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 Jul 23, 2021I really think they won't include the main characters of the magic side of it, knowing how terrible theses crossovers are.
Also we already have Owlfolk, why do we need Owlin? Besides, according to MTG they are BIRDS not Owlin.
I feel it, too.
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Posted Jul 23, 2021I feel you. I'm on summer break, and I don't want to worry about school, too. I also don't mind crossovers as long as I can control them (I've made some reasonable homebrew of magic and some custom cards).
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Posted Jul 26, 2021I don't think they will ever do it, but you can homebrew copies of races so they can planeswalk. Besides, the planeswalker spark is supposed to be very rare, and if they added it in, millions would be planeswalking from Takir to Kaldiem to Zendikar, to New Phyrexia, and back.
Also from what I can piece together is that zero in 13000000 people can planeswalk, 1 of those people will be able to planeskip. But if we put it in dnd more than half of those people would planeswalk. And it would totally ruin the feeling of them being hard to come by.
The spark is more common in humanoids, rather than non humanoids, so if your playing as a homebrew non humanoid race you would have a small chance of planeswalking. A notable one is called Grist.
On http://mtgstory.com/ at the bottom of the DnD stories there are links to get LVL 10 planeswalker character sheets, but I find that dumb considering 3 things; 1 is that there is a chance two people will play the same person, 2 is that they don't start at LVL 1, and 3 is that planeswalkers cannot die of natural causes. They have to be killed by losing their spark or being, well, killed. If you ask me planeswalking is too OP for DND.
Also on http://mtgstory.com/ there was an artifact that could move living/nonliving things without the spark form plane to plane, but that was destroyed. There are 2 planeswalkers that have brought living things with them, but nothing good came out of it. Mowu was turned to stone when Jiang Yanggu planeswalked once WAR was over, and 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th did not survive planeswalking with Wrenn. This will also make it hard for your sidekicks/pets to go with you.
Also people who play Warforged would not be able to planeswalk, due to the fact they are not organic. There is only one artifact creature that can planeswalk, his name is Karn, but that's a long story. To sum it up basicly a bunch of people's souls and one a few people's spark went in him. The sparks belonged to Venser and Urza.
On http://mtgstory.com/ and some novels there was something called "The Imortal Sun". It prevented people from planeswalking, so if you were on the plane it was on and tried to planeswalk you would blip out of reality for a millisecond.
In the stories planeswalkers often think that they should planeswalk away from danger, but they in some way or another think "I cannot run from my fears, they will follow me plane to plane." I honestly think that planeswalkers in DnD would do otherwise.
One of my Dragonborns IS a planesskiper, but do to his lack of intelligence he does not know how to control it. If he were to go to Icewind Dale he would eminently planesskip to his plane, which is a copy of the main one, with major differences.
There is also the alternative of something I call "Planeskipers". The basic idea is that you can choose to planeswalk, but you have no control over were you go. Here are some examples:
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Posted Jul 27, 2021i cant wait for it to come out
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Posted Aug 15, 2021mine is ravnica but ya strixhaven is rly cool :D
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Posted Aug 15, 2021yes and no. it was a completely different franchize up until now but theyre both made by wizards of the coast so it was only a matter of time rly
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Posted Nov 30, 2021I'll be DM'ing Strixhaven, but if I had to choose a college it would be Quandrix.
My favorite subject in school was math and I love the huge mascot and the vortex warp spell looks awesome.
The ability to teleport 60 feet with my mascot will make the game so interesting when fighting bosses.
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Posted Dec 5, 2021I am totally a Prismari. Art, acting, wizardry, sign me up!!!
One thing though: which dragon TYPES were each founder?
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Posted Dec 11, 2021How about a school devoted to Magical Construction? Or are all of the fantastic structures, castles and dungeons build painstakingly by hand?
Most engineering students take courses from other colleges, and my mechanical engineering curriculum was all over the place. Here are some Saturday morning thoughts on what I'd love to see at Strixhaven... the College of Magical Engineering. Definitely making a Homebrew out of this but I just have to come up with the right combination of spells to give at each level.
Lorehold College — HISTORY
Prismari College — ARTS
Quandrix College - NUMEROLOGY
Silverquill College - ELOQUENCE
Witherbloom College - GROWTH AND DECAY
I'd love to hear more ideas!
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Posted Apr 20, 2023I agree the non-advertising posts are great.
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Posted May 23, 2023Haha!