Unearthed Arcana Unearthed Arcana: Mages of Strixhaven

An Unearthed Arcana playtest document for the upcoming Strixhaven: Curriculum of Chaos hardcover has been released by WotC!

"Become a student of magic in this installment of Unearthed Arcana! This playtest document presents five subclasses for Dungeons & Dragons. Each of these subclasses allows you to play a mage associated with one of the five colleges of Strixhaven, a university of magic. These subclasses are special, with each one being available to more than one class."

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It's 9 pages, and contains five subclasses, one for each the Strixhaven colleges:

• Lorehold College, dedicated to the pursuit of history by conversing with ancient spirits and understanding the whims of time itself
• Prismari College, dedicated to the visual and performing arts and bolstered with the power of the elements
• Quandrix College, dedicated to the study and manipulation of nature’s core mathematic principles
• Silverquill College, dedicated to the magic of words, whether encouraging speeches that uplift allies or piercing wit that derides foes
• Witherbloom College, dedicated to the alchemy of life and death and harnessing the devastating energies of both

 

[Parmandur]

People have been wondering what might be changed in a hypothetical 5.5 edition. I think this might be one of those changes. I can definitely see them doing this with some martial classes as well.

Forget 5.5, this would be 6E

 

[Zubatcarteira]

I like the idea of sharing subclasses, but these seem op as hell. Two can just straight up give target vulnerability to a damage type for a whole round, that'd delete anything if played right.

 

[Marandahir]

I like the idea of sharing subclasses, but these seem op as hell. Two can just straight up give target vulnerability to a damage type for a whole round, that'd delete anything if played right.

Unearthed Arcana is not the place to worry about OP. Power combinations can always be dialed back in internal playtesting after UA; the point of UA is to see if the CONCEPT is good enough to stick. Better to go big and bold and dial back for the finished product than to start with a whimper.

 

[Weiley31]

Damn...warrior type Mages of Lorehold get the Bladesinger "cantrip+attack" ability, plus a 1d8 radiant added to the weapon attack. Plus this lets you be a warlock, so your cantrip can be a buffed Eldritch Blast. That's pretty awesome.

Now all the Bards, Warlocks, AND Wizards(except Bladesinger for obvious reasons) can enjoy that benefit without having to deal with elves......or Fey'ri...or whatever else would teach Bladesong.

Except you Valor Bard.............your not cool enough.

But Eldritch Blast/Agonizing Blast Warlocks hit the jackpot with this one!

 

[overgeeked]

Damn...warrior type Mages of Lorehold get the Bladesinger "cantrip+attack" ability, plus a 1d8 radiant added to the weapon attack. Plus this lets you be a warlock, so your cantrip can be a buffed Eldritch Blast. That's pretty awesome.

More than likely that will be toned down by release.

 

[Professor Murder]

I look forward to seeing someone better at crunching the numbers than I seeing how "balanced" all these new combinations are. It does lean into my theory that we will see an "all players are spellcasters" setting.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

I look forward to seeing someone better at crunching the numbers than I seeing how "balanced" all these new combinations are. It does lean into my theory that we will see an "all players are spellcasters" setting.

. . . You mean . . . Strixhaven, right?

 

[Professor Murder]

. . . You mean . . . Strixhaven, right?

Hmm?

 

[TwoSix]

More than likely that will be toned down by release.

Ehh, I mean it's a cool visual, but it's still MAD (since you can't take Hexblade if you're taking Lorehold). It's strong like Bladesinger, but not overpowered.

 

[Weiley31]

I like the idea of sharing subclasses, but these seem op as hell. Two can just straight up give target vulnerability to a damage type for a whole round, that'd delete anything if played right.

Excellent.