Root Crafting Rules: Suits, Crafting Pieces and Persistent Effects
In Root, crafting lets you play cards from your hand for immediate effects, persistent effects or crafted items.
How do you pay a crafting cost?
Activate crafting pieces matching the suits shown in the card’s crafting cost. A crafting piece’s suit matches the clearing where that crafting piece is located or represented according to your faction’s crafting rules.
Do crafting pieces get removed?
No. “Activate” does not mean spend or remove the piece. You simply use that piece to satisfy the card’s crafting requirement for that turn.
Can the same crafting piece be used twice in one turn?
No. Each crafting piece may be activated only once per turn.
What does the question-mark crafting symbol mean?
A multicolor question-mark cost can be satisfied by a crafting piece of any suit allowed by the current rules.
When can you craft?
Each faction’s board tells you when its Craft step occurs. Follow the timing printed for that faction.
What happens to crafted cards?
Immediate-effect cards resolve and are discarded as instructed. Persistent-effect cards remain in your play area. Crafted item cards also create the listed item if the item is available.
Can every faction craft the same way?
The general crafting rules are shared, but each faction uses different pieces or systems as its crafting pieces. Always check the Craft section on that faction board.
Related Root guides
Official source
Rules checked September 2026.