D&D 5E Two New D&D Books Revealed: Feywild & Strixhaven Mage School

Amazon has revealed the next two D&D hardcovers! The Wild Beyond the Witchlight is a feywild adventure due in September, and Curriculum of Chaos is a Magic: the Gathering setting of Strixhaven, which looks like a Harry Potter-esque mage school, set for November.

Amazon.com: The Wild Beyond the Witchlight: A Feywild Adventure (Dungeons & Dragons Book) (9780786967278): Wizards RPG Team: Books

Amazon.com: The Wild Beyond the Witchlight: A Feywild Adventure (Dungeons & Dragons Book) (9780786967278): Wizards RPG Team: Books

www.amazon.com

The Wild Beyond the Witchlight is D&D's next big adventure storyline that brings the wicked whimsy of the Feywild to fifth edition for the first time.

The recent Unearthed Arcana, Folk of the Feywild, contained the fairy, hobgoblin of the Feywild, owlfolk, and rabbitfolk. UA is usually a good preview of what's in upcoming D&D books.

Strixhaven: Curriculum of Chaos (D&D/MTG Adventure Book) (Dungeons & Dragons): Wizards RPG Team: 9780786967445: Books

Strixhaven: Curriculum of Chaos (D&D/MTG Adventure Book) (Dungeons & Dragons) [Wizards RPG Team] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Strixhaven: Curriculum of Chaos (D&D/MTG Adventure Book) (Dungeons & Dragons)

www.amazon.com

Curriculum of Chaos is an upcoming D&D release set in the Magic: The Gathering world of Strixhaven -- a brand new MtG set only just launched.

Strixhaven is a school of mages on the plane of Arcavios, an elite university with five rival colleges founded by dragons: Silverquill (eloquence), Prismari (elemental arts), Witherbloom (life and death), Lorehold (archaeomancy), and Quandrix (numeromancy). You can read more about the M:tG set here.

You will be able to tune into WotC's streamed event D&D Live on July 16 and 17 for details on both, including new character options, monsters, mechanics, story hooks, and more!

D&D 5E - Here Is The Full & Alternate Cover Art Of The Wild Beyond the Witchlight

Here is the cover art for The Wild Beyond the Witchlight, the hardcover D&D product revealed this weekend. Cover art by Tyler Jacobson Alternate cover by Hydro74 https://www.enworld.org/threads/two-new-d-d-books-revealed-feywild-strixhaven-mage-school.680500/

www.enworld.org

D&D 5E - And Here Is Strixhaven's Cover Art!

It's not just The Wild Beyond The Witchlight's cover art being revealed today! We also have Magali Villeneuve's cover art for Strixhaven: Curriculum of Chaos! Strixhaven is an upcoming D&D setting based on the recently released Magic: the Gathering world, and features a mage school -- as Theros...

www.enworld.org

 

[Stefano Rinaldelli]

So we have an MTG setting: Stryxhaven, a feywild adventure/setting, and probably a draconic book coming. I'm ambivalent about the MTG one, but feywild is a possible purchase and dragons is a must-buy.

Giving the fact that WOTC strongly believe in crossing over DND and MTG, since we are at the third iteration, I suppose there is a real positive feedback from these products. But can you observe this? Do you see a large fan movement? Do you see a lot of people playing in this crossover settings? What is your perception about?

 

[DEFCON 1]

You could already play Eberron by using all your 3E material, and you could already play Ravenloft by using all your 2E material...

You are absolutely correct. Which is why it was just as silly 5 years ago when people came on here all mad that WotC wasn't releasing any campaign setting books whatsoever.

 

[Matrix Sorcica]

I just hope the fact they namecheck the Witchlight (Fens) means they will open up Nentir Vale for DM's Guild.

 

[Hexmage-EN]

I just hope the fact they namecheck the Witchlight (Fens) means they will open up Nentir Vale for DM's Guild.

They most likely aren't referencing that location, although that was one of the first things that came to mind for me personally when I read the word "witchlight". It's been used in D&D before, such as for the Witchlight Marauder in Spelljammer.

I think they just used witchlight because it sounds cool, and Googling the term comes up with a number of disparate things referred to by the term, so I guess it's popular without actually having a coherent definition.

 

[Weiley31]

Well I look forward towards the Strixhaven book. I'd rather have that as the next best option if we aren't getting a Throne of Eldraine MtG crossover book.

 

[Marandahir]

That would also explain it not being reprinted in Tasha's Cauldron of Everything with the Bladesinger.

Spoiler: Side Note

That would then leave the Battlerager Barbarian, Purple Dragon Knight, Way of the Long Death Monk, and Undying Patron Warlock as the only subclasses from the SCAG that hadn't been reprinted in another book. The Battlerager sucks, Purple Dragon Knight is absolute garbage, the Long Death Monk is actually pretty okay, and the Undying Patron is both mechanical garbage and almost completely invalidated by the Undead Patron Warlock subclass from Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft.

I would expect them to do one subclass for each house in Strixhaven, most of them (if not all of them) being reprints from other books. I'll do some speculation below for what they could be.

Lorehold: Arcana Domain Clerics
Quandrix: Order of the Scribe Wizards (even though I hate them)
Silverquill: College of Eloquence Bards? Or they could make a new subclass that could animate an ink companion/familiar?
Witherbloom: Circle of Spores all the way
Prismari: I have no idea. Maybe a new Bard Subclass that summons elementals?

