ROOT Rules Quick Reference

Goal/How to win:
The first player to reach 30 victory points immediately wins the game.

-OR -

During Daylight, if you have at least 10 victory points, you may ​activate​ a dominance card. (If it's not in your hand but available near the
board, you can take it ​by spending a card of matching suit). Remove your score marker from the score track. You can no longer score 
victory points. Win by completing its conditions.

How to get Victory Points

ALL FACTIONS​:
- Whenever you remove an enemy’s ​building or token​, +1 victory point.
- Whenever you craft an item you score the victory points listed on the card (Birds only get +1 point unless they have the Builder ruler)

Cats:​ Each time you build buildings—a workshop, sawmill, or recruiter

Birds:​ During Evening, you score victory points based on the number of roosts on the map. The greater their presence, the greater the
gain.

Alliance:​ Each time you place a sympathy token. The more sympathy on the map, the more victory points scored.

Vagabond:
- Each time you improve the relationship with another faction
- Whenever you remove a warrior belonging to a hostile faction
- Complete quests.

Cards
- All cards have a suit - Rabbit, Mouse, Fox or Bird. The clearings are Rabbit, Mouse or Fox. Spending cards means matching suit with
clearing.
- BUT ​Birds cards are Wild - ​You can treat a bird card as a card of another suit, even if you must spend, take, or give multiple cards of
the same suit
- Discard to 5 cards in your hand at the end of your turn
- You can spend a Dominance card for its suit, but don't discard, make it available for others to take

Pieces?
Pieces means everything that might appear on the board: Warriors, Buildings, Tokens, Items, or the Vagabond pawn

Who rules?
- The ruler of a clearing is the player with the ​most total warriors and buildings​ in that clearing. (NOT tokens and pawns.)
- If there is a tie between ​players in a clearing, no one there is the ruler - u
​ nless Birds are tied there - Birds break ties. 

   
Key Actions
● Craft​ - Play a card and activate the crafting pieces of the suits listed in its bottom-left corner. (Vagabond exhausts Hammers) The
suit of a crafting piece matches its clearing, and you can activate each crafting piece only once per turn. If you craft an immediate
effect, resolve it and discard the card. If the item supply on the map does not have the listed item to take, ​you cannot craft the card​.
If you craft a persistent effect, place the card in your play area. You may use its effect. ​You cannot craft a persistent effect if you
have one of the same name.
● Move​ -Take ​any​ number of your warriors or your pawn from one clearing and move them to one adjacent clearing. ​You must rule
the origin, destination, or both (Vagabond ignores this unless moving allied warriors)​. A given piece can be moved any number of
times per turn.
● Special: OUTRAGE - Whenever another player removes a sympathy token or moves any warriors into a sympathetic clearing,
they must add one card matching the affected clearing from their hand to the Supporters stack. If they have no matching cards
(including no birds), they must show their hand to the Alliance, and then the Alliance draws a card from the deck and adds it to
the Supporters stack. ​(Vagabond ignores this unless moving allied warriors - he pays the costs)
● Battle
1. Defender may play an ambush card - and attacker may FOIL the ambush with an ambush of their own
2. Roll dice. Attacker will deal hits equal to the higher roll, and the defender will deal hits equal to the lower roll. (​UNLESS
defender is Alliance - they always get the high roll)​
3. The maximum hits you can deal from rolling equals the number of your warriors in the clearing of battle, whether you are the
attacker or defender. (Vagabond - The maximum hits you can deal equals your total undamaged Swords, whether exhausted
or not)
4. Then Add extra hits - they are not limited by the number of warriors in the clearing of battle.
5. If the defender has no warriors in the clearing of battle, they are DEFENSELESS, so the attacker will deal an ​extra​ hit
6. Attacker and defender deal hits simultaneously. Each hit you deal removes one piece. The player taking hits chooses which of
their pieces are removed from the clearing of battle, but ​must remove all warriors there before they choose to remove any of
their buildings or tokens there.​
7. REMEMBER: ​You score one victory point per enemy building or token removed​.
8. Removing Alliance Sympathy tokens triggers OUTRAGE, see above

Special Rules/Abilities per faction

Cats

● Only the Marquise can ​place​ pieces in the clearing with the Keep token. (Pieces may be ​moved​ into this clearing.)
● Whenever ​any​ number of Marquise warriors are removed from a clearing, the Marquise may spend a card matching that clearing to
place those warriors in the clearing with the keep token.

Birds

● The Eyrie rule a clearing when tied for most combined warriors and buildings there. (They do not rule empty clearings.)
● Whenever the Eyrie craft an item, they ignore the listed victory points and score ​only​ one victory point. (Exception: Builder ruler)

Alliance

● When Alliance is the ​defender​ in battle, the Alliance will deal hits equal to the ​higher​ roll, and the attacker will deal hits equal to the
lower roll.
● A clearing can hold only one sympathy token.
● Sympathetic clearings can cause OUTRAGE when enemies move in or remove Sympathy tokens - see above
● Spreading Sympathy requires spending supporters as listed on the track, +1 extra if the clearing has 3 or more warriors for a single
faction

Vagabond

● The Vagabond pawn is not a warrior, so he cannot rule a clearing or stop another player from ruling one.
● The Vagabond can move regardless of who rules his origin or destination clearing.
● The Vagabond can move into forests, during their ​SLIP​ action
● The Vagabond must exhaust another boot whenever you move into a clearing with any Hostile warriors
● Uses hammers to craft; hammer suit matches current clearing (so you can only craft cards that match where you are)
● In battle, the Vagabond is DEFENSELESS if he has no undamaged swords (i.e., the attacker gets +1 hit)
● Whenever you remove a ​piece​ of a Hostile faction in battle during your turn, score one victory point. ADD THAT to the +1 you 
receive from removing buildings/tokens 
● In games with 4+ players, the Vagabond can activate a dominance card to form a ​coalition​ with the player with the ​fewest​ victory
points other than himself, placing his score marker on the chosen player’s faction board. (If there is a tie for fewest, he chooses
one tied player.) If the chosen player wins the game, the Vagabond also wins.