Vagabond (Ronin)

The Vagabond is unlike any other faction in Root. You hold no clearings, raise no buildings, and field no army — just a single wandering figure making its way through a woodland shattered by larger powers. Everything you accomplish flows through your items: boots get you across the map, swords let you fight, torches unlock ruins, hammers repair damage, and coins and bags expand what you can do in a single turn.

The Ronin is the duelist of the Vagabond family — quick on their feet and deadly once the swords are drawn. Your starting kit of two Boots, a Sword, and a Torch sets you up for immediate mobility and exploration. Where the Thief wants your hand and the Tinker wants to craft, you want to be in the fight.

Your defining special action is Swift Strike: after the dice are rolled in any battle you initiate, you may exhaust a Sword to deal one additional hit on top of what the dice already gave you. That extra hit isn't luck — it's a decision, and it turns a marginal roll into a devastating one at exactly the moment you choose.

Like every Vagabond, you score through three overlapping channels — no single one will carry you to 30 on its own.

• Quests — reach a clearing matching the posted quest's suit and exhaust the required items to complete it. Each finished quest scores VP or draws you extra cards, and repeated quests of the same type score more than the first.
• Aid and relationships — give a card matching a faction's clearing suit to improve your relationship with them. Climbing each relationship tier scores VP, and reaching Allied status unlocks powerful joint actions that a lone Ronin couldn't pull off alone.
• Battle — removing enemy buildings and tokens in combat scores VP directly. Unlike most factions, you actually want to be in fights, and Swift Strike means those fights tilt in your favor.

The Ronin's path to victory leans more on battle and quest VP than the other Vagabonds do. Your Boots keep you covering ground; your Sword income from ruins keeps Swift Strike loaded; your relationships provide the safety net that lets you fight without burning every alliance on the map.

Your turn runs entirely on items. Every action costs one: moving costs a Boot, fighting costs a Sword, exploring a ruin costs a Torch, and repairing damaged gear costs a Hammer. After each use, items exhaust — they flip face-down and sit unavailable until your Refresh step next Birdsong. Battle hits damage items instead of removing your figure, so keeping your rack healthy is a constant discipline.

In Birdsong you Refresh up to three items (plus one per Coin on your tracker), and then you may Slip — a free move into any adjacent clearing, no Boot required, even if a hostile faction sits there. Slip is your gap-closer: it puts you adjacent to a fight or a ruin or a quest location without burning the Boot you'll need once you arrive.

Daylight is where the Ronin comes alive. Move across clearings, Explore ruins for items, Aid factions to build relationships, complete Quests, and most importantly, Battle. When you start a fight, both sides roll and deal hits — and then you decide whether to trigger Swift Strike, exhausting a Sword to push one more hit through. That decision — save the Sword for another battle, or spend it now for a clean kill — is the rhythm at the heart of playing Ronin well.

In Evening you Rest if you're in a forest (full item recovery), score VP for any Coin items on your tracker, and draw cards based on how many Bags you're carrying.