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.
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Posted Jun 9, 2021I hope there is more in the book than the underwhelming and odd sub-classes. this would be a good opportunity to update the class spell lists to include XGtE and TCoE and all the misc spells tucked into other books.
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Posted Jun 9, 2021That would be for an everything book. This is a setting book.
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Posted Jun 9, 2021This looks great! Different schools of wizardry that feel really different. Can't wait!
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Posted Jun 9, 2021OOOOOooooOOOOOoooooh! Thanks!
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Posted Jun 9, 2021Wait, is MTG a separate card game universe from D&D, or was it based off of D&D? Also does it have some Greek mythological influence, or is that MOoT, or are they one and the same. I’ve seen Theros MTG card packs so I’m not sure. Long question short, is MTG based off of D&D, or is it a separate franchise entirely that has D&D content
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Posted Jun 9, 2021Second one. It does not really have any D&D things in it, though.
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Posted Jun 9, 2021Ah, the five houses.. erm… COLLEGES of Strixhaven! Pick which college you will attend, or just let the Sorting .. uh … helm! Yes, HELM of Sorting help you decide. Either way, your headmaster, er… arch… wizard, Dalbus Umblmore will guide you along your educational journey. Just watch out for the dement….uh... allips!
Yeah, I’ve never even heard of Strixhaven until right now. 😐
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Posted Jun 9, 2021I am Prismari for sure.
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Posted Jun 9, 2021Yes, I've been waiting for an elemental wizard subclass!
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Posted Jun 9, 2021Oh dear – considering Tasha’s isn’t even implemented fully into DDB yet, I really feel for your devs with this new system of subclasses being available to multiple classes. It’s almost like Wizards are deliberately messing with you!
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Posted Jun 9, 2021Thanks for saying this. Where is the interesting stuff? I keep getting fooled into thinking there's a new article when really, it's just the millionth announcement saying "buy our stuff?" These are cool, but I would really like to see other Content
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Posted Jun 9, 2021Interesting to see a couple of the "mascots", as they seem almost directly from Brandon Sanderson's Stormlight Archives. Specifically the Fractals and Inklings, those are two of the most prominent types of Spren companions in the Stormlight Archive books, I wonder if they took some inspiration from there.
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Posted Jun 9, 2021Same here. Tbh though, what IS Strixhaven? I don’t have a clue, as I’ve only seen Harry Potter lol
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Posted Jun 9, 2021My Horizon Walker would attend the hell out of Lorehold.
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Posted Jun 9, 2021Didn't Tasha's Cauldron of Everything already do that in the Class Feature Variants for all the spellcaster classes?
MTG is a card game, separate from D&D but owned by the same company (Wizards of the Coast). Magic The Gathering card sets all take place in different fictional fantasy worlds (and they create other things like novels that take place in those worlds too). Over the last few years Wizards of the Coast has been making D&D setting books for D&D players who want to play a campaign set in one of those worlds. For the most part, they are appealing whether or not you are familiar with the card game, since the settings have such strong and familiar themes. You can run a campaign in those settings, or you can borrow and steal elements from the books for a campaign in any setting. Those settings are:
1. Ravnica - A world entirely composed of one giant city, where ten factions vie for control and are kept in balance with one another by a magical pact.
2. Theros - A world inspired by ancient Greece and ancient Greek mythology.
3. Strixhaven - A world centered around magical schools (lots of overlap with things like Harry Potter).
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Posted Jun 9, 2021This seems fun, I don't think there are any big Magic School settings for D&D already.
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Posted Jun 9, 2021Isn't that what Tasha's Cauldron of Everything did? It has expanded spell lists that include additions from Xanathar's Guide to Everything as well. I'm hoping this book has some new spells that will filter into a "vanilla" D&D book later though.
The problem with the Tasha's content has been that some of the new rules require new features to be added to the homebrew system and character builder; nothing in these sub-classes should require anything new on D&D Beyond, you could hop into homebrew and create these new sub-classes yourself right now.
The only tricky part is you'd have to create a separate copy for both Bard and Wizard, which is presumably how DDB will do it (means more work when they get updated though); that way the only new feature that would be useful would be monster stat blocks with player proficiency and levelling support, but that's only needed for the Lorehold mage (for their Ancient Companion statue), though it'd also be useful for some other Tasha's Cauldron and Van Richten's Guide stuff.
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Posted Jun 9, 2021I think it's more the case that both took inspiration from the same source (math and writing ink). If you look at some of the art of the card game, the inklings look like amorphous blobs with faces, like ink ghosts, and the fractals all look like animals made of geometric shapes.
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Posted Jun 9, 2021I'm so hyped, me and my friends love going through those and adding the lore and assets that are stocked in these. We're also super excited for wizards school and we're expecting a lot!
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Posted Jun 9, 2021Quandrix: College of Numeromancy.
My reborn tried to use quantum physics to reverse time and space to resurrect her college sweetheart but alas she woke up climbing out of her grave and is greeted with a party of chaotic neutral outsiders.