Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaos brings the famed university of spellcasters from Magic: The Gathering lore to Dungeons & Dragons for the first time. The book will be the third campaign setting to take D&D players to an MTG plane, with Guildmasters' Guide to Ravnica and Mythic Odysseys of Theros being the first two.
Strixhaven University is comprised of five colleges where students specialize in certain areas of magical study. Students at Prismari, for example, are creatives who see magic as an art form, while students who attend Quandrix study the metaphysics of the universe in order to wield it. Check out the breakdown on the school's five colleges below to discover which college you — or your player characters — should attend!
The 5 colleges of Strixhaven University
Strixhaven University is on the plane of Arcavios. Each of its five colleges was founded by and named after an elder dragon. For those who live in Arcavios, being accepted into Strixhaven is an honor. Not only have famous mages — including Liliana Vess from MTG lore — attended the university, but it is also home to the Biblioplex, a library that is so large some of its chambers have their own weather.
Lorehold: College of Archaeomancy
Leave no stone unturned.
Mascot: Spirit statues
Founder: Velomachus Lorehold
Mages who attend Lorehold are history buffs and explorers. They venture into tombs to unearth artifacts and use magic to summon spirits who can reveal forgotten knowledge from ancient civilizations. For Lorehold mages, understanding the past is important because it helps them better predict the future. Those who study at the college might go on to become archaeologists, anthropologists, or philosophers.
Lorehold is comprised of historic buildings excavated out of cliff sides and decorated with monuments to famous figures from across the ages. You'll find multitiered galleries where students attend lectures and bridges that only the brave mages of Lorehold would dare cross. The college's mascot is the spirit statue, which is a statue that has been carved into the likeness of the spirit that possesses it.
Prismari: College of Elemental Arts
Express yourself with the elements.
Mascot: Elementals
Founder: Galazeth Prismari
Prismari is the art school of Strixhaven. Mages who attend this college are either unfettered creatives or meticulous artists who perfect their techniques over the years. Prismari mages know how to make a lasting impression. They are commonly musicians, dancers, and actors who use elemental magic to enhance their performances. For some Prismari mages, the somatic components in spellcasting are the art itself — rather than the resulting effect.
Prismari is as elegant as the elemental magic its students weave. A towering building provides sweeping views of Arcavios, while other areas on campus immortalize sculptures and other pieces of art made by students. The college's mascot is the elemental, creatures of raw magic.
Quandrix: College of Numeromancy
Math is magic.
Mascot: Fractals
Founder: Tanazir Quandrix
Quandrix students are nature-mathematicians who seek to understand the complex formulas that make up the world around them — and wield them. They are mages who stand between theory and the natural world. Engineering, physics, statistics, and other such majors are common at Quandrix.
The college's mascot is a fractal, an artificial lifeform that mimics a real-world creature but that can be readily modified by Quandrix mages. A fractal's size can easily be changed, for example, making them great pets and companions on the battlefield.
Visitors to Quandrix will find a towering building whose architecture magically changes over time, in addition to gardens with fractalized animals and plants.
Silverquill: College of Eloquence
Sharp style. Sharper wit.
Mascot: Inklings
Founder: Shadrix Silverquill
Silverquill students are quick-witted and charismatic mages whose magic weaponizes words, whether to empower allies or strike down enemies. Of Strixhaven's five colleges, Silverquill produces among the best battle mages. That is owed, in part, due to the curriculum putting more emphasis on magical duels than some of the other colleges.
The school's mascot is the inkling, an amorphous creature made from magical ink. Among Silverquill graduates, expect to find esteemed writers, public speakers, and lawyers. The school's campus can be best described as an elegant train station with balconies and daises aplenty.
Witherbloom: College of Essence Studies
Get your hands dirty.
Mascot: Pests
Founder: Beledros Witherbloom
Witherbloom mages study creatures and plants of all manner, and learn how to protect, enhance, and exploit them. Such mages are at home in the wild, whether picking herbs to brew restorative potions or disrupting the natural balance of the world by raising dead creatures to do their bidding. You'll find agriculturists, biologists, healers, and necromancers among the school's graduates.
The Witherbloom mascot is the pest, a tiny-size worm. They are unpleasant creatures that bite without provocation and are decorated in spikes. They are convenient to have on hand, however. They readily dissolve into life essence Witherbloom mages can use to fuel their magic. The college is located in a bayou. Its buildings seem to rise up out of the earth itself and is segmented off by pods.
Which college will you attend?
Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaos introduces the most prestigious university for mages to Dungeons & Dragons. Each of the school's colleges offer mages from across the multiverse opportunity to study magic that reflects their interests. More details are to come on this campaign setting book. Until then: which college would your player characters attend?
Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaos is an upcoming D&D release set in the Magic: The Gathering world of Strixhaven. Tune into D&D Live 2021 presented by G4 on July 16 and 17 for details including new character options, monsters, mechanics, story hooks, and more!
