I have questions about the wording found in the Rules Reference itself.

For Covert it reads:

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Covert

• Covert is a keyword ability. When a player initiates a conflict, for each character with the covert keyword he or she declares as an attacker, that player may choose one character without covert controlled by the defending player. Each chosen character is considered evaded by covert, and cannot be declared as a defender for that conflict.
  • Card abilities may be used to move characters that have been evaded by covert into a conflict as defenders.
  • Covert may only be used when characters are declared as attackers. If a character with covert is moved into or played into a conflict after the point at which the conflict was declared, that character's covert ability does not resolve.

This contains the only two instances of evade in the Rules Reference. I am questioning if it should even be there. When I first looked up covert, I then proceeded to look (in vein) for evade to understand its meaning. It appears to have been an intended keyword that was discarded but still snuck its way into the RR. Further, I present from the back of the Learn to Play Guide:

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Covert: When this character is declared as an attacker, you may choose a character that does not have covert. That character cannot be declared as a defender for this conflict during the "declare defenders" step.

It doesn't even contain the word evade, and I feel it's simpler and more clear.

Secondly, Duels. In the Rules Reference under Duel Timing (Currently on page 23), there is no Action Window. Now, I'm all a quiver about that being absent, but is it accurate?

6 minutes ago, Duciris said:

Secondly, Duels. In the Rules Reference under Duel Timing (Currently on page 23), there is no Action Window. Now, I'm all a quiver about that being absent, but is it accurate?

I believe there is always a reaction/interrupt window to every step, but given that duels are actions in themselves, I see no reason why there would be an "action window".

For example, there are reactions to steps 3.2.3, 3.2.4, 3.2.5, 3.2.6, and 3.2.7 all on cards in the game, but no explicit "Reactions window" after each step.

On the first part, I think "evade" is just a holdover from a previous version, and you are right and it should probably be removed.

I didn't notice this before - but you're right. The word Evaded seems to be added as if there was some deeper system with covert and evaded that got scrapped, but not fully removed here. I don't think it changes the meaning much to remove this, so whether it is removed or not isn't important, but I'll know now if someone asks "what does evaded mean" what they are referring to, and why they are confused lol

As for the duels - as Mirith said - an action window is when you play actions, cards, ect. You don't need an action window to play interrupts or reactions, as there is automatically a reaction window with every potential triggering condition. You are not able to play actions, such as attaching a Fine Katana mid duel.

In AGOT it's "bypassed by stealth", in L5R it's "evaded by covert". In AGOT there is a bunch of cards that interact with or react to "bypass using stealth" (see here), so expect something similar in L5R too.

Thank you, Fine Citizens.

This is what I love about the FFG Community, as long as you aren't rude, don't troll and don't ask stupid questions, people are responsive and helpful - doubly to rules question.