In Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaos, characters from across the multiverse journey to Strixhaven University, a prestigious school of magic. There, they study magic, its applications, and how it shapes the world around them. You don't need to be a spellcaster to attend Strixhaven, but a natural curiosity and smarts (or cunning) will help in your studies. Though Strixhaven is best known for its five unique colleges — Lorehold, Prismari, Quandrix, Silverquill, and Witherbloom — it is also known for the Biblioplex, a grand library that acts as a central hub for students and is home to all manner of magical secrets.
Among its mysteries is a snarl, an immense tangle of raw magic, found in the Biblioplex's Hall of Oracles. Here's a closer look at the Biblioplex, its snarl, and how you can introduce them to your home game.
Readers beware: This article contains spoilers on the first adventure found in Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaos.
The Biblioplex is a library of epic proportions
Strixhaven University was founded by five ancient dragons that were among the first beings in Arcavios to master magic. It was through them that Arcavios' people first safely learned to wield the magical arts. Though the Founder Dragons no longer associate with Strixhaven, their influence extends far beyond the reaches of the school.
Serving as a central hub of information on Strixhaven's campus is a massive library known as the Biblioplex. Filled from floor to high ceiling with books, this library is so vast that some of its chambers are large enough to have their own weather, and students occasionally need to take boats to cross pools and moats within it. Pray that the book you need isn't on the top shelf!
Taking Strixhaven to your realm
Strixhaven University can be easily dropped into just about any setting. Perhaps your version of Strixhaven exists in the famed city of Waterdeep or in a demiplane that characters can freely access. The university could even serve as a group patron and offer one or more of the academy perks found in Tasha's Cauldron of Everything.
Your magical education begins here
For characters new to Strixhaven, the Biblioplex will be your first stop on campus. There, you'll have the opportunity to explore the library and meet with fellow students, such as the studious orc Urzmatok Grojsh and the pompous human Quentillius Antiphiun Melentor III. Afterward, you'll be tasked with undertaking a challenge that kicks off your orientation.
If you're interested in watching an actual play of the first adventure found in the book, check out this video from RunawayRobot's YouTube channel. That actual play revealed this map of the Biblioplex:
Snarls are a tangle of pure magic
Found on the first floor of the Biblioplex is the Hall of Oracles, which is filled with statues of, well, oracles. Characters will have their first encounter with a snarl here. In Arcavios, snarls are a phenomenon where the Weave, the fabric of magic in D&D lore, becomes knotted and tangled. Such a source of raw magical energy can have impressive albeit unpredictable effects on spellcasting.
The snarl on Strixhaven's campus shines like a small sun in the Biblioplex and feeds into a small pool of energy. Characters that interact with this pool will be surprised by what follows.
Homebrew snarl effects for your D&D campaign
The introduction of snarls to D&D lore creates opportunities for Dungeon Masters to toy with magic in their campaigns, whether to the benefit or detriment of spellcasters at their table. Here are some homebrew ideas for how their presence could affect spells cast nearby:*
- Magical surge: Wild Magic sorcerers are no strangers to the whims of untamed magic, but you might decide that any spellcaster who casts a spell of 1st level or higher within 1 mile of a snarl has a 10 percent chance of triggering a wild magic surge.
- Magical replenishment: Spellcasters need only finish a short rest instead of a long rest to regain their spell slots. (Warlocks regain their spell slots after 10 minutes of rest instead of after a short rest.)
- Maximized spell: While near a snarl, any damaging spell cast during combat deals the maximum amount of damage. After combat, any spellcaster that benefitted from this effect takes 1 point of exhaustion.
- Casting strain: Casting a spell near a snarl requires an incredible amount of effort. A spellcaster who attempts to cast a spell must make a Constitution saving throw or lose the spell. The DC is equal to 8 + the spell level. Spells cast through a wand or similar magic items consume double the number of charges.
- No components required: Spells cast near the snarl do not require material components. Imagine how your world would change and what conflicts would arise if spellcasters could cast resurrection and teleportation circle in a small area without monetary cost!
* For Dungeon Masters that run the adventures found in Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaos, I recommend keeping the radius of a snarl's effect small, lest the school be thrown into utter magical chaos!
This will be on the exam
Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaos has everything you need to run a campaign set in a school of magic. Players will enjoy new character creations options, including the owlin race and new feats and spells. Dungeon Masters will discover a bestiary containing over 40 new friends and foes, including the very dragons that founded the colleges of Strixhaven University. Stay tuned for more previews as we near the release of the book on December 7!
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.
-
View User Profile
-
Send Message
Posted Nov 20, 2021I just noticed that this article's URL number is 1111. First, by the way!
-
View User Profile
-
Send Message
Posted Nov 20, 2021You could use a snarl's effect radius as a plot device; the snarl's radius suddenly expands, and the adventurer's job is to find out why that happened and fix it before the whole school devolves into chaos.
-
View User Profile
-
Send Message
Posted Nov 20, 2021Ooh, that's great! Especially if it's magical surge, maximized spell or casting strain!
On another note, this 'Snarl' thing reminds me of a certain webcomic...
-
View User Profile
-
Send Message
Posted Nov 20, 2021Yes-Yes! Wild Magic for the win!
