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

 

[Cadence]

but to call the academy your magical patron doesn't fit the story of the occult bargain. It also doesn't fit the nomenclature of Warlock Patrons. What would it be, The Lorehold? The Witherbloom?

Even Sorcerer is a bit awkward here. The nomenclature is fine as I said above, but the narrative of how you got your magic is not. This is supposed to be the origin of your powers, not where you study.

In regards to why the Warlock would be going to school when usually they go the Pay-To-Win options, perhaps it's not the College per se that is powering the Strixhaven Warlock, but the Dragons themselves. That OR the Colleges are so infused with the magicka energies of their Dragon Patrons that just be there at the campus infuses the Warlock with arcane power.

It feels like they're leaving things open but imagining the sorcerer and warlock got their powers in the usual way and then went off to college...

In the examples, the schooling is after the future sorcerer shows their innate spark of elemental magic, and after the warlock has a patron whose boons they can eschew.

 

[Yaarel]

The settings themselves are a kind of UA.

There were many options that were left in a particular setting to see where the dust settled. Then when they proved popular enough, a later book reprinted them to mainstream the option, such as Bladesinger and Artificer.

 

[Yaarel]

I mean, a monk prismari would leave the 4 Elements monk in the dust.

Heh. Is that really hard to do?

 

[Horwath]

2024: 5.5E, here we come!

 

[Yaarel]

This UA us, I was responding to the idea of retinkering the existing Subclasses along these lines: that would be a 6e move (I can see 6E on the horizon now, but what I imagine is modular backwards compatibility: 5E and 6E characters and mobsters playing together nicely, but there's enough of a change to warrant new core book).

I agree. But a "compendium" "cyclopedia" can function as if a new core book.

 

[DnD Warlord]

My campaign has been running since 2006 and has several years ahead of it before we reach the expected conclusion.

No game edition

 

[Yaarel]

“get your Ability Scores, pick your Race, pick your Class”

Not so different from: "build your Ability Scores, build your Lineage, build your Class"

Most players dont want to fiddle (not even to pick a feat). So they will just pick a readymade and play.

But for players who want to "craft" their character concept, the modern options help much.

 

[Charlaquin]

the story behind Warlock subclasses does not lend itself to magic academies. Yes, what Charlaquin said is the answer to that, but to call the academy your magical patron doesn't fit the story of the occult bargain.

Oh, well if you want it to be a bargain with dark powers it should definitely be a student loan rather than a scholarship

 

[Kurotowa]

In the examples, the schooling is after the future sorcerer shows their innate spark of elemental magic, and after the warlock has a patron whose boons they can eschew.

...you know what this means? It means you can do a Warlock with a hag patron and use the Witherbloom subclass instead of the Archfey one. The Archfey's charm and illusion theme never fit a hag's motif, IMO, and Witherbloom is a much better fit. I love it!

 

[Benjamin Olson]

I agree. But a "compendium" "cyclopedia" can function as if a new core book.

And is increasingly becoming a necessity if they want to support people still being able to play the game from physical books and actually carry all the materials they need to games.