I imagine that both of those summoner/animator Bard suggestions carry heavy overlap with the College of Creation.

Mythic Odysseys of Theros showed us that if a subclass is published in a major supplement, it won't get republished in a campaign setting (but Tasha's shows that the inverse is true - if a subclass is published in a campaign setting, then it may be republished in a major supplement). Campaign Setting books have more specified audiences than these major supplements. They can assume that if you have Strixhaven, you have Tasha's, just like they could assume that if you have Theros, you have Xanathar's and thus the Grave and Forge Domains for your clerics of two very prominent deities.

I highly doubt, therefore, that they would republish Circle of Spores, College of Eloquence, and Order of Scribes in a campaign setting a year after they published them in a big book of options. More likely we get 1-2 original subclasses for Strixhaven, get the Arcana Domain republished for Lorehold, and then recommendations from PHB, Xanathar's, and Tasha's for the rest of the school archetypes.

ahem various folks guessed both of these books, the yearly Adventure being Feywild related was actually pretty popular. I called Strixhaven after the Strixhaven looking UA article.

Which UA was Strixhaven-looking?

You are absolutely correct. Which is why it was just as silly 5 years ago when people came on here all mad that WotC wasn't releasing any campaign setting books whatsoever.

Was it silly when we didn't have a balanced and playable Artificer in 5e? Class design for a new edition is HARD.

 

[Arnie_Wan_Kenobi]

A little late to the party, definitely excited for both of these, but will probably only pick up Strix for flavor. I've been tossing around an urban campaign centered on a college for a while now.

Was thinking, if the Strixhaven book stats up races, in addition to the obvious Owlin Aven, two other races could include:
Kor (unless I'm missing something, they were introduced in "Planeshift: Zendikar" but never "officially stated" in a sourcebook)
Troll (modified to look more like WoW, maybe?)

Classes, I'm in the camp that would assume we'd get some form of "Shaman," given how MTG has listed it as the "iconic" Red Magic spellcaster class. I know there's no real difference in MTG for cleric, druid, warlock, and wizard (aside from color or flavor), but if they're looking for line synergy, it only make sense (to me at least) to stat up something called a shaman.

ETA: "Warlock," "Sorcerer" is not currently a card type. But it could work as one!

 

[Marandahir]

A little late to the party, definitely excited for both of these, but will probably only pick up Strix for flavor. I've been tossing around an urban campaign centered on a college for a while now.

Was thinking, if the Strixhaven book stats up races, in addition to the obvious Owlin Aven, two other races could include:
Kor (unless I'm missing something, they were introduced in "Planeshift: Zendikar" but never "officially stated" in a sourcebook)
Troll (modified to look more like WoW, maybe?)

Classes, I'm in the camp that would assume we'd get some form of "Shaman," given how MTG has listed it as the "iconic" Red Magic spellcaster class. I know there's no real difference in MTG for cleric, druid, shaman, sorcerer, and wizard (aside from color or flavor), but if they're looking for line synergy, it only make sense (to me at least) to stat up something called a shaman.

The problem with the Shaman is that the term is a cultural appropriation from North Asian steppe cultures, and its features have always been a hodgepodge of exoticisms of various indigenous peoples from the lens of white Euroamericans. The class has never payed homage respectfully.

The solution in 5e is to say that your 3e Shaman from Rokugan? Nature Domain Cleric. Your 4e Shaman from the Nentir Vale? Circle of the Shepherd or Circle of Dreams Druid.

There's no need to reinvent the wheel just because Magic: The Gathering uses a particular term that D&D doesn't use.

 

[DEFCON 1]

Was it silly when we didn't have a balanced and playable Artificer in 5e? Class design for a new edition is HARD.

No, but you also didn't need a WotC-designed artificer class to play Eberron. The artificer and psionics for the kalashatar are just two out of dozens upon dozens of character options you could select from to play an Eberron game. You wanted to make a campaign for Eberron and you didn't have those two things? Play with all the other options instead. And if by some chance you felt like you just HAD to have an artificer class in your Eberron game... the DMs Guild had quite a number of artificer-like classes and subclasses you could have used., or you just made up one for yourself.

Anyone who really wanted to play in Eberron could do so from the beginning, even without having to wait for Rising From The Last War. Just like anyone who owns World of Greyhawk or the original Planescape can play in those two settings right now, even without WotC having produced a 5E setting book for them.

 

[Arnie_Wan_Kenobi]

The problem with the Shaman is that the term is a cultural appropriation from North Asian steppe cultures, and its features have always been a hodgepodge of exoticisms of various indigenous peoples from the lens of white Euroamericans. The class has never payed homage respectfully.

The solution in 5e is to say that your 3e Shaman from Rokugan? Nature Domain Cleric. Your 4e Shaman from the Nentir Vale? Circle of the Shepherd or Circle of Dreams Druid.

Oh, completely. Given WotC's effort at cultural awareness, I'm surprised they're still using "Shaman" as a term, frankly. Just thinking "brand synergy"; the Strixhaven cardlist is full of cards with the Shaman type. Of all of them, it's the most obviously mis-used term on the iconic spellcaster types list.