Michael Galvis (@michaelgalvis) is a tabletop content producer for D&D Beyond. He is a longtime Dungeon Master who enjoys horror films and all things fantasy and sci-fi. When he isn’t in the DM’s seat or rolling dice as his anxious halfling sorcerer, he’s playing League of Legends and Magic: The Gathering with his husband. They live together in Los Angeles with their adorable dog, Quentin.
IMO: these MtG crossover books seem a bit forced. Marketing is trying to dip into two different pools but may just end up watering them down. I'm personally not a fan, but happy for others that are enjoying them.
I'm a bit of a Faerun addict so I'll just wait for more of that setting. Would love to see some Witches of Rashemen content.
I would prefer DDB finish implementing published books (ie. Tasha’s) before adding UA. I understand people want to playtest this UA stuff, but surely someone could homebrew it closely enough and make it public so DDB can focus on the new systems they’re building.
Not to mention that a Sea of Fallen Stars adventure would hopefully include a little world building regarding Unther and Tymanther as well as a potential tie-in to introduce the official published version of the Draconic UA updating the Dragonborn as well as the new Kobold variant. As for a Spelljammer update I would suspect that would be more likely to publish around the release date of Baldur's Gate 3 maybe with a Crystal Sphere map highlighting some of the major Material Realm settings from over D&D's current and prior versions.
You cant be a bit of a Faerun addict and want more Faerun. Literally more than half of the books are set in Faerun.
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
To be fair, the staff who add UA content may not be the same as those who have to make actual code changes; adding UA is just a case of using the existing Homebrew tools and adapting the UA as best as they can so people can play with the info they need, there's no point making any major custom feature or code changes to implement UA as it could change drastically before release.
The reason Tasha's content is taking so long on the other hand is because it introduced a lot of new mechanics that the existing homebrew system and character sheet simply don't support; for example the Superior Technique fighting style needs support for more complex feat options, as well as a sub-class feature that's able to reference fighting styles. We're also waiting for monster stat blocks that can adjust for character level and spell level (for the new summon spells, beast companions etc.). Then there's things like being able to swap out spells granted by a sub-class (Clockwork Soul), which I believe still doesn't work. All of these things require actual code changes that require someone to figure out how best to add the new feature, plan it out, implement it, and test it, and this isn't always a quick process, especially since it seems like DDB don't get a huge amount of advance knowledge of the contents of new books; they focused initially on the features that apply most commonly, like proficiency based limited use, so a lot of the stuff left to do is more specific to individual sub-classes, feats etc.
That said, it's definitely frustrating how long it's taking; there seems to have been a bit of a staff shakeup recently so maybe they've taken on some developers so they can get on top of it? But yeah, UA doesn't really require the same type of effort, so it shouldn't really be conflicting; non-development staff like article writers could handle if it needs be (they might already, I'm not sure).
To clarify, I'm adamantly opposed to this design direction and will not purchase any product (digital OR physical) that includes these 'multi-class subclasses' in any form. If that means I do not purchase any further 5e content, then I'll make do with homebrew.
Why?
This format means that we get access to 3+ new sub-classes on most spellcasters, and since the sub-classes are only really four features the core class makes a huge difference. That means you can go elemental (prismati) mixed with support (bard) or casting capacity (wizard) and so-on, it just gives a lot of freedom.
Personally I'm all for it; while I know that a 6e is probably a long ways off (we're only just about to get proper Feywild content for 5e), I've long been hoping WotC would move towards a more modular toolkit style of rules for character building, as I've never really liked the idea of rigid classes/archetypes, and much prefer systems that let you just pick the pieces you need to build your character idea.
Now whether WotC are able to balance systems like that remains to be seen, but the Strixhaven colleges UA gives all spellcasters a bunch of new options to build a character from; there's no need to get ideological about that.
I want to attend High Hrothgar: College of Yelling at People until They Fall off of a Cliff.😁
(Fus Ro Dah College for short.)
Me = Witherbloom
yah, It's pretty old and stale now.
I do like that the pre-order page says that It came from magic first, unlike Ravnica and Theros, because I know there are some people who think it's origanal to dnd, which it is not.
Look it up if you don't believe me (In that case you are one of the "Magic is ripping dnd off" people, when they are both run by WotC, and magic is giving ideas to DnD, there's a difference, people).
Strixhaven: PRE-ORDER Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaos Explore Strixhaven in the latest Magic: The Gathering campaign setting for Dungeons & Dragons
Ravinaca: Join the guilds of Ravnica in this campaign sourcebook for the world’s greatest roleplaying game.
Theros: Clash with the gods of Theros in this campaign sourcebook for the world’s greatest roleplaying game
bro same!!! green and silver all the way, man.
Huh?
Yah, I don't really like the cross overs. I feel like they should just keep to themselves.
Technically they are.
yah... hit the reply button instead of quote. rookie mistake.
can not wait to play a Prismari character!
Surprised to see that Artificer didn't make the list for Quandrix. Seems like a missed opportunity. Fingers crossed that we'll see a fifth subclass.