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.
This is really cool! I especially like how it diverts from the more traditional magical schools, leaving any practitioner open to any school as long as they flavour their spells right. Just a quick question: is Strixhaven a strictly wizarding school or do they accept sorcerers, druids, artificers, etc.
Look up Strixhaven MTG. You should get some interesting stuff.
That is a great backstory! What class?
I don't know. In the lore it's a wizard school, but considering the subclasses are for more classes than wizard it will probably be for anyone who wants to join. I bet they would be delighted to see a sorcerer and a bard would make a perfect Prismari.
I'm totally on board w/ mtg books, but I can't believe they passed up an ikoria sourcebook, or a kaldheim sourcebook for that matter.
I agree. I haven't heard of kaldheim before, but ikoria is a favorite of mine. A bonus with an ikoria one would mean we are probably going to get either better monster homebrewing guidelines or monster modifications and mutations, both of which I would love.
Cool, thanks for replying!
Have you considered making a quiz to help people get sorted? Like another, well known magical school system?
i’m just here to say: i called it. i’m probably not the only one, but the second i saw the mtg series announced i turned to may brother and told him to preorder the dnd book. i’m so excited for this to come out!
When will the UA Mage subclasses be available to play with? Still not seeing it accessible on my character sheets
It already exists. It is in the MTG product page.
Strixhaven Available Now | Magic: The Gathering (wizards.com)
I specifically mean within D&D Beyond, since I make a lot of my test characters here.
Your welcome!
Im not buying any book that has subclasses in the same style as the Strixhaven UA.
I love how we finally have actual colleges for wizards instead of just talking about them!!!
Might be a few days yet; it doesn't seem like D&D Beyond gets any advance warning of Unearthed Arcana releases, they only get new books a few days before release, so it always seems to be a mad scramble to get DDB content ready.
They usually do articles when new UA is ready though, digging into what's different and some character build ideas.
If you want it sooner, you could use the homebrew tools to create the specific sub-class you want? Everything in the new sub-classes should be possible with the current homebrew tools, but for DDB themselves they'll be having to create copies for every class that a college is compatible with (they each seem to support three different types of caster).
That's cool :-) should be better advertised.
Sounds good. Though do note that the subclasses published in UA will be removed from dndbeyond when they are published in official material. Not sure if you meant buy the physical book or the book on dndbeyond, so I figured I'd inform you of that in case you may not have known that. Which you may have, and if you did, then disregard lol
I can see a Prismari Bard Homwbrew being make, called College Of Elementals.
When will we be able to choose one of the colleges in our character builder?