Root critters as Mausritter classes
Today's Prismatic Wasteland post reminded me that it's Mausritter Month! I would have felt very silly starting a blog on Mausritter Month and not making a post about such a lovely game, so I decided to do something that was on the back of my mind for a long time and diversify the Mausritter playable creatures. This idea came mostly from playing Root and being uncontrollably drawn to the thought of using the meeples to play a ttrpg1, since I'm not really a wargame kind of guy.
With all these creatures being bigger than mice, I think these would be better suited to a separate "generic woodland critter game with Mausritter rules", unless your table's suspension of disbelief allows it. Assume normal character creation besides the things I'm pointing out here. Also, Mausritter has this weird thing where it doesn't actually say some unique stuff about playing little rodents (like, you shouldn't really fear jumping from great heights and you could very easily squeeze through and climb a lot of stuff), so I'm gonna follow the pattern and assume you know other stuff about cats and bunnies - and can make rulings accordingly.
Cats
- Roll 4d6 and keep the highest three for DEX.
- Unarmed attacks do d6 damage.
- Gain an Exhausted Condition to see in the dark nearby for a Watch.
Birds
- If you have no items in your Wing slots (Paw slots), you can fly. Flying ignores difficult terrain while traveling overland.
- Companions listening to your singing roll with Advantage on WIL saves.
- Eating D20 pips counts as a Ration.
Rabbits
- Roll with Advantage in DEX saves while trying to escape Combat.
- Roll with Advantage in WIL saves while trying to form a Warband with other Rabbits.
- If you have no items in your Body slots, you move twice as far in Combat.
Raccoons
- Only mark usage on rolls of 5-6.
- As long as your Pack is not full, you can swap items in it with a Paw slot as a free action.
- You can store 1x1 items in your Grit slots.
Not the most unique stuff, but I think it's neat. They feel like simple but meaningful choices that could add some Root-ness to the game, even though a game heavily based on Root would probably be about politics and domain play. Maybe I'll write some for the other animals too, someday.
anb
Links: Prismatic Wasteland's Honey in the Rafters' review, Mausritter, Mausritter Month 2025, Root, Root TTRPG
I know Root has a ttrpg but it feels a bit too dense on the rules for me. I'll probably give it a read someday, but it doesn't feel like something I'll be playing anytime soon.↩