-
View User Profile
-
Send Message
Posted Nov 21, 2021I had the same reaction! But what if the snarl in the school is a fragment of the snarl from Order of the Stick? That takes the pure-magic and dangerous-chaos to a whole new level!
-
View User Profile
-
Send Message
Posted Nov 21, 2021"Strixhaven can be put anywhere, even your own campaign setting!!! for example try any one of our campaign books which you can pre-order while you pre-order Strixhaven now!
-
View User Profile
-
Send Message
Posted Nov 22, 2021I Love It How It Made Like So Coollll
-
View User Profile
-
Send Message
Posted Nov 22, 2021but.... the weave was made by Mystra only for the forgotten realms (as in, a localized system of magic that makes it easier to cast spells & stuff)...... how the crap is it in other worlds, or outside the forgotten realms at all?!
https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Weave
-
View User Profile
-
Send Message
Posted Nov 22, 2021I mean, I get that it's a system of magic & the forgotten realms is the default setting, but the weave is not the only spell system out there, and by doing this the developers have effectively canonized the weave as the only magic system, or magic source at all, thus limiting the worldbuilders of dnd to two options: either make the weave your magic system or your world cannot apart of the dnd multiverse canon. Again, canonically with forgotten realms lore, the weave only applies to the forgotten realms
fizban's was amazing in that (in addition to it just being glorious) it had the first world concept a myth/legend/theory. That decision allows for creative freedom from designers who want different origin stories for their worlds within dnd canon, instead of being pushed into one single explanation that they are required to have in their world. The whole problem with having a unified canon for a system that can have millions of different canons is that now that unified canon has to be able to allow for almost all of them. making the weave the only spellcasting method is a step backward, cause now if there's a different driving force behind magic in other worlds, it now has to be rewritten to use the weave instead. now i know that this may sound like an either-or fallacy, where the only two options are weave is in the forgotten realms only or weave is everywhere, and there's no in-between, but you would think that the now proclaimed largest hub of magic in the dnd multiverse would have studies on other worlds & systems of magic (or this article would at least mention the other systems), instead of being stuck with the weave and nothing else. now if the weave was on Arcavios too, that would be better for the other canons, however there would need to be a good explanation of how the weave would be on there too and not just the forgotten realms, seeing as it's a creation by the goddess of magic, for the forgotten realms only.
-
View User Profile
-
Send Message
Posted Nov 23, 2021Why do all options have negative effects other than the last one? All so how would no components work? Like if you had a raise dead spell would you still need the body or would the body be formed from magic? Even if it's the body being targeted by the spell.
-
View User Profile
-
Send Message
Posted Nov 23, 2021I'd argue that "material component" only means things listed in the components section of the spell under the footnote for M. For Raise Dead the material component is just the diamon, the body is the target. So the body would still be required but the diamond would not.
-
View User Profile
-
Send Message
Posted Nov 27, 2021Snarls may be described in this snippet as tangles of weave but I don't really think that we need to take that as gospel. In MTG lore all worlds have leylines where mana flows through them. On Arcavios the Snarls are a byproduct of the plane's two overlapping and sometimes conflicting leyline maps of mana. Faerun's magic is explicitly organized into the Weave. The Weave might as well operate like leylines anyway since those concepts are incredibly similar. The Weave just implies a sort of intentional architecture that Mystra used in imposing order on magic. Other worlds don't have the same "Weave" from Faerun (Aebir doesn't even have a Weave and it's occasionally the same planet). They might have leylines and they might just have ambient magic or no magic at all. I don't think this is some big lore pronouncement so much as maybe an oversimplification of how Strixhaven MIGHT fit in with preexisting settings.
-
View User Profile
-
Send Message
Posted Nov 28, 2021I see, thx for the different perspective
-
View User Profile
-
Send Message
Posted Nov 28, 2021For the sake of preserving the grand scale of the snarl shown in the illustration, I would argue that one square on the map should be more like 15 feet, not 5. I mean are we really to believe that a normal person could sprint through all that space in the illustration in 6 seconds? I can't be the only one seeing this right
The scale increase would also make the Biblioplex feel more like the biggest repository of arcane knowledge in the entire multiverse as opposed to a larger-than-average public library.
-
View User Profile
-
Send Message
Posted Nov 30, 2021first
-
View User Profile
-
Send Message
Posted Dec 1, 2021Giant 15 foot chairs please
-
View User Profile
-
Send Message
Posted Dec 1, 2021WEN IZ ZE BOUK CUMIN OAUT.
-
View User Profile
-
Send Message
Posted Dec 2, 2021Hmm, gotta admit the map is kinda a letdown. It's the greatest library of the multiverse, in a school renowned for its magic. Feels like it should be more incredibly and whimsical, and it deffinitely doesn't have the same vibe as the illustration. This map just feels like a completely normal building with some books in standing in the middle of a field. Love that artist, but this was a letdown
-
View User Profile
-
Send Message
Posted Dec 3, 2021I'm so excited to get my hands on this book! after nerding out on magical school novels for 20ish years I've always wanted to run a campaign that started in a scholastic setting for those early levels, and then move out into the world as full fledged adventurers.... and this library? I could live there.... could I live there? I could...
-
View User Profile
-
Send Message
Posted Jan 1, 2022I'm sad because I wanted to buy Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaos, but because of COVID, I have to wait. I can't wait, though. My players are going to love this campaign!