it a Force penalty equal to the number of different element keywords (Air, Earth, Fire, Void, and Water) in your army (until the turn ends). Gain Honor equal to the amount of Force it lost. You may take an additional Battle action.

Focus Value

2

Legality

Age of Enlightenment (Lotus), Destroyer War (Celestial), Race for the Throne (Samurai), Shattered Empire

Deck

Fate

Printings

Rulings

• Erratum: Reads, "Unstoppable Power 0G 2FV Battle: Give a target enemy card a Force penalty equal to the number of different element keywords in your army. Gain Honor equal to the amount of Force it lost. You may take an additional Battle action." [MRP, Celestial Edition, 29 June 2009] Comprehensive Rules, Celestial Edition, with specific card rulings, final version, February 2012, p. 162

Rules Q&A

• Q: Card Text: Battle: If the enemy leader has taken any battle action during this battle: You may take two additional battle actions after this one. You will not take any other additional battle action this battle.
  Does the last sentence mean that I will take no more battle actions, or that I can't take any additional battle actions?
  Examples: In the first case: I play One Action, Two Strikes. I play additional action 1. I play additional action 2. I am forced to pass for the rest of the battle.
  In the second case: I play One Action, Two Strikes. I play additional action 1. I play additional action 2. My opponent takes an action. I take an action. If I were to play something like Unstoppable Power, it works, but I don't get to take the additional action. Play continues in the same vein.
  A: You may take further normal battle actions; you can't take battle actions as additional actions. Alex Jones, "One Action, Two Strikes", 18 May 2011
• Q: In reference to: viewtopic.php?f=59&t=89632
  I know any future force bonuses/penalties also take that additional -3 into account. However the ACTUAL force never goes below zero. Since the honour gain is dependent on how much force is lost, and only 2 force is lost, surely only 2 honour would be gained?
  A: Whoops! I missed this:
  "http://rules.l5r.com/CE_Card_types#Items: "If something in the game needs to check an Item’s Force or Chi separately from its Personality’s stats, use the value of its modifier (minimum zero)."
  So 2. Zen Faulkes, "Unstoppable Power vs. Items", 23 Mar 2011
• Q: If an item is reduced to a negative force modifier by Unstoppable Power, how much honor do I gain?
  A: "The amount of Force it lost" (card text).
  "It" refers to the targeted card, which in this case is the attachment itself, not the Personality.
  +2 to -3 is a loss of 5. Zen Faulkes, "Unstoppable Power vs. Items", 23 Mar 2011
• Q: I was under the impression you could give a personality/follower a force penalty more than that cards force. That's one of the reasons Asako Serizawa and Hou Hou/ Last One combo works. However, in a previous ruling for Unstoppable Power, it was ruled that you only gain honor for the amount taken down to zero, not the amount lost. For example: I have all 5 element traits in my army and the opponent has x number of 1 force personalities. I target one of his personalities with Unstoppable Power. How much force does the personality lose? How much honor do I gain? If the answer to either question is 1, why? How much in force bonuses does his personality need to get back to 1 Force? If the answer is more than a +1 bonus, why, if the personality only "lost" 1 force?
  Thank you. Unstoppable Power Text Battle: Give a target enemy card a Force penalty equal to the number of different element keywords in your army. Gain Honor equal to the amount of Force it lost. You may take an additional Battle action.
  A: Oh. Sorry, that took you longer than I expected.
  Still, see here first.
  As for the rest of your question that the link tunnel above doesn't specifically address:
  Simply put, "amount of Force it lost" is not the same thing as "the amount of the applied penalty". Checking how much the total actually changes constitutes the "loss", but the penalty remains, to be overcome by later bonuses.
  If you give a -5F penalty to a 1F Personality, it only "loses" 1F down to the minimum of zero. On the flipside, if he then receives a +3F bonus on top of that, he hasn't overcome the -5F penalty, so his Force is still 0. Thus, in such a scenario, he won't have "gained" Force either (if a hypothetical effect like Unstoppable Power's checked for a "gain" of Force). Brook Cunningham, "Unstoppable Power/ less than 0 force", 13 Aug 2009